Fallout Equestria: We Lucky Few

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1 - Life in the Stables
Chapter 2 - A Change of Plans
Chapter 3 - The Date
Chapter 4 - And Then There Was One
Chapter 5 - A Whole New World
Chapter 6 - Vital Information
Chapter 7 - A Walk Through the Woods
Chapter 8 - A Walk Through the Woods Pt. 2
Chapter 9 - Dawnstar

Prologue

PROLOGUE

Out of all of the fates that the colorful, exquisite, and exciting land of Equestria could have faced, the odds of it all coming to an instantaneous halt at the hands of a hatred fueled war would have seemed the least likely of outcomes. With all of the advances we made in technology, it was only a matter of time until certain political figures decided to get some ... how could you say, bright ideas. It was a good war if you could call it that. While yes, by no means is that a good thing given the usual context of war, but it was still a good war given the context of a sick and twisted perspective. By this I mean that It was short, bloody, and ended with a grand finale of complete and total annihilation. A simple combination of Earth Pony Engineering and Unicorn magic was built seemingly under everypony's eyes. A weapon so massively devastating that only a select few were made, and despite only being roughly the size of a bushel of apples, each one was more than capable of wiping out entire cities, leaving anything else in its proximity to be an irradiated, barren, hostile mess that was nothing more than uninhabitable.

This weapon was appropriately named: The Balefire MegaSpells.

A handful of these devastating yet amazingly effective devices were unleashed upon the land in the hopes of beginning a new era for all of Equestria! And while they definitely achieved that goal, I'm sure it was not to the preferred liking. Yes, Equestria was definitely able to start a new, but instead of everypony emerging from their shelters and underground stables in the hopes of being greeted by a peaceful new world, we were instead greeted by an incredibly hostile wasteland that seemed far beyond healing.

In this new world, it was everypony for themselves. Survival of the fittest seemed to be the key motto in our everyday lives. You never knew who you could and couldn't trust in the Equestrian Wasteland, and that was rightfully so. Before the wasteland consumed us all, it was stated that everypony was rather caring. Ponies were actually nice to each other on a day to day basis whereas nowadays things such as murder, rape, cannibalism, and a multitude of other vile acts were nothing more than commonplace (despite being highly frowned upon).

However, a select few have been spared from the horrors of the Equestrian Wasteland. Practically all of these lucky few resided in underground shelters known as Stables. Now you see, stables (while seemingly boring and crude in construction) where nothing more than highly effective at what they were designed to do: Keep the dangers of the wasteland out while keeping the denizens within completely safe from their inevitably hostile new world. Some stables were designed to re-open after a set amount of time, and a select few were even designed to never again see the goddesses light once the doors shut for the first and final time. However, not everypony was granted access to these life-saving shelters, as they had an admittedly limited capacity. They were mainly used for higher-ranking members of society, with the occasional one being on a first come first serve sort of basis. However, they were still the only one hundred percent guarantee of surviving the megaspells. However, no matter how safe they made you, stables were still machines. It didn't matter how long the stable doors were designed to stay shut or what their exact purpose was, as eventually malfunctions or misfortunes were bound to happen. It's said that stable's aren't exactly a matter of if, but rather a matter of when.

This leads us to Stable 76: The Baltimare Stable. A place where all denizens were informed of the outside world and the tragic events that took place during the war. This Stable was sealed for 150 years in the hopes that upon reemergence they would be greeted with a healed world clean of the wastelands torment. The day of reemergence was coming close for the residents of Stable 76.

Alas, they were in for a rude awakening.

Chapter 1 - Life in the Stables

CHAPTER 1: LIFE IN THE STABLE

It had been a rather long day at Stable 76. To be completely honest, most days within the Stable were fairly boring on account of there not being much one could do within the stable (unless you considered working or sleeping entertaining activities). However, one could occasionally find something to do to entertain themselves on their days off as long as it remained within the Stable's security guidelines. In other words: Don't do anything illegal.

However, today was not one of those days.

I had the day off from my usual job as a security pony as everypony in the stable usually got about one day a week to relax and do as they pleased. Usually on these days I would try and see my childhood friend Ivory, a pale white mare who worked in the maintenance section of the stable, but today was not one of those lucky days where we both had off. That being said, it wasn't like we usually had the same day off every week, so I always had a plan B of hanging out in the break room and simply conversing with the ponies that came through, but even that room was off limits today as apparently there was a small water leak in one of the overhead ceiling pipes that caused it to be sealed off for maintenance.

So here I lay. A lone earth pony in her small, dull, and square-shaped room that had nothing more than a bed, ceiling fan, nightstand, chair, and a single pony desk with a personal Stable-Tec terminal. I flopped back onto my bed and began deeply staring into the ceiling, almost as if I thought that if I had stared long enough I would magically be given an idea of something to do for the day.

But alas, no such idea came. It was just me and the ceiling having an intense staredown that it would for sure win. I rolled over and let out a dramatic sigh as I attempted to at least catch some sleep to just make the day go by faster, but my mind seemed to somehow be far too active to allow this to happen. My eyes shot open in frustration only to be greeted by the same grey material that practically every inch of the stable was colored in.

Grey.

A color that made me think of myself. My name alone, Silver Phalanx, had something to do with the color grey as silver was basically a shinier version of the dull, expressionless color. Didn't exactly help that my coat was a light grey color that often blended in with the stable walls if I held still in the right lighting (something that helped in my filly days of playing hide and seek with Ivory). Even the main base color of my roughed up, side-swept mane resembled a grayish color as it was simply dark black with a single blue streak (which was quite frankly the only thing that allowed my body to have any sort of actual color). Even my cutie mark (which resembled that of a pale blue shield with a yellow crown resting in the middle) seemed to be lacking in color compared to the other ponies throughout the stable. In fact, the only thing on my body that really popped out when it came to its color was my eyes. They were a dark maroon color, almost completely red if I stood in a dark room.

Oddly enough, I often got teased for it when I was young. Really wasn't sure as for what reason, as it's not like having red eyes really made me that different or special compared to other ponies. I honestly just thought they picked on me for the sake of picking on me. They seemed to just be grasping at straws in poor attempts to get under my skin. Nonetheless, it still didn't explain why jokes about my red eyes were far more common than other insults that were thrown my way.

Luckily I wasn't one of the fillies who seemed to be plagued with a life full of bullying. All of my troubles seemed to stop when I got my cutie mark earlier than everypony else. I was around 9 at the time, which was about two years earlier than all the other fillies and colts that I grew up with.

I actually received it the day I met Ivory. She was a small pony at the time (and still sort of is). Same age as me, but was of a far more dainty build. She has always been rather scrawny, even in Unicorn standards, but she was especially so back then. Naturally, this caught the attention of the stable bullies. I can honestly say that I don't remember too much from that day. All I can strongly recall is that they were all huddled over her, each of them yelling out obscene things (especially for foal standards). She was on the verge of tears. Despite me just passing by at the time, I remember suddenly gaining a small sense of bravery and courage when I saw the act. I marched right up to those bullies and told them off one by one. It wasn't long until one final pony was left between Ivory and I: A male Earth pony known as Iron Saddle.

Iron saddle was (and still is) a bit of a loudmouth. While yes, he has calmed down quite a bit throughout the years, it isn't exactly rare that you would hear complaints from other ponies directed towards him.

However, with all that said, he was exactly that: A loudmouth. And literally everypony knew it. His cutie mark is even a megaphone, something we often give him shit for here and there. Of course, as fillies, we all just thought of him as a big, mean, scary bully. That was up until that day.

I marched right up to him and gave him a single warning to leave Ivory alone. All he had in response was a chuckle and a less than creative comeback that I don't even slightly remember. So I did what I assumed anypony would do when another pony was yelling in their face.

I head-butted him.

I remember him falling to the stable floor, his left nostril letting out a small drop of blood. His two little friends who had always followed him around screamed and ran off into the stable as he laid there covering his nose. I remember it hurting me as well, but I was too busy trying to act tough for the crying filly whom had somehow managed to make me muster up enough courage to do this in the first place.

I only told him one single thing as I slowly leaned in towards his lightly bleeding muzzle.

"You need to stop."

I then remembered helping him up as he scampered off in the same direction as his two friends.

It was then when I walked over to the cowering filly, who looked up at me in a weird combination of shocked and awestruck.

I'll never forget the first time I touched her hoof to help her up. She was soft, light, almost as if she felt brittle to the touch. She was one of those types of personalities that could never hurt a soul. I remember the cute little thank you she gave me as we exchanged names. It wasn't seconds later when I felt a small sensation cover my haunches. I looked back to see the crowned shield cutie mark that I was apparently destined to have.

Evidently, my cutie mark was a sign of strength and courage, so it wasn't long until I was signed up to be apart of the stable's security team as that was how job placement worked in Stable 76. It was listed directly in our PipBuck's Stable-Tec Directory notes. Rule number three to be exact. It was said that once a pony received his or her cutie mark, she would be assigned a job that best matched whatever the cutie mark was earned for. Of course, sometimes I didn't exactly feel like my cutie mark mattered that much as nothing ever really happened in the Stable. Sure, there was an occasional argument or fight here and there, but nothing that ever required more than basic Stable-Tec Riot padding and a helmet to block against the occasional flying hoof.

If anything, that just further proved exactly how boring life in the stable was when even the security team was bored out of their damned minds every single day.

"Ugh." I groaned as I lifted my PipBuck up to my face.

The PipBuck was a standard piece of Magical Stable-Tec engineering that granted the user with a multitude of benefits. However, most of them were next to useless. I mean seriously, I know these things were designed pre-war and all to help with the war effort, but who in their right minds needs a targeting enhancement tool when they're trapped inside a stable their entire life!

They weren't completely useless though. In fact, I rather enjoyed the device. It helped with the organization of notes and the items you had on you (don't even ask me how it worked, all I know is that it did), navigation throughout the stable, and even had a function that apparently allowed it to pick up radio signals on the rare occasion that the stable actually decided to broadcast music. As a security pony, the most useful tool for me was the organization that this thing could pull off. It had every little note and idea that I had ever written down in neatly organized folders. Of course, the folder labeled "Stable-Tec Directory Notes" was always automatically sorted to the top of the list no matter how you tried to arrange them. Always following that was a folder simply labeled 'The Date', something that meant a great deal in Stable 76.

'The Date' was something we all learned about as colts and fillies from a very young age. While yes, we were taught about the Great War and all that transpired during it up until the MegaSpells hit, we were also taught about 'The Date'. This was, according to our teachings, the day Stable-Tec calculated to be the day that the surface would be safe, and all stables would finally re-open so the dwellers inside could come out to a new, cleansed world. Of course, some had their skepticisms about this, but no pony ever had a legitimate reason to doubt them.

Besides, the date was scheduled to be exactly 150 years after the MegaSpells hit, which (scientifically speaking) was far more than enough time for the world to heal itself and for any survivors to start new. As that is exactly what the MegaSpells were apparently created to be: A fresh start for the future of Equestria.

In fact, it almost sounded too good to be true at times. Not like it currently mattered however, as this date wasn't said to happen for about another five and a half years. Couldn't exactly say that this rather large amount of time really stopped us all from getting excited though. Every single pony inside this bland place was more than eager to leave. There wasn't a single day that went by where any of us truly wanted to stay inside this place. I guess we were just tired of the same thing all the time. I mean, could you really blame any of us though? What's so wrong with wanting to be free ... and, you know, not stuck in a claustrophobic hellhole for once!

"I'm so damn bored!" I yelled out to myself, listening to my voice ping off the metal walls as I sat up from my bed. However, the noise was eventually drowned out by the sudden opening up of the door to my room. The loud and metallic screeching caused by the violent metal on metal action seemed to never fail to make my skin crawl.

I looked over to see the massive posture of my fellow security member Bouncer. Now, Bouncer was an interesting fellow. He was loud and unaware of his own strength, but he was a nice pony where it counted. His coat was a light hue of blue, and his buzz-cut mane rested at a natural jet black. His dark green eyes seemed to match the coloration of his police baton cutiemark. While he was older than all the other members of the security team, he definitely had the kind heart of a child and was definitely an honest joker from time to time.

"Silver! You in here?" His voice boomed off of the walls.

"It's a single room with no other doorways in it, I'm not exactly that hard to miss Bouncer." I yelled in response, attempting to regain my bearings. "And learn to knock! Nearly scared me half death!"

"Oh, sorry Silver. Couldn't see ya due to you blending in with the walls and all." He smirked.

"Oh ha ha!" I sarcastically retorted. "Haven't heard that one before."

"Oh lighten' up Silver, you know I was just trying to have a laugh." He smiled. "Anyway, The Overmare wishes to speak with ya, told her I'd come an' get ya' on my way through."

"Ah, gotcha." I said, finally leaving the comfort of my bed. "Did she say what she needed?"

"Not really. I guess it's just something about your shift tomorrow." He responded.

"Alright then. If you're able, tell her I'll be up in just a second. If not, guess she'll figure it out when I show up."

"You got it Silver! Have a good day now, ya' hear?" He then turned and trotted off, the hydraulic door to my room hissing behind him until it closed with a loud thud.

"You too." I quietly said as I opened up the small nightstand next to my bed that housed my typically colored blue and yellow Stable Barding. I reluctantly and lazily began sliding it on as I attempted to straighten out my messier than usual mane.

I then checked my PipBuck one last time to make sure I had everything before I began making my way to the Overmare's office. It wasn't much longer until I was reopening the door that peered into the stable's somehow both dimly and brightly lit hallways.

"Hopefully the day won't be as boring as I thought it would be."

Chapter 2 - A Change of Plans

CHAPTER 2: A CHANGE OF PLANS

The stable was, if anything, easy to navigate. The first floor housed nothing more than the stable door, a few processing rooms, and a flight of stairs. The second floor had all of the necessities: Bathrooms, cafeteria, entertainment room, a small gym, water filtration, community garden, and the security room. The third was where the living quarters and Overmare's office were located, and the fourth was nothing more than storage and the primary power source of the entire stable. While this seemed like a decent amount of information, this was my home for the time being, and it obviously has been since I was born. So, naturally, the layout of the stable was practically burned into the back of my mind. Every nook and cranny of this place was something I had seen before. Hell, I even knew exactly how many steps it could take if one were to go from one area another.

It was exactly 103 steps from my room to the Overmare's office.

Around 390 steps to get to the cafeteria.

And from my room to the security office was roughly 430.

Just goes to show exactly how boring this place truly was. Only made me further wish that whatever the Overmare was about to tell me would change this day for the better, and with only another 30 steps to go, I was soon to find out.

It wasn't too much longer until I was facing the door to the Overmare's office. It was a larger door with a bright yellow 76 directly in the middle. It was designed to resemble that of a large sprocket style shape, very similar to shape of the stable's main entrance. Above the oddly shaped door frame was a small sign reading 'Overmare Frost's Office, come in with a smile!'.

"Smile my ass." I huffed under my breath as I pressed the intercom button on the outside of the door.

It released a highly familiar yet horribly distorted buzzing noise as I released the button. Almost immediately following, the door began to hiss and creek open as it was mechanically absorbed into the floor. This abundance of noises didn't even have a chance to die down before I was bombarded with Overmare Frost's rather overly enthusiastic voice.

"Ah! Silver! I take it Bouncer delivered my message to you as he promised?"

"Well yeah, otherwi-"

"Of course he did! Why else would you be here on your day off?" She cut me off as she began rambling on about how Bouncer was one of her favorite security ponies when it came to reliability.

Overmare Frost was something of an overachiever. She was destined to run the stable at a young age, or at least thats what her stable door shaped cutie mark told all of us at least. According to the other ponies, the Overmares and Stallions of Stable 76 all came from the same bloodline of overly adept unicorns. Apparently the first Overmare of Stable 76 was some sort of Stable-Tec big shot, so I guess it was meant to be in a sort of way. I mean, by no means were any of them bad ponies. Overmare Frost was just, how could you say, rather annoying at times.

"He, uh, he said you wanted to see me about some sort of schedule change?" I finally managed to get out amongst a break in her non relevant rambling.

"Oh! Indeed I did! Apparently your fellow security worker Fire Light slipped and fell in a puddle of water while she was trying to help with the mess in the break room. Apparently she sprained her hoof on the fall, said she'd be out for a day or two and needed some pony to cover her shift. You happened to be the only one available." She said, as if she thought she was giving me an option rather than a demand.

"Uh, sure. I wouldn't mind. When do I need to start?" I questioned.

"Splendid!" She smiled. "For today, if you could simply go help out with the spill in the break room, that would be all that is required. As for tomorrow, it'll be a standard night shift from five till midnight. Any questions?"

"Actually, yes. Not that it's an issue or anything, but do you happen to have any idea who I'll be working with?"

"Hmm ... Let me check." She smiled as her horn began to glow, a smooth, magical tapping sound emitting from her personal terminal. "It seems that Bouncer and Rusty Armor will be joining you for the night shift."

Well, I guess I couldn't really complain about the shift then. Bouncer was easy to get along with, and as long as Rusty Armor wasn't being a klutz he was a rather chill pony to hang around. There was really only one pony on the security team I could honestly say I disliked, and quite frankly the odds of her actually showing up for her shift was slim to nothing.

"So, is that all you wanted to ask?" Frost continued.

"Yeah, that's all I needed. I'll go ahead down to the security room and grab my uniform, then I'll head down to the break room." I unenthusiastically responded as this wasn't exactly the type of schedule change I was hoping for. That being said, it would at least make this dreadfully slow day go by slightly faster, so I guess I really couldn't complain that much.

"Splendid!" She yelped as the tapping emitting from her terminal began to speed up, her head seeming to cheerfully bob as she started to hum a strange tune.

Sweet Celestia, it was like she just had to hear herself speak sometimes. I really didn't get it, by no means was Overmare Frost a bad pony. In fact, she has never really done anything to get under any ponies skin. There was just something about her. Her voice, the way she carried herself, her mannerisms, they all just seemed to rub me the wrong way no matter how nice of a pony she was. I really didn't understand it myself, but I knew there were other ponies in the Stable who agreed with me. I guess it really didn't matter in the end though, as long as she wasn't doing anything to earn my hate, then I really had no reason to voice it.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around then." I said as I turned around and exited the room.

"Have a good day Silver!" I felt her grin as the door closed behind me.

Alright, next stop, security room. Shouldn't be any more than 300 some steps to get there. I'll take my sweet time though. I mean, come on, why did they even need a security pony for a freaking water leak? I highly doubt anything violent could even come from it, as it wasn't like any of the maintenance ponies had issues with each other.

But again, I really needed to stop complaining. I'm the one who was dead set on figuring out something to do today, so I really needed to stop being, well, a bitch. Guess it was one of my flaws I suppose. Whenever things weren't going how I'd like them to, I would always let it get to me. Usually I'm able to rationalize issues and decide when I should and shouldn't be upset, but lately I've just been off. It was almost as if I'd had an off feeling about something these past few days, but just couldn't quite pinpoint it. Hell, I was just at the point now where I had just assumed that I was slowly but surely coming down with something. Besides, if something bad was going to happen it would have happened already. And even if I gave it the benefit of the doubt, how bad could it possibly be? The Stable has literally never had any tragic, unexpected events. The worst thing I had ever witnessed in the Stable in all my years was a single time where the water filtration room went toxic, and even then the maintenance ponies had it fixed in a matter of a few days. So yeah, I must have just been coming down with something that was just horribly affecting my mood.

The security room was empty when I walked in.

It was a small room, as there were never any more than six employed security ponies at a given time. It had just enough room for six personal lockers (each with our names poorly scribbled in at the top), a small bench in the middle of the room, a closet with the required tools to maintain armor, a small bathroom with shower, and a single transparent safe that housed the only actual weapon in the entire Stable.

It was a simple magazine fed riot shotgun that was attached to a basic Stable-Tec brand combat harness. I was pretty sure that the thing had been locked in that safe since the day the stable was built, and was even more sure that it had never left the safe since then. We only had a hoofful of shells for it as well, and even then they weren't lethal rounds, just simple beanbag rounds that could be used to render a pony unconscious if needed. In a Stable like this though, that thing was the most useless object in here if you didn't include the ridiculous crackers they gave us for snacks sometimes.

No ... I take that back. The crackers were so stale that you could probably fashion a functioning shiv out of one if needed. So yeah, the shotgun was definitely the most useless thing in the entire Stable. Either or, I guess it was better to have it and not need it.

I opened up my locker and began to pull out my uniform. It was a basic blue and yellow Stable-Tec utility barding that basically just had heavy grade polymer pieces attached to it in order to protect against basic blunt objects. Anything more than that and I could imagine that it would be damn near useless. It also had a few accessories such as a full helmet with plastic face shield, leg guards, and even a heavy grade vest that one could put on if they really felt necessary.

But again, those were all items that could honestly be runner-up for most useless item in the Stable. At least these have actually seen some use though, as we were required to put them on when dealing with any fights that happened within the Stable, whether we thought they were going to end with violence or not.

I switched out my basic Stable 76 barding for the security barding, sliding the basic barding into my personal locker. It closed with a metallic clank that echoed throughout the small room. I checked to make sure the uniform was in order. Name tag was in place, none of the pockets were inside out, and I didn't accidentally skip a button trying to fasten it.

"Alright, to the Break room." I ironically said to myself as I exited the Security Room, ready to start (or should I say speed up) my day.

It wasn't a long walk to the break room. Only about another 60 steps. But it was during this time that I noticed that the Stable was rather quite today. Usually this floor was teeming with sounds. Talking ponies, the sounds of hooves on metal, lights flickering, air conditioning pumping, but today was different. It almost felt dead today. The only sounds I could regularly hear were the basic everyday day mechanical sounds of the Stable. It was honestly sort of unsettling.

However, that silence was quickly cut off as I turned the corner to the break room.

"Just go get the damn tape or something!" The familiar voice of Ivory echoed from within the room.

"Why in the hell don't you just have that with you?" A far less familiar male voice responded. "And why do I have to go down and get it?"

"For the first question: It's because I had to rush here because you weren't doing your job correctly. For your second question: Because I'm the only thing keeping this pipe from bursting!" Ivory's annoyed yet demanding voice retorted. "Now go get the damn tape!"

I was now standing in the doorway by the time I saw the two maintenance ponies that I could now for sure identify as Ivory and a unicorn known as Monkey Wrench, who was now storming passed me, a strange feeling of both anger and acceptance radiating off of his body.

"Long day I take it?" I sarcastically grinned as I leaned against the doorframe of the break room as I took in Ivory's rather dirty appearance yet cute appearance.

Usually her coat was a pearly white and her mane was a light gray, but she seemed to be so soaked in most places that she all around seemed a shade or two darker.

"Oh! Silver! I didn't realize they were sending you down here." She jumped, apparently not realizing I was even here until I said something. "Thank the goddesses though, I wasn't sure if I could put up with him any longer." She sighed. "So, how's your day been Silver?"

"Pretty uneventful. I was supposed to have the day off, but I guess Fire Light managed to hurt herself down here, so the Overmare sent me down to cover for her."

"Oh, well I'm sorry I had to ruin your day off." She said, unable to make eye contact as she maintained focus on the leaking pipe. "If it helps, watching Fire Light slip how she she did was rather entertaining."

"Trust me, I'm not upset or anything. This day was dragging, so I'm kind of glad I at least have something to do now." I smiled. "So, how's your day been?"

"You're basically looking at it." She angrily sighed.

"That bad huh?" I tilted my head.

"Well, every time we fix a section of this pipe, it decides to leak elsewhere. This is the third section today I've had to work on."

It was then when I realized the massive abundance of water filled buckets and broken sections of pipes scattered throughout the floor.

"Any idea how this happened?" I asked.

"Not a single fuckin' clue!" She yelped as a quick spurt of water blasted her directly in the eye.

"Ooh, you okay? Need help with anything?" I quickly asked as I handed her one of the soaked rags laying on the floor.

"In all honesty, your company is enough." She let out a small sigh of relief as she wiped off her face, an oddly adorable black streak of grime being left behind by the rag.

Sweet Celestia, she was adorable. I could always feel butterflies in my stomach when I was around her. Not like it mattered, at this point I was more than certain that she had friend zoned me into oblivion.

It was at this time when Monkey Wrench re-entered the room.

"What, was my company not enough for you?" He smirked as he levitated the extra strength duct tape over to Ivory.

"You want the honest answer?" She frowned, quickly looking up at me as if to say, "See what I have to dealt with?"

She then began to quickly and efficiently rap the piece of cracked pipe with the tape, a soothing magical sound bouncing off the walls of the room as her horn glowed with a blue hue. I watched as she went to work. Everything she did was very precise, or at least as precise as fixing a pipe could possibly be. Ivory was always extremely adept at Magic, and was honestly damn good when it came to her artistic abilities. Her cutie mark was actually a small paint pallet with a matching paintbrush, which would make one wonder why in the world she wasn't a part of the entertainment team instead. This is until you thought about it. I mean, not to undermine her work or anything, as I personally always found it nice in the past when I was able to just sit and watch her work on one of her art projects, but not many would honestly sit and watch someone for hours on end paint a nice picture. So, according to the Overmare, the next best thing for her was maintenance as she had no issues at being precise due to her skills in painting.

"And ... Done!" She let out a deep vocal sound of relief as she sat up, stretching out as I imagined she had been sitting for what had to have been hours. "Now we just have to hope it stays."

"Well, glad I could be of assistance!" Monkey Wrench grinned with a cocky smirk.

"Oh hush. You barely did anything." Ivory responded as she continued to stretch her more than likely numb limbs.

"Hey! I helped! I got the tape AND helped keep the floor clean!" He responded.

"How about you try telling that to Fire Light?" I butted in, receiving a small chuckle from Ivory and a disgruntled scoff from Monkey Wrench.

"Fair enough." He said, finally admitting defeat as he left the room. "Have a nice day girls." His hooves then echoed throughout the stable, eventually dying out as he gained distance.

"Is he always this much of a pain in the ass?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, he can be quite a handful at times, but his hearts in the right place." She said, soon after letting out a small chuckle.

"What was the laugh for?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing." She paused. "It's just that he sounds rather similar to this one other pony I know." She then smirked as she lightly tapped the end of my muzzle.

"Oh ha ha." I sarcastically laughed, attempting not to blush.

She was right though. Always has been. I guess that was part of the reason I considered her a good friend. She was always really nice to me since since the day we met. She was kind, straightforward, and never had an issue with telling you if you've done something wrong or not. God, if only I could have her for myself.

"So, uh ... " I trailed off.

"What was that?" She tilted her head.

"Well, umm, I was just wondering if maybe you'd like to come to my room and hang out for a little bit since were both done with our shift now. You know, have one of those mares nights we haven't had in a while."

I was nervous to ask, but I figured it was at least worth the shot. Besides, I'm sure it would be perfect for both of us. She would have some time to relax, and I wouldn't have to be alone for the rest of the day.

There was a long, pondering pause as she stared at me, more than likely trying to think if she had anything else to do for the day.

"You know, that would be amazing." She let out a large sigh of relief. "Let me just go freshen up and dry off, then I'll be over."

She then began to leave the room, "See you soon Silver!" She said as she turned the corner and left, her light hoof steps eventually dissipating into silence as she grew further away.

I did a small victory dance as I began to head to my room. I was definitely in a far better mood now. It had felt like ages since I had an alone day with Ivory. But it was amidst my internal celebration that I realized that I was currently emitting a rather pungent odor.

"Ooh, that's ladylike." I frowned as I gave myself a quick sniff, realizing that being trapped inside this rather tight security barding while stuck in a small, hot, enclosed room had caused me to build up a rather gross stench. My light trot then turned into a small jog as I made my way back to the security room to remove my barding and get a quick shower. I didn't want Ivory to show up to my room without me there, so I knew I was going to have to make it both a quick and effective shower.

It seemed that I made it back to my room with no time to spare, as my mane was still wet from the shower when I heard the knocking at my door.

"Come in!" I excitedly yelled as I watched the hydraulic door shoot open, the now clean and rather shiny Ivory walking in with an odd sort of swagger.

"You seem to be in a pretty good mood." I smiled as I noticed the small saddle bag drooped over her back. "What's in the bag?"

"Oh, just some of my painting supplies. You seem to be one of the few ponies in this place who actually appreciate the arts. Wanted to make sure I wasn't getting rusty." She smirked, knowing all too well that her art was nothing less than amazing.

"Yeah, like somepony with your level of skills could be rusty." I laughed.

"Oh, well aren't you the flatterer." She playfully blushed as she began to unpack her bag, pulling at brushes, small tubes of paint, and a small canvas.

I had to admit, I've had the hots for Ivory for the longest of time, but I had always been bad at the whole relationship thing. I always got nervous and tripped over my words. That is if I even got that far. Hell, usually I would get myself so worked up even thinking about asking her on a date that I would get sick to my stomach. And again, I was more than certain that she had friend zoned me for good, so it wasn't like anything was going to happen. But then again ... I did get her here, didn't I?

"Silver? You there?" I heard her suddenly ask.

"What? Yeah, I'm here." I said, confused more than anything.

"You sure about that? You spaced out there for a few."

Damn, I must have got lost looking at her and thinking about the possibilities, something I admittedly fantasized about rather often.

"Yeah, uh, I'm fine." I quickly said as I attempted to give as honest of a smile as I possibly could.

She raised a quick eyebrow and then let out a light, heartfelt chuckle.

"Silver, you know I'm not stupid, right?" She unexpectedly said as she sat down next to me on the bed, scooting in far closer than she ever has before.

I could feel my heart racing. What in the world was happening? "Umm, what do you mean?" Was all I could manage to get out.

"Come on now Silver, I know why you invited me here." She smiled. "I've always noticed the ways you've looked at me in the past. It doesn't take much to know when you have a secret admirer."

Oh boy, you really did it now Silver. Was this to sudden? Was this what you actually wanted to happen when you invited her over? Sweet Celestia and Luna, my heart was racing uncontrollably. I didn't even imagine anything like this would have happened in a million years, let alone all of a sudden and on accident of all things.

"No words huh?" She smiled. "That's okay, actions speak louder than words, right little miss security mare?" She continued, slightly flaunting her rather sexy behind.

I was too focused on freaking out that I didn't even realized that she was smoothly leaning in to plant a soft yet firm kiss directly onto my lips. I felt myself blush as my legs buckled when she pulled away.

"How about now Silver? Is everything clear to you now?" She said with a nice, lighthearted smile that told me everything I needed to know.

This was meant to happen.

I eagerly leaned in for another, and was easily less than a centimeter away when both mine and Ivory's Pipbuck suddenly let out an unfamiliar ding that we usually only heard when the Overmare would send out important messages.

Naturally but sadly, both Silver and I dropped what we were doing to raise our Pipbucks up to our face. What we saw was something we had never seen before.

URGENT MESSAGE FROM STABLE-TEC

Dear Stable 76, it seems that the surface has healed slightly quicker than we

initially assumed. Naturally, this means that you all will be receiving a new date of release for:

6/24/2201

We thank you for using one of our glorious Stable's in a way to further the

future of Equestria!

We wish you the best of luck!

We hope you all use this amazing opportunity in order to

better Equestria!

Sincerely: Stable-Tec

What?

This was so confusing. What was all this about? I looked over at Ivory to get her input, but I could instantly tell that she was every bit as confused as I was.

It was then when I realized that the date mentioned was tomorrow.

Tomorrow?!

Is this even real? Where did it come from if not?

It wasn't much longer until another single message came through on the Pipbuck, this time from the Overmare.

Dear all Stable 76 residents,

I am sure that you all just received the shocking news from Stable-Tec regarding the new release date.

I am happy to say, while it is very last minute, that this is an official Stable-Tec message

and that it is completely true!

This means that some time tomorrow the Stable Doors will be unlocked and the doors will finally roll open

for the first time in what will be 145 years!

This being said, a lot of things will need to change for tomorrows schedule!

All members of Security and Engineering will report to the Stable entrence tomorrow at 8 am

to ensure that everything goes smoothly!

We have no clue what kind of new world we will be greeted by, nor who will be there to greet us!

So we must do everything in our power to make sure that everything runs as smoothly as possible!

As for everypony else, a small social party will be held at the Stable door starting at eleven A.M.

Of course, everypony is required to attend.

I will see all of you tomorrow, and wish you all a good night and good luck for our future!

Sincerely, OverMare Frost

No way.

No fucking way this was happening.

Tomorrow?

Is this serious? Like, was this actually happening right now?

"Oh my god." Ivory managed to speak before I could, her voice having the same feeling of confusion that I was having.

"So this is legit, isn't it?" I responded in awe.

"It has to be, the Overmare confirmed it as an official Stable-Tec message." Her face was beginning to crack a smile.

"How does she know it's official?" I asked, still in complete shock.

"Official Stable-Tec messages apparently have some sort of code attached to them that the Overmare must confirm as official with a sort of password. If she types in that password upon receiving the message and it decodes, then it's an official Stable-Tec message." She said, almost sounding too good and thought out to be true.

I was at a loss for words. This was actually happening.

"Why on such short notice though?" I questioned.

"Who knows. Besides, aren't you excited?" She asked, suddenly springing to life. "You have always complained about being cooped up in this place!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I sighed, an odd, unplaceable feeling beginning to fill my stomach as Ivory lifted her Pipbuck to her face once more.

"Oh my! Look at the time! I need to get going if the Overmare wants us there that early."

As Ivory said this I pulled up the time on my own Pipbuck, only to realize that it was nearing one in the morning, meaning I already had to be up and back to work in about 6 hours if I was to be at the door on time as instructed.

I was still in shock to the point where I didn't even realize Ivory was packing up all her things and about to head out of my room.

"Oh, how could I forget!" She smiled as she trotted over and planted one quick but passionate kiss on my lips.

"Once we get settled in outside of the Stable, I promise to give you the real thing." She playfully smirked as she left my room with a cute "Good night."

"Yeah, you too." I was still so confused that I couldn't even process what was just said ... but as soon as the door shut I realized what was just taken from me.

"Luna damn it!" I frustratingly huffed as I finally came to terms that I was just completely sex-blocked by a company that was more than likely miles away.

I was so close. So close to receiving what I had only dreamed about, and quite frankly, I think that made it even more frustrating to come to terms with it. However, she did just say once we get settled in outside I would get the real thing.

Wait, what did she mean by we? Was she insinuating that we were going to live together? What is going on right now? This is all happening so fast!

"What in the actual fuck is going on?!" I yelled out as I flopped back onto my bed, the feeling in my stomach revealing itself to be intense butterflies.

Well, guess all I could do now was attempt to get to sleep and prepare for the morning. And while I knew it was more than likely going to be a rather sleepless night, I really hoped that the morning came quick as I was now far to nervous and excited to even process how much my life was about to change.

Foot Note: Level Up

New Perk: Nervous tendencies

You have a knack for sensing when something is about to happen, causing you to have very strong preparation skills at the cost of charisma.

Chapter 3 - The Date

CHAPTER 3 - THE DATE

Am.

Exhausted.

The night had proven to be, well, restless to say in the least. The amount of tossing and turning I had done must had been enough to give me a good workout, as by the time morning came I had worked up a more than exceptional sweat. Hell, even my joints felt swollen and sore. I mean Luna forbid if my mind would have been able to actually calm down enough to allow me to get even just a second of sleep.

I kept raising my PipBuck up to my eyes as if I hoped that at least once the time would reverse so I could attempt to get some sleep, but of course nothing of the sort happened as my PipBuck's built in clock continued to inch closer and closer towards the seven a.m. mark. That being said, even if somehow time did manage to go back a few hours I could tell that my brain was still far too active to allow such a preposterous thing like sleep to even remotely happen. The amount of stuff floating around up there was nothing less than mind numbing.

Why was Ivory all of a sudden so eager to make a move after all of these years?

Why did we have to get sex-blocked?

Why did the date get pushed forward so suddenly?

Why did we have to be up at freaking seven in the morning so we could be there on time?

Why did we have to be up at SEVEN IN THE DAMN MORNING!?

"Ugh ... Somepony just kill me now." I huffed to myself as my PipBuck's clock finally managed to hit the bright and early hour of seven in the morning.

I unenthusiastically rolled out of bed, my hoofs planting themselves against the floor with a pathetic yet heavy thud. My entire body ached as I shuffled over to my nightstand with a speed so slow that a snail would more than likely be cursing at me to speed up. I didn't even bother throwing on my usual Stable barding as I knew that I would just have to replace it with my security uniform the second I made my way down there. Instead, all I did to prepare myself was give my mane and tail a quick brush, followed by a quick rinsing of the mouth with a mysterious flavor of Stable-Tec brand mouthwash that was anything but pleasing to use.

Once I was (dare I say) presentable, I pulled up my PipBuck to see if I had enough time to at least go down to the cafeteria and grab a quick bite to eat. Luckily, that seemed to be the only thing that was going today, as it was only 7:08 by the time I had finished getting ready.

The Stable was once again quiet for the second day in a row, however at least now it made sense as the only ponies who would actually be up at this time would be maintenance and security ponies that had a night shift. Nonetheless, it made the walk to the cafeteria somehow both unsettling and relaxing at the same time. However, this quiet feeling instantaneously changed as I opened up the door to the cafeteria.

The second the door opened, I was violated with a literal monsoon of sounds and smells. Ponies were laughing and cheering, trays were slamming against tables, and don't even get me started on the amazing smells! Fresh fruits and vegetables lined the serving area, free for the taking. There were even freshly made blueberry muffins that appeared to still be warm to the touch. This all being said, I was rather confused. For one, I was pretty sure that there had never been this many ponies up this early at any given time within the history of Stable 76. For two, despite how good the smells in here were, it was something that definitely wasn't normal in the Stable as I was so used to the usual boring smells of processed foods and pre-cooked meals that the smell of something freshly cooked was something that honestly woke me up a little bit, thankfully so. Naturally, I was rather curious as to what exactly was going on, so I decided to do some asking around as I snatched up a tray.

Apparently, the Overmare had sent out some sort of message to the chef ponies giving them permission to prepare as much freshly made food as they wanted for the day, as it was a day that was obviously meant for celebration. And let me tell you, there couldn't have been a better way to turn this morning around.

It wasn't long until I had anxiously taken a seat at one of the more empty tables in the cafeteria, as I was still far to tired to carry a conversation with anypony. I glared down at my tray of apples, carrots, celery, and a fresh blueberry muffin that still had steam emitting from it. I could feel my mouth watering as I went in for the first bite of the muffin.

And sweet Celestia it was amazing!

The muffin practically melted in my mouth as I took the first bite. It wasn't long until I had managed to scarf down practically the entire tray of food. I was sure that I looked like a ravenous slob to those around me, but I was both too tired and too hungry to care at this point. It wasn't until I was on my last few bites of celery when the rather large figure of Bouncer somehow managed to sneak up on me.

"Hey there Silver!" His kind but loud voice boomed as his hoof went over my shoulder.

I let out a smell yelp of panic as I coughed up the piece of celery that I was attempting to swallow.

"Oh! Didn't mean to scare ya there." He blushed, nervously removing his hoof.

"Ah." I choked. "You're ... You're fine Bouncer. We need to get you a bell though." I playfully chuckled, as this was something all of the security ponies had joked with Bouncer with for the longest of times. I mean honestly though, how could a pony so big and as loud as him be so light on his hooves?

"So, how's your morning been? You excited for the big day?" He smiled with glee.

"Well, morning could have been a little better. Didn't exactly get much sleep." I said, taking another bite of the amazingly prepared blueberry muffin.

"Any idea why?" He asked.

I once again choked on my food a little bit, as I knew I couldn't just tell people the main reason I was unable to sleep, as I imagine Ivory would have my head if I just went around saying that we almost slept together.

"Umm ... Just one of those nights I suppose. Nervous stomach is all." I partially lied.

"Well that's understandable. I mean, we do have a big day ahead of us after all! I can picture it now, the green hills, colorful landscapes, and the smiling faces of other ponies as we leave the Stable for the first and last time! Doesn't it all just sound so amazing! It'll be just like in the story books!" He began to ramble on.

"Uh, yeah." I paused, as I was still rather groggy. "Definitely going to be an exciting day." I gave a tired smile.

"Anyway, came over to see if you wanted to run up to the security room with me to grab our gear. If you're not that's fine and all, but it never hurts to ask!" He smiled, giving a grin that practically matched the rather overly enthusiastic smiley face that was his cutie mark.

"Actually, that'd be nice. The halls felt rather empty today anyway." I responded, finally finishing the last bit of muffin as I sat up from the table.

"Huh, you notice that to?" His head tilted.

The walk to the security room was every bit as quiet as the walk to the cafeteria. Even Bouncer (for some odd reason) was rather silent as we made our way to our next destination.

"Hey Bouncer." I reluctantly asked. "Have you by any chance had an odd feeling in your stomach these past few days?"

"Not since last night, but I just assumed I was getting butterflies due to how amazing this day is going to be!" He gave another smile, but it quickly switched to a look of concern. "Why? Not been feeling well or something?"

"Eh, not really. I've just had an off feeling these past few days. Just haven't really been able to put my hoof on it is all, you know?"

"Well, yeah, I understand what you mean. But you're more than likely just nervous about the big day!" He gave a heartfelt smile. "And really, who could blame ya? I mean, we've lived here our whole lives, so a change as big as this would be more than enough to get your stomach in a twist." His words were heartfelt and meaningful, and in all honesty, they helped. Bouncer had always been good at seeing the good in things, as he was always more of a glass half full type of pony.

It was about then when we reached the security room. As the door hissed opened, I noticed that Fire Light and Rusty Armor were both already here, each in the middle of putting on their full security gear.

"Not often we have to put on these heavy old things." Fire Light announced as she attempted to squish down her red, somehow permanently wind swept mane into her security helmet, seemingly struggling with getting her horn through the provided hole in the helmet.

"Yeah, but at least today it makes sense as to why we have to put it all on. Isn't exactly like we know what we'll be looking at once that door opens. Hell, I hear that the land up top is just as destroyed and nasty as it was the day the MegaSpells hit." Rusty retorted, his words seeming to once again reawaken the thoughts that Bouncer had just managed to calm down.

"And who exactly has been saying that?" Bouncer spoke up, alerting both Fire light and Rusty Armor to our presence, causing both of the ponies to slightly jump.

"Oh, sir. Didn't see you standing there." Fire Light said as her helmet finally managed to properly find its way onto her head. "We still haven't gotten you that bell I see."

"Evidently not." Bouncer slyly grinned as he waltzed over to his locker. "So Rusty, what's with the negative thoughts?" Bouncer said, quickly glancing at me as if he knew all too well that Rusty's words had gotten to me.

"Well, I mean, come on. What proof do we really have that the surface is healed?" Rusty said, nearly tripping over himself as he attempted to put on his leg guards.

"Look at it this way. If the surface wasn't healed, then why in the world would we be getting an official message from Stable-Tec themselves saying otherwise? It's not like they would lie to us about such a thing." Bouncer smirked, knowing all too well that he was giving a very valid point (and also being backed into a verbal corner).

"Yeah Rusty, what you're saying is just ridiculous. Quit being such a downer and put on your armor. We gotta make today go as smoothly as possible, so we don't need any negative, useless thoughts like that floating around up there." Fire Light added in, finally managing to slip on the rest of her armor.

After all that, Rusty now look defeated. He swiftly rolled his eyes as he began to fasten the last bits of his armor, letting out a small chuckle as if to say he was only joking around.

"You gonna start getting ready there Silver?" I heard Bouncer say amongst the brief silence, causing me to realize that I was still standing in the doorway. "We have to be up at the Stable door in 15 minutes."

"Ah, yeah, sorry. I must have spaced out." I shook my head as if to snap myself out of the funk I was very obviously in, walking over to my locker.

I slid on my Security Utility barding and then began to put on the actual pieces of Security Armor, which consisted of a helmet with face shield, full body vest made from a blast resistant foam, and front and rear leg guards that had just enough coverage to give you both adequate protection and decent mobility, all of which was colored in a dark, matte black (other than the small yellow 76 located on the top of the helmet and sides of the vest).

However, as nice as the armor was, it was rather heavy. Specifically the vest, which must have easily weighed around twenty pounds. While yes, this didn't sound like that much at first, once you've had it on for a few hours twenty pounds was easily enough to tire you out. This all being said, a liked wearing the armor. While there was never a practical use for it in the Stable, I always found it fun to wear as it just made you feel powerful, like you could take on anypony you wanted! Plus, every time I looked at the armor it made me remember the silly 'Initiation' thing all of the new Security ponies had to do that involved the Security vest and an old broomstick that Bouncer kept in his locker.

I let out a small chuckle as I slid on the vest. "Hey guys, remember the Security Initiation thing we all made each other do?"

This seemed to catch all of their attention, seemingly for the better.

"Yeah, what about it?" Bouncer spoke up, more than likely knowing where I was headed with this.

"What do ya say we each do one more for good luck?" I smirked, my mind finally seeming to calm itself as it began to look at the bright side of the things yet to come.

I didn't receive a verbal response, but instead a few glares that nearly instantly turned into heartfelt smiles.

"You bet your ass we should!" Rusty jumped up on his hind legs, waving his front hoofs in the air before he came back down.

"That's the kind of positive but reckless thinking I like to hear!" Fire Light chimed in.

"Well then, guess it's a unanimous decision." Bouncer smirked as he pulled the broom stick from his locker. "Just you all better expect me to make it a good one."

"Wouldn't want it any other way." I gave a cocky grin.

Next thing I knew, we were all lined up to leave the room, Bouncer standing at the door with stick in hoof.

"So how you all plan on doing this?" Bouncer smiled.

"As quick and effective as possible!" Fire Light continued, the rest of us nodding in agreement.

From there, one by one we charged out of the room, Bouncer giving each of us a strong smack on the back with the broomstick, each time seaming harder and more enthusiastic than the last. Sadly, I was the last to go, so I knew all too well that I would be getting hit the hardest. But I didn't mind, as I knew this was something that we would all remember for days to come, and look back on as something we were proud we did.

One slightly aching back later, and it was Bouncer's turn.

"Y'all better make it a damn good one!" He smiled as Fire Light levitated the stick into the air, both Rusty and I grabbing on to swing it down with full force.

The stick made strong impact with the padding on his gear, causing a deep thud to echo throughout the room.

"Mmm!" Bouncer huffed without opening his mouth, signaling that we must have given him the good one he was asking for. "That was definitely a good one!"

We were now all laughing as we traveled the halls of the Stable, reminiscing on past events and incidents that we had all now thought of as funny. It was a rather nice feeling. In fact, this had been the second best I had felt in the past few days. We were all so busy joking around and laughing that it wasn't until we reached the Stable door that I realized we were there.

As I looked around, I was greeted by a slew of maintenance ponies and a lone Overmare frost, who was currently barking overly dramatic orders to the surrounding ponies.

"Alright team!" She boasted. "I want this place as spotless as possible for the party this afternoon! It won't be long until everypony else will be lined up and ready to leave!" It was around then when she noticed that the remainder of her Security force had arrived.

"Ah! It's about time you all got here! I was hoping the rest of you could make sure everypony else is ready for the big day! Make sure all ponies have their things packed and look presentable!"

"Yes M'am!" We all yelled in Unison as we turned to head back the same way we came.

"Except for you Silver!" She continued, causing me to stop dead in my now excited tracks. "I would like you to stay here. We've already had a few excited ponies try and get in here before the given time, so I'd like you to assist in keeping them out of the room until we are ready."

"Yes M'am!" I responded, my newfound burst of happiness slowly beginning to diminish as I realized that the rest of my time up here would be rather boring and lonely without my fellow security members.

Either way, I had to obey her orders. And luckily, this day seemed to be going by rather quick, as before I knew it the time had already managed to reach the 12 o'clock mark.

Sweet Celestia ... There was only an hour left. One small hour and my entire life would change for what was more than likely the better. However, this made me realize that I had yet to even see, let alone speak, to Ivory today. Naturally, this was something I was definitely wanting to do before the mass of Stable ponies began making their way to the main entrance.

I began looking around, as I knew that she had to have been somewhere in the general vicinity considering all members of maintenance had to report at the same time as us. However, there was a considerably larger amount of maintenance ponies than just about any other job in the Stable, so finding her was proving to be difficult.

I was almost willing to admit defeat in finding her, but amidst my frantic searching I felt a light and familiar tap on the side of my armor. I turned to be greeted by the grease smeared face of Ivory, who quickly planted a light smooch on my cheek, leaving behind the smallest amount of grease in the progress.

"Looking for somepony?" She smiled, her face (despite being extremely dirty) looking as happy as I've ever seen her.

"Was it that obvious?" I blushed, returning the favor of her quick yet passionate kiss.

"I'm afraid so." She playfully smirked. "But I can't say that I'm not flattered. It's not often I have somepony searching for me with such determination." We then exchanged a quick hug.

By the goddesses, if only she knew truly knew the amount of times I had been caught looking at her in the past, as it was easily in the thousands by now.

"So, you excited for the big day?" She continued as we pulled apart from our hug.

"Well yeah, especially considering what all you said last night." I blurted this out with instantaneous regret, as I knew that I must have sounded like a desperate idiot. However, to my surprise, she responded far differently than what I was expecting.

"Ooh, again with the flattering." She grinned. "I guess you do look rather cute in that barding. I always liked a mare in uniform."

"Have you always been this much of a flirt?" I playfully asked. "I mean, not that I'm complaining, but I'm just curious if this is gonna be a regular thing?"

"Is that a problem?" She responded, obviously knowing the answer to her question.

"Of course not. I just don't think you know exactly how long I've wanted this from you."

Okay ... now that one I knew I was going to regret saying. Wasn't sure I could sound any more desperate than that.

"Eh, give or take a few years." She once again responded to my surprise. "Now, get to work!" She continued, attempting to sound as much like the Overmare as she possibly could.

"Sweet Celestia I love you." I said, as she practically had me melting in her hoofs at this point.

"I love you too my little Security Mare." She smiled as she gave one last kiss. "Now, we really should get to work. It's time for all the other ponies to show up. I'll see you on the other side." She gave one last adorable smile before she turned to return to her job of what I now knew was cleaning the Stable door, something that I couldn't imagine was anything less than unpleasant.

It was about then when I noticed that the amount of ponies in the room had significantly grown once more. I couldn't even hear the barking orders of Overmare Frost anymore, which was enough to tell me that at any given moment Overmare Frost would be rounding up the security ponies to tell us to start lining up all the other ponies to the best of our abilities. I quickly gave my PipBuck a glance to check on the time, which was setting at a solid 12:10. Yep, it'll be any minute now.

And of course, it was around then when the magically amplified voice of the Overmare boomed over the still growing crowd.

"Attention Everypony!" The noise slowly but surely began to die down. "As you may all know, the door will be unlocked and able to open at any given moment! So, if you could all please line up in a single file line and cooperate as much as possible with the members of security, this will all go by much faster! I am sure we are all anxious to leave and see the new world outside!"

Her orders then seemed to play on repeat as all of the ponies began shuffling themselves into a line. On occasion, I was able to see my fellow members of security practically corralling all of the other anxious ponies. There was no doubt that the room was putting off both a nervous and excited aura. In fact, you could practically feel it in the air if hearing it wasn't enough. This all said, everypony was being extremely cooperative. It wasn't long until the combined efforts of Security and the Overmare had everypony lined up in a nice single file line that extended all the way into the halls of the first floor.

It was now 12:55.

"Security! Have you all made sure that everypony is here and away from their rooms?" The OverMare's voice echoed throughout the large room.

"Yes m'am!" I heard Bouncer's somehow equally loud voice respond from somewhere in the back half of the room. "Everypony is here and accounted for!"

"Alright then! Everypony, the time is coming soon! All we must do now is wait for the unlock code from Stable-Tec, and then we will get to witness the new healed world for the first time in Stable 76's history! Is everypony excited?"

The room then exploded with sounds of excitement, joy, and laughter that quickly began to die down to nothing more than whispers as the countdown until one o'clock began, and let me tell you, this was easily the longest five minutes of my life. The nervous feeling in my stomach had more than re-surfaced. I honesty felt like I could relieve my stomach of its contents at any given moment, but I managed to keep them down.

12:59.

Any second now. Any second the Overmare would be getting a message from Stable-Tec containing the code for the Stable door. The room had fallen dangerously silent. It was almost enough to send a shiver down your spine.

Any.

Second.

Now!

The second the clock struck one, a distorted ding from the Overmare's PipBuck softly bounced throughout the room. You could practically see the wave of excited ponies lean in as the OverMare began typing a code onto the Stable door's control panel, an excited smile across her face.

"Is everypony ready for the new, healed world?" She yelled out as she typed in the final piece of the code.

The quite room immediately began shaking as the door slowly pulled away from it's frame, the sounds of heavy metallic screeching, air seals breaking, excited ponies, and a very new sounding siren filled the air. The amount of sounds flooding into my ears right now had to have easily been enough to shatter one's eardrums.

The feeling in my stomach was now excruciating, and the slew of loud sounds weren't helping. I noticed myself looking around for somepony (preferably Ivory) for comfort, but no pony I was comfortable with was any where to be seen unless I included Bouncer, who was currently hard at work keeping ponies in line.

The door was finally open enough to the point where you could sort of see the outside world. You could see light and ... dust coming through.

Wait.

Something was off.

The light was dark instead of bright and sunshine-y. The dust was a putrid brown color, and was thick enough that one would easily need some sort of breathing device to properly remain in it for a longer period of time. As the dust rolled further inside the Stable, a new sound began to fill the air.

It was un unfamiliar but known sound of around 100 PipBuck Geiger counters going off at once.

No. Something is wrong. The outside was supposed to be healed, why was radiation like this still present?

I looked around at the surrounding mass of ponies, all of which were now sporting the same worried face as the Stable door opened the rest of the way. However, all of them remained silent, as if they were waiting on orders as to what they should do.

"Umm ... " The Overmare's magically enhanced voice began to fill the room as the door came to a screeching halt, all of the Sirens slowly dying down with it. "If I could have everypony's attention. It seems that there has bee-"

*BANG*

A sound resembling that of thunder echoed from just outside of the Stable Door, followed by the Overmare's head gaining the addition of a large, hoof sized hole that immediately began to leak out a thick red liquid that was very clearly a mixture of blood, brain, and bone.

Her lifeless body fell to the ground, a red pool forming at her resting place.

No.

This was wrong.

I, as well as every other pony in the Stable, knew that this was wrong. The surface wasn't healed at all. Stable-Tec had lied.

The only thing that followed was nothing less than mass panic.

Chapter 4 - And Then There Was One

There was a brief moment of silence as every single pony in the room stared down at the Overmare's nearly headless corpse. It was ... off. One could have described it as a calm before the storm, as it only took seconds for the rather quiet room to delve into nothing less than mass chaos.

I was frozen in place, only able to watch as screaming ponies and what I could easily assume were bullets from the outside of the Stable door whizzed passed me. It was as if my entire world had been set to a dramatic, slow motion sort of view. I was able to watch and observe as the group of ponies in front of me were gunned down in a hail of hot lead, each one not fortunate enough to even be given the chance to run back into the depths of the Stable like the ponies in the back of the room had surely already done. I saw them. I saw each and every single one of their faces as the bullets entered their bodies, and all I did was stand there. Some of them didn't even make a sound, it was just instantaneous. One second they were there, and then one second they weren't. Oh god ... There were fillies in that group. I was a security pony, I should have been trying to help them, but I couldn't. All I could do was watch, frozen like that of an old statue. There was easily at least a dozen pony corpses lying in front of me, all of which were alive nearly seconds ago. I knew I needed to run, escape, at least leave this general area and find cover, but my legs wouldn't allow it. I was still frozen, almost as if I was in shock.

But it was simple, I was scared.

Nothing could have prepared any of us for this. I couldn't even think properly. Oh goddesses ... What happened to Ivory and Fire Light? The were towards the front when the hail of bullets came flying in. Did they make it out? I didn't see them. Who was doing this? Was it Stable-Tec? Did they lie to us? No, that didn't make sense, why would they lie just so they could gun us down as soon as the door opened? No, it couldn't have been Stable-Tec who did this. Was the world even healed? It couldn't have been.

There was so much wrong with this. There were so many questions floating around in my head, and I was in such a haze that I almost didn't even notice the rather large amount of shadowy figures beginning to appear from the dust of the Stable door's opening. I could hear the sounds of guns reloading, followed by muffled, crazed laughter. The smell of smoke and what I could assume was death was already beginning to fill the room.

I needed to run. I wasn't sure how I could snap myself out of it, but I just knew that I needed to run. I felt my wobbly legs finally beginning to move, and I turned my neck to face the stairs that led down to the second floor, but as I faced that direction and began to run off, I noticed that Bouncer was running towards the Stable door, a riot club clenched in his teeth. As he ran by me, I heard him mumble something. I couldn't quiet make it out, but I knew for a fact that I heard "Go get the gun," somewhere in his sentence.

Apparently, that was what it took to get my brain back into gear, as upon hearing these orders I took a strong gallop towards the stairs, and immediately began to make my way down to the second floor. It wasn't until I made it to the stairs when I began to hear another hail of bullets, and the sounds of a struggle that could have only been Bouncer attempting to fend off whoever was attacking. However, I had a deep feeling that I wouldn't like what I saw when I arrived back up here.

Nonetheless, I obeyed his orders as I was always taught to do. Bouncer was like a mentor to me. He was smart, kind, and strong. He was always a natural born leader.

I could feel myself beginning to finally tear up as I quickly made my way through the first floor, and then the second, and then the third. The further into the Stable I went the larger the amount of scared ponies I saw. Each and every one of them looked mortified (rightfully so). I could hear them all crying and asking questions as I ran by, none of which I had the answers to. Occasionally, I could hear the sounds of nearing gunshots and more screams of pain, all of which were just convincing me to run faster.

I had to get the gun. I'm sure there couldn't be many of them up there. Aiming the thing couldn't be that hard, and I knew that the handful of the riot shells we had was more than enough to at least incapacitate all the ponies up top and give everypony a chance to at least run.

Yes.

I can do this. I know I can. I had to. I was security, it was my job. I had to do this. For me, for my friends, for the families of the Stable... for Ivory.

The security room was now within my sight. It sounded like whoever was coming through was still on the first floor of the Stable, however that meant that they were definitely searching for ponies, a thought that made me truly sick to my stomach. I could still hear the occasional scream followed by a gunshot or two, both of which being more than enough to tell me that they were executing ponies.

Why?

Why is this all happening?

Who are these ponies?

What was their purpose in all this?

What did they have to gain from it?

So many questions were pumping through my mind as I opened up the damn near sealed case for the riot shotgun. I had never physically even touched a firearm (let alone of full fledged combat harness) so I had no clue what to expect. I had a feeling it was going to be rather heavy, as the entire thing had to have been made of some sort of metal. To be completely honest, I wasn't even sure how they worked. I received a quick five minute mandatory video on the harness and how it worked back when I first became a member of security, but quite frankly I didn't exactly pay attention, as even Bouncer himself told me that it was nothing more than useless information. I remember something about using the bar that will be mounted in front of your face to fire the weapon, but that was about all I remembered about the damn thing.

Sure enough, as I nervously pulled the combat harness from its case I was greeted with a mass of machinery that had to have easily weighed upwards of thirty pounds.

"Sweet Celestia!" I huffed as I nearly dropped the device to the ground with an echoing thud.

However, despite my already negative feelings towards the device, I knew that I was going to have to muscle up and get the thing on, as I had a deep gut feeling that the remainder of lives within the Stable were now resting within my hooves.

"Oh boy... no pressure Silver." I frantically and nervously said to myself as I managed to find a way to get the harness onto my back. "You can do this. The shells are non-lethal anyways. It's not like you're going to have to kill another pony."

I then began fastening the straps of the combat harness around myself, tightening them down as hard as I could to ensure that I wouldn't have this thing falling off of me. To be fair, it did feel lighter once I got the thing properly onto my back, but that didn't make me any less nervous or any more confident about the matter. I knew within the next few minutes I was going to have to shoot at another pony. In fact, not just any pony, but a sadistic type of pony that seemed to have no remorse about killing off innocent and helpless ponies.

I now had the shells of the firearm in front of me. I had to admit that I was lost as to how exactly I needed to load this thing, but the more I observed the weapon the quicker blurry flashbacks of the training video came to me.

"Let's see... Shells go in here... That goes in there... " I continued to ponder to myself as a loaded what I remembered to be called a magazine into the shotgun, which let me know I did something correct as the weapon emitted an oddly satisfying clank as the bolt of the weapon shot forward.

"Okay... you can do this Silver." I again said to myself, my heart practically beating out of my chest at this point. "You have eight shots. Just be confident, you're doing this for everyone you know and love. You can do this."

As I exited the security room, I was once again greeted with the sounds of screams and gunfire, however now it seemed much closer than before.

"No no no..." I said as I began sprinting as fast as my body would allow me, passing more worried Stable ponies which all still had solid looks of disbelief. "Please Celestia and Luna... give me strength."

I then turned a corner to face the stairs, only to be spotted by a single blood drenched earth pony standing at the top. The lights in the Stable seemed to be especially bright today, so I was able to get a decent look at him. His coat appeared to be some sort of off orange, and he was sporting a set of improvised armor over his chest and hooves that appeared to be poorly welded together using nothing more than scraps of metal. He also had a rusty, serrated knife clenched within his teeth, that of which also had a thick red liquid dripping off of it that seemed to reflect off of his bright green, bloodshot eyes.

He let out a maniacal, almost ear piercing war cry as he charged down the stairs towards me, all the while mumbling obscenities that were only blocked by the evil looking blade within his mouth.

I took a few steps of fear backwards as he came down the stairs, quickly realizing that I had the tools to come out on top. Nervously, I aimed the shotgun at my attacker to the best of my abilities, then quickly bit down on the trigger mechanism resting in front of my mouth.

*BANG*

The massive explosion of thunder coming from my combat harness caused my ears to ring, my vision to blur, and made the bottom of the stairs become covered in a fine layer of interesting smelling smoke.

That was easily the loudest thing I had ever heard in my entire life. I could still hear the thundering sound pinging off the metal walls of the Stable as my vision slowly came back into focus. However, despite all the downsides of the weapon, it definitely worked. The pony was now laying at my hooves, groaning with sounds of pain. It appeared that the nonlethal round had struck him somewhere in the neck area, as there was a large patch of hair missing from the his neck that wasn't just seconds ago. The skin underneath was already beginning to blacken and bleed, which was more than enough to tell me that my attacker was now out for the count.

"Okay... that wasn't that bad. He's not dead... So everything's fine." I reassured myself as I began walking up the stairs, my legs now wobbling so much from nervousness that it was beginning to be hard to properly walk. "Why in the world is all of this happening?" My front hooves then touched the top of the stairs... Next thing I knew another violent, sadistic sounding scream flooded my eardrums as I saw the shape of a club type object come rapidly towards my face from right outside of my peripheral vision.

Then everything went black.

When I finally began to come to, I was unable to open my eyes and my ears were emitting a horrendous ringing noise. My head was also pounding, and I definitely tasted a rather alarming amount of blood within my mouth. I couldn't even breath properly, as my nose was clogged and every time I attempted to breath through my mouth I was met with violent coughing and wheezing.

"Wakey wakey mother fucker!" A muffled, crazed voice pronounced from somewhere off to my left.

"Yeah! I'm gonna have some fun with this one!" A second voice chimed in, his sentence receiving demented laughter.

"How about you shut your god damn mouth before the boss gets here?" Another insane sounding voice spoke.

"Yeah! Maybe he'll make it quick for you!" Another added in, his breath feeling close enough to tell me that he was directly next to me.

Why couldn't I open my eyes. What was going on? Am I dreaming? Am I dead? Who were these ponies, and how many was there? Who was in here with me? Who else did they have? Who else was alive?

I began to feel what I hoped were tears running from my sealed eyes, and a small sniffle escaped from my mouth as I failed at attempting to remain quiet.

"Come on faker!" A voice yelled out as I felt a numbing pain shoot through my ribs. "I heard that fuckin' sniffle, so open up your damn eyes and face us!"

By no means did I want to, but I had a feeling that I was either going to do it myself or be forced to, so I might as well go with the less painful option.

I slowly began to force my heavy, swollen eyes open. My vision blurred and distorted as I attempted to look around.

"Ah, there she is!" Yet another voice frantically laughed.

"Ooh, she's a pretty one. Gonna have to put some satisfying fuck holes in her."

My vision and hearing were finally beginning to return to normal, however I truly wished that this wasn't that case. What in the world was I hearing? Each sentence and sound was worse than the last. And the sights I was seeing, they were nothing short of awful. It was so bad and foreign that I almost couldn't even tell what area of the Stable I was in. In fact, the only thing that gave it away was the large stable door sitting at the front of the room. I saw piles of dead ponies come into focus, all of which had thick pools of blood, organs, and other bodily fluids resting beneath them. There were dozens of crazy, vile looking ponies scattered throughout the room, all of which seemed to have a primary focus of teasing and tormenting me. I made a poor attempt to stand, but was prevented by the ropes and chains now holding my hooves together. I wasn't even wearing my armor anymore. In fact, I was completely naked. They had even taken my Pipbuck.

I went to close my eyes again in hopes that this was all just a horrible dream, but instead began to hear the sounds of muffled panic off to my right. With doubt in mind, I slowly panned my head to face the area of the sound... Something I also wish I wouldn't have done.

What I saw was something that made me puke up both blood and my breakfast. It... It was Ivory. She was alive... but I could tell by the look on her blindfolded and gagged face that she didn't want to be. Her legs looked mangled and broken, and her cutie mark was... good god... it was just gone. It looked like it was poorly cut out with a less than sharp knife. Her white coat was now almost completely stained in blood... all of which had to have been hers.

"I... Ivory... No... " The words escaped my lips as tears ran down my face, a few of the sadistic ponies evidently catching notice as they began to wander over, all grinning ear to ear.

"Aww ... Did you know this little bitch?" One of them spoke.

"Must suck some serious shit seeing her like this." Another laughed.

"Tell ya what, we'll make ya a deal! What say we let you see her one last time before we end her!" The third loudly proclaiming as he prodded me with a metal pipe.

They then violently ripped off the blindfold and gag.

"Why are you doing this!" Ivory almost immediately cried out, tears and blood soaking her face.

"Shut up bitch!" A unicorn pony retorted as she slapped her directly on the raw skin of where her cutie mark used to be.

"Ivory..." I mumbled as I looked at her in disbelief, her eyes almost immediately shifting to face me.

"Silver! What's going on? I'm scared. Please he-"

"Shut the fuck up!" The same pony who smacked her twitched as she levitated up a small firearm and placed it firmly against her forehead.

"No!" I yelled out as I attempted to lunge towards Silver's assailant, but was stopped by my binds.

"ENOUGH!" A deep, powerful voice suddenly boomed from the entrance of the Stable.

Then, something happened that I never would have expected. All of them, literally every single one of the horrible ponies just... stopped. They all turned and faced the direction of the voice.

Standing in the entrance was a large pony... No... Wait, this wasn't a pony. At first I thought my head was just messing with me, but as the creature came walking forward I realized that it wasn't a pony, but instead a Zebra like those from the books in the Stable library. He walked with a sort of unsettling confidence, and it didn't take long to figure out that he was the one who all of these crazy ponies were led by.

He was large, sporting a very proud build and stature. His black and white mane and tail were styled with thick, long dreadlocks, and his outfit was nothing short of vile. He wore gold trimmed armor that appeared far more exquisite and effective than that of the ponies before him, a putrid necklace of unicorn horns rested around his neck, and a long, flowing duster that was made from... oh god... that is disgusting.

Cutie marks. He was wearing a duster made from stitched together cutie marks.

The only thing that forced me to look away from him was the sobbing of Ivory.

"Ivory... I'm here. Please look at me." I whispered as I attempted to comfort her.

"S... Silver. Baby, what's going on? Please help me. I'm so scared." She whimpered, attempting to stretch one of her mangled legs out to grab me.

We were both sobbing uncontrollably, yet the crazed ponies who I could have imagined would have screamed at us by now were still dead silent, the only sounds within the room was the humming of the stable, the heavy footsteps of the Zebra inching closer, and mine and Ivory's cries for each other.

"Baby... It's gonna be okay. I'm here." I attempted to reach for her mangled leg.

"It hurts so much... " She winced, seemingly unable to move an inch of her body without feeling immense pain. The looks of pain coming off her face was enough to make me cringe.

The Zebra was now directly on top of us. He almost seemed to put off a sort of aura of power. Every single pony in the room simply seemed to bend to his will. This was an evil soul... No... This was a creature. He didn't even deserve to be called by anything more than a creature.

He began looking around at his surrounding, then made direct eye contact with Ivory and I, eventually getting far to close for comfort as he leaned over us, almost as if he was sizing us up.

"Hmm, so these are what Stable Dwellers are like... Not impressed." He spoke, his voice sounding oddly elegant and regal.

"Why... Why are you doing this?" I responded, still attempting to reach for Ivory to comfort her.

"I'm afraid that is my business." He rebutted, now noticing that I was still trying to reach for Ivory. "Oh? What is this?"

"Please... Please don't hurt her." Was all I could manage to muster.

I didn't receive a verbal response from the zebra, but instead a simple chuckle as he rolled up the sleeves of his putrid cutie mark duster, revealing an odd, hoof mounted mechanism that was anything but recognizable to me. He then lifted the same hoof up to Ivory's neck, who was now sobbing uncontrollable as she cried my name. I attempted to leap upwards, but was still unable to. He was practically caressing Ivory now, making odd, almost sensual eyes at her before his neck quickly snapped back to face me once more.

He then lightly smiled at me as he quickly sprung his hoof forward, the hoof mounted mechanism making a god awful sound as a rusty blade sprung from it, instantly piercing through Ivory's neck to such a dramatic extent that the tip of the blade emerged from the back of her neck.

"NO!" I screamed out in agony as I once again became frozen in place, maniacally laughing ponies pouncing on top of me to keep me still. One began to hold my eyes open as I tried to look away from the horrors that I was witnessing.

She was gurgling and coughing up blood as the Zebra nearly lifted her off of the ground like a cruel shish-kebab, large amounts of fresh blood now pouring from her body.

"S... S... " She kept making an S sound as her final breaths drew closer, I could only cry as I assumed she was attempting to say my name.

"Fellow members of the Alpha Pack!" The Zebra roared, all of the sadistic ponies listening in with eager faces. "This was what the past world was like before the great cleansing! They were weak, pathetic fools! Use this as an example of what will happen if we allow things to return to proper order!"

The room then filled with loud roars, laughter, and war cries from the dozens of sadist ponies as the Zebra leaned in close to my face.

"And you, little miss, will be made as an example of what happens to those who defy me." He then sadistically grinned as he yanked the knife out of Ivory's neck at a sideways angle, her now nearly decapitated body falling to the ground as her blood painted the side of my face.

I went to scream, but was stopped when a type of gag was placed within my mouth. Another blow then struck the back of my head, reuniting me with the darkness.

Level Up

New Perk: Combat Harness Level One.

Due to your training, you have been given the knowledge of how to properly handle a medium sized combat harness. Gain plus three damage when using a combat harness mounted weapon.

Chapter 5 - A Whole New World

Chapter 5 - A Whole New World

Black.

Everything was completely black.

All I could do was think, which was odd. I knew all too well that whatever was currently happening to me wasn't good by any means, but I was strangely calm, or should I say numb, to the whole situation. It was almost as if I was in a weird in-between stage of consciously sleeping and completely brain dead. Or perhaps It was like I was drifting in and out of sleep ... It was hard to say. Still, it felt vaguely familiar. It loosely reminisced the late nights of working stable security where I would be too tired to move, but was still conscious enough to at least be aware of my surroundings.

That being said, this was somehow completely different at the same time, as I wasn't able to open my eyes no matter how hard I tried. I was occasionally able to hear and smell things, but every single time that happened it would be so brief and broken up that the odds of making anything out from it were slim to none.

And to top it all off, every single time where it seemed as if I was coming out of whatever the hell I was in, I would be greeted by a completely numbing pain that would nearly instantly send me back into my mentally aware nap.

Everything was just odd. I could think, but without emotion. I could hear, but nothing made sense. I could smell, but nothing was familiar. I could even see, but everything was black.

I knew all too well what was going on. I knew that I was unconscious. I knew that I was being taken away somewhere. I knew that everything I had known and loved was either dead or destroyed, and if I were able to feel anything right now, I would both infuriated and scared.

Maybe this was it. Maybe I was actually dead and this was simply what death was like. Just numbly sitting in the darkness with nothing more than an emotionless version of your conscious mind that was simply able to look back and reflect on everything that had ever happened in your life.

Was this really it? Was this death? I mean, even it it was, I was still me in thought, wasn't I? And if that was the case, wouldn't this just drive somepony to insanity? How long would I have to endure this? Maybe I wasn't just dead, but I was instead sent to the Pits of Tartarus like the evil ponies from my foalhood story books.

No.

That was silly. I mean, none of that was real, was it? Who's to say?

Wait ... something is off. I could feel ... something. I couldn't quite pinpoint it, but I could just tell that it felt like a part of me was slowly but surely coming back. Perhaps my hearing? No, that wasn't it, everything still sounded like I was trapped in a void of white noise. Something made me think it could have been my sight, but that wasn't quite it either as when I went to open my eyes an odd feeling as if that wasn't even a bodily function anymore seemed to sweep over me.

I continued to go ever basic functions in my head, all to no prevail. It wasn't until I noticed myself getting truly frustrated until I finally noticed what my mind was slowly regaining: My emotions.

I was starting to be able to feel and think clearly again. I was sad, scared, nervous, angry, and a slew of others. I wanted to react how I normally would, but I still couldn't. I tried forcing my eyes open once again, but was again met with the absent feeling of not being able to.

I continued to mentally struggle with myself, trying over and over to force myself to at least do something! And, as I continued, the more I would regain. It wasn't much longer until I began to make progress.

I could see something through the darkness. It was bright, like a stereotypical light at the end of a dark tunnel. Naturally, almost as if I was working off of instinct, I headed towards it, as it could only have meant two things: That I was officially dead and was moving on to some sort of afterlife, or that I was finally regaining full consciousness. I slowly crept closer to the light, and with each growing inch everything seemed to become more clear. My memories and emotions returned, and I swore that I was actually able to feel things again.

I then felt myself take a sudden deep breath of not so fresh air as I was practically transferred back into my body, my eyes finally shooting open in the process causing me to take in everything nearly all at once, which did ensue a bit of internal panic.

The first thing I had noticed was the air. It was cold and foreign, the cool breeze seeming to cut through my fur and chill me to the bone. The next was the slew of foreign noises, which primarily consisted of crazed talking and laughter, metal clashing, harsh winds, insects, and what I had assumed to be the crackling of a fire. Still, it was oddly quiet compared to the Stable's constant humming of generators and near expired light bulbs. The feelings of dirt and crumbled stone beneath my hooves honestly made me feel rather odd, as it was a completely new sensation compared to my life of trotting upon the Stable's solid, metallic flooring. It wasn't until I had attempted to stand when I noticed that I was also trapped, causing me to fall into an even deeper, much more vocal panic.

Nervous tears began rolling down my face as I attempted to take in my new and highly unsettling surroundings. I was trapped in a small, rusty cage that was barely big enough to fit a single pony inside. The mixture of wooden and metal bars being just thick enough to prevent any sort of clue as to what exactly everything looked like outside of the cage but just thin enough to allow light to peer through the cracks. All of my belongings, including my pipbuck, were gone. I had caked up blood covering nearly my entire body, more than half of it easily not being my own. Either way, it had caused my fur to be matted and full of disgusting knots. I began to look around for some sort of way out, but was left with nothing more than a small, coin sized hole in what was apparently the lid to the cage.

I wasn't sure what was going on, but it was safe to say that I was no longer within the safety of Stable 76. I looked up through the small hole to be greeted with what seemed to be a never ending void that was met with dark grey and brown clouds that covered the entirety of what was apparently supposed to be the sky, which, quite frankly, terrified me. In all honestly, that pretty much summed up everything I was feeling right now.

I was completely and utterly terrified.

I was in an unknown place, outside of the Stable, and was trapped inside a rusty cage with ... wait a minute.

It was amongst my terror that I came to realize exactly why my neck was as stiff as it was. Apparently, I was wearing something after all ... but I couldn't exactly say that I knew what that something was.

It was a sort of thick, metal collar that was anything but comfortable. It restricted movement, chafed my skin, and it ... beeped? Odd. The sound was faint, but I could have sworn that the damned contraption was emitting a very soft beeping noise. I had attempted to pry it off, but every time I tugged on it the beeping would seem to speed up, greatly discouraging me from even attempting to tamper with the crude device.

I was now in far more of a panic. My skin felt as if it was crawling, and the fact that I couldn't see much outside of the cage was causing me to be both highly claustrophobic and extremely frightened. I noticed that I was beginning to hyperventilate as legitimate tears of fright began to escape from my eyes. It wasn't long until I was bawling like that of a newborn foal, practically laying in a fetal position with my hooves covering my eyes and tail tucked in between my legs as denial began to set in.

It was official. I one hundred percent had wished that I was dead right now. At least then I would be with everypony that I had known and loved ... at least then I would still have Ivory by my side for comfort.

"No ... " I weeped. "This can't be happening. Please ... Somepony save me." I bawled as I looked up through the hole and into the murky sky, watching as some sort of winged creature circled overhead.

"Trust me ... " A light, defeated sounding voice spoke from somewhere off to my left. "Nopony is coming."

My ears perked up in confusion as I wiped the tears from my face I slightly sat up in an attempt to find where exactly the voice came.

"H-hello?" I stuttered, almost believing that I was already beginning to go crazy. "Is somepony there? Where am I? What's going on?" I was viciously thrashing about in the small cage as I attempted to spot the source of the voice.

"I'm over here idiot." The voice spoke up once again as it's source tapped on the side of my cage, still sounding monotone and emotionless. I wasn't able to see the other pony through the thick bars of the cage, but I was at least able to pinpoint his or her location.

"Hello? Who's there? Can you help me?" I frantically spoke, nearly stumbling over my words as I wiped the last of my tears from my face.

"Calm down." The voice responded, seeming to sound female. "There's no use in crying. If you're quiet, they'll at least make it quick."

A great number of red flags went off in my head upon hearing this.

"No. Come on, please tell me what's going on! Where am I? Please, tell me something!" I was practically screaming at this point.

"Keep your damn voice down!" She sternly spoke through the walls of my cage. "Look, I don't know who you are or why you're in here, but all I can tell you is that if you keep going on like that, then our lives are gonna be a helluva lot shorter than they already are."

"But ... I don't understand. This is all so new to me. Please, just tell me what's going on!" I continued on, refusing to silence myself until I had received a suitable answer.

"What do you mean you don't know what's going on? You came into Baltimare Raider Territory just like everypony else trapped in this damn slaver town, and just like the rest of us, you got caught. So, if you don't be quiet, were all gonna end up with a knife in the neck by the end of the day!"

What in the world was this mare on about? Baltimare Raider territory? Slavers? And why did she sound so content with all of this? It was almost as if she thought this was normal! I needed answers, I just honestly didn't know where to start at this point!

"So ... are you gonna keep your mouth shut? Or are we all gonna have to suffer because you wanted to ask too many damn questions?" The mare continued through the muffled sounds of the cages.

"Can ... Can I please ask one single thing? I'll be quiet afterwards, I swear." I begged.

"If I answer it will you finally shut the hell up?" She responded, her voice being more than enough to tell me that she more than likely had an annoyed look on her face.

"Promise." I stated, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"Ugh." She scoffed. "Make it quick."

"Okay. I'm not from here. I grew up my entire life inside of Stable 76, and I just want to know where I am and what's going on." I quickly blurted out, only to be met with a long, almost awkward pause.

"So ... You really don't know, do you?" She answered my question with another as she let out a long, drawn out sigh. "I almost envy that."

"Please, this is all so new to me. Please, help me." I continued to beg for answers.

"All I can tell you is that you're in a place called the Baltimare Blood Pits, a slaver town connected to the outskirts of Baltimare Raider Pact territory. Before the war, Baltimare was some sort of large city, a metropolis if you will. But nowadays, the entire city has been converted into the largest raider settlement in all of Equestria. And Stable 76, your home, was smack dab in the middle of it. So, if I can offer you two things of advice now that you're a slave like the rest of us."

"Yes, please." I eagerly responded, still attempting to take in every horrible detail that I had just learned.

"One, it's always best to keep your mouth shut around raiders. Two, never mention the name Nguvu." She whispered through the walls of the cages.

"Umm ... Who is-"

"You there!" I was cut off by a booming voice somewhere outside of the cages. "What the fuck did you just say?"

And just like that, I was scared again. I listened through the thick cage as the sounds of hoof steps grew closer to my location, even more crazed laughter seeming to fill the air as the, what I now could assume was a raider pony, grew closer.

"Who's the little bitch who just said the Overboss's name? Huh?" The voice was male, and sounded very dry and strained. It was a voice of pure insanity. "Oh come on now, one of you bitches better speak up, or else I'm gonna have to come in there myself and teach you a thing or two about respect!"

It almost sounded as if he was directly on top of my cage now. I didn't know what to do. Should I say something? Do I stay quiet? The other pony next to me said I should stay quiet around raiders, but this was nearly mind breaking!

"I'm gonna give you sluts to the count of three, and if one of ya's don't speak up, then my knife's gonna be a helluva lot dirtier than it was a second ago." I could now hear the sounds of more ponies approaching, more sounds of giggling and snickers filling the air in the process.

"One!" He screamed, a hoof slamming into the top of my cage as a bloodshot, lime green eye of a stallion peered in through the small hole, causing me to whimper in fear.

"Two!" The eye then left, the sound of banging on the cage to the left of mine immediately followed.

"Thr-"

"It was me!" The pony who had answered my questions spoke up from within her cage. "I am the one who said the name Nguvu." Her voice sounded oddly confident despite the fact that she was more than likely putting herself in great danger.

"Oh is that right now?" The raider pony laughed. "Spike Strip, bring me a crowbar!"

Intense sounds of laughter and conversation filled the air, obscenities that have never before even been thought of were now filling my ears as the evident crowd of other raider ponies outside of the cages began to get riled up.

"Oh man, I'm gonna teach this sorry bitch a lesson!" The main raider pony then verbally grinned as he smashed open the cage next to mine, sounds of struggle ensued as the female pony who had just helped me was violently drug out.

I was unable to see what was going on, but I had a feeling that I did not want to see what was going on anyway.

"Any last words you little unicorn bitch? Or you want me to go ahead and get to the fun part?" The raider snarled.

"Yeah. Your Overboss, Nguvu, as well as the rest of you sorry sons of bitches, can sit on my horn and spin." Her words came out confident and clean, as if she was satisfied with her choice of oddly instigating words.

"Oh you're gonna fuckin' get it now!" The raider grunted with frustration as the sounds of something being brutally beaten echoed throughout my cage.

The next few seconds felt like an eternity. I could hear every little gruesome detail. I could hear bone's breaking, skin ripping, and ponies chanting as the pony who had just helped me was ruthlessly murdered.

"Rip out her fucking tongue!" A pony screamed.

"Choke her with her intestines!" Another added in.

"Cut off her horn and make her eat it!" Another yelled.

This continued on for what felt like hours. I was now once again resting in the fetal position, tail tucked in between my hind legs and hooves covering my eyes as I wept into the dirt. What hell had I been transported into? What has become of the world? Was this now going to be my life? Was it even worth living?

Thoughts like this echoed throughout my mind as the carnage outside slowly began to die down, the pony who was savagely beating the pony who helped me seeming to finally grow tired as the sounds of beating slowed. I knew all to well that the sounds of my crying were more than loud enough to be heard, but I didn't care. I needed to at least get all of this out of my system so I could think clearly, but then I remembered that I needed to remain silent if I didn't want to end up like the pony who's life had just needlessly and ruthlessly ended.

But I was to late.

"Oh, sounds like we got ourselves a whiner!" A female sounding pony seemingly shrieked with excitement as a different, this time light blue eye peered in through the top of my cage. "Hey Crossbones, bring that crowbar over here, I got some stress I wanna work out."

Oh Celestia no. This was it, I was about to be brutally beaten and murdered just like the pony before me. No, I couldn't do this. I couldn't let them do this. I had to fight it, I had to do something!

"No, please!" I loudly whimpered as the door to my cage crumbled, the sudden burst of light from the now seemingly very vast outside world bearing down on me. The first thing I saw was a pale blue coated, yellow bloodstained maned female earth pony standing in front of me, a blood-soaked crowbar clenched within her teeth.

"Come on out little bitch, I ain't gonna kill ya, I'm just gonna hurt ya really, really bad!" She mumbled through her teeth.

I didn't know what to do, so I panicked by swinging my hoof directly into her jaw, the crowbar crashing to the ground. I saw this as a chance, and decided to retaliate by picking up the disgusting crowbar for myself. I went to swing down on the crazed earth pony to defend myself, but was nearly instantly halted as a loud noise of thunder filled the air.

*Bang*

I then felt an immense pain shoot throughout my hind left leg, causing me to wince in pain as I crashed to the ground. I had just been shot.

"Oh, we got a feisty one. The boss is gonna love ripping you to shreds." The male unicorn with the bloodshot, lime green eyes and seemingly dark brown coat grinned, a small firearm being levitated above his head. According to the crossbones cutie mark he had, it was safe to say that this was the pony known as Crossbones.

"Yeah, but not until I have some fun with her first!" The female raider pony who I had just hit said as she climbed up off of the ground, pulling a small knife from a pouch on her side. "You're gonna regret what you just did you little cunt!"

She then climbed on top of me, the strong aroma emitting from her being enough to make my eyes water. I was in such a panic that my brain wasn't even allowing me to fight her off as she placed the blade firmly against my side and began slowly slicing upwards. I was frozen in fear and shock. The pain in my leg was already enough to make me want to pass out, so the added pain of my skin separating as this raider sliced my side open was more than enough to make me want to call it quits, but I knew if I did I would more than likely wake up in an even worse place, or perhaps just not wake up at all.

So I endured it.

I endured it for as long as I possibly could.

My vision began to blur, and my mind began to numb itself as everything began to fade to darkness once again. I was dreadfully close to death at this point.

"Hey fuck face!" A different, far deeper and more powerful sounding voice emitted from amongst the broken up laughter and ringing in my ears. "How about you stop killing the damned merchandise?"

The voice sounded close, and the sounds from its footsteps were heavy, far heavier than that of any pony. As it grew closer, I felt the raider pony finally get off of me as she began apologizing to whomever had spoken up.

"Sorry Boss. It's just this bitch was a bit of a whiner, so I wanted to give her something to cry-"

"And you honestly think I give a shit?" The very obviously male voice interrupted. "That piece of meat there is a Stable Dweller, meaning she'll catch a nice price on the slaver markets. So, either you all leave her unharmed, or else you're gonna have to meet me in the Blood Pit."

I slowly looked up at the extremely dominant sounding voice, being caught highly off guard when I realized what exactly it was. It wasn't pony, zebra, or any other kind of equine race, but rather a Griffon. He was large, easily dwarfing the raider pony who he had just practically pulled off of me. His armor was, while still rather ratty looking, far more exquisite and protective compared to the other raiders that I had seen despite it being riddled with what appeared to be bullet markings. To top off his already intimidating look, he seemed to be extremely battled hardened due to his extremely large amount of scars covering parts of his body that his armor already wasn't. However, two of these scars, or rather wounds I should say, were far more eye catching compared to the rest: His missing eye and the small nub where his left wing would have been placed. As if this wasn't enough, he carried an extremely large weapon with him, almost as if a sort of icing on top of the cake. I couldn't exactly say what it was or what it even fired for that matter, but all I could tell was that from its size alone any normal pony would not be able to properly use it without serious repercussions.

"Y-Yes sir." The raider pony backed up, her ears lowered.

"No no, you know all to well I don't go by sir." The griffon then swept the pony by the shoulders with his massive talons, seemingly digging into her as he pulled her close with a sly grin across his face. "Now, I'm gonna give you one single chance to try that again."

"Yes Commander Gridlock!" The raider winced in pain as he dug deeper into her.

"There we go!" The griffon then squawked in a sense of deranged satisfaction as he released her from his grasps. "Now, all of you runts run along while I have a nice little chat with our Stable Dweller."

And with those words the crowd of raider ponies scattered, leaving only me, the griffon apparently known as Commander Gridlock, and whoever else was more than likely in these cages.

My heart began to race as he stepped closer to me. He stood very tall and proud, his large amount of heavy armor and gear making a rather intimidating noise as he grew closer. He didn't even bother to step around the corpse of the beaten pony who had helped me, but instead simply stepped directly onto of her, the sound of what I had assumed to be her spinal cord snapping causing me to nearly instantly release the contents of my stomach.

"No no no, were not gonna be doing any of that." He annoyingly sighed as he reached for me. I had attempted to crawl back into my cage to get away, but my wounds proved to be far too great. Instead, he grabbed me by my metal collar, pulling me towards him and then effortlessly throwing me onto his back. What was he going to do to me? He said I was valuable to them, but judging from the hole in my leg and the cut in my side I wasn't exactly sure if I had believed that. I knew I couldn't fight this, even if I wanted to. He was far too powerful.

"No ... Please don't hurt me. I - I didn't mean to hurt your friend there." I began to beg as my mind once again started to panic.

"Well missy, two things wrong with that sentence." He reluctantly paused as he began carrying me off to Luna knows where. "One: Ol' Spike Strip there is far from a friend of mine. Hell, she's barely an accomplice. And two: I ain't gonna hurt ya, it's not my job." The griffon almost sounded sorry for me now. "My job is to keep you in one peace until the Slaver's from the next town over come and get ya. So, as it appears my men can't play nice, I guess I'm gonna have to put your ass under my protection."

At first this sounded rather pleasant, but then I had remembered that he was still attempting to sell me into slavery, something of which I very much so disagreed with. But then again, I wasn't exactly sure what to think. Everything was so different out here. Hell, I didn't even really understand where here was! What kind of world had I been transported to? Was this just how life was now? Were things like slavery and cold blooded murder simply common place?

My vision began to fade to black once more as Commander Gridlock carried me through his camp. Everything was absolutely vile. The smells, sounds, sights, everything. I went to shut my eyes, but then found that when I went to open them, I was having trouble once again. It almost felt as if I was now leaving my body rather than being reinserted back into it.

This was it.

I was going to die right here and there.

And I was okay with it.

I then began to let go. I felt myself become distant, and ... happy. I was once again going to be with the ponies I loved. I began to feel cold, and my hearing began to pick up a faint buzz as I almost felt myself become lighter.

This was it.

However, amongst my oddly content and happy thoughts, I heard the the deep, muffled voice of Gridlock.

"Oh no, can't have you dying on me yet." Was all I heard until his voice again faded away.

No.

Don't save me.

Please don't bring me back.

I then heard the faint noise of what resembled that of a cork being popped out of a glass bottle, and then felt an oddly refreshing yet vile tasting liquid rush down my almost numb throat.

No.

I could feel myself once again returning.

What in the world did this damned griffon just make me drink?

Everything once again became clear, and I could feel my eyes, while heavy, begin to open once again ... Tears beginning to role down my face as I realized that whatever he had done was bringing me back.

"No." I softly spoke. "I don't want to come back."

My eyes slightly opened, the one-eyed face of Gridlock standing over me.

"Missy, I done told you that I can't have you dying on me. Now, listen up, cause I got some explaining to do."

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk: Quick Thinking

Your abrupt arrival into the wasteland has proven harsh and difficult, but you seem to always find a way out. You now receive plus two perception when health is below 20%.

Chapter 6 - Vital Information

Chapter 6 - Vital Information

Gridlock and I had spent the last half an hour or so sitting within the confined space of his personal tent and simply talking. Or should I say the last half an hour was spent by me asking questions and Gridlock answering them. I had learned a lot within this little bit of time. I now knew that I was currently in a small raider outpost located on the outskirts of the infamous raider capital city known as The Baltimare Raider Pits, a name that I had already heard a few times since my abrupt introduction to what I could now call the Equestrian Wasteland. Apparently, Gridlock's camp wasn't even a powerful raider outpost, but rather one of the lowest camps on the apparent "raider totem pole" that Gridlock had previously informed me of.

According to Gridlock, the raiders within The Baltimare Raider Pits were unlike any other raider groups throughout the Equestrian Wasteland. Whereas other groups of raiders were small, unorganized, and for the most part highly unintelligent, The Baltimare Raiders were a physical force to be reckoned with. They had weapons, organization, numbers, an entire city under their control, and a legitimate form of leadership. Apparently this was something that normal raiders severely lacked. According to Gridlock, raiders without leadership were nothing more than a basic pest amongst the wasteland.

The way leadership apparently worked amongst the raiders here was also different compared to other small groups of raiders. Like Gridlock said, it sort of worked like a very gruesome form of a hierarchy. At the very top of this bloody totem pole was a zebra that I have both heard of and physically seen: N'Guvu. A name that I already knew would haunt my dreams and memories. A name that in such a short amount of time had taken so much from my life. A name that was apparently so powerful that only a select number raiders were allowed to say it, and as I have already seen, Celestia help anypony who was caught speaking his name without proper permission.

Gridlock was apparently one of the raiders allowed to speak his name, as he was given the title of a raider "Boss". Any raider who was put in charge of a camp was given the title of a Boss. The next step up from that were known as Wardens, a group of six individuals who were all assigned their own camps within the city, but were also given the ability to carry out their own orders and act on their own accord without N'Guvu's approval. The only step up from this was given to N'guvu himself, which was the title of Overboss. The Overboss was the sole leader of the entire city of Baltimare, and no one dared to challenge the Overboss.

In all honesty, the fact that someone like Gridlock had only held the title of a Boss, and a rather low ranking one at that, completely horrified me. What were the wardens like? Exactly how bad was N'Guvu himself? It turned out that the more answers I was given, the more questions my brain created.

"So what exactly did he want with me? With my stable?" I reluctantly asked, repositioning myself as I was still rather sore despite the healing potion that Gridlock forced down my throat healing most of my wounds.

"Long story short, your Stable was placed in the city of Baltimare before the land was put to rest with mega spells and balefire. Naturally, since it wasn't exactly a secret that it was set to open on a certain date, ponies grew curious as to what they'd find inside. Once Baltimare was taken over by raiders, it became more of a matter of anxiousness rather than curiosity. In the end, N'Guvu grew bored of waiting, and hacked his way into the Stable's systems. He sent a message from the Stable-Tec headquarters located within Baltimare to make it look official as a way to fool anyone inside, and then forced it open himself. Essentially, he just grew tired of waiting." The griffon cleared his throat as he continued to clean his massive rifle, something that he really didn't need to be doing right now. I was already frightened enough. "As for what he wanted with you ... The short answer is nothing. Much like any other basic raider, he likes to see others suffer. In the end, you're nothing more than a hoof full of bottle caps to him." He continued on, an odd, begrudging sound within his voice.

"Well ... You seem rather well informed." I sat back at the shock of his answer. "How do you know all of that?"

"Because I was there. Most of the bosses and wardens were."

"And why is that? How much firepower did you guys really need for a bunch of stable ponies with next to no combat experience?"

"Look kid, your Stable had been sealed for years. N'Guvu was hoping for some grand prize to be locked inside, but when it turned out that it was just some highly uninformed Stable Dwellers, he grew disappointed. And N'Guvu hates being disappointed." He continued.

Another group of tears began escaping my eyes upon hearing all of this, knowing that everything was taken from me simply because some sadistic piece of shit was disappointed with what he had found.

"There's no use in crying kid. It's best just to obey him. Any fate you'll get from going against him isn't a fate worth living." The griffon sighed. "Now, I have some rounds I need to make around the camp. You can either wait here and undoubtedly try something stupid and get yourself killed, or you could come with me, hide under my wing, and keep out of trouble. At least then you'll be as safe as you possibly could be at this given moment." The griffon then threw his massive, now freshly cleaned rifle over his back, the barrel nearly smacking my muzzle in the process.

I honestly had to think about his proposal. While yes, he was knowingly giving me a chance to escape, he knew all to well that I was too fresh to the Equestrian Wasteland to even survive an attempted escape ... and he was completely correct in assuming so. Hell, I didn't even have the proper supplies to sustain myself, let alone protect myself. In fact, I still had more than a considerable amount of questions that I had in mind. Plus, throughout our conversation, I had noticed something rather peculiar about the way Gridlock spoke towards me. He seemed to have a hint of uncertainty amongst his already scruffy sounding voice whenever he had mentioned pretty much anything involving N'Guvu. It was a sort of tone that made it seem like he himself didn't want to be here either. And quite frankly, I wanted to learn more. It wasn't like he was being hostile towards me by any means. In fact, it was more than likely safe to assume that he was simply doing what he was told to avoid the likes of N'Guvu for one reason or another, which I couldn't exactly fault him for.

"Yeah ... You're right. I'll just go with you. That seems like the safest option." I quietly responded as I sat up, my legs still feeling rather week from my recent thrashing.

"Hmph." He grunted as he swung open the flap of his tent, the now dim light of the outside world rushing inside, placing a dull yellow glow on any surface it touched. "That may be the smartest thing you've done all day."

Upon exiting the tent I once again had to take in my surroundings. Gridlock's tent appeared to be located in the back of the entire camp. It was also slightly risen in the air by a small mound that was connected to a vast and dense forest, the only separation between the two being a rather thick chainlink fence that was no more than five feet away from the tent. As I peered out into the camp I noticed the silhouette of an extremely large city in the distance, great walls seeming to keep it protected from the outside world. I had attempted to stand and take in more of the surroundings, but Gridlock seemed to have no patience to let me take in the view and smell the rather vile roses.

It took extra effort to keep up with Gridlock's rather large steps as we wondered throughout the camp, as it seemed that damn near every other raider within this place viewed me as nothing more than a delightful snack. It didn't take long for Gridlock to get rather aggressive with the raiders as they attempted to close in on me. If you would have told me just a few days ago that I would get to see a griffon physically throw another pony, I more than likely would have called you delusional and sent you to the doctor. But, I suppose in the Equestrian Wasteland there's a first for everything.

"So where's our first stop?" I nervously asked.

"Why's it matter to you?" He quickly responded in his seemingly permanently annoyed tone.

"I don't know ... I guess I'm just trying to make conversation." I continued, trying my absolute hardest to not make direct eye contact.

"You're barking up the wrong tree then kid. I've told you practically everything I can safely tell you." He sighed. "I can already tell that I'm gonna be receiving some sort of punishment for simply keeping you out of harms way. Doesn't exactly take long for word to spread amongst the camps."

There was a brief pause as we evidently came up on our first stop. It appeared to be a sort of pre-war barn that the raiders had converted into a rather crude warehouse for Luna knows what. Naturally, I stepped aside and began to observe as a more scraggly than usual looking unicorn pony stepped out of the shed. Her coat seemed to be that of a rust color at first, but once I noticed that her cutie mark was covered I realized that her coat was instead so dirty that it was stained with a gross, brown color. I watched as she levitated a small clipboard over to Gridlock, a look of disappointment going across his face merely seconds after looking at the crumbled piece of paper attached to the board.

"Where the hell is the ammunition shipment?" Gridlock questioned, the dirty unicorn cowered back as he rose above her.

"According to the ponies who dropped off this weeks shipment, it had to be relocated to one of the inner cities due to an alicorn wing that snuck into the city." The unicorn quietly responded, a small twitch beginning to form in her left eye. A new question came into mind at the mentions of alicorns, as I had had always believed that Celestia, Luna, and Cadence were the only ponies in all of Equestria who had held that title.

"And how in the actual hell did that happen?" Gridlock responded as he handed the clipboard back to the unicorn, a sound of disbelief escaping from his beak.

"Not sure. According to the ones who delivered this shipment it had something to do with the sewer systems not being completely sealed off. I guess that's how they got in." As the unicorn spoke, her voice became faster, and far more erratic.

"And let me guess, at least two units of dash are already gone as well, aren't they?" Gridlock leaned dangerously close to the twitching unicorn as he said this, a sense of confusion sweeping over me as yet another question popped into my mind.

"Umm ... No .... Maybe ... I don't know boss." The pony now seemed to cower in fear as she attempted to back step into the warehouse.

"Bullshit. I can see it in your eyes you fuckin' druggy." The griffon did a dramatic face ... claw? Yeah, face claw as he let out yet another disappointed sigh. "Look, just consider yourself on watch. If I catch you using another drug before the next shipment comes in, I'll be personally sending your dumbass out into the forest."

"Y - Yes Boss." The pony then made her way back into the warehouse, her head hanging at her hooves.

"Ugh ... Damn druggies. Hate every single one of 'em." Gridlocked sighed to himself as he turned and began walking once again.

"So ... I now have more questions." I slightly grinned as my ears flopped downwards.

"Lay 'em on me." He responded with a monotone sound of annoyance.

"So first things first, what was that I heard about Alicorn's? I thought the princesses from before the war were the only ones with that title?"

"They're not exactly legitimate alicorns, but rather a form of mutant infected by radiation. Most of them are as dumb as rocks from my experience, but damn can they hold their own in a fight." He paused as he let out a small chuckle. "Some even go as far as saying that they're some sort of DNA copies of the princesses brought to life by some sketchy ass project designed by the Ministry Mares. Apparently they were designed during the war to be used as super soldiers, and just so happened to survive the apocalypse ... But that sounds too damn stupid and farfetched to be true to me. Besides, they've only been a thing for around ten years, so the mutant story is far easier to believe in my eyes."

That was actually a lot of information to take in at once. Luckily, I wasn't unfamiliar with the six ministry mares and their work, as most ponies within Stable 76 were educated on most things that happened during the war. However, it still brought up the question as to how exactly radiation was able to infect somepony to such an extent that it re-arranged his or her DNA into becoming an Alicorn.

"How in the world does radiation do such a thing?" I questioned, now more curious and confused about the subject of radiation than I had ever been.

"Not exactly sure how to answer that one. Short answer: Radiation is some fucked up shit that shouldn't be messed with. I've seen some dangerous creatures in my days, and the more radiation that creature has taken in, the harder it is to kill. And even worse, there's talk of something within the woods that can control these creatures. And quite frankly, that terrifies me." The large griffon seemed to shiver as he spoke these words, a sense of fear seeming to drape over him. Something that I would have thought someone the likes of Gridlock was nearly incapable of feeling.

"What do you mean by that? Like, how could something control these animals? Is it another pony? Griffon?" I responded with a similar tone of fear, as I had only just learned about the creatures of the wasteland recently, so the thought alone that there was something out there that could control these beast was something next to supernatural to believe, yet Gridlocked seemed to believe in it with a burning passion. "I mean, how do you even know this creature exist?" I continued on.

"Remember when I told that druggy that I'd send her out into the forest as a punishment?" Gridlocked responded.

"Yeah, what about it?" I pondered.

"Well, there's a reason that's as bad of a punishment as it is. Ever since we set up camp here, there had been talk about our scouts spotting some crazy looking creature out in the distance of the woods. Apparently, it was around the size of a pony, but it had piercing, glowing green eyes that simply stared at you from a distance. According to my men, or at least the ones that made it back alive, the second you make eye contact with the creature all hell breaks lose. I've had men mauled by so many animals, I can't even keep track. Hell, just last week I lost one of my night guards to the creature." The griffon seemed to speak with a sort of respect for this horrifying beast.

"Have you ever seen it yourself?" I continued on, my curiosity at its peak.

"No, but it's hard to deny the facts." He responded.

"Do you guys have a name for it?"

"It's got a few, but The Mist Walker and The Tree Mother seem to be the ones that get used most often. Either way, it's best to avoid the forest ... But I guess you really don't have to worry about that, do you?" The griffon looked back at me once more, a slew of sadness once again sweeping over me as I realized what he was referring to.

"Yeah ... I guess not."

The next hour or so flew by rather quick. We only made a few more stops. One was at a less than clean cafeteria that was serving some less than edible foods, some of which I couldn't even visually recognize. After that we made a stop at what was apparently the guards barracks, however it seemed more like a general raider hangout spot for ponies to lose their minds with the help of this drug known as dash and listen to a less than pleasant radio station that consisted of a single, overly enthusiastic raider pony that was armed with nothing more than a detuned guitar and a slew of awful song lyrics.

For the most part, the rest of the "tour" was rather quiet. Every time I attempted to ask another question, Gridlock seemed to passive aggressively bat it off to the side with the simplest answer he could give. It was odd seeing this raider boss be this kind to me, as judging from what Gridlock himself had told me, Boss's were nothing to be trifled with, no matter how low on the totem pole they were. Yet here he was keeping me safe and answering my questions until these so called slavers came to take me away. It was honestly rather baffling, as I almost felt safe around Gridlock. I wasn't exactly sure what it was, but I could tell that he was someone with a very wounded past. I could tell that he didn't want to be in the position he was in ... and I had a deep feeling that I knew why.

It was officially nighttime as we returned to Gridlock's private tent. The nighttime sky of the Equestrian Wasteland seemed far more enjoyable compared to the blazing hot sun that I was still highly unaccustomed to. In fact, it was almost peaceful once you got past the sounds of arguing and fighting raider ponies.

I once again had a bundle of new questions to ask Gridlock, but these were questions that I was honestly scared to ask, as I wasn't quite sure how he'd react. It wasn't until I had laid down on the makeshift bed of hay and wooden planks that Gridlock had reluctantly laid out for me until I had decided to finally ask a question.

"So ... Umm, if you don't mind me asking ... Why exactly are you here." I struggled to get the words out, as I knew that there was no grey area in how he'd react.

At first I received a hard glare, followed by a slight eyebrow raise as the griffon lightly rubbed his eyes with his talons, letting out a rather violent sounding yawn.

"That's a dangerous question you're asking kid. You know what could happen to you if someone even hears us talking about that kind of stuff?" He turned his back to me as he leaned his massive rifle up against the frame of his equally massive bed.

"I mean, it's not like anypony else can hear us. I'm just curious about you ... You seem ... Different." I was now shaking as the words left my mouth, as his answer would either be a proper explanation or an oversized bullet to the brain.

He sighed before sitting down on his bed, sprawling out and stretching as he let out an exhausted groan. "Look kid ... There's a reason I'm as low on the totem pole as I am. All I can get away with telling you is that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now I'm here." He paused as he looked over me with an observant eye before turning back to face the ceiling of his tent. "I guess I see of lot of similarities in our situations. Hell, I almost wish I was in your position right now."

The tent then fell deathly quiet as everything began to make sense, and it seemed that my speculations about Gridlock were completely correct. He did not want to be here whatsoever. I could only assume that he owed something to N'Guvu, and that was why he was stuck in his position. He was yet another toy within the crazed zebra's toy box. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Gridlock turned out to be a rather nice individual ... But like he said, we were both in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"So ... I'll keep you safe as long as I possibly can. But once those slavers come to get you tomorrow, I'm afraid that I'll be unable to do anything to help without risking my own life, and I hope you can forgive me for that." A depressed groan escaped his breath.

"I understand." I then rolled over on my cheaply put together hay cot as I attempted to hide the tears beginning to roll down my cheeks. "But, thank you Gridlock, I hope you make it out of this one day."

"That makes two of us kid." He responded one last time before the tent officially fell silent, nothing more than the humming nighttime winds of the wasteland and the voices of tired raider ponies filling the air.

The night unsurprisingly turned out to be rather sleepless, as I could do nothing but toss and turn as my nerves, combined with the chill of the night, kept me awake. It didn't exactly help that Gridlock had a snore that could rival the sound of a fully grown Ursa, but that was the least of my concerns as I knew he needed the sleep.

The only window I currently had to the outside world was a small hole torn within the fabric of the tent. The fact that this hole gave me a next to perfect view of the dangerous forest that Gridlock mentioned didn't exactly help with my slumber. I couldn't help but think of the creatures that dwelled within, and I could only hope that I would never have to face them alone. It was odd to know that the only thing separating the camp from the forest was a thick, chainlink fence that I could only imagine would be next to useless when put up against the creatures of the forest. Nonetheless, I couldn't help but stare into the thick trees and brush that the forest consisted of. There was a strange beauty that seemed to emit from it, and I couldn't help but at least be a little bit curious.

On occasion I would even see a small bird that would circle around and land on the fence here and there, right before flying off into the forest to eventually come back and repeat the process. It was actually rather entertaining to watch, as it was easily one of the cuter and more light hearted things I had seen in the wasteland despite it having a large, rather unnatural growth resting on its neck.

It was rather odd actually, as whenever it would land on the fence, it would always land in the same exact place. Perhaps even weirder than that, it would always make prolonged, very direct eye contact with me as its head curiously canted from one side to the other, occasionally letting out a small squawk before once again flying into the forest.

The forest seemed to become covered in a thick mist as the night grew older, and eventually it was to the point where I almost couldn't see the forest to begin with. It made me think about this Mist Walker that Gridlock seemed to speak about. I was almost too curious to not ignore it, but as the mist grew closer I grew more tired.

It wasn't long until I was eventually able to drift off into sleep, the last thing I remember seeing was the same bird landing on the fence once more.

However, the sleep did not last long, as the sounds of the bird seemingly communicating with something caused my eyes to slowly drift open. I wasn't sure what I was expecting to see, but two bright green, glowing eyes from the other side of the fence was the last of my expectations.

I fell deathly silent as I froze upon making eye contact with the creature ... and then I began to panic as the realization set in. This was the creature, The Mist Walker, that Gridlock had talked about. The resemblance was far to similar to dismiss it as anything else. I wanted to move, I wanted to look away as it slowly crept closer to the fence. I was sure that I was about to die like the others who had made eye contact, yet all I could bring myself to do was wish for a swift death.

There was something mesmerizing about the creature. It walked with a sort of slow swagger that was anything but dismissible, and as it grew closer I was able to realize that it was wearing a sort of dark cloak that was draped over its body and face, preventing me from making out any details other than its overall size resembling that of an average pony.

I was in awe is it grew dangerously close, the mist from the forest seeming to pool under its feet as it approached the fence, all the while the same bird remained perched atop the fence, peering into the tent with a ferocious tenacity. It was official, I was completely frozen in fear. My mind was racing as the creature slowly reached up to touch the fence, finally revealing a piece of itself that was without a doubt a dark grey hoof.

We were now practically face to face as the mist began to peer in through the hole of the tent. I began to grow confused as this was very different compared to what Gridlock had told me would happen when one made eye contact with the creature. Where was the death? The carnage? The creatures? I was more curious than anything at this point.

"Who ... Who are you?" I whispered to avoid waking Gridlock.

The response I received was quick, quiet, and rather chilling as the creature blinked a single time before revealing a raspy female voice. "The animals have taken a liking to you, so I have come to save you."

A nervous shiver shot down my spine upon hearing these words. They were rather calming, and had a hint of kindness to back them up. I was beyond confused rather than scared now, as not only did this Mist Walker sound sincere, but she had also mentioned saving me ... Or at least she said the animals were? I was highly confused as to what she meant by this, and I wanted to ask her more, but I was instead ignored as she removed her hoof from the fence and began to return to the forest.

Once again I was confused and intrigued, but my questions soon answered themselves as a single creature of unknown origin emerged from the mist. It was of decent size, almost like that of a dog. It took the Mist Walker's place at the fence line and began digging a hole under the fence with tremendous speed. It was rather loud, and I feared that it was going to wake Gridlock, but as the creature continued to dig it occurred to me that Gridlock was something of a heavy sleeper to say in the least.

It wasn't long until the creature bursted from the ground on my side of the fence. I now had a perfect chance to escape, as it seemed that not a single raider within the camp was aware of what exactly was going on. However, I was rather uncertain at first. If I did go into the forest based on nothing more than a more than mysterious pony's words, then I was truly rolling the dice on my chances of survival. The Equestrian Wasteland didn't exactly seem to be a kind place, so I could very easily be running myself into a trap. But then I came to a dilemma ... Would I stay here knowing that I would live a life of slavery? Or would I take my chances and follow the creature into the forest?

The short answer ... Was yes.

I slowly sat up from my hay cot and began to tiptoe towards the exit of the tent. It seemed as if this day was definitely turning out in my odds, as on the way out I noticed a small leather saddle bag sitting on an end table that was placed beside the main flap of the tent. I looked back at Gridlock to ensure that he was still asleep before I grabbed the bag, as while he did seem like a good guy at heart, I could still see him keeping me here for his own sake if he caught me trying to escape.

I silently snatched up the bag and gave it a quick look over before I threw it onto my haunches. It contained a small firearm, six bullets, a full bottle of water, an apple, a single red vile of liquid that looked practically identical to the healing potion that Gridlock had used on me, and a... key? At first I wondered why he would leave something like this laying around in the open, as these seemed like some rather useful supplies that one would not like to simply give up ... But then I realized what this was. While it was nothing more than a hunch, I had a strong feeling that he left these supplies out on purpose, as he knew all to well that I would try something. He wanted me to at least have a chance ... He wanted me to have the chance that he was never given.

The key was enough to prove this, as I soon realized that the key was for the collar that was leaving me bound to this place. As I slowly removed the collar I sat it upon the same desk that the supplies were on, keeping the key for good measure.

I whispered a small thank you under my breath as I stealthily exited the flap of the tent, a single tear of thanks rolling down my cheek as I went around to the back of the tent where the hole was dug. It was the perfect size to snuggly fit a pony of my size through it. While I wasn't exactly keen on crawling through the dirt, I knew that it was far better than staying here.

I slid into the hole with both a sense of disgust and excitement. It didn't take long to reach the other side and emerge on the outside of the camp. As I stood back on my legs I looked deep into the forest, seeing the glowing green eyes of the Mist Walker watching me through the mist. I looked back towards the camp one last time, then looked down at the satchel that I had received once more.

"Thank you Gridlock." I quietly whispered as I took my first official steps into the Equestrian Wasteland, the mist of the forest slowly dissipating as I grew closer to the Mist Walker.

It wasn't long until we were face to face, only the light of Luna's moon showing her features as she lowered her hood to reveal a rather pretty looking purple maned earth pony. However, while I couldn't quite place it, there was something off about her appearance. It wasn't until she spoke once more that I had noticed that she had two fangs on her upper row of teeth.

"The animals trust you, so I will do the same. Please, follow us to safety." She then placed her hood back over her head as she turned her back to me and began to head deep into the forrest.

I took a single large gulp of confidence as I took a nervous hoof step forward, blindly following the mysterious mare in hopes for the better.

I had done it, I had escaped. Here's hoping to a better future.

Author's Note

We really hope that you all enjoy this chapter. This chapter has been rather difficult for us, as it is in a rather weird place within our story. This chapter was filled with a lot of crucial information that our main character Silver has learned thanks to her griffon captor Gridlock. We had such difficulty with this chapter as we were trying our absolute hardest to make it so none of the information we included seemed forced or rushed. We really hope that we did this chapter well, as this is an extremely important chapter for the story as it marks Silver's first official day within the Equestrian Wasteland. Please, leave any comments and reviews you'd like! Any constructive criticism is highly appreciated!

Chapter 7 - A Walk Through the Woods

Chapter 7 - A Walk Through the Woods

The Equestrian wilderness was truly a sight to behold. The sounds of the forest were the most notable thing to me. Sounds of insects, creatures, wind rustling through the trees, wood creaking, and loads more flooded my eardrums. Oddly enough, it was a rather pleasant change compared to the repetitive sounds of the Stable. However, despite having all of these new sounds invading my ears, the past few hours had been rather silent to say in the least. Apparently, the so called Mist Walker was anything but talkative. However this did give me a good excuse to take in my once again new surroundings (something that was turning out to be a regular occurrence in my new life).

The forest was massive in every possible aspect. The trees, grass, bushes, sky, and especially the animals were all on the larger side of the spectrum. It was rather unsettling in all honesty, simply knowing that one of these creatures could pounce at any given moment. That being said, I was surprised that nothing of the sort had happened yet. Gridlock made it sound as if the forest was an incredibly hostile environment (even in raider standards), but instead I felt rather safe as I wandered through the area. Granted, that could all be on account of me traveling alongside the fabled Mist Walker.

She was definitely on the odd side from what little I have noticed about her. I wanted to get close to her to at least learn more about her appearance (as the combination of the lack of light and her full coverage coat prevented me from gaining any information), but something deep inside of me was telling me to simply remain quiet and follow her lead. She had yet to speak since I had first heard her from inside the tent. Since then she has simply been walking through the forest, not once checking to even see if I was still tagging along. From what I had noticed she was definitely able to control the animals in the area, or at the very least she had a way to keep them all calm and at bay. It was rather baffling to think about. I mean, it really didn't make sense in any logical way. Occasionally a small animal or two would wander up to us, but she would simply give them a quick glance before they would scurry back into the night.

I had wondered on multiple occasions as to where exactly we were headed. Hell, there had already been a few instances where I had thought we were simply going in circles, only to be corrected by a rapid change in direction by the Mist Walker followed by a slew of new natural landmarks.

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't extremely nervous. The lack of conversation wasn't exactly helping either. Hell, I had even taken the time to learn my way around the firearm that Gridlock had presumably left for me. According to the brass casings of the six bullets that he had left for me, it was classified as a 10mm pistol. It was far too small of a weapon to be mounted on a combat harness, so it was instead designed to be held within a ponies mouth (or more than likely in a unicorns case, levitated) with an odd sort of "mouth guard" design that seemed to utilized the ponies mouth to absorb the recoil and the ponies tongue to operate the trigger system. It was an old and very worn firearm, but I had a strong feeling that something was far better than nothing.

It was amongst my fascination of the new toy when I had realized how truly exhausted, and hungry, I really was. I had easily been going on around 18 hours now without sleep, and even longer without food and water. Luckily I remembered that there was also a nice red apple waiting for me inside of my saddle bag, and boy did it have my name on it right about now. I quickly pulled the apple from the bag, not even giving a second thought before I began biting into it.

And let me tell ya, was I disappointed.

The apple was not only completely dry and void of any flavor, but it also tasted as if it was on the verge of spoiling. I depressingly spit out the bits of apple that I wasn't able to properly swallow, my stomach erupting in anger at the action. Evidentially the rumble was just loud enough to alert my new "acquaintance".

"We will be at my home soon. I have food and water waiting." The Mist Walker finally spoke, breaking the ever growing awkward silence between us and finally revealing a general idea of where exactly we were heading.

"Umm, yes, thanks for that. But, where exactly is this home?" I cautiously questioned.

"Do you want my honest answer?" She turned her head towards me, her piercing green glowing eyes seeming to cut straight through me.

"Uh... yes?" My ears flopped down as a shiver shot down my spine.

"It's a cave."

Of course it was. I mean, where else would a mystical being who seemingly controlled animals live? A hut? A treehouse? A small shack? Nope, a cave. In all honestly, I couldn't even say that I was surprised by her answer. I just hoped that it was fairly clean at this point. Was that too much to ask for?

Of course it was.

The cave was exactly that: A cave. It was naturally crafted into the side of a large cliffside, so large in fact that I could only imagine the exact scale of the cave's interior. Upon reaching the entrance to the cave I almost found myself pondering as to whether or not the mare was joking. It was still rather dark out, so it was rather hard to tell, but from what I noticed there was nothing really special about the entrance. It didn't have a legitimate door, but was instead simply covered by thick vines and almost glowing green moss that seemed to emit a very minuscule amount of light. While this didn't seem like the most practical of doorways, I had to admit that it did have fairly good concealment. I would almost bet that if you didn't know what you were looking for, you would walk right past it without a second thought.

"So, this is it, huh?" I shyly questioned, my ears remaining in their folded down position.

"Yep. Watch where you step and stick close." was the only answer I received before she lightly trotted through the vines.

I felt myself involuntarily gulp as I forced myself to follow her lead. I could practically feel my heart beating against my chest, and my legs were shaking so much (whether it was from nerves or exhaustion was beyond me) that I was practically on the verge of collapsing. It wasn't long until I realized exactly why she hold told me to stay close.

The second I entered the cave I practically felt my stomach drop lower than it ever had before. My brain jumped to an instant state of shock as I saw the mass of heads shift towards my general direction, none of which being the likes of ponies, griffons, or even zebras. While this was something I honestly should have expected, it was still enough to send my already exhausted body completely over the edge. I didn't even realize that I was passing out until I had already hit the hard, cold floor of the cave.

"Oh Luna damn it." was the last thing I heard before my vision faded to black.

My vision was still black as I began to awake. Like usual, my hearing was the first thing to return, which was enough to at least convince me that I was spared from being eaten alive. I could hear the sounds of both tiny and large footsteps all around me. Small drops of water could be heard bursting as they fell from the ceiling and impacted onto the hard stone floor, and I swore I could hear the sound of something rapidly sniffing rather close to me. I wanted to open my eyes, but yet again I was unable (a feeling that was becoming rather repetitive in my life). It wasn't until my sense of touch began to come back until I had really began to panic. Whatever I had heard sniffing around me before was not just sniffing around me, but was instead sniffing ME. While it didn't feel like a big creature, as the air coming from the animal didn't exactly feel like a large amount, it was still an unknown creature and a complete and total wildcard to my brain. It wasn't until I physically felt it lick my face that my eyes finally flew open, causing me to be greeted by a green-eyed creature that could only be described as an average sized dog made of nothing but sticks and pure radiation.

"Ah! What the Fuck!" was the only thing my mouth managed to scream as I painfully sat up, violently attempting to scoot away to the best of my weakened body's ability.

My body rapidly began to panic as I felt myself hit the wall of the cave. My legs were still too weak to stand, my eyes still weren't adjusted to the new lighting, and the weird tree-dog thing was creeping closer with a sort of determination that was down right scary. I had tried batting the mystical animal away on multiple occasions, but it almost seemed to enjoy it as every time I shoved it away it would simply waltz right back to its original position. I couldn't exactly hear the sounds coming from my mouth (as my brain was in far too much of a panic to properly process anything), but I could only imagine that they were similar to that of a newborn foal trapped within a dark room. It was around my fourth time shoving the animal when I heard the voice of the mysterious mare echo from the opposite side of the cave.

"Willow!" The mare shouted, followed by what I could only assume was an imitation of a dog bark, causing the animal evidently known as 'Willow' to playfully retreat to her side.

I watched in awe is the dog-like tree creature playfully ran circles around the mare, its literally bushy green tail wagging at speeds I would of previously thought were impossible.

"What in the actual hell is going on?!" I loudly questioned, my brain apparently needing the processing power of a Stable-Tec super computer in order to rationalize everything that was currently happening.

"Calm down Stable Dweller. The animals here will not harm you as long as you do not provoke them." She then lightly tossed a small piece of what appeared to be a mystery meat into Willow's mouth, the dog-like creature happily scarfing it down seemingly without chewing. "Especially Willow here. He is just a pup after all."

"THAT is just a pup!?" was the only question I was able to form.

"Indeed he is. They usually reach the size of the average pony, some even bigger." The mare exclaimed with a sort of pride as she lightly stroked Willow's leafy mane, the animal releasing a rather cute sounding snarl that almost seemed to immediately take away any sort of fears I previously had towards the creature.

"Umm... W- What exactly is he?" I asked, still unable to pull myself together enough in order to ask the important questions.

"He's a timberwolf. A creature supposedly dating back to the very creation of Equestria. Granted, they've seen a few changes since the threat of radiation was added into the mix, but he's still my cute little pup!" The Mist Walker then trailed off as she began to playfully scratch the timberwolf's head, her voice slowing rising a few octaves as she spoke to the animal like that of a mother to a newborn foal.

I was still in full shock over this entire situation. In fact, I was so out of it that I almost didn't even realize that the Mist Walker was now completely visible, and I could now take in her appearance. She was honestly a rather pretty mare like that of which I had never seen before. She had a dark grey coat. So dark that it was borderline black. Her mane, while very shambled and messy, was of a fitting grey color with hints of dark purples weaved throughout. Her eyes, while no longer glowing, were still a bright neon green with pupils that resembled that of a snakes. I almost had to do a double take as I noticed her wings. While I have at least heard stories of the pegasus and how they supposedly abandoned the world, I had at least HEARD of Pegasus before. The Mist Walker, however, was something different. While she did have wings like a pegasus would, hers were not the typical feathery style like that in the pictures I had seen within the Stable's library. No, instead her wings resembled that of a bat's. They were very large, and appeared as though they were leathery to the touch.

"What... What are you?" I asked, the sentence seeming to bypass all of my internal filters as it simply fell from my mouth.

"Pardon?" The Mist Walker responded, her head seeming to tilt in what I could only imagine was offense.

"Oh! S- Sorry. It's just... I've never seen a pony like you before." I said, attempting to rise to all fours only to collapse right back onto my haunches.

"Ah. Well, that makes sense. Stable Dwellers usually aren't the most informed of creatures." She sighed as she walked towards me, eventually sitting in front of me before passing me a small wooden bowl filled with an odd, chunky liquid that resembled that of a vegetable soup. "I am what is known as a Bat Pony. It's sort of a rare breed to say in the least." She chuckled before signaling me to drink.

"So, like, are you similar to a pegasus?" I asked, slowly beginning to realize that I truly was in a fairly safe location as I took a sip of the soup (which, to my surprise, was actually rather tasty despite the exact flavors being completely foreign to me).

"Essentially, yes. But we are usually much stronger fliers on account of our homeland being so windy." She proudly said as she spread her wings out to their full length.

"Is that the only difference?" I continued on as I attempted to hold myself back from completely scarfing down the rather delicious mystery soup.

"Far from actually. For one, the slits in our pupils allow us to see fairly well in even pitch black darkness at the cost of our eyes being rather sensitive to light." She proclaimed, finally explaining as to why exactly the only source of light inside of the cave were some dimly lit candles and a small amount of oil lamps.

"Is that why your eyes glow in the dark?" I asked as I felt the rather rough texture of Willow's wooden head press up against my forehoof, the Mist Walker giving me a lighthearted signal stating that I was aloud to pet him.

"No. That is sadly completely irrelevant." She sighed. "THAT is what can happen if one takes in too much radiation at a given time. Essentially, it's just a mutation."

I was baffled by this answer, as the new knowledge that radiation could literally re-write a creatures DNA was something that honestly scared me.

"Does... Does it hurt?" I tilted my head as I curiously stared into the mare's eyes.

"At first, yes. But you learn to get used to it." She then comically winked at me, a small yet lively chuckle escaping her lips. "Besides, it has its perks. How else would I scare off those annoying ass raiders?"

"I mean, the ability control animals seems to do the trick. From what I heard, they fear you." The Mist Walker burst out laughing as I said this. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, you know." She said as she tried to collect herself. "That's just funny to me. I just didn't think that those raiders were that stupid." She continued laughing.

"I don't get it... " I pondered as I looked around at all of the docile animals and mutated insects nonchalantly roaming throughout the cave.

"I don't control the animals silly! I can just speak with them!"

Right. I was the silly one here.

"What in Celestia's name do you mean by that?" I proclaimed.

"I mean exactly what I said. I can communicate with the animals of the forrest. As in I speak, and they listen." She paused for a quick moment as she began to think. "Usually."

"What do you mean usually?" I loudly questioned as I once again became cautious of all of the wild creatures within the cave.

"Again, it's exactly what I said. Usually they listen. The smaller creatures are almost always never an issue. It's the bigger ones you have to watch out for." The bat pony smiled, her fangs almost flashing amongst the candle light.

"Umm... Exactly how big are we talking?" I asked, having a feeling that I would regret the answer.

"Huge!" She excitedly shouted, proving my hunch of regretting her answer. "Between Manticores, Hydras, Hellhounds, Bloodwings, Radigators... " She continued on for what felt like a solid minute.

"Woah!" I cut her off. "Stable Dweller, remember? I'm gonna need you to slow it down just a bit."

"Oh... Yes, sorry. I just get excited talking about my animals." She grinned, her face seeming to lightly blush.

"You're fine." I lightly smiled back. "Just, slow it down a bit for me. Still processing this whole wasteland thing, you know?"

With a smile, the mare continued to tell me about the vast number of wasteland creatures. Some were small and easy to manage, like the fairly common radroach. While others were rather large and considered so dangerous that even the Mist Walker herself avoided them like the plague, like the viscous hellhound. While all of this information was definitely a lot to handle, I could at least say that I understood what she was talking about. Granted, a lot of the creatures sounded like something straight out a foals tale, but who was I to say otherwise.

Easily an hour flew by as the Mist Walker continued to fill me in on needed information about the wasteland. She continued to give me small doses of food and water as we talked, eventually getting me to the point where I was finally confident enough to stand and walk around. She even took the time to show me around her cave and introduce me to more of her animals, which was something that truly made me feel safe.

"So this here is Athena, she's what I like to call a radbit." She exclaimed as she scooped up the irradiated rabbit off of the ground, the two of them exchanging some rather adorable nuzzles as rad happily jumped in the air, her wings seeming to comically suspend her in place for a solid second.

"Ah, I see what you did there." I smiled at the pun, letting out a small yawn in the process, catching the attention of my new companion.

"Oh dear, you must be exhausted after all of this!" The mare frowned as she trotted closer to me, lightly placing the 'radbit' back on the ground as she took a quick glance toward the entrance of the cave. "Shit, it's almost daylight as well and I still haven't gotten any breakfast for the animals yet!" She nervously exclaimed almost as if to openly apologize to all of the creatures within the cave.

"Damn, it's almost sunrise already?" I questioned, trying to think to myself truly how long its been since I had last properly slept.

"Afraid so, and my eyes don't do that well in the sunlight." She then paused as she began to ponder to herself, her muzzle lightly scrunching in the process. "Tell you what, you stay here and get some rest, and in the meantime I'll quickly run out and grab some food for all of us for in the morning."

I once again slightly panicked at the thought of being alone with all of these animals. While most of the animals inside of the cave were of the smaller variety (Willow being one of the largest amongst the group). I was sure that if something went wrong it would only take a few of them to overrun an unexperienced pony like myself.

"Don't worry." The Mist Walker stated as she began sliding on the long hooded leather jacket that I had previously seen her in. "You'll be perfectly safe in here. Wont she everyone?" All of the animals within the cave seeming to almost nod in unison, further proving that she truly could speak with the animals for reasons that I have yet to figure out. That being said, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't convinced.

"Umm... Yeah. That sounds good." I stated as I quickly glanced at the vine-covered entrance of the cave, already beginning to notice faint trickles of light peering in through the spaces between the vines. "Besides, you're right. I really could use the rest."

"Sounds good to me then!" The Mist Walker ecstatically smiled as she continued to gather up supplies including medical supplies, a rather large knife, armored hoof guards that had small blades on the end, some light yet protective looking metal shin guards, and a pair of tinted goggles that I could only imagine acted as a basic pair of sunglasses, something that the Mist Walker more than likely needed anytime she decided to go out during the day.

It wasn't until she was on her way out of the cave when I had realized one vital piece of information was left out: We had yet to exchange names!

"Wait!" I quickly yelled out, the mare stopping to face me merely seconds before she had reached the exit. "I still haven't learned your name. Mines Silver... Silver Phalanx." I lightly smiled as I looked into the mares slitted eyes, only to receive a confusing sigh in response.

"Ugh." She vocally puked. "It's Radiance Whisper. But PLEASE don't call me that. It's too damn lady like. I go by Rad." and with that she left the cave with a smile, Willow and other miscellaneous creatures following close behind.

I sat in silence (or at least as silent as it could be with the mass of animals still within the cave) as the mare left the cave, the vines that she had pushed aside slowly shook to a halt once more, the same faint beams of light once again passing through the cracks.

At first I was confused as to where exactly I should go from here, but then it hit me as to exactly how bad I needed sleep right about now. My eyes suddenly began to feel heavy and my limbs went numb as the wave of tiredness swept over me. I frantically began searching for a place to crash, taking note of a small cot that seemed to be far more relaxing than that of the hay sheet that Gridlock had laid out for me. I slowly shambled over to the makeshift bed, practically collapsing on it once I was within falling distance.

It wasn't even ten seconds later when I had found a comfy position, my eyes drifting shut as the animals around me seemed to keep guard at the entrance of the cave.

"Th- Thank you... Rad." was the last sentence that managed to escape my lips before I drifted off into the deepest sleep I had truly had in a very long time.

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk: Animal Friend Level 1

Your newly acquired knowledge and experience with the creatures of the wasteland have given you a rather unique talent! You now have a small chance to persuade any wild animal in combat! (This perk does not include the likes of Manticores, Hellhounds, Bloodwings, and Hydras)

Concept Art!

Author's Note

This has been a very enjoyable chapter for us! Not only was it a more comedic chapter on account of it acting as a sort of "breather" for Silver, but we also got to introduce a character that we have been excited about since the very beginning of this story's life: Rad! We hope you all enjoy this new addition, and we hope you stick around to learn more about her! We would also like to thank the amazingly talented @PhantomClockwork on deviantart for the amazing concept art! By her request, she wanted us to include her Instagram handle @Noctis_The_Furry, as she says she is far more active on this account! We are very excited to be working with you, and we're glad to have you on board the team! Everyone go give her a follow, she more than deserves!

Chapter 8 - A Walk Through the Woods Pt. 2

Chapter 8 - A Walk Through the Woods Pt. 2

I began to awake as the sudden sounds of tiny footsteps slowly echoed throughout the cave. I figured that it must have meant that Rad was home, but I was far too relaxed and comfy to bother opening my eyes. In fact, if it wouldn't have been for the mass of animals beginning to erupt in sounds of excitement I more than likely would have fallen back asleep. While yes, I could say that I did want to sleep a little longer, I could also admit that I was currently in a state of bliss. My eyes were still heavy and refusing to open, but I was somehow still completely aware of my surroundings. I could tell when animals were passing me by, some even coming close enough to sniff me before rapidly scurrying off. I had to admit that I was rather relaxed as well, as this was the first proper sleep I have had in what was slightly over a full day. I was amazed that I wasn't feeling sore, as I was sure that (despite being force fed a healing potion by Gridlock and a proper meal by Rad) my wounds would at least leave me with an off sort of pain like how they felt before I had fallen asleep. Instead, I actually felt rather rejuvenated once I got passed the tired feeling.

I tried to the best of my abilities to fall back asleep, but was prevented by the extremely sudden sound of something landing directly in front of my face. My eyes suddenly felt lighter as my brain quickly woke the rest of my body up. My eyes shot open, only to be greeted by a highly familiar looking black bird that had a small growth on the side of its neck, leaving me no doubt that it was the exact same bird that was sitting on the fence at Gridlock's camp.

I was relatively okay with this at first, but the second the creature let out a small screech and pecked my nose I instinctively threw my hooves forward to shoo it away. While this did achieve the desired effect of making the bird fly away, it also backfired as the sudden force of my violent movement caused me to fall out of the small cot I was resting in. I felt a shiver run down my spine as I made contact with the cave's rather cold floor (as if it was the final nail in the coffin for my hopes of falling back to sleep).

As I slowly rose to my hooves I noticed myself looking towards the now extremely bright entrance of the cave. It was almost as if the thick vines covering the entrance were being completely negated by the Equestrian Wasteland's sun, its bright orange beams peering through the cracks with little to no effort. The cave was a lot brighter now, and I could now see further back into it. Beyond the multitude of miscellaneous animal nest and dens, it appeared as if Rad had a decent sized herb garden in the back area of the cave, a rather large (and surprisingly healthy looking) tree rested in the center of the naturally circular room. A large, naturaly cut hole in the ceiling allowed it to stretch far up into the Equestrian sky. The more I observed the garden, the more gorgeous it became. It's vibrant colors (most of which being blues, yellows, and greens) were only complimented by the mass of oddly cute yet disturbing animals that dwelled within. It honestly depressed me that I missed this the first time around, as it was something that definitely brightened the mood and raised ones spirits. It was literally that beautiful.

With Rad still nowhere to be found, I couldn't exactly help myself when the sudden urge to explore rushed over me.

"Well, she did say to make myself at home." I quietly said to myself as I slowly stepped foot into the garden.

The first thing I noticed was that the air felt fresh and clean, even compared to the Stable. The light amount of grass beneath my hooves seemed to tickle me as I walked. Despite most of the animals not being the most pleasent to look at, the light chirps and coos of them flooded my eardrums in the most pleasant of ways. The exquisite colors of the plants were nothing less than breathtaking. Some were in the form of flowers within small ceramic pots that lined the walls, and others were in the forms of naturally grown vines that draped in from the cave's natural sun roof. Some even seemed to erupt through the cave's otherwise sturdy walls. Everything inside looked healthy and gorgeous, and the animals appeared to be every bit as happy as I was.

However, out of all of this beauty, there was one lone plant that caught my full attention. It was resting upon a natural stone table that seemed to be carved out from the side of the cave walls, its height being nothing less than perfect when it came to table standards. I could easily assume that Rad had used this as a sort of alchemy bench, as it was stained with the colors of mashed up plants and herbs, a small mortar and pestle peacefully laying in wait.

The lone plant was oddly placed, as if it was being segregated from the others. It sat in a small ceramic bowl, a glass, seemingly airtight dome was the only thing keeping it from the outside world. Its dark blue leaves seemed to shine with a bright blue hue, and (despite having no source of wind to move it) the plants leaves seemed to have an odd flowing motion to them. It's beauty was nothing short of mesmerizing, and I could help but be reminded of Ivory.

A lone tear began to role down my face as I reached to remove the dome of the plant. I was about to touch it for myself as I wanted to feel its texture, but was interrupted by the rather violent sounding squawk from the same bird that had awoken me. The bird's almost ear peircing sqauwk was easily enough to make me nearly jump out of my own hide, as its sound broke the new form of silence that I was newly witnessing. I angrily looked up at the bird with a sort of begrudging glare that I would only give to my enemies.

"Quiet down birdbrain! I'm trying to have a moment here!" I yelled up to the bird as if I expected a proper response. Instead, when it went to open its beak, I almost shit myself as I was greeted with an actual voice.

"I wouldn't yell at him, he was only trying to protect you." The voice responded, revealing itself to simply be Rad, who had evidently just returned from her hunt.

"Ah!" I jumped once again, my body naturally turning to face the direction of her voice. "Please don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Hey now." She proclaimed. " You should be thankful. Besides, if it wasn't for Berry up there I may not have made it in time to prevent you from touching that plant." She continued, revealing the name of the odd bird to be Berry, who in almost perfect comedic timing had swooped down and landed on her back.

"What do you mean he saved me?" I questioned.

"That plant there that you almost touched? It's called killing joke. It's easily one of the most vile plants in all of the Equestrian Wasteland. If you would have touched it, I'm afraid you would have perished a horrible death within a matter of days." She stated as she walked past me towards the table, carefully readjusting the glass dome as if to ensure it was still properly sealed.

"What exactly would it have done?" I confusingly stated, as I was curious as to how exactly something so beautiful was so deadly.

"That's honestly a hard question to answer." She paused. "Killing joke wasn't always this dangerous, but, like most things in the wasteland, radiation seemed to push it over the edge. Granted, it wasn't exactly a safe plant to go messing with before the radiation either. I beleive that it used to be reffered to as 'poison joke'."

"What exactly does it do?" I continued.

"That's a long explanation. To start, the plant has always seemed to have an odd sort of sentience to it." She responded.

"What do you mean by that? Like, how exactly can a plant be sentient?" I questioned, my curiosity now at its peak.

"I'm not exactly sure how, I just know that it is. It also seems to have an odd sense of humor at that, hence the joke section in its name."

I simply nodded for her to continue, my eyes now unable to look away from the mysterious plant.

"When one touches the plant, they would become infected. After about ten minutes, ones body will start to change in random ways that the plant would feel is personal to you. Before radiation tainted it, it simply liked to play jokes on its victims. For example, If you were a large and proud pony, it may make you small and weak until the effects wore off." She informed me with a sense of pride.

"So what changed when radiation infected it?" I pondered.

"Well, the concept remained the same, however instead of mostly harmless effects the jokes became rather dangerous, and almost always lethal. I've lost a lot of good animals to the stuff."

I was now baffled. How exactly was a plant able to accomplish such a task?

"Why do you have something so dangerous then?" I angrily asked.

"Because it makes for an amazing poison." She simply proclaimed.

"Why the hell is it just out in the open then?" I was now becoming angry, as it seemed rather careless to leave such a plant out in the open. "I mean, what if one of your animals were to get into it?"

"For one, the animals are actually smart enough to avoid it." She quickly rebutted, a sense of pride leaving my body at she shot me a rather disheartening look. "And I'm not exactly the type to have visitors very often." She paused to take a deep breath.

"Now, would you like to help me feed the animals?" She asked, quickly changing up the subject.

"Umm... Sure." I nervously responded, as I wasn't sure exactly what she meant by feeding them. "Depends, how exactly do I go about this?"

"Just grab your things and follow me. I'll show you the ins and outs."

"This is absolutely disgusting!" I yelled out as Rad plunged a knife into the carcass of what was known as a 'RadStag', which was basically the unholy two headed result of what happens when radiation infects a wild deer while it's still within its mothers womb.

We had spent the past two hours both hunting and skinning this animal, and (besides the initial hunt) I have wanted to puke for every given second of it. Granted, she killed it in a rather quick and painless fashion as Rad was apparently a rather skilled markspony despite her limited vision in the daylight. It was rather fascinating to find out exactly how much of a punch her small hoof mounted crossbow could deliver.

"Are you going to help me or not?" Rad spoke out as she continued to gut the animal, Willow seeming to try his hardest to pry skin from the carcass.

"Look, Rad, I'm still pretty new to all of this. Besides, we're not going to be eating any of it, so why don't we just throw it to the animals and let them... you know... sort it out?" I asked, trying my absolute hardest to not relieve my stomach of its contents.

I only received a confused stare as she continued to slice the insides out of the animal, its fresh gore covering both the ground and Rad's uncovered hooves.

"I think you mean you're the only one who's not going to be having any." Was the only thing she said, which easily caused my stomach to sink into itself.

"WHAT?!" I yelled out, my brain instinctively telling my body to act out in disgust. "You mean to tell me that you eat this stuff too!"

"Quiet down. It's no big deal. Ponies eat stuff like this all the time." She proclaimed as she lifted a piece up to her mouth as if to tease me.

"What are you talking about? Meat is awful for ponies! How could you eat that?" I continued on, noticing myself slowly beginning to back away from the blood soaked bat pony.

"That's wrong actually. While yes, meat isn't exactly ideal for a ponies diet, it is still completely possible to digest it and gather the necessary nutrients from it." She responded, throwing the small piece of meat she was teasing me with to Willow.

"You have perfectly good fruits and vegetables back in the cave though! Why would you eat this?" I yelled out, my brain completely baffled.

"Look Silver, I know you're new to all of this, but this is something you're going to have to do eventually. There are ponies out there that would literally kill me for my garden. That's how rare clean fruits and vegetables are within the wasteland. So, you either adapt and eat what you're given, or you die of starvation." She paused as she yanked out another bit of meat. "Besides, I'm not exactly a normal breed of pony, so my dietary needs are rather different to begin with."

Then, without any sort of warning, Rad bore her fangs and bit into the carcass of the deceased animal. I felt my throat become heavy as a light sucking noise filled the air. It was apparent that she was, in fact, sucking the blood from the creature like a legitimate vampire. I wasn't sure if this was an actual thing about her species or if this was some sort of mutation, but I did know for a fact that I could feel myself beginning to gag. I was surprised with myself that I was able to hold it in for as long as I did, but the second she rose up with blood dripping from her teeth, my body suddenly decided to change its mind.

"Oh come on now, it's not that bad." Rad proclaimed as she wiped the blood from her face, Willow stepping in to happily take her place at the carcass.

"At least... Give me... A warning!" I screeched as I attempted to regain my breath. "Why in the world did you have to do that?" I said as I slowly stepped over my pile of vomit, a look of shame and disgust plastered across my face.

"I told you, bat ponies have different dietary needs. This is normal." She responded, her voice sounding disturbingly calm and nonchalant.

"Yeah, it's normal for you!" I affirmed her. "I grew up in a Stable, remember? We weren't exactly fed stuff like this."

"I am aware of this Silver, but the animals have told me to teach you to survive. They see something in you... I'm not sure what it is, but the animals have yet to let me down throughout my life." She paused as she stared at me through her dimmed goggles, my brain once again curious as to how exactly she was able to communicate with the creatures of the wasteland. "Now, you can either stay with me and I can teach you a thing or two, or you can go off on your own. So, if you'll excuse me, I have some rounds I need to make."

She then scooped up the rather large sack of meat and turned to once again walk off into the forest, all animals within our area following closely behind as if to abandon me. Again, she never bothered to look back. She never bothered to see if I was following her. It honestly hurt, but I knew what she was doing. It was a form of tough love one could say. While yes, I wanted to turn and walk away after everything I had just witnessed, I had to admit that she was right. I knew that this was my world now, and there was no going back to my sheltered Stable life. I knew that I was going to have to adapt to the wasteland in order to survive, and I was sure that being alone was not the way to go about it.

"Rad! Wait up!" I yelled out as I quickly jogged up next to her, reluctantly yet enthusiastically asking to help carry the sack of raw meat.

The next few hours were spent wandering throughout the forest in what Rad described to me as an "Unorganized Circle". We would occasionally pass by a nest or den of an animal, each one proving to be more bizarre than the last. During the meantime, we exchanged information about ourselves, something that honestly should have been done much sooner in my opinion.

I had learned that Rad had a rather troubled past. She informed me that she didn't always used to live within the forest, but instead grew up inside of a small settlement with her mom and dad (who she seemed rather reluctant to share information about, understandably so). According to her, her camp was attacked by a group of N'Guvu's raiders when N'guvu was apparently first rising to power. Apparently her settlement was one of the first places outside of Baltimare's walls to be taken over by the savage group of raiders. She was still a blank flank when she witnessed not only her home, but also her parents get taken from her at the hands of N'Guvu's raiders. While she was rather dodgy on the exact details of her escape, it was soon after when she had discovered her ability to communicate with animals and was granted her cutie mark (which resembled that of a yellow radioactive logo with three hearts where the black sections of the logo would usually be).

Ever since then she has lived in the wilderness, using her knowledge from both her parents and the animals in order to survive. Perhaps most notable of all the information she gave me, I had learned that Rad was a devout follower of Fluttershy. This, of course, made a lot of sense to me and was honestly something that I was surprised I didn't piece together myself. From what all I was told in the Stable, I knew that Fluttershy was both the founder and leader of the Ministry of Peace, an organization whom's primary task during the war effort was to develop new medical procedures and materials and to also to find a way to end the war without bloodshed (which the organization obviously failed at despite Fluttershy's valiant efforts).

"So... Exactly how long have you been alone?" I cautiously questioned as we continued to wander to our next feeding destination.

"I haven't been. I have the animals to keep me company." She said with an odd sort of confidence.

"But, are the animals really enough? I mean, it's not like they can carry a conversation or anything like that." I received a strong eyebrow raise from both Rad and (oddly enough) Willow as these words came out of my mouth.

"I have had far better experiences with the animals than I have with any pony." She scoffed as she put forth a strong effort to not make eye contact with me through her shades. "Animals are easy to read. You can always tell if an animal is hostile or not. With ponies, it's a complete wild card. At one moment you can trust one, at one you can't." She stated, a deep sadness lingering within her voice.

I knew that I was 100 percent in the wrong here. I knew that I was only alive because of this one pony who had (despite her saying that animals told her to do so) shown me kindness. Yet here I was, questioning her views and statements every single chance I was given. I was just having so much trouble processing things, and I knew all too well that she could force me to leave at any given moment if I were to push her over the edge. I hated to admit that I was trying her patience, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't knowingly doing so. I was just far too baffled at everything, and I wanted every single answer possible.

"So how exactly are you able to communicate with the animals then?" I asked, trying to move the subject in a different, less offensive direction.

"Look, Silver... I don't have answers for everything. I know that I'm not normal by any means, and I can't exactly explain why. It's not a mutation, it's not something I just learned how to do, it's just something that I know I can do. So just don't question it, okay?" I could tell that she was easily growing tired of my constant questioning. "Now, we only have one last stop to make, then we're going to get home to get some rest before sundown. So please, my head is pounding due to this sunlight. Would it be too much to ask of you to remain silent for the remainder of the trip?"

Yep, she was definitely growing tired of me. I simply gave her a confirming nod as my ears flopped downwards. I honestly hated myself for pushing her to this extent, but I was just far too confused and baffled at everything. However, I knew that if I continued to prod her any longer, I would surely be left to fend for myself... Or possibly worse.

So, I did what I was told. I simply followed her to our final stop in complete and total silence. While it was a rather awkward silence, I could admit that it was fairly peaceful as long as you looked past the occasional distant gunshot or violent scream). I still wasn't quite used to the wasteland, so I couldn't help but still be amazed by the sights of the forrest. To the everyday wastelander, I could imagine that the forest was rather depressing looking considering the largest part of the it consisted of nothing more than dead trees and shrubbery. However, to somepony who had never even seen a tree before, it was still rather compelling. I suppose it made for a good tool to pass the time.

Rad's final stop was easily the scariest amongst the bunch. I almost thought I was going to pass out when the massive abomination of a creature known as a manticore came crawling out of the rather vacant looking cave. I couldn't help myself but ask questions this time around. According to Rad, her and the animal simply had a sort of understanding. She would bring him food, and in return Rad was apparently allowed to stay on his land. Upon hearing this, I once again became horrified. Never in a million years would I have imagined that such a creature existed. It had the body of a lion, wings of a massive bat, and tail of a scorpion. The fact that Rad was simply here due to a simple understanding was completely nerve wracking to me, as it told me that at any given moment this thing could willingly devour us simply because it didn't want us here anymore.

The fact that Celestia's sun was suddenly deciding to lower did not help my already trembling nerves. Luckily this was, in fact, our last stop for the day, which meant that we were now officially heading back to Rad's personal cave. I wasn't exactly sure how far we were from the cave, but judging from how long we were wandering around, I could only assume that we were at least a good hour and a half away.

I could feel the cold winds of the night beginning to settle in as we continued to walk. I could admit that my hooves were aching, as I had never done such a vast amount of walking before in my life. My snarling stomach was enough to tell me that I was beginning to become exhausted as well.

"You know I have food with me, right?" Rad suddenly spoke up, my internal rumbling evidently being loud enough to alert her.

"Hey, I'm still coming to terms that I'll probably have to eat meat one day... Let me just ease into that, alright?" I frowned, my stomach seemingly growling in response.

"Suit yourself. It's gonna be another two hours before we reach my cave, so unless you're really good at restraining yourself... " Rad trailed off in a small rant that I couldn't help but ignore.

"Wait, why is it going to take another two hours to get back? I was thinking another hour at most." I questioned, my brain beginning to wonder of the possibilities.

"Well, usually you'd be correct. But it's night time now, so we need to proceed with caution." Rad spoke with a sense of fear behind her voice.

I was now highly confused. I never noticed anything dangerous during the night that I had not already seen during the day. Plus, I had come to understand that Rad thrived in the night, so I was both curious and worried at the fact that she was saying this.

"But... I thought all the animals were harmless when you were around? Is it raiders or something?" I slowly questioned, my brain seemingly trying to conjure up the worst possible outcome.

"From my understanding, it's worse than animals or raiders." She easily responded as she removed her shades, her glowing green eyes slowly beginning to shine amongst the darkness. "To put it short, I'm not the only strange thing that wanders these woods."

My heart sank upon hearing these words. Rad said them as if she herself feared them. I could only imagine the sort of monstrosity that had to exist in order to receive fear from the Mist Walker herself. What in the holy name of Celestia had to exist in order to make Rad fear her own forest.

"Is... Is it another animal?" I nervously asked. "One of the more dangerous ones you told me about?"

"I'm not sure what it is personally. I've only seen it once, and that was from a distance. I can confidently say that it is no animal, but it isn't a raider either. He is large, and sports a sort of metal suit that shakes the very ground as he walks. The blue light that emits from his eyes cut through the darkness more than mine ever could. His weaponry is like that of which I had never seen before. The animals have taken to calling him The Blue-Eyed Knight." Rad seemed to tremble upon speaking that name. "If the animals fear him, then I fear him as well."

Great... first some mystical mist creature, and now it's a giant death robot? I had to wonder if there were any more fairy tail creatures wandering these woods that I should know about.

"How do you have such a detailed description of him? Hell, how do you even know it's a him in the first place? And are you sure it isn't some sort of raider boss that wanders the woods?" I spat out a bundle of fresh questions.

"Again, he is no raider. Boss's are bound to their camps, and he moves with an odd sort of intelligence and is far too well equipped to be some wondering raider or scavenger." She sighed. "Like I said, I've seen him before. It wasn't exactly close, but it was enough to get small details from him."

"How did you get away?" I questioned, rightfully so.

"We simply made eye contact across a decent distance. He began to step towards me, so I ran. I had heard of him before thanks to the animals. And, like I said, anything the animals fear I fear."

I now found myself subconsciously looking around in the darkness of the forest. I had to admit that while the creature sounded downright make-believe, I had no reason to doubt Rad's judgment. It didn't exactly help that Rad had a general sound of fear within her voice as she spoke about the creature, and something told me that Rad wasn't exactly voted actor of the year.

"So, what are the odds of encountering him?" I questioned.

"In all honesty, they're rather slim. I've seen him myself once. I usually just hear him walking around in the distance, but that issue is usually solved by simply walking in the opposite direction." She responded, Willow giving a confirming bark.

"So he's not exactly the stealthiest of the bunch I take it?" I added in.

"No. I have a feeling that this thing couldn't be stealthy even if it wanted to."

I was slightly relieved upon hearing this, as I now felt confident that if we did encounter this thing, we at least had a very high chance of outrunning it. That being said, it sounded as if such a beast would be rather difficult (if not impossible) to take down.

The next hour or so was once again spent in silence. I could tell that both Rad and I were on very high alert. It didn't exactly help in my case that this was truly my first night within the Equestrian Wasteland. I had to admit that the sky was slightly more intimidating this time around, as I knew that I was no longer safe within the walls of a camp (or at least as safe as a raider camp can be).

We had yet to run into anything out of the ordinary, but we did have a few distant scares that involved the occasional gunshot or scream (all of which was normal according to Rad). I was especially listening for the sounds of heavy, metallic steps from amongst the forest, but luckily I had yet to hear anything of the sort. I really didn't want to think what would happen if we ran into this so called Blue Eyed Knight. From how it sounded, I was pretty sure we didn't have the weaponry to even remotely disable the creature, let alone kill it.

That was another thing I was struggling with. The fact that somewhere, one day, I would probably have to kill another pony. I had enough trouble incapacitating one with a non-lethal round back in the Stable, so I couldn't imagine exactly how I'd react when that dreadful day came.

I noticed myself once again examining the pistol that was now clenched within my teeth (which I only had out because Rad had told me to prepare myself). While I wasn't exactly scared of the object, I knew that it made me nervous. It was odd to say considering I already knew that the Stable's riot shotgun was far louder and had way more kick, but that wasn't the issue. Is was the fact that this tiny sidearm right here was loaded with live ammunition. It was cable of ending another pony's life. While yes, I was sure that the Stable's shotgun could more than likely also kill another creature, it was more the principle that it wasn't built to do so, whereas this small pistol I had clenched within by teeth was built as a weapon of war. It had a single purpose, and that was to kill.

It was amongst my subconscious observing of the firearm that I managed to bump into the back of Rad. At first I thought she had just began to slow down and that I had caught up to her, but it didn't take long to realize that she had instead stopped dead in her tracks.

"Umm... Is everything o-"

"Shh... " She cut me off as her ears shot upwards, seemingly focusing on a sound that I was currently unable to hear.

I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but I instead found myself listening for any sort of sound that seemed out of place. However, everything seemed normal to me. The usual sounds of wind, tree branches rustling, and chirping insects were the only things I could take note of. I felt an eyebrow instinctively raise as I looked over at Rad.

"Umm... You alright?" I whispered.

There was a long pause as Rad continued to stare into the distance. I could now tell that she could either hear or see something that I obviously couldn't. I struggled to not freak out as I noticed a worried look appear on Rad's face.

"We need to hide." She quickly stated as she changed direction, her pace quickly growing faster.

"Wait, why? What's wrong?" I desperately questioned.

"Semething big is coming. And it's close."

I was panicking as we ran through the forest. I struggled to keep up with Rad, but luckily it seemed as if she was actually making sure I was still with her. I had already managed to eat dirt a few times amongst our running, and I was sure that I would have the scratches to show for it. I could feel my heart racing as we continued on. I was extremely scared at this point.

Rad seemed to be acting out of fear, and It wasn't helping that I was completely clueless as to what exactly we were running from. Rad had only stated that whatever it was was rather large. I wanted to say that it was the so called Blue Eyed Knight, but Rad more than likely would have stated as much if this was the case. Instead she had said that it was both big and close, two things that were driving me into a level of frightened that I would have previously thought to be impossible.

My heart was pounding out of my chest as I continued to run through the forest. I could tell that I was running blind at this point, and I knew that Rad was growing more and more distant as we ran. My breath was beginning to grow heavy and loud, and my legs were slowly beginning to become sore. It wasn't exactly helping that the nighttime fog was beginning to set in, causing me to lose track of where exactly I was stepping.

It was amongst my panicked sprint when I had managed to catch my hoof in a small hole in the ground, causing myself to fall with a solid thump, a small sound of panic managing to escape my lips in the process. I noticed a sharp pain in the tip of my hoof as I rose back to a standing position. I went to start running once again, but I had noticed that I managed to disorient myself on the fall.

I could no longer hear Rad running in the distance either, and it seemed as if her hoof prints were nowhere to be seen. I began to severely panic as I picked up my pistol from the ground. I could feel myself shaking as I frantically spun in a circle in an attempt to search for the correct direction to run.

"Rad!" My body yelled out without giving me the option to suppress it.

I could tell that I was now having a full blown panic attack. My heart was beating out of my chest, it was hard to breath, and I could feel my legs attempting to give out. I had nowhere to go, no clue what was around me, and no idea where Rad was (or if she had even noticed that I had fallen behind).

I collapsed onto my haunches as I tightly grasped the pistol within my teeth. My jaw was beginning to hurt as the gun began to shake. I tried to control my breathing as I began to listen for any odd sounds in the forest, specifically heavy steps or perhaps the sound of twigs cracking.

The forest's natural mist slowly began to set in as I sat there, motionless. I was unable to bring myself to move anymore, and I was beginning to once again fear for my life. I could now hear something in the distance. It didn't exactly sound like steps, but it definitely sounded rather mechanical. It almost resembled that of a hydraulic stable door opening and closing in rapid succession, however it was far deeper and more rhythmic in tone.

"Rad! Is that you!" I yelled out with a more than frightened tone.

Sadly, I had to admit that I knew the answer to this question. There was absolutely no way that what I was hearing was Rad. The sounds were far too heavy, and seemed too slow to be Rad.

I knew what it was, and I knew that I had the choice to just get up and run... but something wasn't allowing me. I found that I was officially unable to move my legs. There was nothing wrong with them, but I just couldn't bring myself to move them.

The metallic sounds grew closer with every second that went by. It wasn't long until I could see a large silhouette through the mist of the forest. It was far too large to be Rad, and didn't have the outline of any animals that Rad had introduced me too. My brain attempted to come up with something that would give me hope, but I was far too scared at this point to come up with anything.

"G- Gridlock? Please tell me that's you." I whimpered as the silhouette grew closer, growing in size with each mechanical sounding thump.

"Hah!" The voice exclaimed with a robotic, static ridden tone. "No, that bird has no business in these parts."

The silhouette then revealed itself as it broke free of the thick mist. It was definitely a he, and he was wearing a large suit of armor that seemed to be far more protective than what I would of thought was necessary. The mechanical suit was in the shape of a pony, and seemed to cover its equine wearer from head to tail in a very thick, rusted armor that was covered in scrap plating and spikes. The helmet seemed to also be full coverage, and had a light resting atop that seemed to be nothing more than a powerful flashlight merely taped to the top. Tying this entire look together was a rather large looking improvised combat harness that was far larger than the one I was familiar with. Resting on each of its sides seemed to be two weapons that highly resembled the riot shotgun that I had come to know, however these ones seemed far more deadly based on their appearance.

There was no doubt in my mind, this had to have been the Blue Eyed Knight.

"What do you want?" I frighteningly muffled as I aimed my shaking pistol at the well armored pony.

"Oh shit! You don't know do you? Well son of a bitch, that bird really didn't tell you anything, did he?" The pony sadistically chuckled as he took a step closer, his armor squealing and hissing as the rusted metal rubbed together.

I was now confused beyond all belief. However, one thing was now certain: This wasn't the Blue Eyed Knight...

"I'm a slaver missy, and you are my ticket to a better life." He snarled as the sounds of his dual shotguns somehow mechanically loading themselves filled the air. "So, you either come with me peacefully or I take a small pay cut and blow your legs off."

I frantically backpedaled as I tried to make it apparent that I was holding a gun to him as well.

"Go right ahead, shoot me. Theres not a single place on my body that you can penetrate with that measly peashooter!" He laughed as his own guns seemingly finished loading themselves. "Go right the fuck ahead, make my fuckin' day." He then took a sort of combative stance.

I could feel my vision blurring and my grip weakening as my heart rate continued to rise. It was official, I was either passing out or having a heart attack. I couldn't handle what was happening. This wasn't the Blue Eyed Knight that I had heard so much about. No, this was one of the Slavers that Gridlock had informed me of. They must have not liked that they didn't receive their "package", so I guess Gridlock must have told him where I went and he decided to follow.

I felt my back hit a wall as I attempted to slowly back away from the heavily armed slaver. I looked behind me to be greeted by a large and steep mound that was easily more than twenty feet high.

"RAD!" I loudly yelled out as I fell into a deep panic.

"Trust me, nopony is coming to save you! Now come with me or face the consequences!" He then began to quickly trot towards me.

"NO!" I yelled out as I closed my eyes and instinctually tongued the trigger of my pistol.

The loudest and most unexpected bang I had ever heard in my entire life then screamed throughout the forest, however the recoil of the weapon I had just fired didn't quiet match the sound, as the recoil felt rather weak compared to the sound of the blast. The smell of gunpowder filled the air. I had assumed that the slaver must have also fired his weapon, but I realized that if that were the case then I would either be dead or at least in extreme pain right about now.

I slowly began to open my frightened eyes so I could observe what exactly had just happened. What I saw was shocking, confusing, and horrific.

The slaver was not not only missing an entire leg, but also a large amount of his upper torso. Blood and gore were pouring from his now blasted open armor. I knew that I couldn't have been the one to do this, but I couldn't help but once again begin to look over my small pistol with doubt.

"Wait... W-What?" Was all that managed to escape my lips as I attempted, and failed, to stand.

I was still looking at the corpse in horror as I felt the large mound I was resting against seemingly vibrate, a great force shaking the mound as a few pebbles from above fell onto my head. I went to look up, but was quickly sent into shock as a large mass of metal landed between me and the slaver pony's corpse. A massive shockwave of dust and debris went flying into the air as the mass made contact with the ground, causing me to once again close my eyes before I had the chance to observe.

It wasn't until I once again heard sounds of metal creaking and hydraulic servos hissing (which I might add sounded much more powerful and clean than the previous) when I was able to open my eyes.

In front of me was now standing the largest living creature I had ever seen in my entire life. It stood both taller and bulkier than Gridlock, and was encased in a far more impressive and clean looking suit of full coverage metal armor. This one also had a very large combat harness draped over its back, however it was far more impressive than the previous one as it held two seemingly futuristic looking guns on its side. The first weapon was glowing with a dark blue light and seemingly emitted a magnetic hum that sounded as of it was powering down, and the other seemed to either be three separate guns or perhaps one very large gun with three separate barrels, both of which confused and scared me. However, this suit was not in the shape of a pony. Perhaps it was the oddly misshapen hind legs or the elongated helmet that it wore, but something told me that there was another griffon inside of this oddly clean and extremely intimidating suit of mechanical armor.

I almost pissed myself out of fear as the armored griffon quickly looked into my eyes, revealing two, bright blue lights that rested where the helmets visor ended. There was no doubt this time around.

This was the Blue Eyed Knight.

Concept Art!

Author's notes:

We deeply apologize for the delay on this chapter. Our schedules somehow managed to get worse for the month of May, with our main writer doing daily 12 hour college shifts with only Sundays off to relax. This has put a very large dent in our upload schedule and we hope that you all understand the delay. With that said, we really hope that you all enjoyed this chapter and are exciting for what is to come!

Again, special thanks to @Skull_Bat_Studios on instagram for the concept art. This time she brings us an extremely accurate depiction of Rad's cave garden! Everyone go give her a follow!

Chapter 9 - Dawnstar

Chapter 9 - Dawnstar

Both my body and the ground around me shook as the griffon slowly rose to his full height, a massive slew of deafening mechanical sounds filled the area. While the dust from his fall was still heavy in the air and making it rather hard to see, the blinding blue lights emitting from his visor were easily enough to tell me that he was looking directly at me.

Once again, I was frozen in place. If the now freshly eviscerated slaver pony was weasily able to kill me, then there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that this far better armed griffon could do the same. His suit looked impenetrable by any means known to me. While it was far cleaner than the slaver's suit of armor, it still managed to look completely horrifying. Judging by the scattered bits of miscellaneous armor plating welded and bolted to parts of the suit where joints would have usually been located, it was safe to say that this suit had no immediately noticeable weaknesses. It seemed to be a bit of a patchwork design (however it still appeared to have a sort of basis that was completely foreign to me), and if his harness mounted weapons weren't enough, it appeared as if the suits built in claws could easily do enough damage to get the job done.

"State your name." A very obviously male voice projected from the mechanical inner workings of the griffon's helmet as he slumped down next to the slaver's corpse, beginning to pull off the weapons and any pieces of scrap that he must have deemed salvageable.

"W-What?" Was all I could manage to mutter as the griffon continued to loot the corpse.

"State your name." The griffon repeated himself, this time violently glancing over at me as he continued to pull out pieces of bloody scrap metal and slid them into a large duffel bag draped over his back.

"S-Silver!" I squeaked, my mind barely able to conjure up anything beyond this single word. I almost wasn't even able to tell that I was very clearly cowering behind my own hooves in a fetal position, as if I thought that if I couldn't see him then he couldn't see me.

"Silver? Is that it? Just Silver?" He responded, the slight tilt of his masked head being more than enough to tell me that he obviously had a doubtful eyebrow raised.

"N-No! It's Phalanx. Silver Phalanx." I stuttered as I gave a poor attempt to make eye contact with the hulking griffon.

"Hmm. Doesn't sound like a raider name. State your purpose." He demanded, his deep robotic voice somehow sounding both stern and calm, as if he very well knew that he had everything under control (which he without a doubt did).

"P-Purpose? What do you mean?" I stuttered.

"Your purpose. What are you doing here. Why was that slaver after you?" He continued, monotone and demanding.

"Umm... I... I don't know. I'm a stable pony... This is all very confusing." I responded, still barely able to compose a proper thought. However, I did notice that the griffon's head once again tilted at the mention of me being from a stable.

"You're a stable dweller?" He quickly asked, very obviously looking me up and down.

"Y-Yes!" I yelled out. "I swear!"

"Then where's your PipBuck?" He continued as he went back to looting, very clearly sounding as if he didn't believe me.

As he said this I quickly realized that there was no possible way for me to prove that I was actually a stable pony. Not only did I not have my PipBuck or stable barding, but I also currently looked a little more on the raider side. My main was a tangled mess, my coat was filthy, and I already had wounds to boot.

"It- It was stolen by raiders." I informed the griffon, realizing all too well that my story was sounding rather lackluster.

"So you mean to tell me that a group of raiders, Baltimare Raiders at that, robbed you of your PipBuck and left you completely unharmed?" The griffon scoffed as he looked down at the firearm that was currently laying at my hooves. "And on top of that left you a perfectly maintained 10 millimeter revolver?"

"Umm... Yes?" I winced as I awaited my imminent demise.

However, nothing happened. The griffon simply stared at me, his bright blue lights illuminating me in the most intimidating of ways. While I wasn't sure what exactly it was (as his helmet gave him one helluva poker face), I could tell that he was thinking about something. Was he thinking about letting me go? Was he debating if my story was true or not? Hell, maybe he was just deciding as to whether he should cook me over a fire or if he should let me marinate over night!

It was a very awkward silence, only the sounds of the wind and the mechanical suit's servos running could be heard. However, it was rather short lived.

"What did that slaver want with you? It's not often one this well armed comes looking for ponies, especially all the way out here." The griffon then leaned in far too close for comfort, his reflective visor no more than a foot away from my face. The lights were now nothing less than blinding. "So, I'm gonna ask you one more time. Who are you and why are you here?"

The tension was now at an all time high. I could tell that the griffon was growing impatient, however I wasn't exactly sure what I could tell him at this point. I could feel tears rolling down my face, and I was beginning to hyperventilate.

"Please... You have to believe me. I'm not a raider!" I was now crying, my body falling forward as if to go into a begging position. "I grew up in Stable 76 as a security mare! We were attacked a few days ago and everypony inside but me was killed! All I remember is waking up in a raider camp ran by a griffon named Gridlock! He helped me escape not too long ago and-" I was cut off amongst all of my rambling.

"Did you say Gridlock?" The griffon now sounded far more lenient than before.

"Y-Yes. He helped me leave the camp before the slavers came to get me. I remember him saying something about me costing a lot to them, but he still let me go!" I frantically continued to explain myself, my brain working faster than I could speak. "He's the one who left me these supplies."

"And you just left all on your own? Fresh from a stable? With no clue as to where to go?" He continued to question.

"Well, I had some help from somepony." I then stopped myself as I remembered that Rad had told me that she had seen this griffon before and, from how it sounded, they weren't exactly on good terms. "But... She's not here anymore."

Great Silver... Now you're lying to literally the most horrifying thing that you have ever encountered. What in the world is wrong with you?

"She die or something?" He nonchalantly responded with a small scoff as he finally stopped looting the body.

"Umm... Not exactly. She kind of just-" I then found myself staring off into the direction of the forest where I think I last saw Rad. "...disappeared."

"So you were abandoned?" The griffon spoke, an odd sadness somehow leaking through his otherwise monotone sounding voice.

It was upon hearing these words where I began to feel true sadness once more. Was he right? Did she actually just abandon me? I wasn't sure why, as I couldn't exactly say that I really knew all too much about the strange bat-pony, but it still felt as if that could have been a possibility. At first I wanted to deny that this was even an option, as I had come to learn that due to the animals of the forest Rad practically had eyes everywhere, but as I looked around I quickly realized that there where no animals in sight. It wasn't until I felt tears running down my cheeks when I noticed the griffon taking a few steps towards me. I wanted to run off, but I was officially unable to do so.

I was defeated, both physically and mentally.

"Please... Just... Make it quick." I winced through the sounds of my own sobbing.

"Calm down. I ain't gonna kill ya'." The griffon stated, this time sounding far more friendly and... was that a country accent I heard?

I looked up at the griffon as I wiped away the tears and almost immediately noticed a difference. His stature was different, and somehow (despite still being stupidly armored and armed) looked far less menacing.

"Wh- What?" I stuttered.

"I said I ain't gonna kill ya'. In fact, I plan on helping ya' out." The griffon then proudly thumped his chest, a solid thud echoing throughout the forest.

"Umm... Why?" Was all I could manage to muster amongst this extremely sudden feeling of intense confusion.

"Cause'. You obviously ain't no raider, and I can tell when somepony is down on their luck." The now rather hyper griffon exclaimed. "I imagine you've had a hard past few days, right?"

"That's a bit of an understatement, but yes." I frowned as the sudden memories of all the shit that I had truly been through within the past 72 hours seemed to hit me all at once. It wasn't until I had attempted to stand when I had realized that I was now far too exhausted to properly walk.

"Whoa, easy there." The griffon jumped to help me brace myself. "I can tell just by looking at ya' that you're in no shape to be walking around. Now, I can get you back to my place, but you're gonna have to hitch a ride." The griffon then pointed to the back of his combat harness, giving a short gesture to state that he meant that I was going to have to ride atop of him.

"W- What?" I was now extremely confused. Not only was this griffon demanding that I pretty much sit on top of him, but he was also already offering to bring me into his own home. At first this was an odd thought (especially considering the type of ponies that usually wandered the wasteland), but then I realized that Rad had done the same simply because she had a 'good feeling' about me.

"I said I was gonna let you stay at my place, but you'll have to catch a ride otherwise I fear that you won't exactly be making it there alive." I could practically feel the griffon grinning through his helmet.

"B- But, like, won't I be heavy?" I stupidly questioned not realizing that this griffon was more than likely ripped underneath of all that heavy armor.

"With this suit, not at all." He proudly responded, once again thumping his chest with pride.

"What do you mean? Isn't that suit heavy enough as is?" I questioned, still attempting to catch my breath.

"Damn, you really are new to this whole wasteland thing, aren't ya'?" He chuckled. "This here is a suit of highly customized Griffon Industries Power Armor! Not only does it provide protection against just about anything the wasteland could throw at ya', but it also makes everything lighter to the user."

"How in the world does that work?" I continued.

"To put it short, all this armor is built onto a servo-driven load bearing frame. It's some really technical shit, but essentially it will turn a hundred pounds into roughly around ten." As the griffon said this I became struck with amazement. I was completely unaware that the Griffon's were so technologically advanced, especially when it came to armor systems.

"So... how much does that suit weigh normally?" I asked, now extremely fascinated with the creation.

"Roughly around 500 pounds or so not including the weapons." His excited voice was beginning to clip as he peaked his helmets built in microphone. The amount of pride and excitement in his voice was easily his equivalent to Rad talking about her animals.

"So that comes to, what, like sixty pounds or so all together?" I tilted my head as I continued to admire the feat of technical engineering. I suppose that I truly was a bit of a techie.

"Pretty much! So I can imagine adding you will only be another ten pounds or so!" He laughed. "Hell, you don't even have any armor I gotta worry about!"

"You sure you're okay with this?" I blushed.

"What do you mean?" I could hear the nearly instantaneous confusion mask over him.

"Isn't it... I don't know... demeaning?" I winced, only to be greeted with a static ridden burst of laughter. "What?" I continued.

"H- Holy shit Silver!" The griffon struggled to maintain his rather comical outburst of laughter. "You really are new to all of this. If something like helping a good pony in need was demeaning to me, then I'd be no better than one of them raiders." As the last word exited his mouth, he lightly kicked the still bleeding corpse of the slaver pony.

He then turned to me and extended out his armor plated talons. "So, you coming with me or not?"

This gesture put a small smile of relief on my face, something I haven't truly had in what felt like forever. Admittedly, a small bit of me wanted to deny him and go find Rad instead... but it didn't take long for me to realize that that was nothing more than a death wish at this point. So, with that said, I extended my shaking front leg to meet his own. Despite what all he told me, I was still surprised when the griffon nearly effortlessly placed me onto his back.

At first it was extremely uncomfortable, but as he began to walk I managed to find a rather comfy (yet admittedly awkward) position between the two massive weapons draped over his back. Honestly, I was sure that I resembled that of a cat lying on the arm of a chair as I had two legs dangling over each side of him, but I really didn't care at this point. I felt safe.

"By the way." The griffon vocally grinned as he attempted to look over his shoulder at me. "My name's Dawnstar. It's nice to meet you."

Concept Art