Fallout Equestria: We Lucky Few

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!