My name is Dewdrop, and I’m sick. I have a grey coat and a pretty emerald green mane and tail, my mane is kinda short but that's because I don't want it caught in anything. I live in Stable 59, it’s not so bad here. But I’m sick, and I’m not the only one. Everyone living here is sick, but we all have medicine to take. It has a really long fancy name that the fabrication technicians came up with, but everyone just calls it medicine. Some of the others have started calling it Discord though, because of all the different ingredients. I don’t know much about that, though, I’m just a pipbuck technician in training.
My mom, Raindrop, is the pipbuck technician and I’m learning from her. Lately she’s really been pushing me to learn, and I figured out why. Mommy… mommy is giving me her medicine rations. It’s really not allowed, since they’re rationed so that nobody dies and they last as long as possible, but I’m sick… REALLY sick. We take our medicine every day, or the symptoms start showing. After about two weeks of not having enough medicine every day, or one week of nothing, most ponies die. One bottle of medicine lasts mommy most of the week, just like everyone else. Everyone but me. If I don’t take an entire bottle every day then I start to die, and we really don’t have much left. Rations are getting tighter, which is why Mommy is giving me hers.
The overseer even started sending ponies outside. OUTSIDE, where there’s like monsters and radiation and everything! Just to find scrap to sell to traders for more ingredients. Sometimes people don’t come back, sometimes they come back so hurt we can’t help them… But we need our medicine.
“Raindrop, you aren’t looking too good. Don’t tell me you’ve caught something from one of the scavenging parties? They’re always coming back with all kinds of new bacteria.” The stallion said to Mommy, he was one of the doctors. He was picking up his pipbuck that had gone haywire yesterday.
“I don’t really know, though that’s probably likely. They do crowd in here to get their scuffs and cracks fixed after every trip.” Mommy said back to him and I trotted over happily with his pipbuck.
“Oh, thank you Dewdrop! Did you help mommy with it this time too?” The stallion asked. I couldn’t help but nod enthusiastically as I helped him put it back on.
“Yep! My hooves are smaller so I can reach things that usually need a tool for!” I replied happily, basking in the small amount of praise. He gave me a warm smile and turned to Mommy.
“So what was wrong with it this time? I was sure I hadn’t spilled anything unusually corrosive on it.” He asked.
“Just age, they may have been built to weather a megaspell but some of the wiring isn’t. I replaced the coatings on the new ones to be sure it won’t happen again for a while.” Mommy explained, she was so smart! The Doctor hummed with a nod, gave me one last smile and was off. Mommy help her smile until the door finally closed and she drooped back down again, leaning against the desk of the workshop for support.
“Mommy, you need to take your medicine!” I said, she only gets like this when she forgets to. She gave me a little smile and fished out her bottle and the syringe, but as she extracted some of it and made to inject it I smacked it out of her hooves. That trick won’t work anymore!
“The real medicine! You don’t need to give me yours!” I yelled at her, in both anger and worry. She was my mommy! I can’t let her just die to keep me alive!
“How… did you know?” She said, her voice cracking. She didn’t even have the energy to be mad at me.
“I saw you filling them with fake stuff, and you’re not old enough for it to be fading… and I overheard the Overseer talking to you about it. Telling you to stop… so please, Mommy, stop. I’ll be ok.” I said to her, I couldn’t stop myself from crying. She held me close.
“I’m sorry, Dewdrop… but even if I wanted to… I’m out for the week.” She said after a minute or two of silence. That made my blood run cold. She can’t be out! She hasn’t taken it in three days, and if she didn’t have any for another week then she would die!
“No! No Mommy! You aren’t out…” I said. I pushed out of her grip and ran ro my room, bringing back my own bottle. She gave me a very stern look.
“Dewdrop, I am your mother. I will not take your medicine from you. I’ll be fine, I’m sure I can work someone out with someone.” She said, though she had a bit of a grimace though. I shook my head and practically threw the vial at her.
“No! No more night shift ponies in here after I’m supposed to be sleeping. You don’t have to take all of it… just… just enough. I’m ok with being sick for a week.” I tried to negotiate with her. She stared at me, probably because I knew another secret that she thought I didn’t know. How could I not? Those stallions don’t know the first things about acoustics in the living quarters.
“Dewdrop… no… I-I can’t…” She started, but I interrupted her. I got pretty good at doing this quickly, because I already jabbed her with the syringe and got a full dose into her. She looked like she wanted to pull away and stop me, but even with this little surprise she couldn’t risk wasting any of the medicine. She looked like she was going to start yelling at me, but I help my ground. I put the syringe back where it went and gave her a sad smile. Her eyes watered as her face softened and I hugged her. We both cried for a while, then.
“I can’t lose you, Dewdrop…” She said softly as we cried. I sniffled and nuzzled her face.
“I can’t lose you either, Mommy.” I replied. She looked at me and a little smile formed.
“Well, I guess we’ll just have to figure it out then huh?” She asked. I nodded and put the bottles away. There was another knock on the door and Mommy went to get it. I looked up as she mentioned who it is. The Overseer was standing there, looking her over.
“Good, so you did take it. After the good doctor mentioned you were under the weather, I had grown worried you were sharing rations again…” He said. His gaze softened as he looked at me, though. My little defiant stare still there.
“Dewdrop, I’ve gotta borrow your Mommy for a bit. I’m afraid the pipbuck interface in my terminal is on the fritz again.” He said, though I knew what it meant. He wanted to talk to her about me in private. Last time was when he was cutting rations, specifically mine. I tried to keep the facade of ignorance up and nodded, and I even fetched Mommy’s tool belt for her. He seemed satisfied and smiled, but Mommy’s smile had that knowing look with it. She knew I knew.
“Hurry back, I’ll make dinner!” I said happily, I even managed to keep my voice from cracking. I was rather proud of myself. They chuckled at that and started talking and left but I didn’t really care what they were saying at that point. I was in the kitchen anyways.
I broke down there, this was bad. Mommy was STILL sneaking me her rations and she was going to get in big trouble for it. And it was all my fault! Why did it have to be me that was more sick than everyone else? I didn’t even have my cutie mark for Celestia’s sake! It wasn’t fair that every other colt or filly didn’t even have to worry about medicine until they got their cutie mark. But I’ve had to take it since I could remember, and it was always more than everyone else. What did I do to deserve this? I just want Mommy to be ok…
Author's Note
I'm terrible at starting first person stories. This story is an experiment, seeing if adapting a tabletop campaign into a story isn't more work than it's worth, and if it's still enjoyable to read because it sure is enjoyable to run.
Prologue p.2: Into the Storm
Mommy didn’t come back for a while, dinner was cold. All I really did was roast up some veggies, but they were good! It wasn’t until about 6 in the afternoon when she came back. She stepped in, stumbled ever so slightly, and immediately went to the dinner table to eat.
“Dewdrop, this is so goooooood!” She exclaimed between bites. I felt my chest puff up in pride at the compliment, but I knew that tone. Mommy was drinking. She didn’t do it often, only when really bad things happened. I was going to ask her about it as she finished, but she shushed me.
“Ahhhshshshshhhhhh, we’re having a secret party tonight!” She whispered very loudly at me, putting a hoof ot my lips to stop me from talking. I couldn’t help but grin and nod enthusiastically. Usually when Mommy gets drunk she gets sad and mopey, but sometimes she did it for fun. Maybe this was for fun because she never liked parties.
“Oh, I know! Here, try this!” She said as she held out a mostly empty bottle. I sniffed at it and it burned my nose. But it smelled like apples, my favorite!
“Mommy, isn’t that only for adults?” I asked, unsure, this had to be a test right? She snorted and giggled a bit and wiggled it at me.
“Right now, you’re more adult than I am. C’mon, it’s fun!” She insisted. I can never say no to Mommy, so I took a brig drink. She giggled as I coughed and sputtered. It tasted awesome, but it burned going down! Like that one time I drank my tea right out of the pot, only I didn’t get actual burns all the way down.
“I just wanted to give you the chance to experience it…” Mommy said, almost sadly. That kinda scared me, but I immediately stopped caring as I looked at her sad smile and grinned back. The burning apple juice made the room start moving, and we both giggled together. She took my forehooves in hers and we started twirling around the room, dancing. There wasn’t any music, so I started singing! It wasn’t really singing, it was just noises in a terrible tune, but pretty soon Mommy joined in and we were just singing and laughing and spinning.
And crying. Mommy was crying, holding me tightly.
“I… I just want you to have fun tonight… I… I just…” She was sobbing!
“I am having fun! See Mommy? S-See?” I tried to assure her, but even with the burning apple juice making the world spin and making me want to smile and laugh I cried too. It wasn’t long before we finally stopped, maybe an hour. The world had stopped spinning too, though I felt really tired. Mommy was super tired, though, because she fell asleep in the middle of the room holding me. I let myself fall asleep, the burning apple juice making my eyes super heavy.
The Somber look Mommy gave me as she made me my favorite breakfast, pancakes with chocolate chips and baked apple slices on top, made me not want to eat it. Or anything, really. I knew what was going to happen, and she knew I knew, but she still wanted to try and keep me happy like I was an oblivious child. The splitting headache wasn’t helping, but I couldn’t waste it. It was the only thing she could do, and so I forced it down. It was amazing of course, but it didn’t feel right having something this good. Not when she was going to be sad again right after.
“Come on then, brush your mane and wash your face. The Overseer requested you specifically to talk to. I-I won’t have you looking like you spent the n-night d-drinking.” Mommy said when I finished, walking towards the bathroom. I just followed her, not able to say anything. What could I say? I just let her dote over me, scrub my hide and wash my mane. I would have goggled at the little filly staring back at me, she was so pretty! But it wasn’t me, not really. It was a happy little filly dressing up to go on a date, or something like that. Mommy was just trying to get just a little more out of me, and I couldn’t help but nuzzle her as she brushed my mane.
“I’m sorry…” She whispered shakily. I just nuzzled deeper.
“We don’t want to keep him waiting do we? Let’s go…” I said, my voice cracking. She just nodded and quickly blow dried my mane.
The walk through the Stable was somber and silent, it seemed that nobody wanted to interrupt us or distract us. They all must have known what was coming, we sure did. Mommy started dragging her hooves as the Overseer’s door came into view, but I just nudged her and soldiered on. I was a strong filly, I had to be. Mommy just smiled at me and caught up as I knocked. The door opened and he sat there in his chair. He had a stern gaze, but it softened as he saw me.
“Dewdrop, you look lovely today. If I would have known you were going to freshen up so nicely I would have done the same…” He said with a little smile. He looked like a mess, honestly. His jumpsuit looked like it hadn’t been washed, his mane was a rat’s nest, he had bags under his eyes, and I could smell the burn from the burning apple juice in the room. He was drinking last night too.
“Please, sir… let’s just get this over with…” I said. I didn’t want to stand here and exchange pleasantries like this was a normal day. He gave mommy a surprised look, she responded by shaking her head.
“You are an incredibly smart little filly, Dewdrop… I… I’m sorry… I…” He started. I felt my face scrunch up as I got mad.
“How long do I have?” I snapped. He was trying to beat around the bush. I just wanted the conversation to be over. His look softened again.
“The day, of course, and you’ll be given a few bottles so you don’t suffer immediately… I’m so, so sorry Dewdrop… Raindrop… If there wa any other way to make this work I would have taken it in a heartbeat…” He started, and he went on explaining why decisions were made and how there were no alternatives. I stopped listening, I knew why already.
I was being expelled from the Stable, it couldn’t maintain the supply of medicine with me needing so much. They probably could have sent someone else away, probably Mommy, but she’s super i’m the only other pony here that knows anything about Pipbucks, and a lot of the other ponies in here are super important as well. With so few ponies living here, everyone has a very important role. I haven’t even found my cutiemark, I didn’t have a job. I normally wouldn’t even be factored in to the survival equation when it comes to the medicine, but I need an entire bottle a day or I start dying… it’s the only thing that made sense.
“Stop…” I said softly, Mommy and the Overseer were arguing about something. They both stopped short and looked at me. Mommy was crying, and the Overseer looked like he was about to cave into whatever she was demanding. He never was a brave stallion. I shook my head and turned.
“Mommy, I’m gonna go get ready… I’ll… I’ll make dinner again tonight, be sure to get there when it’s ready so it’s nice and hot. Overseer, sir, I’m sorry. It’s not your fault.” I said softly and started walking. I heard Mommy sniffle, but I couldn’t stop to turn around or I’d break down again. I missed the overseer’s pained grimace. Mommy’s footsteps followed me to the door and stopped me. She kissed me on the head and ruffled my perfect mane, back into its usual untidy mess.
“You got it, kiddo. I’ll be around quickly and we’ll see if we can’t cross a few things off our bucket list before the day is over.” She said, I could hear her tone wavering. She was trying to be strong like me. I smiled and nuzzled into her. No more words needed to be said. She turned back to the Overseer as I left, heading straight home. I’ll never forget the rest of that day, the fun Mommy and I had…
I’ll never forget that first step outside, seeing the drab and muted wasteland. The Overseer told me that the sky always hung people up the first time they saw it, but I really didn’t feel anything as I looked up at the grey clouds. Six bottles of medicine, that’s all that could be spared. Even that much couldn’t be spared, but it was. So, I had one week to explore the wasteland. I had heard that there were many places the Ministry Mare Fluttershy had created for the research and development of medicine, maybe one of them had supplies and fabrication talismans so that I could make more?
I’ll never forget that first step outside. And I’ll never forget the baseball bat to the head.
Author's Note
I had originally intended for this to go on for a little while longer, but first person perspective has always been a crutch for me, though I think this chapter went better than the first one for sure.
Ow… that’s all I could think of right now. Ow to my head, ow to my whole body.None of my senses were really working so I tried to remember. I had been walking in the wasteland for about an hour, not really paying attention to anything, and I think I remember someone playing… baseball?
The rest of my memory was suddenly interrupted as my nose started working again. I could only smell blood, but I sneezed suddenly. I tried to open my eyes, but they hurt worse than after drinking the fire apple juice so I closed them. My nose started working again, and I suddenly felt very glad my stomach was fairly empty because more than just the smell of blood filled my nostrils. There was waste, there was death, a putrid stench that threatened to dissolve my nose hairs.
My ear flicked, I could hear voices! They were very distant, like they were through a wall. Someone must have been yelling loudly. I tried opening my eyes again and found myself in a little puddle of blood. I frantically looked around, I was in a cage. There were other cages, but my eyes hadn’t focused enough to see their contents. I looked down and realized it was my own blood. My head really hurt, and there were a couple scratches and small gashes on my hide I don’t remember getting! What, did I get dragged through a thorn bush or something?
“Hey, kid, you conscious?” A raspy voice asked from a nearby cage. There was a mass of flesh and feathers in there, maybe it USED to be a Griffon. It moved as I tried to scan further, and it looked up at me. LOOKED UP AT ME. WHAT. WHY IS A CORPSE LOOKING AT ME.
“And now I’m hallucinating that dead griffons are talking to me…” I managed to slur out in my concussed state. The corpse laughed.
“Hah! That’s a new one! Usually I get something a lot more violent. You Stable Ponies and not knowing about ghouls… It’s adorable when you’re not trying to blow my brains out like a feral.” The Griffon… ghoul I think he said? The Ghoul said. My brain was barely functioning as is, but it was at about that moment when the rest of my body remembered that it was in pain. It was like I was on fire! I knew this pain, though. I just had to…
My medicine was gone.
“Oh no…” I whispered in horror. My medicine was gone, I was locked in a cage surrounded by death and other people in cages… The traders told me about this kind of thing… Raiders, I think is what they’re called? But that’s not important! What’s important is that my medicine is gone!
“I-I-I… I need my medicine!” I rasped out, frantically looking around again.
“I could go for some medicine right now too kid, you any good with locks?” The Griffon asked. I rolled my eyes, pretending he was just a balding Griffon instead of a talking corpse for now.
“Not THAT kind of medicine. The ACTUAL medicine. Without my dosage every day I will die in seven days or less.” I said, surprisingly calm. I realized how calm I said it, and suddenly I felt the urge to panic. Because PANICKING IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO IN THIS SITUATION. I started banging on the bars with my hooves, tried chewing them, grasping around my cage for something to pry it open, anything!
“Whoa there kid, slow down. Like I said, you any good with locks?” The Griffon asked again. I snapped my vision to him and saw what he held in his talons. A single bobby pin, terribly bent, but still usable.
“I-I… I was training to be a technician, so kinda?” I replied, a little unsure. I’ve never picked a lock with a bobby pin before, though I have forced through some when the locks on a leg band gets broken of fused with itself due to heat. He shrugged and tossed it to me, I barely managed to catch it. I immediately set to work on the lock. The Griffon, thankfully, didn’t say anything as I tried to concentrate. It was very hard to do this without something solid to turn the lock, but my hooves were still small and I was still flexible!
I heard the soft click, that was it? It was the first turn! I looked to him, saw his disappointed expression, and turned back to the lock. I held half of the bobby pin in one hoof, the rest of it lodged in the lock.
“Ah, shit, damn thing was too busted up. Sorry kid, you looked like you knew what you were doing though. If one of those deadbeats drops another one I’ll get it to you.” He said and settled down again. I just sat there staring at the fire barrel illuminating the room. Whatever it was burning it was not sanitary, it smelled of filth, but I don’t think I could stop from screaming in here if it was dark.
Every now and then I heard a few faint metallic noises coming from the Griffon, but he didn’t really seem to be moving so I assumed he was just scratching the cage with his talons. I followed his lead, though, with nothing else to do and managed to fall asleep.
I woke up to the sounds of yelling. A mare with a switchblade was standing in front of my cage, watching me closely, while two stallions with guns were pointing them at the griffon. I really didn’t pay much attention, my body was really starting to hurt. I slept for a long time, judging by my Pipbuck. It had been two days since my last dose of medicine, and I was really feeling it.
“Lookie here, we got a lockpicker! Shame it broke, I would have had fun punishing you.” A stallion yelled out when he came to my cage. He pulled the bent pin out of the lock and undid the lock. I scrambled to the back of the cage, afraid he was going to come in and hurt me, but he just replaced it with a much more worn lock.
“Now that you aint got shit to pick with, we can put this good one to better use.” He continued, more to himself, as he levitated the much better lock to a different cage. There was a pink mass of hide with light and dark green hair piled in the middle of the cage. It was another pony! I looked around and saw that the other cages had been mostly filled in as well.
The one I was looking at looked to be a tall earth pony mare. The raiders were talking about how exotic she looked, but I couldn’t tell much. She seemed to be pink with a mane and tail two toned with an emerald green and a darker, grassy green.
I looked over to another one, another earth pony mare. This one looked like they had thrown one of their own in there! Well, kinda. She was big and tough looking, she even had an eyepatch! Her coat was cream colored, but whatever color her mane used to be has long since faded to grey. She had to be at least twice as old as Mommy was, but Mommy was pretty young.
Mommy…
I shook my head, I didn’t need to go down that emotional roller coaster right now. Not while there were raiders watching me. I looked on, there were two unicorns as well. They both had a grey coat, though one had a cream spot over his snout. That one had a well groomed mane and tail, which were a very dark grey- almost black- with a darker orange scattered thoughtfully. The other one had a darker blue mane and tail, his tail was cut kinda short. That one looked a little thin, but then again so did I.
I just balled up in the corner of my cage and hoped the raiders would go away without hurting anyone else, me especially.
“Why are we keeping them caged up again? It’s been so long since we’ve had a proper mare that wasn’t wide as a canyon in here! And why not just put the old girl out of her misery? Nobody should live that long in the wasteland.” One of the raiders sneered, though the stallion that was apparently the boss smacked him.
“Because, boy, I told you so. We haven’t had a batch like this in over a year and I’m not gonna let you waste it! We just got some new meet, go convince one of them to give you something to rut.” He dismissed the other stallion. He grumbled but trotted off, mumbling about canyons still being canyons. I didn’t know there were canyons around here.
I couldn’t help but start shaking as the raiders left. All that fear and stress was making my withdrawal worse.
“Hey kid, they’re gone… you don’t gotta be so scared anymore…” The Griffon said, looking back up at me from his cage. He must have caught my look of pain, though, as a look of worry spread over his sagging features. “You alright, kid?” He asked. I snorted, the pain wracking through my body.
“I told you… I need my medicine…” I managed to rasp out on a shaky breath. He grumbled, he apparently didn’t like seeing me like this. I heard the metallic clicking from his direction continue and tried to get more sleep. Even though I hadn’t moved in two days, getting locked up and concussed makes you tired apparently. The pain was draining my energy too, and so I slept.
I awoke to more voices, these very hushed and unfamiliar.I didn’t really understand what they were talking about at first, but I didn’t really care. I hurt. This is the worst I’ve ever gotten, the longest I’ve ever gone without medicine at all. It was all I could think about at the moment.
“My… Medi...cine…” I managed to rasp out. I was hungry, I was thirsty, and I hurt. I just wanted all of that to end. I heard the ponies around me talking more, the Griffon spoke every now an then, I even heard what sounded like the ponies doing something. I didn’t care, though.
I was a little surprised to find the old mare with one eye standing in front of me.
“Shit, kid, you alright?” She asked me, her voice a little raspy with age. I couldn’t even form words anymore, I don’t think I’m really conscious anymore. Just kinda going in and out. The hurting never stopped. I think she looked at my Pipbuck and saw the slew of alerts on it.
“Hey Doc, can you help her?” The old mare asked. One of the Unicorns, the one with orange in his mane and the cream colored snout, quickly came over and looked me over.
“N-No, I don’t think so… not… Not here. What is this stuff anyways?” He asked, probably seeing the name of the medicine in the Pipbuck.
“Medicine…” I managed to get out before cognitive function once again slipped from my grasp.
“It appears we have found some of our belongings, though anything of value is clearly taken.” One of the voices spoke up, it was the other earth pony. The really pretty pink one, she really did look exotic. But it hurt too much to really care right now. It was enough to rouse me into full consciousness again, though. I don’t know when she picked me up, but I was on the old mare’s back. My eyes lit up and I almost fell off when I saw the little bag that held my medicine. It looked… lighter.
“Let me see that…” The Unicorn the old mare called a doctor said when they opened it to see what should have been seven bottles of my medicine in it. They took out two bottles, apparently all that was left, but I tried to reach for them.
“Whoa kid, hang on. Don’t hurt yourself. Doc, could you give her that stuff already? She’s kinda dying.” The old mare asked. Yes, do what the nice old mare says! I need my medicine!
“Wait, it would appear that this ‘medicine’ is an amalgamate of different harmful substances. A ‘Chem Cocktail’ as you would say.” The pink earth mare said, looking closely at the bottle. Now that I was more conscious, her voice was strongly accented. It sounded Zebracian but it was a little too ‘normal’ to be full Zebra accent.
“I… I need it… p-please…” I groaned out, the pain flaring even more. They all looked at each other, then back at me.
“Ok, ok… hold still.” The doctor unicorn said. He seemed like he really didn’t want to do it, but if he didn’t then I would get up and do it myself. Who cares what it is, it’s my medicine! What kind of doctor doesn’t want to give a kid her medicine? I let the heavy sigh of relief out as I felt the medicine in my body. I couldn’t help but fall back asleep on the nice old mare’s back.
I was jarred awake as I was set on the ground. I looked around, the old mare did the ‘Shh’ motion and I nodded. She crept back up with the others as they were trying to fight one of those mares with a switchblade from before. Just as two more of them arrived, Choker made her presence known. And wow, was it a presence. The pink earth pony was striking with swift but weak blows, but dodged like a professional. The Griffon was raking the mare with his talons, and had been nicked once or twice in return. The two Unicorns were circling, waiting to see if they were needed. Neither looked the most useful in a hoof fight.
The Griffon noticed the old mare common and stood up, pulling what looked like a pistol from I don’t know where. He fired the thing, and it exploded in his claws. He barely dodged the switchblade that came as his reply, but then the old mare struck her first blow. She may have been old, but she must have been a pit fighter somewhere. The raider’s neck twisted as she bucked her head with enough force to end the raider in one blow. She turned to one while the others turned to another and the ensuing battle was surprisingly easy. One of the unicorns even got the switchblade from the first one and was using it fairly effectively.
Just as the last raider fell, dead or unconscious I don’t really know, some of them looked up and at a set of stairs. The pink mare and the old mare started creeping up the stairs after speaking lowly as the doctor came over to carry me.
“You doing ok?” He asked. I nodded and tried to stand, though something I think is called vertigo hit me and I fell right back down. The doctor unicorn yelped and failed to catch me, but he picked me up and put me on his back.
“Alright, that’s enough of that. Once we’re out of this place you’re getting a checkup.” He said. I just grumbled, I could feel my consciousness slipping away.
I opened my eyes as I felt myself being moved, or ather the pony that was carrying me stopping suddenly. They had apparently acquired some armor since I was last conscious, I think it’s leather, and the other unicorn was levitating a rifle! They were all looking at something, though, and I looked over as well. The front doors were wide open, the light form inside spilling out to reveal a bunch of dead raiders.
In the doorway, trying to stand on a mutilated right foreleg, was a young mare. She wasn’t wearing much armor, and she was riddled with other bullet wounds, though she had a large harness that held what looked like a scoped rifle in it. She had a dark grey, nearly black, coat and had a black mane with lavender spots scattered about it. She looked up at us.
“I-If anyone has any potions, I would be… much… much obliged.” She said weakly. The doctor handed me off to the old mare and quickly rushed over. Apparently they had found some potions, as he fed her a couple of them. It was weird watching her wound close up in front of our eyes. He then used some magic on her, a healing spell of some sorts, and she seemed a lot better. She still limped on the leg, but she was able to join the rest of the group.
“Right, let’s get the hell out of here… I know of a safe place, but the journey there may not be safe.” The strange mare said. They chatted for a bit, apparently she had found out about a bunch of raiders taking people into here and she wanted to help them. I also learned their names and what had happened exactly while I was in and out.
The pink one with the strange accent was Hibiscus Flower. She was an alchemist, and mentioned things in zebra and talked about the spirits and life of the land. The old mare was Choker, she doted over me most of the time. The Doctor was Cole Wardhart, and he was a stable pony like me! The other unicorn was Crack Shot, and he was apparently hoarding Dash for some reason.
Cole had levitated some rocks over to hibiscus, who broke them into something to try and pick the locks most of the time. When that ultimately failed, Crack Shot used the one spell he knew to make his hoof as strong as diamond and just bashed his lock open. They then found a set of keys, got everyone out, and systematically cleared the old theater house they were apparently in. Up those stairs I saw, there was a sniper that was really giving the stranger a problem. Taking that stallion out equipped Crack with an ideal weapon and allowed the stranger to survive the rescue attempt.
The stranger wouldn’t tell us her real name, but instead told us to call her Jeanne. Nobody seemed to think much of it. Ramsey, the Griffon Ghoul, was still around too. We set off, me on Choker’s back, into the city. We were apparently near the outskirts of Manehattan and the safe place involved heading in deeper. Which was usually a bad idea.
We had to hide a lot, Jeanne could see things in the dark before they saw us, but eventually we came to a guarded and fortified complex in the night. There were griffons there in armor marked with white griffon claws, Choker and Hibiscus said something about Talon Mercenaries. Eventually we were waved over, I was kinda scared of them so I pretended to be asleep.
“Alright, we’re welcome here as long as we pay for it. I’ve got you all covered, considering what you just went through. Ramy, you’re on your own unfortunately.” Jeanne said. The Griffon Ghoul in question just grinned and strolled right in. The guards balked at the name and made disgusted faces. They let him pass, though.
“Don’t worry, I know these fellas. I’m gonna go get shitfaced, you in?” The ghoul asked. Everyone shook their heads and he shrugged, continuing deeper into the complex.
“Dewdrop, let’s get you somewhere nice to sleep and somewhere to eat.” Choker said, she knew I wasn’t really sleeping. I nodded and clung to her. We walked for a while, finding a barracks area. Choker asked around a bit and quickly found a younger griffon who gave up her cot for me. She was so sweet! She even made sure to lay down next to it to make sure I was safe while Choker went to find food.
I just stayed quiet, watching the griffons as they watched me. Some of them didn’t seem to notice or care about my existence, though some of them seemed to feel sorry for me. They were the younger ones, the older ones apparently hardened with experience. Choker was soon back with something called sugar apple bombs. It was cereal! And it was the best thing I’ve had in days, not quite as good as mommy’s cooking though!
Mommy…
I felt myself starting to cry, so I just quickly ate and convinced Choker that I wanted to sleep. She laid down on the other side of the cot, practically under it, and I shoved my face in the pillow. I made sure not to really cry, I wasn’t going to ruin the nice griffon’s pillow with snot and tears, but I couldn’t stop thinking of mommy.
I didn’t sleep very well, but the next morning was happier. Apparently the others had found the rest of my medicine before we left! I wasn’t going to have to ration it yet! They started calling it by the little name I had scratched on the bottle, though. ‘Discord’. They asked me all about it and I told them what I knew, and they decided they wanted to go back to the stable to get more. I told them why I was sent away, but instead of giving up or offering to steal it, they instead decided that they were going to help the stable!
Everything I ever heard about the outside world was bad. I mean, most of it is bad, but right now these ponies were good ponies. They wanted to help me and my stable, for the sake of helping! I’m almost glad I got taken by those raiders. I never would have found them otherwise… Or, they would have never found me. And I’d be dead.
I drove that thought from my mind as we started off towards Stable 59, it was three days south from here along the railroad. I felt like it was going to be a long three days.
Author's Note
Writing something from the perspective of someone who isn't supposed to be conscious from most of it is rather annoying, but hopefully this wasn't too bad.
I'll be trying to go by one chapter= one session of the game, but that may change depending on how things go for either.
Enjoy!
