CHAPTER 2: THE NEW WORLD

The Changeling groaned as he stared at the ceiling. It’d been two hundred plus years since the world had ended. His kind had proven more adaptable to the radiation that hurt most other sentient races, except Hellhounds, they’d gotten a boost from the stuff.

He sat up. The stallion sleeping next to him had proved to have little more than a snack for him. “bleh, ‘love of your life’ my ass. HEY WAKE UP!”

The stallion jumped and stared wide eyed at the insectoid pony sitting on the bed next to him. “Who are you and where is the bitch I fucked?” The changeling grinned taking the form he had the night before, one of a 19 year old earthpony mare.

“Three things for you before I go. I’m a Changeling we feed on love and bub you did NOT love this mare. Two, I'm actually a guy so, all that homophobic shit you were talking? You fucked a guy! And three, you’re gonna feel like shit for the rest of the day. Ok so havefunBYE!” he took his true form and jumped out the open window, his wings buzzing as he flew off laughing at the scream of terror coming from the stallion behind him.

“HEY XEN!!” a mares voice called out, the Changeling, Xen froze mid air, he knew that mare and she’d catch him if he tried to hide. She always did. Xen quickly landed as the dark green unicorn trotted up to him. “Did you really let High Drive fuck you?”

“In my defence I was starving… well am still starving, that stallion has a brick for a heart I tell ya. So…Jade...any chance you’d let me feed off your love?” Xen grinned. The flat look she gave him was all the answer he needed. “Eh, it was worth a shot, but then again you have an ice cube for a heart” he chuckled, till the stick broke over his head.

“Oh shut up. I just haven’t found a guy who does it for me yet. And before you mention that griffin asshole you know I hate all of them. They’re lowlife mercs who’ll do anything for a hoof full of caps! They don’t have honor!” Jade glared at him as he just smirked.

“Just saying, I know when someone is hot for someone else and you were for hi…” he was cut off by another stick to the face. Just then he felt strong emotions coming from the direction of the Raider Fort. He just shrugged and kept pestering Jade about griffins.

****

Obsidian coughed, his eyes opening. There were alarms sounding, he was freezing, and about to throw up. The door to the pod he was in opened up as he fell forwards retching a vile black liquid out of his beak. Star, he had to find Star, had to get her away from this place. He heard the pod next to his open, he looked over and saw Star vomiting. Other than the Cryo-sickness, she looked fine. Good, now he needed to find Daybreak. He stood and found the pod with her name on it. It wasn’t sealed, and Daybreak was nothing more than a skeleton in the chair. Tears formed in his eyes. She was gone, just like most of the inhabitants of this stable. The pods all either showed no life signs in the readouts or the seals had failed leaving just skeletons. Star was now sobbing in front of Daybreaks pod. Obsidian shook his head hard, trying to clear the fog, bad idea, he stumbled and fell against the pod next to him. “Fuck… we’re the only ones who made it… FUCK!” he punched the pod in anger, this place had been supposed to save all these ponies, and it’d saved none of them. What had Stable Tec been thinking!? “Star… we can come back and bury her later… we need to secure the area…” he looked around for the door.

“Th… there’s nothing out there… just… just a slow radioactive death… ” Star sobbed. The sound was like a knife to Obsidian’s heart. He went over and hugged her tightly.

“We don’t know that, it could be that everything’s been fixed while we slept.” He nuzzled her gently, “Just please don’t say that… I’m going to get you through this I promise.” Star sighed and hugged him back.

“Ok….but you owe me a hot fudge sundae.” She sniffled a little as Obsidian chuckled despite their surroundings. He lead her out of the Cryo storage room, scoffing at the name above the door. They searched for anything salvageable, it turned out most of the food was actually still good, not to mention there was enough in here to support a small town for almost 2 years.

As they entered the locker room where they’d left their gear Obsidian noticed for the first time the Stable Tec Logos on the walls had had the emblem of the Office of Interministry Affairs added to them. Stable Tec hadn’t frozen them. The OIA had intervened and turned this place into one of their sick secret experiments, like what they’d done to that soldier, Doof. They’d turned him into more of a machine than a pony. He growled a little at that thought.

“I have good news and bad news Obsidian. The good news is that our armor and Pipbucks are still here. The bad news is that our guns and ammo are nowhere to be found.” Star said as she set said uniforms in front of them.

“Ok, I found our knives and two 10mm pistols with about 30 rounds each in the security office so we have that. I also found a log about the all clear never being sent to the staff. Eventually they turned on each other, the last survivor took the elevator to the surface about 40 years after the bombs fell.” He started changing out of his jumpsuit and back into his armor. Star did the same, only behind a wall of lockers. Obsidian just shrugged, it’s not like ponies and griffins normally wore clothes.

Once they were both in their armor they made for the Stable door, which was sealed tight. It didn’t take Obsidian long to spoof a password for the terminal controlling the door and get it opened.

*****

Star sighed as she sat waiting for Obsidian to finish with the terminal. Her mind was still reeling from everything, the world ending, the cryo pods, waking to find only herself and Obsidian alive. “Hey…I’m gonna take another look around really quick” she got up and left the room, wandering the abandoned halls of a place once promised to save, now a tomb. She shuddered at that thought as she entered a room clearly used by a mare, or a very gay stallion, judging by the very saucy magazine they'd left open on their bed. A large griffin with his legs spread, leaving nothing to the imagination, winked at her from the center spread. Star squeaked a little and backed out of the room. She glanced in again, the magazine almost seemed to be staring right at her, inviting her to take it. She blushed as she caved and put it in her saddle bags, it wouldn’t be right to leave something like that laying around a tomb after all, she’d get rid of it as soon as she founds a proper place to do so.

After finding the sick bay and taking two dozen healing potions, about seven Hydra’s and half of the RadAway and Rad-X she found Star started back towards Obsidian. By the time she made it back to the Stable door Obsidian was playing a game on his Pipbuck that he’d found, the door wide open behind him. She had to admit she was surprised that they weren’t getting soaked with radiation right now. “Well I guess the elevator area is safe at the very least.” She tried to sound optimistic, she was failing. She could see that Obsidian was worried about her as he got up and offered a soft smile.

“Come on, the surface is waiting.” He held out a talon to her which she took. As they stepped through the open door a voice came over the loudspeakers.

“Thank you for participating in our extended cryogenic hibernation. Mares and Stallions may experience hormonal build up in a variety of ways, such as increased aggression, or unexpected Heat. Once again we thank you for your participation in our endeavor to better science, and Equestria, but mostly science. Thank you once again to those who survived and the OIA.”

“Well… that’s… a thing… Um… so uh… yeah lets just get out side.” Obsidian coughed and walked out right as Star noticed his jumpsuit, or what was left of it, in the corner of the room torn to shreds. She shrugged guessing it was that aggression thing the recording mentioned, she felt fine though, no signs of hormone build up or anything like that. She blushed a bit remembering the magazine she’d found. Nope she wasn’t going to keep that she was gonna throw it away as soon as she could……yep….no Heat here.

*****

Obsidian adjusted his helmet glad for the gasmask. If that recording was correct about mares like it had been for his aggression, well the whole room probably smelled like it was full of mares in heat, rather than just one. He just hoped Star wasn’t too uncomfortable right now… and that he wouldn’t have to smell it once they were outside of the Stable. He didn’t need that kind of distraction right now, especially from his sister. There was a loud groan and a clunking from the elevator, it was certainly taking it’s time getting down here. He quickly ejected the game a put it in his bag. There was a loud clang as the elevator reached the bottom.

Obsidian tilted his head as he looked at the elevator. The dirt and fading patterns suggested that something had been sitting on it until just now. That’s when he heard the groaning of wood and metal straining to hold too much weight. As he looked up he saw a very poorly constructed tower being held just barely by no more than three walls of wood and metal. “GET BACK IT’S COMING DOWN!!” he grabbed Star and flapped his wings hard propelling them back as the tower fell straight down the hole, hitting the ground with a resounding crash. As the dust cleared Obsidian stood up and looked around, some of that debris would have to be cleared before the elevator could be raised. There were fresh bodies among the rubble, they were far from healthy, but nowhere near the radiation damage levels he’d expected.

“W…well, Radioactive death isn’t waiting for us…but these ponies don’t look very friendly….and we just broke their tower….” Star piped up as she examined one of the corpses. Obsidian looked down and started searching a stallion. He found a sawed off double barreled shotgun and a bandolier with about 20 shotgun shells. He threw the bandolier across his chest and checked the load on the shotgun.

“They’ve got supplies we can make use of… but I can gather those” he glanced over and was surprised to see that Star was already looting the body infront of her.

“I’ve found some healing potions, .38 rounds and a homemade pistol that uses them. He had a molotov cocktail but that was smashed in the fall. What? I know we need these supplies and it's not like these guys are using it anymore.” She deadpanned. Obsidian just blinked for a second.

Just then a pile of steel plates moved, more specifically stood up. “Is that….power armor?!” Star yelped as she bolted for cover. Obsidian took a step back, if it had been power armor it had been repaired so many times it wasn’t even recognizable anymore. That’s when he noticed the mini-gun reving up as the pony in the power armor laughed like a mad man.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA ALWAYS WANTED TA KILL ME A TALON MERC!! I’MMA MOUNT YER SKULL ON MAH SHOULDER PLATE!! NOW HOLD STILL!!” Obsidian yelped and jumped behind a pile of rubble as the power armored pony opened fire.

“First fight out of cryo and it’s against jerry rigged power armor! Fuck me I guess!” Obsidian shouted as he pulled out one of the 10mm pistols and returned fire to little effect. He saw Star poking her head out and taking pot shots at the pony who didn’t seem to care. Obsidian growled then saw a grenade laying next to a dead pony, which he grabbed. “FIRE IN THE HOLE!” he shouted pulling the pin out and throws the grenade at the power armored ponies hooves. Obsidian and Star took cover as the grenade exploded. Obsidian pulled out the shotgun and jumped over his cover and charged the dazed pony whose helmet and the armor of the right front leg had been blown off, leaving just the frame of the power armor. That’s where he’d aim. Obsidian fired two shots that had little effect. The pony growled and charged him. Obsidian jumped to the side and fired into the belly of the ponies armor but nothing happened. As he cursed himself for forgetting to reload he quickly opened the breach and pulled out two more shells and loaded them into the gun just as he heard the mini-gun reving up again.

“Fire in the hole!” Star called out as she threw out a molotov cocktail at the power armored stallion. Obsidian blinked, hadn’t those all broken in the fall? The stallion growled turning towards her, that’s when Obsidian fired two shots reloaded and fired twice again as the stallion turned, the armor plates on his right rear leg fell off.

“Yer just mak’n this hurt more!!” He turns, firing the minigun up at Obsidian who did his best to doge, taking a few rounds in his hind leg. He hissed as he made it to cover. He heard the minigun fire as Star opened fire again. The sound of the minigun drowned out the .38’s Star was using. Obsidian pulled out one of the 10mm pistols and fired at the stallions legs. Two shots went into his knee causing him to fall down. Obsidian dropped the pistol and pulled out the shotgun as he ran at the hostile stallion. The ponies eyes widened as obsidian pressed the shotgun to his head and pulled the trigger. The pulp that used to be his head splattered against the rubble behind him. Obsidian stood there panting, the pony dead at his feet as rain started pouring down the elevator shaft He looked up, the raindrops landing on the glass of his masks eye plates. With the first crash of thunder came the first wave of emotions. He gritted his teeth and steeled himself against it, he had to stay strong for Star. He didn’t know the world he and star were about to come face to face with would test everything he thought he knew.

*****

Jade was watching the horizon, it’d been about half an hour since the center tower of the Raider Fort had just, disappeared, now she could hear the pops and cracks of gunfire accompanied by the occasional explosion from a grenade. The rain hadn’t let up yet, which was no surprise but still, something felt off. As she looked through her binoculars she saw something flying up, it wasn’t till the figure stopped about 5 stories up did she recognize the shape, it was a griffin. “huh….the Talons are making a move on the Fort? That’s not like them.” She muttered to herself.

“That’s no Talon, that guys wearing some kinda trench coat or cloak. Talons remove that kinda gear before a fight not to mention this isn’t a full frontal assault, these guys snuck into the middle, took down the main watch tower and are not picking them off one sector at a time. Stealth and tactical thinking over brute strength, Wreaths Talons never use this kinda tactics.” Xen started from his perch above her. “not to mention only one flier, either this guys a one man wrecking crew or he’s working with non-winged allies, and Talons never do that no matter which company they’re from.” She had to give him that one.

“Ok but then who’d be stupid or well equipped enough to take that place on?” Jade asked. Another round of solid gunfire was coming from the Fort as a watch tower went up in flames. She could now see figures running out of the Fort. Whatever was going on over there was starting to scare the Raiders out of their own fort.

“Hey Jade! Xen! Granny Gumdrops wants to talk to you two!” one of the mares down stairs called. Jade sighed and started down the stairs and Xen buzzed down behind her. She hated it when he did that and she knew he only did it to annoy her. He had that stupid grin on his face. Personally she still didn’t understand how there was a race of insectoid ponies who fed off love in the hate filled skeleton of Equestria. Xen seemed nice enough, but from what he had told her of where he’d been born, she was glade she wouldn’t ever see it.

“Granny you better not be on those drugs again, I told the Sisters not to give you that stuff it’s gonna kill you” she said as she entered the old mare’s room, and just as she though Granny Gumdrops had a Dash inhaler sitting next to her.

“Quit yer worrying fer me. The Sight shown me something, something that you and Xen need to know, the Fort, the Fort’s gonna fall tonight, that raider mare Wendy’s gonna die and the rest’ll scatter to the winds, but the two who are gonna do it, they’ll need your help, they’re from Equestria, I…..I gotta rest now but you two gotta get out there and find the Ghosts” the old mare smiled faintly “they’re what ya both been look’n for” with that she shooed them out.

“So…..what was that all about?”Xen asked curiously.

“Oh right you haven’t been around for ‘The Sight’ before. Basicly if Granny gets high enough she has these visions that she thinks are the future.” Jade rolled her eyes as he entered the main part of the building, a bar run by the Sisters of the Night. An all mare merc company, specializing in protecting fillies and mares of the Wasteland whenever they could. They’d let Xen join because of his ability to infiltrate anywhere he wanted, better to have him as the only male member than as a potential threat. “those chems are gonna kill her if she keeps this up.” Jade sighed as she sat down.

“Yeah but that Sight of hers has saved our necks more’n one time.” Daisy, the leader of the Sisters of the Night as well as the bartender said as she smiled. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Granny Gumdrops and that Sight, I’d be a pile o’ Hellhound shit somewhere.” Jade rolled her eyes, still not totally convinced.

“She told us to go looking for ghosts, which aren’t real.” Jade deadpanned, just then a Raider barged in yelling.

“GHOSTS!! WRAITHS!! THE SPIRITS OF THOSE WE’VE WRONGED HAVE COME FOR US!!!” He collapsed, fainted. Everypony just stared at the now unconscious Raider. Daisy turned to Jade.

“You were say’n?” Jade just groaned and flopped her head down. This day was not going the way she needed it to, not by a long shot.

*****

Star panted, they’d been fighting their way through this encampment for almost an hour now, Obsidian was stitching up a gash in his leg, they’d long since used up the healing potions they’d found, and where having trouble finding more. She glanced back at his leg, it was gonna get infected if he wasn’t more careful with how he was stitching it, but he had insisted on doing it himself. “Fuck……they gotta be running out of crazies by now! It's like we woke up in the middle of a damn army of them.” He hissed as he poured some whiskey over the wound to disinfect it. “Ok, I saw a gate to the east of us on my last pass over, bad news, looks like the only real way out, worse news, two of those makeshift power armored guys and one in legit T-45 are guarding it killing anyone who goes towards it.”

Star sighed, “Can’t you just fly us out of here?” she could see his expression darken, his talons started shaking. “Is this about that mare you found? You said she’d been dead for at least 24 hours, we couldn’t have sa…”

“She didn’t even have a cutiemark yet!” he hissed. Star gasped. Earlier Obsidian had taken cover in a makeshift building, he’d told Star that the ponies in it had been desicrating the corpse of a pony. Using it as a knife holder or something. He’d referred to the pony as a her, Star had assumed a mare, not a filly, she hadn’t believed that pony kind could have really fallen that far. Her horror was quickly being replaced by the rage she knew Obsidian was feeling.

“Other than the three in power armor how many are left?” she asked in a cold tone, one she didn’t use often.

“20, shit armor and weapons, power armored units all have miniguns.” Obsidian replied, “I’ll draw the grunts over here, stick to the shadows and pick them off.” With that he slipped away into the darkness of the night. She readied the shotgun she’d found, this one was a combat model, 6 round magazine, and she’d found 15 fully loaded clips, lucky, she’d need them all to pulp these monsters. Just then there was an explosion of a grenade, she heard about ten ponies running towards her, followed by the bark of the .44 revolvers Obsidian had picked up. She waited until nine had passed her to step out and slam the butt of her gun into the tenths windpipe, he fell vomiting blood and coughing for air, a firm hoof strike to the back of his neck and he was dead.

The land mine Obsidian had dropped blew the legs off two more of them, a point blank shotgun blast killed the third. The rest became a blur, these weren't crazy ponies anymore, they were monsters. Soon there was just the three in power armor. Obsidian was panting, his helmet was coated in blood, ash from the fire was sticking to it, the mask looked almost like a skull. She couldn’t help but smile a little, it was fitting.

“Ok, i've set up a trap that’ll fry the armor, we just need to get them into it. You go stand by the….”

“No, I’m the bait this time. Trust me. They’ll chase me” she cracked her neck, she knew Obsidian didn’t want her to do this but she was going to anyways. She took a deep breath and stepped into the light. “Hey, all your men are dead!” she then started running for the trap. She could hear two of them chasing her, she keep her run slow enough so they’d think they could catch her, but fast enough to stay well out of their grasp. As she crossed over the trap she saw Obsidian waiting to trigger it. There was an electrical buzz as the generator was started up, then a loud crack as the two thugs were electrocuted. Star turned and smiled as the two fell limp to the ground. That just left the one in T-45. Obsidian walked over and put two bullets in each of the stallions heads just to be safe. Star panted a little, the adrenalin was starting to wear off, her whole body ached.

Suddenly there was a metallic crack, Obsidian was sent flying, his mask shattered from the force of the power armored punch, Star found herself looking into the visor of a T-45 helmet, she could swear she could see the ponies furious eyes through it. Star quickly ducked and rolled avoiding the punch meant to pulp her ribs, her adrenaline was pumping full force again, time seemed to slow, then she realized she’d triggered SATS, Stable Assisted Targeting Spell. She took the time in this slow motion spell to asses her options, and she only had one she didn’t really like. Fallen Ceaser style, Zecora had taught it to her before being killed in action, by an Equestrian Steel Ranger. Star took a deep breath, remembering her training then targeted four strikes to the chest and one to the head. She had to make sure these counted other wise Obsidian could be bleeding to death. She released the spell, the pony’s charge sped back up, to meet Star’s devastating strikes, the first crumpled the chest plate, the second and third missed but the fourth created another large dent, the last strike clipped the helmet, shattering the visor and tearing a chunk of armor off with it. The mare in the armor coughed once before falling to the ground, Star hissed in pain, she’d preformed the last strike wrong and as a result sprained her right fetlock. She limped over to Obsidian, who thankfully was sitting up holding his face. “thought you said you’d never use that technique again?”

“We…well y…you were hurt and I….I didn’t have any weapons that could p…penetrate th…that kind of armor…..” she was glad for the helmet to hide her blush. Obsidian’s nose was gushing blood, it was clearly broken, honestly she was surprised his neck hadn’t snapped from the force of that punch. “I…I’m just glad you’re alive” she hugged him, wincing as her sprained hoof touched him.

“Lets see if miss face puncher has any healing potions in that fancy armor of hers” he limped over to the dead pony and opens the medical hatch on the armors right haunch, “bingo, two healing potions. One for me, one for you.” He limped back over and sat handing her one of the potions.

“You’ll need both of these to fix that leg and your face.” She tried to hand the other back to him as he drank his.

“Star don’t make me force feed you that potion, I will” he smirked at her. She couldn’t understanding, how could he be just casually smiling when there was a real chance of his leg getting infected if it wasn’t healed soon. She sighed as he took the bottle. She took her helmet off for a second, even though the night was cold enough to see her own breath the helmet was making her sweat. Suddenly there was a straw in her mouth. “now drink, we can’t both be limping around out here so drink it!” she couldn't help but giggle and start drinking the potion, that’s when it hit her, as she looked at Obsidian in the light of a nearby fire, him making sure that she was the one at 100 percent, she didn’t just see the griffin as a friend, she had a HUGE crush on him.

*****

Obsidian sighed glad that she was drinking the potion, it would have been wasted on him, his leg would need at least two more potions to heal and he didn’t want her to walk around on a sprained leg like that. He was a bit curious about the blush that had grown across her face though, it was a fairly cold night, but then again her helmet hadn’t been shattered so she was probably just still warm from exerting herself as much as she had.

He tossed the bottle to the side once she’d finished the potion. “Ok, now for some reason these guys seemed to be hoarding bottle caps like a dragon with gems. So there’s probably something important about them………or theses asses where just totally insane” he looked back at Star.

“Huh? Oh um….p..probably…just insane….” She quickly put her helmet on, which was weird normally she didn’t like the mask on the helmet. He just shrugged. There was a lot of ash in the air from all the fires they’d started. He assumed she was just trying to prevent breathing it in.

“Alright, let's just grab all the ammo we can carry and get out of here, this place is lit up like a Hearth's Warming tree. If these guys had anyone on patrols or something they’ll be running back by now.” He immediately started looting the corpse and containers he could find, he found plenty of .44 ammo, shotgun shells, and even some 50 cal rounds but no gun for them. He pockted the ammo and went to the gate, finding Star there already. They started out towards the east, towards the ruins of New Phoenix just as the sun started to poke over the horizon.

It wasn’t long before they found themselves in the suburbs, ruined houses, cracked and faded streets. It was familiar yet a place he’d never set paw in before, he didn’t like it. It was too much of a reminder of all those thoughts and feelings he was keeping in the back of his head. He had to stay strong for Star, he’d already let anger get the better of him back there, he couldn’t let that happen again. He had to remain in control he…..ran right into an old light post.

“Ow…..who put that there?” he rubbed his still healing beak a little, he’d been lucky that mare had clearly never properly trained in that power armor, otherwise he wouldn’t have a head right now.

“Are you ok?” Star trotted over with a concerned tone.

“Yeah, just doing too much thinking not enough watching where I’m walking. Check the MASEBS and see if there’s any form of government left standing.” Star nodded and tuned to the channel on her pipbuck, what surprised them both was the Sapphire Shores song that came out of the speaker. “Um…..that…..I….what?” Obsidian blinked at the pipbuck before quickly tuning in and finding the same song echoed. “Did….did someone turn the Emergency Broadcast Station into a music station?”

“Looks like it…..” Star just shrugged, “well at least we’ll have some music while we walk” Obsidian could hear the smile in her voice, he just chuckled as they walked through the abandoned streets.

“That was Sapphire Shores singing about the good life. And now for some news for the New Phoenix area, late last night the Raider Fort that’s cause so much trouble for the ponies out there was attacked by an unknown party. Eye witnesses say that they saw at least one griffin in the air over the burning fortress. To whomever this mystery band of fighters are, keep fighting the good fight, we need more like you in this Wasteland. And now for some Sweetie Belle….” Obsidian just blinked. It had been less than three hours since they’d done that, how did that DJ know about what they’d done? And what “eye witnesses?” though the stallion did seem at least happy with it.

“I bet he’s accessing the SPP tower cameras. That’s the only logical way he could have known about that, claiming eye witnesses to keep suspicion of sources low, nopony would know that he has eyes on all of Equestria. Smart.” Star said, she seemed impressed with the stallion.

“Wait so you think he’s ID’d us?” Obsidian started looking around. Star just giggled at him.

“No, with all the chaos and the darkness of last night, the only reason he could ID a griffin is probably from your silhouette on one of your flyovers. And even if he had he referred to it as ‘the good fight’ meaning he was probably happy to see that place burn. He did say it had been causing trouble for local ponies.” She giggled a little. Why was she giggling so much? Was she really that happy to have her work put on display for once? Obsidian thought that didn’t much sound like her.

*****

The rain had finally stopped as Xen, Jade and a few of the Sisters approached the Fort cautiously. He stopped and looked at the mud tracks in the road. “Oh that can’t be right…..only two sets of tracks…..one pony and one griffin…..two people couldn’t have done all this, could they?”

“With the proper training, two or three could easily take out these raiders, and those aren’t pony tracks, she was a Zebra like me” Serenity, the only Zebra member of the Sisters of the Night said, she was standing next to the body of Wendy, her armor was damaged badly.

“What makes you think this was another zebra? You guys aren’t exactly common around here.” Xen walked over looking at the full extent of the damage.

“She used Fallen Caesar style to fell this mare” Serenity said, and as if to prove her point, angled her hoof and slipped it perfectly into one of the dents, “but she would have broken her leg smashing the helmet, the strike was not clean, she was out of practice.”

“Well that explains the missing healing potions from the armor, she would have taken it to fix her leg.” Jade said.

“Er her buddies face! Looky here ah found one o’ them ghosts masks! Thing looks like he took a right hook right ta the kisser!” Gear, another Sister, trotted over with half of a mask made to fit a griffin, the thing was a mess, but recognizable as the mask described by the Raider who’d fainted in the bar.

“YIKES that could not have felt good, how’d he even live through this?” Xen took the hunk of armor looking at it. Gear just smirked.

“You ain’t been in many fights have ya squirt? When yer adrenaline gets ta flowing, ya can dish out and take some impressive damage, ya just don’t tend ta feel it, but ah’m guess’n he felt that one all right.” Gear said grinning at him. Xen hated it when she called him Squirt…..he wasn’t that small…..his thoughts were cut off by a cry of distress from the other side of the fort, everypony started running to its source.

As they got there, Xen’s heart dropped into his gut like a brick, Sweet Tooth was sobbing clutching something wrapped in blankets. No one needed to hear it said, they could tell by Sweet’s reaction. It was her filly, Tart, who’d gone missing two days ago. The search party had gone into the city to find her, but they’d gone the wrong way clearly.

“Those monsters……Sweet I’m so sorry….” Jade knelt next to her friend, the older mare looked at Jade, tears still running down her face.

“When you find the people who killed this place, thank them for c….covering her body……they’re the ones who wrapped her up like this.” Sweet held the fillies body close. Xen looked away, he couldn’t watch this anymore. But it brought him hope, the fact that who ever took these Raiders out valued life enough to cover the body of a little girl. It meant that there was still hope for Equestria. If only a little. Then he noticed something strange, none of the caps these Raiders had amassed where taken……thrown aside if anything.

“Strange……” he muttered to himself, Serenity and Gear had started taking Sweet and Tart back to town. Jade walked up and smacked the back of his head

“Looting while we try to comfort h…..wait a minute anypony with half a brain would have taken these caps not just thrown them in the dirt like this…..holy shit……it all makes sense now…..the Stable, it must have opened up and in doing so collapsed the tower, but that would also suggest that only those two made it out of there…..” she said looking back at the massive gear shaped hole in the ground where the tower had once been. Xen sighed and shook his head.

“Look we should go and find these guys. Granny said that we’d need their help and they’d need ours. So the sooner we find them the better.” He started for the gate. Jade quickly stepped in front of him.

“What’s wrong with you? You don’t seem to care at all that Tart is gone…..” Jade looked worried, Xen couldn’t hold it back, the tears started flowing.

“She was just a kid……she….just before she went missing she came to me for advice……she had a crush on that caravan colt…….she asked me what she should do, I told her that he’d be back soon and to tell him……goddesses she must have run after them and gotten caught……she was here because of me…..because of my advice.” He fell to his knees sobbing, Jade hugged him gently.

“You told her to tell him when he got back…..it’s not your fault Xen. How could you have known she’d run off? You couldn’t have.” She gently pet him as he sobbed into her chest. Xen just sniffiled, he knew that she was gone because of him, nothing Jade said would change that. The filly was dead because he hadn’t been clear enough. Jade smacked him on the back of the head, “now quit sulking like a little baby and let's go find those Stable dewlers, they’re screwed once they have to buy something.” Xen just looked at her, then sniffled and smiled softly nodding a little

*****

Jade adjusted her armor as she and Xen prepared to head out, they’d picked up the caps and anything else useful that had been left behind, then returned to the bar where Xen had broken down telling Sweet about the advice he’d given Tart. Sweet had just hugged him and told him she didn’t blame him for any of this, even going as far as to admit she thought of him as a bit of a son and making him promise to comeback. Jade smiled a little thinking of that, she had noticed that Sweet had always had a soft spot for the changeling, and Tart had always called him big brother.

She sighed. It was time to go, they’d stayed long enough to attend Tarts funeral but now they had to get moving before their only trail went any colder. “We ready?” she asked Xen, he took a deep breath and nodded. They said their final farewells and started out.

“So…..now we’re chasing ghosts? Hey you think that’s like a codename one of them uses or maybe they’re called that because they make themselves look like ghosts to scare their enemies?” He almost sounded like himself again, but she knew he was still fighting with his guilt, he was just trying to hide it now.

“You can ask them if we find them. They have almost a full 24 hour head start on us, chances of us actually catching up to them are slim at best.” Jade said as she walked. Her assault rifle hung by her side, her saddle bag on the otherside. They held a mix of food, water, caps and ammo. Mostly the latter two. She knew that Xen, despite not needing nearly as much of it, had mostly packed food and water.

“Unless they start backtracking for some reason. Then our chances would improve significantly, they might even just run into us. That’d be nice.” He chuckled as he walked next to her, he had a large pre-war .50 cal sniper that’d been in her family pretty much since the war, a name and message was carved into the barrel by somepony who’d clearly taken their time, “Winter Rose, her forgiveness will always be remembered”

Xen was still talking “….hey Jade you still with me?” he raised his eyebrow.

“Huh? Oh sorry, I was distracted by Rose. Who do you think she was? Winter Rose I mean.” Jade stared at the weapon as they walked.

“Well despite how long your Pegasus/Unicorn family has had it, it was clearly originally a Griffin’s weapon, the grip is the giveaway there. So my guess is she was the owners girlfriend and he carved her name into the barrel, she died and he added the memorial.” Xen shrugged “personally I don’t get why ponies and griffins feel the need to name weapons.”

Jade shrugged, “And naming a sniper after a forgiving person is just plan ironic, to be a good sniper you have to be cold, calculating, unforgiving. That’s why you suck so much at it.”

“Hey I do not suck! OK yes I do…..but I guess that’s not a bad thing in this case.” He smiled a little. Jade smiled too, she didn’t like it when he was unhappy. They walked on in silence for a while. DJ-Pon3 reported on the Fall of the Fort again, Jade couldn’t help but being a little peeved that he never bothered mentioning that the Sisters of the Night where out here “fighting the good fight” too.

Jade didn’t like this, they were heading into the city, there where Alicorns there, not to mention Feral Ghouls and that “town” New Ciderville, who she was convinced was responsible for 50% of the disappearances in this area.

“Well, Well, Well, Looks like one of the Sisters has decided to give us a visit! Are there just not enough guys visiting you sluts? And lookie there she’s got a pet bug.” A Stallion in Ciderville Guard armor stepped out into the path, two more stepped out of an alleyway behind them. Jade sighed and rolled her eyes.

“OK, first of all only a few of the Sisters will have sex for caps, second Xen’s not a pet, he’s a member, and third we’re just looking for a Griffin and a Zebra who would have passed through here within the last 24 hours, probably in Stable gear.” She noticed the three stallions glancing nervously at each other. The leader then smirked.

“Information isn’t free sugarlips, 1,000 caps or your ass, then you get the info you’re asking for.” It was Jades turn to smirk as she tossed him a bag heavy with caps, the stallion did a quick count before sighing. “I was expecting ass…..fine I did give you the option and I don’t feel like dying at the bosses hooves. Yeah your Griffin and Zebra passed by, about 5 hours ago actually, they tried to buy some supplies with Bits, most anypony would sell them was a few bottles of water. Your Griffin didn’t look too good though, nasty gash on his right hind leg, think it was getting infected.”

“Which way did they go?” Xen asked as he glanced around, there where only two ways they could have gone, out of the city or deeper into it. Jade noticed that the stallion was grinning again.

“2.5 million caps or the Sister’s ass for that tidbit.” The two behind them chuckled.

“OK Xen, you head deeper into the city, I’ll take the path out of the city, we’ll meet back at Bar-Stool in 3 days. And thank you Cidervilers for the information you did give, but you’re not getting anything else from us.” With that she and Xen bolted down their paths before the stallions could decide to take what they wanted.

Jade keep moving at a quick pace, if the griffin was wounded he couldn’t be moving fast, and if infection was already setting in he’d need medical attention ASAP.

*****

Star frowned as she and Obsidian sat in what used to be a park, she didn’t understand it the thing that had attacked them was an Alicorn, she hadn’t said a word, just attacked, it hadn’t been till Obsidian had managed to get inside her shield and blow her brains out that they’d managed to kill her. Obsidian was panting, his leg was in bad shape, infection had set in just before that shanty town. She still couldn’t believing that soda bottle caps where money to these ponies. They’d already used up the water they’d bought. Obsidian sat up and smiled, “Well that was a new thing, we should get moving, see if we can’t find anypony friendlier to talk to and find out what’s going on in the world, other than what that DJ keeps saying.”

Star stood up and shook her head. “You need medical attention. There was a doctor in the shantytown and we’ve collected almost 100 caps now, that has to be worth something….”

He sighed, “ I cheeked and the doc said it was 1,000 caps or…..well I almost punched him in the throat for what he said.” He frowned. “we’re not going back there.”

“Whatever it was we can pay it, Obsidian you could die if that infection gets worse!” Star didn’t know why he was being such a stubborn idiot about this whatever that doctor had asked for couldn’t be that bad, could it?

“NO! I’m not gonna let you whore yourself out just to fix my leg!” Star squeaked, ok, it could be pretty bad. Obsidian looked at her, “You’re the only family I have left Star……I’m not going to let you do that…..not for your first time or ever……”

She blushed, then without thinking she hugged him, kissing his beak, it was surprisingly soft to the touch. That’s when she noticed he wasn’t kissing back…..he was pushing her away a worried and confused look in his eyes. “Star? Wh….why’d you…..”

“I…I love you Obsidian…..I…I have for a while a….and I just….I’ll do anything to help you…..” she nuzzled his neck, her heart was racing, she’d said it. She’d told him, and kissed him.

“Oh Star……you know I care about you… you’re so important to me…..” she felt her heart sinking, his tone was all wrong, he was supposed to sound overjoyed but instead it was regret in his voice, that’s when she realized that all she’d ever be to him was a little sister. “ But you’re my sister, you always have been, I….I just can’t see you as anything else.”

“I….I….” tears filled her eyes as she turned and ran, she heard him call out her name. she just kept running, how could she have been so stupid, just throwing herself at him like that? She cried running, not even paying any attention to her surroundings.

*****

“ARGH! STAR!! STAR I’M SORRY PLEASE COMEBACK!!” Obsidian clutched his injured leg as he limped after her, he’d already lost sight of his sister, which he liked almost less than having just broken her heart. He’d noticed she’d been more clingy since they’d left the Stable almost two days ago, but he’d thought she was just dealing with everything having changed. He took to the air looking for any signs of her. He had to find her, to protect her. She was the only family he had left. He wasn’t paying attention and clipped his wing on a building. He landed hard, his bum leg giving out causing him to tumble over the ground.

He groaned. He heard hoof steps coming towards him, the pony was being cautious, Obsidian slowly reached for his gun, otherwise motionless. The ponies steps where light, mare trying not to be heard light, the slight clank of plating suggested light combat armor. He waited till he felt a hoof trying to turn him over, then he flipped drawing his pistol and grabbing the collar of her armor pressing the barrel to the underside of the unicorns chin. Red hot pain screamed from his leg as the mare smacked it with the butt of her assault rifle. She pulled out of his grip in that second. Obsidian drew his second pistol and found himself in a standoff with the green unicorn.

“What the fuck!? Who attacks somepony who’s trying to help?” The mare barked at him. He groaned but didn’t take his guns off of her.

“Most who are there to help don’t try to sneak up on the wounded, and I don’t have time for this I have to find my sister before she gets hurt! It’s a long story but you didn’t happen to see a Zebra mare run through here about a minute ago did you?” He noticed the mare’s stance soften.

“Wait, you were traveling with a zebra? Did you two come from the Stable under the Radar Fort?” The mare lowered her gun, Obsidian did the same, thou he didn’t like the implication that this mare’d been following them.

“We came out of Stable 111…..and there was a crude fortification full of...‘ponies’ who’d fit the description of Raider…..now have you seen her or not!?” He really didn’t have time for this chicks games right now!

“No, but me and my friend have been looking for you two. Holy shit that leg looks bad….look just let me help you I have some first aid supplies with me, let me at least clean that wound then we can look for her together, two sets of eyes is better than one after all.” Obsidian sighed and put his guns away.

“Two minutes then I’m moving.” He flopped down and let her start working on his leg, “So why are you trying to find us anyways?” he hissed as she poured some alcohol on the wound.

“You two did us a big favor by destroying that place, and the mother of the filly one of you covered wants to thank you for actually caring enough to do that……plus one of the older members of our group seems to think that me and my friend need to find Ghosts or something. There’s no such thing though.” She finished bandaging the leg again as Obsidian chuckled. “What’s funny?”

“The name of the Merc group my sister and I are in is Ghost Company.” He stood and winced as his leg seemed to hurt more. “The fuck did you put on my leg?” he looked at the fresh bandage, a bit of blood on it already.

“Wild Pegasus. And I had to dig some gunk out of it. Ok look my friend’s already out here looking for your sister, lets just get you back to our compound and get that leg fixed.” She stood and started walking away from where Star had been heading, so Obsidian turned and walked in the direction his sister had gone. “Hey! Compound’s this way!” The unicorn came galloping back and stood in his way.

“Two sets of eyes is better than one, three’s even better. You want me to go anywhere with you, you’ll have to help me find her. Simple as that toots” Obsidian looked her in the eyes, keeping his expression hard. He could tell she was used to being in charge and didn’t like that he’d just given her an ultimatum.

“Fine. But as soon as we find her we go back to Bar-Stool. And I have to be back there WITH you in three days. I will knock your ass out.” She puffed out her chest abit.

“Uh huh sure, also was that chest puff supposed to be scary? I’m a head taller than you, and can lift you in full gear and saddle bags when I haven’t just clipped my wing toots, you aren’t gonna intimidate me” he stood to his full height while still on all fours before stepping past her, trying not to limp.

“And stop calling me ‘toots’ my name is Jade Shadow!” Obsidian paused, she couldn’t be……no there was no way this mare was related to Lightning. He shook his head and shrugged.

“Obsidian Shield, nice to meet ya now let's get moving.” He started off, Jade trotting to catch up to him as he started looking for signs of Star.

*****

Xen panted as he ran, the Hellhound hot on his tail. Why did these guys hate everything so much! Xen dove through a small hole and kept running, the Hellhound just smashing through the wall. Xen was just glad this one didn’t have a gun with it. He couldn’t help but smile as the oversized dog started losing ground. Xen didn’t notice the mare running towards him till she slammed into him. He yelped grabbing her as they both tumbled down and into a ditch, he immediately created an illusion around them so they looked like a rock as the Hound he’d been running from caught up and started searching.

Xen quickly signaled the mare not to make a noise, ignoring her pissed off look. Zebra’s always seemed to pull it off the best, wait, this mare was a zebra, he looked down at her, she was only about his size, and he was a bit smaller than the averaged pony, but what really grabbed his attention where her eyes, the right one was a deep Sapphire blue, like a deep pool of water that invited him in. Her left eye was a blazing Amber, like a fire that promised to give him all the answers……..and that was a knee in his crotch. He squeaked falling to the side as the illusion dropped, the Hound had left. Oh and now the mare was dragging him to his hooves by his ear.

“Ow ow ow ow! Please let go I swear I wasn’t trying anything funny! There was a Hellhound on my tail then you ran into me and I had to think fast to hide us!” She let go as she sighed and sat down. Xen noticed the tears on her cheek.

“Why should I trust you? How do I know you weren’t trying to make a quick meal of my broken heart huh?” She sniffled and glared at him with those hypnotizing eyes, wait did she say broken heart? Why wasn’t he able to feel that? He gave his head a quick shake.

“Well for one I was running for my life and two……I can’t get a read on you…..that….I didn’t know that could happen……but who would do that to you?” he frowned. She sighed and told him about how she had thrown herself at a guy who she’d know since she was about 5 and that he’d pushed her away saying all she’d ever be was a sibling to him.

“…..and now I’m telling a stranger about my big mess up. I was just so upset I ran off and now I don’t even know where he is or where I am. Most of the streets are all full of rubble now and I can’t make heads or tails of where we are….” She flopped down. Xen wasn’t sure what to do or why his chest felt like a little changeling was buzzing around where his heart was supposed to be.

“Well, um, I guess you could help me find this griffin and…..zebra….” he blinked as something occurred to him. “Hey that Obsidian guy wasn’t a griffin was he? Leg cut?”

“Yes, he is a griffin, his right hind leg is cut why?” she sat up looking cautious, and suddenly a little shy now that she’d gotten some of the emotional muck off her chest.

“A friend of mine and I had come here looking for you two. We live in a small town just to the west of the Raider Fort you two cleared. A friend of ours daughter was killed by those raiders……..I…..we wanted to thank you two for killing those raiders and offer you any help we could, and if your friends hur, Sweet is a doctor, I’m sure she’d be more than willing to help him.” He offered her a kind smile, she seemed to perk up.

“R..Really? that would be……great if I knew where he was….” Her ears folded back as she retreated back into her shell, Xen quickly tried to find a way to keep her out of it.

“Well….uh…If I know Jade she’s already found him and is dragging him back to Bar-Stool as we speak.” Xen smiled, hoping for something.

“That….Obsidian can be hardheaded to say the least……” the zebra mare muttered a little, her mane having fallen and now covering her left eye, making her look even more shy.

“Oh…..bugga….so is jade……that’s not gonna be a good mix…..but I’m sure she’ll get him to come to Bar-Stool. It’s safe there and she’ll know that if I found you, that’s where I’d take you. Out of the hellhole that is the inner city. So….what do you say? Come with me to Bar-Stool and clear your head while we wait for our friends?” he smiled, was he showing to much teeth? Where his fangs gonna scare her off? Why was he still smiling like that? He quickly closed his mouth as the zebra smiled a little.

“O..Ok…j..just till I can c…calm down a l..little” she nodded.

“I’m Xen. What’s your name?” he smiled again, this time keeping his lips together.

“I’m S…Star Gazer….it’s um…nice to meet you Xen.” She blushed a little. They started walking, Xen made sure to not take her through that Hellhounds lair, didn’t want that thing chasing them. Star expressed some displeasure at the sight of New Ciderville, not that he could blame her, that town was full of stallions who looked at mare’s like they where just caps with a pulse. Xen noticed that she kept eyeing Winter Rose. It almost looked like she recognized the weapon, but that was impossible unless this attractive young mare as a heck of a lot older than she looked…….and why did his heart flutter every time he looked at her!? This was getting annoying.

“Ahem…so uh. Do you like sniper’s? I noticed you keep eyeing Winter.” Xen said, trying to break the silence.

“Winter Rose……was Obsidian’s mother……that’s his sniper…..” Star looked away. Well that had gone well.

“I doubt it. This gun’s 200 years old.” Why did Xen feel so grumpy about her mentioning Obsidian? He hadn’t even met the guy.

“Stable 111…….OIA had taken it over and used it as a cryogenics experiment……..Obsidian and I were the only survivors….” And now Xen felt like an asshole for bringing it up.

“Oh….I’m sorry….” He shut his mouth and they continued on in silence again. He was glad that he knew the short way back to Bar-Stool…..otherwise this would have been even more awkward.

After about 10 hours of walking, with a few 20 minute brakes, admittedly mostly for Xen, they made it back to town. He was astonished at how well Star had handled the hike, she seemed hardly affected by it. Though she still seemed bumed about the whole rejection thing. Serenity was waiting by the gate into town as they approached, Star was immediately cautious.

“Xen, you return so soon? And with out Jade?” the older zebra turned to Star and said something in zebra. Star just looked away and mumbled something that even Serenity must have had some trouble understanding. “Ah I see, I will try to remember to address you in Equestrian then. Xen can you…Xen?” he jumped a little and looked at her, he hadn’t even realized he’d been looking at Star again. “Can you take her to Sweet Tooth? She’d like to say hello and give our guests a quick exam.” Serenity was giggling at him. Why was she giggling like that?

“Of course I can why wouldn’t I be able to do that.” He started walking, Star following him, she seemed even more nervous here in town. Xen couldn’t help but notice that Serenity was still smiling in an unusual way. He tried to ignore her as best he could.

As they approached the clinic Sweet Tooth stepped out. Xen felt a pang of guilt when she smiled at him, he still felt responsible for Tart. Sweet smacked him on the back of the head then hugged him.

“Stop it.” Sweet smiled a little, “It wasn’t your fault now stop blaming yourself and introduce me to your marefriend.” Sweet smiled at a very confused looking Star.

“Wait…WHAT!? No no no no no, she’s not….we’re not…..she’s with….” Xen squeaked and turned into a rock in a poor attempt at hiding.

“My name’s Sweet Tooth, I’m the doctor around here. What’s your name sweetie?” Sweet asked Star.

“Oh…..um….m…my names….Star Gazer…...” She kicked at the dirt a little, she was clearly trying to hide behind her mane.

“Well you have a lovely name. Now, business, as the doctor for Bar-Stool and the Sisters of the Night, It’s my policy to give everypony who plans to stay for more than a night a medical exam. You wouldn’t mind that would you? It’ll be completely private.” Sweet kept her tone soft. Star looked a little surprised.

“I…I didn’t think anyone h...had that kind of s…standard procedures any more….um….o..ok….” she nodded and entered the clinic, Sweet turned to Xen.

“Ok Mr rock, no peeking.” She smiled a little.

Xen turned into himself, his cheeks a bright green-blue color. “Why would I? you know I don’t do that!”

“Because you have a crush on her.” Sweet dead paned.

“Ha! I do not. I just met her like….10 hours ago” he smirked

“Ok sweetie, tell me, when you look at Star what’s the first thing you look at” Sweet sat down.

“Her eyes.” Xen said, he still didn’t see why she thought he liked Star, if he did wouldn’t he look at her butt first?

“Ok, why?” Sweet just smiled

“Well I’ve never seen eyes like them……the contrast between the right and left, Sapphire and Amber….the one is just so inviting, like it’s inviting you in, offering safety, and the other is just….so intense, like it’s promising to hurt you if you abuse the trust of the other, but still offering warmth” Xen blinked as he heard a giggle, he then noticed that Sweet was smirking at him, so where a few of the other Sisters, Serenity was the one who’d giggled.

“You’re right Sweet, he’d head over hooves” she giggled before going back to the gate. He felt his cheeks heat up as he blushed harder.

“I am not!” he got up and quickly left. What did they know, he was a changeling he feed off love, he’d know if he was in love with somepony, or zebra, and he most certainly was not. Jade was behind this somehow, he just knew it, she was getting back at him for always teasing her about that one Talon Merc she’d had a crush on. That had to be it. Well he wasn’t going to let it get to him.

*****

Star blushed a bit as Sweet Tooth finished the medical exam. The older mare was nice, if a little talkative. She’d even managed to get Star to tell her about what happened with Obsidian. Star immediately started redressing.

“You know, you can always stay here, the Sisters of the Night were formed to give the mares of the Wasteland a safe place to stay. And I think Serenity would enjoy having another zebra around, she’s more like you than you’d think, she’s just more comfortable with her roots, though I can’t blame you for having distanced yourself, you grew up in a different time.” Sweet smiled and sat down. “can I ask you a few questions about this Obsidian?”

Star blushed a little. “Um….O…ok I guess…” she sat back down and fidgeted a little.

“When you look at him, what’s the first thing you see?” Sweet smiled softly.

“Well…I..um” star frowned thinking, “well I guess the first thing I see is his chest, he’s a lot taller than me…..” she blinked as Sweet nodded a little.

“Ok, and when he gets protective of you like you mentioned, how do you feel about that?” Sweet watched Star closely. Too closely for star’s liking.

“Well it’s a little annoying, he know I can protect myself. He just saw me take down a mare in full power armor 2 days ago with my bare hooves.” She frowned.

“Mhm, last question. When you kissed him, did you feel a spark? Like a jolt of electricity passing through you? Or was it just the feeling of your lips against his?” Sweet smile was soft and a little sad. Why did she ask that? And what did it have to do with anything? “Ok you can go look around a bit, just please stay inside the compound.” Star nodded and got up heading for the door. She didn’t like those questions they felt too personal for somepony she just met to be asking. Especially about Obsidian. What did Sweet care if there was a spark, besides it took two to make that spark thing happen. Now if Obsidian had kissed her back there would have been a spark for sure, heck they would have started a wildfire with their spark. Only reason there wasn’t one was cause he hadn’t kissed back. Right?

She shook her head as she stepped outside. It was getting dark, she sighed and started towards what had been one of Dusk’s favorite places, an old stripe club that had some how survived the bombs, she was surprised but pleased to find that inside it was now just a bar. Though the stage at one end was still in use. Xen was up there, singing what was admittedly a song.Star enjoyed very much. He’d made himself a female changeling, the only real change was his voice. Star sat near the back and watched him as he smirked and danced along the stage, he was so full of energy as he swayed his hips at a few of the stallions in the audience singing the chores. She smiled, as a mare he had a pretty good singing voice, and he seemed to be enjoying himself so much, even the attention he was getting from stallions. She guessed he was gay or at the least Bisexual. The song ended and Xen walked off stage swaying his hips a little.

“Ya know he’s actually a guy, you can probably get him for the night if you wanted.” Star squeaked and jumped turning to see a large earthpony mare, her gold coat was covered by a black combat vest similar to the one Lightning used to wear, her brown mane pulled into a ponytail. “wait, aren’t you that mare Xen brought back to town with him? Star Seeker or something like that?” the mare looked at Star.

“S…..Star G…Gazer m…ma’am” she shrank back a little, not sure who this mare was, but guessing she was one of the Sisters of the Night, the mercenary group that ran this bar and town.

“That’s it Gazer. I’m Daisy by the way, nice ta meet ya. Well I guess tell’n ya bout Xen have’n a cock wasn’t really necessary then. But I’m sure he’d give ya a discount if ya asked ‘em” Daisy smirked at her.

“I…I’m not like that…..” Star tried to glare, but judging by Daisy’s reaction it came out as more of a pout. “I…I’m saving my…self…..” she squeaked a little as she relised what she was just saying to a mare she just met, why was she being so open with these ponies? She flopped her head on the counter.

“Ah, right I forgot yer a Stable pony, well zebra. Yeah, growing up underground with old world standards, musta been nice.” Daisy nodded pouring whiskey into a glass and offering it to star who quickly shook her head. “Yeah, old world living without the war. Must be a paradise down there.”

“We were frozen……I grew up during the war…..”she sighed trying not to think about all her dead friends. “the Stable was an OIA experiment in cryogenics, Obsidian and I were the only survivors…..”

“Really? Well you just won me about 150 caps.” Daisy grinned. Star looked at her like she was a mad mare. Daisy blinked and looked closer at Star, “Wow…..he wasn’t kid’n, yer eye’s are kinda mesmerizing….” Star scooted back

“P…please stop…..” Star squirmed a bit under the mare’s gaze. Daisy chuckled and looked at the stage as another mare came on and started singing.

“Sorry, ah don’t really have many boundaries, guess you got more than most. Welp, if’n ya want a drink first one’s on me.” She nodded at Star then walked to another customer. Star sighed a little and noticed Xen pouting and flailing his hooves at something one of the Sisters must have said to him. She wondered if that’s how it looked when she flailed her hooves at Obsidian. Then again he was taller than most ponies, where as she was a little shorter than most. So it must have been even more comical than that. She did feel bad for the little changeling. He seemed to be the only stallion that was a full time resident here in Bar-Stool. That had to be kind of hard. Unless he was anything like Flash or Dusk then he must love it here.

“Oh hey you’re here. Sweet wasn’t too pushy about anything was she?” Star jumped a little as Xen had walked up in front of her, he was smiling, but he seemed nervous, and once again his eyes were locked on hers…..why did he keep looking at her like that.

“Um…she…maybe a little…..why was she so interested in Obsidian?” Star noticed his eye twitch a little.

“Don’t worry about it……she kinda acts like a mother to everypony here.” His eyes were darting a bit, and he seemed to be breathing faster, he was lying about something.

“Ok…” she looked around a little “where um, where should I sleep?” Xen blink and opened his mouth then closed it.

“Well…..I think there’s a spare room upstairs…..but you’d have to talk to Daisy about using it…..” Xen fidgeted a little. Star blinked confused, he’d just been up on stage singing and dancing the night away, now he was acting shy and fidgeting.

*****

Jade groaned, panting softly. This was the last thing she expected when she meet this griffin. They’d only know each other two days now. And here she was, dragging his ass around! “I told you, you should have had that leg looked at TWO days ago, or ya know, when if first happened.” She glared at him, she’d just dragged him into a building after he’d passed out, the wound was clearly infected but Obsidian just refused to seek medical attention.

“You….didn’t have to move me…..and I’m not going anywhere till I find Star…..” Obsidian groaned, he sat up slowly. Jade sighed and shook her head.

“Well I got radio contact with my base, my partner is back there, he found her she’s safe.” Jade was lieing out her ass, she had no way of contacting Bar Stool, but she hoped that Obsidian was either, too stupid, or to delusional from fever to pick up on the lie. He just nodded.

“OK, then we should get moving…….how far out are we?” he said as he stood up. Jade raised an eyebrow. Why did he need to know that.

“It’s half a day’s walk west of here. Why?” she looked at him. He was keeping the weight of his leg he was stretching his wings for som- “No way! You are not flying anywhere!”

“You’re right, I’m not, WE are.” And with that he took to the air, getting a surprisingly good grip on the back of her armor, and right out the window, Jade squealed, she didn’t mention this to anyone but she was terrified of heights, and flying. “The more you squirm the harder it is to keep a grip on you.” Obsidian said from above her, she immediately froze where she was panting very fast. “That’s not a good idea either, just take a few deep breaths”

Obsidian kept flying as Jade slowly started to calm down. She swallowed a little and kept her eyes closed, she lost track of time. When she opened her eyes again they were almost half way back to Bar Stool, and losing altitude. “Um….Obsidian? why is the ground getting closer and why’d you let me look down!?” She asked, squeaking more than she meant to.

“Tired…..wings sore.” Obsidian said, “Landing….we’ll have to walk the rest of the way.” He was panting softly, Jade felt her hooves touch the dirt just before he let go of the back of her armor. He landed roughly a few feet in front of her, clearly off balance as he stumbled and fell to his knees and groaned. She walked over to him.

“You ok? You don’t look good.” Jade asked him, she knew the answer, there was no way this guy was ok. He was clearly feeling very sick.

“Yeah….fine…..lets….let's just get goin...” he said, he looked confused momentarily, “M…Ma’ma?” he passed out. Jade quickly cheeked his forehead, he was on fire.

“Let's get you to Sweet Tooth, and hope you’re not too far gone.” Jade quickly hoisted as much of the large griffin onto her back as she could, using her magic to keep him there as she started walking towards Bar Stool. She knew Xen was going to tease her about the positioning but it was the only way for her to get this unconscious idiot back to town. She’d only known him two days, and now she was dragging him towards her home, her new home. “Luna hear my prayers, don’t let this action be the one that ruins Bar Stool…..” She chuckled at herself, an old habit, from a different life. As she walked, her mind wandered back to it, before she was a Sister of the Night.

Author's Note

Chapter 2. took a while to get it out but here it is. go easy on me I know Im not perfect.