Rail's Journey no. 3by GcdemonChapters1. Finding my place2. Meeting a new friend3. Incident and investigation4. Try not to die5. New life1. Finding my placeFate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like.” Lemony Snicket Imagine that you’re a simple person living on a surface. Maybe you’re travelling or simply living in one of the shacks nearby the road. You walk slowly, thinking about simple things, when suddenly you notice someone. Green pegasus with yellow mane running as fast as he can, not looking behind and trying not to fall on the ground. He has some simple clothing and few scratches on his body. Probably you wonder – what happened to him? Why is he running? Well, that’s me. It was a really dangerous situation, few slave hunters tried to capture me! They thought it would be easy catch a pony, that travels alone without any weapon, but they also didn’t expect I had a knife. I managed to hurt one of them and quickly run away… I was slightly wounded too, but luckily still able to walk by myself. That one time I looked back and noticed they were still after me. I bit my lower lip and had no other choice, but to run – run even faster than before. My hooves did hurt even more with each next step, but I tried to ignore that. Nobody said that living in the wastes is going to be easy… It was my choice after all. It took a while until I managed to escape them, I was really happy, but there was no time for fooling around. I needed to find a safe place, where I could hide for a little longer, recover and store some supplies. I looked at my bag – there was only a rusty knife I mentioned before, few cans with some weird meat and finally half a bottle of dirty water. I don’t need to hide it, I’ve never had lots of caps, just enough to make a living and stay out of trouble. That’s what I wanted to do that day too. As it turned out, I found myself in a really unfamiliar place. And, what was even worse, it was getting darker. You can trust me, night is the worst time of the day here. I sighed quietly, for now finding a shelter was my priority. I looked around, trying to find anything that had at least three stable walls. Finally I noticed a weak flame from a distance. For a second I thought it was just my imagination, but it really was a flame! I walked there slowly, trying to catch my breath. I was tired from running... I just needed a place to sit and hide and that was the only thing that was in my head. Finally I reached the place. That light source… It was a broken gas pipe! First I was a little scared, but I managed to fix it the next day. I found here some empty wooden boxes and thrash, but they were just enough to serve as my new bed. First, of course, I checked if this place wasn’t dangerous. It was typical for raiders to hide mines in abandoned houses and then just collect all equipment from burned corpses. I didn’t find anything like that, no bear traps, no mines… Totally safe, maybe it was a little weird, but I felt that the fate has smiled upon me at last. Maybe it wasn’t the most luxurious place, but it had its advantages, as it turned out a little later. I stayed here for the first few days and nobody even came close to the building. There was a big hole in one of the walls, anyone could come inside without any trouble. But nothing happened… There was no glass in windows too, but they were really useful anyways. I had a great view at the main road. Lots of ponies were passing by – raiders, traders, ordinary ones… They usually were busy with their businesses and never even looked in my direction. One day before that I made a little trip around, to check if there’s no raider camps or radscorpion nest (for example, I truly hated these creatures!). First I thought it was too perfect to be real, but I only found an old camp (it was easy to notice that it was unused for a long time) and few wild dogs. So no bigger danger! I even saw something bigger in the distance, maybe a town? But it was still too early for me to go on an expedition. I felt much better, but still needed to rest at least two more days. Later I created a small fireplace and a hiding place to store my supplies. It may be a little weird, but I found some food buried underground. Looks like I wasn’t the first one hiding here… I just hoped that the previous occupant won’t come back. That was a moment, when I decided to call this place home. "At least for now…" I said to myself, looking at the weak fire. 2. Meeting a new friend“I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.” Helen Keller Few days passed and I decided to go explore a bit more. I was curious about the whole area, I had no idea what it was hiding. Maybe there was somewhere a place with lots of trees or a big building with shops and flats inside? When I was a kid many ponies told me about towns like these… I was so excited, I woke up really early and prepared all useful things. I packed them in my bag and was ready to go! The weather was just great – no wind, so the sand didn’t fall into my eyes, and I could hear everything around me very clearly. I tried to avoid danger every time, but it wasn’t really possible, as you may have guessed. It was especially difficult when a group of dangerous big flies attacked me! I panicked a little and was hardly able to beat them all, but I managed to do it! I ended up with few more bloody scars and I regretted that I didn’t take any material from my new house, I saw lots of it in all this garbage… But it was too late to think about that. There was no use to even think about any medicine. Even if I’d like to take some – I couldn’t afford it. But most importantly - I was still alive! You may think, Flies, pff, but remember – I didn’t have any special armor, same thing with a weapon. My knife was old, but it still worked quite good. It didn’t make as much damage as a good one though, but it needed to go with it. I tried to pay attention to all surroundings , it would be really bad if I forgot the path. It was quite easy, to be honest. I just remembered some special points – for example an old trailer here or an abandoned hut there… And again I was thinking about everything , but I think it’s better than talking to yourself out loud. It would be weird, and if someone could see me like this – even worse. So I kept thinking and thinking, at some point and idea of writing a journal came to my head. It would help me to keep all memories in one place. I was walking forward like this, I know it’s important to keep your guard, but I’ve always been a dreaming type a little… In my mind I had lots of different thoughts, those that have already appeared here and some new ones. I always liked imagining what will happen in the future, sometimes everything goes completely different and its either a nice or unpleasant surprise… But I must say, all things that happened lately were nice. Suddenly something bumped into me. It surprised me and I almost fell down, but I managed to stay on my hooves. I looked aside and saw a mare, which was dragging a big cart full of various objects packed in big boxes. "Look where you going!" said angry unicorn, rubbing her head with her hoof "Can’t you see that you’re walking on the delivery route?!", "Delivery route?" I repeated, then blinked and took a look around. She pointed at the ground, about two meters to the left and right. In fact, there were two stone lines that were separating the road. They were barely visible, perhaps due to the fact that in some place the stone was missing and lots of sand covering it. "Why do people never notice the road?" she sighted loudly and did a facehoof. "Sorry…" I said and moved aside, to let her go forward. In the meantime I took a closer look at her cart. It clearly wasn’t in the best condition. You could see lots of different stuff here, but the most was covered with some sort of material.` "Pft… Next time be a little more careful, cuz you can met some mean guys there and they wouldn’t let you go like this" she raised her chin up and began to walk slowly. "Alright, alright…" I watched her move forward and after a while I decided to follow her. She had to transport these things somewhere, right? After all, she said it -delivery route- . I also combined the facts, she looked totally like a trader, and they usually go… to the town! It didn’t take her long to notice that I was going after her. "Don’t you have anything better to do?" she said turning her head. The mare didn’t sound angry now, maybe just a little irritated "Just go away, unless you want to buy something…" "What do you have to sell?" I came a little closer, so we could talk more easily. I knew that I couldn’t really buy anything, but it was a good conversation starter. "Well, what do you want to buy?" she smiled a little and looked at me with her deep blue eyes. I must admit, she was quite pretty. Short, bright green bangs were falling on her forehead, with the rest was created a little ponytail. Speaking about tails, her own was quite short, it looked like someone cut it very roughly… Her white fur looked very nice, but it was easy to make it dirty. This was especially easy to notice on her hooves, that were brown at this moment. I needed to think a little about the answer. I really wanted a new gun, but it sure costed more than 20 caps that I had in my pocket. "Well, I don’t know, maybe some food?" I asked, remembering the shiny cans on her trolley. "I have food, but I can’t unpack it now" she looked back, like she wanted to make sure nothing disappeared "If you’re that interested I can show you my things when we get there." "Get where?" I asked immediately, because that was the thing that interested me the most. "Where?" she raised one eyebrow up "You’ve never been around? We’re going to Trailer Town, of course. That’s where the road leads." I smiled, happy to know that there’s a town here. She only sighed again. "I can clearly see that you’re new here." "Well, you’re right" I laughed briefly "So, how far is it from here?" She answered me after a moment. "Not so far… maybe just half an hour. Or an hour" she put a hoof under her muzzle "It could always be further, right? By the way, Diana’s the name" she reached her hoof in my direction "Nice to meet ya." "Rail" I replied and gave her a brohoof. That’s how our journey began. It turned out that the mare was really friendly! First she didn’t look like an open pony, but when I got to know her better, she was totally different. To be honest, it didn’t really surprise me, you never know who’s the nice guy in the wastes. You trust the wrong person and the next day you wake up naked without any equipment… However, she was really nice. Sometimes she was just annoyed, for example when she accidentally fell down, because she didn’t notice a big rock under her hooves or some dirt flew into her eye. Time passed fast with a good conversation. Finally we saw the place, it was a small area surrounded by several trailers and one wooden house. Lots of ponies were walking here or just sitting on a wooden benches, eating something and talking. It looked really safe, but I expected something more after the word town... There was a lot of different objects placed nearby the trailers. For example some desks, wooden chests, cabinets… Diana led me to one of the tables, it was really close to the road. "Okay, this is the place" she put on hoof on it and took a deep breath "Now you’ll help me unpack everything, okay? These things are really heavy…" "Don’t you want to rest a little?" I sat for a moment on the ground "I mean, we travelled a lot, you must be pretty tired." "Yes, I am" she came closer to her cart "But I also don’t have time to be lazy. If you help me" she gave me a big smile "You may get something special." I nodded and quietly stood up. I was happy that she would give me something for that work, especially when I noticed how many cool things she had. In the trailer she arranged a nice storage, everything was sorted in metal boxes and labeled. "And… you can come tomorrow too" she said after we unloaded some stuff "I’m not usually into hiring assistants, but you’re really good at it" she smiled, sitting at the table "Move that one box and we can make a little break." I smiled, glad to help her. When we were travelling I got to know her a little better, I knew she was a bit lonely too. We could make a nice duo together! While unpacking all things I’ve found a map in one of the bags, it was really useful. When we finished the job she said that I can take it as a ‘payment’, she gave me some food too! Working here was a big opportunity for me… When we finished I carefully checked the map. That place was not so far from my house, I just took a longer road at first. Deep inside I hoped that Diana and me could become friends. It was not just only about getting food from her or something like that… I felt a little lonely. Just think about it, how long can you sit alone and have no one to talk to? And I already knew that she was a good friend material… A week passed, I often visited Diana. With every moment we got along just better and better. She told me that she came here not so long ago too. Earlier she had her own stand in the larger market, but for some reason they told her to go away. I didn’t wanted to ask, she had a really sad face when she was telling me this story. We all have things that we want to keep to ourselves, don’t we? In this new place nobody caused her any trouble and there was a lot of customers too. She also told me a bit about her private life, but not very detailed. I didn’t push again, we all do bad things, it’s especially easy when everybody does them. I still remember one of these hot days… We were sitting together at her booth, resting after our hard work. The day before that she asked me nicely to help her with some labor. The mare didn’t have enough strength to move few heavy objects, that were lying nearby her stand. For example an old car front door or a few parts of heavy metal fence... It went quite smoothly, we finished after one and half hour. She gave me some food in gratitude! For me it was even better than caps. We were sitting in a shadow, leaning back against wooden chests and eating fruits (everyday she had a new delivery of them and they were so delicious!). I must say, now the stand looked much better. She was happy with our work too. "…say again?" I raised one eyebrow, looking at her with doubt, after she told me about something strange. "That really happened, trust me!" she said, biting into a strange looking fruit. I’ve never seen one like this before, it must be something that grows in a totally different region. "Ever since he appeared in the area I knew something was up. You don’t see someone like this every day!" “I know, that’s why I wanted to hear that again”, I thought, swallowing one bite of my fruit (she already knew which was my favorite one). She closed her eyes for a second, trying to remember that moment. "He was just… Huge. And strong for sure!" she spread her hooves, trying to show me his size "He had a reaaally shiny armor, I’ve never seen something like this before. It was so cool!" for a moment I saw little stars in her eyes. She loved these things, even if she didn’t have a good armor herself "First I was scared, when I noticed he’s coming to my stand…" Diana finished her food and threw the part with seeds into a metal bucket "But that stallion bought so many things, now I have caps for everything!" "That’s good, right?" I answered, looking at her with a little smile. "Of course that’s good, but I thought he was going to rob and kill me" she gave me a serious look "I don’t know what should I think about him, he was around since a few days, but not today" after a while she looked at the sky and didn’t say anything for a while "Not that I miss him. But maybe he’s murdering someone at this moment." "…that was a little dark" I finished my fruit too. I know things here are bad, but it’s good to be at least a little positive "It can’t be that bad if he didn’t harm you… and even paid for things." "He had at least three sets of weapons" she looked right at me a little scared "Three!" "Three" I repeated after her again "I have only one rusty knife…" Mare stayed quiet for a little again and then stood up. She found her bag in one of the chest behind us and started looking for something inside. I’ve heard some metal sounds, maybe cans? "What are you doing?" I asked not having a clue. I was surprised when she pulled out a nice looking, sharp knife. It was really clean and in a great condition "You’re not going to attack me, right?" I laughed, just a little insecure. "Don’t even joke like that" a weapon levitated to me in a greenish light "Here, have this. It’s a gift" she raised her chin with a big smile. Needless to say, I was just shocked. No one has ever given me such an amazing thing as a gift. Have I ever received a gift…? "B-but…" regardless of a fact that I REALLY needed a new knife, I just couldn’t accept it that easily. "No buts! It’s for you!" she sat again next to me, still smiling "You’re a nice guy, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. Aaand you probably know how to use it better than me." "How will you defend?" the knife was lying in my hooves. I started rotating it, to see how does it look from each site. It even had a carved hilt! "Leave it to me" she winked at me and stood up again, because a client was approaching "Just give me a second." I nodded and stayed in the same place. Actually, I began to think about that weird stallion. It has to be serious if she even gave me her own knife… Should I be worried? "I don’t know if I’d like to meet him" I said quietly when she finished selling a bag of food to the buyer. "I can help you with an answer" she leaned against the table "You just don’t." After that she described him with lots of details. Even if his armor was so shiny, there was a lot of blood stains and scratches. His weapon was glowing red sometimes and looked dangerous, the second one was really big and heavy (at least she thought so) and the last one was very little, but quick in attack. Diana said she once had a pistol like that, but his was upgraded. "When he left…" she was talking slowly "I think he went that way" she pointed with her hoof… a way to my house. 3. Incident and investigation“We're all human, aren't we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.” J.K. Rowling After working hard until late, I finally came home and found some time for a rest. I was sitting quietly in front of my little bonfire. I took from my bag some food that I bought today.A few iguanas, which I wanted to roast, and one big fruit, Diana gave me. She said it’s quite expensive, but gave it to me anyways… I found some soft trash (papers etc.) and made a place to sit comfortably. I leaned against the wall and put hooves on my belly. Deep breath was what I needed, it was nice to just sit and relax for a moment. I looked out the window, at the starry sky. There was no single cloud, I haven’t seen a view like this ever since I came here. A slight smile pooped on my face. It was a good day, quite tiring, but good. I started thinking about everything that happened recently and that made me even more happy. Who would have thought, that live on the wastes can be pleasing sometimes… -Sometimes- is an important word. I kept adding small slats to the fire. I took them from the remains of a destroyed caravan, not so far away from my house. I was a little surprise when I found it – all supplies, food, ammo, some clothing… it was still here, even if the caravan itself looked like a total disaster. At first I thought it was a trap, but no one was to seen nearby… I took all I could handle and run away quickly. I was thinking about coming back here, but that time I had other, more important things to do. It was really quiet, which was… disturbing. I’m not saying it was bad, but just weird. Usually there was lots of various sounds to be heard, like for example ponies talking really loud on a road or some wild dogs howling, but now – nothing. Just as everything had died nearby or decided to hide from the world. I thought to myself: “As long as it doesn’t have anything to do with me – I’m not worried”. If I only knew how wrong I was. I moved an iguana, to make it roast on the other side. The nice smell was already in the air. Maybe one day I invite Diana over, we should eat together… We were helping each other very often lately, but I didn’t want to burden my problems on her too much. I knew she had to earn money and bear with her own problems. I couldn’t depend on her all the time. I reached for the material bag, that served me as a place for keeping food. I was hiding it behind a big, wooden box, there was a nice shadow and good temperature to keep it ‘fresh’. I had several cans here, which I found in the refrigerator nearby the destroyed gas station, two bottles of dirty water and few other things. Just enough to survive next four days, at least I hoped so. All of sudden I heard a strange noise. I raised my head and looked through a window, that was the closest to me. The perfect silence was interrupted by some sort of metallic sound. I started looking around, trying to figure out what’s going on. For a moment I noticed a little red light, I had no idea what it was. "What the…" I said to myself, putting both my hooves on the windowsill. With my eyesight focused, I started to look out for some movements. It wasn’t easy in the dark, but still, I tried. Even if I didn’t see anything, I managed to hear some quiet noises. They were quite unusual, something like… A robot? I tried not to lean out so much, if it was some kind of machine with autoaim, I would be dead in a seconds. Such silence seemed louder than the loudest noise. I waited a little longer, until all noises disappeared. Everything seemed so… calm. I was already used to loud traders on the road, wild animals attacking each other or gunshots from afar. I sighed and kept looking, smiling a little. Maybe there’s not so many interesting things to do for fun, but a nice view is always enjoyable. I almost could hear the stars telling me “everything will be fine, now just relax”. When I turned around, I noticed something really shiny just in front of me. At first I didn’t understand what it was. I only saw scratched metal and few darker parts, made of an weird, hard material. I heard that strange, robotic noise again, that was the moment when I understood everything. I swallowed my saliva, looking at him terrified. It was much worse than I imagined, he wore a very strong armor, I noticed lots of deep scratches on it (just like Diana said), but they didn’t seem to affect its condition. For sure he was killing all nearby animals, that’s why it was so quiet for a while. His helmet covered the entire head, instead of eyes, black glasses glanced at me, reflecting the faint glow from a fire. I thought it was amazing, that he managed to get so close to me without any noticing. Well, maybe I was a little busy watching the view, but… First I thought I would faint in fear. After looking at his armor, I realized that he really had three different types of weapon. Now it was obvious that it was the guy Diana mentioned. He also had two bags with him, probably with food and ammo… and I guessed he came to take mine away. I moved quickly closer to my hiding place, not only my bag with food was there. I grabbed the knife in my muzzle, at least I had a chance to defend myself. However, it didn’t gave me that much – he could still kill me with just one shot. One of his weapons was glowing red, I’ve never seen something like this before, so it sure was powerful. I felt that my armor made out of various metal plates wouldn’t help me that much. My heart was beating so loud… I was scared that these were the final moments of my life. My breath was the loudest sound in this room and I tried not to lose my balance. I don’t remember being that terrified since… ever. I’ve never been a type of person that wants to solve problems with a fight. I always thought that a nice conversation could make things right. I was wrong this whole time…? "Pww.. pwease…" I tried to talk, but it wasn’t easy with a knife in my muzzle. I wanted to tell him something more, like Don’t hurt me or Let me live, but there was a chance that it would piss him off even more. But… he was just standing here. Without a single word or a move, just watching me. I felt that my chest was moving up and down so fast, in my head I had the worst thoughts. There were two options: he just kills me, or hurts me and makes me bleed out slowly, when he collects all my supplies. I was sure it was my end. At least I’ve been a good person all my life… Finally the stallion made his first move. He leaned his head to the right, moved his hoof, like taking a step forward… but he turned around and slowly walked out of the house. I stayed in the same spot, releasing the knife out of my mouth. It fell on the ground with a quiet clatter. I just couldn’t believe it. He left? And I’m alive? With my supplies? There sure was a reason… I decided to not leave the building for a while, but I really wanted to follow him. Who knows, maybe if I left immediately after him he would change his mind and shoot a few bullets… My hooves were a bit shaking, but I slowly became more calm. Well, you’re not in such danger every day. I was avoiding it for so long that I almost forgot how the fear feels. It’s time to go back to reality I guess. Finally I decided to go out. Probably you’re wondering why would I do that? I barely survived and now I’m going to test my luck again? I knew it was weird, but I just felt something inside me that told me to go. There sure was a reason why he left without doing any harm, especially when it was so easy for him to defeat me. From then on I had to stay focused all the time. I kept repeating in my head he can’t notice me over and over again, making sure not to forget it. I lowered my head and found footsteps on the ground! Completely sure it was him, I followed them and soon was able to hear quiet gun noises. I hid behind an old, ruined wall and noticed the red light, I needed to keep my distance, so I tried to watch him from there. He was standing nearby the road and dealing with creatures that attacked him. There was so many of them, for a second I thought I should help him, but immediately shook my head. It was a really stupid idea. First, I’m not good at fighting and second, I can’t make him notice me. Even if I kept repeating that, the brave thoughts still kept appearing in my head. I was just so… curious. There was something strange about him, something that intrigued me that much, that I was able to risk my life for it. He defeated them so fast… I was watching this performance, trying to get to know his movements. It looked like he was used to fighting creatures like these, great at shooting ,and his dodging - just perfect. He sure was trained. I had no idea who he was, what was he doing or looking for, but I wanted to know. The stallion checked if the creatures had something valuable in their nest and then moved on, without looking back. It was my chance to move forward, I waited a little and sneaked to my next observation point. Soon I was able to predetermine where he was heading. He was walking toward the old gas station. I knew the way, that’s where I found some… supplies… A little lightbulb appeared above my head. Maybe they belonged to him and he just came to take them back? He had to see me from afar and remember the way I walked home… I didn’t know for sure if that was his reason to come here…But still, he didn’t take them away. Why? The next question I need to answer. I couldn’t say it was a short trip, but totally worth the effort. It was an amazing experience – watching the stallion killing everything that stood in his way, clearing the path for himself and me. Even a death claw was no problem for him! I’ve never seen anyone defeating a monster like that… For a second I thought he saw me. My heart stopped beating, we were almost at the gas station, maybe that’s why he was more focused. At one point he turned back suddenly, rising his weapon, ready to shot. I hid behind half-destroyed wall and leaned my back against it, as if I wanted to blend into it. It took so long to get here, I hoped it wouldn’t end just now! A really loud gunshot and a red light. I closed my eyes and already said goodbye, because I didn’t had any chance, even running wouldn’t help me. As it turned out – a wild dog was running towards him on the road. The animal fell down after just one shot. I decided to wait a little more until I continued following the stranger. To my surprise… the stallion disappeared. I couldn’t see him anywhere. I leaned out a little and looked around. Sure, it was a really dark night, but it’s not that easy to miss a big stallion in metal armor with a glowing gun! I blinked, trying to understand what actually happened. He was nearby just a moment ago and poof. It was possible though that he already reached the gas station and hid somewhere here. Maybe I waited a little too long, but it felt just… weird. I immediately rejected the possibility that something killed him " I would see his body on the ground for sure. His armor would shine because on the gas station there was a working neon. Besides during the journey I saw how strong he is." I shook my head and began to walk slowly to the little building nearby the station. I remember hiding here once! There was so little space, but just enough to hide from the bandits. There was some mud just in front of the door – it was easy to notice big, characteristic hoofprints in it. I was just standing and looking at them for a while – what now? Just I enter the building and meet him? Or maybe look through the window, see what I need and run away? Something interrupted my thoughts. It was a noise of the hoofs from behind! I turned around a little scared, "what the…" 4. Try not to die“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” G.K. Chesterton It was a little filly, alone. Little unicorn with dark pink mane and yellow fur. She was wearing some blue suit and… a scared expression on her face. From afar I could see lots of tears in her eyes and her cheeks. She was running really fast, maybe she was chased? "HEEEEEELP!!" she started screaming, confirming my thoughts. Just after that I saw the reason of her running, a giant molerat appeared from behind the hill. He was way stronger than the ordinary one, with much bigger claws and teeth. I knew there was only one way out of this situation. As I said before, the building was really small, in addition the doors really weak. It was a good hiding spot, until the enemy knows where you are. This monster could easily destroy them and make an entrance. I could’ve always shout and try to call this stallion… but I think he would come by himself if he heard the scream of a little filly, right? This little unicorn ran up to me, she looked at me panicked, not knowing what to do. "Hide behind this building!" I gave her this little ‘order’ and prepared my knife "And don’t leave until I give you a sign, okay?" I looked at her seriously and she nodded "If I won’t make it alive, just run." "Okay!" she said and run quickly, gently sticking her head sometimes to watch my actions. Normally I wouldn’t want a foal to watch things like this, but I didn’t have much time for thinking. This molerat approached me at astonishing pace, making weird noises, it was easy to assume that he was furious. I grabbed the knife in my muzzle, when I think about it now, It was a very first time I used it (I didn’t really used it when the stallion showed up, so I’m not counting this). I just hoped it would help save our lives. I waited for the creature to make its first move. I was better in dodging than in the attacks. I managed to escape from his first claw attack, so I scampered quickly to the other side. I was able to take advantage before he turned back and I gave him a stab in the back. He didn’t even react, just like he didn’t even feel it. He set himself in front of me and jumped forward, I wanted to avoid the it again, but it wasn’t that easy this time. He scratched my armor, the feeling of his big paws was so terrifying… He tried to bite me right away, but now I ducked in time. I swung harder and hit him with a blade in the head – he made a loud roar and stepped back a little. It seemed that I hit him right in the eye, it certainly gave me a lot of advantage. Without any waiting I attacked again and stab him deeply. The knife was just perfect for the fight! The animal started moving in a rage, but he didn’t hit me even once, because of his vision problems. He was just cutting the air with his claws… My path to the victory was very clear now – a few more stabs and the creature was lying on the ground. I must admit, I had lots of luck. I won only because I hit him in the eye in the beginning, I felt a relief that I managed to defeat him. I was looking down at his body, panting deeply. It was very tiring, my teeth still clenched tightly on the handle and there was so much blood on my clothes… It took me a while to think about a little filly. I turned quickly and she was already standing by my side. She was looking different now. there was a wide smile on her face and her eyes were shining. "It was sooo cool!" she said looking at me delighted "You defeated him! This move, and this, baach and baach!" she stood on her hind hooves and started doing dynamic moves with her front hooves. I hid the knife in a special place on my belt and looked at her, smiling slightly. "You’re really brave too! I’m Rail, what’s your name?" I bent down and patted her head with my hoof, before noticing that I have lots of blood on it "And what are you doing here alone?" First she wanted to say something, but then stayed quiet for a while. She began to draw circles with her hoof on the ground. "My name is Angie, and, um, well…" she started talking "I, like… Run away a little…" "Huh? Why?" I gave her a really worried look "Were your parents mean to you? Did they do anything bad to you?" You can meet different ponies on the wasteland, that’s why I asked. "No, no! They are super good!" she said immediately "But I really wanted to see the butterflies!" "B-butterflies?" I opened my eyes wider, because I guessed what creatures she meant. "I saw them In the books and then in the mountains here! My parents wouldn’t let me come meet them, but they are so cool!" she hit the ground with her hoof "I went to look for them, but then… this thing attacked me." I wasn’t sure if she knew how strong cazadors poison was. "But you saved me, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she hugged me tightly, closing her eyes. Of course now she had some blood stains on her face too. "I’ll help you get home, okay?" I smiled a bit wider, it’s such a nice feeling, helping others. "Oh, It’s almost there" she stood happily and waved her tail "Come on, I’ll show you!" she turned to the door, under which I found the hoofprints earlier. "Uhm, are you sure about that?" I looked at her suspicious. I didn’t know if the stallion was still here, but I knew for sure that nobody lived here. There was so little space inside that only one pony was able to move freely there. Maybe she hit herself in the head and was a little dazed? The handle shone the same color as her horn and she jumped inside. "Come here, I know where I live, silly!" and she was gone. Of course I followed her, there was no option to leave her alone. Inside I saw just… darkness, despite the window next to the door. And I couldn’t see the filly anywhere, where did she go? "Where are you?" I asked, looking around the room, trying to catch any movement. "Here!" she sais At first I couldn’t find the sound source, until a little head appeared in front of my hooves. Trapdoor, of course! That’s why I’ve never noticed it before… but why would it be here? "Move a little, there’s nothing to wait for!" the filly disappeared again, walking down the wooden (and damaged) stairs. I followed her, closing the trapdoor behind us. At the very bottom I saw a faint light. "Be careful, try not to fall" I warned her, because I had some difficulties with it myself. I kept my hoof on the wall, so I wouldn’t fall down. It was a deep cave and a torch was a source of light. Angie was really good at walking on this stone floor, it was obvious that she was raised here. She led me to… "Wow…" I said rising my head to have a good view. It was a huge vault door! I saw already few like this, but I’ve never dared to enter any (especially these habited) vaults. It was just open, so we didn’t have any problem with entering here (the opening mechanism seemed quite simple, but I’m not good at these things anyway). I was still thinking about the armored stallion. Now I knew why he was heading here… The shelter was certainly his home. “Maybe if I come meet him with a foal it will be a good opportunity to explain everything?” I said to myself in my head. We entered the first floor, it was mostly destroyed. Rubbish and debris were everywhere, almost all doors were closed. Angie didn’t even look at them and moved to the next stairs. I couldn’t hide my fascination – this place made a great impression of me. Everything seemed so... different. She left me behind and literally after a while I heard a bang and a loud cry. I ran down quickly and saw this little unicorn lying on the floor, holding her hind hoof and crying. I assumed that she just fell and something sharp scratched her, she was bleeding! I jumped from the last few steps and stood next to her. "Hey, hey, it’s gonna be alright" I smiled, standing in front of her and reaching my hoof to calm her "Everything will be fine." "It hurts, IT HURTS!" she shouted still holding the wounded hoof. That was the moment when I REALLY regretted that I didn’t have any meds with me. But it was necessary to do something with that wound… I decided to do the first thing that came to my mind. I took out my knife, ready to cut my shirt and use it to help this little mare. Something red flew right in front of my eyes, then it hit the stairs and made a big hole in them. I froze, until I turned my head sideways. As you may already guessed – it was him. A big guy in the armor was pointing his gun straight at me. I looked at him terrified, perfectly aware how this scene looked like. Me, with a knife in my mouth, a crying filly all in blood, just like me… I dropped my knife and raised my hooves up, it was the most sensible thing to do. The stallion slowly moved closer, still aiming at me. His weapon was glowing red and making characteristic noises. "I thought I made the right choice saving your life…" it was the first time when I’ve hear his voice, distorted by the speakers on his helmet. He was already standing in front of me. "I’m sorry, it’s really not like that…" I said calmly, because I was too scared to talk louder "It’s really…" "Well, you’re not going to confess your sins to me…" he put his gun to my skull "I won’t forgive you anyway." "I-I’m really sorry…" I repeated, shaking like a jelly. That’s where my curiosity and willingness to help took me… I risked my life so many times today, but I probably run away from death too often. "No, stop it!" I heard weak voice and quiet hoof noises. I looked aside and couldn’t believe my eyes. The filly, with a painful look on her face, stood between me and the stallion. More and more blood was flowing from her hoof, but she wasn’t afraid to come close. She looked straight in his eyes (or these black glasses in his helmet). "He saved me from the big monster outside! And he was nice and he wanted to take me to you" she looked down "Don’t be mad at us…" I listened carefully… Wait, “take me to you”? Have I heard well? The weapon was lowered, just like the stallions head. "Excuse me? You were on the surface? ALONE?" his voice was much more angry than when he addressed me "You’re in big trouble, young lady." "But… everything is fine, right?" I decided to speak, because I wanted to help Angie, he did it to me after all "She was just very curious about these colorful fish in a nearby pond, which she saw during a family walk… and I just saw her escaping from that big monster." "He was huge! And scary and strong! But Rail helped me and saved me and he was so cool and caring!" she covered me with her body, as she wanted to make sure that this guy won’t hurt me. He was looking at us, then let out a loud sigh. His helmet shone blue, then it began to move up. It turned out… "You don’t even know how lucky you were that this creature didn’t eat you, Angie" a delicate voice combined with a nervous look made up a very strange mix "Just wait until your father hears about this." "But moom!" little unicorn gave her a sad look, then moaned in pain. It was obvious that her hoof really hurt. Well, these metal stairs are not that safe. "There’s no time to waste, we need to take care of you" she lifted her up with her magic and put her on her back, so she could carry her down. Then the mare looked at me "You’re coming too, we need to talk." I couldn’t argue with someone with three guns. I nodded and walked down the stairs with them. Well, I was just shocked. The stallion turned into a mare, I totally didn’t expect that. She had short pink hair (just like Angie) with purple ends, her fur was gray. Blue eyes every now and then turned back to see if the filly is okay and I’m not planning anything. We descended to lower floor and saw some more residents. Everypony looked very friendly, they also seemed worried when they saw a wounded filly. I wasn’t sure how it would end for me, but I counted on forbearance. The mare (I heard ponies from the vault calling her Ember) took us to the medical wing, where she left Angie. Next she ordered me to come to the other part of the room. "I didn’t expect to see you ever again" she looked straight in my eyes, not even smiling. "I-I don’t know how it happened…" I laughed and looked aside, I’m not a good liar. "You’re lucky that my daughter has a good heart and stood for you" she touched my chest with a hoof "Usually we don’t allow strangers here, especially when they look… like you…" "I know, I’m sorry but I couldn’t let her go home alone" I sighed and decided to tell only the truth from now on "I was afraid that she would meet something even more dangerous." She glared at me and then (finally) gently smiled. "Thank you" she said with a relief "I wouldn’t forgive myself if something bad happened to her. I wonder how she managed to leave the vault…" "Um, the door was open" I thought it was worth mentioning. "….It was?" her eyes widened and after a while she became really angry "Well, I certainly know who’s going to be punished, and it’s not my daughter… Nor you…" "But… it’s important that everything ended up well, right?" I turned my head towards the filly, which had already a bandage on her hoof. She waved to me and her mom with joy. Ember looked at me after a while. "Yeah, I guess you’re right. If not you, she would probably be in the stomach of that monster" she kept her eyes on her "My little one…" We were talking until Angie was ready to leave the place. Ember was… really interesting. She cared about her family, but I still kept in mind how she killed so many creatures. I’ll never forget the sight of the gun in front of my face… I also met her husband – a really high stallion, that looked very serious. Short dark mane, yellow eyes and brownish fur… He came to room and the first thing he did – he came closer to Angie. I was worried that he was going to yell at her (just like Ember did), but… he cuddled her and told how much he loves her. He was really happy that she was safe. They were talking for a while, until she pointed at me. The stallion looked at Ember, then at me, then at Ember again. Finally he moved closer and gave me a warm smile too. "I’m really thankful" he closed his eyes while still smiling "You saved her life, you surely are a relly nice pony." 5. New life“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” Oscar Wilde They offered me to stay for the night (especially Angie). It was really late and totally not safe to explore the wasteland in the night. They convinced me, gave some food, aplace to clean myself and a room with a real bed. It took me a while to realize that Ember was a really important person in the vault. She was the main pony for expeditions, trades and obtaining information. She told me that she was shopping at Dianas place, because she had special fruits that they really wanted to try. I can’t blame them, they’re delicious. I stayed the next day too, everyone was so kind and nice to me. It was a moment when I realized that this is a place I can call home, not that dirty building. Here I found ponies that wanted to talk and cared for me. Soon they proposed me to live with them! I gladly accepted it. I had my own room (not the guest one in which I stayed before) and a special place at the table! I became friends with both unicorns. They started treating me as their family, they even gave me a pipbuck! They said that this way they wanted to show how much they love me and trust. I never forgot about Diana of course – from time to time I visited her with scary stallion in the armor. Her face when she saw us together , just priceless. That was probably the first time when I understood what happy life means. However.... after some time I started to feel… strange. Something was wrong, or maybe I just didn’t really fit here? Everything was just too perfect and colorful, I felt that I lost a part of my life. It was so monotonous. It didn’t happen in one week, nor in one month… I needed time to realize it. I wrote two very long letters. I left one in my room, the other sent to Diana by a courier. Then I left the vault, saying that I’m just going out for a walk. I started going forward, not knowing what I was looking for. I wanted to find something new and open a new chapter in my life. I had many supplies with my, so I had lots of time to find a new place. Soon I found a big, dark tunnel. At the end I saw a little, very bright light – probably the other exit. I smiled and walked in, imagining that it was a transition to my new life. The end
1. Finding my placeFate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like.” Lemony Snicket Imagine that you’re a simple person living on a surface. Maybe you’re travelling or simply living in one of the shacks nearby the road. You walk slowly, thinking about simple things, when suddenly you notice someone. Green pegasus with yellow mane running as fast as he can, not looking behind and trying not to fall on the ground. He has some simple clothing and few scratches on his body. Probably you wonder – what happened to him? Why is he running? Well, that’s me. It was a really dangerous situation, few slave hunters tried to capture me! They thought it would be easy catch a pony, that travels alone without any weapon, but they also didn’t expect I had a knife. I managed to hurt one of them and quickly run away… I was slightly wounded too, but luckily still able to walk by myself. That one time I looked back and noticed they were still after me. I bit my lower lip and had no other choice, but to run – run even faster than before. My hooves did hurt even more with each next step, but I tried to ignore that. Nobody said that living in the wastes is going to be easy… It was my choice after all. It took a while until I managed to escape them, I was really happy, but there was no time for fooling around. I needed to find a safe place, where I could hide for a little longer, recover and store some supplies. I looked at my bag – there was only a rusty knife I mentioned before, few cans with some weird meat and finally half a bottle of dirty water. I don’t need to hide it, I’ve never had lots of caps, just enough to make a living and stay out of trouble. That’s what I wanted to do that day too. As it turned out, I found myself in a really unfamiliar place. And, what was even worse, it was getting darker. You can trust me, night is the worst time of the day here. I sighed quietly, for now finding a shelter was my priority. I looked around, trying to find anything that had at least three stable walls. Finally I noticed a weak flame from a distance. For a second I thought it was just my imagination, but it really was a flame! I walked there slowly, trying to catch my breath. I was tired from running... I just needed a place to sit and hide and that was the only thing that was in my head. Finally I reached the place. That light source… It was a broken gas pipe! First I was a little scared, but I managed to fix it the next day. I found here some empty wooden boxes and thrash, but they were just enough to serve as my new bed. First, of course, I checked if this place wasn’t dangerous. It was typical for raiders to hide mines in abandoned houses and then just collect all equipment from burned corpses. I didn’t find anything like that, no bear traps, no mines… Totally safe, maybe it was a little weird, but I felt that the fate has smiled upon me at last. Maybe it wasn’t the most luxurious place, but it had its advantages, as it turned out a little later. I stayed here for the first few days and nobody even came close to the building. There was a big hole in one of the walls, anyone could come inside without any trouble. But nothing happened… There was no glass in windows too, but they were really useful anyways. I had a great view at the main road. Lots of ponies were passing by – raiders, traders, ordinary ones… They usually were busy with their businesses and never even looked in my direction. One day before that I made a little trip around, to check if there’s no raider camps or radscorpion nest (for example, I truly hated these creatures!). First I thought it was too perfect to be real, but I only found an old camp (it was easy to notice that it was unused for a long time) and few wild dogs. So no bigger danger! I even saw something bigger in the distance, maybe a town? But it was still too early for me to go on an expedition. I felt much better, but still needed to rest at least two more days. Later I created a small fireplace and a hiding place to store my supplies. It may be a little weird, but I found some food buried underground. Looks like I wasn’t the first one hiding here… I just hoped that the previous occupant won’t come back. That was a moment, when I decided to call this place home. "At least for now…" I said to myself, looking at the weak fire.
2. Meeting a new friend“I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.” Helen Keller Few days passed and I decided to go explore a bit more. I was curious about the whole area, I had no idea what it was hiding. Maybe there was somewhere a place with lots of trees or a big building with shops and flats inside? When I was a kid many ponies told me about towns like these… I was so excited, I woke up really early and prepared all useful things. I packed them in my bag and was ready to go! The weather was just great – no wind, so the sand didn’t fall into my eyes, and I could hear everything around me very clearly. I tried to avoid danger every time, but it wasn’t really possible, as you may have guessed. It was especially difficult when a group of dangerous big flies attacked me! I panicked a little and was hardly able to beat them all, but I managed to do it! I ended up with few more bloody scars and I regretted that I didn’t take any material from my new house, I saw lots of it in all this garbage… But it was too late to think about that. There was no use to even think about any medicine. Even if I’d like to take some – I couldn’t afford it. But most importantly - I was still alive! You may think, Flies, pff, but remember – I didn’t have any special armor, same thing with a weapon. My knife was old, but it still worked quite good. It didn’t make as much damage as a good one though, but it needed to go with it. I tried to pay attention to all surroundings , it would be really bad if I forgot the path. It was quite easy, to be honest. I just remembered some special points – for example an old trailer here or an abandoned hut there… And again I was thinking about everything , but I think it’s better than talking to yourself out loud. It would be weird, and if someone could see me like this – even worse. So I kept thinking and thinking, at some point and idea of writing a journal came to my head. It would help me to keep all memories in one place. I was walking forward like this, I know it’s important to keep your guard, but I’ve always been a dreaming type a little… In my mind I had lots of different thoughts, those that have already appeared here and some new ones. I always liked imagining what will happen in the future, sometimes everything goes completely different and its either a nice or unpleasant surprise… But I must say, all things that happened lately were nice. Suddenly something bumped into me. It surprised me and I almost fell down, but I managed to stay on my hooves. I looked aside and saw a mare, which was dragging a big cart full of various objects packed in big boxes. "Look where you going!" said angry unicorn, rubbing her head with her hoof "Can’t you see that you’re walking on the delivery route?!", "Delivery route?" I repeated, then blinked and took a look around. She pointed at the ground, about two meters to the left and right. In fact, there were two stone lines that were separating the road. They were barely visible, perhaps due to the fact that in some place the stone was missing and lots of sand covering it. "Why do people never notice the road?" she sighted loudly and did a facehoof. "Sorry…" I said and moved aside, to let her go forward. In the meantime I took a closer look at her cart. It clearly wasn’t in the best condition. You could see lots of different stuff here, but the most was covered with some sort of material.` "Pft… Next time be a little more careful, cuz you can met some mean guys there and they wouldn’t let you go like this" she raised her chin up and began to walk slowly. "Alright, alright…" I watched her move forward and after a while I decided to follow her. She had to transport these things somewhere, right? After all, she said it -delivery route- . I also combined the facts, she looked totally like a trader, and they usually go… to the town! It didn’t take her long to notice that I was going after her. "Don’t you have anything better to do?" she said turning her head. The mare didn’t sound angry now, maybe just a little irritated "Just go away, unless you want to buy something…" "What do you have to sell?" I came a little closer, so we could talk more easily. I knew that I couldn’t really buy anything, but it was a good conversation starter. "Well, what do you want to buy?" she smiled a little and looked at me with her deep blue eyes. I must admit, she was quite pretty. Short, bright green bangs were falling on her forehead, with the rest was created a little ponytail. Speaking about tails, her own was quite short, it looked like someone cut it very roughly… Her white fur looked very nice, but it was easy to make it dirty. This was especially easy to notice on her hooves, that were brown at this moment. I needed to think a little about the answer. I really wanted a new gun, but it sure costed more than 20 caps that I had in my pocket. "Well, I don’t know, maybe some food?" I asked, remembering the shiny cans on her trolley. "I have food, but I can’t unpack it now" she looked back, like she wanted to make sure nothing disappeared "If you’re that interested I can show you my things when we get there." "Get where?" I asked immediately, because that was the thing that interested me the most. "Where?" she raised one eyebrow up "You’ve never been around? We’re going to Trailer Town, of course. That’s where the road leads." I smiled, happy to know that there’s a town here. She only sighed again. "I can clearly see that you’re new here." "Well, you’re right" I laughed briefly "So, how far is it from here?" She answered me after a moment. "Not so far… maybe just half an hour. Or an hour" she put a hoof under her muzzle "It could always be further, right? By the way, Diana’s the name" she reached her hoof in my direction "Nice to meet ya." "Rail" I replied and gave her a brohoof. That’s how our journey began. It turned out that the mare was really friendly! First she didn’t look like an open pony, but when I got to know her better, she was totally different. To be honest, it didn’t really surprise me, you never know who’s the nice guy in the wastes. You trust the wrong person and the next day you wake up naked without any equipment… However, she was really nice. Sometimes she was just annoyed, for example when she accidentally fell down, because she didn’t notice a big rock under her hooves or some dirt flew into her eye. Time passed fast with a good conversation. Finally we saw the place, it was a small area surrounded by several trailers and one wooden house. Lots of ponies were walking here or just sitting on a wooden benches, eating something and talking. It looked really safe, but I expected something more after the word town... There was a lot of different objects placed nearby the trailers. For example some desks, wooden chests, cabinets… Diana led me to one of the tables, it was really close to the road. "Okay, this is the place" she put on hoof on it and took a deep breath "Now you’ll help me unpack everything, okay? These things are really heavy…" "Don’t you want to rest a little?" I sat for a moment on the ground "I mean, we travelled a lot, you must be pretty tired." "Yes, I am" she came closer to her cart "But I also don’t have time to be lazy. If you help me" she gave me a big smile "You may get something special." I nodded and quietly stood up. I was happy that she would give me something for that work, especially when I noticed how many cool things she had. In the trailer she arranged a nice storage, everything was sorted in metal boxes and labeled. "And… you can come tomorrow too" she said after we unloaded some stuff "I’m not usually into hiring assistants, but you’re really good at it" she smiled, sitting at the table "Move that one box and we can make a little break." I smiled, glad to help her. When we were travelling I got to know her a little better, I knew she was a bit lonely too. We could make a nice duo together! While unpacking all things I’ve found a map in one of the bags, it was really useful. When we finished the job she said that I can take it as a ‘payment’, she gave me some food too! Working here was a big opportunity for me… When we finished I carefully checked the map. That place was not so far from my house, I just took a longer road at first. Deep inside I hoped that Diana and me could become friends. It was not just only about getting food from her or something like that… I felt a little lonely. Just think about it, how long can you sit alone and have no one to talk to? And I already knew that she was a good friend material… A week passed, I often visited Diana. With every moment we got along just better and better. She told me that she came here not so long ago too. Earlier she had her own stand in the larger market, but for some reason they told her to go away. I didn’t wanted to ask, she had a really sad face when she was telling me this story. We all have things that we want to keep to ourselves, don’t we? In this new place nobody caused her any trouble and there was a lot of customers too. She also told me a bit about her private life, but not very detailed. I didn’t push again, we all do bad things, it’s especially easy when everybody does them. I still remember one of these hot days… We were sitting together at her booth, resting after our hard work. The day before that she asked me nicely to help her with some labor. The mare didn’t have enough strength to move few heavy objects, that were lying nearby her stand. For example an old car front door or a few parts of heavy metal fence... It went quite smoothly, we finished after one and half hour. She gave me some food in gratitude! For me it was even better than caps. We were sitting in a shadow, leaning back against wooden chests and eating fruits (everyday she had a new delivery of them and they were so delicious!). I must say, now the stand looked much better. She was happy with our work too. "…say again?" I raised one eyebrow, looking at her with doubt, after she told me about something strange. "That really happened, trust me!" she said, biting into a strange looking fruit. I’ve never seen one like this before, it must be something that grows in a totally different region. "Ever since he appeared in the area I knew something was up. You don’t see someone like this every day!" “I know, that’s why I wanted to hear that again”, I thought, swallowing one bite of my fruit (she already knew which was my favorite one). She closed her eyes for a second, trying to remember that moment. "He was just… Huge. And strong for sure!" she spread her hooves, trying to show me his size "He had a reaaally shiny armor, I’ve never seen something like this before. It was so cool!" for a moment I saw little stars in her eyes. She loved these things, even if she didn’t have a good armor herself "First I was scared, when I noticed he’s coming to my stand…" Diana finished her food and threw the part with seeds into a metal bucket "But that stallion bought so many things, now I have caps for everything!" "That’s good, right?" I answered, looking at her with a little smile. "Of course that’s good, but I thought he was going to rob and kill me" she gave me a serious look "I don’t know what should I think about him, he was around since a few days, but not today" after a while she looked at the sky and didn’t say anything for a while "Not that I miss him. But maybe he’s murdering someone at this moment." "…that was a little dark" I finished my fruit too. I know things here are bad, but it’s good to be at least a little positive "It can’t be that bad if he didn’t harm you… and even paid for things." "He had at least three sets of weapons" she looked right at me a little scared "Three!" "Three" I repeated after her again "I have only one rusty knife…" Mare stayed quiet for a little again and then stood up. She found her bag in one of the chest behind us and started looking for something inside. I’ve heard some metal sounds, maybe cans? "What are you doing?" I asked not having a clue. I was surprised when she pulled out a nice looking, sharp knife. It was really clean and in a great condition "You’re not going to attack me, right?" I laughed, just a little insecure. "Don’t even joke like that" a weapon levitated to me in a greenish light "Here, have this. It’s a gift" she raised her chin with a big smile. Needless to say, I was just shocked. No one has ever given me such an amazing thing as a gift. Have I ever received a gift…? "B-but…" regardless of a fact that I REALLY needed a new knife, I just couldn’t accept it that easily. "No buts! It’s for you!" she sat again next to me, still smiling "You’re a nice guy, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. Aaand you probably know how to use it better than me." "How will you defend?" the knife was lying in my hooves. I started rotating it, to see how does it look from each site. It even had a carved hilt! "Leave it to me" she winked at me and stood up again, because a client was approaching "Just give me a second." I nodded and stayed in the same place. Actually, I began to think about that weird stallion. It has to be serious if she even gave me her own knife… Should I be worried? "I don’t know if I’d like to meet him" I said quietly when she finished selling a bag of food to the buyer. "I can help you with an answer" she leaned against the table "You just don’t." After that she described him with lots of details. Even if his armor was so shiny, there was a lot of blood stains and scratches. His weapon was glowing red sometimes and looked dangerous, the second one was really big and heavy (at least she thought so) and the last one was very little, but quick in attack. Diana said she once had a pistol like that, but his was upgraded. "When he left…" she was talking slowly "I think he went that way" she pointed with her hoof… a way to my house.
3. Incident and investigation“We're all human, aren't we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.” J.K. Rowling After working hard until late, I finally came home and found some time for a rest. I was sitting quietly in front of my little bonfire. I took from my bag some food that I bought today.A few iguanas, which I wanted to roast, and one big fruit, Diana gave me. She said it’s quite expensive, but gave it to me anyways… I found some soft trash (papers etc.) and made a place to sit comfortably. I leaned against the wall and put hooves on my belly. Deep breath was what I needed, it was nice to just sit and relax for a moment. I looked out the window, at the starry sky. There was no single cloud, I haven’t seen a view like this ever since I came here. A slight smile pooped on my face. It was a good day, quite tiring, but good. I started thinking about everything that happened recently and that made me even more happy. Who would have thought, that live on the wastes can be pleasing sometimes… -Sometimes- is an important word. I kept adding small slats to the fire. I took them from the remains of a destroyed caravan, not so far away from my house. I was a little surprise when I found it – all supplies, food, ammo, some clothing… it was still here, even if the caravan itself looked like a total disaster. At first I thought it was a trap, but no one was to seen nearby… I took all I could handle and run away quickly. I was thinking about coming back here, but that time I had other, more important things to do. It was really quiet, which was… disturbing. I’m not saying it was bad, but just weird. Usually there was lots of various sounds to be heard, like for example ponies talking really loud on a road or some wild dogs howling, but now – nothing. Just as everything had died nearby or decided to hide from the world. I thought to myself: “As long as it doesn’t have anything to do with me – I’m not worried”. If I only knew how wrong I was. I moved an iguana, to make it roast on the other side. The nice smell was already in the air. Maybe one day I invite Diana over, we should eat together… We were helping each other very often lately, but I didn’t want to burden my problems on her too much. I knew she had to earn money and bear with her own problems. I couldn’t depend on her all the time. I reached for the material bag, that served me as a place for keeping food. I was hiding it behind a big, wooden box, there was a nice shadow and good temperature to keep it ‘fresh’. I had several cans here, which I found in the refrigerator nearby the destroyed gas station, two bottles of dirty water and few other things. Just enough to survive next four days, at least I hoped so. All of sudden I heard a strange noise. I raised my head and looked through a window, that was the closest to me. The perfect silence was interrupted by some sort of metallic sound. I started looking around, trying to figure out what’s going on. For a moment I noticed a little red light, I had no idea what it was. "What the…" I said to myself, putting both my hooves on the windowsill. With my eyesight focused, I started to look out for some movements. It wasn’t easy in the dark, but still, I tried. Even if I didn’t see anything, I managed to hear some quiet noises. They were quite unusual, something like… A robot? I tried not to lean out so much, if it was some kind of machine with autoaim, I would be dead in a seconds. Such silence seemed louder than the loudest noise. I waited a little longer, until all noises disappeared. Everything seemed so… calm. I was already used to loud traders on the road, wild animals attacking each other or gunshots from afar. I sighed and kept looking, smiling a little. Maybe there’s not so many interesting things to do for fun, but a nice view is always enjoyable. I almost could hear the stars telling me “everything will be fine, now just relax”. When I turned around, I noticed something really shiny just in front of me. At first I didn’t understand what it was. I only saw scratched metal and few darker parts, made of an weird, hard material. I heard that strange, robotic noise again, that was the moment when I understood everything. I swallowed my saliva, looking at him terrified. It was much worse than I imagined, he wore a very strong armor, I noticed lots of deep scratches on it (just like Diana said), but they didn’t seem to affect its condition. For sure he was killing all nearby animals, that’s why it was so quiet for a while. His helmet covered the entire head, instead of eyes, black glasses glanced at me, reflecting the faint glow from a fire. I thought it was amazing, that he managed to get so close to me without any noticing. Well, maybe I was a little busy watching the view, but… First I thought I would faint in fear. After looking at his armor, I realized that he really had three different types of weapon. Now it was obvious that it was the guy Diana mentioned. He also had two bags with him, probably with food and ammo… and I guessed he came to take mine away. I moved quickly closer to my hiding place, not only my bag with food was there. I grabbed the knife in my muzzle, at least I had a chance to defend myself. However, it didn’t gave me that much – he could still kill me with just one shot. One of his weapons was glowing red, I’ve never seen something like this before, so it sure was powerful. I felt that my armor made out of various metal plates wouldn’t help me that much. My heart was beating so loud… I was scared that these were the final moments of my life. My breath was the loudest sound in this room and I tried not to lose my balance. I don’t remember being that terrified since… ever. I’ve never been a type of person that wants to solve problems with a fight. I always thought that a nice conversation could make things right. I was wrong this whole time…? "Pww.. pwease…" I tried to talk, but it wasn’t easy with a knife in my muzzle. I wanted to tell him something more, like Don’t hurt me or Let me live, but there was a chance that it would piss him off even more. But… he was just standing here. Without a single word or a move, just watching me. I felt that my chest was moving up and down so fast, in my head I had the worst thoughts. There were two options: he just kills me, or hurts me and makes me bleed out slowly, when he collects all my supplies. I was sure it was my end. At least I’ve been a good person all my life… Finally the stallion made his first move. He leaned his head to the right, moved his hoof, like taking a step forward… but he turned around and slowly walked out of the house. I stayed in the same spot, releasing the knife out of my mouth. It fell on the ground with a quiet clatter. I just couldn’t believe it. He left? And I’m alive? With my supplies? There sure was a reason… I decided to not leave the building for a while, but I really wanted to follow him. Who knows, maybe if I left immediately after him he would change his mind and shoot a few bullets… My hooves were a bit shaking, but I slowly became more calm. Well, you’re not in such danger every day. I was avoiding it for so long that I almost forgot how the fear feels. It’s time to go back to reality I guess. Finally I decided to go out. Probably you’re wondering why would I do that? I barely survived and now I’m going to test my luck again? I knew it was weird, but I just felt something inside me that told me to go. There sure was a reason why he left without doing any harm, especially when it was so easy for him to defeat me. From then on I had to stay focused all the time. I kept repeating in my head he can’t notice me over and over again, making sure not to forget it. I lowered my head and found footsteps on the ground! Completely sure it was him, I followed them and soon was able to hear quiet gun noises. I hid behind an old, ruined wall and noticed the red light, I needed to keep my distance, so I tried to watch him from there. He was standing nearby the road and dealing with creatures that attacked him. There was so many of them, for a second I thought I should help him, but immediately shook my head. It was a really stupid idea. First, I’m not good at fighting and second, I can’t make him notice me. Even if I kept repeating that, the brave thoughts still kept appearing in my head. I was just so… curious. There was something strange about him, something that intrigued me that much, that I was able to risk my life for it. He defeated them so fast… I was watching this performance, trying to get to know his movements. It looked like he was used to fighting creatures like these, great at shooting ,and his dodging - just perfect. He sure was trained. I had no idea who he was, what was he doing or looking for, but I wanted to know. The stallion checked if the creatures had something valuable in their nest and then moved on, without looking back. It was my chance to move forward, I waited a little and sneaked to my next observation point. Soon I was able to predetermine where he was heading. He was walking toward the old gas station. I knew the way, that’s where I found some… supplies… A little lightbulb appeared above my head. Maybe they belonged to him and he just came to take them back? He had to see me from afar and remember the way I walked home… I didn’t know for sure if that was his reason to come here…But still, he didn’t take them away. Why? The next question I need to answer. I couldn’t say it was a short trip, but totally worth the effort. It was an amazing experience – watching the stallion killing everything that stood in his way, clearing the path for himself and me. Even a death claw was no problem for him! I’ve never seen anyone defeating a monster like that… For a second I thought he saw me. My heart stopped beating, we were almost at the gas station, maybe that’s why he was more focused. At one point he turned back suddenly, rising his weapon, ready to shot. I hid behind half-destroyed wall and leaned my back against it, as if I wanted to blend into it. It took so long to get here, I hoped it wouldn’t end just now! A really loud gunshot and a red light. I closed my eyes and already said goodbye, because I didn’t had any chance, even running wouldn’t help me. As it turned out – a wild dog was running towards him on the road. The animal fell down after just one shot. I decided to wait a little more until I continued following the stranger. To my surprise… the stallion disappeared. I couldn’t see him anywhere. I leaned out a little and looked around. Sure, it was a really dark night, but it’s not that easy to miss a big stallion in metal armor with a glowing gun! I blinked, trying to understand what actually happened. He was nearby just a moment ago and poof. It was possible though that he already reached the gas station and hid somewhere here. Maybe I waited a little too long, but it felt just… weird. I immediately rejected the possibility that something killed him " I would see his body on the ground for sure. His armor would shine because on the gas station there was a working neon. Besides during the journey I saw how strong he is." I shook my head and began to walk slowly to the little building nearby the station. I remember hiding here once! There was so little space, but just enough to hide from the bandits. There was some mud just in front of the door – it was easy to notice big, characteristic hoofprints in it. I was just standing and looking at them for a while – what now? Just I enter the building and meet him? Or maybe look through the window, see what I need and run away? Something interrupted my thoughts. It was a noise of the hoofs from behind! I turned around a little scared, "what the…"
4. Try not to die“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” G.K. Chesterton It was a little filly, alone. Little unicorn with dark pink mane and yellow fur. She was wearing some blue suit and… a scared expression on her face. From afar I could see lots of tears in her eyes and her cheeks. She was running really fast, maybe she was chased? "HEEEEEELP!!" she started screaming, confirming my thoughts. Just after that I saw the reason of her running, a giant molerat appeared from behind the hill. He was way stronger than the ordinary one, with much bigger claws and teeth. I knew there was only one way out of this situation. As I said before, the building was really small, in addition the doors really weak. It was a good hiding spot, until the enemy knows where you are. This monster could easily destroy them and make an entrance. I could’ve always shout and try to call this stallion… but I think he would come by himself if he heard the scream of a little filly, right? This little unicorn ran up to me, she looked at me panicked, not knowing what to do. "Hide behind this building!" I gave her this little ‘order’ and prepared my knife "And don’t leave until I give you a sign, okay?" I looked at her seriously and she nodded "If I won’t make it alive, just run." "Okay!" she said and run quickly, gently sticking her head sometimes to watch my actions. Normally I wouldn’t want a foal to watch things like this, but I didn’t have much time for thinking. This molerat approached me at astonishing pace, making weird noises, it was easy to assume that he was furious. I grabbed the knife in my muzzle, when I think about it now, It was a very first time I used it (I didn’t really used it when the stallion showed up, so I’m not counting this). I just hoped it would help save our lives. I waited for the creature to make its first move. I was better in dodging than in the attacks. I managed to escape from his first claw attack, so I scampered quickly to the other side. I was able to take advantage before he turned back and I gave him a stab in the back. He didn’t even react, just like he didn’t even feel it. He set himself in front of me and jumped forward, I wanted to avoid the it again, but it wasn’t that easy this time. He scratched my armor, the feeling of his big paws was so terrifying… He tried to bite me right away, but now I ducked in time. I swung harder and hit him with a blade in the head – he made a loud roar and stepped back a little. It seemed that I hit him right in the eye, it certainly gave me a lot of advantage. Without any waiting I attacked again and stab him deeply. The knife was just perfect for the fight! The animal started moving in a rage, but he didn’t hit me even once, because of his vision problems. He was just cutting the air with his claws… My path to the victory was very clear now – a few more stabs and the creature was lying on the ground. I must admit, I had lots of luck. I won only because I hit him in the eye in the beginning, I felt a relief that I managed to defeat him. I was looking down at his body, panting deeply. It was very tiring, my teeth still clenched tightly on the handle and there was so much blood on my clothes… It took me a while to think about a little filly. I turned quickly and she was already standing by my side. She was looking different now. there was a wide smile on her face and her eyes were shining. "It was sooo cool!" she said looking at me delighted "You defeated him! This move, and this, baach and baach!" she stood on her hind hooves and started doing dynamic moves with her front hooves. I hid the knife in a special place on my belt and looked at her, smiling slightly. "You’re really brave too! I’m Rail, what’s your name?" I bent down and patted her head with my hoof, before noticing that I have lots of blood on it "And what are you doing here alone?" First she wanted to say something, but then stayed quiet for a while. She began to draw circles with her hoof on the ground. "My name is Angie, and, um, well…" she started talking "I, like… Run away a little…" "Huh? Why?" I gave her a really worried look "Were your parents mean to you? Did they do anything bad to you?" You can meet different ponies on the wasteland, that’s why I asked. "No, no! They are super good!" she said immediately "But I really wanted to see the butterflies!" "B-butterflies?" I opened my eyes wider, because I guessed what creatures she meant. "I saw them In the books and then in the mountains here! My parents wouldn’t let me come meet them, but they are so cool!" she hit the ground with her hoof "I went to look for them, but then… this thing attacked me." I wasn’t sure if she knew how strong cazadors poison was. "But you saved me, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she hugged me tightly, closing her eyes. Of course now she had some blood stains on her face too. "I’ll help you get home, okay?" I smiled a bit wider, it’s such a nice feeling, helping others. "Oh, It’s almost there" she stood happily and waved her tail "Come on, I’ll show you!" she turned to the door, under which I found the hoofprints earlier. "Uhm, are you sure about that?" I looked at her suspicious. I didn’t know if the stallion was still here, but I knew for sure that nobody lived here. There was so little space inside that only one pony was able to move freely there. Maybe she hit herself in the head and was a little dazed? The handle shone the same color as her horn and she jumped inside. "Come here, I know where I live, silly!" and she was gone. Of course I followed her, there was no option to leave her alone. Inside I saw just… darkness, despite the window next to the door. And I couldn’t see the filly anywhere, where did she go? "Where are you?" I asked, looking around the room, trying to catch any movement. "Here!" she sais At first I couldn’t find the sound source, until a little head appeared in front of my hooves. Trapdoor, of course! That’s why I’ve never noticed it before… but why would it be here? "Move a little, there’s nothing to wait for!" the filly disappeared again, walking down the wooden (and damaged) stairs. I followed her, closing the trapdoor behind us. At the very bottom I saw a faint light. "Be careful, try not to fall" I warned her, because I had some difficulties with it myself. I kept my hoof on the wall, so I wouldn’t fall down. It was a deep cave and a torch was a source of light. Angie was really good at walking on this stone floor, it was obvious that she was raised here. She led me to… "Wow…" I said rising my head to have a good view. It was a huge vault door! I saw already few like this, but I’ve never dared to enter any (especially these habited) vaults. It was just open, so we didn’t have any problem with entering here (the opening mechanism seemed quite simple, but I’m not good at these things anyway). I was still thinking about the armored stallion. Now I knew why he was heading here… The shelter was certainly his home. “Maybe if I come meet him with a foal it will be a good opportunity to explain everything?” I said to myself in my head. We entered the first floor, it was mostly destroyed. Rubbish and debris were everywhere, almost all doors were closed. Angie didn’t even look at them and moved to the next stairs. I couldn’t hide my fascination – this place made a great impression of me. Everything seemed so... different. She left me behind and literally after a while I heard a bang and a loud cry. I ran down quickly and saw this little unicorn lying on the floor, holding her hind hoof and crying. I assumed that she just fell and something sharp scratched her, she was bleeding! I jumped from the last few steps and stood next to her. "Hey, hey, it’s gonna be alright" I smiled, standing in front of her and reaching my hoof to calm her "Everything will be fine." "It hurts, IT HURTS!" she shouted still holding the wounded hoof. That was the moment when I REALLY regretted that I didn’t have any meds with me. But it was necessary to do something with that wound… I decided to do the first thing that came to my mind. I took out my knife, ready to cut my shirt and use it to help this little mare. Something red flew right in front of my eyes, then it hit the stairs and made a big hole in them. I froze, until I turned my head sideways. As you may already guessed – it was him. A big guy in the armor was pointing his gun straight at me. I looked at him terrified, perfectly aware how this scene looked like. Me, with a knife in my mouth, a crying filly all in blood, just like me… I dropped my knife and raised my hooves up, it was the most sensible thing to do. The stallion slowly moved closer, still aiming at me. His weapon was glowing red and making characteristic noises. "I thought I made the right choice saving your life…" it was the first time when I’ve hear his voice, distorted by the speakers on his helmet. He was already standing in front of me. "I’m sorry, it’s really not like that…" I said calmly, because I was too scared to talk louder "It’s really…" "Well, you’re not going to confess your sins to me…" he put his gun to my skull "I won’t forgive you anyway." "I-I’m really sorry…" I repeated, shaking like a jelly. That’s where my curiosity and willingness to help took me… I risked my life so many times today, but I probably run away from death too often. "No, stop it!" I heard weak voice and quiet hoof noises. I looked aside and couldn’t believe my eyes. The filly, with a painful look on her face, stood between me and the stallion. More and more blood was flowing from her hoof, but she wasn’t afraid to come close. She looked straight in his eyes (or these black glasses in his helmet). "He saved me from the big monster outside! And he was nice and he wanted to take me to you" she looked down "Don’t be mad at us…" I listened carefully… Wait, “take me to you”? Have I heard well? The weapon was lowered, just like the stallions head. "Excuse me? You were on the surface? ALONE?" his voice was much more angry than when he addressed me "You’re in big trouble, young lady." "But… everything is fine, right?" I decided to speak, because I wanted to help Angie, he did it to me after all "She was just very curious about these colorful fish in a nearby pond, which she saw during a family walk… and I just saw her escaping from that big monster." "He was huge! And scary and strong! But Rail helped me and saved me and he was so cool and caring!" she covered me with her body, as she wanted to make sure that this guy won’t hurt me. He was looking at us, then let out a loud sigh. His helmet shone blue, then it began to move up. It turned out… "You don’t even know how lucky you were that this creature didn’t eat you, Angie" a delicate voice combined with a nervous look made up a very strange mix "Just wait until your father hears about this." "But moom!" little unicorn gave her a sad look, then moaned in pain. It was obvious that her hoof really hurt. Well, these metal stairs are not that safe. "There’s no time to waste, we need to take care of you" she lifted her up with her magic and put her on her back, so she could carry her down. Then the mare looked at me "You’re coming too, we need to talk." I couldn’t argue with someone with three guns. I nodded and walked down the stairs with them. Well, I was just shocked. The stallion turned into a mare, I totally didn’t expect that. She had short pink hair (just like Angie) with purple ends, her fur was gray. Blue eyes every now and then turned back to see if the filly is okay and I’m not planning anything. We descended to lower floor and saw some more residents. Everypony looked very friendly, they also seemed worried when they saw a wounded filly. I wasn’t sure how it would end for me, but I counted on forbearance. The mare (I heard ponies from the vault calling her Ember) took us to the medical wing, where she left Angie. Next she ordered me to come to the other part of the room. "I didn’t expect to see you ever again" she looked straight in my eyes, not even smiling. "I-I don’t know how it happened…" I laughed and looked aside, I’m not a good liar. "You’re lucky that my daughter has a good heart and stood for you" she touched my chest with a hoof "Usually we don’t allow strangers here, especially when they look… like you…" "I know, I’m sorry but I couldn’t let her go home alone" I sighed and decided to tell only the truth from now on "I was afraid that she would meet something even more dangerous." She glared at me and then (finally) gently smiled. "Thank you" she said with a relief "I wouldn’t forgive myself if something bad happened to her. I wonder how she managed to leave the vault…" "Um, the door was open" I thought it was worth mentioning. "….It was?" her eyes widened and after a while she became really angry "Well, I certainly know who’s going to be punished, and it’s not my daughter… Nor you…" "But… it’s important that everything ended up well, right?" I turned my head towards the filly, which had already a bandage on her hoof. She waved to me and her mom with joy. Ember looked at me after a while. "Yeah, I guess you’re right. If not you, she would probably be in the stomach of that monster" she kept her eyes on her "My little one…" We were talking until Angie was ready to leave the place. Ember was… really interesting. She cared about her family, but I still kept in mind how she killed so many creatures. I’ll never forget the sight of the gun in front of my face… I also met her husband – a really high stallion, that looked very serious. Short dark mane, yellow eyes and brownish fur… He came to room and the first thing he did – he came closer to Angie. I was worried that he was going to yell at her (just like Ember did), but… he cuddled her and told how much he loves her. He was really happy that she was safe. They were talking for a while, until she pointed at me. The stallion looked at Ember, then at me, then at Ember again. Finally he moved closer and gave me a warm smile too. "I’m really thankful" he closed his eyes while still smiling "You saved her life, you surely are a relly nice pony."
5. New life“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” Oscar Wilde They offered me to stay for the night (especially Angie). It was really late and totally not safe to explore the wasteland in the night. They convinced me, gave some food, aplace to clean myself and a room with a real bed. It took me a while to realize that Ember was a really important person in the vault. She was the main pony for expeditions, trades and obtaining information. She told me that she was shopping at Dianas place, because she had special fruits that they really wanted to try. I can’t blame them, they’re delicious. I stayed the next day too, everyone was so kind and nice to me. It was a moment when I realized that this is a place I can call home, not that dirty building. Here I found ponies that wanted to talk and cared for me. Soon they proposed me to live with them! I gladly accepted it. I had my own room (not the guest one in which I stayed before) and a special place at the table! I became friends with both unicorns. They started treating me as their family, they even gave me a pipbuck! They said that this way they wanted to show how much they love me and trust. I never forgot about Diana of course – from time to time I visited her with scary stallion in the armor. Her face when she saw us together , just priceless. That was probably the first time when I understood what happy life means. However.... after some time I started to feel… strange. Something was wrong, or maybe I just didn’t really fit here? Everything was just too perfect and colorful, I felt that I lost a part of my life. It was so monotonous. It didn’t happen in one week, nor in one month… I needed time to realize it. I wrote two very long letters. I left one in my room, the other sent to Diana by a courier. Then I left the vault, saying that I’m just going out for a walk. I started going forward, not knowing what I was looking for. I wanted to find something new and open a new chapter in my life. I had many supplies with my, so I had lots of time to find a new place. Soon I found a big, dark tunnel. At the end I saw a little, very bright light – probably the other exit. I smiled and walked in, imagining that it was a transition to my new life. The end
