Fallout Equestria: Future Visions

Fallout Equestria: Future Visions

By: DJ Bron3

Editors: Dr. Hoofs

Chapter 6: Questions

“Struggles often begin and end with the truth”

Appleloosa. New Appleloosa to be precise. After the “Ghost Shock” the night before, it was a silent walk all the way to New Appleloosa. Unlike the slaver town, this settlement’s barrier was a collage of boxcars from old, disassembled trains. Stacked op top of each other forming a ring around the entire town. A pegasus could still fly over them, but it would be more polite and customary to use the front door, so to speak.

Speaking of doors, it didn’t take long before we found the entrance. There was a giant gate on each side of the town.Guards were patrolling on the top of the train cars, looking down on us. Perhaps deciding if we were danger, but not attacking without reason. And we didn’t plan on giving them one.

But at least we had finally found it. The one place that had taken us almost a week to walk to on hoof. Cobalt, Wonderhoof and I probably could have reached it faster by flying, but Candy and Cupcake didn’t have wings, and those of us with them were still sore from carrying the mares out of the cannibal hideout in the remains of Ponyville.

As we approached the gates, they opened pleasantly. We made sure to close them behind us. Didn’t want any unwanted wasteland critters following us in, now did we? When we went inside, we realised that not just the wall defending the town was made of trains, the entire town was created from old train cars. Houses were two to three passenger cars stacked on top of each other. Catwalks connected the highest structures to one another. The highest of them all boasted a neon sign that read, “Turnpike Tavern”.

Wonderhoof noticed a giant tower of metal that overlooked the entire town. When he pointed it out, we noticed it had another long piece of metal that jutted out from near the top. It had a hook attached at the end. I realised that the crane we were looking at was how the ponies who built the wall had stacked them on top of each other with such precision.

The pony who greeted us was a grey earth pony with a black hair color. “Welcome to New Appleloosa.” he said with a warm smile. “Mah name is Railright. Ah’m the sheriff/mayor of this here settlement. What brings you fine folks here today?” He had a sort of country twang to his voice. Like he wasn’t the most educated pony ever, but the way he greeted us still assured me that we were welcome.

“We were looking for somepony named, ‘Ditzy Doo’. We heard about her writing something called the, ‘Wasteland Survival Guide’.” I told him, explaining our reason for being here.

“Ah, yer here to see ol’ Ditzy, is that it? Well, yer in luck, ‘cause she runs the local general store, Absolutely Everything. Would ya like me to point ya in the right direction?” Yes! He knew exactly where Ditzy was, but I was surprised to find out that she ran a general store. I nodded excitedly like a foal who had just gotten his cutie mark and found out that the job he received in the stable was exactly what he had wanted.

As Railright guided us, Candy trotted up to me. “He’s pretty helpful. He didn’t even ask us about our assortment of armament.”

“Maybe he’s used to ponies coming into town with weapons?” Wonderhoof suggested. “Or maybe he just didn’t care.” Cobalt thought out loud. “Cobalt! Shame on you!” Cupcake shot back at the changeling. “What?” he asked defensively. “Railright obviously cares. Or else he wouldn’t have offered to show us where Ditzy Doo is.” Cupcake said matter-of-factly. “And he didn’t ask us to remove all our weapons like in Tenpony, so he must trust us.” Candy added.

Whatever his reasons were, he was being helpful. That was really all that mattered. Except for the fact that he was giving us an extended tour instead of bringing us straight to Ditzy’s shop.

Absolutely Everything was the fourth stop on the tour that Railright had given us. Though we were only here for Ditzy Doo’s Wasteland Survival Guide, it seemed rude to turn down helpful information about the town we were in. The general store was a combination of three different train cars, melded together to create the strange building. The one on top was a black metal coated car with a chimney out the top with smoke billowing out of it.

The door had signs below the name of the store explaining a little bit about how it worked:

Yes, I do deliveries!

No hooves, nasty stingers? No service.

Ask me about special orders! I won’t answer, but I’ll get right on it!

Wasteland Survival Guide! Available now! First copy for every family is free!

The first two signs didn’t concern me much in the least. The third sign made me wonder why she wouldn’t answer. But the last sign was what my eyes were drawn to. The Wasteland Survival Guide was free? Or at least, the first copy was free? The pony who ran this store sounded like one of the nicest ponies ever.

Opening the door, we were met with somepony who reminded us all too well of the slaver who had held Cobalt hostage. Luckily, it wasn’t Crossbones. Unless he had cleverly disguised himself as a female pegasus ghoul with more flesh over her whole body than he had on just his face.

The ghoul looked at us, surprised, then looked to Railright. “I brought some customers Ditzy. Hope that’s okay with ya.” Obviously not, because Ditzy immediately came to greet us. Smiling with her rotting teeth. Candy and Cupcake resisted the urge to purge their stomachs. Wonderhoof, Cobalt, and I just smiled back awkwardly. I’ll admit it. This wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. But at least she was still friendly.

“Ditzy here was one of the ponies the Stable Dweller rescued back in the Ponyville Ruins. Isn’t that right Ditzy?” She nodded in response. And I noticed that one of her eyes rolled up while the other didn’t, giving her an almost amusing feel.

We had all seen ghouls, except for Cupcake. Unless she was also acquainted with the leader of the slavers in the camp we had rescued her from. Either Ditzy or the store excreted a rotting smell. My brain went with the former, as I had recognised the smell from our encounter with Crossbones.

“Be sure to show these ponies around. According to DJ Pon3, they also rescued somepony. Just like our heroic Stable Dweller.”

Before Railright walked out of the store, my pipbuck’s music cut off. It was time for another one of DJ Pon3’s reports.

“I’ve been warning everypony for some time now to steer clear of Appleloosa. Well, it seems like the Stable Dweller either didn’t get the message, or chose to ignore it. I’ve gotten confirmed reports that the little gal marched into Appleloosa, and brought hell on her hooves. Freed over a dozen slaves, many of them foals. I’m happy to report that they’re safe and sound. But there’s a bitter note to this song. When a small army of slavers tried to take their captives back, our heroine of the wasteland sacrificed herself making sure everypony got away safe. So this next song goes out to you Stable Dweller. May Celestia and Luna wrap you in their tails…”

I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. Could it be true? Was the famous Stable Dweller dead? It was a heroic act though. If I knew there was no way out, then I would want to go the same way she did. Protecting somepony from harm’s way. My prayers went out to her and to anypony who knew her.

Cupcake also was stirred. She had come from a slaver camp, so I could sympathise with her at the thought that there were others who were as fortunate as her to have been set free.

“Sweet Celestia…” Railright mumbled. “What?” I asked him. Something about DJ Pon3’s latest report shook him. Even more than me. But what? “Oh, it’s not much. It just so happens that ah knew the Stable Dweller. An’ shortly before she died, ah kinda had ‘er banned from entering New Appleloosa.”

What? WHAT?! What could have she done to deserve that?! I asked him this. Along with so many other questions I had waiting for his sorry ass.

“Well, she kinda got six of our best train ponies killed by slavers. Some of ‘em were friends o’ mine. She also destroyed one of our only functionin’ trains, and burned whatever peaceful relations New Appleloosa had with, um, some less than peaceful ponies. Now I gotta put more guards on the walls and send more ponies to guard the caravans we send out.”

I couldn’t believe any of this. The Stable Dweller obviously wasn’t perfect, but they couldn’t just forbid her from the town forever. “It’s not permanent.” he added. “Just until we’re sure she’s safe.” I still wasn’t buying it. “She may have made a few mistakes, but you can’t just do that to her!” I yelled in his face. “She was reckless an’ dangerous!” he countered.

I hated to admit it, but that did make sense. But wasn’t almost everypony in the wasteland reckless and dangerous? What made her any different?

I realised that we were still in Ditzy Doo’s shop. I apologized bashfully. “I looked like a fool, didn’t I?” I asked my friends. “If only you knew how foolish you looked.” Candy replied. Way to help.

Another thing struck me as odd. Ditzy Doo hadn’t said anything about my argument with Railright. In fact, she hadn’t said anything since we came through the door. “Is something wrong with her voice?” I asked Railright. He sighed before explaining.

“I’ll tell ya what Calamity told the Stable Dweller. Ditzy’s tongue was cut out by slavers.” She opened her mouth wide. I could see that she did, in fact, have no tongue. Ditzy walked behind the sales counter, and wrote something on a piece of paper. I mentally read the note. ‘Because I can’t talk, I started writing everything. Then I became the author.’

Author? Of the Wasteland Survival Guide? Which reminded me. “I forgot! That’s why we came here. To get a copy of your book.” She scribbled another note before picking up a thick cover book in her mouth, hoofing it to Candy, who grabbed in her magic to put in her saddlebags, then Ditzy showed us the new note. ‘Anything Else?’

I hadn’t thought to buy anything from Ditzy’s shop, but now that I thought about it, we were low on ammo, food, and medical supplies.

“What do you sell here?” I asked. The pegasus ghoul seemed to giggle at my question, or something relatively close to a giggle. Then wrote something else on her notepad. ‘Why do you think I named this store Absolutely Everything?’

Right. I sure felt silly now. However, I had originally thought that the name, “Absolutely Everything” was just a name. Not that it implied that Ditzy actually sold absolutely everything. “So you sell ammo? What about food? And medical supplies?” I asked as separate questions. She wrote down her answer. ‘Yes, Yes, and Yes.’

We had really hit the jackpot with this friendly ghoul. Not just because she didn’t want to eat us, or sell us off to Celestia knew where, or because she wasn’t lying when she said she sold everything we needed and more, but because she seemed genuinely concerned about us, and that she actually cared that we were okay. She wasn’t just some random pony selling whatever junk she found, trying to earn enough caps to buy food just to survive.

She sold what ponies actually needed. She cared for ponies’ good health. I would almost consider her part of my family because she was so warm and welcoming. The cross-eyed pegasus was also kind enough to insist that we take blueprints for something called a “Sparkle Grenade”. Apparently, filling somepony’s belly wasn’t all that a sparke-cola was good for. A sparkle cola that exploded when thrown. It sounded wonderful.

When we left the store, there was a little colt outside who apparently was about to open the door. “Hi!” the little colt said to us. “Can I see Derpy?!” Who? At first, I thought he meant to say, “Ditzy”, but he might have actually meant to say Derpy.

Suddenly, a mare in a straw sunhat was running up to the colt, trying to pull him away from the store. “Oh, there you are! I’ve been looking all over for you! Please excuse me. This one is hard to keep track of. And for some reason, he keeps insisting on bothering the ghoul in there, even though I tell him to stay with me!” She said the last line to her colt harshly before trotting away. Keeping an eye on the colt to make sure he didn’t wander off again.

When I asked Railright why the little colt had called the pegasus trader, “Derpy” instead of, “Ditzy Doo,” he said that some ponies in New Appleloosa called her that because of her wandering eye. Poor thing. And I was pretty sure some of them even referred to Ditzy as a “Thing” because she didn’t look like a normal pony. I wondered if she got harassed because of it…

Before my brain could go down that route, my eye noticed a vague shadow in the corner of my vision. It looked like a pony, with wings, and a horn! But when I looked at the figure directly, the image disappeared from my vision. I reappeared when I looked away. Weird.

It reminded me of the pseudo-alicorns I had seen in the stable’s Observation Room. Was it really one of those? Or were my eyes just playing tricks on me? Either way, it was hard to believe there was an alicorn other than the goddesses.

“Did any of you see that?” I asked my companions. “See what?” Wonderhoof asked. “Oh, nothing. Just a pseudo-goddess-alicorn by any chance?” They smiled. “Good one DJ.” Cupcake replied.

“It’s no joke.” said a voice. We looked around for somepony who could have said it, but we didn’t see anyone. Just a hooded figure leaning against a building in the shadows...Oh. Well, it seemed we had found the voice.

“What is it?” I asked the stranger. He kept his face hidden under his hood, so I couldn’t tell who it was. I could, however tell it was a he because the voice was deep, and masculine like mine. “It’s what the ponies here and all over the wasteland call an alicorn.”

So it wasn’t my eyes playing tricks on me! I actually HAD seen an alicorn. I tried to look back to where I had seen it, but even in the corner of my eye, there was nothing to see this time. The alicorn was gone. My friends looked at me strangely.

“What can you tell us-” I managed to get out before I realised that the pony was gone! We tried to run into the alley to see where he went, but no luck. He had simply vanished.

“Damn!” Exclaimed Cobalt. “How’d he do that? I wished I had that kind of disappearing act.” Wonderhoof chuckled before reminding Cobalt that he could just turn into something that nopony would suspect, like a trash can. Cobalt remembered, and turned into said trashcan to prove it. “Nevermind.”

I rolled my eyes at his antics. I still wanted to know about these “Alicorns”. And moreso, who that pony was that told us what to look for. But one step at a time.

We started asking around for answers to what they knew about the alicorns. Most ponies didn’t know anything. Some only knew that they had horns and wings. Some ran away when we asked. Strange. We finally found a batch of ponies who didn’t seem in a hurry. “Excuse us, but have you heard of the alicorns?” we asked them.

“Go away! We don’t need preachers of the goddess in our town! Tell her we’re not interested in joining her stupid ‘Unity’ or whatever!” they yelled before trotting away like the rest.

This was just like Cobalt and Wonderhoof had talked about before we went to the slaver town. Except nopony had mentioned the colors of the alicorns or what powers they had.

Then we saw a pony with enough scars to give Crossbones a run for his caps. But he wasn’t a ghoul. He was a flesh and bone normal pony. Just with lots and lots of scars. I walked up to him, with my friends close behind.

He was a light brown earth pony with a blood red mane and tail, which I saw as an odd color combination. His cutie mark was three scratches. Either that, or some creature had scratched the area where his cutie mark used to be. “Excuse me?” I asked.

He was wearing a green camouflage shirt. His left hoof had three scratches on it, similar to his cutie mark, and his left eye also had a scar over it.

“What do you want?” he asked in an annoyed tone. Either we had come at a bad time, or he was just the grumpy type. He also had a knife held in a sheath on his right foreleg. I hoped he wouldn’t decide to shut me up with it.

“Sorry to be an inconvenience, but we were hoping you could take the time to answer some questions for us?” I asked nicely. He responded to my question by pouncing on me like some sort of massive cat, pinning me down. “Who are you?! Why are you here?! Who do you work for?!” he yelled at me. Okay, the jumpy type. Literally. “DJ!” My friends yelled. It was nice to have friends who cared so much.

“Ow! I mean, my name is DJ, I don’t work for anyone, and if you let me get up, I can introduce my friends.” I said, answering two of his questions. He finally moved away, allowing me back up to my hooves, while still being cautious.

I dusted the dirt off my barding and pointed my hoof to each of my friends. “The two unicorns are Candy and Cupcake. The changeling is Cobalt. And the other pegasus is Wonderhoof. He’s a certified doctor.”

The scratched pony narrowed his eyes. “You still didn’t tell me what you’re doing here. Why would five ponies be going around in New Appleloosa asking questions?” If he would have let me finish, then he would know why we were going around asking questions.

“Well, we-” I started before getting cut off by Cobalt. “We were asking questions about the alicorns everyone’s been talking about. What do you know about them? What’s your name anyway?” I facehoofed. “Cobalt, I was going to say-” I started again, and again I was cut off. This time by the scratched pony.

“My name is none of your concern, changeling. I don’t even know why one of your kind is down here in the mainland wasteland anyway.”

Mainland? What could he mean by that? “Why should I tell you my reasons for being down here, if you won’t even divulge your name?!” Hoof, meet face. Also, light meet eyes as Cobalt turned into a duplicate of the scratched pony. “I’m not surprised by your little tricks. Any unicorn with half a brain could find a spell to do just that.”

“Uh oh.” I heard Cupcake say. “Does that mean I don’t have half a brain? Because I don’t know any spells like that.” Face, welcome back to Hoofville. Population, one hoof. “How’s about a challenge?” I heard the pony say, redirecting my attention. “Challenge you say?” Cobalt asked as he reverted back to his own form. “Yes. If you beat me in a one on one match of strength, then I’ll tell you everything I know about the alicorns. And I’ll even tell you my name.”

Cobalt couldn’t seriously accept this pony’s crazy challenge. “Cobalt, maybe we can just find somepony else?” Candy asked. Cobalt stood bravely.

“And run away from a challenge? Never. I accept your challenge. May the best brawler win.” I facehoofed for the third time in five minutes. It was also my record for most facehoofs in one day. “Alright. The terms are set. But let’s not fight here. We don’t want any innocent civilians getting caught up now do we?”

Cobalt replied like a warrior, or perhaps more like a scholar. It was hard to tell. “I see you are a pony of culture as well.” Culture?! Cobalt had just accepted a challenge to fight for answers from a strange pony we barely knew, and he was talking about CULTURE?!

The pony had led us outside the gate of New Appleloosa for the standoff. But still close enough that we could easily run back for help if things got out of control. I was also sick of referring to him as, “The pony,” or, “The scratched pony,” so until we would learn his real name, I was just going to refer to him as, “Scratches”.

He had drawn a circle about 20 feet in diameter. Which was pretty big, considering this was only a friendly sparring match. Scratches had made the rules very clear. The first pony to set a hoof outside the circle he drew would lose. He also said that if somepony was unable to continue the fight, then they would lose.

Scratches stood at one side of the circle, and Cobalt stood at the other. “Alright, you know the rules. First one to knock out, or push the other out of the ring wins.”

Before they started, Cupcake asked the stranger, “Um, you won’t kill him will you?” He smiled. “Don’t worry. At worst, I’ll just hurt him. A lot. But nothing close to death.”

That didn’t really reassure me. We didn’t know this pony, or what he was capable of. We only knew that he had a sharp, serrated knife at the ready.

“Three! Two! One! Fight!” Wonderhoof yelled, starting the match before trotting back to join up with the rest of us.

Scratches didn’t waste any time. He ran at Cobalt, who jumped out of the way at the last second. His opponent was fast! But something told me he also had experience. No matter what move Cobalt made, Scratches stayed on his transparent tail. Cobalt weaved left and right, trying to avoid being cut by the blade of the knife. But he wasn’t looking where he was going, and almost stepped clear out of the ring!

As Celestia and Luna would have it, luck was on his side, as he jumped back closer to the center of the ring after being only inches from the edge of the circle. This wasn’t going to be easy.

Finally, Cobalt stopped dodging, and turned into a pony with claws on the ends of his legs that ended with paws rather than hooves. He looked like the mixture of a pony and a wolf. This new form was entirely grey with white fur on the underside of his belly, and on the ends of his paws.

Cobalt started swiping his paws at Scratches, but he easily dodged Cobalt’s strikes, even trying to close the gap and strike Cobalt himself! The knife cut through the fur covered hide of Cobalt’s form, drawing blood, making Cobalt yell out in pain. The crimson color started staining the fur on Cobalt’s form.

Cobalt jumped back, holding a paw to the gash that was now bleeding profusely. Breathing heavily, he reverted back to his normal form. And to my surprise, the gash healed! “Ah, I see.” said the pony who had put away the knife to speak clearly. “When you change your form, you heal whatever physical injuries you have.” he said in understanding. “But how long can you keep it up? I imagine it saps your energy to change forms, much less sustain them. How long will it take for you to run out of juice, I wonder?” he said before pulling the knife out again, still stained with red.

Cobalt changed back to the furry form of a wolf/pony combination. Trying to avoid the knife, but also trying to land a hit as well. So far, no such luck. Scratches landed another slash, this time grazing his back. Not as bad as last time, but still making Cobalt flinch in pain, and making his coat stain red with his own blood.

This wasn’t looking good. Scratches had already landed two blows to Cobalt, and the changeling had yet to draw blood from the pony.

Why didn’t Cobalt just change into something bigger, or something that would give him the edge in this fight. I had an idea. “Cobalt! You should-” “Don’t help me DJ. It wouldn’t be fair.” Cobalt cut me off again. Fair?! This fight was already one sided! “Cobalt! Don’t be stupid! He’s-” Cobalt cut me off again. I hated that. “Listen DJ. This isn’t about being smart or stupid. This is a matter of honor and pride.” was all he said.

“Honor?! Pride?!” I asked my other friends who would actually listen. “How could he talk about something like that at a time like this?!”

Wonderhoof answered me as we watched the fight. “DJ, Cobalt doesn’t want help, because he feels that if you helped him, then if he won, wouldn’t feel like he deserved it.” I couldn’t believe him! “DJ. Try to understand. If you wanted to beat somepony one on one, and someone else told you how to win, then would it really have been a fair fight?” he asked me.

But. I. He. Huh? Well, it wouldn’t feel like a real victory, but when you’re fighting for your life, why would someone care about something as ridiculous as PRIDE?

As Scratches chased Cobalt around inside the circle, I tried to understand. I really did, but I just couldn’t see the reason. What good is honor if you kill your opponent? What good is pride if there’s nopony else? “DJ!” Scratches yelled at me. I looked up to see he was finally wounded! Cobalt had managed to scratch one of his sides. It wasn’t as bad as Cobalt’s own wounds, but it proved that Scratches couldn’t dodge forever either. “See this scratch?! This is proof of a warrior’s pride! Of a soldier’s courage! These aren’t just battle scars. They are marks of pride and honor! Don’t you see?! Cobalt managed to get a hit on me without anyone else’s help! Don’t you have faith in your friend?!”

The last question cut through me worse than any knife. Of course I had faith in Cobalt. I had as much faith in him as any of my other friends. I.....just cared about him, that was all. If he died in battle because I didn’t help him, because I stood aside and let him die in the name of honor or pride, when I could have done something about it. Done something to prevent it from happening, then I could never forgive myself.

“Alright. That’s it. You win.”

What? Why was he saying that? All Cobalt did was graze his side. In fact, I was willing to bet Scratches could still have won. Why was he forfeiting? As he stepped out of the circle, I realised something. Cobalt had proven his strength against someone stronger than him.

“Cobalt, the real reason I challenged you was to see if you were a true warrior. If you had the same pride and honor that any good soldier had. And because you refused the help of your friends, and still managed to land a strike, I hereby accept you as someone who deserves the truth.”

Cobalt pretty much radiated with pride. His smile was that of someone who had proven themself. “And by the way. My name, is Tigerslash.”

Scratches.….No…...Tigerslash had led us back to his house in New Appleloosa. Wonderhoof insisted on tending to the cut on his side, but our new honor-bound friend had declined medical treatment. What with the new scar that was forming being a “New mark of pride and friendship” as Tigerslash had called it.

“So, explaining what I know about Alicorns was it?” he asked us. We nodded. We could use whatever information he had. “Well, to start off, the alicorns are all connected to somepony called, ‘The Goddess’. And they’re all connected to each other through the telepathic communication connection they call, ‘Unity’.”

So alicorns were connected to The Goddess through Unity. Got it.

“The Goddess is stationed in Maripony, to the northeast. But be careful. That place is swarming with alicorns. The Goddess is sort of like the Queen Bee in the Hive of Unity. It is through the Goddess that every alicorn can hear, see, smell, and feel what every other alicorn can. That means that if you somehow manage to kill one, the others learn from it, and you can’t kill one using the same method again. It’s like the old saying goes. ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.’ You can’t kill two alicorns using the same strategy twice.”

“What about the different colors? What do those mean?” I asked Tigerslash as he gave us some sparkle cola and sunrise sarsaparilla to drink.

“The color of the alicorn tells you what special ability it has. The blue ones can turn invisible, the purple ones can teleport, and the green ones, huh. I can’t seem to remember what the green ones can do. Sorry.”

I shook my head. “Don’t apologise. You’ve been such a great help. You said that the alicorns and their Goddess are in Maripony, correct?”

He nodded. “But I would advise against going there. I’ve heard that some ponies that go there never come back.”

Okay, THAT was a thought I didn’t need in my head. But if it was just a rumor, then there was a chance that it wasn’t true right?

“But how do you know so much about alicorns? Did you fight them?” I asked in an excited tone. I would love to know how to dispatch one if one started attacking. But then I remembered that it wouldn’t matter because the alicorns learn each time one of them is killed.

“Oh, that was a long time ago. But it wasn’t me who fought them. I once knew the legendary alicorn hunter, Steelhooves!”

Steelhooves? Alicorn hunter? He sounded strong. Very strong. But whatever happened to make them part ways was his business. We thanked him for everything and were about to leave when I remembered something. When we first asked him, Tigerslash had been very paranoid about something. “Tigerslash?” I asked before turning around. “Why were you so nervous the first time we asked you?”

I hoped it wasn’t too much of a sensitive subject. “Oh, it’s just that I pissed off some slavers a while back, and they’ve been after me ever since. Thought you were maybe one of them.”

It sure was a relief! Slavers wouldn’t look in such a place. But if they would, then they would probably be shot on sight by the guards on the walls. It made me so much more depressed that we would be leaving the comfort and protection that was, New Appleloosa.

“I really miss the protection of New Appleloosa!” I thought out loud as I ran away from the spray of bullets that was flying at me. Since we had left the sanctity of New Appleloosa, several raiders had thought to use us for target practice.

The raiders had seen us before we had seen them, which allowed them to land a few bullets in my hide as well as my friends. As I chugged a healing potion, I thought if this was really necessary as I watched the holes in my side heal slowly.

Beside me, Candy shot back at the raiders with her 10mm pistol. I wondered if she knew about S.A.T.S. If she did, then she wasn’t using it on purpose. If she didn’t, then that was at our disadvantage. One more raider fell, full of holes. These raiders were taking more shots to kill than any of the others we had encountered yet. “Why is this taking so long?!” I yelled. “We should be halfway to Maripony by now! But these raiders just won’t quit!”

Wonderhoof yelled back. He and Cupcake didn’t have any weapons, so they were behind us, out of the battle. “I think they might be high on drugs! Depending on which ones they’re using, it might explain why they’re so much stronger than the others!”

I had no idea what he was talking about. He rolled his eyes at my confusion “They’re giving themselves advantages!” he simplified, making it clear to me.

“Ah! Now I get it!” I yelled back. Even if these raiders were using some sort of drugs to enhance their abilities, they still were no match for the combined firepower of Candy, Cobalt, and I.

It may have taken longer than preferred, but the raiders were falling. Slowly, but they were. One after another. They might have been high, but to me, that more than guaranteed our victory.

The last raider was heavily guarded by sheets of metal. We couldn’t lay a shot on him. I had an idea that would bring him out of hiding if it worked, but could prove fatal to myself if it didn’t.

I turned back to my friends who were hiding behind separate piles of rocks, still trying to hit the hidden raider, preventing him from getting any closer. “Candy, I’m going to try and draw his fire away from you. That way, you and Cobalt can hit him when he comes out of hiding.”

Candy looked at me with her mouth open. “Are you crazy?! You could get yourself killed!” I had expected as much from her. Cobalt shot me a look that was probably saying this was a bad idea.

“Candy, if I don’t draw away his fire, we’re going to run out of ammo. Then what’s stopping him from killing us?” She was stunned. I had her up against a wall and she knew it.

“But…DJ…you…what?!” She stuttered. “I’m sorry. But don’t worry. I don’t plan on getting killed anytime soon.” I answered. Before she could protest further, I ran in front of the rubble we were using for cover, and made sure the raider saw me. “HEY!” I yelled. “I’M OVER HERE!” I called to the raider. I now had his full attention. He even stopped shooting at my friends to look over at me. I could see his grin widening as he thought I was dead.

I started running. Not towards him, that would be suicide. But away from the cover he was using. I looked behind me and sure enough, the raider was giving chase. It was a mistake. My friends ambushed him with Candy’s 10mm and Cobalt’s assault rifle.

Cobalt had swapped out his form of a wolf-pony hybrid that he had fought Tigerslash with, for a more suitable weapon for fighting raiders. Even though he could just heal his wounds by changing his form again.

I caught up with my friends who were now taking the time to loot the bodies of the raiders we had just killed. Candy greeted me with a hug. So strong it was almost strangling. “AH, Candy! I’m glad to see you alive and well too! But it wouldn’t have made any difference if you constrict me here and now!”

Candy finally released me from her choking grasp. “Sorry! I’m just so glad your plan worked so well! And you made it out without a scratch!” Well, if a scratch was a few new bullet holes in my hide.

“Let me see if can do something about those wounds.” Wonderhoof said as he walked towards me and Candy. I scoffed at the thought that a doctor in the wasteland didn’t know how to cure ponies of bullet holes.

“We need to stop getting shot up so much.” I commented after drinking one of the purple liquid miracles. “We’re almost out of healing potions.” I added as I watched the holes in my hide slowly close.
And I wasn’t wrong. We had used up almost our entire supply of healing potions since leaving New Appleloosa, and were running dangerously low.

“Don’t worry.” Replied Wonderhoof. “I always carry an emergency supply in my saddlebags.” But the ones we’re using are from your saddlebags. I mentally added, but didn’t say out loud.

“But we should restock as soon as possible anyway.” He added, apparently seeing my concern. That reassured me enough to not insist we turn back to New Appleloosa immediately. But it still worried me how short our supply had grown so quickly.

“We are also a bit short on ammunition for the guns we’re using.” added Cobalt as he walked up to us. “Didn’t you find any ammo boxes? Every raider camp we’ve come across so far had at least two of them.”

Cobalt nodded. “There are three ammo boxes here, but they were locked, so I came to you to see if you could work your magic on them.”

Magic. Right. I shook my head and smiled as I followed Cobalt to where the raiders had stored their ammo. Just as he said, there were three small green boxes that were indeed locked. I pulled out my screwdriver and bobby pins.

The first box gave pretty easily. The second one gave a little resistance, but still opened without much trouble. “This is too easy.” I said with a smirk. I was proved wrong when the third box proved to be tougher than both of the other ones combined. I moved the pin steadily, trying not to break it. Snap.

I pulled out another bobby pin. “I stand corrected.” I said to the box, as if it was a pony who was beating me in a hoofwrestle. I gently moved the pin into position, and thought I had found the perfect spot to move the screwdriver. Snap.

I was starting to get annoyed with this ammo box. I tried once more, moving the pin a little more than the last time. Snap.

Okay, I had just declared this ammo box to be my nemesis. I couldn’t keep this up. I was wasting all my bobby pins on what was probably just some 10mm ammo or shotgun shells. I decided that if this next bobby pin broke, then I would quit and let this box keep it’s secrets.

Thankfully, Lady Luck was smiling on me just as I thought the pin was going to break. I heard a click, and the box opened. I finally released a breath I didn’t realise I was holding. Opening locked boxes is hard.

Inside the boxes, we had found plenty of shotgun shells, a suitable amount of assault rifle clips, and enough 10mm rounds to last a good long time.

We were just about to leave when I noticed something under a piece of cloth. It was a sphere, and it looked like it was made out of either glass or some sort of crystal. “What is it?” I wondered out loud as I showed it to everyone. Wonderhoof jumped to see it. “I know what this is!” He exclaimed.

“Oh really? Well, don’t leave us in the dark.” I said inquisitively. He answered while inspecting the item in question. “This is a memory orb. They were used before the war to magically record events that happened. They are extremely rare. I’m surprised that these raiders had one.”

I was about to remind him that raiders didn’t care what they took, and probably didn’t even know what it was that they had in their possession, but I kept silent. They probably took it off some poor pony minding his own business. Then one thought went to another, and I was suddenly wondering if the pony had either been enslaved or killed. Another one for the closet of locked away thoughts.

“How do they work?” I asked, trying to redirect my derailed train of thought. He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve heard that only certain ponies can use them, if they know how they work at all.”

Great. I put it in my saddlebags for later use. If it was a recording of what happened before the wasteland, then it could be of use to us later on.

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk: Special Speech- During interaction with someone else, you now have the chance for unique dialogue options.