Fallout: Equestria - Red Glare

Chapters

Prologue: Coming Storm
Chapter 1: Deceptions
Chapter 2: Silver Linings
Chapter 3: Revelations and Revolutions

Prologue: Coming Storm

“Alright, I think I’m about ready to go,” I said to myself, looking over my bag. “Just one final check… Uh, apples, water, an extra set of clothing, a book of arcane sciences…. Yep, bout everything a young unicorn needs.”

“You’re forgetting something,” A stallions voice from behind said, I turned to face him, smiling back at me was my father.

“Oh, right,” I said, moving to the bed before pulling a case from below. Lifting it and attaching it to the side of my saddle before I smiled back at him. “One Rifle, cleaning kit, and several boxes of ammunition.”

“That’s my girl.” He said with a chuckle. “You sure you want to do this? You know me and your friends aren’t going to think any less of you if you stay.”

“Dad, the stable has been my home, but I don’t want to die here. There’s a whole world out there, a world that needs us.” I said with a smile. “Remember? To serve with duty, distinction, and honor?”

“Yeah, I remember those old prewar recruitment tapes too, doesn’t mean they’re right or that you need to listen to them.” He said with a sigh and a frown. “You know your mother wouldn’t approve if she was still around.”

“Maybe so, but I think once she heard me out she would be supportive like you dad,” I said with a chuckle, moving to my desk in the corner of the room, levitating up a photo. Pictured was myself, my mom and dad, I took a moment to just look at it, feeling the tears well up in my eyes. “Some of my friends say I’m only doing this to escape the fact she’s gone.”

“Are you?”

“I… I don’t know Dad, I really don’t,” I said with a sigh. “I keep getting this nagging voice in the back of my head saying ‘come now Solstice, you’re ready for the world and the world needs you’ - am I really supposed to ignore it?”

“I suppose not, I just wish you would reconsider, you could live such a happy life down here, there’s plenty of stallions your age that you could be involved with.” He said, reaching out to me and gently placing his hoof to my chest. “I just want you to do what makes you happy, and I wish being here was it, that’s all”

“Dad you know that I’m not interested in that,” I said with a laugh. “And I’ll come back, I promise, I’m not running away from home forever, and I doubt anything up there can kill me.”

“And what if something happens to your gear? There are very few ponies out there with the kind of skill and knowledge to fix such advanced tech.” He said with a frown.

“It’s military tested and approved dad, I doubt some wasteland monstrosity can do much to it,” I said, pointing to the metal plates that ran down my spine. “Not to mention with the radio, I can always call home and get somepony to come out and fix it up, right?”

“You know that thing is limited range right? If we can’t hear you we can’t help you, sweetheart.” He said with a sigh. “You never really grasped how tech worked, you’ve always been much more adept at magic and spells, maybe this is a bad idea after all.”

“Too late to stop it now Dad, the papers are signed, the class is going to be meeting in a few hours and then the stable doors are going to open and let a fresh batch of soldiers into the wasteland, I bet it’s like a lot of parents and family felt when Equestria first deployed in the war,” I said with a chuckle, trying to hide my own nervousness.

“Solstice, sweetheart - Leaving the stable is not mandatory, you can decide at any time, even five feet outside the door that you want to come back, I expect a lot of your class back within a day, the world out there - it’s different than the one in your books, it’s been changed and is a lot more brutal and unforgiving.” He said with a sigh. “But you’re right, I can’t stop you - I might be your father but it isn’t my place to stand in the way.”

“Not to mention, I’m not a little filly anymore, I’m a grown mare, I want to go out there, make a name for myself, solve mysteries, save ponies, do what I was trained to do down here,” I said, giving a sigh and a shake of my head. “It’s never easy letting go, or making a change - but I promise I’ll be back one day, you’ve got nothing to worry about, alright?”

“You keep saying that, but you don’t know.” He said, frowning all the more at me. “Your mother said she could beat her illness, that she’d get through it you see, and see where we are now? Sorry, I don’t trust the fates so much to keep a pony to their word.”

“Dad…” I said, giving a sigh and a shake of my head. “You can’t be afraid to take chances because of what happened to Mom, she’s gone now, but we’re here to keep her memory alive, and if we all just stay in the stable, then the world will never know on the wonderful mare they missed out on.”

For a moment, my Dad’s frown faded to a slight smile, as he took a deep breath and looked to me with tears in his eyes. “Solstice, You know that you and I don’t see eye to eye on the whole, celebrate life mourn death thing - but, I know you mean well.”

“Was worth a shot” I said with a bit of a smile and laugh, “How about this, I’ll make sure to check in once a month and send home souvenirs and trinkets I find so you always know what I am doing or where I’m at.”

“Speaking of trinkets…” He smiled, his horn glowing as he pulled a rectangular box from under a pillow nearby. “Your mother wanted you to have this if something ever happened to her.”

Taking the box from him and levitating it over, looking at it for a few moments, wondering just what it could be inside. Popping the lid and the first thing I could notice was a brilliant shade of green, the more I opened it the more it came into view - a ankh, a symbol of our home, made of glowpaz it would seem.

“Dad… This is…” I said, stumbling over my words.

“It was your mothers, she found it deep in the stable one day and kept it in her drawer as a reminder to keep hope.” He said, moving to sit beside me, gently lifting it I could see a black choker attached to it, gently bringing it to my neck and clasping, I just looked down and held it in my hoof.

“It’s beautiful…” was the only words I could think of in the moment, looking at it a few more moments before I turned and gave him a big hug. “Thank you, so much.”

Putting his hoof to the case that held the rifle. “Now you have a piece of both of us everywhere you go, my old rifle, and your mother’s ankh.” He said before he’d just hug me tight. “You’re going to make me so proud, I just know it.”

“I’ll try my best,” I said, wiping a tear from my eye before finally releasing that hug. “I have to go and see a few friends, will you be at the ceremony?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world sweetheart.” He said with a smile.

With that, I’d get to my hooves and move to the door, looking back at him and my room for a few moments before stepping outside into the hallway, taking a moment to compose myself against the wall outside.

“Solstice, are you sure you want to go through with this?” I asked myself under my breath, taking a deep breath and nodding to myself “I wouldn’t be me if I backed down, not now not ever, I have to do this, I have to see the world.”

00000

Making my way to the mess hall where I had asked a few friends of mine to meet me, when I got there the lights were off, at first I was confused - stepping through the door before the lights would flip on and my friends and their families would come bounding out from hiding spots with a resounding ‘surprise!’

“Oh come on guys, you know this isn’t my thing,” I said with a laugh.

“Yeah, but this might be the last chance we get to throw something like this for you.” My friend Swift said as he walked over to me. “Gunna miss filling in those holes in the wall.”

“Oh come on, that only happened like once,” I said with a laugh, moving over to a nearby table, sitting down and just looking at the decorations they had put up. “I can’t believe you guys threw me a going away party.”

“What were we supposed to do? You’re our best friend in the world, and one of the few ponies brave enough to step a hoof out that door” Swift said with a chuckle, turning to another approaching pony carrying a slice of cake and a glass.

“You’re going to have a lot of ponies cheering for you down here.” She said, placing the cake and glass on the table in front of me. “Gunna miss seeing your bright and cheery face in the mornings, the cafeteria isn’t going to be the same without you.”

“Oh come on Jubilee,” I said, waving a hoof. “You say that every time a pony leaves.”

“Difference is this time this old mare means it,” Jubilee said with a chuckle. “Keep in mind, I changed your diapers when you were knee-high to a grasshopper.”

“You used to work in the daycare, I think you changed all of our diapers at least once,” Swift said before he turned his attention to me. “Sure you want to do this? I mean, none of us are going to think less of you if you don’t leave.”

“You know I have to Swift,” I said with a sigh.

“Solstice, leaving isn’t going to bring your mom back, nor is it going to let you escape her passing.” another voice said, turning round I could see a familiar face walking to me, the stable’s head.

“Director, since when do you attend parties?” I said with a chuckle.

“When the one leaving is my niece of course,” he said with a smile, “I was thinking I could have you do a speech in front of the auditorium during the ceremony - It’s a toss-up between you or your Class President.”

“Let her do it, she’s always been a better public speaker than me,” I said with a sigh, looking back to the cake sitting before me. “Why does everyone make it feel so final? Do they really think I’m not going to come back?”

“The world out there is a dangerous but wonderous place, my child.” The director said, placing a hoof on my back. “Some of us are afraid you’re going to find that you like it out there too much to ever come back, others are scared because there are so many unknowns out there and any number of them can catch even the most well-trained pony off guard”

“I mean, I get that, I do, but do they not have any faith in me?” I asked, looking back to him.

“It’s not faith in you that they lack, it’s faith in the world. There is no obligation the world has to follow to be kind to ponies” He said with a frown. “I can’t tell you how many times I have had to tell ponies the same thing, only to have to tell their families weeks later that they are no longer with us.”

“Well, I promise you’re never going to get that paper on your desk, sir,” I said with a smile, looking up to him. “I didn’t work my flank off for nothing, and I know I’m going to do my best.”

“Yeah…” Swift said before he’d sigh and turn, starting to walk away, I could hear him muttering something under his breath, sounded like ‘too busy working your flank off to notice somepony’.

I was taken back by that, I wondered if I had heard him correctly, giving my head a shake and deciding to pursue that one later, I turned back to Jubilee and the Director. “Thank you two for everything you two have done, for me and my family.”

“Our family.” They both said together.

“Everyone in the stable is family, even if we aren’t related, we’ve got your back,” Jubilee said with a chuckle.

“Absolutely, you’re always amongst friends here.” the Director added before he leaned down and whispered “though some more friendly than others,” he said, looking across the room, following his eyes I saw Swift sitting away from everypony else, staring down at his own plate of food.

“What do you do when you think somepony has a crush on you but you don’t share it?” I asked with a sigh. “I don’t want to break his heart, but I don’t want to commit myself to something I’m not ready for.”

“That’s a question I think we all asked ourselves at one point in time or another,” Jubilee said with a sigh. “Best thing you can do is go talk to him.”

I nodded and walked over to him, sitting beside him and leaning down so I could see his face. “Hey featherbrain,” I said with a playful tone.

“What do you want,” He said, before turning away from me.

I sighed, “I just wanted to talk to you, about some things that I think we should talk about, just the two of us.”

That got his attention, making him perk up and look at me, “Oh?” he simply said, smiling a little.

“I mean, yeah, I heard what you said before, and I just… I didn’t know how to say it to you.” I said with a sigh, Looking at him as he seemed to brighten up a bit more. I felt terrible, it looked like he was getting his hopes up and I was about to crush him, I couldn’t do that, not when in just a couple hours I’d be outside the stable, maybe…

“Solstice…” he said before he paused and just smiled a little more.

“It’s tough, Okay? A lot of stuff has been happening, and things get crazy so often as of late, I haven’t had a lot of time to spend with you.” I said, before laying a hoof to his shoulder. “You mean the world to me, you know that right? Of everypony down here I think I’m going to miss you most.”

“That’s why I’m leaving,” he said, pulling a paper up signed and stamped. “I’m coming with you, we can stay together.”

“Swift no” I immediately said, looking at that paper “stay here, you’ll be safe here, you’re not trained like me, you can hold down the fort and keep a plate for me till I get back, alright?”

I felt even more terrible, he would risk his life to stay with me, to be there with me through everything, I could see it in his eyes, its the same look I saw when my dad looked at my mom. How can I get out of this? What can I even begin to say to not have this all blow up horribly…

“It’s okay Solstice,” he said with a sigh before he put the paper down. “I understand.”

“No! I didn’t mean it like that!” I said before I covered my mouth and sighed again. “I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you because of me Swift.”

“I know you don’t have feelings for me like I feel for you.” he said with another sigh “I keep thinking, maybe if I prove myself, do something, I can make you love me, but…”

“You know I’m not interested in that right now Swift,” I said, before I leaned a little against him. “But I never said no you know, maybe in the future things will be different.”

“I… What, you mean it?” He said perking up a bit more before he’d chuckle. “Not exactly what I expected, or wanted, but I guess I’ll take it.”

With that, I breathed a sigh of relief and turned round to look at the ponies gathered around, talking, sharing stories, just having a good time. A good memory to keep of home is all I could think to myself.

Slipping from the stool I looked to Swift, “I’ll see you at the ceremony, I promise.” I said with a smile, “and I expect to see that paper torn up in the trash when I get there, You’re not leaving this stable, that’s an order.”

“Yes ma’am!” he said in his usual teasing way before he went back to his food, rather than sulking actually eating it this time around.

While he and everypony else were distracted, I slipped from the room and started down the hallway, I was never that great in social gatherings and I easily felt overwhelmed with so many ponies around.

Listening to my hoofsteps as I walked down the metal catwalks of the stable, passing the infirmary, daycare, the school, making my way towards the auditorium of the stable, stopping to look at a logo painted on the wall.

It was of a yellow hoof print over a globe with a horn and wings behind it, over top of it read ‘ATLAS’, below ‘Fighting for Equestria’s rights and securing a better tomorrow!’

This stable, it wasn’t made by Stable-tec, but by a company that was one of their competitors, ATLAS they called themselves. They were partnered with the Equestrian Military until some unknown event that made Equestria swing in favor of Stable-tec, leaving ATLAS underfunded and overstaffed. Their response was to start making stables in areas where Stable-Tec wouldn’t cover, and making them big enough that every pony in the town it served could fit. We all had come from Somnambula, This stable with its entrance built under the statue of its namesake at the heart of our town.

We all survived because of them, I feel like I owe them thanks, not only for their service to the country but for saving a bunch of pony’s flanks when the world died.

I sat there for a while, staring at that logo on the wall, thinking about what it meant, to be a soldier of a dead nation, to fight for something that doesn’t exist anymore, Looking down I saw the ankh still hanging from my neck, I smiled, I might be a soldier of a dead nation, fighting for something that doesn’t exist anymore, but that doesn’t mean I have to give up hope that it can be brought back.

00000

I spent the next few hours alone, gathering my thoughts and triple and quadruple checking everything, I had to make sure everything was ready. Once I was confident, I went to the door, turning round to look at the room where I had grown up, every fond memory I have had in this room coming back, I smiled, and for the last time flipped off the lights. Walking through the halls I could hear music playing from the Auditorium, reaching the door I took a deep breath before it opened and I joined my stablemates.

Standing at the podium in front of the Stable’s door, the Director was addressing everypony.

“Today is a wonderous day for our stable, for the first time in over a year we will be opening our doors and allowing a group of our intrepid soldiers out, to find their own path, to forge their own trails, To make a name for themselves and do not only this stable but their country proud.”

After a few moments of silence, the crowd cheered and stamped their hooves in approval, he just smiled and looked over every pony gathered together.

“Now please, make way for Private First class Dusty, Element lead and class president as she addresses her classmates on this, the dawn of the greatest day of their lives.”

Everypony stood silent as a young Pegasus mare took the stage, walking to the podium she propped herself up and leaned to the microphone and simply said, after clearing her throat. “Thank you, director.”

Shuffling through a few papers before she began “When the bombs fell over 200 years ago, our ancestors learned a harsh lesson,” she spoke as she looked out at the gathered ponies. “That war, war never changes but at the same time it can change the way you look at the world. The world above is perhaps the greatest proof of that. They lost their world because of a war, because of mistakes made by both sides that ultimately cost them everything. But we are here because ponies were willing to learn from those mistakes. Because sometimes when war changes a pony, it doesn’t have to be for the worse. ATLAS built this Stable in order to protect as many ponies as they could and we are alive today because of that. Now, we have a chance to go out and make something of the world above once more. We do not have to let our ancestors’ mistakes color the choices we make out there. We are about to embark on the greatest journey of our lives. We don’t know how far this will take us, but we know one thing. We will always hold this place in our hearts and our minds because it will remind us of what we are doing this for. As we embark on this great journey, we must never forget that. Thank you all for coming, and I look forward to taking those first steps out there with you.”

The crowd eagerly erupted into cheers, my classmates and I hugged and smiled as we looked up to Dusty on stage. We were all ready for this.

“On behalf of the power invested in me as Director of this great Stable, I am proud to say…” He said as he took the podium, pausing as he leaned into the microphone. “Stable Attendants, Would you please Open the door.”

After a few seconds, the lights in the Auditorium flickered and shut off, strobing lights along the wall and next to the door started to flash as the sound of unseen machinery whirred to life. With the sound of grinding metal, hisses, and bangs the door finally swung open, revealing sandy colored stairs leading upwards to doors, it was dark outside, no light shining through.

We all grouped together and started to walk up the ramp, the closer we got the more ponies started to back out. Either stopping or even dropping their items and rushing back into the stable, after a short while I heard a familiar voice, Dusty’s, as she was panicking and trying to push back past everypony coming up the ramp.

I chuckled to myself at that, she was the youngest of us all, as I reached the top of the ramp I looked out, standing front row as my father, waving with tears streaming down his cheeks, beside him, Swift, holding up a ‘Good luck!’ sign and waving, but his eyes were locked on me. I could feel a little bit of a blush before I turned and stepped outside the door, as the final ponies stepped out the door swung shut behind us, with a bang and the sounds of the locks reengaging we were outside.

We walked up the stairs and pushed open, looking up under a statue of a blindfolded pegasus mare, many buildings were buried in the blown sand but the statue stayed clear, what looked to be the peak of a pyramid showed through. Many members of the class started to scatter, going this way and that, and before long, I was stood there alone.

As I took my first steps, the feeling of the sand under my hoof took me a moment to get used to. Looking around I could see a glow off in one direction and a few members of my group heading that way, deciding it’d be best to follow them and stick together at least a little I started my way after them.

“Hey, guys wait up!” I called out once I was confident I was in earshot, they stopped and looked back before they laughed and shook their heads and kept walking. I found that odd, almost like they knew something I didn’t, curiosity set in and I followed them still, but keeping my distance.

I had to see what they were up to.

Level Up!

First steps

You’ve taken your first steps in a world alien to you, you are unsure of what you might find

or what there might be out there waiting for you, but

you are confident that you are prepared for it all.

Firearms +5/ Perception +1

Chapter 1: Deceptions

“The ultimate measure of a man
Is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,
But where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.”
-Martin Luther King Jr.

I lost track how much time had passed, we were slowly but surely getting closer and closer to that settlement in the distance, close enough now to see scraped together structures and the smoke from campfires wafting into the skies.

Cresting the next sand dune I saw that they had stopped in the valley below, crouching down and watching them, they were talking amongst themselves, I could see that, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I could, however - hear the sounds of music and singing dancing across the dunes from that nearby settlement.

“Oh for the love of Celest-” I started to say before the sand beneath my hooves gave way, tumbling down the dune only to end up right behind the boys, they spun around and stared at me in surprise.

“Solstice! Why are you still following us?!” One of them asked in their panic, Joule I believe his name was, big Chemistry nerd, was always nose deep in his books rather than paying attention to the drills.

“Joule, why didn’t you stop for me when I called out?” I said, staring back at him before another one of the boys sighed and looked down at his hooves like they had been caught.

“Look, you weren’t supposed to find out,” Joule said before the third Colt spoke up.

“Yeah, we were supposed to just go our separate ways and that’d be that.” The third colt added.

“Pudge, please just let me do the talking,” Joule said, looking over to Pudge. “Look, in the stable, we had done some things that are less than desirable by stable standards, and we were hoping to just get away from the stable and start up again out here.”

“Yeah! More clients to buy our che-” Pudge started to say before Joule nudged him to silence him before he said anything more.

“Chems, you’ve been making Chems,” I said with a frown and a sigh. “Look, how you decide to lead your lives is fine, I’m not going to judge you for your bad decisions.”

“That’s technically a judgment,” The second colt said with a chuckle, I looked to him and he just quickly looked away.

“Whatever, judgment or not - it is a stupid decision that will come back to bite you in the flank eventually,” I said with a roll of my eyes “I just hope you’re ready for it when it comes, especially out here, there are a lot less friendly ponies that might be a lot more… unforgiving, about how they’ll handle you.”

“We’re not little colts anymore, you might be older than us but not by much” Joule started

“Yeah, we can handle ourselves! And if anypony tries and get in our way or cause trouble, we’ll deal with them!” Pudge added.

“Guys, maybe she’s right,” The second colt said, finally stepping out to where I could see him more clearly. Another one from my flight, I don’t know his real name but I know those in the flight would call him Bolt.

“Whatcha mean? We’ve been doing this for months and no pony has caught us yet” Pudge said with a bit of a pout as he looked at Bolt.

“In the stable, the worst that could have happened would be that we’d get locked up for a couple of weeks at most, or given some of the undesirable jobs of the stable till we learned our lesson, out here, ponies will kill us if we mess with them.” Bolt said with a sigh. “Maybe coming out here wasn’t the best of ideas”

“Bit late for that,” I said with a sigh. “So, you guys trying to make it to that settlement?”

“Smooth change of subject,” Joule said with a sneer. “Yeah, we’re heading over to that settlement, going to join up with the next trade caravan that comes through and then just go wherever it takes us.”

“There are so many flaws in that plan,” I said with a shake of my head and a roll of my eyes.

“So what if there is? We’ll handle the flaws when we get there and have a safe place to stay.” Joule said, to which Pudge and Bolt nodded. I simply shrugged, and as they started to climb the next dune I followed close behind.

00000

Finally cresting that final dune and that settlement coming into view, at first we were excited until we saw what appeared to be pony’s bodies hung up from poles around the fencing. We paused and looked at each other before we started back down the dune.

“So, anypony want to try and explain what we just saw?” I said, looking to Joule who looked visibly shaken from what he had seen.

“Maybe it’s how they deal with bad guys? Y’know, kill them and then put them on display to discourage others?” Pudge said with a nervous chuckle.

“Doubtful,” Bolt said, shaking his head with a sigh. “Chances are we just stumbled upon the worst thing we could ever stumble on, just be happy we weren’t seen.”

“Are you sure we weren’t seen?” I said, looking from Bolt back to Joule, “Joule? Anything?”

“I’m thinking okay!?” He snapped back, “I can’t just come up with plans off the cuff like this!”

“It was your plan to make chems to get extra bits in the stable, It was also your plan to leave the stable when they started to crack down on us, and now your latest plan to head for the first sign of civilization has led us into what is most likely a certain deathtrap, and you want to say you can’t come up with a plan for this,” Bolt said, glaring at Joule, “With how well all your plans until now have worked out, I’m more likely to say you can’t come up with a plan period!”

“Guys, watch the volume…” I said, holding my head in my hooves for a moment.

“I’m just the cook! I only make the damn things, it’s not like I could have predicted the first place we go to would be full of murderous ponies!” Joule yelled back, “But at least I am trying to do something, and not just sitting around pointing hooves at anyone but myself!”

“Seriously, they’re going to hear us…” I said, looking up the dune to see if anypony was there already.

“Just the cook?! JUST THE COOK!? Oh please! You found a recipe in a book and you thought you could throw it together to give you an edge! You’re addicted to your own fucking product!” Bolt snapped back

“Woah, aren’t we supposed to be in this together?” Pudge said, chuckling a bit. “So what, we made a few mistakes, big deal, we’ve always pulled something out of our butts to fix things.”

“Oh, is that so little pony.” a voice from over the dune said, still out of view.

“Great, they know we’re here, anypony else want to yell and just broadcast our position,” I said with a facehoof.

No one, not even the voice on the other side of the dune said anything, but after a few moments a figure crested the dune and made their way down to us, to my surprise, it was not a pony, but a Griffon.

“Can you just, forget you saw, and or heard us, and let us go and we’ll just casually forget everything we’ve seen,” I said to that griffon, hoping to appeal to him.

“Why would I do that? I love ponies! Especially with some carrots and potatoes!” The griffon said with a snicker.

I gulped and looked back to the other three who had cowered together. Noticing one of their bags had fallen off and open, spilling what looked to be some mint-als out and into the sand.

“Do you like chems?” I said, quickly turning back to that griffon.

“I… what?” The griffon said, clearly shocked at the sudden change of pace. “I mean, I haven’t had chems in a while, ran out of my last bit of buck over a month ago… you wouldn’t happen to have any, would you?”

I heard one of the boys clear their throat, coming up beside me was Joule. “In fact, I do good sir, and as our first customer we’ll give you a case free of charge if you let us go.”

“You’re serious? Like, you seriously have buck on you right now, and you’ll just give it to me if I let you go?... you realize that if I killed you, I still get to eat you, and I get your chems. Right?” The griffon said with a frown.

“Yes, you’re correct, but you can’t make more of it, I can.” Joule added.

The griffon just sat there, staring at Joule for a moment before he’d just sigh. “Fine, fine… I’ll not eat you… but you will make me as much Buck as you can.”

“I trust that you have access to the right ingredients?” Joule said as he started up the dune towards the settlement.

I was shocked and just sat there in the sand as I watched the two moving away. Surely Joule knew that Buck wasn’t something he could just craft, no pony knows the recipe, he must have been lying his flank off to buy us three some time.

“We need to run,” I said, looking at Bolt and Pudge. “Like, now.”

“Whatcha mean?” Pudge said, looking at me confused.

“Nopony can make Buck, it’s like the only chem you can’t just go and make willy nilly,” I said with a sigh. “Unless he’s discovered a miracle, he’s buying us time to get away before that griffon discovers that he was lying.”

The two just stared at me for a moment, before they just looked at each other, they both seemed like they were completely stunned.

“Clock is ticking you know,” I said with a roll of my eyes as I started to make a beeline away from that settlement, the two jumping to their hooves and quickly following after me.

We didn’t make it far however before a group of five more griffons came swooping down, two picked up Bolt, another picked up Pudge, and the final two came down for me.

I tried to dodge them, I even tried to blast them with my horn, but they just dodged my attempts and eventually snatched me up, being brought back to the settlement and put in a cage beside the other two.

“I would have thought we had more time…” I said before I saw Joule walking around with a group of griffons following close behind, several of them carrying baskets with various fungi and herbs.

“You ass!” Bolt called out at Joule, “You could have let us go!”

Joule smirked and looked at us. “Let you go? No, see, you’re my insurance.” He said, walking over to the cages we had been put in. “You see, I told them making buck is no easy task, and there may be several attempts before I can get it right, they said each time I got it wrong they’d take another limb, four times wrong and I’ve outlived my usefulness.”

I just sat there, staring at him in disgust. I could barely believe what he was saying, or why he’d be so cold to his own friends.

“But then I told them how I’d gladly take that punishment if it meant my friends would live, and they decided that if it was a better incentive, they’d just get you and use you to make sure I get it right,” Joule said with a chuckle. “So instead of four chances to get it wrong, I get sixteen.”

“Pft, is that what you think pony?” That familiar griffon said. “No, you still get four, each time you mess up, we eat one of them! Three times and you’re out of tries, one more mess up and we eat you!”

Joule recoiled a little at that, before he looked at us, locked in the cage he had put us in, and mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ before he went back with the griffons.

Once they were gone, I looked to the other two, who looked like they had all the fight scared right out of them.

“So, any plans?” I said with a sigh.

“Hope that Joule wasn’t lying and can make Buck?” Bolt said with a shrug.

“Hope that Griffons don’t like being lied to and decide to eat him first?” Pudge added.

“Anything less pessimistic?” I said with a groan. “Okay, nevermind the plan, we need to just get out of here and make a run for it.”

“And be caught again? They can fly remember? They’re faster than we are.” Bolt said.

I simply rolled my eyes and pointed to my horn. “Unicorn, Remember? Nothing is faster than instant.”

“But you haven’t mastered the teleport spell yet, we could end up in a worse situation than this.” Bolt said, retreating to a corner of the cage and curling up there with his back to me and Pudge.

“Well, I don’t think there are many situations worse than this…” Pudge said with a sigh.

“Being teleported into a solid rock face is not my idea of a ‘better situation’ Pudge,” Bolt said, with a shrug. “I always had a feeling that Joule was going to get us all killed, I don’t know why I didn’t follow my gut on this one…”

He was right of course, there was always that inherent risk to teleportation magic, and I definitely was far from mastering teleporting more than just myself a few feet. So I just sat there, in the silence, partially accepting my fate to be some griffon’s snack, while also trying to come up with a plan, there had to be something we missed.

00000

Before I knew it, it was nearly sunset, I sat there in silence, listening to Pudge and Bolt bicker between themselves, and watching as Joule worked trying to come up with a way to make Buck for those griffons. Deciding maybe it was time for a nap, I went to lay down, and that’s when I realized - they hadn’t taken any of our gear. I still had my rifle and all the stuff I had left the stable with.

“Pst, you two,” I whispered, “what’d you leave the stable with?”

They paused their argument to curiously look at me, I simply motioned to my rifle without saying a word, the two smirked at each other before they looked at their bags.

“I have… some chewing gum, a gallon of water, and a few instant meals” Bolt said, emptying out his pack.

“I have… uh… comics… yeah, comics.” Pudge said, looking flustered and quickly moving to hide the contents of his bag.

“We need everything, no time to be modest,” I said to Pudge with a chuckle. “Anything that can distract or otherwise dispose of a few griffons for a short while betters our chances of getting away.”

“Can’t you just… y’know, shoot them?” Pudge said, still protectively clutching his bag.

“I’ll get one shot, maybe two before they’re on us, the more distracted they are the more likely anything we do will be successful,” I said, “So look at it this way, your collection may actually be what saves our flanks from being griffon chow.”

“Also, how in the name of all things holy, did you not notice you still had your rifle?” Bolt added, looking at me curiously.

“It was stressful, and I didn’t bother to check okay? When you wear these things long enough you stop noticing them.” I said, a little bit embarrassed.

We all paused looking through our things when we heard a bit of a commotion from within the settlement just out of view, trying to catch a view before the yelling became more clear.

“The pony is lying to us!” that all too familiar griffon’s voice was heard

“No! I promise I’m not!” Joule could be heard yelling back.

“I heard what you said to your ‘friends’ earlier, you don’t know how to make Buck, I doubt you can even make mint-als!” that griffon yelled back.

“No! Really I can! I’m just stressed okay, give me some time and I’ll give you more than you’ll ever need!” Joule said, his voice getting more panicked.

“Shut up and stop squirming, you’re only going to make this worse on yourself.” The griffon said back, a few moments later we heard Joule scream, and then absolute silence.

Moments later, they dragged his body, partially skinned right in front of us, and put on a stake in clear view of the cage. I wretched and gagged at the sight, the two boys cowering in the corner and whimpering amongst themselves.

“Those monsters…” I said to myself before I turned back to Pudge and Bolt “Get it together you two, we need to get out of here now more than ever.”

“Joule’s gone and you’re thinking we can still get away? The hell is wrong with you!” Bolt said, barely holding back tears “Sure! I had disagreements with him, but he’s been my friend since I could walk! He was the brains of our group, he always came up with plans, and now we have nothing!”

“Bolt, calm down,” I said, rather coldly. “Do you think Joule would want you to stay here and end up like him? Do you think he’d want you to mourn him to the point you got yourself killed? I don’t think so, and I am pretty sure you don’t think so either.”

“How can you be so uncaring?!” Bolt yelled at me “How can you not care that Joule just died like that!”

“We are soldiers, first and foremost, we are in an enemy camp with a direct threat on our lives, rescue isn’t coming and the only option is to die or self-rescue, It might be cold, but it’s what we were trained for,” I said, glaring back. “So suck it up, grow a pair, and help me here.”

Bolt just sat there, staring at me for a few moments before he’d just take in a deep breath and let out a long sigh. “Solstice, I know you mean well, I do, but you don’t seem to understand that if we try and run we’re dead, we stay here we’re dead, we’re dead either way - why die tired.”

“Why die tired?” I said, chuckling a little. “I’d rather die on my hooves with a rifle at my side, then die in a cage cowering and waiting for the end the come, not to mention you never know what is going to happen if you never try, hold onto some hope for a change.”

“Hope? How can you have hope when not even 24 hours out of the stable we’re already locked in a cage, one of my best friends is dead, and we’re all on the menu.” Bolt said, his expression changing from anger to sadness. “I knew I wasn’t cut out for this, I knew that I would never make it out here, I don’t know why I even tried.”

“Fine,” I said with a frown. “Give up, end up like Joule, I’m going to get out of here with or without you.”

Pudge finally reacting, sitting up and looking to the both of us, his eyes red and his cheeks stained from tears. “Can we just not, okay? They aren’t going to kill us tonight, so just… relax, we have all day tomorrow to do something and we’re not going to all be caught in the moment… so just relax, and try and get some sleep.”

I paused, took a deep breath and sighed before just going to the opposite end of the cage we had been put in, taking my pack off and cradling it against my chest as I laid down and tried to close my eyes. The sound of the griffons laughing and singing their par shanties making it nearly impossible to get any sleep.

Tonight was going to be a very long night…

00000

Throughout the night, there was countless noises and movements in the shadows that caught my attention, but I still spent most of the night just staring at the sky above, watching as the clouds rolled past. Dawn’s light starting to break.

“Pudge? Bolt? You two awake?” I said, sitting up.

“What do you think.” Bolt said back, still laying down with his back to me.

“Pudge?” I said, scooting over and giving that colt a nudge.

“Leave me alone…” Pudge said, “I couldn’t sleep, every time I closed my eyes all I could hear was Joule’s screams and see what they did to him…”

“Pudge, I know it’s hard, but you have to listen to me, we need to get out of here okay?” I said, giving him a gentle rub against his withers. “You’re going to be alright, I promise, and as long as you keep Joule in your heart, he’s never truly gone, alright?”

“What kind of pseudo sentimental bullshit is that.” Bolt said, sitting up and glaring at me, “This isn’t some situation where you can just say a few nice words and make everything go away, don’t even try.”

“It’s what my father told me when my mom died you insensitive jerk,” I said, glaring back at Bolt, “It helped with the nightmares, I thought maybe it could help with his.”

“This isn’t your mom Solstice, this is far from it, your mother died to illness, not suffered a violent death at creatures that wanted to eat her.” Bolt said, getting to his hooves, still glaring at me, I could see the anger in his eyes.

“Could you two just not!” Pudge said, jumping to his hooves and getting between us. “I already lost Joule, don’t make me lose you too!”

We both recoiled back from that, Bolt falling back down onto his flank and I pushed up against the bars of the cage. Once again Pudge is right, we’re never going to get anywhere with this petty bickering, we need to work together, but how can I convince them?

Luckily for me, it seems I didn’t need to, as we sat there in silence, the sound of gunfire and yells erupted from the far side of the camp, I could see griffons scattering every which way. I thought back to those shadows last night, I kept thinking maybe they were more than tricks on the eye, was somepony here to save us? Or was it something else? All I do know is the gunfire is getting closer and more and more griffons are fleeing.

“So, uh… What do you think is going on?” I said to Bolt and Pudge, the two just staring in silence and disbelief in the direction of the gunfire.

“Do you think it was something they ate?” Bolt said before he chuckled.

“Yeah, guess last night’s dinner didn’t agree with them,” Pudge added before starting to laugh himself.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at that myself, given the situation it seemed strangely appropriate that those two would find some way to make a joke out of it.

“You goddamn birds thought it’d be okay to attack my camp, take my men, then casually eat them like you did nothing wrong?! That’d I’d just pack up and leave and you’d never face the facts?!” An unfamiliar voice yelled out before a Pegasus stallion came into view, his wings were beaten up and he had what looked to be a brand on his flank where his cutie mark should be.

“Hey! Hey over here!” I yelled out, trying to get his attention.

He stopped and turned to face us, recoiling at the sight of seeing the three of us in the cage, “Well lookie here, go get them out of that cage - I have something I need to do first.”

Two younger ponies came round the corner, both earth ponies, coming up to the cage the would simply turn around and give the cage a quick buck, smashing the bars.

“You three alright? Not hurt?” one of the two said.

“We’re fine, just… a man down.” Bolt said, his eyes going towards the stake where the griffons had put Joule’s body.

“Sorry to hear, but the boss is going to make sure these birds never do it again, trust you me - you never want to get on his bad side.” the second one said with a smile, guiding us back the direction where the gunfire had all started.

As we rounded the corner, I could see ponies picking up and moving dead griffons, piling them and setting them on fire.

“Who are you?” I said, looking to the two ponies.

“Friends, that’s all you need to know for now,” they said together, both of them smiling.

Together, the five of us went out the front gates, another small group of ponies standing out front. We stayed there with them until their ‘Boss’ that branded pony from before came back.

“Goddamn birds.” He scoffed, stopping and looking at us three. “What the hell were you three doing in there?”

“Oh you know, enjoying the view, real five-star accommodations that cage was, but the price was killer.” Bolt said with a chuckle.

“I don’t appreciate a wisecrack.” That Stallion said back to which Bolt just quickly looked away.

“We’re from a nearby st-... settlement, they attacked us and captured me and three of my friends,” I said, motioning to the two behind me. “They killed one of us yesterday, and were likely to kill more if you didn’t come along.”

“Let’s get this straight, I’m not your friend, I didn’t save you because I care, I saved you because the ones that got away will be back and will be hungry, and I want to make them work for their meals and not just keep ponies in cages like their personal refrigerator.” He said, frown growing as he glared at me. “I was going to just let you go, but no… now I want something in return if I did you such a great favor.”

“Like what?” I said, ears folding back and frowning, I knew I had nothing to offer except my rifle and ankh, neither of which I wished to part with.

“We have chems!” Pudge said, smiling proudly. “Mint-als, Dash, no Buck though.”

“Chem peddlers… maybe I should have left you three in that cage.” He said with a gravelly growl to his voice.

“Goddamn it Pudge, why the hell did you do that…” I said, groaning a bit. “Look, sir, truthfully I’m not with them.”

He just glared at me a moment. “I appreciate you trying to save face, but I’m sorry, what happens next needs to happen.”

He turned and walked away, stopping when he passed the two ponies from before and turning to face us. “Kill the boys, take the girl, we’re heading home.”

“What?! No!” I said, but before I could do anything two gunshots rang out and both Pudge and Bolt fell to the ground, I turned to look at them and within moments a sharp blow to the back of my head, then darkness.

00000

When I came to, I felt the sway of a cart, looking around I could see I was in yet another cage, but with no ponies around at all, just that stallion from before.

“What’s going on, where are you taking me?!” I yelled at him, shoving on the bars of the cage.

“Home.” He said, peering back at me with a chuckle. “Mercs are expensive, you’ll fetch a pretty price to compensate for the loss.”

“Why’d you kill them? Bolt and Pudge, they did nothing wrong…” I said, falling down on my haunches and taking a moment to stare at my hooves.

“Chem peddlers are bad news, they don’t care about you or your problems, long as you keep buyin’ their drugs.” He said, sighing. “It’s unfortunate that those two had to die, but I did you and the world a favor, trust me.”

“Killing two young stallions before they’ve even experienced the prime of their life is no favor to the world or to me,” I said, turning my attention back to him. “They could have done great things, they could have been the saviors of Somnambula, and you killed them.”

“They weren’t going to be anything more than junkies and jerks,” He said, stopping and propping the harness for the cart from his back so he could turn and face me. “I heard you fighting, I heard what was going on, that one that died, Joule, I think his name was, he threw you three under the bus and you want to defend them, are you just stupid or is this your first time in the wastes.”

I was taken by surprise by this, staring at him in disbelief for a few moments before I simply took a deep breath and sighed. “First time in the wastes..” I admitted, to which he chuckled and smirked.

“Thought so, that hardware on your back isn’t wasteland tech - that’s the kind of stuff you’ll find in military bases, or in Stables.” The stallion said with a chuckle, “Not to mention you went to say stable earlier and caught yourself - honorable, trying to protect the stable you came from.”

“So, where is home,” I said, leaning back against the cage and looking at where we were. It was about midday now and from the looks of it, he’s been traveling with me since he knocked me out. “Manehattan? Fillydelphia? Appleloosa?”

“Whinnyapolis.” He said with a chuckle.

“Why were you in Somnambula?” I said with a frown, “Whinnyapolis is such a long way away, why go so far out of your way?”

“Looking for something, something I lost a long time ago.” He said, a sadness in his voice. “But it’s not there anymore, so time to go home and check for more leads on it, see where it made its way off to now.”

“That doesn’t sound like you’re looking for a thing a thing, sounds more like you’re looking for a somepony,” I said, looking out at the scenery again. “Second day out, captured twice, my three traveling companions dead, and I’m going to be sold into slavery, fantastic start Solstice, you really outdid yourself.”

“Solstice huh?” He said with a chuckle, setting the harness back on his back and started down the road. “Not a bad name, got any more to it or is it just that?”

“Solstice Serenade,” I said, taking a deep breath and just looking away.

“That’s not your real name,” he said with a chuckle, “I can tell by how easily you gave it, you’re lying.”

“So what if I am, not like my name means anything to you,” I said with a frown.

“Names mean more then you might think, Some names have a long legacy behind them of great ponies, some capture power, others inspire hope.” He said, his walking slowing. “Solstice, both the longest and the shortest days of the year, both ominous and inspiring at the same time.”

“Do you always dive into detail on a pony’s name?” I said, honestly a little creeped out.

“A name can tell a lot about a pony,” He said, looking over his shoulder at me again. “I always thought there was no coincidence in what a pony was named, or the fact their name almost always has something to do with their cutie mark or special talent.”

I stopped and thought about it, Looking down at my cutie mark for a moment. I never really gave it much thought, but he was right.

“What’s your name?” I said, looking back to him, catching a glimpse of that brand on his flank.

“Doesn’t matter anymore, despite my years of serving with distinction and honor, they branded me and threw me out like a piece of garbage - the stallion I once was is dead, just a shell trying to recapture his former glory.” He said, that pain returning to his voice.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” I said, impatiently tapping a hoof. “You have to have something that ponies know you by, everypony isn’t just calling you ‘that guy’ right?”

“Cee, or Brand, depending on who you ask.” He said, glaring back at me a little before he stopped and removed that harness once more. “What’s it to you anyway? Trying to read into me or something?”

“Nope, I just wanted to know the name of my captor, is that a crime?” I asked, chuckling a little.

“I… No, but don’t pester,” Cee said, placing that harness back on and starting down the road once more.

00000

Hours went by, the sand gave way to grass and shrubs, then trees, I stared at them in wonder - it was the first time I had ever seen them in person like this. I mean, sure the stable had trees in the food production area, but only ponies responsible for that are allowed in there, I never got to see them.

“So, how much farther?” I said, looking at Cee.

“Another day, maybe two.” He said, looking back before he pulled the cart beside the road and removed the harness. He moved around beside the cart and started to unload bags and other items from it. “Going to set up camp here, rest for the evening.”

“Going to keep me in the cage?” I said with a frown.

“Going to run if I let you out?” He said with a smirk.

“Good point, but seriously - you have my gear, my rifle, everything - if I try and run you’ll probably just shoot me,” I said with a sigh.

“You make a good argument, but you’re still staying in the cage.” He said with a chuckle.

I sat there, pouting for a moment. Even if he did let me out and I did run, where would I run to? We were in the middle of nowhere, not a building in sight and Somnambula was hours in the other direction.

“You hungry?” He said, tapping on the cage, a hoof extended out between the bars with what looked to be a granola bar held out to me.

“It’s not poisoned is it?” I said, tentatively taking the granola bar from his hoof.

“Why would I poison my payday?” He said with a chuckle, “not to mention I ate the other half if it is poisoned we’re both going to die.”

“So, what is that brand?” I said, trying to make conversation.

“It’s the mark they give traitors.” He said with a frown and a sigh.

“They?” I questioned, to which he looked at me with a look that honestly said ‘you have to be kidding me’. “Stable dweller, remember?”

“Right… the Enclave,” he said with a sigh. “After the bombs, the pegasi seceded from Equestria and went above the clouds, turned militaristic and xenophobic, I used to be one of them.”

“That sounds terrible.” I said, sighing and shaking my head. “So what else is wrong with this world?”

“Too many things to count or list, though there are reports of a filly from the Ponyville area going around trying to make the world a better place, hell from what I hear, she recently blew up the goddess in Maripony,” Cee said, shrugging and laying back in the grass beside the trail.

“The goddess?” I said, tilting my head to one side.

“Long story, you’ll find out eventually,” He said with a chuckle, “Then you have Redeye in Fillydelphia, another self-proclaimed hero of the wastes, that’s probably where you’ll be sent after Whinnyapolis, he likes to buy the ‘higher quality’ stock from there.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” I said with a frown. “Isn’t there something we can arrange that isn’t going to result with me being sold into slavery? Maybe we could travel together, I could give you all the bits I earn in exchange for my freedom?”

“Sweetheart, don’t get me wrong - You’re a nice filly and all, and it’s a shame you’re going to be some heartless pony’s slave for who knows how long, but you couldn’t earn the purse I’ll get for selling you in several years worth of time, it’s just not worth the investment.” He said with a shrug. “Not to mention, plenty of time for you to turn your back on me or outright kill me, too much liability not enough reward, get used to the idea of a bomb collar, you’ll be wearing one for a while.”

I slumped in the cage at that, sighing and staring down at my hooves a bit more. It was becoming clear I needed to get away from him, and sure, I could teleport out of the cage but it doesn’t solve the problem that he has all my stuff, and where the heck would I be going if I tried?

As I sit there, I hear him start to snore, and that’s when an idea hits me, I focused on my bags and rifle, and with a flash of magic teleported them into the cage with me. Putting them on, my eyes never leaving that sleeping Pegasi. “Sorry, but I can’t let you do this,” I said, and with a flash of magic I teleported out of the cage and teleported him in, when he hit the metal he woke and looked around.

“What the hay?!” He shouted, then stared at me, glaring. “You can teleport?! What the hell!”

“Unicorn, remember?” I said, puzzled a little at his response.

“Yeah! But no stable dweller I’ve ever known or wastelander for that fact can teleport! How the hell do you know how to do that?!” He said, his anger mounting.

“My stable is different, for one, it isn’t run by Stable-Tec, and two - you said you were a part of the enclave, and they are militaristic, you should know to never underestimate an enemy,” I said, glaring at him coldly.

He just stared at me, the anger melting away, he started to chuckle and laugh a bit. “Fine, fine, you made your point, let me out.”

“So you can run away?” I said with a smirk.

“Oh real funny missy, let me out.” He said back with a frown.

“Promise not to put me back in it?” I said, narrowing my eyes, letting a few sparks jump from my horn.

“What point is there to put you in it, you just proved you can get out whenever you want.” He said with a sigh. “Guess this means you’re just going to run off then? Leave me here to rot for wanting to sell you?”

“Nope,” I said, chuckling a little before teleporting him from the cage. “See, the difference between me and you, is that I have a conscience still. Not to mention where would I run? Somnambula is miles that way, and I don’t see anything nearby that I could run to.”

“So what, you’re just going to travel with me then? What after?” He said, brushing himself off.

“Until Whinnyapolis, then we’ll go our separate ways,” I said with a chuckle. “Guess you should have taken my offer, now you’re out a lot of bits.”

“Can I reconsider?” he said with a half-hearted chuckle.

“Well, what’s in it for me? I can have my freedom and keep my profit, so what more do I gain from giving it to you?” I said, with a smug smirk.

“Uh, a skilled military strategist?” He said with another chuckle, shrugging.

“Sounds fancy, so why are you a traitor,” I said, taking a seat in the grass, running my hoof over it, smiling at the feeling.

“I was betrayed by my own flesh and blood, daughter said I was planning a coup and got me thrown off my own ship,” Cee said, taking a seat beside me. “They’ll paralyze your wings, take the ship up high, and then throw you off the highest deck after branding you, with the hope you’ll die when you hit the ground.”

“That’s horrible,” I said, looking to him, watching him just idly rubbing his hoof through the grass.

“I survived obviously, with a few dozen broken bones,” He chuckled, “Took months of nursing and care to get back up on my hooves, but my wings are fubar.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m glad you survived,” I said with a little smile.

“I was going to sell you into slavery, and you’re glad? You really are a special bunch, you stable dwellers.” Cee said with a chuckle.

“I value all life, regardless - I’d never wish death on anypony,” I said with a sigh.

“That’s why you wanted to protect them huh? Those colts?” He said looking at me. “Makes sense, they might be stuck like they are forever, most likely would have been, but there was a chance they could have broken the trend and made something better for themselves.”

“Exactly,” I said, looking back at him. “It’s something my mom always told me.”

“Sounds like your mom is a smart lady,” He said with a chuckle, laying back in the grass and staring at the sky.

“Was. She’s dead now,” I said with a sigh.

“I, I’m sorry to hear, that’s rough, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost my wife or daughters, well… minus one, I still get letters from them” He said with a sigh. “I must have seemed like a really big jackass, treating you like I did.”

“C’est la vie,” I said with a shrug, laying back in the grass and staring up at the sky with him. “Live and let live, grudges and revenge only take you both down, best to let it go and move on.”

“Mom again?” He said with a chuckle.

“Nope, that one is all me,” I said, chuckling to myself.

The both of us laid there in silence, just staring at the sky watching the clouds roll past. Not too long I could hear him starting to snore, relaxing a bit knowing he was asleep and finally drifting to sleep myself.

00000

I don’t know how long I slept, or if I dreamed, but as I woke up, I felt that familiar swaying of the cart. Jolting awake expecting to see the cage around me, but instead, I saw that the cage had been removed.

“What?” I said, looking around for a moment before I saw that now familiar stallion pulling the carriage.

“You were dead to the world when I woke up, figured I’d just load you up and start making headway.” He said, looking back at me with a smirk. “The sooner we get there, the sooner I can get back to looking for the thing I lost.”

I simply shrugged and rolled over, pulling my back over my face to try and get some more sleep, fairly quickly drifting off to sleep with the rhythmic rocking of the cart.

Hours went by, and as the warmth of the day started to hit I was stirred awake, pulling my bag from my face and sitting up, he looked back at me and smiled. “Morning sleepy head.” He said, in an almost fatherly tone.

“Where are we?” I said, rubbing at my eyes and looking around, the trees and grass had given way to barren shrubland.

“Almost to Whinnyapolis, you woke up just in time.” He chuckled and stopped the cart, taking the harness off and climbing onto the cart. “You get to pull it now.”

“Excuse me?” I said, looking at him as he plopped down beside me.

“Pull the cart, I’ve been doing it for like eight hours straight, you want to travel with me, you pull your own weight.” He said with a chuckle.

I rolled my eyes, and hopped from my place, walking in front of the cart and taking it in my magic to pull it along behind me.

“Fancy,” he said as he looked around. “Not many unicorns can levitate more than a pencil or pen, here you are moving an entire cart.”

“It’s really no big deal,” I said with a shrug. “Most of the unicorns from my stable can do it.”

“So this stable, this non-stable-tec stable, what’s so special about it,” he asked, sitting up and looking to me.

“Well, it was made by a company called ATLAS, they were a military contractor before the war, but lost a lot of their contracts regarding bunker construction to Stable-Tec,” I said, trotting along. “The township of Somnambula did a fundraiser and raised enough bits to fund a Stable to be constructed in their area, Stable-Tec said they had no plans for it, so they reached out to ATLAS.”

“Huh, I guess they dodged a bullet then.” He said with a chuckle. “Most Stable-Tec stables had some sort of sick twisted social experiment going on, most of them failed because of it.”

“Well, that’s disturbing,” I said with a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, ATLAS loaded the stable down with military tech, most of my gear is Military grade.”

“I noticed.” He said with a chuckle. “So, that plating on your back, what’s that for?”

“It’s just spine strengthening and protection, also serves as higher integrated vital monitoring and a base for a long-range radio antenna,” I said with a shrug. “Was set to be deployed to troops but the bombs fell before mass integration, the military was kind of reluctant to put augments on soldiers that couldn’t be removed after the war.”

“Does it help with how much you can carry, or resistance to spine injuries?” He asked, tilting his head.

“Carry, no, but it’s very resistant to twisting and absorbs most of the impact from blows to the spine, so I’m pretty confident to say, if you tried to break my neck, it wouldn’t let you,” I said with a chuckle. “It’s modeled off Kirin scales if you didn’t notice.”

“Kirin huh, haven’t heard anything about them in quite a while, some ponies think they didn’t survive the war.” He said, chuckling a bit. “Over this hill here, you should get your first glimpse at Whinnyapolis.”

I shifted my attention forward, eager to see one of the grand Equestrian cities from before the war, walking over the crest of the hill, I got everything but that. Before me lay a wasteland of crumbled buildings and rubble, nothing more than two stories tall still remained in a city that used to touch the sky.

“What happened here?..” I said, pausing.

“The weather, mostly.” He said, jumping down from the cart and standing next to me. “There is a Single Pegasus Project tower nearby, nopony has been able to make it to it, but it keeps malfunctioning and sending things like tornadoes through the area, the last bastions of pony kind are the Mall of Equestria and the Whinnyapolis Skyport, though there is a hospital complex that is okay a few miles down the river.”

“Malfunctioning?... What?” I said, looking at him.

“Yeah, and by the looks of it we might want to get a move on, seems like it’s ‘bout to unleash another doozy.” He said, motioning to a thick almost black cloud cover that was moving into the area.

We both took off running, pulling the cart behind us, both him in the harness and me pulling it along with magic, I didn’t want to see what he meant by doozy. The closer we got the more I could see the devastation of the area, Skeletons litter the streets, rubble, and debris everywhere, deep trenches cut through the terrain from torrential downpours, this city had definitely seen better days.

With a crack of lightning and the rumble of thunder overhead, the rain started to pour down, the wind steadily picking up till it felt like we were in a full-on gale. We took cover in what looked to be an old Subway entrance, below us was just full of water so we couldn’t go too far in.

That’s when I first saw it, towering structures in the sky, lights marking lines and scaffolding. “That’s got to be the Skyport, right?” I said, looking to him. He simply nodded, I stared at the wondrous construction in awe for a few moments as the wind started to pick up even more.

We hunkered down here for a while, when the rain stopped I poked my head out to look around, to see if we could maybe make a run for it, but the wind was still blowing far too hard to even think about leaving. A distant rumble catching my attention, making me look around to see just what it could be.

Off in the distance, but rapidly approaching, a cone of violently rotating cloud. “So uh, about tornadoes,” I said, looking back at him, he just shrugged. Within minutes it was upon us but only skirted by, beelining for the Skyport.

“Is that going to be a problem?” I said, eyes growing wide as I watched those magnificent structures being bent and twisted and coming crashing down as the twister smashed into the structure.

My heart sank, that’s where we’re heading and now we’re watching it be torn apart by this storm, I looked to Cee, only to see that he wasn’t even remotely bothered by what was happening.

“What the hell is wrong with you?! The Skyport is being destroyed and you’re just casually sitting there completely fine with it?” I asked, getting annoyed with the stallion.

“It’s not the first time it’s been hit head-on, it’ll survive.” He said, shrugging. “It’s got some of those fancy canterlot enchantments that make it repair itself, it’s why it’s still here after so long.”

I stopped and turned to watch as that cone grew thinner and thinner, until disappearing entirely. The wind started to die down and the sun breaking through the clouds. We gathered our things and started for the Skyport, the closer we got the more I saw how damaged it was, windows broken out, the mooring towers crumbled and twisted laying about, debris piled up against the walls.

“This is going to be a very long day…” I said to myself as we approached, Cee just chuckled and nodded.

LEVEL UP!

Storm Riders

Having ridden out the storm and witnessing the world you’ve been thrown into

You find yourself more attuned to the weather, you’ll more easily predict

When severe weather is on the way.

Per +1/Improved Weather Predictions Available on your Pipbuck

Chapter 2: Silver Linings

“What lies behind us and what lies before us

Are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

The storm overhead started to die out and the sunlight started to burst through the clouds, I could hear this faint beeping from my bags, stopping and pulling from it my pipbuck. Looking at the interface I could see that a text at the bottom was flashing, saying “LEVEL UP”. Shrugging to myself I selected the option.

Looking through what it had displayed before me, I picked one ‘Storm Riders’, shrugging again before I put it back in my bags and continued onwards.

“Hey, was that a Pipbuck you were just messing with?” Cee said, quickly catching up and walking beside me.

“Yeah, why?” I said with a shrug and a chuckle. “Everyone from the stable has one, I’m just the only one that doesn’t like to wear it.”

“Because that is an amazing piece of tactical gear, on the fly inventory management, and with the Eyes Forward Sparkle you can see everyth-” Cee started to say before I simply stopped him and shook my head.

“The EFS is a pain in the flank, and relying on its inventory management and what not just makes you soft and forget how to survive without one. I prefer it the old fashioned way - with no fancy magical overlay on my eyes.” I said with a frown. “It’s distracting, and the effects it has on a pony’s sense of awareness when it’s gone is disabling.”

“You know with the right tweaks you could disable the EFS, right?” Cee said with a chuckle and a shrug, pausing as he directed my attention to the fence before us, written on it ‘Two Brothers Skyport’, and before it lay a massive structure, even larger now that we are upon it.

“So, Where do we go now?” I said, looking to my Pegasus companion. He just chuckles. “You go on in, I’m gonna start heading back to where I belong”

“Wait, you said you lived here, you said this was home.” I said, glaring at him “You lied to me, didn’t you”

“No sweetheart, I didn’t - I live here in Whinnyapolis, I don’t live in the Skyport. There’s a hospital a few miles down the river, that’s where I hang my hat.” Cee said, chuckling and pushing my things from the wagon before he took it and started down the way

I just stood there, staring in disbelief as that pegasi walked away, taking a deep breath and levitating my bags back to my back, rifle affixed to my side, I started past the gate. A few steps in and two ponies come rushing to me.

“Halt! Stay right there!” One of them yells, the other just lifting his rifle and pointing it at me. “What brings you to our Skyport.” He said.

I just groaned, I felt like Cee had just dumped me into a trap with more slavers or raiders or something. Thinking for a few moments I just sighed. “I’m a traveler, I came from Somnambula, I travel alone and was told to come here to refuge.”

“Do you have any wares?” The other said, tentatively lowering his rifle.

“Wares? Like, things to trade?” I said, looking at him confused.

“Aye, wares, things to trade, got any?” He said again, keeping his rifle half lowered.

“I’m sorry, I don’t,” I said with another side. “I have nothing of value on me, not unless bits are of any value to you.”

“Bits? Like, pre-war money? Lass, no one has used bits in decades around these parts” He said, chuckling, lowering his rifle all the way. “You must be from a stable, never heard of one out that way but you’re welcome nonetheless.”

“Of course not, why would anything be that easy,” I said under my breath, before smiling back to that guard. “Yeah, absolutely from a stable - was it really that obvious?”

“Let’s just agree, that stable dwellers aren’t exactly like most covert of ponies, especially in a place like this.” The guard chuckled a bit and looked back at the Skyport. “So you got a name stranger?”

“Solstice,” I said, looking back to see what he had been looking for. “What about you?”

“Don’t worry bout me, though it’s nice to meet you Solstice.” He said, relaxing a bit, putting his rifle back on its sling. “Just gotta wait for the welcoming committee to show up, as much as I’d like to see you in, gotta keep my post.”

“As strange as it might sound, I do know what you mean,” I said, taking a seat and taking a deep breath. Taking a moment to look around at all the piles of debris and wreckage around the area. “So… Are the storms what did all this? Or did a bomb play a part?”

“Just the storms, if a bomb was meant for here it never done went off.” The guard said, chuckling a bit more “Not many ponies care much what caused this much damage to our little gem.”

“Well, I’ve read books that detailed Whinnyapolis as a crown jewel of Equestrian society, one of the most modern cities built in Equestria,” I said, smiling a bit at that guard. “Of course I’d like to know what happened, Not every city gets a rags to riches story, then gets reduced back to rags.”

“It’s still got its charm, though I gotta admit I owe a lot to those ministries. Not only did they invest big in Whinnyapolis, but they also put those ministry row protections on some of the city’s most iconic structures, the Skyport for example, the mall, hell even a hospital a couple of miles up the river has it.” He said, leaning back against the fencing and giving a sigh. “We’d be all dead and gone, or stuck in some other hell hole worrying about raiders if not for them.”

“Really?” I said, surprised that such high powered enchantments would be used on seemingly innocuous structures. “The enchantments on Canterlot were rumored to be able to sustain everything short of all-out Armageddon, the fact they’d use them here is… both fascinating and alarming, do you know why?”

“They Skyport because of its importance to cloudship production most likely. Heck until recently we had a few husks of unfinished cloudships in the construction bays, cleared em out for increased living space.” The second guard said, finally saying something making me spin round to face them. “And the mall and the hospital? Who knows why they were protected.”

“Does anypony live in the mall or the hospital?” I said, looking back and forth between the two.

“The mall is connected to the Skyport, so yeah, a lot of us have quarters in the mall and use the Skyport as sort of the flea market area.” The first guard said.

“As for the hospital, there were some ponies in there, but they stopped responding to us a while back, figured they either moved on or the storms finally got them.” The second one added.

“I see… Maybe worth checking out if I get the chance?” I said, but before the two could answer another two armor-clad ponies came to the gate.

“This way Ma’am,” they said, before turning round to guide me to the Skyport. Taking a moment to wave and bid goodbye to those two gate guards before following them in.

00000

They lead me along the perimeter of the fence, getting close to what appeared to be a bridge, though it had piles of rubble either side that seemed to shelter underneath. Emblazoned on the size of the bridge, two unicorn stallions that appeared to be shaking hooves.

“Who’s that?” I said, taking a moment to pause and examine it closer.

“The Flim Flam Brothers.” One guard said.

“They donated a large sum of bits to the construction of both the mall and the Skyport, encouraging this bridge to be built so that travelers from the Skyport could come over to the mall.” The second one added.

“The Flim Flam Brothers? But, they were scam artists, weren’t they? Always looking to make a quick bit and not really caring about quality or customer satisfaction? Why would they want to give money up?” I said a bit confused.

“There’s been a debate about that, some say that it’s because they owned a large portion of the mall, and to allow travelers easy transit from the Skyport to the mall would allow for higher sales and thus they get a quicker return on their investment.” One guard said, taking off their helmet.

Taking a moment to examine this guard, I could see that she was most definitely a mare, no horn, and wings so likely an earth pony. Cream-colored coat and a brownish colored mane. ‘Finally, some way to tell who’s talking’ I thought to myself.

“Okay, that makes sense,” I said with a chuckle. “They weren’t responsible for that bridge were they?”

“Responsible how? That they designed it or whatever?” The second guard said with a chuckle, “Nah, they just gave the Engineer Corps the bits, they built the bridge, it’s not even protected by the enchantments, it just refuses to come down.”

“Impressive” I muttered, before smiling to the guards. “Let’s get inside, hopefully, it's dryer and warmer in there.”

I hadn’t noticed it until that moment, but my clothing was absolutely soaked. I wasn’t sure if it was from the rain, or if I had sweated through it all, but one thing was certain I really could use a quick drying off.

The guards nodded, and quickly made their way to a nearby unblocked door, opening it and letting me in first - I could hear the sounds of laughter and talking inside, no one seemed even bothered that this place just took a direct hit from a tornado. Walking inside I realized this area was the main terminal, the tall vaulted ceilings, and balconies overlooking the main seating area still intact.

“Okay, just wow,” I said as I stopped and gawked at the prewar equestrian architecture, this room was definitely built to impress and show off the best that Whinnyapolis had to offer.

“Like it? We just painted it.” The mare said with a chuckle.

“Seriously?” I said, looking to her surprised for a moment.

“Nah, this paint is as old as the structure, those enchantments keep it fresh.” She said, chuckling a bit more. “Anyway, it’s this way to check-in, and over the radio I heard that you have some bits, you can convert them over in the market, though the bit to cap ratio is a bit bad right now, not too long ago it was three or four caps for a bit so it might be a better idea to hold onto them.”

“Well, is there odd jobs I can do or something to earn some… caps?” I said, pausing a moment as it finally sunk in, they were using old discarded bottle caps as a currency, eventually, I hoped to find out why.

“There is a task board over by the outfitter, most jobs are tough pickings though - too many ponies not enough work I’m afraid.” The second guard said. “If you are really desperate for caps, we do have a bar here that’ll take walk-ins for escorting or dancing, if you’re any good at either of that.”

I paused and considered my options, to trade in the bits I had for a small pile of caps that wouldn’t last me very long, wait and scope out the job board to hopefully get a good-paying job or to simply go to that bar.

“We’ll see,” I said, shaking myself out of it. “So, You said that there is the outfitter, I suppose that’s where I can get clothing and armor?”

“Yes ma’am, all the shops are easily identifiable, just look for the sign.” the mare said with a chuckle “And if you can’t tell what the sign is, you can ask the shopkeep, they usually don’t have much problem talking your ear off if given the chance. Hell, ask them if they have any work - never know, might get lucky.”

“Is there anything else I should know before you two let me free?” I said, smiling a little nervously.

“Only one thing. Don’t piss off Aria, pissing her off is an easy way to get your flank thrown out of here.” The mare said with a sigh. “Not much a fan of her, I have to say, but she’s been the leader this place needed ever since she took it from our sleezelord.”

“So, don’t annoy the big boss, got it.” I said, nodding and smiling to the two before they stopped next to a door marked ‘guards only’ and turned to face me.

“Alright, check-in is done, you can go about the market.” The guard still wearing their helmet said.

“Wait, but we didn’t do anything,” I said, looking at them, then to the mare who was getting ready to put her helmet back on. “Is that really it? Just the tour?”

“Pretty much.” She said, smiling at me. “Get the guests orientated, make sure they know where everything is and what services are available to them, make them feel welcomed and valued, once that’s done we get to go back to the barracks and wait for the next one.”

“So, now I’m all alone?” I questioned, looking between the two. They both simply shrugged, waved to me then disappeared behind the door. I took a deep breath and turned around. Facing the loud, noisy hall in front of me suddenly I felt much more overwhelmed.

“Alright Solstice, you can do this, just maintain composure, it’s not like you’re Celestia knows how far away from home, in the ruins of a city that you’ve never been to and essentially broke… You’ve faced admittedly worse, you just need to stay strong.” I said to myself under my breath as I started to feel a bit of panic washing over me. “... But why alone?”

00000

I took some time to get my bearings, wandering around the marketplace just trying to feel my way around. Pausing outside a store that has a large neon sign in the shape of what looks to be a rifle. Coming up to the counter, an older stallion turned to face me, he looked grizzled and beaten, scars adorning his face and upper body like he had seen his fair share of battlefields.

“Ay there lass, what can I do for you.” He said, Smiling at me as he leaned over his counter.

“You’re a weapons merchant, right?” I said, taking a moment to return the smile, albeit mine was far more nervous and even a bit scared.

“Aye, that I am.” He said, chuckling and motioning behind him at all the weapons racks covered in various weapons and piles of ammunition.

“The sign said you offer the best conversion rate for bits to caps?” I said, smiling a little more nervously as the stallion’s eyes narrowed at me for a moment before he’d give a belly laugh.

“Aye, willin’ to be giving a cap for every two bits.” He said, giving an idle scratch at his face.

“That sounds backward if you don’t mind me saying,” I said, taking a deep breath and trying to maintain composure.

“Lass, I said what I meant, two bits for a cap.” He said, his expression turning more stern.

“Oh, I see,” I said, nervously looking around.

“Would have been better if you came in yesterday, caravan came through last night, apparently made it into an old bank vault, saturated the entire Skyport with so many bits ponies don’t know what to do with them.” He said, his expression returning to that more carefree and friendly expression it was before.

“So, how about jobs? Do you have any task I could do for you?” I said, smiling a little more earnestly.

“Not that I can th- wait no, actually, I do have somethin' you could be doing.” He said, chuckling and pointing across the way to a door. “Some Bloatsprites got in my storage shed recently, clear em out and I’ll make it worth your while.”

“What’s the pay?” I said, taking a deep breath.

“150 Caps” He said with a chuckle.

“150? That’s all? That doesn’t seem like much…” I said, sighing a little to myself.

“Fine, I’ll give you 200, that’s it any higher and it ain't worth the goods they’re blocking,” He said, giving a sigh of his own.

I paused and looked at him confused, I wasn’t even trying to get an increased price, just seemed like 150 caps was so low, 200 wasn’t much better but I wasn’t going to complain.

“Sure, you have yourself a deal,” I said, holding my hoof out to him, he paused and looked at it a second before he chuckled and shook it.

“Not every day a pony likes to seal a deal with a hoofshake,” he said with a chuckle “anything else I can do for you?”

“Yeah, What are bloatsprites?” I said with a nervous chuckle.

“Flyin critters, what happened to the Parasprites from before the war, but they’re all mutated now. Pretty mean too if you ain't careful.” He said, chuckling “Will that be it?”

I paused and thought to myself, before I nodded and smiled “Yeah, that’ll be all, I’ll be back when I finish clearing them out.”

With one final wave I moved on to the next stall, seeing a young mare and a robot by it, She was wiping down the counter while the robot was organizing and stocking the shelves. Coming up to them they both perked up and smiled at me.

“Hey, welcome to Skyport Supply,” She said with a cheerful smile. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before, you new?”

“Yeah, just blew in,” I said, to which the mare gave a bit of a laugh.

“Well then, what can I do for you?” She said, pushing the rag she had been handling before off to the side of the counter.

“Do you convert bits into caps?” I said with a smile.

“Oh absolutely! One to One in fact!” she said; cheerful as ever.

“That’s great to hear,” I said, smiling and breathing a sigh of relief. “Though I don’t suppose you can do better than one to one?”

“Nope, sorry, most places in the market aren’t even going to offer one to one,” She said, her cheery demeanor never dropping. “Most of 'em come to me with 'em anyway, I’m the only pony here that knows smithing.”

“Smithing?” I said, curiosity peaking for the moment.

“Y’know, melting down metals, casting them into other things. Most bits aren’t made of much worthwhile stuff, but I can cast figurines or ministry mare statuettes outta it.” She said, turning around and showing off a full set of the figurines, shimmering and polished bright. “Some of the trading caravans that come through really like 'em pays a good bit of caps for one.”

“Do you still have the originals?” I said, looking at those cast statuettes. “I heard that there were a very limited number of them made if you had the original set still that’d be something to be proud of.”

“Unfortunately not, just knew how to make the molds when I got my hooves on them one at a time, never got to keep them. Creepy items them, they seemed practically indestructible” She said with a chuckle. “I swear I heard voices when I had em.”

“Voices huh? Suppose you believe in ghosts then?” I said with a chuckle, she just laughed and shrugged. “So, anyway how about work, do you have any tasks I could do?”

“Not that I can think of, sorry! Maybe check back later, I tend to run out of things all the time and could use help getting more!” She said, I sighed and nodded, and turned to walk away, after a few steps she called out “What about the bits?”

“I’m going to hold onto them, I’m sorry,” I said, and for the first time, she frowned, and just went back to wiping down the counter. I just paused and looked at her for the moment, that robot never turning around or trying to interact with me at all.

Moving on again, stopping at a stand with a pony in a long white coat, a green cross logo in neon on display.

“Hey!” I said, walking up.

The pony jumped and turned around to face me. Seeing a young stallion’s face smiling at me.

“Howdy! When can I do for you?” He said, nervously chuckling. “Need patching up? Maybe want to change your looks? Spice up your life?”

“Ah, a doctor?” I said, chuckling a bit. “No, not at all.”

“Oh, I see… What do you need?” He said, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Actually, I’d like to see the supplies you have, if any are for sale,” I said with a smile, I wanted to judge the price of things.

When he opened a nearby cabinet, inside a display with healing potions, an assortment of bandages, as well as rad-away and radsafe. Going through and checking the prices, namely the healing potion, 20 caps for just one.

“Is 20 caps the best price for healing potions?” I asked, to which he just shrugged. “Seems caps aren’t exactly the same value as bits used to be… this might be problematic.”

“What was that?” he said, with a smile. When I backed away from the closet he’d swing the door shut. “Nothing catching your eye?”

“No just browsing, just… checking pricing is all.” I said, giving a smile back to him as I waved and moved away, coming back into what I would assume is a commons area, from the young fillies and colts running around and playing, and a number of ponies sitting and talking.

Staring at the door that leads to that shopkeep’s storage shed, thinking it couldn’t be so bad, I mean I have my rifle and if push comes to shove I can just deal with them with magic, why was it so terrifying to even consider?

“If you can’t even be bothered to go and clear out a shed full of bugs… how are you ever going to do anything else, I mean, come on, you squashed radroaches all the time in the stable, why would killing bloatsprites be any different” I said to myself, taking a deep breath and sighing.

“Was I in over my head? Should I have demanded to be brought back home? Even if I did, would those Griffons from before let me go or would they want to take revenge on me? Could I ever go home again without being followed and risking the whole stable?... Dear Celestia… what have I done?” I muttered to myself as I walked towards the shed, stopping at the door and checking my rifle one last time. “Guess this is my life now…”

Pressing my hoof to the door and taking a deep breath, the first thing that hit me as the door swung open was the absolute stench that came from within, Instantly my eyes started to water and I started to second guess myself, but I pushed forward.

“You’re going to need caps Solstice, you have to do this, no matter how bad it gets…” I said to myself, before covering my muzzle with a hoof. “... though a gas mask would help..”

I took a few more steps before I couldn’t take it anymore, bolting out the door and slammed it behind me.

“Nope nope nope, all of my nope,” I said, rapidly shaking my head.

“Did I forget to tell ye?” I heard that old stallion’s voice from before. “Bloatsprites stink somthin’ fierce.”

“Yeah, you forgot to tell me that,” I said as I shot him a glare. “Anything else you want to tell me?”

“Ye, there are supplies in there that have been abandoned for years, kill the bloatsprites I’ll let you take it for free.” He said with a chuckle.

I just stared at him for a moment or two, eye twitching ever so slightly before I let out a sigh. “Fine fine… do you at least have a gas mask?”

“Nope, those went extinct here ages ago sweetheart” he chuckled, turning around and heading back over to his stall. “Good luck though.”

“That old bastard..” I muttered under my breath, taking a moment to look back at the door I stood and shook my head, no way am I going in there, not yet.

Going back to the central seating area and plopping myself down into one of the seats, I took a deep breath and sighed. “This is a mess… maybe I should just go to the bar and see if they have any places for an escort…”

“A lovely mare like you? Escorting, now that’s funny.” I heard a stallion say from behind, caught off guard I turned to face him.

“What do you mean, isn’t that the kind of mare they want?” I said, frowning at him.

“You’re above that, I can see it in your eyes.” He said with a smirk. “Chestnut, Chestnut Chase, Grandson of the great Walnut, perhaps you’ve heard of me.”

“I… What?” I said, holding back my laughter. “I’m sorry, but I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“.. You’ve seriously never heard of us?” Chestnut said, his face turning to one of disbelief. “I thought everypony around here had heard about my Family… My grandfather was the elected official responsible for this community starting!”

“Ah, you see, I’m not from around here,” I said, snickering a little. “So, you’re all named after nuts? Is it because of your profession, or something else?”

“We used to be nut farmers before the storms got too intense and destroyed our fields.” He said, starting to scowl. “Perhaps I was wrong and you wouldn’t like my sponsoring.”

“... Sponsoring?” I said, looking at him confused.

“You clearly have nowhere near enough caps to survive in this area, and I was willing to give you a generous donation if you’d agree to a few set things for me,” Chestnut said, his calmer almost regal demeanor returning.

“You just... Want to give me money?” I said, even more confused. “And what would you want me to do in return?”

“Attend a meeting later with me, my father is afraid I will never sire a grandchild for him to live on the legacy and if you can pretend to be my marefriend for one night he’ll leave me alone,” Chestnut said, sitting beside me and sighing.

“That’s it?” I said, laughing a little. “I just have to help you get your dad off your back?”

“It may require some… kissing and touching, mind you, my family has always been very forward and open with our relationships, it was not uncommon to find father and mother in the lobby… going at it. If you get what I mean.” He said, nervously chuckling.

“So, there is a chance you might want to… with me… so you basically want me to be an escort for you, but to pretend to be your marefriend at the same time?” I said with a deep breath. “And how many caps are we talking here?”

“I’m afraid so.” He said, with a deep sigh.

“So much for being too lovely of a lady for escorting, huh?” I said with a chuckle.

“I would believe a total of three thousand caps would be more than enough for your service, would be ten times more than you’d get per client at the bar.” He said, trying to regain composure.

“Three thousand? That’s it? Really?” I sighed “is that all my company, and potentially my body, is worth to you?”

“Five thousand?” He said, nervously. “Wait no, Eight! Eight thousand?”

“You’re really desperate for this, aren’t you,” I said with a chuckle, “Fine, you have a deal, Eight thousand caps, upfront, paid right now.”

“Yes, ma’am!” He said, pulling out a satchel of caps and dropped them in my hoof. “I look forward to later!”

I had half a mind to take the caps and run, but a part of me really feels that doing so would just be a disservice to me and other stable dwellers like me, and I really didn’t want to be the cause of an entire settlement being untrusting.

“How bad could it be…” I muttered under my breath, chuckling a little and shaking my head. “Knowing my luck, daddy dearest is going to expect him to pin and rut me at the dinner table.”

I paused at that, thinking to myself a little more, reconsidering the idea of taking the money and running, but where would I run to? Trying to escape the area looked like it would be suicide, between unstable rubble and unpredictable storms, simply not worth the risk. Maybe I should just accept it and do as expected.

I took a deep breath, looking at the satchel of caps in my hoof, bouncing it, throwing it a few times. Contemplating my options and the choices that soon I would definitely have to make.

00000

Minutes seemed like hours as I sat there fiddling with that heavy satchel, taking a moment to stop and peer inside. The pile and weight of these bottle caps were impressive, but I still wondered their worth. Shrugging I slipped from my seat and put the Bag into my bags.

“Okay, let's not dwell Solstice, you’ve made worse decisions in the past and never doubted yourself like this, why start now,” I said to myself, brushing myself off and taking a quick look around. “Maybe, it’d be a good idea to get something to eat…”

Wandering my way back into the market area nearby, taking a look at multiple stands before sighing, wondering to myself if I’d ever find something that looks palatable before a familiar smell caught my attention. Following my nose to a corner stall and ducking my head under the curtain, I saw a young stallion standing there, levitating and handling some fresh noodles.

“Oh thank the goddesses, are you open?” I asked as he looked at me with a slightly confused look.

“Nan-ni shimasu-ka?” He said, tilting his head

“I.. uh… what?” I said, staring at him about as equally confused.

“Dunno, we used to have a robot that would only say that.” He said with a chuckle. “What can I get you?”

Slipping into the shop and taking a seat at a stool nearest to the young stallion. “Sure… uh… how about…” I said, pausing to look at the menu, none of these names looked or sounded familiar at all. Scratching at my chin for a few moments before I simply smiled and said “Uh… how about the house special?”

“Good choice!” He said, still handling the fresh noodles he had been pulling as he turned to tend to and mix a pot full of, what I believe to be a soup of sorts.

“What is the house special?” I said, nervously

“Oh, it’s a mixture of our secret blend of herbs and spices, with a helping of our fresh pulled noodles, and chunks of radroach to liven it up and get some extra protein in,” He said without missing a beat. “Not every pony has the stomach to eat them, but those who do say it's actually not that bad.”

He said, turning around to face me, the way he looked at me I would swear my face was literally green. My stomach doing somersaults at the idea of eating anything related to radroaches.

“Uh… we do have a soy substitute if you don't want the radroach?” He said, nervously.

“Yes, please,” I said, nodding rapidly before breathing a sigh of relief.

“Should have told you that when you ordered huh?” He said with a chuckle. “Sometimes I forget that not everypony can stomach some of the harder stuff.”

“It’s not that, I’m sure when I adjust to food out here I’ll be fine,” I said, sighing a little. “Food in the stable was never so… eccentric, for lack of a better word.”

“Stable huh? You didn’t strike me as a Stable Dweller, felt you were more like maybe an estranged steel ranger or maybe really bad enclave spy.” He said with a chuckle.

“Steel Ranger? Enclave? What the hay is that?” I said with a huff.

“Two militaristic factions of the wasteland, authoritarian, their way or no way kind of bunch.” He said with a chuckle. “Then you have the New Canterlot Republic and the Free Roam Alliance, those two are… about as ‘eccentric’ as our food.”

“Are they around here?” I said, taking a moment to look over my shoulder.

“Enclave’s been sniffing at our door for a while, they really want to get their hooves on the Skyport, but thanks to the storms they’ve never been able to get close. Think its bad down here? It’s worse up there. High-level winds strong enough to rip a Thunderhead apart.”

“A what?” I said I could feel my eye twitch a little.

“Uh… a large Warship, bad news, very bad news.” He said with a chuckle. “They’ve sent spies to try and undermine us, to destabilize our community, really anything they can to try and get us to leave, or make us so weak a ground invasion doesn’t get wiped.”

“Definitely sounds like a nasty bunch,” I said with a sigh. “So, is there any other factions I need to work with, around, or worry about?”

“Nope, other than us.” He said. Placing a bowl on the counter and spooning some soup into it.

“Us? As in everyone in the Skyport and mall?” I asked.

“Yep, that’s about our limit, we used to be a much rougher and tumble kind of bunch, but then old man Walnut started a small trading outpost, it grew, attracted attention, eventually grew big enough the storms were a threat, cleared out the alicorns that set up shop here and hung our flag at the door.” He said, pushing the bowl over to me.

“Alicorns? You mean there are more than the four?” I asked, straightening my back a little and looking at the soup, despite what was supposed to be in it, I had to admit it looked quite attractive and tasty no less.

“Yep, a bunch of Alicorns run the wastes now under the flag of a monstrosity that called herself the goddess.” He said, stepping around the counter and sitting next to me. “Though if the rumor is right, the goddess is dead and Maripony is a smoking crater now.”

“Are they a threat? The alicorns?” I said, taking a spoonful of soup and examining it more closely.

“Nah, they are pretty docile unless you threaten them, at least around these parts. They like to preach a lot though, get pretty annoying.” He said with a shrug. “Was tempted to join them for a little while, but then I found out if I went through with it I’d be turned into a mare, and well - I’m pretty much attached to how I am now, been this way as long as I can remember.”

I paused my examining of the soup to look at him, wondering in the back of my mind if that was an attempt at a joke, or if he was hinting that he hasn’t always been the stallion I see before me. His goofy smile being a bit of a telltale sign it was a bad joke.

Giving a little laugh myself, before absent-mindedly taking that spoonful I had been looking at and stuffing it in my mouth. Freezing the instant it hit my tongue, contemplating the taste now literally filling my mouth. The only thing that came to mind, wasn’t gross, wasn’t disgusting, but it wasn’t delicious either, it was SPICY.

I eventually broke free of my stupor and pulled that spoon from my mouth, looking at him as he smirked and laughed a little.

“I guess I should have told you that most of those herbs and spices are pretty hot.” He said, reaching over the counter and grabbing what looked like a small vial of cloudy fluid. “Here, this should kill some of the spice.”

He gently uncorked the vial and put the fluid in my soup, mixing it for a moment before he motioned to me to taste it again.

Once again, taking the spoon in my aura, taking a spoonful of liquid to my nose, taking a sniff and definitely smelling more of a citrus smell, before tentatively taking a sip from the spoon, the spice was still there, but a bit more tolerable, though there was definitely more than a hint of lemon in it now.

“Lemon juice?” I said, looking at him.

“Not quite, it’s in the same family from lemons, but we’re not sure what to call it - really it's just a mutated lemon that grows like an orange,” he said with a shrug. “Citrus counters spice, so a little of it and it can calm the burn.”

“I see,” I said, before more eagerly taking another spoonful of soup. “You must be big on culinary arts if you know stuff like that.”

“Not really, keeping in mind most ponies around here like a bit more burn for some reason, but not every trader that comes through enjoys a mouth of fire every bite.” He said with a shrug. “This is just where I’ll be until I can get a trader caravan going the right way towards my dream.”

“What’s that?” I commented, chuckling a little.

He just walked to a nearby window and pointed to the three towers looming in the distance. “To get there, to see what is there, who is there, those towers are protected better than the Skyport and mall, somepony has to be there, but they’re too far away to travel on hoof.”

I stared out the window at those towers for a few moments, they looked ominous against the wasted skyline of the destroyed city, yet even the lights on the antenna reaching high into the sky and clouds glowed brightly.

“What then? Where are you going to go afterward?” I said, turning back to him.

“Don’t know, maybe find a mare, settle down, have a few hellraisers to carry on my legacy,” he said with a laugh, getting up and going behind the counter. “And don’t worry about the soup, it’s on the house.”

I stopped and looked at him in confusion once more.

“Technically, we’re closed for the evening - The register is locked and even if I wanted you to pay for it, it’s not proper to ask a lovely young lady to pay for her first meal,” He said with a smile. “You going to be at the bar later?”

I paused and looked at him for a few moments. “Do you think I’m an escort?”

“Nope!” he said cheerily “I was hoping I would find you there and we could talk some more. Not every day you have a blank slate that has literally no clue about anything”

“I see,” I said, taking another spoonful of soup before I smiled at him. “That’s very sweet of you, but I have a… for lack of a better word, a date later with Chestnut Chase.”

“Him? Why him?” He said, almost sounding insulted.

“Well, he offered me eight thousand caps if I agreed to pretend to be his girlfriend and got his dad off his back,” I said with a sigh. “Really, having second thoughts about that.”

The shopkeeper's eyes went wide at the mention of the value “Guess he’s running out of options, huh?” He said, chuckling a little. “Wonder when he’s going to tell his dad, he’s gay.”

To that, my eyes went wide and I looked at him. “You’re joking? He’s gay? I had no idea…” I said, taking a moment to peer back at the satchel of caps.

“Well, in my more adventurous times before deciding stallions aren’t for me he was a flame of mine.” He said with a chuckle. “When you’re young and questioning a lot of things, you think that may be a good choice in partner could be other guys”

I gagged a little on the soup at that, stifling a chuckle.

“So, you’re telling me - if he has to… with me tonight, to get his dad off his back…” I said, snickering a little under my breath.

“He’ll never be able to complete.” He laughed a little. “Trust me, he’s as gay as they come, I see him eyeballing a lot of the traders that come through, I think he’s planning on diving out with one of them and running away.”

“Huh, sounds romantic,” I said, snickering a little, feeling a little more confident with his laugh.

“Like one of your fillyhood books, right?” he said, laughing a bit more. “It’s the wasteland, anything can happen, even twisted versions of foal’s books.”

The two of us laughed at this for a short while, before I’d quickly finish up my soup, despite him saying it was free giving him quite the generous tip and waving goodbye to him as I slipped from the shop.

Pausing to look at a clock, taking a deep breath as I noticed the time.

“Almost showtime,” I said, sighing a little and adjusting my bags one last time.

00000

Only a few moments passed before Chestnut would come and collect me, leading me along the halls and corridors of the Skyport, pausing every now and then to look at his watch.

“So, I heard you’re gay,” I said, rather blatantly.

He froze in his tracks and turned to face me. “Who told you?”

I swear if the color from his coat could drain away, he would be as white as a ghost right now.

“Shopkeeper at the noodle bar?” I said, with a nervous smile, not expecting it to be something so intense.

“I see..” He said, taking a deep breath and sighing. “You haven’t told anyone have you?”

“Why would I? I only found out when I said that I needed to pretend to be your marefriend tonight and was worried you’d want to go all out with me.” I said, breathing a short sigh.

“It’s not in my hooves, what father says goes, and if he demands I do it, I have to,” Chestnut said, sighing and shaking his head. “I hope he doesn’t, I could never… produce… for a mare.”

“I guess that’ll be a bridge we’ll cross when we get to it,” I said, chuckling a little. “I used to be convinced I was into mares, I tried my hardest to get and keep a marefriend, never could keep them,”

“Could you please them?” Chestnut said looking at me, looking a little concerned.

“Like, in the sack? I mean, I’d hope so… the last one I could really get going.” I said, shrugging. “But it’s like we never clicked, you know?”

“Oh absolutely! It was like that when I tried to get a marefriend and convince myself I'm not what I am” He said, starting to relax. “Though they really wanted me to… you know, and I could never actually do it no matter how we tried.”

“They just didn’t really get you going, huh?” I said, looking at him with a smirk.

“They got me going just fine, but I just… couldn’t complete, okay? I couldn’t produce for them and that left them dissatisfied” He said, sounding a little embarrassed.

“Hey, Look at it this way, if you and I need to for your dad’s sake, at least I don’t need to come and visit in eleven months,” I said with a laugh.

“Silver linings, huh?” He laughed back.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed a lot of that recently, for every dark storm cloud I’ve run into today, there has always been a silver lining to it,” I said with a chuckle. “I never really believed there could be good even in the worst of the bad, but today is proving me wrong.”

Chestnut went to say something before a set of large doors in front of us swung open, standing there a very stern-looking older stallion, with what appeared to be what some would call a trophy mare beside him.

“D-Dad!” He said with a nervous laugh before he motioned to me “This is my marefriend S… uh…. Sol?”

“Solstice,” I said, reaching a hoof out to that older stallion. “Nice to meet you, sir.”

“Solstice huh?” He said, looking me over for a moment, pacing around me. “Why have I never seen you around here before?”

Chestnut looked like he was about to panic.

“Trader Caravan sir, offer my security services any time I find one heading this way so I get to spend more time with your son, sir,” I said, falling back on my military training more than anything.

“Impressive, a mare that can fight.” He said, his tone condescending. “Ample breeding stock from the looks of it too, nice wide flanks, lithe and lean barrel.”

“Sir, may I request that you do not talk about my aptitude for having foals,” I said, resisting the urge to tell him off. “When Chestnut and I decide we’re ready, you can rest assured we will definitely consider it.”

“Y-yes! Absolutely” Chestnut said, just trying to play along and work with me.

“If you are to be with my son, and become a part of my family, I want to know that my son has good taste and is not bringing a barren hag into my family. We’re a proud and wealthy group, and only the best are fit to join.” He said, standing in front of me. “Though you do have the gall to stand up to me, and speak your mind, I respect that.”

The next few moments were admittedly quite tense, between his father looking at me, still checking me out I could tell as his eyes wandered around, Chestnut looking like he was about to burst, I can feel my frustration mounting, pushing me to want to yell at and tell this stallion off for this poor behavior.

“And here I was afraid you were going to just go and throw a bag of caps at some floozy in the promenade to get her to pose as your marefriend, glad to see that I was wrong.” He said, moving back over to his trophy wife of a mare. “She is acceptable.”

Chestnut breathed a sigh of relief and looked like the weight of the world had been pulled from his shoulders. A few moments later his father went back to what appeared to be an elevator and disappeared behind the doors.

“So, you going to tell me why you didn’t stand up to him and get him to back off when he was checking me out,” I said, turning to Chestnut with a frown.

“I’m too scared of him to dare tell him what he’s doing is wrong,” Chestnut said, with a sigh and gently rubbed the back of his neck. “As I said, it's best to just do what dad says and let things be as they are, then tell him off and try and make him stop.”

“I’ll try, but I’ll have it be known speaking my mind is something I’ve always been an advocate for,” I said with a sigh. “So where to next?”

“My room to prepare for dinner, I have a dress that I hope to the goddesses above will fit you,” Chestnut said, giving a soft smile at me before giving a sigh and shaking his head. “I hate this, I really hate this, I hate pretending to be somepony I’m not just to appease my dad.”

“We all have to do things we don’t want to do, it’s a part of growing up,” I said, shaking my head with a sigh “Though pretending to be something you’re not is a new one to me, are you sure he’d be so against if you told him you’re gay?”

“Back when Grandpa ran the Skyport, any time a pony came out as… well, like me, they were put out and usually, the storms got them.” Chestnut said, sighing a bit more. “Dad was always looking up to his father for that, I think if given the chance he’d do it too.”

“But your dad isn’t the boss?” I said, tapping a hoof. “He can’t put you out and let the storms kill you, others would surely let you back in, right?”

“I suppose, but I’d be cut off from my mom, my family, my money, why in Equestria would I want to do that?” he said, standing and starting to walk to a nearby door.

I just sighed to myself, shaking my head and following him, a sinking feeling that tonight is about to get a whole hell of a lot longer.

Chapter 3: Revelations and Revolutions

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.