Fallout: Equestria - Red Glare

“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