Chapter One: The Raider Slayer

"The caps I get from this, I get from looting the raiders, you can keep it."

"OK everypony, before we Fully get into this I need to tell you, the wasteland was full of terrible ponies who did terrible things, and most of those ponies used some of the worst language imaginable, so when we get to one of those very bad ponies, I will say Bleep instead when they use a bad word. Now, where was I? Oh right."

*** *** ***

I was crouching on a hilltop looking out towards a nearby encampment that was infested by Raiders, it was easy to tell it was raiders do to... What they used as decorations. After making sure my heavy shotgun was fully loaded, I headed toward the camp trying to stay unnoticed for now. I kept quiet till I got close enough to the entrance of the camp where two raiders were standing guard.

"hey, you hear the news? apparently there's some, Raider Slayer, out here in the Wasteland" I heard one of the Raider guards say.

"a raider, slayer? ha! probably some BLEEPING idiot with a death wish"

"I don't know, it sounds like this guy has already taking out a bunch of gangs already"

"well I aint afraid of no BLEEPING Raider Slayer, If I ever see this BLEEPING idiot I'll blow his BLEEPING br-"

BLAM!

"SON OF A-!"

BLAM!

The heads of the Raiders exploded from the shots of my shotgun.

"did you hear that?"

"It came from over there! check it out!"

Guess my shots did not go unnoticed, stealth was never really my thing anyway. I cocked my shotgun and headed into the raider camp.

*** *** ***

I managed to eliminate most of the raiders in the camp while only getting a few cuts and bruises, but I've dealt worse, I have the missing eye to prove it. only one raider remained, plus the raider boss of this camp. I saw the remaining raider run off into what used to be an old pre-war house, the raider boss was probably inside, most likely with hostages too. I followed the raider into the ruined house.

"Boss! Boss" the Raider ran up to the second floor of the building to where the raider boss was.

"What is going on out there!? It sounds like a BLEEPING war zone out there!" I heard the raider boss say.

"It's the slayer! he's here!"

"The Slayer!? BLEEP, and you weren't able to kill one BLEEPING pony!?"

"he's already killed all of us! I was the only one to es-"

BLAM!

The Raider's body fell to the floor lifeless and I cocked my shotgun and walked towards the boss with my gun pointed at his head.

"BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP!" he started to back up away from me before finding a dull knife on a nearby table and tried to slash me with it. I knocked it out of his jaw with the butt of my gun before he had the chance to. "BLEEP!"

"It is time for you to die you bleeping Raider" I said witch my gun pointed close to the Raider boss's head.

"... did, you just censor yourself? are you a BLEEPING ide-"

BLAM!

The Raider Boss's head exploded as his body fell to the floor.

"So uncivilized" I looked around the room, the room was decorated with mutilated bodies of the unfortunate victims of the raiders, in the corner of the room where a few cages, one of which had a still living pony inside. I looted the body of the Raider boss and found the keys to the cages. I used the keys and unlocked the cage with the pony inside. "The Raiders are dead, you are free to go"

"I'm... Free?" The unicorn Mare said with a bit of surprise in her voice. "Thank you, Thank you, I don't have much, but please take what I got." She handed me a sack of caps into my hooves.

"The caps I get from this, I get from looting the raiders, you can keep it."

"Thank you, oh thank you" she took the caps back from my hooves. "My name's Rain by the way, thanks for freeing me"

"It was no problem, they call me the Raider Slayer, I do this a lot. by any chance have you seen a young unicorn filly while you were with the raiders? kindove in her teens, same coat color as me, but with a blue mane and tail, also likely wearing a necklace with a bellfire bomb shaped pendant on it?"

"Sorry, I haven't seen anypony like that while I was here, sorry. was she special to you?"

"Yes, she is my daughter"

"what is her name?"

"Flare."

"If I ever see her, I'll let her know you're looking for her."

"Thank you."

"I'm gonna go now, thank you again for freeing me. If you're ever in Gear Town, stop by Starlight Supplies and say hi."

"It is very unlikely that I'll ever visit Gear Town, but if I do, I'll say hi."

With that, Rain headed to the bottom floor of the building and I heard what I assume was her opening a chest downstairs. when she left I saw she was now wearing a blue worn out hoodie, likely hers before the Raiders got her.

After she left, I looked around the camp in search for anything that could help me, I didn't find any signs of Flare at this place, just like all the other raider camps I've liberated. after looking around and looting the place for caps a bit more, I left the remains of the Raider camp and let the raider corpses rot like their victims.

*** *** ***

"Gooood evening wastelanders! It is your voice of the post apocalypse, DJ-Pon3! coming at you live, from the manehattan Bleep hole, aint life grand. looks like we have a bit of news tonight children! looks like The Raider Slayer has struck agian! I have gotten word that raider camps to the north of New Appaloosa have been Raided and liberated by our friend, The Raider Slayer. Raiders being Raided, aint that some sweet sweet irony. good job Slayer, your making this wasteland better with each raider you slay. now, let's back to the music"

My deeds as a Raider Slayer spread quickly thru these desolate wastes, DJ-Pon3 finds out about all the heroes that try to make the wasteland a better place, I stopped asking how he learns all this information a long time ago. but now I'm the one he's talking about on the radio, but I aint no hero, just a father trying to find his lost little girl in the cruelest, sickest, and most dangerous place known to pony kind. the Equestrian Wasteland.

After my most recent Raider camp liberation, I found a small hill a short distance away from the raider camp I took out and decided to rest up for the night, I made a campfire, layed down my things and layed down myself. This has been my routine for the last few months, I think anyway, I never kept track. I wake up, wander the wasteland, slay some raiders, look for any sign of Flare, then go to sleep. I've been doing this ever since... ever since I lost everything.

I took out a small picture frame from my saddle bags, a picture frame with a photo of a happy family, my family, out in front of an old train car we used as our house. a family of a caring father, a loving mother, and an adorable little filly.

"Flare... where are you..."

I returned the precious photo to my saddle bag and looked into the fire, thinking of the family from the photo until the need of sleep overcame my eyes, and everything faded to black...

Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: Raider Slayer - your hatred for the Raiders of the wasteland has made you stronger against them, you deal +20 points against raiders.

Author's Note

If you want to see artwork of the characters and moments of this story, check out my Deviantart page here. and be that I mean click the word here, and it will take you to my Deviantart page.