Chapter 10.2

After I paid the toll, the gate in front of me started lifting, revealing a rudimentary wooden construct, as well as a pegasus ghoul holding me at gunpoint. She was aiming two shotguns mounted on a battle saddle at me.

“Don’t shoot!” I pleaded. She didn’t have a reason to, but I preferred to play it safe.

“Not the plan. I’m just here so you don’t get any funny ideas,” explained the mare. I had to admit, I was quite worried she might accidentally shoot me. I knew first hoof how easy it was to accidentally pull a trigger when talking.

“I’m not looking for trouble, I swear. I’m just passing through.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “You coming from Dodge?” I nodded. “I see. Leaving ‘cause of the bandit attacks?”

I shook my head. “Not exactly. The bandit attacks were why I stayed there for as long as I did. I was hoping to get a job guarding some caravans, but always ended up getting denied.”

She pushed the trigger bit away from her mouth. I suspected it was equally out of comfort and as a show of good faith. “Oh, you’re a gun for hire? I thought you looked a bit young, but I suppose you might be just short.” She thought I looked young and still aimed a gun at me?

“Yeah, that’s exactly why nopony would hire me. A rumour got out that I really am a foal. Not a single caravan would accept my help then,” I lied through my teeth. Well, it wasn’t a complete lie, anyway. In the end, they didn’t want to work with me because they thought I was just a kid; it didn't matter that they were actually right.

“Well… if you’re still looking for work, we happen to need some help. You’ll need to talk out the details with our boss, Rotrick, though.”

This took me by surprise, and I happily chirped, “Gladly!” I immediately corrected myself, “Uh, I mean, gladly, if the pay is right.” I didn’t wanna sound as desperate as I was.

I almost couldn’t believe my luck, though. First place after I’d left Dodge city, and I’d already gotten a job!

Up until then, I’d been scrounging by, finding the occasional bag or can of food, but overall struggling. The extra caps this would bring in would allow me to finally eat properly for the first time in weeks. Ever since I’d parted ways with Bricks, work and caps had been very sparse. I’d even resorted to some rather immoral ways to survive, such as thievery.

“Wait here for a second. I’d lead you there myself, but I don’t like abandoning gate duty for longer than necessary,” the mare told me before flying off. I couldn’t help but be amazed that a pony could fly even with her wings in such a condition. How were they even keeping her afloat? There was no way they moved enough air… Probably magic, I thought.

Soon after, she returned. “Cool, turns out I found the boss faster than expected, he’ll get here soon. Wanna chat till then?”

“Sure, why not?” I replied insincerely. I didn’t want to deal with small talk, but I also didn’t want to get on her wrong side. That was the last thing I needed right now.

“You any good with that rifle of yours?” She pointed to the semi-automatic strapped to my back, which I’d gotten from my attackers near New Appleloosa.

“I’m pretty confident in it, but I haven’t really had the chance to compare my shooting to other mercenaries. I’m definitely better than the average raider, if my trip by the Pony Joe’s near Dodge is anything to judge my skills by.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You mean you cleared a raider camp all alone?”

I nodded. “Well, I wasn’t alone, but my companion only killed one of them. Although, he probably could’ve taken on the entire band.” I hesitated for a moment. “Or maybe not. Anyway, he stayed by my side and only smashed the last raider’s skull when she came into striking range.” He blinked in surprise, and I added, “I don’t expect you to believe me. Dodge City’s citizens didn’t believe me either.”

“I’ll admit I have my doubts. If you’d told me you fought them off with your bare hooves, I definitely would have called your bluff, but you might just be as good a shot as you claim to be.” Not only had she believed my lie about my age, but she also believed this? This was almost too good to be true. Maybe talking to her wasn’t as bad as I thought. “Oh, I haven’t introduced myself, have I? Name’s Dragonbreath.”

“Iron Sights,” I replied. “Nice to meet you,” I added almost genuinely.

We continued idly chatting for a few more minutes before another ghoul joined us. He took a look at me, then turned to Dragonbreath, frowning. “You… told me to hire a filly?”

I was about to protest, but the mare took my defense quicker than I could. “She’s not a filly. Can’t you tell by the look on her face? She’s clearly just a bit short.”

The buck raised an eyebrow, then examined me with his gaze. I gave him my best murderous stare, and he admitted defeat to Dragonbreath. “If you say so.” Turning to me again, he said, “Follow me to town.”

I nodded and started trotting forward. “So, Miss…?” he started.

“Iron Sights.”

“So, Iron, with a name like yours, I suspect you know how to shoot a rifle. Would you mind showing me once we get to the main base? Just to make sure you have what it takes.”

At first, I interpreted this comment as him doubting my skills because of my young appearance. Before I could protest, however, I realised it was something he would likely ask anypony in this position. “Yeah, of course,” I responded.

We spent the rest of the way there discussing the terms. I was to be paid ten caps a day for basic guard duty for two weeks, possibly longer. He didn’t really know how the situation would evolve, but they did have a problem with a huge group of raiders attacking ponies in the region. He was afraid they would attack the gang to take over their territory some time soon, but there was also the chance they would simply ignore the ghouls altogether.

On top of the pay, they would get me food and water for free. Apparently there was an untainted spring around here and lots of preserved food. I normally would have complained about having to eat pre-spell food for two weeks straight, but in my current famished state, I drooled over the idea of filling my stomach.

Of course, on top of guard duty, I would also have to help mount a defense, should push come to shove. This was the primary reason for my presence here, after all. As an incentive, I would get an extra twenty caps for each enemy I would down. And I’d get paid for any ammo used during the attack.

As Rotrick led me to the town, one of the things that stood out to me were the—mostly broken—wind turbines scattered around the hills. Those weren’t a common sight in the wasteland, as Equestria’s primary sources of energy were based on other resources. However, due to the peculiar geography of this place, it wasn’t so surprising to find at least some of those here.

Another thought struck me, and I promptly voiced it. “Say, if my time in the wasteland has taught me anything, it’s that forests are generally bad news. Don’t you have issues with the wildlife around here?”

Without looking back, he answered, “Not really. We don’t usually venture out into the denser parts of the forest where I suspect most critters stay. At night it’s a bit of a different story, ‘cause some of them dare to come onto the roads, but never approach our place. And even then, it’s rather uncommon to see one, but it is something that keeps us from wandering around too far after sunset.”

I felt myself raise an eyebrow, despite not making eye contact. “So you don’t have ponies doing guard duty at night? Otherwise you’d constantly be losing members to the wildlife.”

“Oh, the beasts never bother getting that far out of the forest, either. Don’t worry about that. It’s mostly the paths that pass by clusters of trees that are worrisome at night. One such path would be the one leading to the spring we get our water from, or the one connecting the village to the bridge. It’s why night shifts are so unpopular. The safest place to spend the night—apart from the town, that is—is usually right by the gate, and you pretty much have to stay there all night, even if you’re only scheduled for a few hours.”

“That sounds inconvenient,” I admitted.

“You’re telling me…”

To my right, the hill continued upwards, to my left, downwards. In the distance, I could see a turn in the road, with a building next to it. As we slowly approached it, more houses appeared behind the corner. The yards looked like they used to be large gardens, but in their current state, they were little above pitiful. In fact, they only consisted of patches of dead grass and mud. The skeletal remains of a hedge surrounded one of these parcels.

Most of the buildings looked relatively intact, the only damage being the paint peeling off, as well as a couple missing tiles. A few, however, were missing parts of their roof or had large holes in their façades.

I was surprised by how… ordinary this place looked. I didn’t know what I had been expecting, but this resembled the average ruined suburban town. Maybe I thought a gang of ghouls would live differently from the norm? Perhaps it was the lack of radioactive material that threw me off.

Rotrick led me further into town, and a building close to the edge stood out to me. Time had eroded most of the earth around it, leaving its concrete foundation to stick out to the back side. It seemed dangerously close to simply sliding down into the valley.

The ghoul buck turned around to face me. “I’m gonna need to set up the bottles for you to shoot at, so wait here for a bit.” Over the next five or so minutes, he did just that. After walking away from the makeshift targets, he motioned for me to start shooting.

I was confused, though. “How far back should I go?” I asked him, unsure of how exactly to ask it. I couldn’t really move away far enough without breaking line of sight.

“Oh, from here will do just fine.”

“No offense, sir, but… it’s barely fifty-ish metres,” I hesitated, hoping I wasn’t crossing a line.

“It’s good enough. We’re not looking for sharpshooters, just anypony that will help us gun down raiders.” The buck cleared his throat, producing an unnatural sound in the process. “See, we lost a few members in the past week or two, and we’ve never been a very aggressive bunch, so anypony who can handle a gun will do.” A gang whose members weren’t wild about fighting? Was that as strange as I thought, or was my mind poisoned by pre-war literature that always painted them in such a light?

Regardless, I didn’t dare doubt the ghoul and simply unholstered my IFD-10 semi-automatic rifle, undid the safety, and shot down the bottles as quickly as I was comfortable. As expected, it wasn’t any challenge, except for the thoughts at the back of my head whining about wasting precious ammunition on such a menial task.

When I looked over to Rotrick, his expression was somewhere between pleased and slightly impressed. “Well, that’s all I needed to see. Would you mind starting in a few hours? I’d need to reschedule some shifts, but I think Buckshot would appreciate getting the afternoon off. We’ve all been working our flanks off trying to keep this place safe ever since the raiders showed up, but he and his sister have been working harder than any of us.” At my raised eyebrow, he quickly added, “His sister being Dragonbreath, that is.”

“Sure, I have no problem with that.” If I get paid an extra day, I added mentally. I couldn’t tell if it would be rude to say it out loud. I really needed this job.

Afterwards, he showed me where I could sleep. I was given the choice between staying at the common heated dorm or getting my own place—a small, relatively intact pre-war house nearby. Given that my bedroll was warm enough, I opted for some privacy. He left me to my devices, and I ended up reading an old fantasy novel that had somehow survived all these years in the home. It didn’t bring forth any particularly original concepts, but was a fun read nonetheless.

When he later came by, I left the book here, along with all my other distracting belongings. As much as I dreaded boredom, I wanted to do a good job. I wanted to prove myself and show him he’d made the right choice. Too bad the book was really interesting, and I’d gotten so drawn in that I craved reading it some more.

As my shift started, I found my thoughts continuously drifting towards the book I’d closed earlier. Realising I was getting distracted, I decided to focus my attention on observing the wasteland before me. In the far distance, the land stretched on all the way to the horizon, its monotonous, reddish-brown flatness only interrupted by the occasional giant boulders.

My eyes followed the road from where it disappeared behind the horizon back towards myself. I noticed a few blotches of brown that I could only assume to be scorpions—I’d seen a few on my way here. Raising the binoculars that had been lent to me, I took a better look. They were simply scuttling forward across the road. As quickly as they’d caught my interest, they lost it again.

My gaze continued to follow the road, and I wondered how far the next settlement was from here. Memories of walking towards Fillydelphia alongside Candy resurfaced and rapidly led to me missing her. I suddenly craved a nice sip of wine. I couldn’t, though. What if Rotrick noticed and decided to fire me? Besides, I’d left my recently opened bottle in my saddlebags back in the village.

The hours painfully crawled by as I had absolutely nothing to do except watch and contemplate my life, my brain torturing me with bad memories. Regrets kept piling up, my train of thought constantly returning to the same exact ones. How I’d caused Candy unnecessary suffering, and how I’d ultimately caused her death. Those thoughts played on loop in my head until I couldn't take it anymore.

As my mind continued to fog up with remorse, I found myself unable to focus on anything else. I eventually decided to write about it on my PipBuck, if only to hopefully get it out of my system. At first I’d hesitated, but given how good the visibility was from up here, I figured it would be okay if I distracted myself. As long as I looked up from time to time, it would be fine.

Finally, after what felt like three eternities, evening came around, and I was free to leave as my replacement arrived. Despite how badly I’d wanted to continue reading my novel earlier in the day, now I simply wanted to sleep. How could boredom be so exhausting? I wanted to drink, but I didn’t have much left and wasting it on a short evening wouldn’t be very smart. Maybe one of the ghouls had some they’d be willing to share? Though I didn’t really feel like asking them. Too much effort. I’d just call it an early night.

My plans to avoid pony interactions came to an end as soon as I entered Macintown. “So, how was your first shift, rookie?” rasped somepony above me.

I tried my best to not sound like I was complaining. “Uneventful,” I replied as she landed next to me.

“If by that you mean boring as all fuck, then that’s just how gate duty is. The boss shoulda told you to grab a book or something.” Now I felt silly, but still as unmotivated for small talk. Wait, is she recommending bad work ethic?

“Yeah, I’ll remember to do that for next time. Now I just want to get some shut-eye.” No matter her intentions, I would not be roped into talking to her any longer.

“Aw, really? That sucks. I was hoping you’d join me and the boys for a drink.”

I felt my ears perk up and the corners of my mouth stretch into a thin smile. Probably wasn’t a good sign, but in the moment, I couldn’t care less. “I wasn’t aware that was an option. ”

“Getting drunk is always an option around these parts, my dear. We’re a gang of ghouls with nowhere to go, and we control a—somewhat—popular route. Drinking is what we live for.”

“Great, I’ll go grab my bottle, then.”

The rest of the evening was spent leisurely chatting about any and every topic with Dragonbreath and her brother. I ended up learning that three gang members had died in an ambush set by the raiders. This only left five ponies to perform gate duty—Rotrick, Buckshot, Dragonbreath, and two others whose names I ended up forgetting. With three shifts a day and two gates, this ended up leaving one of them to do a double shift every day. I’d gotten a shorter shift today, and wasn’t looking forward to staring at the wasteland for twice as long, nevermind four times.

To my relief, they were expecting at least two more hired guns to help them out. At first I wondered a little how they could afford that, but Dragonbreath’s earlier comment came back to mind. Of course they would have some caps set aside. Still, how hard could a couple of raiders be to kill? Would we really need extra ponies just for that? Give me a good gun and I could easily hunt them down.

The answer came when I was told just how massive this group of raiders really was. Around three dozen. To a stable pony that wouldn’t have been a lot, given that mine was home to six hundred and seventy-one by the time I left. On a wasteland scale, however, that amount was absolutely gargantuan. A group like this was enough to raze most settlements. It was even enough to potentially give the larger communities a rough time. If those raiders got to Dodge, they would most likely end up hitting the town hard, and nothing short of a fully mounted defense would help the townsfolk.

Luckily, what happened to Dodge City was none of my concern, and I had high hopes of defending this point in particular. Given how good the vantage point of the southern gate was, I had no doubt we’d be able to gun down most of the attackers before they even came close. Though there was maybe the risk of them coming through the forest.

Neither of the siblings seemed to share my optimism, but the mood was so light they joined in my cheering and boasting.

I even ended up drinking a bit of Wild Pegasus whiskey. Now that I was used to the taste of alcohol, the sharp sting of the liquor didn’t bother me as much. Still, it could never even hope to beat wine.

Over the next three days, I slowly adapted to life as a guardsmare. I ended up being assigned the afternoon shift, from around noon until sunset. There was the option I’d get assigned the night shift as well if somepony wanted to swap with me. Apparently, the ponies living here enjoyed switching their shifts around so as to not always hang out with the same people. I could understand why. After three nights of drinking with the twins, I’d felt like I was starting to run out of topics with them. It wasn’t like their presence was boring—it certainly beat drinking alone—but the conversations had lost some of their original charm.

On duty, I would read books and write diary entries, all while looking up once in a while. Occasionally, a band of travellers would come up to the gate and pay for passage. I had to endure some comments about my age, but more ponies were pleasantly surprised to find a non-ghoul at the gate. Sometimes I would spot shady figures in the distance, walking across the road, but never getting anywhere close to the gate or the hills.

During my time off, I’d also learned a bit about how the gang survived. The nearby source turned out to be clean enough for me to drink. So much as to not even set off my PipBuck’s clicking. Down in the valley, there was a crashed skywagon whose spark reactor leaked into the pond, and apparently that was enough for ghouls to survive off of.

The only thing this town lacked was a reliable source of power, which I found rather ironic, due to the abundance of pre-war wind turbines around these parts. Thus, spark batteries were one of the things they traded for.

Their primary way of making caps was through the toll, but Rotrick would also manage to turn profits from trading with visitors. They would buy certain items off some travellers, then sell them to others for an increased cost. Occasionally, a group of ponies stayed the night. What surprised me was how rare this was; were others really that afraid of non-feral ghouls?

Overall, life here was comfortable and safe, if boring. So much so that I might have opted to stay, if I’d given up on my revenge sooner. Well, provided they would have let me. As it stood, though, I only stayed there in order to earn enough caps to survive the next few weeks or months.

On the fourth day, another two ponies arrived, and my schedule was changed. I would now take the night shift along with one of them, a fellow unicorn by the name of Cobalt. Because I was advised against returning to their base at night, I ended up having to chat with the buck for a few hours of his shift, until I could leave. Although, the chatting was mostly one-sided anyway.

He was the chatty kind that I had no patience for when sober. He would rant to me about how much he hated ghouls and was only doing this for the pay, and expected me to care. No matter how little I replied to him, he kept on talking, until I eventually decided to turn the conversation in a direction I liked.

“So, Cobalt, that’s a nice carbine you have.” The only interesting thing about this buck was the gun strapped to his back.

“Yer tellin’ me. This baby’s a striped pre-war automatic. Only thing zeebs were good for was makin’ guns, turns out.” He laughed so loudly that I could have sworn it gave me a headache. “It’s made to last, I’m tellin’ ya.”

He continued to ramble on about the gun’s details for a good ten minutes. To my utter dismay, he was irritating even when talking about something as interesting as firearms. Perhaps it was the nonchalant way in which he spoke of them, like he lacked any respect for them. Even the way he handled it made me angry.

Eventually, he finished with, “This ain’t anything those stupid zombies could appreciate. Have you seen the way those morons hold guns? The pegasus chick in particular. None of them deserve to have such cool toys.” He laughed heartily again, making me wish I were somewhere else, for the sixth time that night. “If it was just down to me, I’d gun them down and leave this place before them raiders show up.”

He then turned to me, locking eyes with me. “Ya any good with yours?” he asked, pointing at my rifle.

“I would think so,” I replied unenthusiastically.

His mouth was twisted in an oddly playful, devilish smile. “So, what do you say, do we kill them and steal their shit?”

“No, thanks,” I stated flatly. Truth be told, I almost wanted him to try so that I could have his rifle after we killed him.

“Lame. Don’t even think of telling them, though, I’ll deny it through my teeth and kill you afterwards.” I’d like to see him try, I thought. Interesting, though. He dropped his accent when threatening me.

I emphatically rolled my eyes. “Yeah, whatever. Wasn’t gonna.”

The next day, I was scheduled for the same time, but thankfully this time the morning shift was to be taken by Dragonbreath, so I wouldn’t have to deal with Cobalt’s obnoxiousness. While Dragonbreath was no Candy, she was still much more tolerable than the unicorn buck.

A downside to night shifts was that I really couldn’t see much, so the radscorpions that would normally draw my gaze weren’t much help with fighting off boredom. Thankfully, I still had a pile of books I wanted to get through, though it was growing worryingly small. How long until I’d be forced to go back to literature I was already done with? Most of the books I had had been fun on the first read, but I couldn’t tell how well they’d fare on a revisit.

I was glad I didn’t have to worry about accidentally waking my shift relief, as she didn’t need to spend the night here and would join me in time. One of the many upsides to being a pegasus.

Thus, I was very surprised when she suddenly showed up near the middle of my shift, carrying a bottle of wine and another of Stalliongrad vodka.

“Sup, Iron,” she greeted, landing next to me on the gate.

“Hey,” I hesitated. “You’re a few hours early, you know that?” And what’s with the alcohol? I wanted to ask.

“Well, I figured you’d be bored outta your skull by now, and I wanted to talk,” explained the ghoul. “I can leave if you want, but I’ll be taking the booze,” she chirped.

“I mean, I guess I’m fine with the company, but I don’t think getting drunk on the job is responsible.”

She giggled, her raspy voice producing a very odd sound. “My, how diligent you are.” She paused to smile at me. “Trust me, girl, nothing happens at night. It’s even more boring than during the day.” She placed the wine bottle right in front of me in emphasis.

Well… I couldn’t say no to that, could I? “I suppose you’re right…” I levitated out my pocket knife and got to work uncorking the bottle. Once it was out far enough, I simply tugged on it with my telekinesis. When I took a sip from the bottle, I was pleasantly surprised to find it tasted better than what I usually got to drink. It was almost as good as the stuff from the memory orb. “This is good stuff,” I told my partner, who’d already drank twice that amount in vodka. Being a ghoul meant she needed to drink a lot more to get intoxicated. Coupled with a high tolerance from regular consumption, the gang members consumed far more liquor than most wasteland ponies.

“Heh, it should. It’s from my personal stash that I keep mostly for my friends and guests. It’s not worth wasting on somepony who just wants to get drunk, especially when that pony can’t actually taste it. I know you can appreciate it, though.”

Did she want a favour from me? “What’s the occasion?”

For a moment, her expression was a mixture of confusion and surprise, before she relaxed and gently shook her head. “Eh, it’s not like I was gonna drink it. Figured I might as well get you the good stuff for our girls’ night.”

“Girls’ night? Just the two of us? What about… what were their names again?”

“You just answered your own question. There’s no point in a girls’ night if you barely know the others. There’s certain things you don’t wanna tell strangers.” Then again, her and I weren’t that close either, were we?

“Can’t argue with that,” I answered before taking another small swig.

“So, I don’t think you ever told me where you’re from.”

“Well, I’m fr—”

She interrupted me mid-sentence, “Wait, wait, wait, lemme make some guesses! Are you from around Manehattan? I heard there was a band of mercs there that ended up getting wiped when they ventured into a pre-war factory. Are you their sole survivor?”

“No, but interesting guess.”

“Are you from Filly, and were born into slavery, only to break out?”

“What? No.”

“Raised by raiders?”

“Why are you trying to give me the worst possible backstory?”

“I’m not! It’s just… Those are the first things that come to mind when I look at your face. You must’ve lived one hell of a rough life. Even most old bucks aren’t as scarred as you, girl.”

“What about ponies as ancient as you? Are those usually as scarred as me?” I teased, starting to relax due to the alcohol.

“Uh, you might be overestimating my age.”

I gave her a puzzled look. “How old are you?” I was expecting to have to be asked the same question, and would have to lie in response. Would she believe I was twenty? Eighteen?

“Twenty-two.”

My jaw dropped. “I didn’t know there were ghouls this young.” Immediately after uttering those words, I realised how silly they were. “I mean, I knew it was possible, I’d just never met anypony so young who was a ghoul.” Then again, I’d only really known a single ghoul prior. For some reason I’d assumed they were all that old.

“It’s a surprisingly common thought process. Buckshot and I are a lot younger than the rest of the Rotting Stones, too. The oldest is the boss, with his hundred and fifty years.” She drank multiple massive gulps. Despite knowing that ghouls had no sense of taste, it impressed me that anypony could drink that liquid garbage without throwing up.

She gave a content sigh. “You know, it amazes me how at ease you’re around us ghoulies. I kinda got used to being regarded as sub-equine trash by a good chunk of ponies. And even among the ones that treat you like you were once a pony, they rarely act like you still are. They tend to be a little bit more nervous around you. Nothing they do on purpose, but it still hurts. It’s like they’re unsure if we’re feral or not. Really sucks.”

I shrugged. “Where I’m from, you kill so many ferals that you learn to differentiate. It’s kinda obvious by the way y’all move.”

“Right! Weren’t you gonna tell me where you were from?” she exclaimed, startling me.

“Oh, yeah. I’m from a stable in the Cold North.”

There would have been many reactions I’d have expected from her then and there. Laughter was definitely not one of them, and she just wasn’t stopping. I stared at her for a long while before she realised it. Then, her expression finally turned to surprise and shock. “Wait, you’re serious? You look about as far from a sheltered stablefilly as they come.”

“I got hurt doing a lot of dumb things because I didn’t know any better. I’m not a gruff mercenary like my appearance may apparently suggest. I’m just somepony who had to learn things the hard way.” To prove my point, I pulled out my stable jumpsuit from my saddlebags. I hadn’t been wearing it much lately because of how tight it had gotten, but it was still useful for how cold it got at night.

As the conversation continued, and we grew increasingly intoxicated, our topics became more and more serious, unlike the tone of the conversation. Under the influence, I couldn’t help but laugh off every bad thing that had happened to me, while my ghoul friend laughed with me, occasionally sharing her own stories. It didn’t surprise me too much to find out she’d had a similarly difficult life to my own.

After a few hours, we eventually ran out of meaningful topics, but neither of us cared. We simply talked about mundane things, still laughing at absolutely everything. Apparently, I tolerated small talk much better than when I was sober.

Given my limited supply of books, I decided to find other things to do while off duty. Through Rotrick, I ended up getting my hooves on a helpful guide to reloading ammunition using empty casings. The book even had recommended amounts of powder for each type of round. The process was more tedious than difficult, though it was still enough to kill time. The main ingredient I was lacking was rifle gunpowder. I’d opened a few cartridges of calibres I had no use for, but that was all I had.

The ghoul who’d previously used this reloading bench was one of the three who was killed in the raiders’ ambush. She’d also been the one to set up the shooting range further in the valley.

Staying here was a bit weird. I didn’t like staying in one place for so long, given that I should have been working on my plans for revenge. However, I needed the caps. I wished I had some kind of book with spells for me to learn. Practicing my telekinesis was one thing, but I could never defeat that alicorn with just strong enough levitation. I needed to be more versatile. If only I still had that book… Then again, it wasn’t that great for learning new spells, it was really more of a compendium.

Teleportation was still as stressful as ever to practice. I would aim to cast it a few times each day, but didn’t dare to truly strain my magic. I could somewhat easily teleport my own body alone, but the moment I was wearing my heavy saddlebags or even just some barding, the toll it took on my horn became considerable. On top of that, it was so easy to accidentally burn out when casting it that I was afraid to really push any of my limits.

As more days passed by, I grew more and more bored of this place. I’d run out of powder and so had basically nothing to do. I’d aimlessly walk around the safe parts of the valley, desperately hoping something would happen soon. I could handle raiders, but I apparently couldn’t handle boredom. It got so bad that I ended up experimenting with one of the dynamos from the wind turbines, but never got to anything that could actually produce power.

I was sleeping off a mild hangover when I was awoken by somepony screaming outside. Given how urgent it sounded, there was only one explanation for this. I hurried to my hooves and splashed my face with some cold water. Rifle floating beside me, I stepped outside to make sure I was interpreting the situation correctly.

The source of the commotion turned out to be Dragonbreath. When she saw me approaching, she shouted, “Get ready! They’re here! They took me by surprise!”

Wait, they were here already? I would have thought we’d need at least half an hour to prepare once they were sighted. This… wasn’t good. I bolted inside and put on my armour. Given the rush, I only put on my peytral and front greaves before running out again. I wasn’t sure if it was the wisest decision, but I didn’t have time to hesitate. Hopefully this would be enough.

Dragonbreath had waited for me while others rushed to the town’s entrance. “Where are they?” I asked the mare.

“I flew straight here when they jumped out of the forest, so we should have maybe ten more minutes before they arrive.” Of course they wouldn’t approach the gate from the front; why would they attempt to attack us if we had such a good vantage point. We’d foolishly assumed they would stay out of the woods because of monsters, but we’d been dead wrong. Thankfully, we’d been lucky enough to have our pegasus on watch duty when they chose to put their plan into motion.

However, if they were still going alongside the bridge… “Hey DeeBee, could you do me a favour? Could you fly me up on the house near the village’s entrance?” It had a roof flat enough for me to comfortably shoot from. Plus, it was the only building visible from the bridge, so I suspected I could get a clear shot on both the bridge and the path leading to the village. I could also probably take cover behind the roof’s ridge.

She nodded and wrapped her hooves around my midsection. With how close she pressed me towards herself, I could clearly feel how… squishy… she was. It wasn’t particularly pleasant, but I tried my best to hide my discomfort.

Once in the air, I could see the group on the bridge, on the other side of the valley. I couldn’t make out many details at this distance, especially without my binoculars, but they certainly looked like raiders do from afar. I also spotted a few ghouls organising an ambush inside the town proper. Good plan. As the mare set me down on the side of the roof facing away from the attackers, she told me, “I’ll get you some things. Do you need more ammo?”

Right, I’d completely forgotten I only had a dozen shots—my current magazine. “Yeah, some five-point-five-six rounds would be nice.”

As she flew away, I adjusted my position on the roof. With the slope, it was awkward to get a good angle, but I eventually managed. I unharnessed my rifle and placed it on the rim. Keeping my balance with the recoil would be difficult, but should stay feasible. By then, I’d gotten used to my inner ear injury enough to not be too bothered by it on a daily basis. However, I didn’t have to lay prone on a slope several metres above the ground every day either.

Aiming from a prone position was always much easier than trying to keep my telekinesis steady. This was the reason why even earth ponies could become amazing snipers. I lined up the iron sights with one of the silhouettes marching along the bridge and pulled the trigger. After a short delay, he stumbled. I assumed I hit him, but I couldn’t tell if I’d pierced his barding. This sent panic in the crowd, as they tried to scramble away from him. I pulled the trigger again as a pony ran where I’d been aiming, and blood splashed near his or her hindquarters.

I didn’t recover properly from the last shot and missed my next one, cursing my impatience. Unfortunately, the original moment of panic was over, as I heard bullets hit the roof, some whizzing past my head. None of them really came close, but it was still stressful to know that a stray bullet could end my life here and now.

Next thing I knew, Dragonbreath landed behind me, several clips in her muzzle, and in the helmet pressed against her chest. I hid behind cover, wrapped my aura around them, and levitated them towards me.

“The helmet’s for you as well, you know,” she remarked, and I quickly realised the helmet actually had a horn cutout.

Floating it onto my head, I replied, “Oh, thanks.” Then, it struck me that she wasn’t wearing any barding at all. “What about you, though?”

“It would only slow me down,” she rebutted. I wasn’t sure if the trade-off was worth it, but this wasn’t the moment to argue about this. She took off again, and I changed my spot to hopefully throw off the raiders.

I had three advantages over them so far; I was behind somewhat good cover, could shoot from a prone position, and actually knew how to aim. I would occasionally miss some shots on the moving targets, but eventually learned to compensate for the delay between me pulling the trigger and the bullet hitting my target. As the worst case came to be, my left ear started ringing, the usual sign my sense of balance was about to be thrown off. I hugged the roof for dear life, not daring to try anything while my head spun.

After maybe a minute, I dared sit upright and resume the attack. Some ponies were now on the path to the village, and were running in zigzag motions, while others kept attempting to shoot at me. I kept shooting until a bullet pinged off my helmet, and I thanked Dragonbreath for saving my life. Unfortunately, that brought back the dizziness, and I found myself unable to move yet again.

Fuck, I thought, if I give in to cowardice here, they’ll just get to me before I can do anything. I had to at least reduce their numbers if I wanted us to have a chance at beating them once they entered the town proper. I was thankful for Dragonbreath, who was flying over them with her battle saddle, drawing some attention away from me. She wasn’t very lethal, but she sure was a distraction.

I forced myself up, taking aim. Now that they were this close, I didn’t need the pinpoint accuracy of a rifle resting on something solid. I wrapped the entire firearm in magic, and started shooting much faster, wasting a lot more ammunition, but also killing my enemies much easier.

Unfortunately, a raider had gotten close enough to lob a grenade at me. I had the common sense to try and deflect it with my magic, but dropped my rifle on the other side of the roof in the process. I could hear it slide down the tiles. On top of that, the explosive went off close enough to make me lose balance. I stumbled backwards, and stepped on a loose tile, slipping.

Falling, I shrieked. When I hit the ground, pain spread throughout my whole body. The impact itself knocked the wind out of my lungs, while the small rocks dug into my back, sending fiery agony through it. If I had been able to think at that moment, I would have regretted not putting on my back barding. The world turned to black, and the only thought on my mind was, Is this the end?

I didn’t know how long I’d been unconscious, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. I could hear my friend’s voice talking to me. “Hang in there, Iron. You’ll be fine. We’ll be fine thanks to you.”

By the time we got to the back of town, I’d regained most of my wits. She gently placed me behind a house and turned away. I started getting up, feeling my bruises and fractured bones throughout my body. Dragonbreath scolded me. “Don’t move. We got it, chill. And you don’t even have a gun.”

I could just get my pistol, and… “But I can—”

“No. Stay put.” She shook her head. “Please.”

Fortunately for her, I fainted from the pain in my back and back leg. Dear stars, I hoped it wasn’t broken.

I stayed here another week, recovering. Who knew a simple fall from a house could leave me in such a pitiful state?

While I’d been passed out, the gang had successfully ambushed the remaining attackers and gotten rid of them without any casualties. It turned out that the raiders I had wounded ended up being left behind, and I’d overall taken enough of them out of the equation for the ghouls to overwhelm the dozen lowlives that did end up in the village.

According to Dragonbreath, Buckshot alone had a headcount of seven. When asked about it, she just said, “I mean, we didn’t choose our names for no reason. I’m shit at combat, but I’m a great distraction. He’s the actually lethal one.” I wished I could have seen him in action. The other hired guns had also managed to help us.

Unfortunately, Rotrick had miscalculated his budget and wasn’t able to pay me in full. Given that he’d paid over half of what I’d been supposed to get, we agreed to leave it as a debt. That, and I ended up picking up a few of the rifles the raiders had brought. Most were in terrible condition, but nothing beyond repair if one had the necessary spare parts. And so, while I recovered, I spent some time fixing up one or two, while scrapping the rest for parts. Hopefully they’d sell for quite a bit.

Still, I wanted a zebra automatic rifle like Cobalt owned.

Footnote:

New Perk: Lady Death — You gain damage against everything, because you like killing everything.