The Mark of One’s Destiny

Time passed slowly without a radio. Ours wasn’t broken, but ever since we’d left Acornage, the only station was DJ Pon3’s. While I didn’t mind the music, I did not enjoy hearing about my own actions. Something about having everything good I did applauded to such an extreme extent made me deeply uncomfortable.

I took a quick glance at the distant sea, stretching out far beyond the horizon. I’d wanted to see it up close, but according to Platinum, this shore was highly irradiated.

The DJ had started talking about me a few months ago, when he reported everything Grace and I had done together. The level of detail he knew creeped me out at first, but Snow quickly convinced me that he’d most likely just done his research.

In the distance, I spotted the blurry shapes of a few tall buildings, and when I asked Platinum about it, he confirmed they were indeed our destination.

A few days later, it turned out that this had only been DJ Pon3’s introductory report on me. He’d been hesitant to declare me a hero, since that had bitten him in the behind before. However, after seeing more of my exploits, as he called them, he decided I was fighting the good fight.

As we approached further and further, the silhouettes of the buildings grew sharper, to the point that even I could clearly make out their outlines.

Both of the times I’d led an operation to get rid of a raider camp, the DJ knew, and within a few hours he reported on it. Even relatively minor things like helping a settlement deal with its local fauna got high praise.

Now that we were close enough that the distance could be measured in dozens of metres, I could finally read ‘Scrapin’ By’ painted on the tall building’s façade. Even with my glasses on, I still couldn’t see all that well past thirty metres, but this text was big enough that it didn’t matter.

Those news reports of course strained my relationship with Platinum. He didn’t like that I was risking my life, but he understood that helping others was within my nature—as conceited as it might be to think of myself like that, those were his words, not mine.

The alleyways to either of the tower’s sides were blocked by what amounted to giant piles of scrap and old concrete. High above the ground, I could vaguely make out what seemed to be a wooden bridge crossing from one building to another.

However, when the DJ brought up my ‘heroic’ acts, painting them in a light of pure gold, Platinum grew more and more resentful, until one night we had a huge fight over it. He accused me of being willing to give up on our family, just to hear a stranger’s praise. Of course, he didn’t actually believe that, but in the heat of the moment that hardly mattered. Eventually, we agreed to stop listening to the news reports, since all they did was upset both of us.

Apart from the front entrance, most other doors were boarded shut and had rubble stacked in front of them. As we approached further, I noticed that even the metal gates that used to serve as entry points for the residents’ carts were actually welded shut.

On the first floor, the end of a machine gun’s barrel stuck out of a window, while I could occasionally spot the silhouettes of ponies in other rooms.

Finally, when we were just a few metres from the entrance, a slit on the gate opened, and I saw a pair of magenta eyes on the other side. “Who are you? What are you here for?” The buck’s voice cracked mid-sentence, but he showed no sign of embarrassment.

It was Platinum who replied, voice still hoarse as he was still recovering from a cold. “We are a family of travelling merchants and couriers. We are here to trade and pick up any mail or package you would like to send.”

“I see. Imma need to ask if I’m allowed to let you—”

He was interrupted by a filly’s squeaky voice. “Let them in, you dipshit, we really fucking need supplies.”

The slit closed, and a few clicks later, the gate started sliding open.

Once inside, I spotted the adolescent buck who’d talked to us before. Clearly nervous, he held the trigger of his battlesaddle at the ready. Meanwhile, the filly standing a few paces away from him looked confident as she twirled around a large curved dagger in her telekinesis. The blade was almost as long as her own torso.

Even though she was around his age—or slightly younger—her presence was more commanding than a good percentage of adults I’d met.

Naturally, it was Snow who broke the awkward silence. “So, who do we talk to to get a rundown of this place? Do you guys have a mayor?”

The filly smirked. “We do, and you’re talking to her. Name’s Dagger, and this is my town.” With the leather barding she was wearing, I couldn’t see her cutie mark, but I had no doubt it was related to that enormous knife.

“What? Is this like a town only for kids? Are we even welcome here?” I’d wanted to ask that as well, but Snow beat me to it.

The mayor’s smile widened while her tone turned threateningly sweet. “No, but I make it very clear to anyone coming here who’s in charge.” She spun the dagger mid-air in emphasis. “Now, do me a favour and leave all your weapons here.” As a sign of good faith, she holstered her own.

In her typical fashion, Snow decided to push her luck. “Why would we do that? What if it’s just a trap?” She nodded to the small filly on her back. She’d only needed a few weeks to grow comfortable around us, and as much as it was a relief, it also made me feel horribly guilty. Doubly so given that we never found out her actual name, and Snow had needed to come up with a name for her: Bluestar.

The foal was looking at Dagger with wide eyes, while her new momma kept on arguing. “I can’t exactly fuck around when it’s not just my life on the line anymore.” It never failed to surprise me to see her acting responsible. Too bad this was far from the best way of going about it.

In a flash of blue and a soft crack, the flat of Dagger’s blade was pressed to Snow’s throat. “Then you’re welcome to leave.”

That sight should have sent me into a panic. Instead, it just shot a pang of sadness through my heart. This filly was just a couple of years younger than Iron would have been, and she was already so very used to life in the wasteland. I could only hope to allow my foal to grow up as slowly as it needed to.

Snow gulped, briefly looking my way before holding Dagger’s gaze. On her back, Bluestar looked just about ready to cry.

I shook myself out of my stupor and took a step forward, undoing the belt that held my shotgun. “Come on, Snow. We already know this place is trustworthy.” On the way here, we kept hearing about a relatively new settlement just a few kilometres north of the Las Pegasus ruins. Namely, this one.

Snow nodded, and Dagger relaxed. My eyes met hers as she pulled back her weapon. “Very good. We only really need healing supplies and ammo, so if you got any, take them with you and leave the cart here,” Dagger said.

Platinum followed my lead and removed his pistol, while I undid the cart’s harness. When I grabbed the bag that contained all of our healing supplies, Dagger nodded and motioned for us to follow her.

I caught up with her. “What exactly do you need? We mostly have magical bandages, since my magic is too weak to produce potions.”

“Your… magic?” She craned her head forward. “Oh yeah, you have a horn. Sorry about that. Didn’t see it inside your mane.”

I rolled my eyes, snorting and smiling despite myself. “No worries, it’s not the first time I heard that.”

“Anyway, we’d be very happy to buy those off you. If you have any experience as a medical pony, that would be super appreciated as well.” As usual, doctors and nurses were in high demand everywhere I went.

“Of course, of course, I was going to offer anyway.” While I preferred to help others avoid getting hurt, I couldn’t deny that helping them heal was the next best thing. Plus, it was what my cutie mark was telling me.

“I just wanna warn you, most of the injuries are quite gruesome. Balefire burns. We’ve been having issues with the local fauna—radragons, as we’ve come to call them—over the past few months.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Dragons?”

Dagger shook her head. “Radragons. We named them that since they spit balls of concentrated balefire, but they’re essentially just big lizards.”

“I take it they’re local to this area? I’ve never heard of them before.”

“Pretty sure. As far as we know, they only recently appeared. Breed like motherfuckers, though. I got an idea of where they’re coming from, but I don’t have the ponypower to confidently exterminate them.” She furrowed her brow, then shook her head. “But that’s completely besides the point. I’ll show you to the injured.”

Dagger hadn’t done the wounds justice. I’d seen ponies impaled, cut in half, shredded by buckshot, and blown to bits. And yet, the burns left by liquid balefire were on another level still. I shuddered to think about it, and yet my mind wouldn’t stop showing me images of warped, half-liquefied flesh. Worse yet, some of their bandages hadn’t been changed in several days, and the flesh had melded together with the cloth.

I’d spent the past two hours reapplying new bandages and casting the same basic healing spells over and over again. In some cases, I used anaesthetic magic, but overall I couldn’t stop feeling like I wasn’t doing enough. If it wasn’t for my horn being so weak, I’d be able to do so much more… Was I really the only unicorn in the wasteland with a talent for medicine without any proper healing spells?

Before I could wallow in any more self-pity, Dagger stepped into the room. She nodded to me and trotted over to one of the patients, looking him over. He was a young buck, and I’d treated him first since his bandages had soaked through quite terribly.

Dagger then turned to me and smiled, tears in her eyes. “Thank you…” For the first time since I’d met her, she actually looked her age.

“You close to him? His wounds were mostly superficial, so he should pull through, though the scars will remain for the rest of his life.” That was a mild way to put it, but at least he was going to live. Against all odds, nothing seemed infected. Others, though… I wasn’t so sure.

She hummed in affirmation. “He’s my older brother. His name is Cloak. Between the two of us, he’s the one with the brains, while I can fight well enough to survive.” She turned away, nodding towards the exit.

“Yeah, about that, where’d you learn that trick with the knife? That’s some pretty impressive magic.” Realising I wasn’t being very precise, I added, “The one where you teleported it.” I knew this wasn’t a great moment to be making small talk. However, it allowed me to put off confronting her about the way the patients here had been treated. I knew it was nothing malicious, but I would still need to make the severity of it clear to her.

“It’s a long story, but to put it short, a mercenary took care of us for a few weeks after our parents died, showed us the basics of survival and all that. When I told her I was pretty good with magic, she tried to teach me some spells. Succeeded in some, failed with others.” She shrugged, but couldn’t hide the glint of excitement in her eyes. “Gave me my own first dagger, too.”

Dagger shook her head. “I said I’d make it short, but look at me, rambling. Anyway, thank you for doing this for us. How much do we owe you?”

Part of me was grateful to her for changing the topic; it made it easier to stop ignoring the issue. I sighed. “We’ll get to that, but I need to complain, first.” I tried to keep my expression serious while remaining compassionate, all while making sure I didn’t sound patronising. “You need to do a better job at taking care of them. Some of those bandages hadn’t been changed for a week!”

I looked directly at Dagger. She held my gaze without flinching and started opening her mouth. Before she could say anything, I made it clear I wasn’t done.

“As the mayor, it’s your job to make sure you always have enough supplies in stock.” I firmly put my hoof down. “This is irresponsible at best.” I wanted to point out that she needed to do something about those lizards as well, but I was sure she knew that.

Her face contorted in anger, and for a second I thought she was going to blow up. But when she met my gaze, her ears drooped as her expression softened. “I know. I thought we had enough of it stockpiled, but then all these ponies got injured and suddenly we had to ration bandages of all things…” She broke eye contact, staring at the ground.

I nodded. “I understand. Just… try to do better next time; that’s all you can do now.” I resisted the urge to place a hoof on her withers. She may look like a vulnerable filly right now, but that didn’t mean she’d take it well when a stranger treated her like one.

Dagger met my gaze again, her expression hardening. “You’re wrong. There’s more I can do. I’ve been putting it off, but it’s time I stop fucking around.” She stomped on the ground. “I need to deal with this problem before it gets out of hoof, even if it means taking a risk.”

“You mean you’re going to try and kill those lizards? All by yourself?” I tried not to let my worry seep into my voice, but was probably utterly failing at it.

“Are you stupid?” she asked while shaking her head derisively. “I have three or four ponies who’d be willing to help out.”

“Make that five, I want to help.” As usual, Platinum would oppose my decision, but I couldn’t just sit idly by while others risked their lives, and he knew that. I was no longer actively seeking out ponies to help, but that didn’t mean I had to look away and pretend there was nothing I could do. What would be the point of bringing my daughter into a world that I wasn’t actively trying to improve?

She arched her brow and tilted her head to the side. “Huh?” She blinked. “A three-legged nurse wants to help us fight some lizards?” She took a step back and seemed to size me up. “I mean, you look physically stronger than the average unicorn, but those are dangerous critters.”

“I’m a fighter, primarily. I may work as a nurse nowadays, but if I see something that I could help with, I’d rather prevent than heal.” That line had become my go-to response to Platinum trying to talk reason into me.

“With that leg of yours?” She looked more than a little dubious. “Unless you’re some kind of sniper? That’s not gonna help you since we’ll be in a cave underground.”

“Nah, I tend to prefer close quarter combat, so that works perfectly.” Thankfully, I was still early enough in my pregnancy to retain most of my mobility, but I would still need to avoid overdoing it if I could help it.

Dagger arched her brow, then shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe you. You may look toned, but you really don’t look like a fighter.” What was her idea of a fighter? A pony covered in scars, carrying half a dozen guns?

I didn’t ask her that; instead, I went along with it. “Well, how would you want me to prove it?”

Dagger looked away, humming in thought and pacing. When she was a good couple of metres away from me, she undid the straps holding her great knife’s sheath. “Let’s say that if you manage to get to me without getting hit, I’ll consider believing you.”

I nodded, and she seemed momentarily surprised. Before long, she nodded as well. “Ready?”

I nodded again, getting ready to lunge.

Her knife darted towards me, and I charged forward. Dagger took a few steps back, magically correcting her weapon’s course.

I ducked underneath as it slashed for my throat, only for it to reappear right before me with a flash and a soft crack. The tip would have hit me square in the chest, had I not jumped aside at the last moment, my prosthetic leaving a shallow gash in the stone floor.

There had to be a limit to how often she could teleport it; that was a particularly rough spell to pull off in quick succession, and her magical stamina couldn’t be that extreme.

An idea flashed through my mind, and I started galloping next to the wall. It didn’t take long for her dagger to catch up. I timed my steps to be able to deflect the slash with my prosthetic.

The blade was knocked out of her telekinesis and hit the ground. The filly had moved quite a distance already, but a few more seconds and I’d get to her.

The dagger reappeared in front of me, but I’d been waiting for the pop as my cue. I suddenly turned to the wall, jumping up before using it as a springboard to leap towards her. She didn’t have time to react as I—

As I landed in front of her, another, smaller, sheathed dagger pressed to my throat. What? That was unfair! I didn’t get any of my weapons, and she got to use two of hers?

She let out a shockingly child-like giggle before pulling it away. “You’re good. I don’t doubt that in a real fight with your gear, you’d kill me in seconds.” That much was true; with my shotgun and barding, I wouldn’t have had to fight in such an odd manner.

Dagger shrugged. “Not that I’m a great benchmark for what makes a good fighter, but still.”

I wanted to tell her that she was selling herself short; that her skill was impressive for someone her age, but I doubted she wanted to hear that. Instead, I just thanked her.

She then told me to wait until nightfall while she informed her other fighters. Radragons only left their hiding spots during the day, and hunting them while they were spread out would take too long. Instead, we’d storm their den and take out all of them. We might even be able to completely block the entrance to their cave.

Apparently, while she’d called them dangerous, they weren’t an issue if you were a skilled fighter and understood what you were up against. So our little group would hopefully be enough to deal with the ten or so lizards.

I leapt forward as the radragon spat its burning dark green sludge at me. A second later, its neck was cut in half by Dagger’s knife, and it collapsed. I’d never seen balefire directly, but this seemed… underwhelming. I was happy about it, but it struck me as hard to believe this stuff had ended the world.

This was the fourth we’d taken care of, and it was the first time one had seen us coming. It still didn’t matter, as it was easy to overwhelm, but it was more stressful than the previous encounters.

Dagger wiped her knife clean and motioned the rest of us to follow.

We’d been walking in this tunnel for the better part of ten minutes already. Glowing red crystals lined the wall, providing some level of light, though far too dim to rely on. Instead, Azure—a unicorn mare—floated a flashlight in front of herself.

Dagger’s original plan was to try and collapse the entrance, but that seemed impossible without some kind of high explosive. Blocking it off also seemed impossible for a small group such as ourselves. The tunnel was simply too wide and too tall to easily be plugged by some rubble.

In fact, it had opened below a road, and nothing short of a small building would actually be enough to close it. Luckily, part of the asphalt had remained whole, allowing us to use it as a ramp on the way down.

Once inside, there was only one way to go, since the other direction seemed completely blocked off with rubble. If only reproducing that was easy. Still, If we couldn’t close it off, we could at least do some pest control, as they were most likely asleep.

“Shit, is that…” I heard Dagger mutter, looking far ahead.

I followed her gaze and did spot something, but it was too far away for our flashlight to illuminate it. In the relative darkness, I could only make out a vague circular shape, though I couldn’t even tell what colour it was.

“That’s a stable…” replied one of the ponies with us, an earth pony stallion by the name of Glint.

Now that he mentioned it, I could make out a faint green glow right next to the big circle. As we approached, Dagger walked up to the terminal. “It’s unlocked. There’s door controls and… ‘Jade Bust’s Guide for Future Scavengers’?” While she was occupied with the device, I noticed that the stable entrance’s hinges had been blown up.

She pressed a key, and the terminal beeped. She started reading aloud. “‘Greetings, I am Jade Bust, adventurer extraordinaire.’” By the motion of her head, I could tell she just rolled her eyes, while annoyance seeped into her tone. “Right, that guy.”

“You know him?” I asked.

She hummed a response and turned around. “Stayed with us a couple of weeks back. He was really more of a scavenger, though he clearly prioritised quality over quantity and seemed to think that made him the next Daring Do or something.”

She faced the terminal again and continued, “‘If you’re reading this, it means I’ve most likely already picked this stable clean. Of course, I’m an adventurer and only care for the items of high value, so you can still find anything else. I will be leaving guides such as this one, so that nopony else needs to risk their lives figuring out how to navigate this place.’”

She read in silence for a bit and said, “The next part says he found the stable thanks to a collapsed road, and that it was closed when he first got here. Hinges were rusted shut, so the terminal couldn’t open the door. Had to blow it up, yadda, yadda, yadda.”

She clicked the next entry, and another minute passed. “Then he recommends we check out security’s quarters first, since it usually contains ammunition that he doesn’t bother picking up, but also that it usually has some surveillance mechanism to look out for critters that might be roaming the stable.” She turned towards us. “If you ask me, we might as well head there first.”

We all voiced our agreement and proceeded inside. We came here to do pest control, and a stable wasn’t going to stop us.

The trip to the security quarters was completely uneventful. The inside of the stable was lit with what I knew were emergency lights.

The other ponies voiced complaints about how tight this place was, but to me it was almost comfortable—were it not for the rust covering the walls and the otherwise advanced state of decay of everything around us. I ended up taking the lead as navigating a stable was a skill that apparently transferred between the individual instances… Once I’d taken a good look at the map near the door, of course.

Unlike in Stable 4, security was fairly close to the entrance, so we arrived in just a few minutes. As we stepped inside, I heard Dagger mention she was hoping to find a PipBuck while we were here.

I quickly spotted another terminal and approached it. Just like the one next to the entrance, it was unlocked, though it had a folder full of text entries as well as two of Jade Bust’s.

The first read: ‘I couldn’t find too many valuable weapons in here. Most of them are el cheapo garbage, and the few that aren’t are instead very outdated models. There’s even a couple of *swords* of all things. *You* might still like the weapons, but they are not what I am looking for. There also seems to be less ammo than you’d usually find in a stable.

‘Worse yet, I didn’t find a single PipBuck. No spares in the cupboards and none lying about on old corpses. Similarly odd is how few terminals there are. I’ve only seen the one at the entrance and this one.

‘The stable seems to have been empty for at least half a century, given the lack of maintenance.It could be the case that this stable was *abandoned* for some reason or another, and that they took everything valuable with them. The lack of skeletons certainly makes me think that. Regardless, I will keep on searching; stay on the lookout for my tips!’

After I relayed a summary of this to my group, I took interest in the second entry. This one was titled ‘Summary of terminal entries’. I opened it.

‘No news of a mass exodus on this terminal. Last dozen or so entries talk about a series of disappearances. They happened with so many years in between them that nopony even realised they were linked. Only the last chief of security noticed that there were almost exactly 1500 days between each incident, and that every pony who disappeared was enrolled in maintenance.

‘In the last entry, she says she’s got an idea, but needs to check with maintenance to get the details. Of course, she didn’t bother specifying *what* the idea was. Why are mares like this?

‘I guess I know where I’ll be going after I check out maintenance’s documents, then.’

I shared what I’d learned, and we agreed to continue following him. Arrogant or not, his terminal entries would at least save us time. Besides, according to the map, the maintenance offices were right next to us.

On our way to maintenance, we encountered not one, but two radragons. Luckily, in such tight corners, they didn’t have time to cough up those balls of flame, and we were able to efficiently dispose of them, despite how fast they were able to move. Me with a buck that would have given the Apple family a run for its money, and Dagger with the sword she’d picked up in security.

Once there, we found another terminal, with again two of Jade’s entries.

The first one was just a couple of sentences long. ‘Just my luck. Apparently, this was supposed to be a cheap stable. No free PipBucks, no extra clothing, nothing. The goal was to create a stable that poorer ponies could afford to buy a ticket to. Given the city I’m in, I’m not surprised, just a bit miffed.’

The second one was also quite a bit shorter than usual. ‘It took a bit of digging, but I found out what the disappearances had in common: they were all *veteran* maintenance ponies, with at least five years of experience under their belt.

‘What’s more, they were all scheduled to fix the reactors on the day they disappeared. Sweet Luna, is the schedule software a pain; no wonder no one connected the dots in almost three decades. It's a miracle those maintenance ponies even knew what they themselves were supposed to do on a given day!’

The way to the overmare’s office led through the residential area and through the atrium, one level lower. While I was curious if it would look the same as Stable 4’s, I tried my hardest to remain focused. So far, we’d seen every one of those lizards, but I didn’t like to imagine what one could do if it got the drop on us. Now that we were getting deeper into the stable, there were a lot more corners that anything could jump out from. Open doors, corridors, and even staircases. While each of those gave us potential cover, they also severely restricted how fast we could move forward, since we needed to check every nook and cranny to not get ambushed.

Suddenly, I felt my prosthetic leg hit something heavy. It was hard and plasticky, by the way it sounded as it skittered along the floor. It caught everypony’s attention, and Dagger shone her flashlight on it.

There, on the ground, lay a PipBuck 3000, the exact same model I’d once owned. Without saying a word, I picked it up and placed it in my saddlebags.

While I did that, Dagger noticed something further ahead and walked towards it. Then I saw it too. A pair of torn and mostly empty saddlebags, next to which lay a pristine 10mm pistol.

After Dagger made sure that the bags were indeed empty, we continued forward, passing multiple staircases leading down. While the topmost floor’s layout made sense, this was starting to become rather maze-like. Perhaps this odd layout was to maximise the number of usable space in the stable?

Soon after passing another staircase, I heard one of the stallions scream as a flash of green lit up most of the hallway. I turned around to see Boulder with a burning glob sliding down his chestpiece, eating through it at a rapid pace.

I didn’t think, I just pulled at it with my magic. Realising what I was doing, Dagger cut the straps, and the peytral came loose.

At the same time, Azure’s rifle roared as she fired a burst and then another, causing my ears to ring.

Several large drops of the lizard’s spit had landed on his back and were quickly melting fur and flesh alike, digging in deeper and deeper. I pulled a roll of gauze out of my saddlebags and used the tip to wipe off as much of the burning green liquid as I could. Unfortunately, that seemed to do little other than smear it around. The gauze caught fire, but the burning end of it was cut off by Dagger, then tossed by me deeper into the stable.

I took another look at Boulder, and noticed that the skin underneath his fur was now an angry red, very noticeable underneath his pale grey coat. The buck was biting his lip, no doubt hard enough to draw blood.

We hid in the relative safety of a single residential room where I cast an anaesthetic spell on his chest and shoulders. Unfortunately, the sludge on his back was still on fire, so I couldn’t bandage him yet. While the flame was much smaller now, I still couldn’t smother it. It didn’t burn as hot as I would have thought, but definitely would have lit gauze.

“What should we do? Boulder can’t fight anymore, and we don’t know how many of those fuckers are left.” said Azure. “Should we just leave now?”

Dagger let out a sigh and furrowed her brow. After a while, she replied, “I think you should take him to the exit. It seems there might be more of them than we originally thought, but I don’t think our estimate was too far off. Leaving now wouldn’t fix the problem, and they would just continue to breed and hurt travellers as well as locals.”

Glint hummed in affirmation. “Agreed, but we need to be more careful about this. Didn’t we check that corner?”

“We did.” I nodded. “Did nopony else see it? My eyesight isn’t the best, so I might have missed it, but what about Azure?”

She shook her head. “I’m confident I didn’t see anything.”

Finally, Boulder spoke up, “I think it came into view around the time I was crossing. I tried to turn and shoot it, but it was faster.” With his size, I wasn’t surprised he wasn’t the most agile.

“Alright, that settles it.” Dagger looked at Boulder, then Azure. “Azure, take him outside the stable and meet us in the atrium. Be careful and be ready to shoot whenever you leave cover.” Then she turned to Glint, Shell, and I. “The rest of us will continue to the overmare’s office. I want to see if there’s a way to, I dunno, seal off the lower levels. Or maybe blow up the whole place, if I can.”

We arrived in the overmare’s quarters, and Glint shut the door behind us. The trip here had been relatively short, but our stress levels were at an all-time high. We killed two radragons, and even heard Azure take care of one. We knew she was alright, because there hadn’t been any screams of pain following the gunshots.

I quickly made my way over to the terminal, but before I could start reading, Dagger asked, “If you’re gonna look through the terminal, would you mind passing me that PipBuck you picked up earlier? I wanna see if I can manage to get it working. I’ll pay you for it when we get back to Scrapin’, of course.”

I nodded and tossed it to her with my telekinesis. “Just keep in mind this model can be quite difficult to remove once you put it on; needs special tools and all.”

After sassily informing me that she knew, I began reading.

‘If you’re as invested as me in the story of this stable, you’ll be disappointed to learn that I didn’t find anything else on the matter. If I figure out what’s caused those disappearances, I might go to the reactor and check it out for myself. As it stands, I’ll stay away from that place.

‘I’ve also found one PipBuck so far, which is the only thing keeping this place from being a *complete* disappointment.

‘Oh, and a tip! I’ve turned the main power back on, but have left the stable in emergency power mode. That should allow me (and by extension you) to open some doors. I don’t know how well the old wiring works, and I don’t want to overload any circuits. It’s at the bottom of the ‘Stable Controls’ menu if you would like to take a chance.’

I would look into that soon, but first I wanted to read his second entry. Just the first word set the tone for the rest of it.

‘Fuck! Shortly after I powered up the stable, something in one of the walls exploded. That wouldn’t be a big deal normally, but it woke up some kind of big lizard. Managed to kill it but got wounded in the process; fucker was fast as hell and got a nasty slice into my chest. Unfortunately, my gunshots woke *more* of them up. Managed to hide back in here, but I don’t know how long I can stay holed up. I’ve bandaged my torso, but I am *not* doing well.

‘I’ll try to get some sleep, hopefully tomorrow they’ll be gone. My tip to you? Leave, if you haven’t encountered any. And don’t make any noise. Even one of them was able to fuck me up.’

This was nothing new to us, but I suddenly realised who those saddlebags had belonged to. In hindsight, it was obvious. As I summarised my findings to the rest of them, Dagger’s expression turned to concern, then shock.

“Uh, guys? I think we should follow his advice. That’s a lot of red bars.”

“How many?” I asked, concerned.

“I can’t tell, they overlap too much.” That simple sentence told me all I needed to know. We’d really underestimated their numbers, and we needed to run.

I backed out of the logs and quickly found the light menu. If we were going to have to fight, we needed to have some way of seeing our enemies. I skimmed over the rest of the menus, but didn’t find anything that we could use to our advantage. We could close and lock all doors, but that would just trap us inside for longer, and it might be the death of Azure and Boulder.

We walked to the exit, and with a nod, I opened it. We cantered a few metres before coming face to face with one of the lizards. Unfortunately for it, I was ready and brought down my prosthetic hoof on its skull. The metal crushed its skull, and I continued, barely slowing down.

As we ran across the atrium, I noticed that its exit door was closing. Maybe turning on the main power wasn’t the greatest of ideas after all. Luckily, though, it seemed to be stuck. The bottom half of it barely stuck out of the floor, while the top couldn’t go lower than a quarter of the way down.

Right as we arrived in front of it, though, it gave one last push and came shut in a clank far louder than usual. I groaned in annoyance before pressing the button, only for the door to refuse to open wider than a dozen centimetres.

"Let me try," said Glint in a hurried tone.

Backing away from the door, I turned around to see five more radragons, all of them larger than any we’d encountered before. The largest stood as tall as a pony, but was obviously much longer and wider. The one saving grace was that they were merely walking and not sprinting at those ungodly speeds I knew they were capable of.

Two were at the opposite end of the atrium while the other three were much closer, having come from side rooms or corridors. One of those was already walking straight towards us, its throat glowing that awful green. Twenty metres away, I wouldn’t be able to stop it from spitting. Still, I aligned the shot, but Shell beat me to it.

However, that only sent it into a frenzy as the glow in its throat died down, and it darted between the rows of overturned tables and chairs. When it got closer, I managed to hit it once, killing its momentum and allowing Shell to fire at it twice. After the second shot, the lizard finally stopped moving.

I took one look at Glint trying to wedge his tools into the door before realising I needed to run back in. There was no way he would get it open before the other radragons started sprinting at us.

As I galloped forward, I heard Dagger’s hooves close behind me. Part of me wanted to tell her to take cover and wait for Shell and I to take care of the rest of the reptiles. However, I immediately remembered she was a pony like Iron; a born fighter.

Closing the distance to the remaining one who’d come out of the corridor to our right, I noticed its throat was glowing. The furniture would make it difficult for me to dodge to the side, so I took the next best approach. When the glow reached its apex, I took a step onto a table and used it as a springboard to lunge over the fireball. I landed atop its head, using my three legs to impart as much energy into it as possible while still sticking the landing.

That in turn placed me in front of the corridor where another two of them jumped back upon seeing me. I turned to the side, levitating my shotgun ahead of me as I ran. When those lizards ran forward, they were clearly faster than me. These two, however, were attempting to run backwards, unwilling to break eye contact. Slow as they were, I was able to align a shot. This close, the pellets had more than enough energy to all pierce its thick scales and tear its head to shreds. A moment later, the other one shared its fate.

I turned around to see Dagger battling two of the reptiles, while a third lay dead in front of her. Just like the ones I’d fought, they seemed to understand that she was a threat and were constantly darting around to stay out of her blades’ reach.

The sword’s stream of wide, flowing slashes kept the one to her left at bay; they never connected, but pushed forward like a wave, each slice forcing the lizard back.

Meanwhile, the dagger’s movements were a lot more sporadic. It always seemed to be exactly where it needed to be, ready to sting at its opponent’s openings. The blade left no room for retreat, as even that was punished by thrusts, each fast enough to set the air abuzz.

The sight of those two weapons dancing so freely in the air was truly something to behold; it was genuinely mesmerising. Only after a few seconds did I stop staring in awe at the spectacle unfolding across the atrium and focused my attention on the other pony currently fighting for her life.

Shell wasn’t doing nearly as well. Her reptilian opponent seemed to understand all too well that she could only shoot where she was facing, and was running wide berths in front of the mare. She, on the other hoof, wasn’t letting it close the distance, always moving in the opposite direction.

As I noticed that another radragon was approaching her, I broke into a gallop, deciding she needed my help more than Dagger. While I could tell that she was more than capable of keeping one at bay almost indefinitely, the odds would change dramatically if another one joined the fight.

The newcomer was a lot smaller than its brethren, but what it lacked in size it more than made up for in speed. I could hardly keep my barrel lined up with its body as it weaved between the atrium’s broken furniture. Any time I thought I would have it, it cleverly ducked under a table or took a sharp turn. After two spent shells, I decided I couldn’t afford to keep trying blindly. I lunged forward, intent on using my prosthetic as a blunt weapon.

Even though it was fast enough to dodge all my swings without slowing down, the threat of my shotgun kept it from taking advantage of my openings. I thrust my metallic leg at it, but it dodged backwards. I knew I wouldn’t have the time to aim my shotgun at it, so I lunged after it.

The next moment, Shell’s shotgun roared and a force slammed into my side, almost making me lose my balance. That opening was enough for the reptile to lunge at my face, only to be shredded by another volley of buckshot.

I didn’t have time to complain as I turned my attention to the lizard in front of Shell. It didn’t last long, unable to avoid both our attacks.

She and I shared a short smile before I noticed that it was now Dagger who was fighting on the back hoof. Another one had joined the other two lizards. The one that she’d wounded with her knife was still moving, fast enough to remain a threat now that her attention was divided between three opponents.

Without thinking, I started running towards her. With every second that passed, she was losing more and more ground. Then, she stumbled on a broken chair. It wasn’t enough to make her trip, but it was enough for the smallest radragon to get a swipe at her chest. A second later, it was first impaled and cut in half by the sword.

“Iron!” screamed a desperate voice, and it took me only a few moments to realise it was my own. I redoubled my speed.

With the angle, I couldn’t see how bad the wound was. However, she was bleeding so much that it couldn’t be shallow in any capacity. Despite everything, she continued her assault on the remaining two lizards, but her blades weren’t flying as seamlessly as they had prior.

“It’s open!” shouted Glint, but I ignored him, aiming my shotgun at the closest enemy. Once I was confident it would kill, I pulled the trigger. That in turn gave Dagger just enough leeway to get a proper stab into the other one.

Shell yelled something as well, but my ears were ringing too hard to pick it up.

Dagger collapsed and dropped both her weapons as I ran over. I let go of my own shotgun for just a moment while I levitated out a healing potion for her to drink. Up close I could see the damage the lizard had done. Its claws had easily torn through the leather armour and had dug deep enough to chip away bone. It likely would have torn a hole out of her tiny chest, had it been just a little stronger.

She greedily gulped the potion, and the magic immediately started to work, closing the brunt of the wound in just a few seconds. However, she’d already lost way too much blood for somepony her size, and she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.

I looked around and saw Shell running towards the exit. I heaved Dagger onto my back, levitating my shotgun alongside me—how many shots did I even have left? She picked up her blades with her own telekinesis, tucking the sword between my saddlebags and my barding, but keeping the dagger alongside her.

Out of nowhere, I heard Shell scream, followed by the sound of furniture breaking. I looked over and felt my blood run cold. One of the large radragons was standing on top of her, pinning her to the ground. I wanted to stop it, but it already had its mouth open. By the time my shotgun came around to the other side, its mouth had already closed around her neck. Her screaming stopped as abruptly as it had started.

I was running out of breath, but I sped up. Shooting it wouldn’t kill it from this distance, so I just ran. And ran. I heard Dagger slash at something behind us, but didn’t look back.

When we were finally through the door, Glint managed to close it behind us. Behind it we found Azure, who’d come running when she heard it close. She’d had to kill a few individual radragons on the way, though.

Nopony said anything as we cantered to the stable’s exit. Four times, when we rounded a corner, we came face to face with a radragon, but alone they weren’t a threat.

Soon enough, we were out of the stable. Since none of them were following us closely, I closed the doors to the stable’s main entrance, then let down Dagger before pushing the heavy main door closed as well. It wouldn’t hold them in permanently, but it would potentially give us some breathing room.

I started bandaging Dagger’s chest. While the healing potion had closed the wound, as usual it was nothing permanent and would easily reopen if she exerted any amount of force on it.

Glancing at her PipBuck, I noticed that she’d taken in a sizable portion of radiation.

Fear shot through me at that realisation. It couldn’t be. Surely she’d been exposed before the stable. Or maybe the PipBuck itself was broken. It had to be one of those two. Stables weren’t normally irradiated. Even when a spark reactor went bad, it didn’t produce the same kind of magic as balefire… right?

Radiation was probably the biggest cause of miscarriages in the wasteland… If I’d just been exposed to so much of it… No, no, no, calm down, Candy. You can’t panic just yet!

Dagger woke up when I was changing the bandage of her chest. “Shit, I’m alive.”

After our return from the stable, I’d tended to her wounds. Unfortunately, as was common with smaller settlements, they didn’t have any blood bags I could use. Her injuries had reopened during our hasty escape, but were no longer severe enough to warrant using a healing potion. She was already weakened, and odds were the magic would do more harm than good.

“That you are. You lost a lot of blood, though, so be careful.” I’d briefly met up with Platinum and Snow to bring them up to speed. Then, I’d gone to look over Dagger and make sure she would survive the night. Those bandages would need to be changed multiple times a day for now.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” She rolled her eyes. “Lots of bedrest, need to eat right, et cetera.”

I smiled and nodded. “Glad to see you’re in good spirits.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? I’m alive, after all,” she quipped before her sass and mirth disappeared from her face all at once. “Fuck, I forgot.”

This wouldn’t be easy, but I had to reassure her. If she blamed herself for this, it wouldn’t do her any good. “I’m… sorry about Shell. It wasn’t your fault, we all—”

“It’s not about who’s at fault,” she cut me off sharply. “I made the call, and I’m responsible for her fate. Whether or not it was overall a good call remains to be seen. We bought some time, but we still need to find a way to get rid of them for good.”

Sweet Celestia, what had this filly been through? “That’s quite a cold, or rather overly analytical, way of looking at things, don’t you think?”

Dagger looked away, out through the window. “I didn’t say it doesn’t suck.” She let out a long sigh. “She was a good friend, and I’m going to miss her a lot. It’s just…” She turned back to face me, her expression solemn. “I’ve been the leader ever since our parents died. I’ve made decisions that got three of my closest friends killed. If I let that eat away at me, I’d very quickly share their fate.”

Not knowing what else to do, I just patted her mane. For a second, she was about to protest, but quickly changed her mind. Soon enough, she started crying, and I leaned in to hug her.

That simple motherly act sent a pang of guilt and worry through my mind as I remembered about the radiation. I’d drank some RadAway, but I knew it wasn’t that simple. Sweet Celestia, if—

I pushed the thought into the back of my mind. This wasn’t about me. This poor filly, strong as she was, needed somepony right now, and I wasn’t going to let my own worries take the forefront.

As she eventually stopped crying, she spoke up, her voice meek, “By the way…” She wiggled out of my embrace and turned to look at me. “When I got hurt… You shouted something. I think it was a name?”

“Ah, yes, sorry about that. In certain ways you remind me of my little sister. Her name was Iron Sonata. She’s been dead for so long, but she’s clearly still on my mind.” I sighed.

“Oh.” For some reason, she sounded disappointed. To my puzzled look, she replied, “The mare who taught me everything I know was also named Iron. Well, Iron Sights, but she went by Iron.” She gave a sheepish little smile. “It would have been one hell of a coincidence, but I guess it was enough to get my hopes up.”

“Same here, really. I never found her corpse, so part of me hoped she was still alive, as unlikely as that may be.” I slowly shook my head. “But she would be just a few years older than you, so that can’t be.” Part of me still desperately wanted to hope it was somehow possible, but I knew better. I decided to change the topic a little. “In any case, your Iron did a fantastic job teaching you to wield a blade. Watching your fight was really impressive.”

“Thanks!” she said with a smirk. “But it gets even better. She really prefers rifles, and only uses a knife when she really needs to. Point is, she only showed me magic, the knife bit is self-taught. I just put the tricks she taught me into practice. A few hours passed in the blink of an eye, and I had my cutie mark.”

Her mark, now that I’d seen it, resembled a six pointed star made out of various daggers. “It really fits you,” I commented.

“Mhm! I used to think I’d have a flower cutie mark like mom, or maybe something artsy like dad. Now I’m pretty happy with what I have. I can actually protect the ponies I care about and be strong for them.” She was grinning widely, despite the weakness in her voice. “Which reminds me… what’s the deal with your mark? It’s not at all what I’d expect from such a great fighter.”

I softly smiled at her and explained, “That’s mostly just experience because of what I chose to do in life.”

She nodded in thought, and I decided that was my time to leave. “Anyway, now that I know you’ll be alright, I’m going to go catch up on sleep.” As I turned away to leave, I added, “Don’t stay up too late fiddling with your new PipBuck.”

She furrowed her eyebrows and gaped for a moment before saying, “How did you know I was gonna…?”

“Just a hunch. You seemed excited to have one, so I figured. Why do you like it so much? Most wastelanders tend to underestimate how useful it can be unless they’ve seen it first hoof.”

“Well, Iron had one, and she made it seem damn useful. Been wanting one ever since.” She tapped the screen as she spoke. “Except hers wasn’t exactly like it. It was much sleeker, and white.”

That caught me by surprise. “That… sounds like a PipBuck Alpha, and they’re rare even amongst PipBucks. I’ve only known of one pony who wore one." I felt my mood sour with every word. “Are you sure her name wasn’t Iron Sonata?” Please don’t give me hope.

Dagger rolled her eyes. “Uh, yeah. And she was an actual adult, even back then. She was taller than you, in fact.”

“Sorry, I don’t know what came over me, I should know better. This is just all one massive coincidence.” I bit my lip and hesitated. Finally, I managed to get the words out, “Just to get any dumb ideas out of my head, can you describe her to me? Did you get to see her cutie mark by chance?”

“I think her coat was a shade of white, or something else very light. Looked brownish, but that could just be the wasteland dirt.” Dagger shrugged. “Had red eyes and a green and yellow mane.”

I felt my heart stop, and the shock must have been obvious on my face. Dagger’s eyes gradually widened, and she barely managed to hide a grin as she slowly shook her head. “Don’t tell me… Don’t tell me her cutie mark was a rifle surrounded with stars?”

That was beyond any coincidence. "It was… And she was the one who taught you to survive?"

She nodded fervently. “She was a bit gruff on the surface, but she helped us when it really mattered. Cloak always says mean things about her, but I think he's just jealous because I look up to her more than to him.”

I felt my eyes tearing up. “I’m… so proud.”

Dagger was grinning, too. “I take it you two were close?”

I nodded. “And she meant a lot to me in general; I got my cutie mark because of her.”

She chuckled. “Heh, that makes two of us. Though I doubt you mean she showed you how to be a nurse.”

I shared her laugh and shook my head. “Nah, it was a bit more complicated than that.”

“Mind if I ask how? If you haven’t noticed, she’s kinda my hero.” Her smile turned sheepish for a brief moment before returning to wonder.

“I don’t know, it’s a bit of a long story…” I really didn’t want to waste any time reminiscing about the past. I just wanted to run and find Iron right this instant. However, I knew that wasn’t a smart idea. Might as well take my time, for now. “You know what? I can give you the short version. It’s not very grand or anything, though. One day, she was walking around the stable with—”

“Wait, she’s from a stable?” She shook her head. “Wait, nevermind, that’s kinda obvious. Sorry for interrupting, please go on.”

I chuckled. “Anyway, she was walking around the stable with a cut and a bruise on her face, crying. I ran to her, got her home to my place, and put a bandaid on it.” She’d told me she had fallen, but I knew that was a lie. Back then, I believed she was being bullied and offered to protect her. However, she wouldn’t say who did it, so I’d focused on just being there for her and consoling her. “I realised that this act of taking care of somepony; of helping them get better, no matter what they’ve been through, is what I was meant to do. And usually, it’s better to prevent rather than heal.”

“Woah, it’s kinda weird to think of her as a weak little filly that needed protecting. But I guess everypony is young at some point. Wait, does that mean I’ll be so strong when I get older?” The filly continued to ramble while I sunk deeper into my own thoughts.

I’d never been too fond of my mark; in such a cruel world, why focus on healing rather than preventing? I’d been a little jealous of Iron—and now Dagger—and their cutie marks. At least they were simple and effective. Mine hardly made sense past the little obvious parts. I’d had it for nearly a decade, and I still didn’t understand what the candy cane on it represented. I’d picked my name based on it, and the twofold meaning of “cane” made sense in security, but ultimately I didn’t know what it meant.

Lately I’d been slowly trying to reconnect with it. When I wasn’t killing bandits, helping heal ponies was the next best thing.

Now that I’d potentially lost my foal, I realised that I really needed to focus on being a medical pony. Sure, I was a capable fighter, but I needed to stop risking everything. I’d decided that several months ago, but it just hadn’t clicked until now. I needed to stop playing hero already.

It was just… healing somepony only felt… half right. It felt like I was missing something, something essential. Fighting, on the other hoof, didn’t really feel right either. However, it didn’t feel wrong. It wasn’t something that gave me purpose. It was just a chore like any other.

The only times where I felt like I was really doing what I was meant to do… They were back when I was travelling with Iron.

No… that wasn’t quite right. There were other times I’d felt similarly. I’d just ignored them because the rational part of my brain insisted on preventing rather than healing.

Come to think of it, my cutie mark had appeared after I comforted Iron, hadn’t it? Perhaps I wasn’t just meant to be a walking healing potion, and my special talent was really more about the mental part of recovery; about the idea of giving somepony the comfort that somepony cared. Maybe that was what the candy cane represented.

How could I be so deaf to my own feelings? No wonder so much of my life felt hollow after I got separated from her. Even Platinum’s love couldn’t fill the gap that was caused by not being in touch with my own cutie mark.

Not that any of this mattered right now. Iron was alive! Sweet Celestia, to think she’d been out in the wasteland all this time. I’d given up my search, but I could now find and save my baby sister!

“Do you know where she went off to?” But could I really afford to follow such a cold trail now of all times? And did she really need to be saved?

I was sipping a coffee when the door to Snow’s room opened, and she walked out. After carefully closing the door to avoid waking Bluestar, she yawned and stared at me for a moment. “You look like you haven’t slept at all, sis,” she said.

I just shrugged. “Because I haven’t. At least not after the tiny nap I got after I talked to you two.”

She tilted her head. “How come? Usually you’re the soundest sleeper of us all.” She had a flash of realisation. “Wait, is the filly okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah, she’s stable. I’ve just been thinking a lot since I got to talk to her. I’ll explain it once Plat’s up.”

She and I sat in silence. Well, I sat in silence while she wolfed down some sugary pre-wasteland cereal. Eventually, I could hear Platinum move inside our room. When he came out, he gave me a look of concern, and I pointed him to a chair. Confused, he sat down.

“I’ve been up all night, thinking.” Taking a deep breath, I looked at both of them. “Last night, after Dagger woke up, I found out that apparently Iron is still alive. Or at least she was, a bit more than a year ago.”

Snow furrowed her brow and looked like she wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Platinum. “And whatcha gonna do about it? You just gonna go and ditch us to catch after somepony you used to know? Or maybe yer planning to drag us along in a wild chase?”

That was exactly what I’d been dreading. I knew exactly how to shut him up and get him to listen to me. “No, I will not.” That seemed to have the desired effect, and I sighed. It caught both of them off guard, but neither said anything. “I’m not going to go after her, at least not immediately… I really want to meet her again at some point, but I don’t think we’d be able to catch up to her now. Besides, I’ll have a duty as a mother by the time we could potentially find her.” I tried to smile, but had a feeling it didn’t look very happy.

“While I want to run off and find my little sister again, I don’t think she needs me. According to Dagger, she’s become a strong young mare; a competent mercenary with a good heart.” I gulped. “As much as it hurts to say this… she doesn’t need me anymore.”

Once we moved on from that topic, I tried to put together the courage and admit to Plat that I was afraid I’d lost our foal. However, I just couldn’t bring myself to it, and all I could do was hope that he or she had survived. I’d drank a sachet of RadAway, wary of any side effects that could also affect my pregnancy.

Instead, I did the next best thing. “I’ve also come to another conclusion…” I tried my best to smile, but in my current state, I feared that it looked rather like a grimace. “I am going to stop my work as a hired gun.”

Platinum furrowed his brow, but couldn’t stop a cautious little smile from spreading on his muzzle. “But…?”

I shook my head. “There is no ‘but’. I’ve simply come to realise that it isn’t my calling; that I’m better off helping in other ways; ways that directly link to who I am, instead of forcing myself to take the difficult route.”

While the demand for medical professionals was often unmet in the wasteland, recovering from mental trauma seemed almost impossible. Almost everypony had witnessed horrors now etched into their mind, but they could often do little more than push on through the harsh reality.

I didn’t know how to treat mental health issues, but it seemed like learning it would be the next step in my quest to help.

After all, what point was there to dying a heroic death, if it meant I wouldn’t be able to help anypony anymore?

We only ended up staying in Scrapin’ By a few more days. I’d been prepared to stay there a couple of months, but Dagger seemed to be doing well, and before long, I was mostly getting in her way.

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Thought you died — Now that you’ve decided to stop risking your life, it’s only a matter of time before folks start thinking you died. Your karma will gradually be reset to zero. On the bright side, the many adventures that failed to kill you have only made you stronger and even harder to kill. You also become immune to critical hits.

Author's Note

This was one of my favourite Candy chapters to write. Started out very mediocre (and it’s why it took so long), but that just meant I had to work harder to make it actually pretty good.

Next chapter will be out on the 17th, and then on the 31st.