After a hard day of work, I had finally gotten the last solar panel repaired.

You know, It would've been much easier if it weren't currently snowing, but I didn't have much of a choice. The world decides when it gets cold or hot, and you just gotta' deal with it. It's really unfair, but that's just life, isn't it? I didn't care much about the snow though, I was just glad I had finally gotten the power issue under control.

That was until I figured out just how stupid I was.

Repairing these damn solar panels wouldn't mean shit if they were just going to get snowed over. Meaning, currently, they were useless.

Dammit! How come I didn't think of this sooner? Now the entire area was running on maybe two days worth of battery juice, which obviously was not good. I needed to get this situation sorted immediately, and I had just the idea to fix it. Hopefully, this one isn't going to end up a dead end like the damned solar panels. No, instead I was going to pull out the old generator I had kept in storage. I had only ever used it when I crash-landed, and decided to put it away since it required wood for fuel. Even with as many tree's around me as there is, I didn't like the idea of having to use all of my wood to fuel a damn generator. I opted for alternatives like solar panels, and windmills.

The windmills were still going, though solar panels were basically useless, so that old crummy generator has a purpose now, if only for the winter. I began walking through the deep snow, loving the sound of the crunch below my feet. I'm glad that I wasn't too far away from my house, as the snow was knee-deep and already getting me quite cold. My parka kept me warm for the most part, but my pants weren't exactly built for this weather. I trudged along still before reaching the front of my door, swinging it open and stepping inside, finally escaping the cold death outside.

I slammed the door shut and shook my pants clean of snow, wiping them down with my gloves. Just because I don't have a luxurious living space doesn't mean I shouldn't still keep a little etiquette. With my pants now snow-free, and the bottom of my boots also snow-free, I began to walk through my little living space.

It wasn't much. I had a bed, an end table, a lamp, a table with a chair, and a door that led to the kitchen and freezer. On the opposite side from the kitchen was storage, my destination. I opened the door, breathing in the dust from the room as I walked inside. I definitely needed to clean storage up, but that could wait until I had time to worry about such trivial things. I slowly stepped over the various items that were strewn all across the room, making it all the way to the far corner where the generator laid.

Why did I have to put this heavy thing in the corner? Was past me really that idiotic?

I gave a loud sigh, shaking my head. "Dammit.." I grabbed the side of the generator and began to pull it along the floor. No way in hell was I picking that thing up when I could just drag it. I kicked things out of the way with my feet as I pulled the generator all the way to the main room, kicking it into the far left corner where the main electric wires ran through. Dusting it off with my gloves, I examined it up close to make sure nothing was wrong with it. Thankfully there wasn't anything wrong with it as far as I could tell, and I plugged it into the wires. Now all I needed was some fuel.

Now, I could've used wood like I usually would, but instead I opted for something better. Chemfuel.

Yeah, a week or so ago some idiots tried to come attack me. I didn't even know they were coming, so my turrets weren't on, and it turns out one of said idiots had a chemfuel container with him. I assumed he was going to use it to set fire to the place, but he didn't make it farther than my front door. Thanks to him, I could put it to some good use. Even with this shitty world doing all it can to fuck me over, sometimes I almost believe that it rewards me for putting up with it. Nah, i'm probably just going crazy.

Retrieving the chemfuel container from storage, I walked back to the generator and opened the black-lid on the top of it, pouring the entire container of chemfuel into it. I shook the container, making sure I got every last drop in there before twisting the lid back on, and flicking the switch. The generator began to hum as it warmed up. I expected something to go wrong but, to my surprise, nothing did. It worked as I hoped for.

"Look at you, Rex. Maybe you can really do things without fucking it up atleast once!" I told myself with a light chuckle. I was glad I didn't have to worry about the electricity problem no longer, atleast for the time being. Sure, whenever I need to turn on the turrets it'll drain like crazy, but I don't think i'll have to do that any time soon. You'd have to be crazy to raid anybody during this weather. Though, that doesn't really prove much, since most of the people that have tried raiding me are crazy.

Either way, I don't think i'll have to worry about power for the rest of winter. When spring hits, I can work on getting more power alternatives set up so I can finally get some hydroponics set up. It was a shame I couldn't get any of that done before the winter, but, I can't complain now. Besides, it wouldn't have mattered much. I've got plenty of meat and other food stored in the freezer that'll last me well past the winter. Some tribals passed by right before winter and showed me pemmican. It's like.. food that tastes like shit, but really never expires. I happily grabbed a ton of that stuff from them, despite it tasting like complete garbage. It was always good to have something to fall back on incase any shit goes down.

Also, seeing those tribals faces light up when I showed them things like a flashlight was quite funny. I mean, they had to have spent an hour just fidgeting with the damn thing before happily offering me almost all of their stuff. I declined though, as I had no use for the stuff they had. It was strange though, considering most tribes here on the Rim were used to seeing things like guns, electricity, and mechanical devices. Though these tribals seemed to almost be shut out from the rest of the world.

I hope they're doing alright in this cold, and putting that flashlight to good use. Though, now that I think of it, they'll probably have it on so much that it'll kill the battery. They might come back to me and get pissed for selling them a fake or something. It's whatever though, i'll just give them two flashlights next time. Genius idea.

With the night's problems solved, I was ready to sleep. I hated sleeping in my clothing, but with how cold it is outside, and with my heater only providing a little heat, it was mandatory unless I wanted a finger to fall off. With a sigh, I walked over to my bed and collapsed on top of it, burying my head into the pillow. I was ready to dream about a cool summer day.

POP

I lifted my head up immediately, staring at my door. There was definitely something outside, human or animal. Without hesitation I grabbed my bolt-action and headed for the door. Right before I opened the door, I flicked on a small switch next to it. I could hear the electricity run from the switch through the wires, and I heard the familiar hum of the turrets outside turning on.

Who would it be this time? Some tribals? Pirates? Cannibals? Or perhaps a bear that fucked with one of my turrets.

Didn't really care, whatever it was was going to get a bullet. I swung the door open, pointing my rifle ahead of me as I trudged through the snow. I could view the blue lights of my turrets in the distance, their barrels scanning around the area, watching for any movement. I was extremely thankful to have them on my side. They were the closest thing to company as I got around here for the most part.

I will admit, I have talked to them a few times. I swear I'm not crazy.

Though my gratitude for the automated machines disappeared quickly.

POP

All of my turrets immediately froze, and a purple wave was sent through the entire area. It wasn't like a shockwave however, it just swept through the landscape. I immediately assumed it was some sort of EMP grenade that was recently developed, though I don't know why it would send out a big purple wave.

I aimed my rifle in the direction of the popping sound. I could see an outline of something not far off in the distance, though I wasn't sure if I was able to hit it in the dark. I thanked myself for attaching a flashlight to my rifle with tape before I turned it on, the bright light illuminating the figure in the distance. My finger was ready to pull the trigger back as soon as I saw it, though I stopped.

Whatever the hell it was, had four legs. It was also purple, just like the wave that was sent out. It looked like some alien animal I had never seen before. I gave a loud sigh.

This is what all the fuss was about? This tiny little purple horse-looking thing?

I sighed, shaking my head as I kept my rifle aimed at it. I thought scaring it off would do the trick, so I yelled. "Hey! Get! Outa' here you purple fuckin'.. thing!"

I felt a shiver fall down my back as after I yelled the creature looked at me with wide eyes. It looked confused and scared. I was able to get a good look at its face now, seeing that it had a horn. It's eyes were large too, and it actually was kind of adorable. Though, being adorable didn't mean you weren't deadly. Perhaps I could tame it? It'd have to be later, as all I wanted was it away from my house so I could sleep.

"Hey!" I yelled again. "Get! I need my sleep!" I began to walk towards the purple-horn-pony thing, my rifle aimed at it still. It simply watched as I got closer, its eyes widening with each step I took. I was expecting it to run off from being scared, but it looked frozen in fear. "I swear if you don't get your purple ass out of here, I'm gonna' kil-"

"I'm sorry!"

..Huh?

The pony-thing cowered in fear now, covering its body with what seemed to be wings that came from its sides. Wings?

Nevermind that, I had something more important to think about. The fucking thing spoke. I've always heard tales of creatures like a Thrumbo that could speak, but i've never actually heard something non-human, or atleast non-human and non-machine speak.

It's voice trembled when it spoke, obviously fearful of my presence. I simply stared at it, watching it cower in fear still. What the hell was I supposed to do? I don't even know how to continue, since this thing just spoke. Now knowing that it can speak, I can't just fuckin' shoot the damn thing! That'd be cruel to do to something so scared, and adorable for that matter.

"You.." I paused, trying to think about how to continue this. "You were the one that made that.. wave thing, and that popping sound, right?" I asked, still pointing my rifle at it. Better safe than sorry.

I could see it hesitantly nod from under its wings.

"And you're.. intelligent?"

It seemed to be a little confused at my question, but hesitantly nodded again. So, now I'm dealing with a purple-horn-winged-pony thing that is intelligent and can speak. I must've had some smoke-leaf or something, because this is completely fucking ridiculous. I continued to stare at the pony, thinking of my next question before I noticed it was shivering. I suppose I forgot just how cold it was due to the adrenaline, and all of the clothing on me. This thing was basically nude.

I don't know what made me do this, but I lowered my rifle, and knelt down to it. "You cold?" I asked.

It hesitantly, once again, nodded.

I stood up, looking back over to my house, before returning my gaze upon it. "My house is right there, it's much warmer in there." I said, already beginning to walk towards my house without a second thought. Though I didn't see the pony following. I turned around, looking at it.

"You coming?" I asked, to which it seemed to hesitantly lower its wings and nod, slowly walking with trembling legs over to me. I continued trudging through the thick snow to my house, making it to the front door and opening it. God dammit! That wave-thing that shut down my turrets, also shut down my lamp, my generator, and my batteries in storage. I was sure they would come back on soon enough, but it was annoying having to walk through a dark house.

I turned to look at the pony behind me, seeing it paused right in front of my door. I gestured for it to come in, to which it did slowly. I shut the door behind it, which seemed to cause it to flinch a little. I couldn't really blame it, I would be a little scared too.

I turned to it. "You won't kill me in my sleep, will you?" I asked, to which it gave me a confused look and shook its head. It seemed like it didn't want to speak a whole lot, probably too scared to get a sentence out without it falling into a stuttering mess. I shrugged at the answer and headed over to my bed, setting my rifle against the end-table and sitting on my bed.

"Whatever you did with that.. wave.. seems to have shut my place down for a bit. No more heat, or light for the next couple of hours. You can take this-" I picked up my blanket and tossed it over to the pony. "-it's better than sleeping without anything."

I didn't even wait for a response from the pony, as I instantly collapsed into my bed. My lack of sleep had probably made me hallucinate all of this, and I'm probably going crazy. If I hadn't been so damn tired, I most probably would've kicked the damn thing to the dirt and went to bed, but something about it caused me to do otherwise.

I've done a lot of horrible shit since I landed on this planet, but I wouldn't kill a shivering, adorable pony-thing. Even if it was a hallucination. I'm not a monster.

..Right?

Author's Note

New story!

Don't worry to those who are reading 'Solaire and HIs Sun' as I will still keep updating that. Also, my other story, 'Survival Is Necessary' is more of a side-project, consisting of long chapters.

I hope you all like this story! It's based off the game 'Rimworld' which is an amazing Colony-Survival Simulator. I recommend to try to it out, and the very least, to check it out.

The pacing on this chapter is a little wonky for sure, but that'll be resolved in the later chapters. I just hope that you all have enjoyed this first chapter.

If you liked the chapter and what to show your appreciation, or have an criticism, be sure to comment down below! I usually respond, and even if I don't, I always read every new comment. I promise!

Oh, and to anyone who needs it:

It's never okay to be a completely selfish person. However, if we want to help people, we have to be a little selfish and put ourselves first. How can we help those in need if we cannot help ourselves?