Running now

I turned and booked it away from the giant angry blood red dragon pony thing. I heard a bestial roar come from behind me. Not good. I glanced over my shoulder to see five or so of the power armoured ponies chasing me. Then they started shooting “fuck!” I screamed as one bullet pinged off my pipbuck.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!” my tirade continued as I ran down the tunnel to what I hoped was the exit. Because if it wasn’t I was gonna be turned to jam by all of that firepower behind me. “Fuck!” I screamed as I skidded around a corner, bullets landing right where I was a second before.

“Get back here, I’m going to stick my gun UP YOUR ASS!” yelled one of the raiders behind me.

“Sorry but I’m not into that, plus you're just not my type,” I yelled back, gaining a small smirk. One I wore for only a split second before a hail of bullets went over my head, one of them bouncing off my helmet.

Ok, no more quips just focus on running Moon. As I got further down the tunnel I could see it getting brighter and I could feel a breeze coming into the cave. Almost there, I thought as I ran with the cool stone beneath me. I rounded another bend keeping my head low as bullets flying over hitting the stone sending small chunks of stone flying. At the end of the tunnel I could see the source of the light, an exit to the cave. Pushing myself I picked up speed and launched myself out of the cave into the bright blinding light.

I skidded to a halt just outside. My flank hit the ground in shock as I took in the area around me despite the slight pain brought on by the bright light. The bright white snow coated the mountains around me and the ground before me. The bright green pine trees that had survived in the face of armageddon. The cool breeze that pushed through the mountains blowing my mane and caressing my exposed fur… The only thing missing is the sun yet that was hidden behind a thick cover of thick grey clouds.

I would have sat there longer stuck in the trance in awe of the world around me yet the bullet striking my left wing did a pretty good job at snapping me out of it.

I got my ass in gear and started to run through the snow towards the trees. As I ran I looked over my shoulder back at my wing I could see the wing was hanging at my side getting dragged through the snow. The only two things that could cause that witch came to mind was either a broken bone or the nerves are damaged. Hopefully, it was broken, I could fix it if it was broken, but if it was nerve damage even if I was a doctor I may not be able to fly again.

Judging by the amount of pain that was radiating from it was most likely broken, if your nerves are damaged you can’t feel them, right?

As I ran through the snow I could hear the ponies behind me struggling to keep up in the power armor as it kept sinking in the snow, thank Celestia I was light enough to not be sinking in too much. I poured on the speed in an attempt to put more distance between me and the raiders. I heard the shouts fade in the distance behind me as I ran.

After running a bit longer, and the voices faded, I sat down beneath a tree catching my breath. I need to get my wing patched up otherwise they can just follow my blood trail. I brought up my pipbuck going over to the inventory tab. Pulling out a roll of magical bandages I held it in my mouth as I looked at my wing. Alright here comes the shitty part, I started to feel around my wing trying to hold in a scream as I did so. Feeling around the bone I found that it was in fact broken. I felt relieved at that, I just need to splint it and let it heal, or at least that's what my brief medical training taught me. Though it probably more complicated seeing as the medical training I received was just to attempt to stabilise and then bring the pony to medical.

Looking around I found a few sticks that would work for a makeshift splint. Now came the hard part… Holding the stick, I extended my wing as far as possible, wincing in pain as I tried to set the bone. Acting quickly I put the sticks against it and started to wrap it in the roll of bandages. As I finished wrapping my wing I tied off the bandages. I began to hear voices.

“Come on guys he can't have gotten far.” I heard a voice yell out peaking around the tree. I could see a few ponies only in light armor carrying rifles. Damn without the heavy armor I won’t be able to get away as easily, yet now I don’t have to worry about leaving a blood trail. Getting up I stayed in the trees I started to slowly move through the trees, to keep myself out of view of the search party. So I was a bit surprised when I ran right into a sprite bot.

“Ouch,” I said through my hooves as I held my muzzle in pain.

“Sorry about that,” a deep tinny voice came from the sprite, “I don’t have much time and the mountains are making this harder that it usually is so I need you to listen.”

I sat there staring at the robot that had just spoken. Thats strange if my knowledge is correct this was a sprite bot, then again most of the time in class I wasn’t paying attention.

“ there is a nasty storm coming real quick so you need to find shelter. There's a cabin a mile or two to the south, from there I recommend you get off these mountains. You should also need to hide your wings, not many ponies like pegasi down here.” the robot continued.

Finally after getting over the initial strangeness that was the talking robot, I spoke. “ What the hell are you? '' I asked, “You're a sprite bot yet you're giving me talking like you're sentient, have robots gained become self-aware!?” I exclaimed, what if the wasteland is ruled by robots.

“What? No.” the robot said. I swear I could hear a little bit of laughter in its voice. ”I can't explain much because I don’t have much time, but short story short I can take over most sprite bots, though this one is a bit harder than others” he explained, the sprite bot started to smoke. “ You can call me Wat--.” the spite bot let out a loud pop as it fell to the ground still smoking.

“Uhh okay…” I said, guess that's what he meant by having limited time. He said that there was a cabin to the south, welp I got no better direction to go so south it is.

“Hey I heard something over here” a voice yelled out. I heard a tree rustle as a pony emerged from them. The pony was a red unicorn with a rifle in his magical grip. One that he didn’t hesitate to use the moment he saw me.

I dropped to the ground in an attempt to dodge some of his fire. I pulled my pistol out of its holster getting ready to shoot back when I felt a bullet skip across my back, goddamn I need to stop getting shot. With my pistol in my mouth, I aimed at the unicorn as he started to reload I quickly fired three times watching as the rounds tore chunks of his throat away. He fell to the ground gasping struggling to grab something from his saddlebags.

I started to walk towards him, wincing in pain as my back bled, to finish him off and maybe take his rifle when suddenly my ears perked as I heard some ponies getting closer.

Shit of course the others were close, goodbye weapon upgrade, I sighed, I couldn’t get a break today, could I.

Acting quickly I turned and ran southwards heading away from the shouts of the ponies hunting me.

Trying to stay low to avoid detection I wondered where that cabin that pony over the sprite bot was talking about, what did he say his name was again Wat, eh strange name but then again there are some strange pony names. Either way, hopefully, it wasn’t too close where those raiders would find me, yet again hopefully not too far either with the weather… I could tell the wind was picking up and I could see that it started to lightly snow. Again I almost froze at the beauty of the world around me, with the snow-peaked mountains and green trees you could hardly tell that there was part of an irradiated wasteland. And if it wasn’t for the large group of raiders hunting for my head I may just want to spend my life in these mountains.

I felt the wind pick up again and the snow started to fall a bit faster. Alright not good if what Wat said was right, I guess real quick gives me maybe half an hour. Alright well, Wat you better be right because if I turn into a popsicle I will haunt you. I continued trudging through the deepening snow keeping my eyes open looking for the cabin.

I clutched my duster closer to me as I continued to walk my wing still aching from the broken bone and I could feel a slight trickle of blood coming from my back. I wanted to stop to patch it up but if I stopped chances are I would freeze in this weather, so I kept moving forward through the snow that went up halfway up my pipbuck.

As I continued to walk my vision grew worse as the howling wind blew around the snow. I was barely able to see my hoof in front of my face as I walked. The cold sapped my strength and my hope, was this how I was going to die… caught in a snowstorm in the middle of nowhere. Hot tears started to roll down my face “I’m sorry” I whispered “I’m a failure, can’t protect the stable and now I’m going to die in a snowstorm.” my face burned as the wind whipped at it the feeling was only worsted by the tears freezing on my face. I fell to the ground curling into a ball as I felt my body shutting down...

Come on Moonlight! I thought I heard a voice callout. No that wasn’t right it felt like a chorus of voices, voices of those I knew. My mind flashed to my memories of Sky and I playing as foals, it flashed to those of when I swore into security and the memory of Shields final moments, her sacrifice, her last request.

As I remembered those memories something inside me told me to keep moving, to push forward. Slowly I raised to my shaky hooves, my eyes replaced with those of steely determination. Can’t let a storm get the best of me, not when I have to find out who attacked my stable. With that thought, I started to trek forward once again into the icy blast.

That was until I ran something with my slightly frozen muzzle.

Again really ouch, I fell to my flanks for a second time I had run into something with my muzzle. First that spritebot and now a tree… I sniffed, “this is bullshit, can’t I get a break,” I yelled at the oddly flat tree.

Wait trees aren't flat...

I quickly rubbed my eyes clear of tears that hitting my frozen muzzle had brought on, and looked back at the ‘tree’. Now that my vision was clearer I could see that what I thought was a tree was a wall…

Well, that's strange who the hell puts a wall up in the middle of nowhere. I slumped to the ground, this is how I die, I thought, in the middle of nowhere next to a stupid wall…

Wait a wall...

Walls make up a building. I sprung to my hooves in my renewed energy, I found the cabin, I wasn’t going to die. I jumped in joy and let out a sigh of relief. Now I just need to get inside.

Looking around I couldn’t see a door, warranted I couldn’t see far past my muzzle at this point, pushing my side with my good wing against the wall slowly walking around feeling for anything that could be a door. After shimmying my way around the cabin I felt what seemed like a door, taking a closer look I could see that it was in fact a door. I would have pumped my hoof if it didn’t feel like somepony had duct-taped a bunch of gym weights to it. Struggling I put my hoof on the knob, please open. With a slight twist the door swung inward, success finally something went my way. Quickly scrambling inside I slowly pushed the door shut struggling against the wind. Then with a click, the door shut and I fell to the ground…

I don’t know how long I layed there at the door just breathing glad to be out of the storm. By the time I got up to look around the cabin, I regained feeling in my wings. Inside the cabin, even with my eyes, I couldn’t see much. Reaching down to my leg I flicked on the pipbuck lamp bathing the room in an amber glow.

Now that the room was lit up from my pipbuck lamp I could make out the interior of the cabin in better detail. Looking to my left I could see a small kitchen, to the right of that appeared to be a small sitting area with a small couch and a fireplace. Keeping my eyes moving to the right I saw two doors on the right wall. Doing another scan around the cabin I saw nothing new.

Alright, this main room is clear. I should check these other rooms before doing anything else though, don’t want anything sneaking up on me. So I made my way over to the first door and slowly opened it. Stepping into the room I could tell that it was a bathroom by the sink and toilet in the corner of the room stepping in a bit further and looking left to right I saw a MOP medical box hanging on a wall. That reminded me of the still slightly bleeding wound on my back. I need to get that cleaned and bandaged before it gets infected…

But I should check the other room before anything else. I don't want any more surprises today…

I snorted at that, any more of those and I was liable to have a heart attack. Making my way out of the bathroom I went to the second door getting ready for whatever was on the other side of the door. Slowly I creaked the door open and stepped inside scanning for hostiles. As I scanned the room I saw a terminal in the corner from what else I could tell it was a bedroom looking at the bed. I could make out what looked to be somepony hiding under the blanket…

I thought about whether I should just shoot it to be sure that if there was anything hostile under there I would be able to kill it, yet the other half of my brain reasoned that if there was somepony under the covers they could help me and if I shot I could kill an innocent pony… Yeah, option two sounds better as much as I hate getting shot, I’d rather that than killing an innocent pony.

Slowly I inched closer to the bed. I kept my pistol trained on it. As I got up to the bed I hooked my hoof on the blanket getting ready to pull it off the bed. Alright, Moon, you can do this if it's a bad pony shoot them if it's a good pony… I don’t know… talk? Well uhh, guess I didn’t think that through. Welp, no hesitation. With that I yanked my hoof sending the blanket flying, my eyes scanning the bed for any hostiles.

Well, that's depressing I thought as I observed what was on the bed. A mare’s skeleton was curled up underneath the blanket. They must have been here since the war or just shortly after.

Well, I guess the house is clear, I can check the terminal later though hopefully it's not locked. But I should get my back fixed up before I attempt any hacking. Recovering the skeleton with the blanket, I walked out of the bedroom and made my way to the bathroom.

As I entered the bathroom I walked over to the medical box and flipped it open revealing its contents. A few roles of magical bandages, a syringe of med-x, what may have once been a healing potion yet the container was empty, and finally, something my pipbuck labeled as dash…

Well I don’t think I need any mystery drugs right now but I might as well keep it somepony might want it with the price my pipbuck gave it. How did it know the cost of this? Think about it later Moon get your helmet off and fix your shit. I slid off my helmet and put it into my saddlebags. Speaking of strange things, how did they fit so much stuff in them?

I smacked my head for what felt like the 10th time today and probably wouldn’t be the last time either, focus Moon, I chastised myself.

Alright, I should have enough to get some bandages on my back and change out the one on my wing just need to get this duster off then I should be able to see the damage done.

Slowly I pulled the duster off, my broken wing only making it harder to get the damn thing off. I mean really, who designed these things they were near impossible to get off with hooves.

After 20 minutes of struggling I finally got the duster of my wings and let it fall to the ground, Celestia I hate whoever made these things. In the struggle with the evil duster, my back had started to bleed a lot more. Alright, let's see how bad it is. Craning my head around I could clearly see where the bullet had skimmed across my back leaving a bloody cut across it. Ok it's just a surface wound, damn I wish I had healing potions those would be nice, I gripped.

As I did a double-check patting myself down, just to make sure there wasn’t anything else wrong with me my eyes fell onto my cutie mark, it was an old wanted poster like the kind you would see in those cowpony movies with the silhouette of a pony on it, atop the poster was the silhouette of two pistols. I don’t know why but for some reason I felt compelled to look at it. I sat there staring at it like a foal who just got their, well for lack of better expression, cutie mark.

I remember the day I got it it was rather strange. I still don’t know what it fully means. I know that the pistols meant I was good with them. I was the only pony who was able to disassemble, then resemble and hit a target in under a minute the first try when I was going through training to join security.

I smacked my head to break that train of thought. Come on Moon stop thinking about the past, your bleeding, and need to make sure you don't die. I mentally scolded myself.

I grabbed the bandage in my teeth alright now just how to get this on I mean really, unicorns have it so easy with their magic, cheaty magic. I grumbled at the thought as I struggled to get the bandage around my body.

Damn now I’m depressed, angry, and jealous, I thought as I got the bandage around my chest… now just do that a bunch of more times, fun… I need friends that would make this shit so much easier. I thought as I continued to bandage my wound.

Correction: I need new friends, my thoughts wandered back to the stable and all of my friends there… all of my dead friends… the ones I couldn’t save...

“Fuck me...” I sighed as grief and guilt flooded my brain. Just what I need right now is more emotions to be dancing around in my grey matter. I tightened the bandage around my body… “think happy thoughts Moon, happy thoughts”

Yet no matter how hard I tried I could get all of the emotions to leave my mind. “Welp it was with a shot” I muttered to myself. “And now I’m speaking to myself, only half a day out of the stable and I’ve already gone full loco.” I chuckled at that. I looked to the makeshift splint on my wing. Yeah, that's not going to work, just by looking at the splint with my small medical training I could tell that the splint was poorly made.

Alright just need to fix the splint and wait until either it heals or I can get some potions for it. Either way this sprint needs to be fixed so might as well do it now. Slowly unwrapping my wing I made sure to gently lower it to the ground to try and reduce it moving too much and hopefully the pain coming from it. Alright now I just have to make a working splint with a few sticks and bandages with little medical training, It can’t be that hard, could it?

Apparently, it was very hard, me and my big mouth. Yet after what felt like years or what my pipbuck said was 2 hours my wing was in a decent splint. I think. The only thing that was bad about it was the fact that I can’t get my splinted wing through the hole on the duster… not that it really needs to be not like I'm going flying much with a broken wing.

Yet as whatever I was pthestral, thegasus? Nah those just sound weird. Eh, that's an argument for more scientific ponies, point is it feels really claustrophobic to not have my wings free to move.

Maybe it's for the best though, Wat said they don’t like pegasi down here, and with my wings being the same as a pegasus I may need to keep them hidden... Nah screw reasoning this still sucks.

I shook my head. I need to do something otherwise I’m going to go crazy sitting here.

If I haven’t already…

“Nope, gonna stop thinking about that now” I announced as I left the bathroom. “Fuck I’m talking to myself again damn it.”

I made my way into the main room of the cabin and looked around, as my eyes went over the kitchen in the corner my stomach let out a loud grumble. The kitchen it is, I wonder what's left if anything after all these years, I thought as I made my way towards the kitchen. “Alright let's see what we got,” I frowned smacking myself with my hoof “stop talking to yourself.”

I took a deep breath, alright calm down Moon… just search the kitchen. With that in mind, I opened the first cabinet and found it was bare… great. The next few cabinets yielded about the same results as the first. I looked at the last cabinet, “come on have some food,” I begged as my hoof opened the cabinet. Inside the cabinet, there was a small stack of cans and a few bottles of something. Score, I thought as I started to pull stuff out of the cabinet.

Looking at the cans I read through the labels… canned beans, canned beans, and whatever the hell cram is. I mean really who names something cram, that has got to be the most unappetizing thing ever. I turned the can over in my hooves looking over the label trying to figure out what was in the can. Looking at the back of the can I found the ingredients list, alright let's see what you are. I began to read the very short ingredient list.

It's made of MEAT!? Ughh that's disgusting… it didn’t even say what type of meat it just says meat, it's literally a can of mystery meat. Why would anypony eat this… I shuddered, my tongue gliding over the fangs in my mouth. I guess will if I have to, but only as a last resort.

Looking at the other items in the cabinet I found a few bottles of alcohol and even some bottles of water. Throwing all of it in my saddlebags I turned my focus to the rest of the room.

Alright, what's next. I looked at the living area, eh might as well look…

After about 30 minutes of searching, I hadn’t found much in the living area or the rest of the main room of the cabin other than a few pieces of dust and a hoof full of old bottle caps in the couch. Weirdly enough my pipbuck labeled them as currency… strange this thing might be on the fritz. Damn it if this breaks that might just fit my luck.

Leaving the caps on the couch I went into the bedroom to what really held my attention, the terminal in the corner, I trotted up to it and tried to power it on. Miraculously it turned on without a problem. Whoever built these they made them to last.

Looking at the terminal again as it booted up I waited. As the terminal finished booting up I saw the thing I didn’t want to see. The terminal was asking for a password… FUCK. Really can’t I catch a break… I took a deep breath. Alright, maybe I can hack it. I mean it can’t be that hard, can it? It sounded pretty easy in that manual I read… a long time ago… when I was half-asleep…

Alright welp, this can only go bad. Let's do it. I hit a few keys on the keyboard and brought up an interface that had a bunch of random seven-letter words on it… I looked it over. Alright, let's see maybe let's try... Flowers. I clicked enter. The computer gave me an error. Shit alright, three more tries… I looked over the list, ok let's try aquifer. Nope. Alright, 2 more guesses. Let's try banquet. I closed my eyes and pressed the enter key. I slowly opened my eyes showing that it was wrong. I smacked the desk the terminal was on in frustration.

Damn it. I seethed and shook my hoof. Damn you terminal. Alright, one more shot at this got to make sure it's right. I looked over all the options, all 22 of them. Damn it. I slammed my head on the desk and groaned.

Wait a desk… maybe they kept the password in there! I lifted my head and started to open the drawers. The first one I opened contained a small pistol with a box of ammo. That may be useful later on if I run out of ammo for mine. So I slid it into my saddlebags, my pipbuck labeled it as a 9mm and said it was worth... 50? 50 what? Bits? I shrugged. Probably the price it cost before the megaspells. Shrugging it off I continued to search the desk searching for any hints.

After searching the entire desk I found nothing. “Damn it” I slammed my hooves against the desk causing something to fall to the ground. “Huh, what's this?” I questioned as I lowered myself to the ground. It was a note that was taped to the bottom of the desk that was knocked loose when I hit the desk. Huh. I picked up the note and started to read it.

Password: Mountain.

I wanted to smack something. REALLY? I mean that's what I wanted by why would you keep your password underneath your desk. I mean what's the point of even having a password then.

You know what. I’m just gonna be happy something went my way. Getting back on my hooves I looked for the correct password on the computer. Finding it after a bit of searching I clicked it and held my breath.

The terminal unlocked. I pumped my hoof. Haha take that terminal you can’t outsmart me. After a brief victory dance, I pulled myself back to examine the files. Most of them were corrupted but the last few seemed to be intact. Better than nothing I thought as I clicked the file and started to read.

Day 1 after the megaspells, this is madness. This can’t be happening. When the radio started to blare out to evacuate to the stables Honey and I thought it was a drill. It wasn’t until bright lights lit up the sky from the direction of San Dogio did we realize that what everypony feared had happened. The war has ended but at what cost.

Day 2 after the megaspells, I tried to get into that stable nearby. Sat outside for hours banging on the door, begging them to open it. Yet I had no luck, they kept the door closed. On my way back to the cabin it started to snow, but instead of normal snow, it was black as coal. Ironic.

Day 3 after the megaspells, Honey started to feel sick… from my training in med school I can tell it's radiation sickness, and with nothing to help her, she will die. I have decided that tomorrow I will try and head east to Winter Hill and see if I can find anything to help Honey.

Day 4 after the megaspells, there was nothing in the village, no ponies either they must have run to the stable or just grabbed stuff and ran. Honey says she is getting better but parts of her mane and coat are changing colors and falling out, I can tell she is just trying to spare me worrying. I can feel the effects of radiation getting to me now… I can’t let that get me through. I’m heading back into the village to search again tomorrow.

Day 6 after the megaspells, I stayed overnight in the town to search for any anti-radiation medication. I found nothing. Honey's condition is worsening, she can barely walk and won’t eat. I don’t know what to do… I’m worried that if I try to go to one of the farther towns to search for supplies Honey will die yet if I don’t go she will still die…

Day 8 after the megaspells, Honey passed away last night…

Day 13 after the megaspells, I tried to bury Honey for the past 5 days but a blizzard rolled in, and judging by the sudden large amounts of mane loss it's radioactive too. I’m getting too weak to do much now I doubt I will see tomorrow. I’m sorry Honey Drop... If there is anypony reading this I am sorry we didn’t try harder to stop this. This is Dr.Silver Star signing off.

I looked at the terminal then at the lump on the bed. That must be Honey Drop. My ears drooped. I should bury her before I leave, It would be the least I could do…

Damn now I feel even more depressed, I need a distraction. I headbutted the desk. It seemed like a good idea.

“Ow fuck!” I seethed as I jumped back rubbing where the table hit my head. It wasn’t. Ok, note to self, no more head butting tables no matter what mental state I'm in.

Before I could try any other forms of getting my mind to stop thinking about the overall depressive atmosphere my stomach came to the rescue by letting out a large grumble. I haven’t eaten for a sense this morning and well a nutrient bar wasn’t much of a meal. I started to make my way out of the bedroom, making sure to close the door behind me.

Alright, what to eat? I brought up my pipbuck. Let's see it's either beans or that cram stuff. Beans it is. I opened my saddlebags and pulled out a can of beans. Opening it I quickly ate the continents of the can. Man, this stuff is so much better than that grey goop in the stable.

I threw the empty can in the general direction of the trash before heading to the couch. Who knew that running for your life makes you tired. I’ll just take a short nap until this blizzard goes away. Then I guess I’ll head east. If I can find a town maybe I can find a person who can identify who attacked the stable. Yeah, that's a good plan.

I flopped down on the extremely comfortable couch. I let out a yawn as I sunk into the couch, remember just a short… nap.

Man is this couch comfortable I thought as I awoke from my dreamless sleep. I shifted around enjoying the comfort the couch provided. Enjoying the temporary bliss that was the waking moments that I was free from thoughts. Speaking of thoughts here come those devilish things.

I stretched as the events of the previous day flooded my brain. The emotions of losing everyone threatened to make me breakdown. I took a deep breath, not now Moon you can’t do this. Not now.

I don’t know how long I sat on the floor repeating that mantra to myself as I took deep breaths. Finally I had calmed the tempest that was the emotions in my head. Keep in mind by calm I mean put it in an imaginary jar that went onto a larger pile of imaginary jars. I felt said pile shake as I set down the new one. When did that pile get so large...

*growl*

I fell into a fighting stance unholstering my pistol as I heard the growl. Quickly looking around the room for any hostiles. My EFS didn’t pick up on anything but still, that growl had to come from somewhere.

*growl*

There it was again. Flipping around I kept looking all around finding what could have made that sound. I sat and listened hard seeing if I could identify where the sound came from.

*growl*

Ah-ha, it was below me I jumped back looking at the floor. Looking for any abnormalities. Maybe some animal had a den underneath the floorboards. Not taking any chances I kept my aim on the floor. It wasn’t until the 4th growl that I felt that it wasn’t a wasteland animal growling. Looking at my belly I asked, “Was that you?”

It responded with an even louder grumble. I chuckled looking down “ If I didn’t know better I would say you had a mind of your own.”...

Great now instead of talking to myself I was talking to my stomach. I deadpanned, was I gonna have this talk again to myself about not talking to myself, wait…

Thankfully my stomach reminded me of its problem, snapping me out of the strange logic funk. I looked down at my stomach. You know what fuck it I’m going to talk to myself if I feel like it.

With that decided I trotted back over to the couch and sat down after fishing out a can of beans from the bag and quickly consuming it again throwing the can in the trash. I stayed on the couch for a little while longer just enjoying the comfort of the heavenly couch and the silence of the cabin…

Wait, I was able to hear the blizzard through the wall last night. Hopefully, that means the storm has passed. I trotted to the door and pulled it open, as I did a large pile of snow that was pushed up against the door fell inward to the cabin. Ignoring that, I stepped outside and looked around. Well more like I was blinded the moment I stepped outside and fell on my ass.

“Holy fucking bright ass mother fucking light.” I cursed as I kept my eyes closed and scooted back into the cabin. Back inside I opened my eyes facing away from the door and noticed that when normally dark the cabin was significantly brighter due to the open door. Just not enough to hurt… much.

So I stayed there laying on the floor too lazy to get up and slowly adjusted my eyes. At some point, I turned on my pipbuck lamp to help get my eyes used to the brightness. Oh Celstia fuck you, I hope that it isn’t like this every morning.

Finally, after what my pipbuck said was 30 minutes I felt ready to face the light once more. So squinting my eyes I stepped through the doorway once more…

As I stepped outside I gasped. I fell back once more but not out of pain or surprise but shock. I ignored the freezing temperatures of the snow as I sat and observed the world around me. What I saw yesterday just couldn’t compare to what I was seeing now. The entire world was coated in a fresh layer of snow. The trees, the mountains, and the ground were covered completely in the white powder. As I sat there I watched small flakes drift lazily to the ground even catching one on my tongue. As I looked up I could see the clouds were still there but they seemed white and fluffy instead of the grey and stormy ones I saw yesterday.

I watched as my breath condensed into a small cloud in front of my muzzle and as I sat there. I smiled. I smiled like a colt who had just received the Hearth's Warming gift they wanted all year. I started to get up and looked at the snow feeling it in my hooves. Taking a minute to admire it. Up until yesterday I only really knew snow existed because of books. And well yesterday I didn’t have much time to enjoy it with trying not to die taking priority. But now…

Now nothing can stop me. I fell forward into the snow and started to make a snow angel, giggling like mad in the process. For a short period of time I played in the snow, all my worries left my mind, all of my sadness was frozen and my burning anger cooled. For that short amount of time, I was happy.

Of course, as the saying goes ‘all good things must come to an end.’ Fuck whoever said that, I thought to myself I walked around the cabin. As I made my way around the cabin I saw what I was looking for. A small shed was attached to the back of the cabin.

I made my way over to the door sinking a bit more than I was yesterday into the fresh snow. That may be a problem if I need to walk far. The door to the shed was unlocked much like the cabin. Inside I could already see what I was looking for. Propped up in the corner was an old shovel that looked like it would work. Doing a quick scan of the rest of the shed showed that there wasn’t much else that would be helpful for digging so I grabbed the shovel and started looking for a spot to dig.

I took my time to find a nice spot walking around till I found one. It was atop a small hill that overlooked the cabin. It was a peaceful spot so I began to dig after cleaning the snow off the ground. As I dug the emotions from the night before started to seep back in. Over the time it took me to dig the grave my mood returned to what I could only describe as grey. All of the emotions I felt all compressed into just a grey.

I worked over my thoughts as I dug the grave, finding that it made thinking about my problems easier. It kept my hooves full as I thought about what happened the previous day. The death of my stable, my first kill, and all of the others too. How many have I killed in the past day? 5? 10? I let out a sigh as I pushed the shovel into the ground scooping out more earth, deepening the hole.

As I finished digging, the hole was about 6 feet deep. I dropped the shovel leaving it by the pit, turning around I slowly made my way back to the cabin and entered the bedroom.

Entering the room a pulled the blanket off the skeleton and slowly wrapped it up in the blanket. As I began to lift the skeleton on my back a silver glinting on the bed caught my eye. Atop the bed where the mare had been laying was a small locket. My curiosity getting the best of me. Opening the locket I could see a small picture was set in it. It showed a honey yellow mare and a smart-looking unicorn with a white coat, they were sitting in front of the very cabin I was in, hugging each other. I smiled at the picture, that must be Honey Drop and Silver Star. They looked like a cute couple...

Returning to my work I balanced the skeleton on my back and made my way to the door, leaving the house and walking back to the grave. When I reached it I set Honey down, slowly l lowered the skeleton into the hole before starting the long task of filling back up. As I shoveled the earth I thought of a plan.

I already knew my end goal was to get revenge for my stable, yet I had no way to get to that goal, yet. I guess a good start would be information on who I would be fighting. I guess that town the Dr. talked about in his logs would be as good of a start as any, maybe I can find some ponies to help me. Yeah, that would be nice, some friends could help. During the time that my mind was coming up with plans, I finished filling the grave.

I sat back and looked at the grave. It needs a marker, I thought. I’m pretty sure that the shed has some planks in it. So for the second time today, I descended the hill making my way into the shed. Looking around inside I found a few planks that were in good condition and some nails that were not rusted. Taking them back up the hill I made a small gravestone marker and carved Honey Drops' name into it and fashioned the locket in such a way that it hung on the grave but couldn’t be blown away. With that finished, I turned to face eastward and set off for Winter Hill.

The sun had risen considerably by the time I reached Winter Hill, or at least I think it had. I couldn’t tell due to the ever-persistent clouds in the sky. Either way, it had gotten a lot brighter. Thankfully as I headed east and down the mountain, the snow had reduced considerably making it easier to walk and easier to see. Don’t get me wrong I do love snow but the way it reflected light made it a pain to be around.

Either way, the village of Winter Hill was in my sights. It was pretty small but I guess that's why it's a village. The town itself was maybe 20 buildings, most only were two stories tall and they were all on the same stretch of road. It looked like it was straight from old appleloosa, hell if it wasn’t for the mountainous environment I would be expecting to see some cowponies dueling in the streets.

Yet from what I could see the town was empty, just like in Silvers journals. If his journals were also correct there wasn’t much here. But I'm willing to take my chances to see if I could find some more supplies.

I looked around one more time from atop the hill I was on looking for anything abnormal. I couldn’t see anything moving other than a few bits of snow in the wind. I shrugged and started making my way to the town.

As I approached I could start to tell that the town was showing its age. Many of the buildings were missing windows and doors. The wooden siding rotted away to expose the framing and many of the buildings teetered on the edge of collapse.

I avoided those buildings like the plague. I have already almost died too many times this week and becoming a pony pancake doesn’t sound very fun to me.

It felt strange walking through the abandoned town. The feeling that somepony was watching me went into overdrive as I made my way down the street past the dilapidated buildings. It wasn’t until I almost made my way through the town completely when I saw a building that looked mostly intact.

I trotted up to it. It looked like it wasn’t going to fall down like the other buildings. In fact, it looked like it was recently repaired. I didn’t give it much thought as I walked over to the door and entered the building.

The first thing I noticed as I entered the building was the fact that it looked like somepony lived here. The second thing I noticed was the pony sleeping on a chair in the corner. Oh shit, I had just broken into this guy's house, his EFS mark was yellow but if he wakes up he probably isn’t going to be too happy. Alright, I need to get out of here before he wakes up.

I took a step backward to the door I had entered. Unfortunately, somepony felt the need to put a shelf next to it. A shelf that was full of bottles, glass bottles. And it was that very shelf that I backed up into.

I held my breath as the shelf teetered from my bump. I watched as the bottles rocked getting ready to catch any if they fell. Fortunately, none did. Unfortunately hitting a shelf full of bottles tends to make noise even if none of them fall.

I learned that the hard way. The stallion in the corner shot up his eyes focusing on me.

“Uhh, I can explain,” I said, trying to calm the stallion down.

“I’ll kill you for trying to steal from us,” he responded, pulling out a beaten-up rifle. I watched as his EFS mark went to red. Acting quickly I responded by diving behind a crate to my left and unholstering my pistol. I had made it just in time because he started shooting. The bullets zipped over the crate I was behind. Luckily for me, this guy has never learned about ammo conservation and had to reload soon after. Using this opportunity I popped up from behind the crate pointing my gun at his yelling around the bit.

“Drop the rifle, I don’t want to shoot you.” Of course, it probably didn’t sound exactly like that due to the gun in my mouth, but I think I got the point across because he started to lower his rifle. Then he did something unexpected. He threw his rifle at my face. Well at least he dropped his rifle. The rifle knocked my pistol out of my grip, stunning me as the stallion charged.

I was tackled by the stallion and pushed to the floor. With him, on top, he raised his hooves in an attempt to smash my head. I moved my head left just narrowly dodging the otherwise killing blow. The stallion had put too much weight on the attack and was off balance.

Acting quickly I bucked with my hooves and got him off me. I stood up and looked around the room trying to find my pistol as the stallion began to get up. I found it a few feet to my left. Again I dove for it, grabbing it in my mouth. Turning around I saw the stallion was diving at me. Not taking any chances this time I triggered SATS and queued up three shots on his head. All three hit causing his head to explode into gory bits as his now headless body fell to the floor.

I let out a sigh of relief as I got back up, holstering my pistol. Alright, I looked around the room searching for any more ponies. I noticed that there were a few more sleeping spots in the corner. My mind went into overdrive as I noticed that.

Multiple sleeping spots… he said 'us' not 'me'...

There are more of them isn’t there.

“Oi,” a voice yelled out from outside.

Ffffffuuuucckkkk.

“Oi Copper you there, we heard shooting.”

Laying low to the floor I snuck a look out a window. Outside there were four ponies all armed and looking kinda angry. Ok, Moon you just gotta improvise. If I try to go outside to fight chances are I’m going to get my shit kicked in. I could try and fight them from here and have a decent chance but I am running low on ammo if my pipbuck is correct I have one extra mag for my pistol and another two for the 9mm but the pistol itself wasn’t in the best condition and I don’t want to rely on it if I don’t have to. The third option would be to try and sneak out the back.

They chose for me. They lined up at the door, the lead pony yelling out “If you're messing with us Copper I’m going to slit your neck.” I hunkered down behind the crate again, welp option two it is. I readied the pistol aiming at the door.

The first pony inside was an earth pony with a battle saddle that held two shotguns. He didn’t get to use them though because I quickly put three rounds into his neck. He fell to the ground gasping as he struggled to breathe.

“Wix!” another pony cried out. “I’ll make you PAY!” Suddenly a red mare charged through the doorway jumping over the asphyxiating raider, firing the shotgun on her side. I felt the pellets bounce off my security armor I wore under the duster. Even though I think none of them penetrated it still hurt a lot.

Shaking myself I saw that the mare who had shot me was struggling to get her shotgun to chamber its next shell. I triggered SATS and queued up one shot on the mare aiming for her chest. The spell guided my pistol and I felt the gunfire. The mare tripped backwards as the bullet bit into her chest. Coming out of SATS I fired 2 more shots at her and reloaded.

Alright Moon eight shots left for two ponies. Easy enough. Wait where were they. I looked at my EFS and saw that they were still in the direction of the door. They must still be outside.

“WIX, CANDLE YOU FUCKING MORRONS” a voice yelled out, “I said to wait until after I threw the grenade.” suddenly a rusty metal sphere with a large stick attached flew through the door rolling to a stop in the middle of the room.

Why the hell would they throw a weird stick in here? Wait did he say grenade!

I fell to the ground facing away from the explosive and covered my head. The room shook as the grenade went off sending shrapnel around the room and feeling a few pieces cut into my back. I was dazed by the concussive blast of the explosion and was just regaining my wits as the last two ponies stormed in. Acting purely of reflex I fired my pistol at the lead pony,my pistol barking as I fired my clip at the ponies. Most of the rounds missed or weren't killing blows. It wasn’t until my second to last shot did I remember about SATS.

I triggered the targeting spell and let time slow down.I looked at the two ponies. Both were wearing some form of armor and would require more than one shot each to put down. damn it I shouldn’t have panic fired, I guess I’ll have to get creative. Looking in SATS I saw a unique option on the lead pony. Strung across his chest was a multitude of crude looking grenades and SATS was giving me an option to target it. I selected it twice each shot only had a 30% chance to land. Taking a deep breath I activated the spell and let it guide my aim.

The pistol recoiled in my mouth as I fired the first shot. I watched in the slowness of SATS as it flew into one of the grenades. SATS broke and I was knocked down by the strength of the explosion.

I slowly stood and looked at where the explosion had happened. All that was left of the lead pony was his rear half. The entire front of his body had been mangled by the explosion. His buddy hadn’t been spared either as I watched in morbid fascination as the now-dead stallion bled from where his muzzle once was. I walked over to them and I saw that the explosion had ruined whatever gear they had. That went the same for the pony that I had killed in the doorway.

That only left the mare. I made my way over to her corpse and started to search. It felt a little weird but I need to get over it. If I'm going to survive out here I need to get used to it. Searching over her body I was able to pull out a healing potion. I chugged it and let out a sigh of relief as I felt the cuts on my back heal.

My wing was feeling better too but I would need a few more potions before I should try flying again.

Getting back to searching the body I found that the mare's shotgun was jammed and honestly I was surprised that it even fired once with the crappy condition it was in. Throwing it to the side I grabbed the 12 gauge ammo from her saddlebags seeing as it was in good condition.

I searched over the rest of the building searching around for any gear. I searched over the entire building. I lucked out finding a stash of food and water. There was enough here for at least a few days. I also found some more 45 ammo to go with my pistol.

I trotted out of the building my saddlebags bulging full of supplies I scavenged from the building. Looking at my pipbuck the clock said it was noon. I was able to find a map of the local region. Apparently, I’m in the Big Dog mountain range. My pipbuck somehow had interacted with the map when I had picked it up and had added several locations onto my pipbuck. The closest one was named Jericho. It only looked a few hours away and was south of me. And if the pipbuck map was correct it was at the base of the mountain.

“Sunlights burning Moon get your ass in gear.” I mimicked my best Shield impression.

“Yes ma’am” I saluted the air in front of me letting out a small laugh. Turning to face the south I started walking.

As I descended the mountain the snow on the ground became lighter and lighter as I marched down the road. I watched as the trees turned from a vibrant green to dead husk. The trees themselves became rarer and rarer the further I walked.

I had been trotting for fourish hours, at least if my pipbuck was correct before the ground started to level out and I found my way into what I assumed was the badlands. The mountainous environment was replaced with one of a never-ending desert.

It was another hour before I spotted Jericho. It looked like a small town. I could only see a few buildings yet unlike Winterhill I could see ponies walking around inside the town.

I stopped a few hundred yards away from the town. All I have to do is get in and find information not too hard right? I mean hopefully they’re friendly and not more raiders. But if they are raiders then I’m fucked, or if they decide they don’t like me and want to kill me then I am also fucked. And if I manage to mess something up, chances are I’m fucked…

Oh goddesses I’m fucked…

I started to panic before I took a deep breath and smacked my cheek with my hoof in an attempt to make me stop thinking about how fucked I am. When it did little to abide my panic it did help snap me out of my thoughts.

Well here goes nothing, I approached town making sure my wings were well hidden under the duster. As I approached I saw a few ponies look in my direction. I put up a look of confidence when on the inside all I could think was ‘please don’t shoot me’ on repeat. Either they bought it or most just didn’t care because most of the looks my way were just passing glances as I entered the town.

Alright, I need to find a place where I can get information. Looking around I spotted what looked to be a bar. That would be a good place to start. As I approached the door I began to hear faint music coming through the doorway. Putting my hoof on the door I took a deep breath and pushed it open.

As I entered the building the environment was different from the one outside. Immediately my eyes scanned the entire bar. There were only a few ponies inside, most of them were passed out over tables or were well on their way there.

The only one that wasn’t inebriated was the bartender. She was a brown unicorn with a white mane. Making my way to the bar I pulled over a stool and sat down.

The bartender looked up from the glass she was cleaning, staring at me with a piercing gaze from her emerald green eyes. I shifted uncomfortably. She let out a scoff and went back to cleaning the glass. “You got caps, stable pony” she spat. My panic from earlier came back with a vengeance with what she said, this time with his friends' fear and anxiety.

“Wha, how did you know?” I questioned her, my mind in overdrive. Who is this mare, how did she know where I was from, was she working with the raiders? That thought sent a shiver through my spine as I looked around the bar searching for raiders and getting ready to pull my gun.

“First off, the stable tec barding under your duster. Secondly your pipbuck. Thirdly the look on your face. Now answer my question. Got. Any. Caps?” she responded. I relaxed a little, alright so maybe I stood out more than I thought. But what the hell are caps?

“What do you mean caps?” I asked. She looked up at me, her eyes squinting. I froze as she looked at me, her eyes displaying a range of emotions that I couldn’t even begin to understand.

“If you don’t have any caps then get the hell out of my bar,” she said coldly as she reached under the bar. Reaching for what I could only was a shotgun if any of those old westerns had any truth to them. "you have five seconds freeloader," I heard what sounded like a slide being racked. Oh shit, it was most definitely a shotgun!

“WOW WOW, calm down, calm down!” I said, raising my hooves into the air in an attempt to defuse the mare. I saw a few of the conscious heads turn and look at the commotion. “I just want information, I have other ways to pay,” moving slowly I randomly pulled out one of the bottles of alcohol in my bag. “See,” I gave a small very stressed smile to the mare as I presented the bottle. She took the bottle in her surprisingly bright green magic that matched her eyes and inspected it keeping her hoof under the counter.

“Alright fine,” she said, removing her hoof from under the bar. “Names Moonshine, you have three questions before I kick you out.”

Alright not the outcome I had been hoping for but not the worst one either so I’ll take it as a win. Alright, three questions I need to be sure of what I ask.

“Have you seen any heavily armed raiders around here recently,” I asked my first question.

“No I haven’t” she replied smoothly. “You got two more questions.”

Ok so that didn’t work, maybe there are some types of authorities that I can talk to. It's worth a shot. “Are there any authorities in this town?” two down one left. I thought as I waited for a reply.

“There is no sheriff if you're asking, but there is Onyx and his new little company just down the street, he does bounties.”

A bounty hunter. That might be what I’m looking for. Those raiders might have a bounty on their heads! I need to go find this Onyx then. Guess I’ll go for the final question.

“What's a cap?” I asked honestly. Moonshine just sighed.

“You're telling me you don’t know what a cap is?” I shook my head “You weren't lying earlier trying to get free drinks.” Again I shook my head. “Then you're fresh from the stable.” I nodded. “Alright then, listen up,” she clapped her hooves together “ caps are bottle caps, they are used for currency in the wasteland.”

“What? That's ridiculous” I replied. The mare just looked at me. “Wait, you're serious,” I asked.

“Mhmm. Now get out of my bar until you have caps to spend,” she stated, pointing at the door. I didn’t get up to leave, I just sat there and gave her a look trying to see if she was lying or not. That changed when she started to reach under the counter.

I quickly thanked her for the info and bolted outside. Why the hell would ponies use a bottle cap, what's wrong with bits?

I turned and made my way down the street until I stopped at a small wooden building with a sign hanging out front reading “Onyx and associates”. On the door, I noticed a smaller sign stating “help wanted”.

Opening the door I entered the small building. The interior was one single room. My eyes were instantly drawn to the walls. They were decorated with old paintings that were probably made even before the war by the looks of them. I walked up to the closest one to me. It depicted the two princesses spinning around what looked to be a sphere that was half the sun and half the moon respectively.

“A beautiful piece isn’t it,” a gruff voice said. I quickly turned to see that I had missed the Black unicorn sitting at a desk on the far end of the room when I had walked in.

“Oh sorry I didn’t see you there and I was distracted by the art,” I said sheepishly. He just waved a hoof.

“It doesn't matter none to me, the art doesn't get as much appreciation these days. But,” he continued “I doubt you're here to browse my collection so how about we get down to business.” he waved at the chair across the desk.

I walked over and took a seat. “Alright, what brought you here,” he asked simply looking up from his terminal.

“Uhh, I’m looking for some ponies…” I responded. He gave me a ‘no shit’ look. “Heavily armed raiders more specifically,” I added.

“Ah well,” he leaned forward, “that narrows it down a bit. But still, there are quite a few well-armed raiders out there. You need to be more specific than that. How armed?”

“They are armed enough to wipe out a stable,” I replied. The stallion made a small ‘oh’ face.

“Well that explains why you're here stable dweller,.” I cringed at being called that, I don’t know why but it just felt, I don’t know wrong like that title belonged to somepony else. “Well at least if I think I’m following as well as I am.” he continued, “correct me if I’m wrong but you used to live in a stable until recently some big bad raider attacks and by some miracle, you escape, and now you want revenge for your stable. Am I right?”

“Just call me Moon and yes I’m here to try and find those who attacked my stable. Do you know anyone capable of that?” I shifted in the chair trying to get comfortable but my wings hidden under the duster were making that quite hard.

“Well if we were anywhere else in the wasteland a group that could do that would stand out quite a bit. Unfortunately here in the badlands, there are quite a few groups that could have done that. Hell with all of the old experimental tech left behind after the war.” he stated before turning and started to type something into the terminal.

I slumped at this, so much for finding a lead quickly…

“Wait” I felt the sudden urge to hit myself. How could I forget about that dragon pony thing. “They were being led by a dragon pony creature.”

I watched as Onyx stopped typing and slowly look back at me. “Tall, blue, ugly, dragon looking mother fucker?” he questioned.

“With a voice that sounds like it fought a cheese grater and lost.” I finished.

“Welp I think I know who it was,” he said before opening up a drawer at his desk rifling through some papers. Before pulling out one and setting it on the desk and pushing it towards me. “Look familiar?”

The paper was a wanted poster. On it, it had the face of the pony that I had met oh so recently. Underneath it I found a name to match the face. Dragon Eyes. A strange yet fitting name for the goliath hybrid.

“Yep, that's him” I confirmed before sliding back the poster. “Do you know where he’s at?” I questioned.

“Slow down there partner, first off if you try and go after Dragon Eyes like that you're gonna get killed before you even get close.” He was right. I need some better equipment if I want to go after dragon eyes. I slumped a little at that realization. “And I have to run a business here. Ponies tell me to kill somepony so I do and I get paid, I can’t just go and tell you the locations of my paychecks.” I could sense a ‘but’ coming up.

“But” there it is, “most of the bounties are too far for me to collect on, so I have a solution that should work for both of us. You work for me collecting bounties and I’ll help you locate Dragon Eyes. Of course you will get paid for your work for the bounties you bring in to.” he smiled. “But of course I need to know if you can handle it before I bring you on.”

I felt like I was getting the raw end of the deal yet this pony was offering me a way to find Dragon Eyes and caps. “What do you want me to do?” I asked.

“There is a bounty on a ganger that is not too far from here just a few miles eastward. The guy’s name is Slicer, he leads a gang called the Pit Vipers. They have been harassing the town of Lantern Light by attacking their caravans. Now Lantern Light is paying me a hefty sum for Slicer’s extermination. I want you to kill him and bring me his ear for identification.”

Ew he wants me to chop off a ponies ear. That's disgusting. Yet I am getting a lead on Dragon Eyes helping out a town and killing raiders, I guess it's worth it.

“Alright fine, I’ll do it,” I said as I pulled up my pipbuck seeing that it was already updated with the location of Lantern Light. “Am I getting paid for this?” I questioned as I looked up from my pipbuck.

“Of course I said you would be. For this bounty you will be getting…” he looked at his terminal before continuing, “fifteen hundred caps.” he finished.

My jaw dropped, that's a lot of caps…

Right?

Level Up!

Explosive Sniper: When shooting at ponies that have explosives exposed you get a small chance to detonate them causing massive damage that varies for each different type of explosives. So channel your inner Karl Fairburne and get sniping!

Author's Note

I don't have much to say other than I would like to thank kkat for creating the FOE universe, and thank somber, heartshine, eldee and countless others for inspiring me to try writing myself.

Oh and I want to kill writers block, I shan't rest until I do