Fallout Equestria: All That Remains

Chapters

Prologue: Innocence
Chapter 1: Sins of the Father
Chapter 2: Misconceptions
Chapter 3: Scales
Chapter 5: Crumbling
Chapter 6: Lies
Chapter 7: What We Hold Dear
Chapter 8: The Wasteland
Chapter 9: Just Under the Skin
Chapter 10: Out of Sight
Chapter 11: Realign
Chapter 12: Parish
Chapter 13: Arts and Crafts
Chapter 14: A Job Well Done
Chapter 15: Blood of the Fallen
Chapter 16: Memories of Youth
Chapter 18: Strangers - Part II
Chapter 4: Home
Chapter 17: Strangers - Part I

Prologue: Innocence

By: CamoBadger

Prologue: Innocence
“No! No shrieking. No screaming or squealing either.”

Someone once told me war never changes, that it was some kind of universal constant we were unable to stop. They told me stories about how war destroyed our home, the ancestral lands my kind had inhabited since our inception millennia ago, through some divine being’s wish to see beings lesser than themselves. I never understood that, because I had never seen war. If it never changes, it should be expected that I would see it all around me; a constant fight to survive and defeat those who wished to kill me and those I loved. But I never saw it in my youth, only the remains of a war long since over. The land was burned, the sky a curtain of grey which never folded at our whim to see whatever lay beyond.

This was the world I had seen all of my life, it was what I knew. I’d been told stories of times long passed in which zebras ran free through fields of green between the mountains which spanned our lands, when there was a blue sky where the grey now rolled out from horizon to horizon. They told me it was a time of peace and tranquility, when nobody thought of fighting one another for such simple things as food or land; there was no need. Everyone helped each other, making sure that not a single zebra was left alone or starving. It sounded so good…too good.

But in my youth, I still believed in the old times. I had dreams of the stories the elders would tell us, the tales Father would read from his scavenged books and from his own imagination. I loved that world, the world I could never be in, the world I longed to see someday. My youth allowed me this illusion, the ability to take the words of others and weave them into scenes within my sleep, and when I woke each morning I would almost want to cry as I looked back onto the blasted land we now inhabited.

I couldn’t understand what had happened, how the once beautiful place I saw in my dreams had been burned away into the husk it now is, how all of the love and care somehow died along with the grass and trees. I asked Father about it, I asked the Elders about it, and they would all say the same things.

Greed.

Anger.

War.

I was just a filly when they told me these things, so I did not know what they truly meant, or how they were somehow connected. That answer was also provided to me, always with contempt and hatred I had never seen before.

Ponies.

So that is how the brainwashing began for me, my brother, and every other foal in the village. Ponies killed the world. Ponies took away the sky. Ponies took away everything that was good in life. As far as I knew, ponies were war. The term ‘war never changes’ quickly became ‘ponies never change’, and for as long as I could remember, I kept that belief. They became monsters in my dreams, horrible zebra-shaped creatures who would snatch me from my sleep if I ever questioned my elders or forsook the beliefs of my kind.

That was my youth, it was all I knew, and I can’t honestly say I don’t still believe at least some of it.

* * *

The sky was grey as it always was; a rolling curtain of clouds over my father’s home which let just enough light onto the world to allow me to see as I did my chores. The floor of our house was filthy as usual, littered from wall to wall with empty glass bottles and crumpled up cigarette packs. The walls lay bare, a spartan design for a home which only usually saw one of its three inhabitants. Only three doors branched from the room I was cleaning, one bedroom per zebra to allow at least a small amount of privacy to each of us when we were sleeping or doing what we wished in our free time. The closest of these doors was etched in an old tongue with the name of my younger brother, Felix. The next door, my door, was adorned with a poorly scribbled ‘Shayle’ that was barely legible even to those who knew my name. And the last door belonged to my Father, his door unmarked, or maybe it was and I just can’t remember.

Felix was off in school as always, learning Caesar knows what from the older zebras and their seemingly infinite knowledge of the world. He was very young, having started school only a few years earlier, but learning much more than was expected at his level. He was like a leech for knowledge, but without the parasite part, always looking for more to learn even if it was considered ‘above’ his level. He had tried to explain some of his knowledge to me, but I could only understand so much of it, the rest being lost in the air around my brain and eventually pushed back out with a light breeze.

Oh, that might be an important thing to add; I never got to go to school. Felix was the first in our family to be given that honor, the gift of education. Father never went because he apparently spent his entire life as a travelling trader with his own parents until he settled down in our home of Zeza, learning everything he needed to know from his elders . Mother…I never found out. And me? I was forbidden from schooling under Father’s order. Felix was allowed to go because he’s a colt. I’m a mare, and according to Father, mares aren’t meant for school. So instead I spent my days cleaning and finding other ways to occupy my time.

Another bottle flipped through the window as I whipped it with my tail, smiling to myself as it jangled against the pile just outside. The last bottle in the room caused me a moment of pause as I looked it over, still able to see a small amount of liquor at the bottom. I was always tempted to at least try the drink whenever I found such a bottle, curious of the taste and why Father seemed to enjoy it so much. It would just take a quick second, he would never know! But I never did, and this time was no different. I flung the bottle through the window and was rewarded by the jingly jangle of glass on glass.

No more bottles covered the flat dirt of the floor, and no crumpled cardboard could be seen to give away my father’s second addiction, at least not at first look. If you were to open the only cabinet in our house you’d find a veritable treasure trove of filled bottles and unopened cigarette packs, but those were supposed to be his little secret. After all, it wasn’t very professional of a Remnant licensed trader to partake in the things he should be selling.

Finished with my chores, I turned my attention to something that I actually looked forward to; the stack of scavenged, and maybe some stolen, paper resting beside my bed. Most of the sheets were stained and torn, hardly able to be called something valuable, but to me they were worth more than all of Father’s whiskey. I lifted the top sheet carefully, staring at it for a long while until I saw something completely different. With semi-practiced precision, I began folding the paper, always picturing which folds I would need to make if I wanted it to end up as one of those roses an older zebra told me about in a story once.

* * *

Felix got home a few hours later, a smile on his face as he pushed my door open just enough to stick his head in. “Hey sis, how are you?”

I turned to him with a smile, my hooves still trying to work the last few folds on my almost complete rose. “I’m good, how was class?” I turned back to the flower, trying to push the shape into a tighter form with my hooves before folding out the petals. At the moment, it looked like a ball with spikes on the top, but it was opening up a bit more than I wanted it to, and trying to compress it without completely crushing it between my hooves was proving to be a challenge.

Felix sat beside me on the mattress, his head craned around my side as he watched me try to fix the paper to match my dreams. “It was good, we talked about Nightmare Moon more,” he explained, sounding annoyed about the topic of his schooling. He had originally been pretty excited about the lessons on the pony her teacher called ‘The Dark One’, and enthusiastically tried to explain how the mare came to be by making a deal with the stars and donning their armor. I hadn’t really understood it much; I wasn’t very knowledgeable about the stars and what they did. I just knew them as speckles that used to fill the night sky and were apparently evil spirits or something, according to the elders that told the stories. Still, I took his word for the knowledge, his teacher knew best right?

I nodded casually, not focused so much on what he was saying as I was trying to finish the project in my hooves. My tongue stuck itself from the side of my mouth as I carefully prodded each side of the rose, focusing on not scrunching folds or accidentally wrinkling the paper any more than it already was. I wished I could have found better paper, maybe some without any wrinkles or tears around the edges, but that quality only existed in books. I had taken a few pages from some of Felix’s books before, and it had been worth it at first. Those flowers looked much better than the ones I got from trash paper, and were much easier to work with than the limp sheets like what I was working the rose from.

But I hadn’t taken any from his books in years, it always made him so sad to find that a page was missing, and he always knew I took it. He didn’t get mad at me for it, he never even brought it up, I only found out when I walked into his room one day and found him staring at the frayed edge like it was the end of the world again. I apologized and tried to give him the flower I made from the page as a gift, but he didn’t want it; he didn’t really care about flowers as much as I did. Instead I just stopped taking the pages, not wanting to see him so sad over it anymore.

After watching me for a while, Felix stood and quietly left the room, closing his own door a few moments later. I could imagine him passing out on his own mattress in the next room, enjoying his usual post-class nap while I tried to finish the rose before Father got home for dinner. It only took a few more minutes to get the flower to the size I wanted at the cost of it looking a little lopsided, but that was hard for me to avoid with such poor paper. I was finally able to fold out the petals, and behold my final product. A small frown crossed my face at the lack of rounded petals like in my dreams, but I didn’t know any way to make round folds, so it would have to do.

I placed the flower alongside my previous work, carefully positioning it so in a straight line with the others which had been arranged at the head of my mattress. My frown flipped into a smile at the sight of my expanded flowerbed, and I began trying to picture them in color like they were in my dreams.

* * *

Father got home late as he often did, making his return very clear to me and my brother as the door shut with a slam. I quickly rose to my hooves and trotted out to the main room, greeting him with a smile and asking him how his day was. He responded with his usual “Fine,” before making his way to the kitchen.

He pulled out three cans of Cram, which I guess was some kind of ground meat or something of unknown origin, but never bothered to figure out exactly what it was. Felix joined us rather quickly afterwards, woken from his nap by the slamming door. The three cans were placed on the table, and what followed was our usual silent dinner. Nobody talked as we licked clumps of puree from the old cans, both me and my little brother being sure to keep our heads down as we ate. Father likely did the same, never one to get distracted during a meal, but we never bothered to lift our own heads and check.

We used to talk when we were younger, and by that I mean about 5 years before that night, until Father grew tired of our chatting and made it very clear that dinner was silence time. “You can’t eat if you’re talking, and dinner is for eating.”

There were a few instances after that when we didn’t truly get the message, and ended up spending an evening without dinner. They weren’t fun nights, and hunger was a good way of remembering to keep quiet and just eat our food.

That was just one of Father’s many rules of the house. Among the others were “no touching my whiskey”, “no touching my cigs”, and above all, “don’t wake me up”. To be fair, they were very common sense rules, even for children like me and Felix. We had an easy enough time following them, especially the ones involving the whiskey and cigarettes, even with my temptation to taste the former, but the last rule was more strict than you may think. Waking up screaming from a nightmare was a quick way to welcome a beating into my life, especially if Father had one more drink than he really needed.

I hadn’t experienced too many of those, especially as I got closer to my twelfth birthday, but they were enough to keep me quiet even if I woke in a cold sweat from one dream or another. I don’t know if Felix ever did, but I think I’d heard him receiving a few smacks from Father on one or two nights when he was really young.

After our meal was done, Felix excused himself to go do some reading before he went back to sleep for the night. I didn’t understand how he read so much, I still don’t, that many words just didn’t seem entertaining to me. Either way, he did it every night, somehow without receiving a new book except for once every few months. This left me and Father at the table. The elder zebra turned around to pull a bottle of whiskey from his cabinet, along with a fresh pack of cigarettes. The smell of smoke with a hint of liquor filled the room within moments, stinging my eyes slightly, but not enough to bother me after living with the buck for my entire life.

Looking at the freshly opened bottle, Father cast a dark glaze to me from across the table, then took a quick look around the room before his eyes fell on me once again. I tried to smile, a bit nervous about why he was looking around as if something were missing from the scene. “Where’s my bottle from this morning, Girl?” he asked grimly, tearing my smile away.

“Y-you told me to th-throw them all out,” I stammered.

“But what about the one with my leftover from last night, huh?” he asked in the same grumpy tone, his body leaning in and looming over me. “Did you finish it off while I was gone?”

“No, I t-threw it away…there wasn’t even enough for one drink,” I lied as I shrunk away from him, looking pitiful as I tried to avoid punishment.

His eyes continued to glare down at me, boring holes into my head as the buck tried to pull some detail from my expression that might give me away to him. What was probably a few seconds felt like an eternity of scrutiny as I waited to see if my lies would get me through the night unharmed, and finally it did. Father leaned back and took a long pull from the newly opened bottle, belching loudly once the swill had gone down.

Without waiting for an invitation, I pushed away from the table and quietly trotted to my room, shutting the door behind me and letting out a breath I didn’t even know I’d been holding. The assorted paper flowers at the head of my mattress put a smile on my face again, their form a welcome source of beauty in the rat’s nest of a house I lived in. I trotted to my moldy haystack and sat looking at the folded paper, trying to think of any others I could add to the collection. Each looked slightly better than the one before, a sign of small improvement with each time I went to work with the paper. It was always good to see the work turn out better than my last one, and I always felt like eventually I would actually be able to do the images of my dreams justice.

If only Father agreed with their beauty. Instead, I had grown into the habit of keeping the flowers to myself, no longer taking them to show off like I had done when I was younger. The first flower I ever folded; if you could even call it that, it looked awful; was quickly used to put out his cigarette when I had shown him. He hadn’t even told me why, and I was left with a pile of ash on the kitchen floor, which I was of course told to clean up. I just thought it was because the flower looked bad, and decided to keep working at them. Each time I finished the folds, I would run out to Father with a smile, chirping to him about what I’d done. And each time he would find new inventive ways to destroy them. Using them as makeshift bottle stoppers, padding for his rump when he felt the ground was too hard that night, a coaster for his whiskey bottle; he never did the same thing twice. He always told me ‘thank you’ with a sick tone after doing whatever he desired with the flowers I usually spent the entire day making, then shooed me away so he could continue his drinking.

I hadn’t taken them to him after one incident in particular, where his creativity either failed him, or he had finally had enough of my bugging him. I could still picture his hoof smashing down on it; something one of the elders had described as an Orchid; over and over until it was a flattened wad of torn apart trash. He completely ignored my tears as he ranted about how ‘this shit has to stop’ and ‘nobody cares about beauty in the Wasteland’. That was the point where my young mind finally pieced together that my father resented my ‘art’, seeing it as everything he hated in the world.

I don’t know how long I spent staring at my makeshift flowerbed, glad they had managed to avoid the fate of the ones that came before. I did know that by the time I looked away, I could hardly see the folded paper through the darkness which had claimed my room and the rest of the Wasteland. A large yawn pulled itself from my body, filling my head with thoughts of what dreams I could have that night. I hoped for another dream about the apple trees the elders had once told me about, it was one of my favorites!

I wiggled my body backwards, allowing my head to rest a few inches from the flowerbed as I closed my eyes, thoughts of trees filling my mind.

* * *

It was way too dark to be waking up, and I certainly didn’t feel like I had been asleep long enough to warrant waking on my own. Yet there I was, eyes opening slowly, darkness filling the room to the point I could barely see a few inches in front of me, and for some reason the smell of alcohol filling my nostrils. I turned my head to see Father crouching over me, his head lowered to within inches of my own. Well that solved the mystery of the whiskey smell, his breath reeked of it. A creepy smile was barely visible on his lips as he stared down at me, his breathing heavy and disturbingly warm on my face.

“Dad?” I asked drowsily, peeking toward the window to make sure I wasn’t imagining the darkness. “Is something wrong?”

His head slowly swayed back and forth, that same smile never changing over his lips. I groaned softly and just stared at him for a while, trying to figure out what he was doing, if I was actually even awake. I felt a strange pressure beginning to push down on my thigh, and swiveled my eyes down to see what was causing it. Before I could react to him pressing against me, the stallion’s weight dropped onto me, knocking the breath from my lungs.

As I gasped for air, my lungs burning as they struggled to work again, his hooves pushed and pulled on me, roughly rolling me onto my back. My eyes shot wide, and I tried to fight back the best I could, flailing my legs and trying to kick out at him as he positioned himself, the sick smile never leaving his lips as I tried to breathe and scream at the same time. Before I could get enough air in me to call for help, a hoof pressed into my throat, once again depriving my lungs of the air they had just managed to pull in.

My legs pressed into his chest, and I tried to shove him off, but he only pushed down harder. I quickly stopped my fighting, not strong enough to push him off of me, especially with the growing burn in my chest. The world began to spin above me, and curtains of darkness began to close around my vision, pulling me into unconsciousness.

“No screaming my dear,” he whispered into my ear, his hoof still pressed into my throat. I nodded as much as I could with his hoof in the way, and the striped leg lifted from my throat. Cool air rushed into my lungs, and my body heaved with relief as the darkness at the corners of my vision evaporated.

I didn’t fight while he finished spreading my legs and positioned himself clumsily over me.

I wish I had just let him choke me.

Chapter 1: Sins of the Father

Chapter 1: Sins of the Father
“Uh...I don’t think we need to sneak around...”

That night was the beginning of the worst times of my life. When he finally finished with me, the drunk left without a word, his legs wobbling from a combination of his inebriation, and the release stolen from my body still lingering with him. He left me, his daughter, alone and cold on the floor as he curled into a warm ball in his own room, likely sleeping better than he had since the day he was born. I was curled too, sobbing silently in the furthest corner from the mattress I could manage.

My body ached inside and out, from head to tail and soul to skin. Nothing he had ever done to me in the years of abuse hurt me as much as that one act did. He had hurt my body before with late night beatings to silence my screams and nightmares, he had hurt my spirit by crushing the flowers I had brought to him as a gift, but what he did to me that night destroyed whatever good I still felt toward the world. I had still been able to find happiness despite everything he did, whether it was through my art or talking with Felix about what he had learned, but after that…

I couldn’t tell you how long I was lying awake in that corner, the burning of my eyes hardly noticed in the pure misery that was my body and mind. I tried to think of why he would do such a thing to me, what I must have done wrong to have deserved such a punishment. But no matter how hard I tried, I could think of nothing to justify what he’d done to me. I wanted to wake up again, for it to just be a horrible nightmare that I would never have to experience again for as long as I lived, but that solace never came. I never opened my eyes to a greyly lit morning like I always had and found my body completely untouched and pure. I never received a beating for waking with a scream from the nightmare of what happened.

Instead when I opened my eyes, I still only saw a rustled and desecrated mattress at the center of a room which looked more like a prison than a place to live. I sealed my eyes again when they drifted over the mound of hay I had once slept on, never wanting to go near it again for fear that if I so much as touched it my father would burst into the room, pin me down, and have his way with me again. A new wave of tears followed that thought, carrying with them a vivid recount of what had just been forced upon me. Every burning second, every thrashing thrust…

I wanted to die, right there in the corner. I couldn’t shake the thought that those memories would haunt every living second of my day, never allowing me to escape from their torment until the moment my heart stopped beating. I had never considered what death may bring, that was a thought for older zebras than I, those who had long since left their childhood behind. What I did know is that right then, it could only provide me with relief and a way out of that living nightmare.

A second thought beat that idea from my mind; and Felix’s face came to the front of my thoughts. If I was gone, who would Father turn on next? Would he turn his aggression to Felix? Burn his books to warm the house and pull him out of the classes he loved so much to have another foal to do his cleaning? I couldn’t imagine him doing what he’d just done to me to my brother, I refused to even consider the thought. What I could see is little Felix being forced to clean the house, only to be beaten because he accidentally threw out a bottle still holding a drinkable amount of whiskey. I saw his books burning as Father smiled wickedly over the sobbing colt.

And suddenly, I refused to die. Even if the chance was provided to me right then, the stars themselves falling to my room with a quick ending, I would refuse. My misery may have been unbearable, but I would not leave my brother to take my place under Father’s hoof. I couldn’t.

When I finally stopped the tears, my body dried of all moisture, I rose shakily to my hooves. My legs throbbed with pain as I tried to make it to my door without a sound, my heart thundering in my ears. I prodded the door open with my nose and perked my ears, listening for galloping hooves as my mind presented a thought of Father sprinting down the hallway to tackle me. My legs almost gave out at that moment, begging me to return to the corner where I could at least feel somewhat safe from him. Instead, the sight of Felix’s door in the corner of my eye gave my legs enough strength to remain under me.

When I was sure the stallion had not risen from bed I slunk into the hall, making a quick turn to my brother’s door. My tail clamped between my legs during the few seconds I had my back to where my father slept, convinced it could protect me if he somehow snuck up on me in the darkness of our home. Only when I managed to close Felix’s door behind me did it relax, falling limply behind me to drag the tips of my hair across the floor.

The colt’s room was a complete mess, with books littered across the floor in no particular order, each open to one page or another and with corners folded randomly to mark his favorite parts of each story. My hooves barely missed many of the stacked books as I sorely weaved around them, careful not to turn any of the pages or push a book out of place. I may not have understood his organization, but I didn’t want to mess with his chaos.

My ears remained perked as I made my way to his mattress, listening for the lightest sound that might signal my father waking from his peaceful slumber. A rustling outside nearly sent me to my haunches again, my brain still torturing me with images of my father leaping onto me from the window ran to the front of my thoughts. The garbled screech of a carrion crow put my mind at ease, likely one of the birds searching through the pile of trash outside for anything to pick at. With a silent sigh of relief, I continued my quest across the littered room, picking my steps carefully and slowly until I finally reached the cleared area of Felix’s mattress.

I tried my best not to wake him, and gently curled my body close to his while his quiet snoring filled my ears. Once I was settled, my mind finally gave me some relief from the constant bombardment of violation, the feel of Felix’s body on my own calming my nerves enough to get more comfortable. I couldn’t call it a peaceful night of sleep, the thoughts of my father still ran through my mind and plagued my dreams with his presence, but at least I was able to sleep at all.

Imagine my horror when I woke the next morning to find that my glyph had imprinted itself on my flank in the night; a black swirl torn down the center in some twisted rendition of a heart. How kind of the Wasteland to provide me with a lifelong reminder of what had been done to me.

* * *

The years following that night did nothing to change my life. After figuring out how easy it apparently was for him to do what he wished to me, the stallion made it a point to do it whenever he felt the itch to be close to a mare. The only consolation I had was that he wouldn’t risk doing anything to me while Felix was home, which for the most part was every night before Father was home from work. While that kept me safe for a while, it didn’t work so well when the stallion decided to change the hours of the ramshackle shed he called a store to open an hour after Felix left for school. That change didn’t mean I was pinned and worked every morning, even the beast of a zebra I once called Dad couldn’t manage that kind of frequency, it just made it easier for him to do what he wished on the days he was in the mood. Luckily for me, that was at the most twice a week, and sometimes he had to leave town on business, providing me with a week or two of freedom before the stallion returned.

I never bothered to tell Felix what was happening, in fact I did everything I could to hide it from him, and the rest of the village for that matter. In my head I had somehow convinced myself that even if I did tell someone they would just ignore me because Father would say the opposite, and older zebras were more likely to believe him than his un-schooled, obsessed with her dreams daughter. I know Felix would have believed me, but but I couldn’t expose him to that, and I feared what Father would do if my brother confronted him about it.

So I guess you could say I accepted what happened, and was continuing to happen to me. As far as I was concerned there was nothing I could do to stop it. I tried asking him not to, telling him I was too tired or that I just wanted to sleep, but the brute didn’t care. He would tell me things like “listen to your father sweetie”, or “if you’re tired, I’ll do all the work”. So, instead I tried to adapt to what happened. I tried to make it seem more normal by convincing myself that every mare in the village had to go through it, but I still saw them happily trotting to class every morning with Felix chatting about one thing or another.

I considered joining them most days, all I had to do was walk out the door with Felix and go to class. It would be easy, and I might finally get to learn something new or meet some of the other zebras in the town again. I hadn’t seen any of the other fillies my age in years aside from watching them walk by our house, and I always wanted to join in the games they played in the street, but Father always had me doing chores while they played. I never did follow Felix to school, afraid of what Father would do if he found out I left. My life was already bad enough, and I didn’t want it to get worse.

The thing I regretted most was what I did to myself to make it seem better. After the first year, I tried to change how I thought of what he was doing to me, to paint it in a more positive, normal light. He would call me into his room, trying to sound as if it was a good thing for me. His voice would be calm, almost loving, the only time I could ever remember him speaking to me like I was actually someone he cared about since Mama was around. I tried to think of him as someone else, one of the other zebras I saw walking to class with Felix who might actually care for me if they ever got to meet me. I would close my eyes and picture one of them on top of me, caressing the body gently and trying to find some enjoyment in what was happening.

It never truly numbed the pain, and my body still felt just as hurt and filthy when I opened my eyes again, casting me back into sadness and hatred for the zebra I had just treated so well while he defiled me. I know now that doing those things only made my time with him worse, and that I had made him actually think I wanted it to happen. The only positive that came from it was that he seemed to treat me more gently when I cooperated. He came to me with more frequency after that, and it wasn’t until later that I realized why. I only tried to enjoy the moment for a few months before stopping, realizing how little it helped, and suddenly my life seemed even more hopeless with the thought that there was nothing I could do to end it.

But after four years of his torment, my eyes caught something that filled me with some hope for a way out; something to end what my life had become.

My brother was given a day off of school for the celebration of our village’s founding, a day when every zebra who lived there, with the exception of the guards, were given a chance to stay home with their families and enjoy the safety our town had provided us for generations. For me, the irony was almost painful.

I sat in my room, watching through the slightly opened door as my father carried a small metal lockbox from his room and set it down in front of my brother while he read in the front room.

“Hey buddy, I want to show you something,” the zebra told his son, a proud smile over his muzzle as he sat down.

Felix lifted his head from the book, looking up to the stallion with a questioning stare. The older zebra lifted a key from the top of the box, and used it to roughly undo the lock which held the lid closed. My eyes snapped to the object he lifted out, sparking along with an idea which popped into my mind. The old zebra held a rusty gun, much older than the ones I had seen Remnant guards and soldiers walking through the town with, but still appearing to be in working order. My brother’s eyes lit up more than even mine did, and he quickly sat up from his book to a lesson about shooting and repairing guns from Father.

As I watched, my brain began to process everything he did, placing it on a special page of my memory which was labeled with a picture of a bleeding zebra. I watched everything I could, not able to see where the ‘trigger’ he mentioned was, or the ‘safety’ as he called it, but I knew they were somewhere on the mouth grip. When he trotted to his whiskey cabinet, I expected the old zebra to pull out another bottle, but instead he pulled a carton of cigarettes out…nope, that’s full of bullets.

Another picture for my mental list was added; fake carton filled with bullets.

He showed Felix how to load the gun, how to aim it, and what happens to a wall when you shoot at it. I could picture the impressively sized hole in the chest of a zebra, blood coursing from the wound as his eyes dimmed and faded into emptiness.

All I had to do was get that gun.

* * *

Despite how quickly I figured out a plan after seeing the revolver and made my mental checklist, I was by no means a fast zebra when it came to actually putting my ideas to work. After seeing everything I needed, I still took another month to actually figure out where everything was. I knew where to find the bullets, that was the easy part. Unfortunately, bullets don’t do much without a gun to throw them at things. So I left those in the cabinet until I knew where the other supplies for my plan were at.

The next piece didn’t present itself until a few weeks later. My panting father lifted himself off of me, not wasting any time in quickly trotting to the bathroom just across the hall from his room. The water ran for a few seconds as the stallion cleaned himself up, not wishing to present a ragged appearance while running his small shop after a quickie with his daughter. He didn’t even bother going back into the room after washing, instead making a b-line to the front door and out to work for the day. Even if he had stopped in the doorway for a moment before leaving, I wouldn’t have noticed; I was busy curling myself into a ball on his mattress and trying to will the pain away.

I’m still not sure exactly why I chose to look into the corner of his room, or why I found the tan pile of leather interesting, but I did. I stared at it for a few minutes, trying to figure out what had drawn my eye to the pile. It was just a mass of old, torn apart leather that could loosely be called a set of armor. My father had worn it once or twice when rumors of nearby raiders put the town on alert, but other than that I had never seen him in it. I couldn’t even see how he felt safe in it with the number of holes and tears in the stitching that left half of his body unprotected, the vital parts nonetheless, and I certainly wasn’t about to try it on and see if it could help with what I had planned. Aside from the look of it, I discovered that it was the source of the stench which sometimes wafted into my room on especially hot evenings; the result of Father never bothering to wash the years of sweat and grime from it.

After a few minutes, I finally saw what had attracted me to it in the first place; a glint of light peeking through one of the holes at the bottom of the pile. Slowly, I lifted myself to my hooves, wincing at the pain between my legs reminding me of what I already knew. I didn’t worry too much about Father walking in on me as I made my way to the corner, he may have been a shitty zebra and an even worse parent, but running the shop meant money, and he loved money almost as much as booze and cigarettes because more money meant more booze and cigarettes.

Lifting the old armor in my mouth made me gag several times before I was finally able to set it down, threatening to bring up the stale bread I’d eaten for breakfast a few hours before. I thought it smelled bad, the taste was about a hundred times worse. Of course I was able to ignore the aftertaste when I saw what had caused the glimmer I saw behind the armor. The sight of that small black lockbox was one of the more beautiful things I’d seen in my life, and I couldn’t help but smile as I quickly lifted it into my hooves. I wanted to hug the gun waiting inside, give it many kisses, and then load it up and finally free myself.

Unfortunately, like the bullets in the cabinet were useless without this gun, the box holding the gun was useless to me without the key. I frowned as I realized this, staring at the box with a longing stare before placing it back in the corner where I found it. The good news was that I was able to check one more piece off of that mental checklist. The bad news was that I had to put the armor back.

* * *

His saddlebag. Why I didn’t think to look there before is a mystery to me, and I still can’t figure out why I didn’t think of it first. After all, it was a key for a gun, the only gun in our house, why wouldn’t he make sure it stayed with him everywhere he went?

The stallion had left his bag sitting in the front room one night before he went to bed, passing out drunk right in front of his door with his bag sitting next to the table. I had heard his body crash to the floor while I tried to get to sleep, and rose from my corner to see what had caused the noise. The house looked completely normal aside from the old zebra crumpled against his door, a thin stream of spittle draining from the corner of his mouth and onto the door his head had apparently decided looked comfortable. Felix was already asleep, probably not woken by the stallion falling.

My eyes passed over the bag sitting beside the table, barely visible in the darkness of night, but still sticking out just enough due to its light color. I thought nothing of it at first, but after a few seconds I decided that might be my only chance to check for the key in there. I was nervous about leaving my room, Father could have woken at any second with the awkward position he was lying in, and any noise I made could give his brain the kick-start it needed to get him the rest of the way to his bed.

I carefully pulled my door open and made my way to the table, watching my hooves constantly to make sure I didn’t trip over anything or crush an empty bottle. I made it without incident, and quickly began rifling through the zebra’s stuff. A few coins rested at the bottom, some scrap covered that, and a few little cloths that were stained with blood lined the sides. I didn’t want to know who’s blood it was, and I definitely didn’t want to know why it was there. As I dug my nose nicked something sharp, almost making me yelp in surprise as my head shot back out of the bag. A thin stream of blood ran down my muzzle, and I carefully checked again to see what had caused the cut.

Mixed in with the scrap was a short shiv, barely large enough to count as a weapon, but as I had learned, it was very sharp. I considered taking it, perhaps another option to the gun for what I planned, but if I planned to use it he would have to be asleep…like he was right then. A second later, the knife was gripped tightly in my mouth, and my eyes were glued to the passed out stallion down the hall. It would be easy; just sneak up behind him and jab the pointy end into his neck, take the bag of money, and leave. Even better; knives were silent, guns weren’t. Nobody would hear me kill him, nobody would even know he was gone until I was far away. I could be miles away in the Wasteland by that point, and I doubted anyone would come after me.

Except the Raiders…

The knife quickly slipped back into the bag. It would have made killing him easier, and I would have gotten the gratification of leaving that night rather than waiting, but I would still need that gun if I wanted to survive for any reasonable amount of time in the Wasteland. Even if the Raiders didn’t show, I was too familiar with the ravenous wildlife waiting beyond the gate; it seemed like every day I overheard someone talking outside about their run-ins with bloatsprites or radroaches, and those were the small ones. Rumors of larger monsters went through town on occasion, but it was still enough for my imagination to run with it.

With a frown I continued looking through the bag. It was a slow process in the dark, and I had to guess what each item I pulled out was based on how it felt in my mouth, but eventually I found it. A little metal thing at the bottom of the coins touched my tongue, pointed teeth on one side, flat on the other, and long like a stick. I quickly worked the key into my tail, messing up the hair as much as I could to ensure the metal was tangled into it until the time came to use it.

Now that I had the key, my thoughts drifted back to the knife. I could get the gun after killing him, grab the ammo from the cabinet, and leave. It was the best of both worlds; Father would be dead, I would have a gun and a bunch of ammo to protect myself until I got somewhere safe, and nobody would know what happened. It was too easy.

The knife found its way back into my mouth, the metal hilt cold on my tongue as I stared back to the sleeping stallion. My eyes were glued to his neck, perfectly positioned for me to thrust the metal into him without much effort. It would only take a second, and he would be gone forever, just one little thrust; a fair trade for the number of thrusts he’d thrown my way.

My hooves began to shake as I trotted down the hall. I didn’t bother to look down and watch my footing; my eyes were still glued to his neck, already picturing how to angle the knife and where to stick it. I stopped at the base of his hooves, only a few feet from his neck and my salvation, the knife beginning to shake slightly between my teeth. Just one thrust.

My teeth clenched down, my legs tensed, and in an instant I was on top of him. My neck flexed, and drove the metal deep into him. I didn’t expect the blood to seep over the metal and into my mouth, I didn’t expect the warm, metallic taste to flow over my tongue, and I didn’t expect it to feel so good. His body straightened out as the stallion leapt to his hooves, somehow completely free of any effects from his whiskey. I guess impending death will do that to a zebra.

I latched on as tight as I could to his neck, twisting the blade around in his flesh as he tried to scream, his words muffled by the blade cutting off his breath. Blood continued to flow, and my weight crumpled the stallion as his life slowly drained onto the floor. His bloodshot eyes stared up at me, filled with so much pain and regret. But the scariest part about them was the hint of pride…the first time I’d ever seen him look at me with pride, as I killed him.

I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on spinning the knife as much as I could. His pulse thudded against my chest; slower, weaker, and finally…it was gone. He was gone.

I stayed perfectly still on top of him for a long time, the knife held firmly in my jaw as I rested, taking in everything that had just happened. He was finally dead, my torment was over, and it was all because I finally stood up and fought back. I had been expecting to use the gun, to end his life quickly and without a fight. Instead, I’d drawn his misery out, and I think that was the greatest part of it for me. Father had put me through hell for my entire childhood, ever since Mama died he had done everything to keep me down. And for almost a minute, I had forced every ounce of that pain and misery back into him through the metal still lodged in his neck.

When I finally calmed myself, and the air of the moment passed, I pulled the knife from his neck and rose. Half of my head was coated in his blood, the red fluid streaming down my neck and slowly drying into my coat. What had once been warm began to cool with Father’s body, a final sign of his death. I returned to the kitchen first, placing the blade back into the bag before making my way to the bathroom. I tried my best to clean the blood from my coat, but only managed to remove most of the liquid itself, leaving behind a red stain on the left side of my face which ran into streaks down my neck.

After that, I quickly went into his bedroom, no longer worried about making loud noises which may wake him; dead zebras don’t wake up. The key took a few hairs from my tail with it as I pulled, wincing slightly at the pinch before grinning around the little piece of metal. It slipped into the lock without resistance, and popped open the lid with a click. The revolver looked exactly like it had the first time I saw it; rusty, old, and beautiful. I lifted it quickly, making sure the chamber still opened and that I knew where the trigger was.

Back in the kitchen, the gun fell into my father’s; no, my bag; beside the knife, clanging against the metal loudly as I turned to the cabinet. It took a few tries to get the right carton out, the one filled with ammo, and threw it into the bag as well. I would have loaded the revolver then, but I was in a rush. I had no idea how long it was before dawn, and I needed to get out of town before then; the guards might be suspicious if they could see the blood staining my coat. I checked over the bag, making sure I had everything I would need. As a last thought, I pulled down some Cram from the counter, leaving just enough for…

Felix…I had almost forgotten about my own brother! What kind of terrible zebra was I, that I almost left town after killing my father, and ditched my brother to be an orphan?

“Shayle?”

Speak of the Dark One…and after thinking of leaving him I call him the Dark One? I’m such a good sister. I looked up from the bag to see Felix standing in his door, rubbing one eye sleepily as he watched me ransack the kitchen for food and supplies. I froze, staring at the colt with wide eyes while I tried to think of something to tell him that wasn’t the truth. I’d already considered leaving without even thinking of him, and I wasn’t about to add telling him I’d murdered Father onto that.

“Hey Felix…” I said quietly. My brain worked in overdrive, thinking through everything I could say before finally thinking of what I hoped was the best option. “Hurry and get your stuff, we need to leave,” I finally said frantically.

“Why do-”

“I’ll explain later, just get your things, bud.” I cut him off, dragging the rest of the cans into the bag along with what remained of our stale bread. It seemed to work on his tired brain, because the colt quickly disappeared back into his room.

I pulled the loaded bag onto my back, grunting softly from the weight before stepping toward the door to wait for Felix. I quickly changed my mind and stepped between my brother’s room and the blood soaked body sitting in the hallway. It only took a few minutes for the colt to return, his bags seeming to be weighed down with books and not much else. He made his way straight to the door, luckily for me, still looking tired. I frowned to myself for doing this to him, but I couldn’t leave him behind, especially not with the new thought of him waking up to a newly dead body and his sister missing without a word. I couldn’t tell you what he would have assumed, but I knew it would be much different from what really happened.

I joined him at the door, pushing it open quietly and motioning for the sleepy zebra to follow me. The village was sleeping, as we should have been, and not a single zebra was out and about as we made our way quickly through the streets. I looked back to make sure Felix was still close to me a few times, and I could tell he really wanted to ask what was happening still. Apparently my urgency had spread to him, and the young zebra was still content with my promise to explain what had happened after we’d gotten out of town. I hated that I would have to lie to him again, but I didn’t think that telling my brother I had just killed our Father and stolen all of his stuff was the best thing to say. I sketched that task down further on my mental checklist, right below ‘think of what to tell him’ and ‘get out of town’.

Luckily, it wasn’t hard to avoid the guards who were supposed to be watching the Wasteland outside, their towers may have made it easy to see further outside, but they weren’t very good for watching directly beneath them. As we slunk around the base of the northern tower, I pleaded in my head for Felix not to ask me why we were sneaking past the guards instead of just walking out, and my luck that night continued to hold when the colt remained silent. Once I was technically outside the wall, I looked back and smiled at the yawning zebra who still followed.

My eyes darted around in the dark, looking for what to do next, and fell onto a gaping hole a few feet from the tower. It had been boarded up a few times, the older pieces of wood still clung to the sides loosely, but the center had been broken apart so many times it was no longer even bothered to cover it. I didn’t know where the hole lead, or what was in it, but I hoped it was somewhere along the lines of ‘away from town’ and, Caesar willing, empty.

I shot one last look to Felix before dashing to the hole and jumping in. I left the town behind, I left the corpse behind, and above all I left my old, crappy, hell of a life behind. And I even had my brother with me.

I couldn’t help but smile as I plunged into a shallow pool of chilled water.

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Black Widow - In combat, you do +10% damage to male opponents. Outside of combat, you might just think of especially creative things to say to members of the opposite sex.

Author’s Note: (A couple people I really need to thank for this: Of course I need to start with Kkat, for creating such an amazing universe for me and so many other writers to play with. Somber, for your work with Project Horizons providing me with a backdrop to start this story, thanks. And to the PH RP group, thanks for finally kicking me into writing this instead of letting my characters sit on a blank document on my computer!)

Chapter 2: Misconceptions

Chapter 2: Misconceptions
“Ah! Dirt, dirt! Get away, dirt! Oh! Make it stop, make it stop!”

Okay, so it wasn’t exactly water, but at least I learned where the village’s sewage ended up. It turned out that the hole I had jumped into really was a tunnel leading to somewhere beyond town, stretching out in two directions from the point I had jumped into it. The path behind me lead back under the village, most likely to whatever point they actually used to dump the waste and trash rather than risking leaving the walls. I had no intention of going back to town, so instead I lead Felix away, down the path into mystery.

I wasn’t really happy that my path to freedom was literally full of crap, but at least I was free. I had finally escaped from the hell my life had become; no longer worried about if Father would appear from every corner and jump on top of me again. Outside the house, I felt amazing, like I could take on anything that came my way, and that even if I couldn’t, together with Felix anything was possible. He had been to class for years while I sat at home, learning Caesar knows what about the Wasteland and, hopefully, how to survive there. It was more toward recent years that he told me about his classes on how to mix potions and fetishes from random materials they found (I don’t know how bloatsprite wings somehow work for that, but they apparently do), and other little details I could never truly understand when he explained them to me. And me, I had already found out that I could kill if it meant our safety. It didn’t seem like that important of a contribution to me at the time, but if the rumors of raiders roaming the Wasteland were true, it may yet come in handy.

To my surprise, Felix remained completely silent as we headed off down the tunnel, never bringing up my promise to explain why we left or asking where we were going. I guessed it was because he was so tired; he’d only been sleeping for a couple hours by the time we left, and I don’t think he had fully woken yet. I would have looked back to check on him, but I couldn’t see his expression in the tunnel. In fact, I couldn’t see much of anything at all. The only reason I knew he was still following me was because the blot of light from the hole we dropped in was blocked behind me, and I could vaguely hear his hooves plopping through the disgusting mix beneath us.

The tunnel had no lighting through it; there was no reason for whoever dug it to have put lights in if the only thing that was supposed to go in there was waste and trash. Still, it had been used on occasion by someone, if the broken boards where we jumped in were any indication. I couldn’t think of any reason a zebra, pony, or anyone else would want to slog through that tunnel just to come up outside the village walls and probably get gunned down by the guards waiting above. I certainly didn’t want to be in there, and I promised myself internally that I would never go back down there. I tried to ignore the stench; not an easy task when it completely surrounded us and stung at my eyes, but it kept my mind off of the feeling under my hooves with each step.

We walked for what may have been an hour, but without a way to measure time I was only guessing, before I came to a stop. The tunnel was still pitch dark with no way to see where another exit might be, and I was starting to think we might have to turn around and go back out the way we came; hopefully without alerting the guards when we clambered over the boards. Oh, and as a hint: stopping in a tunnel where you can’t see anything while someone is walking behind you is a bad idea. Felix smacked face first into my rump, nearly causing me to stumble over into the muck.

“Sorry,” I heard him say sleepily behind me, followed by another yawn.

I nodded that it was okay, but of course he wouldn’t see that in the tunnel. I didn’t think anything of that, and instead started looking around for even the smallest hint of light. Behind us, the glow from where we had come in had completely disappeared, leaving me even more disorientated than I already was. Ahead of us, still nothing, and to either side there was nothing either. I sighed heavily before turning to Felix, maybe.

“Any ideas?” I asked him, hoping he was able to think of something in his tired state.

I heard another yawn, followed by him mumbling something to himself. “I guess we’ll just have to keep going,” he finally told me. “It has to let out somewhere right?”

I nodded and grinned before turning around to continue, and promptly ran my face into the wall of the tunnel. I moaned and cursed the luck, and turned more to the left, swinging my hoof in front of me before deciding it was safe to go forward and hopefully not smear more of whatever was on the wall onto my face. First danger averted, I didn’t hit the wall this time.

We hadn’t gone too much further when the two of us started to hear a soft noise ahead. I couldn’t quite tell what it was, but it wasn’t the sound of hooves slogging through muck. It started very quiet, but got louder as we continued forward. A little further on, I finally recognized the sound; chewing. I almost gagged as one thought began to run through my mind over and over; please tell me nobody is eating in here, please tell me nobody is eating in here. I hoped that I had been wrong about what we heard, that it was actually the sound of dripping water from an exit, or it really was the sound of someone walking through the tunnel and the shape of the walls changed the sound or something. I don’t know if that can happen, but it made sense at the time.

Suddenly, the noise stopped, and the tunnel fell silent aside from mine and Felix’s hooves mixing up tunnel’s contents. I slowed down, and was glad to not feel my brother’s face hitting my butt again. Replacing the sound of chewing (no! walking!), was a whistle of ragged breathing, just loud enough for me to hear it. I perked my ears to try hearing it better, and it was definitely breathing. It sounded a lot like what Father sounded like after smoking one too many in a night and his throat clogged up with phlegm. A shiver went through my spine at the thought, but at least we weren’t the only ones down there. Maybe we could even ask whoever was breathing how much further we had to go!

I sped back up again, and the increased sound from my hooves pulled a gasp from whoever was in front of us. Okay, eyes are not supposed to glow, but this guy’s did. A pair of creepy green lights loomed in the air ahead of us, only about ten feet from me, when whoever it was turned to look at us. I know I said the tunnel was pitch dark, and I couldn’t see anything except for those lights, but I had the eeriest feeling that whoever was behind those eyes could see me somehow. I froze, and rather than being bumped by Felix, I actually heard his hooves stepping further away from me. I didn’t know why he would do that; the thing we had met might have been our only way out, he or she could point us in the right direction and maybe even lead us to an exit.

“Um…hi,” I said with a grin, waving my hoof just in case glowing-eyes actually could see down there.

What responded was the most un-earthly scream I had ever heard in my life. The call echoed through the tunnel, and then I was backing away with Felix. A story from one of the village elders stepped into the front of my mind, about when they were a young traveler in the Wasteland before settling down. The old zebra was one of me and Felix’s favorite storytellers, always making the tales funny, but still informative at the same time. The one which I was reminded of at that moment was his first run-in with a monster called a ‘ghoul’. Just like we had, the old zebra went trotting up to what looked like a pony to ask if they had anything to trade. The pony had ignored him, continuing to lean over a strange shape beneath it. As it turned out, that shape was a half-eaten zebra, and the ‘pony’ was rotting alive. The old zebra was met with a scream, much like what I had just heard, before being chased by the monster who had suddenly decided his old meal wasn’t fresh enough.

I suddenly didn’t want to go that way anymore. I just wanted to be out of that tunnel and where no more zebra eating monster ponies could eat me while covered in whatever I was standing in at the time. If that meant going all the way back to town, so be it; no flesh eating monsters were in town.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to turn around and start running. The glowing eyes barreled toward me with unnatural speed, something I would never expect from something that was apparently rotting. Before I could even react, a squishy body slammed into my chest and sent me rolling to my back. I don’t know if Felix could even see what was happening, but I still heard him shout at the beast to leave me alone. I heard a lot of sticky splashing as sprays of nastiness showered me and the monster who had finally reached me again. Its eyes turned away from the rotting spray, apparently still a sensitive place for a living-dead monstrosity, and started jabbing at me with its hooves.

I joined in with Felix, flailing my forelegs around in the muck to kick up sprays of filth toward the beast’s face and hoping none of it would get in my eyes or mouth. The only way I had of knowing where to try and aim the sludge were the still glowing orbs hovering above me as a pair of cracked hooves continued to jab at my chest. Eventually the ghoul got sick of our antics, and the eyes spun to mine, diving forward. An unbelievable pain shot from my shoulder as a row of jagged and uneven teeth tore into my skin. I thought my scream would throw my lungs out of my chest as the teeth began to pull at my body, trying to tear a piece of me off.

My rear hooves swung up, colliding with the monster’s chest to throw him off of me. Instead, the teeth remained lodged in my shoulder, and his body stayed in place over me. I quickly learned that rotting pony-bodies were much weaker than I thought as my hooves punched through his ribs and squished around in his cold, gooey chest. The teeth stopped pulling, and the glowing eyes went wide before the ghoul’s legs gave out and his body slumped over me. I really didn’t feel like smashing my hooves through his back, so instead of kicking again, I rolled to the side and let his body fall against the sewer wall. His teeth tore painfully out of my shoulder, allowing a thick flow of blood to begin staining my chest.

“Shayle?” Felix asked fearfully. It sounded like the colt was about to cry as he waited for me to respond, no longer kicking muck toward where I had been wrestling with the ghoul.

“I’m okay,” I groaned, bringing a hoof to my shoulder to try slowing the flow of blood. A pair of less jagged teeth gripped at my mane as Felix tried to help me up and pull my legs out of the rotten slop in the monster’s chest . “You wouldn’t happen to have a bandage would you?” I asked painfully once I was on my hooves again, not too worried about the goop on my back legs.

“You got hurt? Are you bleeding?” Felix asked frantically.

“Just a little cut,” I lied, not wanting to worry him. Luckily he couldn’t see the extent of my injury, but neither could I. A biting pain pulsed from my shoulder constantly, but with the muck already covering my chest from the splashing me and Felix did, I had no way of even feeling how much blood was leaving me. I hoped it wasn’t too bad. “Are you alright?” I asked him softly, my ears listening intently for the sound of more ghouls.

“I’m fine,” the colt confirmed, still sounding worried and scared. I didn’t blame him, I was scared out of my mind at that point, and my pounding heart constantly reminded me of that, but at least we would know how to tell when there was a ghoul in front of us. I just hoped there weren’t any more.

I smiled, unseen by him, and turned away from the colt to continue onward. I no longer really wanted to go back to town after the fight, not like I had before. We had beaten one ghoul, and if that scream hadn’t brought more down on us already, I doubted there were more for a long way. Even if there were, after that fight I was for some reason confident in my ability to defend myself and Felix from another. So we started off again, hopefully to find an exit soon, and because I don’t learn I got to taste the wall one more time.

* * *

Glorious light! I had never been so happy to see the gloomy light of dawn in my life as I was at the moment I saw the tunnel glowing ahead of us. If we weren’t so tired, both of us would have galloped to the light, but exhaustion kept us restrained. The source of light in our eternity of darkness ended up being a break in the tunnel we had been walking through for apparently much longer than I thought as the light of day filled the hole. The gap was part of a large crater which marred the landscape around us, presumably from some kind of explosion. That must have been how that ghoul and its meal had gotten into the tunnel, but why they travelled so far down before stopping I would never know.

Luckily, that had been the only ghoul to block our path, leaving the rest of our trek through the grime very quiet, and very dull. Not that I had a problem with dull, especially when it meant no more biting or kicking, but it was so surreal to be walking through complete darkness with only the sound of sloshing hooves and my own heartbeat to remind me we were still awake.

When I finally got out of the tunnel, my eyes actually burned slightly from the light and took a few minutes to fully adjust. During that time, I tried to rub the nastiness from my hooves along the ground and rolled through the dirt of the crater to try getting it off of my back as well. Unfortunately, with how long we’d been walking through the sludge after my wrestling match it had dried into my coat and was proving difficult to remove. Felix simply wiped his hooves on the dirt, apparently having been spared the grime that covered most of my body.

The pain in my shoulder had dulled into a throbbing soreness; not painful like it had been for the hour or so after my fight, but it still reminded me it was there. I think it had stopped bleeding after a short bit of time because I never started to feel light-headed or any of the other things Felix once told me about blood loss, and I didn’t see any dripping beneath me as I rose from my dry bath. My mind turned away from the wound and I looked over to Felix, smiling at his questioning expression as he examined the ground around us. I think he was trying to figure out where we were, but I couldn’t see how he expected to know that. We had been walking for hours, for all I knew we were in the middle of some unnamed desert.

His attention was pulled away when he looked over to me, and his face warped into worry. “Shayle! Your shoulder!” he yelled, galloping over to me with wide eyes. I looked down to my wound, and all I saw was a clump of dried on nastiness from the tunnel, nothing to make him worry like that. I didn’t have the best angle, which did a fantastic job of hiding what he saw from me. “Why didn’t you tell me it was that bad?”

Now I was getting worried too. I still couldn’t see anything, but Felix was acting like it was life threatening. It wasn’t even bleeding anymore, how bad could it be? “I don’t see anything,” I told him coolly, trying to calm the colt down.

“You don’t see it?” he asked worriedly, staring at my shoulder like it was growing an eye.

“There’s no blood,” I reminded him, still looking down to the wound in an attempt to find what he claimed to see.

“No, because the sewage stopped it,” he told me obviously, and looked up to me like I was stupid.

“That’s not a good thing?”

“No!” he shouted. Apparently I didn’t know very much about medicine or healing, because I thought no blood was good. That is good, right? “Caesar knows what was in that sewer, and now it’s in your blood!” He sounded like I was about to keel over right there, but I didn’t feel bad at all, aside from the throbbing in my shoulder. He must have seen my confusion, because he quickly elaborated. “It will get infected with bacteria.” He rolled his eyes when I stared at him dumbly. “Little bugs that make you sick.”

Okay, that I understood. Also, that got me worried. I knew I wasn’t supposed to play in dirty places, but I didn’t know it was because little bugs would give me an infection. I just thought it was because it made me smell bad. Thanks for the education Father. “Well how do you make them stop?” I asked frantically, searching my shoulder even more for the infection Felix claimed to see.

“We need medicine,” he said quickly, turning in every direction. “Which way will there be a doctor?”

Yes, because I knew that. “Um…pick a way and start walking?” I suggested, more focused on my shoulder than looking around for a doctor in the middle of nowhere.

Luckily, Felix took me perhaps too literally and galloped in a random direction. I didn’t know if he’d seen something to make him choose that way, which was the opposite side of the crater from the pipe we’d just left, but I didn’t question it. I quickly followed behind him, mentally picturing thousands of little ‘bacteria’ running through my shoulder and somehow making me sick. Not exactly a pretty picture, but it made the walk more entertaining.

Nothing much happened while we walked, because we really were in the middle of nowhere. I couldn’t see anything around us except the occasional skeleton of a tree and a skeleton here and there, but other than that, nothing. My idea of being in a desert was eerily similar to what we had ended up in, and I grew more and more worried that we would never find a doctor to stop the infection in my shoulder. Felix kept us at a good pace, seeming to be more worried about my shoulder than I was. It was probably because he actually knew what might happen if I didn’t get it treated while I didn’t, but his urgency was starting to rub off on me. I stayed close behind him, and suddenly I realized that something didn’t feel right.

Actually, two things didn’t feel right. The first and most apparent was that my body felt different. Not ‘bad’ different, but like something was missing. It might have been that I was missing a part of my shoulder, but it didn’t seem like that was it to me. The second, less obvious wrong feeling was that strange feeling you get when someone is watching you. You know the one, that little sixth sense at the back of your neck when somebody watches you for a really long time and you don’t know why it works. The hairs on the back of my neck were prickled like a cactus, another of those plants the elders told me about, and no matter how many times I swatted at my neck to kill a bug there was never a satisfying crunch.

After swatting my neck a fifth time, I finally received a sound to confirm the feeling. Unfortunately it was more of a crack, and it was accompanied by the zing of a bullet flying past my head. Felix flopped to the ground instantly, his hooves jumping up to cover his head as he tried to become as small as possible. I did the same, dropping to my belly and reaching back to grab the gun from my…

Remember that feeling that something was missing? As it turns out that feeling was my bag. The thing with all of my money, food, ammo, and my gun; the thing I instantly wished I had remembered to pick up back in the tunnel after my wrestling match with a ghoul. I don’t know how I managed to go so long without it, but it probably had to do with the mix of sleep-deprivation and the pitch darkness of the tunnel making it impossible to see. I know that doesn’t explain why I didn’t feel the difference, and honestly I couldn’t think of a real reason myself at that moment, but bullets were not good for thinking.

Another shot rang out and a fountain of dirt kicked up beside Felix, barely missing his side as he shook against the ground and mumbled just loud enough for me to hear him, but not understand him. The sight of him cowering, unable to defend himself or even knowing what to do, kicked something on in my brain. I leapt to my hooves, and quickly looked around. About fifty feet away, standing behind a large rock was a zebra-shaped shadow, and beside it was a floating gun. Wait, floating gun?

A bullet whipped the tip off of my left ear, and a sting of pain followed close behind. I lowered my head, hissing at the pain, and charged forward. Whatever kind of gun the floating thing was, it only held one shot at a time; not very effective for a lone attacker to try taking down two zebras at once. Still, the shooter had plenty of time to reload as I tried to close the distance between us, and another gunshot filled the air. A bite of pain rippled from my flank as the shot burrowed into me, nearly causing me to stumble over myself into the dirt. I pushed through it as best I could, and continued my charge. I wasn’t nearly as fast as I had been at the start, but I was still fast enough to reach the shooter before they could throw another round my way.

As it turns out, the gun was floating in a sparkling grey cloud, and looked almost as rusty as my revolver did. Beside it was a zebra with a horn…no, zebras don’t have horns, only ponies had horns like that. I gritted my teeth as I plowed into the shooter head first, sending both of us rolling through the dirt and the gun clattering to the ground. The brown pony grunted heavily as we fell, and his eyes shot open in surprise. I quickly began jabbing at him with my hooves while keeping him pinned under me, happy with how easy that had been.

And then a flash of white filled my vision as a loud snap filled the air. I felt myself fall to the dirt, and a loud pounding filled my head. When my vision started to come back, I was lying beside the gunpony and my head was throbbing worse than my shoulder could hope to. Beside the pony I’d tackled was a dirty-green coated earth pony holding a cracked wooden board between her teeth; I don’t think it was cracked before being used to club me.

“Damn, did ya’ forget how ta shoot Strike?” the mare asked her companion after spitting out the board.

The horned-pony stood up slowly, rubbing his head while he replied. “Shuddup Charmer.”

“Would you like a second chance?” she asked viciously. “Or can I deal with her myself?” Charmer: definitely a fitting name. But at least they were talking instead of finishing me off while I tried to figure out which way was up.

At that moment a book flew from behind the rock, striking Charmer in the side of her head and sending the mare to her haunches. From the way her head wobbled, I imagined she was feeling exactly like I did after being clubbed. The stallion, Strike, turned quickly and the rifle followed, once again surrounded by the glittery cloud. His horn glowed with the same effect, and I just then figured out that he was using magic to lift the gun. That was also the point when I figured out Felix had thrown one of his books (SEQR: Our Legacy), and was now on the receiving end of that rifle.

My hooves appeared beneath me quicker than I thought possible, and I dove toward Strike with a scream, once again slamming into him head first. The report of a rifle shot pounded my ears as I hit him, and my mind instantly jumped to the worst. I snapped my sore and throbbing head to where the pony had been aiming, expecting to see my brother shot and bleeding across the dirt. Instead, I saw him digging another heavy book from his bag and frowning at the hole which had been punched through it.

A groan of pain softly came from behind me, and I spun to see Charmer standing on wobbly legs. Her eyes came to rest on my own, and the mare leapt toward her discarded board, a look of pure rage in her eyes. I didn’t have a piece of wood to grab, but luckily a certain stallion had dropped a perfectly rusty rifle a few inches away. My teeth chomped down on the grip, and I lifted it to face Charmer. She froze for a second, staring at the barrel with wide eyes, before lunging forward, bringing the board back for a swing. My tongue played around on the bit searching for the trigger, and finally hit it.

Stupid single shot rifles.

The hammer clicked onto the back of an already expended round, and I wanted to scream. The chunk of wood smacked the rifle from my mouth, and quickly swung back to connect with my shoulder; naturally the one that was already injured. I let out a scream, and resorted to jumping on top of the mare through the pain that was covering almost my entire body. The two of us rolled around for a ways, each trying to get on top of the other and gain the upper hoof, the long grey braid of her mane batting at my face with each movement of her head. From the corner of my eye I saw Felix trying to talk with Strike...and the stallion actually listening.

I groaned and returned to my struggle with Charmer. Trying to hit the mare effectively around the leather vest that covered much of her body was difficult, and most of my attempts ended in a soft thud against the armor. The fight only lasted another minute before a gunshot echoed through the air, and the two of us stopped to see who was down. To my surprise, and probably hers as well, the two males were standing a few feet away with the rifle pointed into the air.

“Get off her Charmer, they ain’t spies” Strike ordered calmly.

Spies? What was a spy, and why did they think me and Felix were spies?

“Then what are they?” Charmer asked, delivering a quick jab to my ribs before I could get up.

“They’re runaways,” the stallion offered, placing the rifle across his back.

“Felix…what’s going on here?” I asked my brother with a faint slur, ignoring the two ponies as I rose and stepped away from Charmer. I actually wanted to return her cheap shot, but that could wait.

“These two are from a town not far from here,” Felix told me calmly. “Strike thought we were scouts or spies from the Remnant, so he shot at us.”

I grumbled in response, not fully believing that, especially not if a pony said it. “And why does that matter?” I asked.

“We’ve had issues with ‘em in the past,” Charmer offered, sounding about as trusting of us as I was of them. “Can’t be too careful.”

It seemed I wasn’t the only one to feel that way about our situation. “So if you don’t plan on shooting us, we’ll be going,” I told the ponies bluntly and almost fell over with a sudden wash of light-headedness.

“Shayle, no!” Felix countered, looking at me with worry. “Strike offered to take us into town.”

“What, why?” me and Charmer asked in unison.

“Because you two’re out here without supplies, and you look torn up,” the horned-pony told me with a soothing drawl, his light-red eyes staring at me with a brief look at my shoulder. “We can get you to a doctor and feed you.”

Felix smiled as if he’d thought of all of this on his own, and honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the one who asked about it all in the first place while I was trying to beat the tar out of the green mare. The two ponies looked indifferent about it all, just looking over the two of us like this happened to them every day.

They were right, I did really need a doctor if what Felix had told me was true, and a little food wouldn’t hurt considering all of ours was covered in nastiness back in the sewer. I didn’t really trust Strike and Charmer, not after they’d just tried to kill me and Felix, and wasn’t sure if I wanted to follow them to some town which was presumably full of ponies. Ponies who apparently assumed every zebra they saw was a spy.

Ponies never change.

Oh yeah, and that too.

Felix’s face had almost turned into a pleading look, no doubt out of more worry for the bugs infesting my shoulder; and probably that freshly bleeding hole in my flank and missing eartip courtesy of Strike; than for the food. I sighed and turned to the horned pony, my nerves burning with uncertainty and pain. “How far to town?”

* * *

While we walked to town, it became clear to me that we’d travelled much further from Zeza than I originally thought. I could see no sign of home, not even a well-travelled path that merchants such as Father would have used to get to my old home with their goods. I didn’t doubt the ponies we now travelled with had heard of our village, they must have if they knew of the Remnant in the area, but I don’t think they had even bothered to travel there, or know where it might be. They had no reason to, the Remnant wasn’t exactly friendly toward them being ponies and all, so trying to trade or interact with our village would just become a death sentence for them.

Felix walked along side Strike ahead of me, telling the horned-pony about our run in with the ghoul earlier and how I’d been wounded as best he could. There were a few things off in the story, but I couldn’t blame him, there was no way for either of us to see in there, and I didn’t really know what was going on during the fight myself. While they were chatting, me and Charmer walked behind them and engaged in girl talk. When I say girl talk, I mean we walked silently and occasionally glared at one another to make sure the other didn’t try anything while trying to hide how sore each of us was. I think I was hurting a little more than her though, but I also got shot and bitten.

I personally had no plans of attacking her or Strike, even if I did still owe her a jab from earlier, but I couldn’t decide if this deal to go to town was legitimate or if we were about to walk into a raider trap or something. Strike seemed decent enough when he wasn’t shooting at me, but Charmer still seemed like she wanted to pummel me and Felix into the dirt, something I supposed a raider would love more than anything. But it never happened, and soon a small cluster of shacks came into view.

They didn’t look like much, but it seemed to be an actual town. The outsides of the buildings looked like they’d seen better days with the countless holes punched into the metal siding and rust forming across most of the walls. The roofing looked at least stable, for the time anyways, and for most of the buildings consisted of old wooden planks topped by scrapped cardboard. Two ponies in leather vests stood along the road leading into the town, if you could call it that, each with a rifle slung over their shoulder and a look of determination across their faces. They could have been twins with how similar they looked; a drunk might even think they had downed one too many and was seeing double.

Strike nodded a greeting to each of the guards as we passed, and I wasn’t surprised to receive a look of disdain from one of them. I had a feeling they expected us to be prisoners, especially since I was still stained with blood, waste, and had a wonderful hole in my flank which still hadn’t been bandaged. At least the bleeding had stopped, that was a recurring theme with me apparently, but it still burned with every step I took.

In the town very few ponies could be seen outside their huts. A few stood around a burning barrel that seemed unnecessary with the warmth of the day, but I may have felt warm from the extra insulation in my coat and the constant pain in my leg and shoulder. Even those who were gathered at the flame didn’t seem to pay me or Felix much mind, a bit of a shock after the reaction from the guard only moments before, but not necessarily unwelcome. The rest of the town seemed to still be asleep, and I guessed it must have been earlier in the day than I thought if some ponies were still sleeping.

The first place Strike led us was a small shack with a large pink butterfly painted on the door, something I couldn’t recognize as a symbol for food or a doctor, so I assumed we had been taken to meet with the town’s leader before being allowed care. That assumption was proven wrong quickly as the door opened to a room filled with bandages, potions, and more vials than I could have imagined. I didn’t even bother trying to find out what was in the glass ampules that lined the shelves around us; the answer would likely only confuse me.

Another horned-pony sat on a torn and patched pillow on the far side of the room, reading through some book that was marked with three pink butterflies identical to the one on the door. “What’s up?” she asked once the four of us had all gotten inside, her voice squeaking slightly on the second word.

“Got a patient for ya’ doc,” Strike replied calmly, waving a hoof to me.

‘Doc’ lifted her head from the pages and looked over me with her pale yellow eyes for a moment before standing. She was either very young, or very short, or maybe both. The mare’s horn barely reached my chin when she stepped up to me to take a closer look at my shoulder and grumble something to herself. Her white coat was stained a reddish-brown in several places, especially her chest and forelegs, which matched her muddy colored mane a bit too well.

I heard her grumble under her breath again, and a sharp pain bit back into my shoulder. I looked down to see the supposed doctor prodding my wound with her hoof, her head cocked in observation as she poked me over and over. “What are you doing?” I asked sharply, trying not to yell out in pain.

The poking stopped, and Doc looked up to me. “Trying to see how deep it is,” she stated proudly. I couldn’t even think of what to say, nopony should be that confident about their reason for poking a wound. “What did you do?”

“I got bitten by a ghoul,” I told her plainly, really hoping she wouldn’t poke me again.

“And rubbing poop in the bite seemed smart?” she asked sarcastically and tried not to laugh. Yeah, she was just really young, only a filly would laugh at the word ‘poop’.

“Are you sure this is a doctor?” I asked the two ponies who stood off to the side.

Strike replied with a nod, and Charmer just glared. So I guess this was the doctor…a really immature and unskilled doctor maybe?

“Hey! I’ve been doing this since I could crawl!” the little Doc barked, her voice once again cracking. And just to prove her point, the little monster jammed her horn into my shoulder.

I could hold back screams from a little hoof poking me, but that felt worse than the ghoul’s teeth digging into me. I wanted to smack the beast across the room, but that would have been hard from my belly now that I could for some reason not move my legs anymore. I rolled my eyes up to the giggling mare, and gave her the same look I gave Strike before jumping on him earlier.

“You finally learned that anesthetic spell?” I heard Charmer ask with a similar drawl to Strike, almost sounding entertained.

“No, I just hit a nerve with my old shock spell.” I could almost hear the grin form on that little monster’s face. “She won’t be able to move until I’m done, go get the little one some food.”

She was calling Felix little? She couldn’t have been older than 10! Still, it wasn’t like I could argue, or protest, or even try to go get food with them, I was stuck on the ground at the mercy of the horned-pony that was apparently a doctor. Though I guess it was a little reassuring that her flank was decorated with an unrolled bandage.

Footnote: Level Up! Unarmed (25)

Author’s Note: Another huge thanks to Kkat for making this world so amazing, and to Somber and all of the other amazing side-fic writers who expanded it and made it even greater! I’d also love to thank the PH:RP group again for getting me to write this, and my pre-readers for making sure I don’t jack it up before release. All of you are amazing!

Chapter 3: Scales

Chapter 3: Scales
“I wonder which cute, furry little creatures I’ve awoken.”

For as young as she was, I was surprised to find that Little Doc hadn’t been kidding around when she bragged about her skill. And yes, her name actually was Little Doc; I didn’t really bother to ask how she’d been given such a name and conveniently ended up as a doctor, but I didn’t know much about pony naming so I assumed they must be given their names after choosing their line of work. I still felt a good amount of pain during much of her work, and wanted nothing more than to smack her on several occasions, but she assured me it was only because I’d been a ‘bitch’ to her.

The most painful part by far was the treatment of my shoulder, and Doc actually started to look upset about how much it hurt. While she worked on the wound she explained that I had taken up something called ‘sepsis’, and that I was lucky to have found her so fast. Looks like Felix had been right about getting an infection from the little bugs in my blood. To remove the sepsis, the filly first cleaned out the wound with a viciously bristled brush that tore at my skin and flesh while it pulled the sewage and dirt out of my shoulder. I had hoped her shocking me would also remove any pain I might feel, but it seemed I was mistaken. My hooves started to get some feeling back as she worked, and I could move them a little, but while the filly scrubbed at my shoulder I didn’t even feel like moving.

I don’t know how long I spent on that table, but as Doc pulled the last few stitches tight in my shoulder (healing potions were for some reason out of question for me), Felix returned with the other two ponies. I was relieved to see a box hanging from Felix’s mouth, even if I had no idea what it said on the outside. I hoped it was food, that would be amazing after going so long without anything to eat, no matter what it was.

As Doc had promised, I was able to stand once her work was done. I don’t know how she managed to figure out how long I would be down for, or how she paced her work perfectly to match that promise, but I didn’t think twice about it at the time. Once she confirmed I was good to go, I rolled from the table and touched down with a wince. My shoulder still burned from the stitching, but at least she had cleaned the nastiness from my cuts and assured me I wouldn’t need to worry about an infection as long as I came back for a shot for the next few days. I was grateful for her help, but I didn’t know if I would be around much longer for those shots, any doctor would have the stuff to do that right?

“Thanks,” I told Doc, trying not to show too much pain around Felix.

“Don’t thank me until you pay me,” she replied with a smug grin.

Wait, pay? For saving my life? Is that how things worked in the Wasteland? Back home if anyone was sick the town’s doctor would fix you up because it was their job, their duty, not to take away the money you needed to buy food. Maybe it was just a pony thing.

“Pay you for what?” I asked with a confused look.

Her smile straightened into a look of anger. “What do you mean ‘what for’? I just used a bunch of rare supplies and hours from my day to fix your stupidity,” she growled, or as much as she could with a voice crack or two.

What kind of doctor was this? If someone couldn’t pay she would just let them die? “I don’t have any money!” I snapped. “How am I supposed to pay you at all?”

“You ran away without any caps?” Charmer asked from the door, almost sounding like she wanted to laugh at my stupidity.

And what were caps? Was that what ponies called coin? “I had money. But I lost my bag in the sewer.” The sewer I didn’t feel like going back into.

I heard Doc’s hoof hit her face behind me. “You couldn’t tell me this before I wasted my time and supplies on you?”

And I was back to hating her, even if she did just save me. “Saving someone is a waste to you?” I asked viciously, spinning back around to face her.

“If they don’t pay me, yes!” she yelled back. “If you don’t pay me, how am I supposed to replace the supplies I used? What if somepony else needs stitches?”

I didn’t even think of that. Back home the Remnant would supply our doctor with new supplies every few weeks. He never had to pay for it; he was given it because the Remnant actually cared enough to make sure we were all healthy and alive. What kind of society did ponies have that their government wouldn’t supply them with medical tools and medicine? Did they want their villages to die?

Rather than argue it further, I just accepted that ponies were just as bad as the stories I’d been told as a filly. I didn’t think I should have to pay for Doc to save my life, but if she was so short on supplies that fixing me for free would cause another pony to die, I didn’t have much of a choice. “How can I make some coin?” I asked hesitantly.

“I don’t know, ask around town for anyone that needs help,” Doc replied, finally seeming to calm down now that I was agreeing to pay. “You’d be surprised how many ponies will pay for simple work to be done.”

Charmer broke in behind us, stepping forward with a grin. “I could use a little help, if you’re interested.”

That smile didn’t look like an ‘I have simple work for you’ smile.

* * *

And it wasn’t. I had never heard of a snake before, but apparently Charmer was responsible for feeding them after they hatched and killing them once they got to a certain size. I couldn’t imagine why such a job would exist; it just seemed pointless to give food to a creature you eventually planned on killing. Either way, it was what Charmer did, and if she was to be believed, she had been slacking a little on killing the older snakes.

It was a bit of a walk to reach The Nest, nobody in town wanted the creatures too close to their homes for some reason. Though I was the one who owed money, Felix and Strike had volunteered to help out with the job. Felix because he’s my brother, and Strike because he loaned me a gun and wanted to make sure I didn’t break it. Before we left he spent a few minutes showing me how to use the little pistol, a 10mm he’d had since he was a colt, and made sure I knew how to reload, aim and fire the gun without a problem. The target practice we did proved I could shoot, but not necessarily accurately. Charmer suggested I might try practicing a little more before we went off to kill her snakes, but I wanted to get the money to pay off Doc as quick as possible.

As we had while walking to town, Charmer and I walked side by side while Strike and Felix chatted. The difference was that Charmer and I took the lead this time, since the green pony was the one that knew the way. Just like before, we didn’t talk nearly as much as Felix and Strike, but I did bring up a few questions about the job.

Apparently, a snake was a long, scaly animal with sharp fangs that had once been very small. However, as with most every other animal in Equestria, the radiation from the apocalypse had mutated them into a much larger monster. The hatchlings were still small, but they grew very fast, and could easily reach the size of a pony within a few weeks. I didn’t ask why the mare raised them; I could only assume it was for personal reasons of some kind. She explained how to kill the snakes, and it sounded simple enough to me: shoot them until they stop moving, then one more time for good measure. It sounded like easy money to me, and I liked having a gun to kill them rather than having to wrestle with them like I did with the ghoul; fangs sounded like not so much fun in my body.

When we reached The Nest, it was a large hole in the ground that delved Caesar knows how deep under the dirt. Great, another underground fight. Thankfully, the hole had a few lamps running down one side to light the passage and hopefully whatever was at the end. I couldn’t tell if they’d been there originally, or if Charmer had added them herself, but either way it was good to know that I would actually be able to see what I was shooting at.

“Try to be quiet in the tunnel,” Charmer told me in a soft voice. “I don’t wanna spook ‘em.”

I couldn’t tell if she was saying that to protect us, or if she was worried about scaring the monsters before killing them. I hoped it was the former, but the small frown at the corner of her mouth made me think it was more of the latter. How could she be sad about killing a monster that was our size or bigger and would probably kill us on sight? It didn’t make any sense to me. I shook the question from my mind and quietly followed Charmer into the tunnel. Felix and Strike even stopped their chit chat as we descended, casting the group into a silence that reminded me of our walk through the sewer that morning. A shiver of worry passed down my spine.

The tunnel itself was a bit longer than I had expected, and was wide enough for two ponies to walk side by side if they wanted to, but we remained in single file. On either side a smaller tunnel was dug in every so often with a soft glow I could see deeper in, just large enough for a thin pony to slip through. Several hoofprints were weaved between the tunnels, apparently they were heavily trafficked by Charmer or another pony, and among them were several ‘S’ shaped trails leading down the larger tunnel; they were barely small enough to fit in the smaller tunnels. Charmer paid these tunnels no mind, simply trotting by them without a second thought, her eyes kept straight ahead as we continued to descend.

At the end of the tunnel we stepped into a large chamber. Fewer lamps were on the walls there, casting long shadows through most of the room and making it harder to see anything. In the middle of the room was a large pile of shredded paper, cardboard, moldy hay, and all other forms of trash. Pony sized holes were dug into several places on the pile, and a few bones were littered around the entrance to each. I couldn’t see any snakes or what might be a snake anywhere in sight, in fact the chamber seemed abandoned.

Charmer waved for us to stop a few feet inside the chamber, and stepped closer to the pile of scrap alone. When she was only inches from the nearest hole, the mare reached into her bag and pulled out a small pipe. I looked to Felix and Strike, trying to see if they were as confused as I was. Felix’s face had a look similar to my own while he watched Charmer, but Strike looked on as if he had seen this before. I turned my gaze back to Charmer, and was surprised to see her sitting beside the hole with the pipe held in her hooves with one end between her lips.

It started soft, barely loud enough for me to hear even in the silent chamber, but soon the whistling tune grew to a point where I could tell what it was. I had seen one of the elders back home playing a similar instrument before, but his was longer and gave a deeper tone than the small flute Charmer played. I couldn’t tell how the mare managed to change the tone of the tiny tube when it was only barely longer than her hooves, but she pulled more notes from its metal than the elder zebra had ever gotten from his.

The song of her instrument varied between longer, somber tones, and flits of quicker notes which at first seemed strange, but soon grew to be a beautiful melody in my ears. The tune fell from its original high whistle to a deeper lullaby. The music sounded sad, regretful, but at the same time it held a note of happiness and hope.

My eyes peeled away from the flute playing mare to a waving motion that bothered the corner of my vision. Rising from the pile of scrap was a long, slender form with deep brown scales running down its body. It wasn’t exactly what I had expected of a snake, and the oddly sporadic burs jutting from random points along the body definitely looked threatening enough to me. I pulled the pistol from my bag, taking aim before Strike pushed the barrel down with his hoof. I looked over to him, and placed the gun back in my bag at the shake of his head.

My gaze returned to the pile, where three more heads rose from the pile, each swaying rhythmically to the music which filled the air around them. When I was told we were going to kill snakes, I didn’t expect to see that. I expected thrashing monsters intent on killing us all, not the peaceful swaying I was watching.

After a few minutes of tranquility and dance brought by Charmer’s flute, the music flowed off into nothing, and the mare slowly placed the tube back into her bag. I could have sworn her eyes glinted with tears.

Her head returned with a pistol larger than my own, and without warning a gunshot tore through the silence. One of the snakes fell limp and slid down the trash pile into a still lump at the base. One more shot, and a splash of blood erupted from its head. The room filled with vicious hissing as the other three snakes stopped swaying and took up more of the image I was expecting. Their mouths opened wide revealing rows of long sharp teeth, their jaws dripping with saliva as they glared down at us. I took that as the proper time to pull out my gun again, and soon the room filled with gunfire.

The monsters were faster than I expected, slithering across the ground quicker than anything that big should be able to, and suddenly appearing in front of me. Reared up, the snake was almost double my height, and definitely more angry than that ghoul had been. I quickly pulled the trigger, sending a stream of three bullets into the monster standing before me. Two punched into its scales, but the third went wide. The head suddenly appeared behind me, and I found myself being wrapped in the scale and spike covered coils that made up the snake. I swung my head around, firing wildly whenever I saw its head and hoping I would get lucky. One or two hit the long scales under the monster’s jaw, but didn’t stop it from tightening around me. Spikes dug into my skin, not quite penetrating yet as I felt my body being folded in two. A louder gunshot than my own echoed through the chamber and felled the snake before I could be snapped. Blood ran over my mane and head from the oversized hole that had been gouged into the beast’s nose, and I looked over to see Strike still taking aim with his rifle.

Following Charmer’s advice, the stallion put another bullet into the serpent’s head from point blank range, ensuring it wouldn’t rise again. Charmer had taken out another of the beasts while I was fighting mine, and was galloping toward the last, which had taken to chasing Felix. Since he didn’t have a gun, apparently my brother had decided to run diversion tactics, distracting the snakes as best he could while the rest of us gunned them down.

Me and Strike turned our guns on the distracted beast, putting every bullet we could into it without risking a shot on Felix. Its body shook from each impact, but none of us could hit it anywhere vital with how quickly it was moving. Eventually however, even that monster could only stand so many bullets. Its movement slowed, and the three eyed head crumpled to the ground. Strike once again delivered the final shot just above the snout, and a long hiss escaped the serpent’s scaled lips, a final breath.

Once we were sure each of the snakes was dead, I placed Strike’s borrowed gun back into my bag. Mission accomplished, time to get my coin and go pay off Doc, and it was surprisingly easier than I had expected.

“Okay, let’s…” I turned to see Strike standing off to the side while Charmer bowed her head over the last snake we had killed. “Um…are we leaving?” I asked curiously, eager to get out of the cave.

Strike looked to me and shook his head before motioning over to Charmer. The mare looked so sad as she nuzzled her head into the largest of the snakes we’d killed, muttering under her breath. She pulled a jar from her bag and placed it on the ground beside her. “Shayle, can you help me out?” she asked quietly, her voice filled with regret.

“Uh…sure,” I replied, stepping up to her side and waiting to see what she needed.

Strike motioned to Felix and the two left, trotting back out through the tunnel we had come down in. I didn’t know what was going on, and it was starting to creep me out a little. Felix glanced back to me with a worried look, but still followed Strike back out of the cave.

“They’ll be okay,” Charmer assured me. “They’re going to get your pay from the mayor, we can meet ‘em back at Doc’s place.”

That did a little to calm me, but I was still confused as to what was going on. We had killed the snakes, why were we still standing around here? And what was that jar for? “What do you need me to help with?” I asked skeptically.

Charmer pushed the serpent’s mouth open, ducked her head to the back of its throat and looked around. “Can ya’ hold the jar under his glands for me?”

“Glands?” What glands? All I saw were teeth and a lot of half-rotting skin at the back of the mouth.

The green pony pointed at two bulging spots at the back of the serpent’s jaw, still managing to hold the mouth open by balancing it on her backside. “Don’t worry, he won’t hurt us now.”

Why did she keep calling the monster a ‘he’? I had way too many questions at this point, and only a few were being answered. Still, I lifted the jar with my tail and held it under the first ‘gland’ Charmer had pointed out, not quite willing to climb inside the mouth. A knife appeared in her mouth, and the mare made a quick slit in the bulge, letting out a stream of viscous yellow fluid into the jar. Okay, yuck.

Once that gland stopped leaking Charmer moved to the next one, pulling my tail and the jar where she needed it. At least now I knew why the snakes needed to be killed, whatever was in those glands must have been important if she risked her life fighting them just to get it. But I still hadn’t seen why she would be sad about killing them. They were monsters, but she was acting like she had just killed another pony.

We moved from snake to snake silently, extracting the yellow fluid from each until the jar was full. Charmer sighed heavily and sealed the jar, placing it in her bag carefully before trotting up to the mound of scrap. “Only one more thing to do,” she told me, waving for me to follow her.

She led me into the largest of the holes in the mound, and I was surprised to see a soft light glowing inside. I didn’t know what else we could be doing, we had already killed the snakes and drained them, what else did she need? At the end of the tight tunnel was another chamber, much smaller than outside naturally, but it looked like it could have made up the majority of the trash heap. Taking up most of the space was a winding, brown, scaly body at least double the size of the snakes lying dead outside. I froze in the entry, staring at the coiled mass with fear as Charmer casually strolled up to it.

A four eyed head rose from the coils to look down at us, its pronged tongue flicking out every few seconds with a hiss. This one didn’t have the vicious spikes jutting from its hide like the others, instead seeming to have a very smooth body with a few holes punched between the scales. The monster didn’t lunge at either of us, it just stared for a moment before lowering its head down to Charmer. I waited for the toothy maw to open and take down the pony with one gulp before turning on little old me, and I desperately wanted to pull out my pistol and run.

Instead, Charmer nuzzled the thing, smiling and talking to it like a baby! “Aw, who’s Mama’s big girl? You are!”

I can’t even explain what I felt at that moment.

“Did Neishka leave Mama some new babies?” the coddling continued as I stared with my jaw dropped. The four eyes spun up to me, and a low hiss grumbled through the room. Charmer looked back at me before chuckling. “Don’t worry ‘bout her, she’s a friend baby.” The snake still didn’t look away. “She doesn’t like you,” Charmer whispered back to me.

Of course ‘she’ didn’t, I had just killed her…children? I was more lost than ever, and Charmer wasn’t helping at all. I stayed put as the giant snake stared me down with a look that screamed ‘You look yummy’; Charmer on the other hoof climbed over the coils of ‘Neishka’ and into the middle of the chamber. The serpent didn’t seem to mind at all, never even flinching as the mare clambered over her and out of sight. She returned less than a minute later with two small orbs perched on top of her head, smiling brightly.

The mare cuddled into the snake’s snout again, whispering something about ‘good baby Neishy’ before turning back to me. “Okay, we can go.” She once again sounded like Charmer instead of a mother with her first born.

I looked at her with a confused stare before following her back out of the trash pile. I waited until we had completely left the mound before speaking up, for some reason worried the giant snake would burst out and devour me if I spoke too soon. “What…was that?” I asked, waving back to the tunnel.

“That was Neishka, she lays the eggs,” Charmer explained calmly. She grinned happily as she trotted back toward the main tunnel, keeping her head perfectly still while the two small balls, probably eggs, rested in her mane.

“I mean…why did you talk to it like that?” I clarified. I already knew that it was Neishka, she’d made that pretty clear with her baby talk.

The mare didn’t even look back at me, still happily walking up the tunnel with the eggs. “Because she’s my baby, I raised ‘er from the day she hatched.”

And then I understood it. She didn’t just kill the snakes, she bred them. Raised them. They were her pets, if not more than that in her mind. It explained her sadness at killing them, the lights inside the smaller tunnels, and especially her babying back inside the mound. The big smile of joy at having more eggs was because she had more little hatchlings to take care of. I had seen zebras back home with mutated dogs as pets, but these things? That was still a shock to me even after I figured out what was happening.

Charmer wiggled into one of the small tunnels, disappearing for a moment before returning with the eggs no longer on top of her head. “All tucked in, ready to go?”

I wasn’t sure if her care for the serpents was a good thing, or straight up creepy. No, it was creepy, only because of the way she talked to them and ‘tucked in’ eggs. “Eh…yeah,” I replied, happy to finally be getting back on the surface.

“Ya’ know,” Charmer said suggestively as we made our way out. “If you want, you can come back tomorrow morning and help me with feeding while I play for ‘em.” Nope, didn’t care to do that. “It would earn you a few extra caps to pay Doc.”

Crap.

* * *

Apparently, killing snakes didn’t net Charmer much in the way of pay. We were given 50 caps each, which was apparently the standard fee for whoever dealt with the serpents when the time came. I highly doubted it was enough to pay off Doc, but I was hoping it could at least take a big chunk out of it.

And just for a second I have to ask a question: Who in Equestria decided that bottle caps were the standard currency? Was it some pony in a junkyard who thought, “boy, I’ve got a lot of bottles around here, I wish I could get rid of the caps somehow. WAIT! I can convince everyone that they are money!” It didn’t make any sense to me. The Remnant didn’t use caps, those were trash. The round discs of stamped metal Father brought home were money. Okay, bad explanation since that’s technically what bottle caps are, but you know what I mean! They were thicker, more substantial, and more… money-like.

But I couldn’t argue, and I guess I would have to get used to it. I didn’t agree with their money choice, but they seemed content with it. I turned around and gave all of my caps to Little Doc, and was delighted to find out it covered half of my medical bill. One job down, and apparently only one more to go! I was excited; I could finally be free of my debt and try my best to not get hurt again! But then Doc asked a question I hadn’t even considered.

“What are you and your brother going to do after that?”

I…I had no idea. I hadn’t thought of it, just like when I had left home. I’d left without a plan of what to do after, and I still hadn’t thought of anything. I didn’t know where we were going, or what we were looking for. I never had anything in mind other than ‘I don’t want to live in this town anymore’.

“I guess…we’ll just wander?” I suggested, still not solving my problem.

“Wander…the Wasteland?” Doc looked like she was about to burst with squeaky laughter. “Are you insane?”

I glared at her. I wasn’t crazy! A lot of zebras travelled around, so ponies must do the same right? I just had to stay away from dark places where ghouls would be, and places where snakes would be…basically just stay above ground. It couldn’t be hard. “Why is that so bad?” I asked.

“Not even raiders wander. They set up shop somewhere semi-safe, just like everypony else,” the young mare explained. “Besides, your brother doesn’t look like the wandering type.”

She was right about that. He wasn’t much for adventure even as a colt, preferring to sit around and read rather than play outside most days. He wasn’t a shut in, but he wasn’t obsessed with the outdoors either. “So what do you think I should do?” I asked, hoping for a doable response.

“Do like everyone else,” she told me plainly. “Find a safe place to settle down.”

That wasn’t a bad idea I guess. I wouldn’t really mind a full time home as long as it was better than my last one, but I couldn’t really think of a place to go. Ponies didn’t seem very kind toward zebras, and I wasn’t exactly keen on them yet either. They were crazy, all of them. Not murderous like I’d been told as a filly, but still completely insane and backwards.

So I sketched it out in my mind; a little house or something for me and Felix to live in, just in case it sounded like a good idea to him too. I still wasn’t completely sure if it was what I wanted, but at the time it was still the best thing that had been brought up. And it did sound quite a bit better than just wandering around, of course it meant trying to find somewhere with other zebras who wouldn’t shoot me and my brother on site for being ‘spies’.

“After you finish paying me of course,” the filly added with a crack in her voice.

Like I said; backwards.

* * *

Luckily for me, the mayor of the town, a stallion named Merry Scroll, had a job he needed done for a healthy sum of 150 caps. It was more than enough to finish paying Doc and leave some more on the side for me and Felix after. Of course those extra caps would be going to getting new bags for me, a gun, and a good amount of food for us to travel with. I still liked the idea of settling down, but I would rather a zebra town of some kind. This little village was a nice place, but I didn’t necessarily feel safe there. Charmer and Strike I wasn’t worried about, but the rest of the town still didn’t seem comfortable with us. They probably still held the same original thought that our two pony companions did; we were Remnant spies in their eyes. The elders had been right about that at least, zebras weren’t very good in the eyes of ponies.

Maybe I could ask the mayor if he knew where a zebra town was nearby once I was back from his job, the leader would know right? It was really my only chance.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mind that little town, but it was off to me. It wasn’t very big, only 10 other shacks were assembled aside from Doc’s clinic, probably just homes for the ponies living there and not much else. The mayor’s house was a little larger with an extra room built on the side for town meetings, but even that was pretty small. Each of the homes seemed just big enough for a bedroom and a front room, and everyone appeared to share the one shack at the center of town for a bathroom. It was nothing compared to my old home, but it definitely had the appeal of being able to know everyone around you.

The mayor’s job sounded simple, but so had killing Charmer’s snakes. “All ya’ need to do,” Merry told us, “is go down the road and kill a few bandits hiding in the old trading post.”

Strike allowed me to borrow his extra bag and gun again, confident that I would need both when dealing with the bandits. I was grateful for the offer, and was sure it would help when I got there. The gun was definitely useful against those snakes, and if the bandits had guns, my own would be invaluable.

I told Felix he should stay behind, a fight wasn’t his place to be. He relented after a short argument about it, but didn’t seem happy to be left behind while I got shot at. Charmer suggested he could spend time with Doc until we got back, not many others did. I agreed, and told him the filly might be able to teach him a thing or two. That got a smile from him, and the colt trotted off to the clinic.

I had planned on going alone, but Charmer and Strike insisted they join me. “You need the help,” Charmer told me with a smirk. Strike agreed with a laugh, but probably decided to go because he didn’t trust me not to break his gun.

I didn’t argue with them coming along, they had saved my life with the snakes earlier, and a few extra guns wouldn’t hurt anything. That and they actually knew where Merry Scroll was telling me to find the bandits. I could probably find it myself, but it may have been due to getting shot by said bandits.

When the mayor had said ‘trading post’, I expected a small shack like what Father used to have, not a full on store. It wasn’t impressively large, but it was much bigger than Doc’s clinic. The building was torn apart on the outside, with holes punched in the concrete across the front from bullets and one corner completely missing from some kind of explosion. The largest holes had been patched poorly with planks of wood and cloth, but we were still able to see a few ponies milling around inside as we approached. No guards were stationed outside, apparently the ponies inside were very confident that nobody would try to get at them. They were wrong.

We stopped about 20 feet from the front and crouched down in a crater beside the road. “So, what’s the plan?” Strike asked me.

Why he asked me, I don’t know. I obviously had no actual combat experience, and he was the best with a gun out of our group, but he still asked for my opinion. Charmer stared at me expectantly, apparently agreeing that I should be the one with a plan. I sighed, and quickly put together a crappy plan. “Um, Strike, you have the rifle, so I guess you stay here and watch the door for any who try to run away,” I waved at him, receiving a nervous nod in return. “And Charmer,” I looked over to the mare. “You and me will go in and shoot them.”

Her face fell into the dirt, and a low groan rumbled from her. “New rule, Shayle doesn’t make plans,” she grumbled into the dirt.

“Agreed,” Strike added.

Well they told me to! It wasn’t my fault it was bad, they were the ones that looked to me for an idea!

Charmer looked back up. “Okay, Strike, you stay here and kill any that try to run away.” Hey! That was my idea! “And Shayle, you follow me and wait around the corner until I give the signal.”

“And the signal is?” I asked cautiously, not sure what she had in mind.

“Trust me, you’ll know it when ya’ hear it.” As she spoke, the mare started pulling off her armor and dropped all of her supplies beside her in the dirt. I didn’t see how her plan was any different than mine, but it looked like she had something in mind. I finally got a look at the mare’s glyph, and wasn’t surprised to find it was identical to the flute she’d played back in The Nest. Now I knew how she got that job.

Once she had completely stripped down, the mare stood and waved for me to follow. Strike shook his head and laid down on the edge of the crater, floating the rifle just beside his head and taking aim at the door. I followed Charmer’s instructions and quietly crouched around the corner from the door, craning my neck to see what the mare was up to.

After reaching the door, she ran a hoof through her soot colored mane, turned her body to show her flank off, and took up the sultriest expression she could. There was no way she was actually doing that…

After three brisk knocks on the door, a storm of sound erupted inside as guns were loaded and bottles were dropped. They were ready for a fight, and I tensed as hooves slowly approached the doorway. They were going to shoot her, this wasn’t going to work at all!

“Hey there,” she flirted when the door opened.

And then the sound of guns being placed back on the floor filled the room. By the stars…

“Hey baby, what’s a lil’ mare like you doing out here?” a rough voice asked from the door. The pony sticking his head out looked like he’d seen more than enough fights in his life. Half of his face was scarred and without coat, including one eye that looked like it didn’t work anymore, the pupil colorless and dead.

“I’m just lookin’ for some rough boys to keep me company,” she suggested, running a hoof down his chest. “Do ya’ think you might fit the ticket?”

“Oh I think we might,” the stallion replied with a goofy grin. “Why don’t you come on inside, my boys ain’t had fun in a while.”

“Ya’ know what would be more fun?” Charmer asked softly, her hoof resting just between his forelegs. “A three way.” NO!

The mare lunged forward, her hoof travelling straight between the bandit’s legs and into his…bits. Well, that was definitely the signal. I jumped around the corner as his body crumpled, the gun from Strike already loaded and ready to go between my teeth. A communal ‘owwww’ escaped the room rather than the gunfire I had expected. I saw why when I stepped into the doorway as well; the number of bottles on that floor almost rivaled my Father’s weekly intake. They were so drunk they thought that their leader being pulverized was ‘doing it rough’.

Even alcohol wasn’t enough to convince them a gun toting zebra was part of Charmer’s foreplay, and the stallions inside stumbled over one another to grab their guns again. Three shots from my pistol tore through the nearest of them before he could lift an old revolver into his jaws, and he went down much easier than the snakes. The other four got to their guns before I could take them out, and one was apparently coherent enough to flip the table over as cover. I spun back outside as a hail of bullets ripped through the open door, the blindly fired rounds peppering the collapsed buck in the doorway.

So, two down, four to go.

Charmer stood on the other side of the door, looking incredibly smug and proud of herself as she tried to pull the shotgun off of the swiss cheese body lying in the door. It didn’t look very well maintained, but it was better than the mare running in without any weapon at all. When the gunfire stopped for the bandits to all reload at the same time, Charmer charged through the door and unloaded a shot into the table, blasting a hole through the wood and ripping a scream from the unfortunate pony on the other side. The mare had to pause for a second to work the pump on the gun, and took cover behind an empty grocery shelf to the left of the bandits. I charged in close behind her, spraying bullets into the table once she was out of the way. I jumped over the table and landed on top of the still screaming pony that had been torn open by Charmer’s new shotgun.

The bandits all turned their guns to face me, and for a moment I thought I was going to die. Luckily, I wasn’t drunk, and was able to think clearly enough to run straight ahead when they pulled the triggers. One bullet bit into my back leg, the same one Strike had shot earlier in the day, but the rest buried themselves into the other bandits. Apparently they didn’t even consider that their friend was on the other side of me, and two of them sprayed each other while I barely escaped.

Five down…one to go? And we’d only shot 2 of them. Note to self: try to only fight drunk ponies.

The last pony made a dash for the door, and was rewarded with a spray of buckshot from Charmer as he left. It only peppered his rear, but it still slowed him down for the few seconds he remained alive. A loud pop from across the street, and blood painted the wall outside. Surprisingly, that was much easier than the mayor had made it sound. And for good caps too, plus the store was loaded!

I don’t know who these bandits had shaken down, but the back of the store was stocked with enough boxes and cans of food to feed my old village for a few days. There was also a rather large stock of beer and whiskey stacked artfully in the corner, but I didn’t care for that. Once me and Charmer had made sure the store was empty of any other bandits, we proceeded to fill our bags with whatever we could.

Strike carried the mare’s armor and bag in with him, hoofing it over to her. “Thanks babe.” Did Charmer just call him babe? Did I really not think they were together until now? Did she really just use sex as a lure with her buck watching?

I shook my head and tried to throw the growing list of questions away, convinced I would never get an answer for most of them. I’d gotten the ones about snakes somehow, but I didn’t even want to try and find out why Strike was okay with his marefriend strutting her stuff and seducing bandits. Granted, she did kill them after and probably had no plans of actually doing that with them, but still, did he not think about it at all? Ponies: crazy and backwards.

I filled most of my bag with boxes of Apple Bombs and a few cans of Cram before I saw little baggies of dried meats. I had only tasted such a thing once, one day when Father brought home what he called ‘bloatsprite jerky’, and it was amazing! I don’t know why mutated animals tasted so good, but they did, and now there was a full stock of them right in front of me.

Charmer jumped right in front of me and swept every last bag of dried meat into her own bag. “Mine!” she declared quickly.

“What do you mean ‘mine’? I saw them first,” I quipped, trying to pull just one pack of meat from her bag.

“You don’t eat this stuff, snakes do.” Did she just steal all of that for her snakes, after assuming I wouldn’t eat it?

“Of course I eat it, it’s delicious!” I stomped.

Charmer looked at me with a disgusted gaze, as if I’d just told her some horrifying story about spiders or something. “You…eat meat?”

“Of course, it’s food,” I informed her. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“But…you can’t do that! How would you like it if a snake ate you?”

As much as I agreed that would be terrible, especially since I almost experienced that earlier, her argument wasn’t convincing me to turn away such a delicious treat.

“Just let it go Charmer,” Strike told her softly. “You know some ponies, and zebras, eat meat. It’s just how they are.”

“B-but…”

Was she really getting offended by this whole thing? It was just a little meat, what was so horrible about it? Animals ate other animals!

Finally, she relented and pulled a pouch of meat from her bag and tossed it across the ground to my eager hooves.

* * *

It was even tastier than I remembered! The meat was seasoned with some kind of strange spice, but it added just enough kick to make it unique and pleasing to my happy belly. I only ate two of the strips, leaving two more for Felix, even though I desperately wanted to eat the rest of it myself. Maybe I could convince Charmer to part with one more pouch, whenever she actually decided to talk to me again.

She had gone most of the day without speaking to me, but she opened up a little after the snake job, and it was weird to go back to silence from her. I didn’t think it would have offended her that much that I ate meat; actually I didn’t think anyone anywhere would be offended by me eating meat. I thought it was normal, something everyone in the Wasteland did, but apparently the opposite was true. I seemed to be in the minority, those who relished the taste of wonderful meat as opposed to those who seemed to judge us for it.

So the walk back to town was a little awkward as I followed behind the pony couple silently. They whispered back and forth a bit, probably Strike still trying to calm Charmer, but it made me uncomfortable. I didn’t expect them to suddenly turn on me, but I already had little trust for ponies; a little more for those two in particular, but not enough to rule out plotting entirely.

Charmer didn’t accompany us all the way back to Merry Scroll, instead turning into her own shack when we passed it. Strike stayed with me, but probably just because he wanted his gun back. He didn’t seem as put out with me, but if Charmer was I couldn’t imagine he would be happy with me right then.

“Don’t worry ‘bout her, she’s…firm in her ideas,” the stallion told me once we were alone.

“Uh huh,” I mumbled in response.

“Really, she’ll be fine with ya’ by tomorrow,” he assured me. “Just try not to eat any meat right in front of her and she won’t mind.”

I didn’t enjoy being told what not to do, I could eat what I wanted where I wanted, who were they to tell me otherwise? Still, I didn’t feel like angering one of the few ponies who had been helping me out. “Sure, I can try,” I sighed. “Wait, how long do you think I’m going to be around here?” I asked, suddenly realizing what he had insinuated.

“I assumed you ran away to find a new home, not to wander randomly,” he told me with a cocked brow. “Are ya’ saying I’m wrong?”

“Well, no…” I agreed. “But why do you think I’d stay around here?” I was pretty sure I wanted a home at that point, but that town didn’t really scream ‘home’ for me. Maybe it was the lack of stripes on the residents.

“’Cause it’s a nice place?” he suggested.

Nice may have been a strong word if the world around us wasn’t a complete hell. But under the circumstances, yes, the town was a pretty nice place. Of course, I had only been around for one day. “Yeah, but I think we might fit in better with other zebras.”

He stopped, staring at me with a strange look. “You just ran away from the Remnant and now ya’ want to go back?”

“I didn’t run away from the Remnant,” I clarified. Had they really thought that the entire time since we’d met? “I ran away from home, there is a difference.”

“So…you are Remnant then,” he asked apprehensively, his horn starting to glow with that glittering cloud. I had a feeling there was a gun looking very similar nearby.

“I didn’t say that either,” I growled. “We lived under Remnant protection.” I hoped he’d understand that, he seemed to hate the Remnant a bit more than I thought. Did ponies really hate zebras that much? And if they did, why hadn’t he killed me by then? Ponies are confusing.

“That’s…not the same?” He sounded confused, but at least the cloud of magic went away.

“No. They gave us protection, and in return we provided supplies and help they needed.” Even Strike couldn’t misunderstand that, right?

“So, allies then?” I nodded. That was about as close a description as I could think of, and it certainly sounded right. It seemed to calm him considerably, but he still looked a bit tense around me. “Well, I’m sorry to hear ya’ won’t be stickig’ around Shanty.” Wow, the town was actually called Shanty. How... appropriate.

“We might be here a few days,” I told him. “To rest and get supplies.”

“And where are ya’ stayin’?” he asked with a strange smile.

Great! Another thing I hadn’t thought of! “Um…know of anyone with a spare room?” I asked with a pleading smile.

“Ask Doc.” He grinned. “She may just let ya’ stay for a few extra caps.”

That would work for me, especially with my new pouch of 150 shiny little disks.

Footnote: Level Up! Guns (25)

New Perk: Herpetologist - You deal an extra 50% damage when you attack mutated reptiles.

Author’s Note: Another huge thank you to Kkat for creating the Fallout Equestria universe, it’s oh so much fun to write in and I cannot thank you enough for giving me the chance to do so! And thank you to Somber for adding to that universe with Project Horizons and providing the backdrop for this story, keep up the amazing work! Additional thanks to the other side-fic writers for feeding my love of this universe and keeping it living, you are all great! Finally, thank you again to the PH RP group for getting my butt in gear to write this, and thank you to my pre-readers for making sure this isn’t terrible when I publish each chapter!

Chapter 5: Crumbling

Chapter 5: Crumbling
“Now I know that’s a lie”

Our new home wasn’t anything excessive or impressive, but it was still a nice place in my mind. The outside of the shack looked just like any other we had seen in the city, and was similar to those we saw the ponies of Shanty living in. The walls were made from sheets of corrugated steel, stacked against one another and connected with an assortment of screws and bolts that looked barely sufficient to keep the walls together. The roof was a similar material, but it was covered by a large, battered tarp that kept the current rain from leaking between the sheets of metal, mostly. A few leaks still dripped into the structure, but it wasn’t so bad as to flood the home.

The door was just a tarp draped over a hole cut into the steel that made up the walls, offering just enough privacy and little security. I would have been worried about such a thing back in Shanty, but with the Remnant constantly present in Caesar’s Stand, I felt that the security of a door wasn’t nearly as important to the zebras in the city. Inside, the building was split into two rooms; each with an old mattress placed in a corner and separated by a tattered sheet that was hung from the ceiling. Again, it wasn’t exactly privacy, but it would allow us each our own space should we need it. The leaks dripped to the dirt floor with soft thuds, but only caused little spots of the ground to turn to mud, keeping much of the floor dry before we entered and soaked the rest of it.

Felix quickly claimed the room that was separated from the door, placing his bag beside the mattress before trotting back through the curtain to my room. A small cupboard for food was the only difference between the two rooms, and was just large enough for Felix to place most of our purchased food into the two small cabinets. He kept some of it in his bag for the next day, just in case we were out for a long time and needed a snack while we were out. I unstrapped the holstered pistol from my hoof, placing it on the cabinet to keep it from getting dirty. When I stepped away, Felix pulled the gun from the holster and used the curtain to try drying it as much as he could, claiming it would prevent rust.

It wasn’t as nice as what we had while we were growing up, but it was still a home in my mind.

“Shayle,” Felix spoke up once he had finished drying my gun.

“Yeah?”

“Why did we run away?” he finally asked, looking at me with a curious expression.

I had feared that question as we were running out of our old home, and now that he had finally asked it, I was worried once again. I had been thinking of what to say while we made our way through the sewer pipe the day before, but after everything else that had happened, I had actually stopped trying to figure out what to tell him. I guess I just assumed that since he never asked before that he didn’t care. Turns out I was wrong.

“Dad…he…got in trouble…with the soldiers,” I spouted off, completely lying, but hoping it sounded at least possible for our dirtbag of a Father.

“He did?” Felix asked, sitting down across from me and looking up with a cocked eyebrow.

“Yes. I don’t know what he did, but it must have been bad.” I’m going straight to wherever bad zebras went when they died, lying to my brother to protect my own reasons for leaving, and to keep him safe from what Father had done to me. He was too young to know that kind of thing, and I wasn’t going to be the one to poison his life with that.

“Why did that make us have to leave?”

“We…would have lost the house. Without money for it, the guards would have taken it, and we would be homeless.” Good thing I had a good imagination, because if I didn’t, he would be shooting holes through my logic in seconds.

“Oh,” he sighed sadly and looked down. “Is Dad going to be okay?” he asked hopefully as he looked up to me.

No, no he wasn’t, and he deserved a lot worse than what I gave him. Why was Felix even hoping for that, he was a terrible Father to both of us! He beat us, degraded us, and didn’t even care what happened to us as long as he still had a bottle of whiskey in his lips! I wish I could have said all of that, but Felix didn’t seem to believe it was so bad. That stallion never treated my brother nearly as bad as he treated me, but it was still much worse than any child deserved, and yet Felix still worried about him? I didn’t get it.

“Yeah, I’m sure he will,” I lied through my teeth. I was good at that.

* * *

We had told Seer that we would meet her at the bar, and so we did. It had taken Felix a lot of convincing to get me out of our new home, but it was a good idea I suppose. If we were going to live in Caesar’s Stand, we should at least get to know some zebras right? No point having a home if you seal yourself away from everyone else living with you. I honestly didn’t mind living cooped up in our shack without ever meeting the others in town, because I had never done it before. I knew Felix, I’d talked with Seer and the Praetor, that was plenty of zebras to be acquainted with.

The bar wasn’t particularly difficult to find, the hollering and whooping of the drinkers could be heard through most of the city even with the rain. Most of them looked like soldiers, but I had honestly expected better of those who were supposed to uphold our safety and protect us from the Wasteland, what soldiers had always seemed to be in my mind. I thought they would be preparing for whatever mission they had coming up, not partying in some oversized shed while sucking down more alcohol than Father had ever sold.

We arrived only a few minutes before Seer, and I almost didn’t recognize her without the jacket and rifle on. She still had a small cloak on to cover her chest and flanks from the rain, but her head was uncovered and allowed her beaded mane to hang freely down her neck. It was shorter than I had thought, barely even reaching her eyes at the front. She was still wearing the same smile from earlier, and greeted us warmly.

“New ones! I’m glad you made it. Welcome to The Fountain,” she told us happily, waving a hoof around to the assorted zebras.

“Thanks…is it always this busy?” I asked, leaning in close to the mare so she could hear me over the din of the bar.

“Not usually,” she replied. “But it’s more fun when there are more zebras here, more to talk to.”

I nodded and followed her through the crowd to the actual bar, which was similar to our own shack, but about three times larger. At the center was a large, circular table with three mares and a stallion calling out for orders and passing out drinks, each wearing a shotgun on their sides in some strange device that reached up to their muzzles. I didn’t know what they were, but I had a feeling they weren’t for show.

“So, what’s your poison?” Seer asked me as we finally reached the table. She caught on to my confused stare, and quickly clarified. “What do you drink? Whiskey? Beer? Vodka?” she shuddered at the last suggestion. “Please tell me it isn’t vodka.”

I bit my lip briefly before answering. “I don’t drink,” I told her nervously, feeling like what I said was some form of heresy in current company.

“You don’t?” she asked, cocking her head briefly. “Oh well, more for me. What about the little one over there?” The mare waved a hoof toward Felix with a smile.

“No, he doesn’t either,” I answered without skipping a beat.

“Hey!” Felix tried to protest, stepping closer to us.

“I said no, he’s not old enough.”

“Fine, no fun for either of you.” Seer turned to the bar and asked for three bottles of beer, apparently not understanding that neither of us would have any. At least that’s what I thought.

The two extra bottles quickly found their way into the waiting hooves of a pair of soldiers standing near the back wall of the bar, and I found myself sucked into a conversation with them. Seer introduced us as ‘the new ones’, and the soldiers were surprisingly warm to us, unlike our experience earlier in the day.

“Good ta’ meet ya’,” the first offered, his words slurring slightly. I don’t think he needed the extra beer from our host. “Name’s Iredi, this is my brother Obsinth.” He waved a hoof to the other soldier, who nodded as he sucked down a long drink from the bottle.

“Shayle,” I replied, and my brother did the same, smiling giddily.

“So Shayle,” Iredi said happily after a quick pull on the bottle, “Did ya’ just get into town?”

I nodded and grinned. “Yes, just a few hours ago.”

“Almost didn’t find us though,” Seer broke in. “Got lost in the rain.”

No we didn’t! We just couldn’t see how much further to go.

I tried to say that, but Obsinth’s laughter stopped me. “Don’t worry little lady, happens all the time.”

“It does?” I asked with a cocked eyebrow. How often did it rain around here?

“Almost every time it rains,” Iredi answered. “So…never.”

Then why did he even say that? I don’t understand drunk zebras. Maybe Seer should have chosen different recipients for her donations. “So…you’re soldiers?” I asked, not knowing what else to say rather than stand there in awkward silence.

“Yeah, straight outa Zanzebra,” Iredi told me with a grin. “Why, you interested in joinin’?” he asked with a laugh.

I shook my head and grinned slightly. “No, just curious.”

“About me? Dang, I musta’ done somethin’ right,” he joked. At least I think it was a joke. “Anything else ya’ wanna know?”

I may not have started the conversation really wanting to know much about the buck, but he was kind of nice. He told me that him and his brother were both chosen to join the Remnant at a young age, and started training only a few weeks after getting their glyphs. Iredi was the better shot, and according to him the smarter one, but Obsinth was the stronger one. I guess that made him the less smart one too? I don’t know, but I do know that the two brothers could really put down some beer. Even though they were a little buzzed before we even showed up, the two still drank a dozen more between them, beating out Seer’s three and my zero.

I spent most of the time talking with Iredi, while Obsinth and Seer whispered over in the corner, occasionally looking over at us and chuckling about something. Actually, I spent more time listening than actually contributing; only nodding to make sure he could still see I was listening. Felix sat by the bar and talked to the four zebras running it through the night and later I even saw him helping pass out some of the drinks at the direction of the stallion who seemed to be in charge. My little brother was a bartender now. Great, I’m such a good sister.

I don’t know how late it was when Seer finally walked over to us, but it felt like it was much later than I should be up with how early we had to get up for our job the next day. I’m not sure how I lost track of time, maybe it was the lack of a way to tell time in the Wasteland, or the fact that it was already dark out before we even arrived in town. Either way, I decided I should get Felix back to bed so we could at least try to sleep.

“Hey, Shayle, I need to make sure Obsinth here gets to bed nice and warm,” Seer whispered to me, or at least as much of a whisper as she could in the still loud bar. I was surprised to hear that she didn’t sound even a little drunk, though she seemed to be leaning on the soldier beside her an awful lot. “Thanks for coming out tonight, it was fun.”

“Yes, it was a good time,” I replied with a smile, even if it wasn’t actually what I would qualify as ‘a good time’.

I waved goodbye to the two, then turned back to Iredi, who was waving to his brother and giving an exaggerated nod. The buck smiled and looked back to me, almost losing his balance for a second as he brought his hoof back down.

“Thank you for the good time Iredi, but I think I should get home too,” I said, feeling like I was one of the few sober zebras in the room.

The soldier nodded and leaned in close to me. “I should too, but ah might need help getting’ back.”

“Sure,” I agreed with a forced grin. I didn’t want him to get lost in the city, especially with the rain, but for some reason I really wasn’t looking forward to walking the zebra back alone. Even drunk, it isn’t hard to get home, at least it never was for Father if he started drinking while on the job, but I suppose he may not have been around for too long, possibly just passing through to get wherever he was being sent. “Just let me tell Felix to get home too.”

The buck nodded. “I’ll wait here.”

I trotted to the bar while Felix walked over to me with a little yawn. “Are we leaving yet? I’m tired.”

“Yeah, head on back. I need to walk Iredi home,” I explained. “Do you remember the way?”

The colt nodded and turned to the door, waving goodbye to the bartenders before galloping through the rain. I smiled and trotted back over to Iredi, who was busy counting the number of empty bottles sitting at the table we had used.

“Ah think ah broke mah record,” he mumbled happily, grinning at the bottles giddily, his words slurring even more than when we had first started talking.

“That’s a lot,” I agreed with a chuckle. “Are you sure you won’t get in trouble for this?”

“Nah, Commander said ta enjoy ourselves tonight,” he replied with a wave of his hoof.

“Well it looks like you did,” I said warmly, helping him up and letting him lean against me as we walked out into the rain. “Where to?”

“That way,” he said with a lazy wave to our right, toward the barracks. Why did I even ask that question?

He spent the walk mumbling about how much he had to drink, and asked “I wonder how mah brother’s doin’” about ten times during the five minute walk back to his building, only taking breaks to wave at other soldiers as we passed by them. When we finally reached his door, he pushed off of my side and turned to face me with a big smile on his face. Yes, the barracks had actual doors instead of the curtains, but I didn’t mind the Remnant getting that little perk after they had saved my life earlier in the day.

“Thanks again for the fun night Iredi,” I told him with a forced grin, still trying to play up the ruse that I’d enjoyed my time with the drunk zebra.

“No, no, thank you for the fun,” he slurred, then leaned in close again. “We could have more fun upstairs,” he whispered to me in a sultry tone, and I barely felt his tongue flick the tip of my broken ear before I pulled back.

“What?! No!” I wasn’t pretending I had enjoyed the bar anymore, there was no way I could.

“Why not? Ah’m a nice guy right?” he protested, still smiling and stepping toward me again. “Besides, I could die tomorrow.” I didn’t believe that, and I wasn’t about to fall for that lie just because he was a nice guy. That part wasn’t a lie, he was nice, but that didn’t mean I was going to do…that! What would even make him think that I would ever do that sort of thing with him, or anyone else in Caesar’s Stand?

“No. You’re drunk, and I have to get up early,” I explained angrily, trying to stay back from him and hoping that somewhere in his inebriated mind there was still a hint of reason.

He took a few more steps toward me, and to my surprise he actually stopped. “Okay, fine Shayle,” he grumbled, disappointment and rejection hanging heavily in his voice. The buck turned around and swayed his way to the door, barely able to stay upright as he fumbled with it. I didn’t expect that. I had been waiting for it to end the same way it always did with Father, and for Iredi to drag me into his room to do what he wanted. For the smallest second, I even thought that leaving home had been one big dream, and that my real life was about to take hold once again.

But now the soldier was shutting the door behind him, and I could hear the soft thud of his body hitting the floor just inside. A drunk stallion, one who was no doubt stronger than me, and who had even started making his move on me, was actually listening when I said no. Maybe it was because he was Remnant, but I really didn’t know. All I knew was that I needed to have a talk with Seer.

That’s also the moment when I figured out why she had been leaning on Obsinth so much.

* * *

The gate of Caesar’s Stand seemed much less ominous when it wasn’t hidden in the curtain of rain from the day before, and even looked more welcoming despite how it worked and was made. The metal was still soaked from the rain, causing the pale light of day to glint ever so slightly from the drops as they ran down the steel and into the dirt, meshing with the mud that covered the ground of the city from wall to wall. By the time we had woken, most of the soldiers that had been staying in the barracks were long gone, off to do whatever it was soldiers did in the Wasteland. I wondered if Iredi had left with them, or if he was still passed out just inside his door, but I didn’t bother to check.

The guards standing at the top of the gate cast strange glares toward me and Felix as we waited for whoever our guide was for the work we had been given, but never tried to talk with us or question why we were sitting under the torn tarp of the entry. We each kept our bags around our shoulders, trying to keep the bottoms from touching the mud where water could seep through into our food and Felix’s books. My gun was strapped onto my hoof like Strike had shown me, completely free of rust thanks to my brother’s efforts at drying it the night before. Luckily, no new leaks had sprung in our roof during the night, and the gun remained dry and ready for use. Use that I hoped it wouldn’t see on a scavenger run.

I was pretty tired still, and didn’t get nearly as much sleep as I had wanted to before waking up so early, but I was starting to wake up as the air began to warm up little by little. Felix looked about as well rested as me, and I think he fell asleep while sitting there a few times. I could tell when he woke up because he would quickly take a deep breath before whipping his head from side to side. Did he do that in class back home too?

A familiar voice finally greeted us after almost an hour of waiting, and we both turned to see the guard from the night before trotting toward us. “Good morning you two, ready to do some hunting?” Seer asked with a bright smile. Her rifle hung down from her neck in the same way it had the day before, but something seemed different about it. At first I thought it was that the rain wasn’t clouding my vision, but my eye quickly turned to a small piece of metal dangling from the front sight by a string. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it seemed unnecessary.

We both nodded and grinned, glad to see a face that had so far been friendly to us. “You’re our guide?” Felix asked as he stood from the mud, shaking his tail to fling the muck off.

“Yes, I’ll be taking you to your junk pile today,” the mare replied simply. Why didn’t she tell us this last night? “You two have guns and food right?” She looked over each of us with a skeptical look, pointing with her hoof to my gun for a second before looking over to Felix. “Only the one?”

I nodded. “Yeah, it’s all we could afford, and Felix doesn’t know how to shoot,” I replied. “And we have enough food for the day.”

“One day?” Seer shook her head. “Not enough, go get more.”

What, why? “You plan to be gone longer?” I asked her, cocking my head.

“No, but shit happens.” She shrugged off her bags into the mud, revealing that she had enough food and water to last almost a week. “I’ll wait.”

Felix looked up to me with a concerned stare, then stood up with a sigh. “I’ll get it.”

“And if you have any bread, I’ll trade you!” Seer chirped happily.

Once Felix rounded the corner from the gate, Seer turned back to me and pointed at my pistol again. “You know how to use that, right?”

“Of course,” I replied smugly. “It’s not that hard to shoot.”

“Famous last words,” she replied grimly. “I mean do you know how to use it well?” I cocked an eyebrow and stared at her for a few seconds, trying to figure out exactly what she meant. I could shoot, I didn’t mind shooting, and I knew when to shoot, what else did she want? “Can you hit anything from more than five feet?” she finally clarified. She sounded very different from the mare I had met with the night before, more serious. She was probably tired; after all, her night was even longer than mine.

“Well, I’ve only had it for one day…so I haven’t used it much,” I replied, not telling her that the one time I did use it I missed every shot.

Her hoof flew into her face and rattled the beads in her mane as she mumbled under her breath.

“What was that?” I asked curiously. I could have sworn she said the word ‘stars’ somewhere in there.

“Nothing, just…I’ll do the shooting,” she told me with a groan.

I just nodded in agreement, not wanting to argue with a zebra who seemed to know a bit more than me about the Wasteland. “So…where are we heading?” I asked after a few awkward seconds.

Seer’s grin returned, and suddenly I didn’t think I would like the answer. “An old robotics facility from before the war,” she told me plainly. “I don’t know much about it, only that it’s a few hours walk from here, and nobody goes there because someone else already cleaned it out.”

“Then why are they sending us there?” I asked agitatedly.

“Because the basement is still full. The security systems have killed anyone that tried to get in, so it probably has the kind of things on your list.” As she spoke, the mare pulled a dirty scroll from her bag. “Probably these targeting systems, and definitely the circuitry.” Okay, no idea what either of those were for. I was more focused on the security systems that killed everybody who tried to get that stuff.

“And what makes them think we can get passed the security?” I asked skeptically.

“We aren’t drugged out raiders.” She looked over to me for a second then back to the list with a grin. “At least you don’t look drugged out.”

“What, no! I don’t do that stuff,” I agreed, probably a little more frantically than was necessary.

“Good,” she chuckled. “That means you might actually be able to help me get passed the security.”

I wasn’t too sure about that, I didn’t have the best luck with avoiding conflict.

Speaking of conflict. “Seer, why did you introduce me to Iredi?” I finally asked.

“Introduce? I introduced myself to him too, I’d never met those two before last night.” She turned her eyes up to me from the map, looking at me like I was crazy for asking. “Why, did you two do something bad?”

“No,” I replied bluntly. “He wanted to…but I said no.”

“You said no?” She sounded pissed now, I don’t know why, but she did. So, it was wrong for the mare to say ‘no’?

“Yes…is that bad?” I asked, starting to become worried.

Seer looked back down and rubbed her mane, grumbling and shaking her head slowly. “No, but…never mind, I’m sure you’ll find out eventually.”

That didn’t help to calm me down. It wasn’t bad for the mare to say ‘no’, but I’d still apparently done something wrong? Fantastic, way to give me a headache right before we went into a death-building.

* * *

“That was more peaceful than I thought,” Seer stated with relief as we finally crested a hill overlooking the old facility we were searching for.

The walk there was completely uneventful. Our guide had instructed us to stay quiet while we walked, not wanting to attract any attention without hearing it first. It had been pointless, because we didn’t see a single soul during the entire trip. No bandits, raiders, ghouls, or even wildlife had crossed our path between Caesar’s Stand and where we stood. It had creeped me out a little, but I didn’t mind a walk without being shot at or attacked.

“Remnant must have come this way before us,” she speculated, looking around with a confused stare. “That’s a relief.”

Yes, it was.

We had left not too long after Felix got back with the extra food, only taking enough time for Seer to explain the route and any threats we might hit on our way before we stepped through the gate and into the Wasteland once again. She seemed convinced that we would get attacked at some point before reaching our destination, but that never came.

“Is this usually not a safe walk?” Felix asked for the fifth time; twice before we left, twice during the walk, and now that we had reached the facility.

“No,” Seer replied. “Everyone gets shot at up this way.”

“Why?” I asked, not seeing any reason that would happen.

“Because we’re close to New Oatleans.” The mare waved a hoof toward the city that constantly loomed on the horizon, the place Xion had told us wasn’t safe. “Raiders aren’t safe there so they moved closer to the highway, and any towns on it.”

We weren’t safe there, raiders weren’t safe there, who was safe there? “Why is it so bad to be in New Oatleans?” Felix finally asked for us, staring to the battered towers in the south.

“It’s a warzone,” Seer replied grimly. “Remnant fighting ponies fighting ghouls fighting anything else.”

“Is that where all the soldiers who were in town last night went?”

She nodded slowly, turning her gaze to the city for only a moment. “Yesterday was their last day of rest.”

Wait. Was why she was upset about me saying ‘no’ to Iredi? Because I didn’t mess around with him before he was sent into a city even raiders wouldn’t camp in? What kind of logic is that? So what if he didn’t get to fool around with a mare one last time? Would it have made a difference to him if he did die for me to have slept with him? I don’t think so, nothing would have changed. He probably didn’t even remember me with how drunk he was, and I don’t think he would be thinking about me as he fought for his life against whatever was in New Oatleans!

Seer had just been trying to give a few soldiers a last hoorah before they were sent to possibly die, but why did she drag me into it? I didn’t want that, I never gave her the impression I would do that either! I met with her because she wanted me to, and because Felix wouldn’t let me sit at home. Not because I wanted to get to know anyone that way, and definitely not because I planned to send a random, drunk zebra off to war the way Seer seemed to think I would.

Welcome to the new slot on my ‘hate list’ Seer, you just took the spot right under Father.

* * *

“So this is what everything looked like before the war?” Felix asked as we trotted through the trashed, rusty gate surrounding the building.

It looked like a simple design, at least compared to the looming towers of New Oatleans. The facility was a two story, concrete square sticking out of what was once a grassy field that had since been reduced to a cracked floor of dirt. Both floors were set with a ring of windows around the entire wall, all of which had been either broken or cracked so badly they were hardly even recognizable anymore. Where the front door used to be rested a pair of metal slabs so badly bent that they couldn’t have even held a filly back from getting in, let alone us.

“Yes, but before the bombs it was actually something worth looking at,” Seer explained simply, leading us to the hole that used to be a doorway. The rifle was no longer slung over her back, and was once again hanging beneath her neck so that the bite was only an inch below her chin. Meanwhile, my pistol sat on my hoof like usual, and probably wouldn’t be used since the zebra with the beaded mane had decided I wasn’t allowed to shoot. Of course I didn’t plan on listening, if I could help shoot whatever was waiting for us in there, I was going to do it. As we passed the battered metal doors sitting on the floor of the entry, I noticed a strange black stain across the point where the two would have met back in their days as actual doors, with the dents on either appearing to be deepest at the center of the black stain, right were the lock used to be.

The building’s insides looked even worse than the outside. Wrinkled and burned bits of paper coated the floors everywhere I looked, complimented with bits of concrete from the cracking ceiling and a generous spray of bullet casings. At the center of the lobby we had entered through was a cracked wooden desk that seemed to be falling apart and was peppered with bullet holes across the front. On either side of this was a staircase leading to the second floor while behind it was a large metal door that had been spared the beating of the front door. To our left and right were hallways leading to the far reaches of the building, and likely nothing we were looking for.

“We should check the top floor first, and work our way down,” Seer instructed from the front of our group, her eyes scanning across the room slowly. “That way we can’t miss anything.”

“Didn’t you say the top floors have been cleaned out?” I asked flatly.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean the scavengers didn’t leave something behind.”

I rolled my eyes and followed her, making my way up the stairs while thinking about how completely pointless it was. If the things we were looking for were actually hard to find, then they would have to be worth some kind of money, right? So no scavenger worth the title would leave it behind. And if they weren’t hard to find, then why were we being sent into an impenetrable basement to find them? So they must be rare in the Wasteland, which means they are worth money and we shouldn’t even bother checking the places that scavengers already cleaned out!

Felix didn’t share my disinterest, and instantly started digging his hooves into old books that were laying around. Seer had disappeared around a corner somewhere ahead of me, and that left me to do something. I didn’t actually know what the parts we were looking for looked like, so I couldn’t actually try to find them, and I couldn’t help Felix look through books for obvious reasons. So I just started looking through offices for anything worth looking at.

As I suspected, there was nothing. All I found was a layer of old papers crushed under countless hooves, some smashed box thingies with shattered glass on the front, a few safes that had been pried open and emptied, and an empty box of pistol ammo. All trash that had no use to us, just proving that going upstairs had been pointless.

“Hey Shayle, look what I found!” Felix called happily from beside me. I was wrong, surprise. I looked down to the colt and found him sitting with a book folded open between his hooves, grinning giddily as he looked up to me. “It’s a supply book! It has a list of everything that the workers used to store in the basement.”

Well that was very convenient, and somehow it made sense that workers might like to keep track of what they had. “Really? Is there anything from our list on there?” I asked ecstatically, shoving my nose down toward the book quickly before remembering I can’t read.

“Yes. They have a stash of circuit boards, 30 to be exact, a 50 foot spool of wiring, and one targeting computer. Everything else we needed seems to have been used up.”

Thank Caesar! That was a good chunk of our list, I think. I didn’t look at it, no point for me to. “So that’s all in the basement?”

He nodded and flipped the book closed. “Did you find anything else?” he asked, placing the book in his bag and looking around the room.

“Trash, lots of trash,” I replied with a sigh.

“Well Seer did say they cleaned it out, so I guess we’re lucky we even found this book,” Felix said with a proud grin. “Maybe we should head back down and look there real quick?”

I nodded in agreement and started toward the door, anxious to get the first floor over with and move on to the basement where we would actually find the things we needed. I also would have liked to know where Seer went, I hadn’t seen her since we went upstairs, and I don’t think it would take her that long to check the empty floor before getting back with us.

The first floor was the same as the last, nothing of importance laying around, at least nothing I could possibly use. Felix didn’t even find any useful books this time, and he actually seemed disappointed by that. But not everywhere we go could have something useful, so I guess we would have to get used to that disappointment. We did find that the metal doors waiting behind the desk lead to the basement, mainly because there was a staircase heading down right behind them.

“Should we find Seer first?” Felix asked me tentatively, his eyes locked on the red glow coming from the bottom of the stairs.

I just nodded. She had a bigger gun, more experience, and above all she actually might know how to get us out if something bad happened.

“I’m right here.” I almost jumped out of my hooves as the beaded hair appeared beside me. Thankfully it was hard to mistake that mane for anyone else.

“Where have you been?” I asked, agitated.

“Checking for ghouls,” she deadpanned. “Never know with these places.”

Okay, good reason. I still hadn’t gotten the memory of the sewer pipe out of my mind, and if she was making sure I didn’t relive it, I would forgive the disappearance. “Did you find any?” I asked.

“Did you hear any gunshots?” she asked flatly, staring at me like I was an idiot.

I didn’t bother to answer that.

* * *

“This is stupid!” I screamed across the hallway, glaring at Seer even though she couldn’t possibly be to blame for this.

Another trio of green shots streaked between us, sizzling the air and forcing me to clench my eyes shut as the air heated suddenly. Behind me, Felix curled up against the wall and tried to stay as small as he could, unable to do anything else in our current situation.

“This is a restricted area. Present authorized identification or be vaporized.”

Stupid robot, you’re supposed to say that before you shoot at me!

Seer leaned around the corner with the rifle in her jaw, firing off a burst of three shots before another stream of lasers burned into the wall, forcing her to hide again. “Stop complaining and shoot!” she screamed over to me, somehow managing to talk around the gun in her mouth.

I groaned and picked up my pistol again, poking my head around the corner and taking aim. The robot we were shooting at was one of the pair that had ambushed us, don’t ask me where the second one went. It almost looked like a pony, except the body was overly bulky, and had a large dome of glass where the head should have been. The chest was wide open, with a pair of laser guns sticking toward us and firing the barrages every few seconds. I pointed the pistol at the glass head, and pulled the trigger four times before I was forced to hide around the corner again, narrowly dodging a burst of green light that burned the wall next to my head.

“Authorities have been notified, please stand by for vaporization.”

Authorities? What in Caesar’s name did that mean? If it meant the Remnant were coming, then I had nothing to complain about. Somehow I doubted it.

Another burst of fire roared from Seer’s rifle, hammering my ears with sound and leaving a constant ringing behind that echoes through my brain. The last shot she fired was answered by a loud pop, and the whirring of robotic legs stopped. I placed the gun on the floor at my hooves, perking my ears to listen for any robot sounds just in case.

Felix’s head lifted once the noise was gone, looking over to me with a frightened stare. “Did you get it?”

I…didn’t know. It wasn’t moving anymore, it wasn’t shooting anymore, and it wasn’t talking anymore thankfully, but what if it was a trap? I looked across to Seer, who was busy reloading her rifle and didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the silence that had suddenly filled the hallway. Looks like I was going to check.

I took a deep breath and slowly peeked one eye around the corner, pleading to whatever power decided that kind of thing that I wouldn’t get shot. The robot was standing perfectly still at the center of the hall, just staring to where Seer was hiding with its guns pointed straight at the corner. I started to lean down for my gun, but was stopped when the metal body suddenly leaned over and fell to the floor with a loud crash. Yeah, it’s dead.

A scream across the hall pulled my attention away from the destroyed robot, and over to Seer as a stream of lasers lashed into her side from behind us.

“Better wiped than striped!”

And there’s the other robot. I leaped to the nearest piece of cover I could find, curling myself against the wall opposite of where I was just in time to dodge another volley of green death. But Felix didn’t follow me. Instead, I caught site of a striped body dashing across the hall in front of the robot, barely ahead of the stream that nearly caught me.

“Felix! Get back here!” I shouted to him, lifting my pistol and firing a trio of bullets into the new attacker as I prepared myself to dash after him.

The colt slid the last foot into the side hall where Seer had been hiding and grabbed her coat, dragging the panting mare to safety as I watched dumbfounded. Maybe I didn’t need to get him a gun after all, because he was some kind of crazy as soon as someone got hurt. He dug into his bag and pulled out a pair of bandages, frantically unrolling them and placing them gently on Seer’s side as the mare tried to reach out for her rifle.

A barrage of lasers lashed across the ground in front of me, followed by some lame robot taunt that I really didn’t pay much attention to. I answered with a stream of bullets from my pistol, ending with silence as the slide locked back on an empty chamber. Great.

I fell back around the corner as a single laser bit into the wall beside me, melting the metal slightly as I tried to slide a new magazine into the gun from my bag. I really wish Strike had done a better job teaching me that part. The robotic walking approached as I finally managed to get the full clip in and closed the action, ready for another bout with the metal pony.

When I turned back to start shooting again, I froze. The robot was beside me, but was showing me its backside as it faced the two zebras across the hall, swiveling the two guns in its chest to bear. “Zebra forces detected. Die die die.”

Not on my watch. I fired every bullet in my gun as fast as I could straight into the back of the machine, frowning as only three of them actually punctured while the rest just bounced off of the curved body. I didn’t have time to reload, so I did the next thing that came to my mind; I jumped on it. My weight was just enough to wobble the robot, and the stream of light meant to fry my brother and Seer landed just in front of them, searing the ground with an audible hiss. The robot clumsily began to turn in circles, spouting a few error messages as it tried to turn on me. Unfortunately for it, I was in a place it couldn’t reach.

My hooves pounded at the metal body as I tried not to fall off, something that really wasn’t too hard with how slow the machine moved; I couldn’t imagine how it managed to sneak around behind us like that. None of my strikes did much of anything against the metal, I didn’t even dent it and only left my hooves throbbing from my efforts. Finally, I found a soft spot when my hoof drove through the articulated joint at the base of its neck, greeting me with a very uncomfortable feeling as the gears inside caught on my leg. Luckily, my hoof was apparently stronger than the machinery, and after a few seconds the parts broke off, flying somewhere inside the body with a loud clanking sound.

The robot under me began to vibrate roughly, and the error messages calling out from the speaker fizzled and died with the pop of something deep inside the body. Before I had a chance to get off, the robot fell over and dumped me onto the floor roughly.

When I got up, Felix and Seer were staring at me with wide eyes. “Nice,” Seer finally said, nodding with approval as Felix went back to bandaging her up.

After a few minutes of waiting for Felix to finish, Seer stood up with a groan and slung her rifle, making sure it was correctly positioned before looking back over to me with a slightly embarrassed expression. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied flatly, not really caring that she was alive. Honestly I only did it because Felix was there too; I couldn’t have cared less about her being in the line of fire. If she had been the only one the robot was about to kill I probably would have taken the time to reload, and passed on the mechanical pony ride. “We should keep moving.”

Seer nodded in agreement, stepping back to the front to lead us wherever it was we were going to search for the list of supplies Felix had found upstairs. “Okay, it says the wires and circuit boards are in…Storage Three,” he read off from behind us before catching up with the book hanging from his teeth.

“Good, hopefully that’s close,” Seer stated from up front, summing up my own hopes as well.

She was right about that, and thankfully the room we were looking for was only a few doors down from where we had been fighting the robots. It wasn’t very well stocked anymore, but the room was still very neat in comparison to upstairs. A few boxes were lying on the floor at the far end and a couple loose papers sat on the shelves. Oh, and a skeleton was leaning against the wall just inside the door.

I almost jumped straight out of my stripes when I saw the bones, only able to stay in the doorway because Felix and Seer didn’t react at all. How did they not get freaked out by that? Really, it’s a skeleton!

“Calm down Shayle,” my brother chuckled as he walked passed me into the room. “It’s not going to bite you.” I wasn’t worried about that! I was…worried about something I couldn’t quite think of yet.

I grumbled and followed the two in, looking around the room to see if I could spot the wires and circuit boards, whatever those are. I didn’t see anything except boxes and paper, so I sat and waited as Seer shuffled the boxes around and peered inside each one. After a few tries, the mare smirked and pulled a box down to the floor. “I found your circuit boards.”

They didn’t look like much, especially being so much smaller than I thought. I don’t know what I expected them to be, but it wasn’t what I was looking at. Seer ignored my confused stare and placed five of the boards into her bag. “We can’t take them all,” she told me as I watched. “We need to leave room for the rest of your list, and the Remnant could always come back down here to get more now that we’ve cleared out the security.”

She was sure there weren’t more robots? I would hate to tell the Remnant it was clear only to have them get shot at the moment they stepped inside expecting an empty building. While she packed them into her bag, Felix rolled a big spool of wire across the room, stopping it next to me and Seer.

“There is no way that’s fitting in our bags,” I told him, pointing a hoof at the head-sized spool.

“We can roll it out,” he said with a grin.

“Up the stairs?” I asked sarcastically.

He frowned and looked down at the spool, and I could see the gears spinning in his head to find a way we could get that roll of wire out of this place. When he looked back up at me, I suddenly had a very bad feeling.

And it was absolutely right! A few minutes later, Felix and Seer walked back into the hallway with a smirk, glancing back at me for only a moment before turning the corner to look for the rest of our supplies. I followed out shortly after with the spool strapped between my shoulders with a roll of tape Felix had found in another of the boxes and a dry stare on my face.

* * *

Basement 2, the basement beneath the basement, something that apparently Seer didn’t even know existed in the facility. We had spent nearly an hour looking for ‘Security Locker 3’ in the first basement, but never found anything other than storage rooms and utility closets. I thought that maybe Felix had misread the room we were looking for, but Seer confirmed that he was reading it absolutely right. That was when she saw the door.

We hadn’t thought anything of it at first; it looked just like every other door in the basement. That and the label for it had somehow melted into the wall along with the hinges so Felix and Seer couldn’t read what it led to. After trying every other door though, they decided to test the door with no name. It took a bit of effort for us to get it open since someone had melted the hinges into solid bits of metal, but eventually it fell back into the hall with a loud crash. Just beyond that was a large security door with a glass-faced-box sitting off to one side.

“Shit,” Seer spouted beside me as she walked toward the strange box, tapping at a little board that flipped from under it. “We need the password.”

That box was asking her for a password?

“Can’t we hack it?” Felix blurted from next to her, staring up at the box with a puzzled look. Why was I the only one who didn’t know what was going on?

“I can try, but I haven’t done this in years.” Seer rubbed her chin briefly before clicking at a pair of buttons on the fold-out-board. “Shit…that’s a lot of choices.”

“It’s only four letters though, shouldn’t be too hard to guess.” Seriously Felix, how did you know what that thing was? Did I miss something incredibly important during our walk?

The two sat at the box for a few minutes tapping away on the two buttons, pointing at the screen, Seer occasionally swore at it, Felix smacked the side once or twice, and finally, they both sighed with relief as the door hissed loudly.

“What happened?” I asked from the spot I had chosen to sit and wait, looking between the pair and the door as it slowly started to groan open.

“We finally got the password,” Felix said proudly, grinning giddily along with Seer.

I still didn’t know what that meant, but at least I knew that magic boxes with folding button things under them were for passwords. Also that I shouldn’t touch them because I had no idea how to use them or what they were even supposed to be, but apparently Felix and Seer both did, so they could handle that part. I would just carry big spools of wire and ride robots.

Through the big security door was a staircase leading down to a single room with three simple metal doors each labeled ‘Security Locker 1’, ‘Security Locker 2’, and ‘Security Locker 3’. That was simple, and thankfully we didn’t have an issue getting those doors open. No magic boxes with passwords or anything, all we had to do was push them open. We found a trio of strange pyramids covered in small holes in the third one, which I guess must have been the targeting systems we had come down here to get, so I placed each in my bags. I was slightly worried that they had been so easy to grab off the shelf; I couldn’t imagine that only two robots guarding the basement could possibly hold back a dedicated scavenger from getting down here, but maybe they had just seen them and ran off.

Because my two companions were obsessed with checking everything, we pushed open the doors on the other two lockers and promptly raided them for everything that looked valuable. Locker 1 was completely empty except for a few empty bottles across the floor and a small pile of about five caps lying about. I put these into our no-longer-empty money purse, bringing our total up to five caps. Great, I could buy a couple bullets.

Locker 2 wasn’t much different, except that Seer freaked out and quickly swiped a trio of large syringes off of the top shelf. I thought about questioning why she needed them, they were syringes so I assumed they were some kind of medicine, and that would mean Felix should carry them with the rest of our medical supplies. But she knew better than us about the random things you could find in the Wasteland, so I left her be and turned to leave the basement. We had what we needed, no reason to wait around anymore.

The second I hit the first stair, a crackling voice blared from somewhere in the basement. “Unauthorized removal of Targeting System Model A34-3 detected. Activating security.”

Wait, what did that mean?

Somewhere at the top of the stairs we could hear a loud whirring noise, followed by another robot voice. “Striped intruders detected, lethal force authorized.”

Even I could understand what that meant. I quickly jumped back down from the stairs, landing beside Seer and pulling the pistol from my holster to aim at the staircase. Beside me, the mare’s rifle was already leveled and aimed upward, waiting for whatever robot we were about to kill.

It was big, much bigger than the first two. The machine rolled up to the top of the stairs on four wheeled legs, stopping just before the steps and looking down at us. Its body was a large bulb at the center of the legs, and unlike the others had no guns sticking out from it. Instead, a pair of appendages stuck out on either side; one ended in a multi-barreled gun of some kind I’d never seen before, and the other ended in an oddly shaped device similar to those that the other robots had. At the top of the bulb was a small mushroom shaped thing with two red lights glowing on the front, staring down on us with mechanical malice. Without a moment’s hesitation, the latter weapon lashed out with a barrage of red lasers.

Seer dodged to the left, while I rolled to the right, narrowly dodging the spray as it landed right where we were just standing. We both recovered quickly and leaned into the stairwell, spraying as many bullets as we could into the metal monster above us. Only her shots were powerful enough to punch into the armored body, and mine ricocheted off into the walls around the robot. I still kept shooting, hoping that just one shot would find a soft spot until the multi-barreled gun began to spin.

I pulled my head back from the stairwell, and stared at the ground in horror as a wall of bullets sprayed into the room we were trapped in. Thankfully Felix had hid in one of the Storage Lockers, and was protected by the metal door as the robot’s weapon peppered it with dents. Across the room I looked over to Seer and found her looking down with her eyes closed, mumbling something to herself. Why, I don’t know, but I could only assume it was something important, maybe some magic to kill the robot instantly.

When the spray of bullets finally stopped, the mare opened her eyes and swung her rifle around the corner, but didn’t shoot. She just aimed, and aimed, and aimed. Just shoot! I screamed mentally, finally losing patience and leaning back into the stairwell to fire at the robot again. Just like last time, none of my bullets punctured, but I think I made a few dents before a wave of red energy lashed around me and singed part of my mane. Oh, and Seer still hadn’t shot yet.

The robot turned to look at her, and the barrels on the bullet spray gun revved up, preparing to turn the mare into a sponge. A single loud crack echoed between the walls as she finally shot, and the spinning barrels came to a stop. Another shot, and a familiar pop rang out at the top of the stairs. I peeked around the corner, and found that the robot no longer had that mushroom on top.

I really needed to ask her what she was mumbling, because it worked way too well for us. Or at least I would if I didn’t still hate her, maybe someone else in Caesar’s Stand would know.

* * *

“To a safe first return,” Seer spouted with a smile as she threw her hoof in the air, waiting for the two of us to meet it with our own before leaning down to take a pull from her glass. Felix and I each did the same with a glass of water, once again leaving our guide as the only one drinking out of the group.

The walk back to Caesar’s Stand was exactly the same as the walk out to the facility; nothing happened, at all. It still disturbed Seer that nobody shot at us, and once again I couldn’t care less if that meant some big thing was going down; I just stuck with the thought of soldiers going through to clear it before we left. The only difference was the pillar of black smoke off in the distance, probably some raiders getting fried once again by those soldiers we’d met the day before. So once again we were safe and sound, waiting out the night until the next day when we would head off to a new deathtrap in the name of getting supplies for an unknown Remnant officer. Easy.

We left the supplies that we gathered up at the gate upon the guards’ request, being informed that they would be picked up some time that night by a team of soldiers. We each shrugged and emptied our bags, then proceeded off to relax. According to Seer, and agreed upon by Felix, that meant going to the bar. Again.

Without the soldiers in town to fill the bar, the room was actually pretty peaceful. Aside from our group, only ten other zebras were present, each in pairs scattered across the room and drinking quietly. It was a welcome change in my mind, we didn’t have to yell just to hear each other, and there was music.

Yes, apparently it had gotten so loud the night before that I didn’t even notice a radio had been playing the entire time. I didn’t know any of the songs, or what they were talking about, but the tunes were nice. My favorite was a really smooth violin piece that seemed to go on for ages, and I loved it. Seer grimaced when the announcer started it up, but didn’t complain through it so I suppose she didn’t mind too much.

She didn’t stick around with us for long. Once a few of the other guards who just got off duty walked in she pushed away from the table with a grin and went to drinking with them, probably tired of our silent water sipping. Oh well, no alcohol breath around and no chance of her trying to hook me up with a random stallion she just met.

“Greetings again you loyal few, this is Remnant Radio. It’s time for some tales of our victories!”

The voice calling through the radio had a strange effect on the bar. Everyone who had been talking instantly silenced, turning their heads to the center of the bar and neglecting their drinks as the announcer spoke. I was a little worried at first when it got silent, but when I realized they were listening in I joined. The only one I saw not completely paying attention was Seer, who just kept drinking and staring into a wall while her friends tuned in.

“Today we’re going to focus on the New Oatleans area, and I have two great stories for you this time. First up, our loyal soldiers pushed the Steel Rangers out of a stronghold in the north of the city earlier this week. All enemy forces were killed!” The announcement was greeted with a round of cheering from the others in the bar, and even Felix smiled at the news. I didn’t know who the Steel Rangers were, but if we were fighting them I guess it was good they died.

“And our second story; those of you in Caesar’s Stand may have heard the rumors about a couple of weapons dealers to the north. According to my information, these ponies had been developing and providing experimental weapons to our enemies in New Oatleans, all only a few hours walk from your front gate.” Really? That close? Why didn’t anyone ever stop them before! “Well, I’ve got good news for you. Last night, those forces were taken down, their facilities burnt, and their homes destroyed. You heard me right, and the smoke to the north confirms it; the weapon dealers of Shanty are no more.”

What?!

“What?” Felix shouted beside me, muffled by the cheering and hollering of the others in the bar. He had a look of pure horror on his face, and I knew what he was thinking.

I jumped up from the table and ran back outside, looking over the wall to the north and scanning slowly. Please no, please be lying. There it was; the same smoke from earlier pouring into the sky to our north, what looked like a few hours walk away from the gate. I shouldn’t have cared, but I knew that the radio had been lying…it must have been. Those ponies could barely make their own homes, let alone weapons! The only strange thing there were the snakes and the ponies themselves, who would see them as any kind of threat? And yet, there was the proof.

Shanty was burning.

Footnote: Level Up! (Unarmed 35, Guns 30)

New Perk! [Short Temper] - When your companions drop beneath 50% health, you gain +5% to all types of damage

Author’s Notes: Again, I have to thank Kkat for creating this universe. I absolutely love it, and don’t know what I would do without it. The same goes to Somber for expanding the world and giving me a larger sandbox to play in. Thanks to my pre-readers for making sure I don’t publish this when it’s at its worst, and to everyone that has given me feedback; it really helps me to keep going and I’m so happy that others enjoy my work!

Chapter 6: Lies

Chapter 6: Lies
“mali intra clades mannis.”

“No.”

“What do you mean, ‘no’?” I shouted back at Seer, throwing my hooves in the air. “We need to find out if they’re okay!”

“No, we don’t. They were giving guns to the ponies that want to kill all of us, why should we care if they died?” she argued, pulling another sip from her glass.

Thankfully I had managed to get her out of the bar, I didn’t want to think about how the rest of the zebras there would have reacted to seeing me actually caring about a town that they were all convinced had been helping them get killed. Seer’s shack wasn’t much different from ours, except that it felt like more of a home. She had knick knacks spread about, mostly wooden carvings and strange looking necklaces hanging from nails in her walls, including that same strange thing she had dangling from her rifle that morning. Up close, it looked like a dull grey ball hanging from a band of leather. It didn’t look very important or special, so I couldn’t figure out why the mare had hung it from her rifle. Unlike ours, her home did not have a sheet separating it into two rooms, but the second half did have the sheet thrown over something. I would have asked about it, but I was busy trying to get her to go with us to Shanty.

I’m not sure why I thought she would agree to go along with us, or why I cared if she did because I was going to go either way. Maybe it was because she was a good shot, knew her way around, and had some kind of secret that allowed her to take down machine gun wielding robots in only a few shots. I felt safer in a fight if she was there, and if the radio was right, and if the ponies in Shanty were still alive and angry with any zebra they saw, then I would be happy to have her gun on my side. Other than that, I didn’t really care if she came, in fact I would have preferred if she stayed far away from us.

“They weren’t selling guns,” Felix pointed out, stomping his hoof sternly. It was the first thing he’d said since we heard the news about Shanty over the radio, and the sadness that had covered his face since then had finally twisted into anger. “They barely had enough to defend themselves, why would they give them away to…whoever you think they gave them to?”

Well, it wasn’t exactly true, I had bought a gun there myself.

“Young one, even if you had proof of that, it wouldn’t matter. They are already dead,” our guide countered. “Just because you didn’t see them, doesn’t mean they didn’t have them.”

“I did see them, but they were all owned by one old pony who sold them to travelers,” I added. “He wasn’t giving them to anybody.”

“Again, Shayle, it doesn’t matter. The town is already burned; there is nothing we can do about it.”

“But we can see if there are any survivors,” I argued again, bringing us back to where we started. “What’s the harm in that?”

“The harm is that the Praetor has given us a list of places to go, and if we stray from that then we will be keeping a very powerful Remnant officer waiting. Trust me, you don’t want that.”

“So…tell the Praetor we thought Shanty might have some of the supplies we need!” A good idea, from me. Caesar must have been smiling down on me. Seer glared at me like I was insane, but surprisingly didn’t argue back, so I elaborated before she got the chance. “They were selling weapons right? So maybe we could bring them back here for the soldiers to use?”

“Yeah! And the radio said that they were producing weapons, so they might have some things from our list!” Felix quickly added, making an even stronger argument than me.

Seer looked between the two of us for a few seconds, and finally sighed with a shake of her head. “Fine, I’ll tell the Praetor. But you better hope this trip isn’t for nothing.”

I did hope that, because if it was for nothing then not only would we be behind on our list, and probably in trouble with the Praetor, but it would mean that everyone in Shanty was dead. I don’t think I wanted to experience that.

* * *

Felix was the first awake the next morning, beating me by Caesar knows how long. He was pacing on his side of the sheet when I finally rolled out of bed, only stopping to poke his head around the sheet when he heard me getting my gear ready.

“Sorry…did I wake you up?” he asked quietly.

“No,” I responded sleepily. “How long have you been up?”

“I don’t know, I couldn’t sleep.”

I frowned and walked across the room to him, placing my hoof over his shoulder in a half-hug. “I’m sure they’re fine Felix.” I really wasn’t, because I honestly couldn’t picture most of them just rolling over to the Remnant as their homes were burned.

Felix nodded slowly and shrugged out from under my leg to get his bag. It was already filled with food and some water, the same as it had been the day before. My bag was almost empty, only holding as much ammo as I had for the gun strapped on my hoof. I was sure that Seer would tell us to go back and get more supplies, but that might be hard since everything we owned was in our bags. There was nothing else, so if that wasn’t enough for her then she would just have to carry more herself.

The mare was waiting at the gate for us when we arrived, her face drawn in a rough scowl as she impatiently tapped her hoof in the dirt. “The Praetor agreed with your idea, so we’ll go to Shanty today and the Stable tomorrow.”

Stable? What was that? Oh well, I really didn’t care since we got our way. “Great! Let’s get going then,” I stated happily, just to rub it into Seer’s face.

“Sure.”

That was strange; I had expected her to make sure I had everything. I’m not complaining, but I was starting to get worried that she didn’t seem worried like the day before. Maybe she was just upset that she was wrong and didn’t get to be in charge?

“So, are we going anywhere dangerous today?” Felix asked once we were out the gate.

“Not especially. We really only need to worry about a small group of Raiders who like to camp out on the highway,” Seer explained flatly. She hadn’t even taken the rifle off her back, and that didn’t help my sudden worry.

“Well, we don’t need to worry about those Raiders,” Felix explained. I don’t know why he thought that, the Raiders a few days before almost killed both of us! “That soldier you mentioned, Xion, his team killed them.” Oh yeah, I guess those are the Raiders she was talking about.

“Really, he finally decided to get rid of them?” Seer asked skeptically. “Did they spit on his gun or something?”

“No, they were trying to kill us,” I interjected. “He never tried before?”

“Of course not. Even Raiders aren’t stupid enough to start problems with the Scorpions,” she said with an ‘are you stupid?’ look.

“Scorpions?” Felix asked with a confused glare. “Is that what they call themselves?”

“No, that’s what everyone else calls them.”

“Why?” I asked, not sure if I believed the mare.

“Because they blend in and strike without warning.” Seer huffed and shook her head slowly. “Xion always hated that stupid name.”

“He does? Shouldn’t he be proud of it or something?”

“Why? Because now everyone knows they exist and what their work looks like?” Seer quipped. “It defeats their purpose, and I feel sorry for the poor sap that started passing around that name.”

“Why’s that?” I was full of questions apparently. I’m not really sure why either.

“Because Xion wants to stab her repeatedly,” she answered with a smirk. “And yes, I know who it is, because she hides at my place any time he comes to Caesar’s Stand.”

“And you never turned her over to him?” Felix asked skeptically.

“Of course not,” Seer quickly answered. I didn’t believe it either, because she really didn’t seem to mind throwing strangers into bad situations since I met her. “Now, why don’t you tell me what you plan to do if there are any survivors in Shanty?” she quickly changed the subject.

“Um…help them?” I suggested.

Felix and Seer both smacked their faces so hard I thought they might pass out.

* * *

Seer grumbled under her breath as we looked over the no-longer-smoking town of Shanty. She had insisted that we take a longer way there to get a view of what we might be dealing with before rushing in. It had added about an hour to our trip, but we found a safe place to check out the town on a hill to the west. It looked surprisingly similar from where we were, with the exception of the buildings being collapsed and charred. Thankfully sheet metal wasn’t very flammable, which only made me wonder what could have burned for so long in the town.

There wasn’t very much movement around the burnt town, only a pair of ponies I didn’t recognize milling around a pile of rubble that was in the same place Charmer’s house used to be.

“Raiders,” Seer explained before she set down the scope she used as a monocular. “Coated in blood and spikes.” Wonderful, now I was even less sure that anyone was alive.

Another pony, probably a Raider from their erratic run, stumbled into view from behind the largest pile of rubble, the one at the town’s center, screaming something I could just barely hear but couldn’t understand. The other two quickly leaped into action and followed the screaming one back around the building with a cacophony of screams and shouts.

Then there was the loudest scream of all, and it didn’t belong to any of those Raiders.

Seer shook her head and groaned. “That must be a survivor.”

Felix gasped and tried to jump over us, only for Seer to catch him by the tail. She pulled him back and released the colt, shaking her head. “No, we’re too far away to do anything. We could never make it in time.”

“Let me go! I can try to make it!” Felix argued and kicked her in the chest before trying to jump again. This time I helped hold him back. It was painful to admit, but Seer was right about that. The Raiders were already there, and we were almost half a mile from the town. Even if he ran as fast as he could, Felix would only find another corpse when he got there.

A loud snap reached our hill, followed closely by another short scream. I hadn’t expected the Raiders to use a gun, but I guess they were in a hurry for some reason. But that thought only lasted until I saw two of the blood covered ponies sprint back around the rubble in a panic. Another snap bit through the air as one of the scrambling Raiders fell to the dirt.

“Oh shit,” Seer grumbled and shook her head.

One last gunshot and the final Raider bit the dust, rolling a few feet before coming to a stop only a few feet from where his buddy died. It was eerily similar to another fight with some Raiders I’d been a part of a few days before, and it only took a few seconds for me to figure out what that meant. Felix hadn’t seen the Raiders falling, and must have assumed that the survivor had been the one screaming and getting shot, because he was balled up beside me shaking. I nudged him with a hoof and tried to get him to look up, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Felix, it’s okay. The Raiders are dead,” I whispered back to him.

The colt lifted his head slightly, looking up at me sadly before he looked slowly down to the town. The two bodies we could see were still as stones in the center of town, and a creepy silence had fallen over everything around us. A little grin curled onto Felix’s lips for a second, but disappeared just as quickly. “But, who screamed earlier?”

“I don’t know, but we can go check now,” I told him calmly, then looked up to Seer. “Right?”

“Yeah, sure, you go ahead, and I’ll stay up here to cover you, just in case,” Seer agreed with a quick nod. “I don’t think I’ll be the only one either,” she added flatly. I don’t know why she seemed so worried, both of us knew exactly who had killed those Raiders, and they weren’t going to shoot another zebra who was checking around.

Right?

Seer pulled the rifle from her back and took aim on the town as me and Felix made our way down the hill. My head spun back and forth constantly in search of more Raiders, just in case the Scorpions had missed one hiding outside the town, even if I did doubt it. Felix stayed close to me, almost bumping into me a few times as we approached the first burned down shack of Shanty. We didn’t see any bodies aside from those of the Raiders that had just been shot. To my horror, one of them was still alive, gurgling on his own blood as his bloodshot eyes followed me around the largest pile of rubble. He deserved it for being what he was, but I couldn’t help but picture myself in his place. I could almost feel the crosshairs of an invisible rifle trained on the back of my neck from wherever they were waiting.

When we got around the rubble, we found a tarp tied over a large gap in the ruined metal and burnt wood. A splash of blood was sprayed across the front of the tarp, and the body of the first Raider sat crumpled just outside the opening with the back half of her head missing. Felix grimaced and walked to the other side of me, hiding from the sight. Behind the tarp I could barely hear muffled sobs, and part of me winced. I almost didn’t want to move the bloodstained fabric, but if it was a survivor I wanted to make sure they were okay.

When I pulled back the fabric, Felix almost knocked me over as he sprinted inside. Surrounded by her one time home, Little Doc cowered under a barely standing hospital bed as tears streamed down her face. Soot stained her coat, and a trickle of dried blood marred her mane just behind her ear. When the filly looked up to us, I expected her to at least smile, but instead she pushed herself further back into the rubble with a look of pure horror.

“No, go away!” she whimpered gripping a wicked looking shard of metal in her magic and waving it between her and us violently.

“Doc, it’s us,” Felix calmly explained, assuming the filly just didn’t recognize us.

“I said go away!” As she screamed, Doc drove the metal into Felix’s leg, bringing him to his knees. Her magic faded from the weapon, and she looked around for something else to defend herself. “You did this!”

“Did what?” I snapped, pulling Felix back as he tried to pull the metal from his foreleg. “We’re here to help!”

“No, you’re all evil,” Doc squealed, trying to pull a chunk of metal out of the rubble. “You told them to come here, you killed everyone!”

No we didn’t! Or at least we didn’t mean to. Yes, we had told the Scorpions that Shanty told us about them, but we didn’t tell them to burn down the town! If we had known they would kill everyone, we would never have told them about it, I could have lied. But I never thought the Remnant would do this.

“Doc…we didn’t do anything,” Felix tried to explain with tears in his eyes, whether from the metal in his leg or seeing Doc act like that I didn’t know.

“Yes you did, they never did anything to us until you came,” the filly sobbed. “Even after everything we did for you.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know they would do this,” I told her softly.

“Yes you did! You’re evil, just like Mommy said. All of you stripes are evil.”

I didn’t know what else to say. I could argue all I wanted, but Doc believed that we had done this to Shanty. And the worst part was that she was probably right. “Is anyone else alive?” I asked cautiously, hoping that maybe someone older had survived the fight.

Doc sniffled and looked away from us. “I don’t know, I hid when the fighting started.”

I wanted to stay with her, but there was no reason to. She wasn’t going to believe us, no matter how much we tried to talk. I just nodded and turned around, trying to pull Felix out with me. He wouldn’t budge. The colt looked up to me with a pleading stare, his eyes watering.

“Please, let me stay. I’ll try to talk to her.”

I almost said no, but I had already done that to him once in that town. I’d dragged him away from Doc before, and it ended in the town burning. I knew it couldn’t make a difference, but I still nodded and left him with her. Maybe I was wrong and he could calm her down, or maybe she would still be convinced the two of us were the most evil zebras in the Wasteland.

When I got back on the other side of the rubble a familiar zebra was waiting for me, glaring down from under her hood, but a moment later her expression softened significantly. “Young one, what are you doing here?” Her soft green eye, the one that wasn’t hidden under her mane with half of her face, looked down at me with what I think would be care. It was the same way I looked at Felix, which made it all the more creepy.

I didn’t know what to say to her. The mare had just helped kill the only nice ponies I had met, and yet she seemed so calm. There wasn’t even a scratch on her or a hair out of place in what I could see of her mane. I didn’t understand how someone could be so collected after burning a town and killing almost everyone living there; it was horrifying, and at the same time a little inspiring.

“Are you just curious?” she asked when I never replied to her first question, raising an eyebrow.

“I…no. I just…I’m here to see if there is anything to salvage.” I almost said I was looking for survivors, but then I remembered the ‘real’ reason we were here; to collect supplies for our mission.

“What sort of salvage?”

“Um, I have a list. We’re looking for supplies for an officer,” I explained, realizing right then that I didn’t have that list in my bag. Seer did.

“May I see your list?” She didn’t believe me, not even for an instant.

“I…don’t have it. We have a guide, she’s carrying it,” I explained, trying not to show any worry on my face. “But I don’t know where she went.”

“Why do you think these supplies will be here?” So many questions from her!

“Because the radio said the ponies were making weapons here, so I thought they might have what we need.” Good thing I had my story straight, thanks to Felix for thinking of that excuse.

A small grin crossed the mare’s lips as she nodded. “Yes, they do say that about Shanty.” The mare walked passed me and peeked around the other side of the rubble. “But I do not think you are here for that.”

No, definitely never believed me. “Why not?”

“Because you know that hiding filly, correct?”

“Well, yes, she helped me when I got hurt,” I explained, not even bothering to lie anymore. Stupid smart zebras figuring out my lies.

“And you came here to make sure she was alive, and the others,” the mare stated plainly as she turned back to me. “But why?” Another question? Really!

“Because…they’re good ponies,” I answered defensively, ready for an argument that might end in shooting.

Instead, the mare grinned. Grinned! After killing them all she was grinning when I said they were good ponies! What was wrong with that zebra? “Perhaps, but are you sure?”

“Yes,” I stated proudly. “They helped me and my brother when we were lost, and they were really nice to us.” Well, the ones who actually talked to us. Even if I had told Felix and myself that we weren’t welcome there…but that isn’t the point.

“A good enough reason.” I think that mare would have scared me less if she was laughing evilly and dripping with pony blood. That would at least have made sense, but that grin and her almost motherly tone was really creeping me out. “Now, go find your supplies and your guide. But please do not leave without finding me again,” the mare directed warmly. I nodded in response, and quickly trotted back around the rubble to get away from her. When I turned back, her hooves faded away in the magic of her cloaking talisman. Thank Caesar.

I looked around briefly, trying to remember where everything in the town was before it was reduced to the rubble and twisted metal it had become. I knew that the rubble where Doc was hiding used to be where the Mayor lived, her clinic was right across from that. Up on a dirt mound to the south is where Load had his shop. And on the opposite side of town, closest to the Nest, was Charmer’s house. The rest of the piles I didn’t know, but I didn’t need to. I quickly made my way to Charmer’s old shack, not bothering to be sneaky. I knew that creepy mare was watching me, probably grinning all disturbing like.

I don’t know why I even went to that used-to-be-a-house. It was flattened, burned, and could never hide Charmer or Strike or anyone inside of it. In fact, the only pile of rubble that was big enough to hide anyone in the new Shanty was the Mayor’s house. Only Doc was there. Had she been the only one to survive?

No, there was one more place that survivors might be hiding; no matter how much I didn’t like it.

* * *

I had told myself I would never go back, and yet there I was, standing outside the Nest. A shiver ran down my spine as I remembered everything that happened last time I was in there. The giant snakes, the almost being killed, the even bigger giant snake, and the baby talking. I was not looking forward to going down there, but it may have been my last chance to find Strike and the others. I just hoped they wouldn’t shoot me on sight if they were alive down there.

With a gulp, I stepped cautiously into the main tunnel, making my way slowly down the ramp toward a faintly glowing light at the bottom. On either side of me, the mini-tunnels glowed softly from the lights inside, probably surrounded by little multi-eyed monsters just waiting to eat little me when they grew up. As I trotted by, a sickly green body slid out of one hole and hissed loudly. Of course I jumped into the opposite wall faster than a bullet, and stayed there until the zebra-sized serpent had slithered most of the way down the tunnel. Thankfully, it hadn’t quite gotten big enough to instantly see me as food yet. Probably because Charmer was like their Mom.

I quietly followed the snake down, hoping to find a couple waiting ponies that didn’t instantly shoot my face off just for having stripes. The closer I got to the main chamber, the more that seemed like what was going to happen, especially after how Doc had reacted to me and Felix trying to get her out of that rubble back in town. The chamber looked mostly empty. Several snake carcasses were spread around, ranging in size from giant to as small as my leg. Each was peppered with bullets, and their blood stained almost all of the dirt that made up the floor. Sadly, no ponies were waiting with loaded weapons and…that was a gun pressed to the side of my head.

“You are the one from the road. Why have you left your new home?” the familiar, strange speaking, voice asked from beside me.

Yes, a loaded gun like I expected, but not held by a pony like I thought it would be. “I...I’m looking for s-survivors.” No, I didn’t lie. Call me weird, but the feel of a gun against my temple has a strange way of bringing out the truth, no matter how much I would have liked to keep to my ‘gathering supplies’ story.

“You knew those who lived here?” The gun never shook or left my temple. I really wished I could have seen how he spoke so plainly and still held that rifle to my head at the same time.

“Y-yes, they were g-good to us.” I couldn’t stop shaking, probably because the creepy mare back in town had me thinking every Scorpion must be insane and happy to kill me if they had a reason, or wanted to.

The buck was silent for a few seconds, and I was convinced that the trigger at the other end of the rifle was slowly being pulled back. Then the barrel pulled away from my head, and a striped body shimmered to life beside me. “You must be worried; you came to this place in a hurry.”

Why, why did he have to talk like that? “You would do the same for someone that helped you,” I said simply. I hoped that was true, or was the Rhyming Buck just as crazy as Grins outside?

“I think I would, at least if I could.” The stallion looked at me plainly for a few seconds, and then motioned toward the mound at the center of the chamber. It looked almost untouched; identical to how it had been the first time I went down there, if I looked beyond the bloodstains from the dead snakes all around it. “One of those you seek is in there.” I was NOT looking for Neishka you mule! “A rather feisty, flute playing mare?”

Only one pony I knew could meet that description. Okay, I only knew three ponies, but that isn’t the point. It was Charmer.

I nodded and tried to hide my excitement. I had hoped that at least one of the older ponies was alive, if not more of them, but I was somehow happier knowing that it was one of the few I had gotten to know a little during my time in Shanty. The buck disappeared in a shimmer of light as I walked away, probably joining up with his creepy mare friend to stalk me.

The scene inside the mound of trash was actually rather depressing. I never thought I’d say it, or think it, but a headless Neishka was not something I ever wanted to see. The snake’s body lay limp in the center of the mound, no longer coiled as it had been when Charmer introduced me to it a few days back. Where the head should have been, there was a splayed out mess of blood and burnt meat, peppered with shrapnel from some kind of explosive. That’s also when I noticed that Neishka’s head was sprayed around the room; blood, meat, and bits of bone littered the walls and the floor all around me. I gagged.

Sitting right in front of the decapitated body was the Charmer I had seen when we were harvesting venom for her. Dried blood ran from cuts that zigzagged across her body, ending at her back which was scarred and burned from whatever had lit the town ablaze. The flute that she carried in her bag was on the floor at her hooves, her head hung down as she stared at it emptily. I almost didn’t want to disturb her, because I was afraid she would blame me just like Doc had.

I suddenly didn’t want a lot of things. I didn’t want to know how Neishka had been killed. I didn’t want to know why they didn’t kill Charmer, and I definitely didn’t want to know why Strike wasn’t here trying to comfort her.

“Charmer?” I asked softly, partly hoping she wouldn’t hear me and I could silently sneak back out.

Her head snapped to one side, and one dark eye swiveled to look at me. She stared for a few seconds, not moving a muscle or saying a word. For a second, I thought she had died just from seeing my face. After a while, her head turned the rest of the way, and I almost vomited.

The left half of her face had been stripped of coat in the blaze, burning her skin into charcoal. The teeth along that half of her face were visible through several holes in her cheek, stained black by soot. Where an eye should have been was only a hole filled with a sick mixture of pus, blood and soot all dried into a crusty ball. A small strip of her mane had been consumed in the burn, as well as the very bottom of her left ear. I could barely recognize her anymore.

“Shayle?” she asked painfully, standing slowly to face me. Luckily, her body had been spared the damage of her face. Most of the coat down the left side of her neck was missing, but the skin seemed untouched. The damage ran just over her left shoulder and onto her back.

What had they done?

I nodded slowly, not wanting to look away, but at the same time barely able to stand the sight of her injuries. Did they not even try to heal her? Even a little? Now I really didn’t want to know what happened to the others.

Charmer took a few steps toward me, looking me over from hoof to ear. I couldn’t see a gun on her, but I knew she could throw a pretty hard punch if she wanted. I didn’t need to worry about it though. The mare swung her legs over me when she got close enough, and it almost sounded like she was crying. “Thank Celestia ya’ came back.”

I froze for a second, unable to contemplate what Charmer had just done. She was burned worse than anything I’d ever seen in my life, and she was actually happy to see me? And she was hugging me? Not knowing what else to do, I carefully returned the gesture, trying not to hurt her back with my hooves. “I heard what happened…” was all I could say.

Charmer just held me there, tearlessly crying into my shoulder. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to get her up to Doc, but I doubted that the Rhyming Buck would let me. She needed it, badly. I didn’t know much about medical things, that was more Felix than me, and definitely Doc, but I did know that whatever was in her eye was not good, and that she needed to have those burns looked at.

When Charmer finally pulled out of the hug, a strip of burnt skin from her back that I had been touching in the embrace decided it didn’t want to let me go like she just did. Charmer hardly seemed to notice, and continued to stare at me in disbelief as I tried not to throw myself through the walls of the Nest to get the bloody strip of burnt flesh off my leg. Yeah, she needed Doc, and suddenly I didn’t care what that strange talking zebra outside thought.

“Are you, feeling okay?” I asked her cautiously, not sure she knew what had happened. She frowned and shook her head, and I could see the sobbing was about to start again. Whatever she had felt when she saw me, it was fading fast. “We need to get you to Doc, just…follow me.”

“Doc is okay?” she asked excitedly, her eye lighting up for a brief moment.

“Yeah, she’s hiding back in town.” The mare nodded and stood up, stepping to my side and looking at me with an expectant stare. I turned and slowly led her out of the Nest, not sure how quickly the burned pony would be able to move with her injury. Surprisingly she didn’t seem to have much difficulty keeping up, which worried me a little.

Once we were out of the mound of garbage, the Rhyming Buck uncloaked and glared at us from under his hood. The rifle was still slung over his back, but I didn’t doubt he could pull it out and fire before I could even think of shooting back. He looked between the two of us for a few moments, seeming to contemplate what I might be doing with her.

“She has been burned, and you want her to be cured?” he asked casually, keeping his eyes glued on Charmer’s charred face.

“Yes, let us leave,” I demanded, not in a mood to be polite.

“Of course.” That was…weird. I expected to have to convince him, maybe make up a sob story about why she needed help, but he was almost as creepily agreeable as Grins. “But you must bring her back here, with words or through force.”

“Sure,” I quickly agreed, even if I didn’t intend on bringing Charmer anywhere near that bloodbath again. So I got my lie in, hurray! The two of us stepped by him quickly, Charmer staying on my opposite side of where he was standing. Her eyes tracked him as we walked by, up until the point he disappeared in a flicker of light.

“Please don’t bring me back,” Charmer whispered into my ear once we made it out of the tunnel, sadness heavily weighing down her voice. “I can’t go down there again…”

“I won’t,” I promised her, trying to stay quiet in case one of these weirdoes was listening in.

During the walk, the silence was deafening. I tried to stay alert and search for Raiders or one of the Scorpions waiting to gun us down, but I couldn’t. Part of my brain was nagging that there were no Raiders left and that the cloaked zebras were watching, but had no intention of shooting at us, at least not yet. Instead, my attention was on everything I had seen so far. I always saw soldiers with the Remnant as honorable, as zebras who didn’t want to fight but still did to keep us safe. But Shanty was wearing that thought thin. The town was burned, and from what I had seen there didn’t seem to be any reason. They knew Doc had been hiding in that rubble, at least Grins did, but they didn’t even bother to try getting her out or even acknowledge her existence. And Charmer…they obviously didn’t mind me taking her to get medical care, so why didn’t they give it to her themselves? Were they just hoping she would do it herself? Or did they just find some sick joy in watching her suffer? No, these were not what I pictured as soldiers at all.

And all of it was for what? A town that produced weapons with tools I still hadn’t seen?

I sighed and turned to Charmer, deciding that I should at least try to figure some of it out while we walked. “Charmer, did you all build weapons in Shanty?”

The mare’s head snapped to me, her one eye looking at me with fear and worry. “What? No. Why would ya’ ask?”

“Because according to the Remnant, you were.”

“No. Only Load had more than two guns, and he took those off dead Bandits and Raiders,” she explained, sounding as if what I said had hurt her. “The rest of us got guns from him, but we bought them to defend ourselves and do our jobs. He never sold a single one to anyone outside of town.”

“You mean besides me?”

“Yes. But you…you were different.” The mare hung her head. “Ya’ helped out the town, so Strike thought you should get somethin’ in return.”

“I got money and a place to sleep in return,” I corrected. “I still paid for the gun from Load.”

“Yes, but most travelers around here…we don’t tell ‘em about Load’s shop.” She stopped and looked back up to me. “We’ve been attacked before; Slavers. We sold a few guns to some ponies we thought were travelers, but they were just scopin’ us out.” The mare looked over to the town which was still a good five minutes away. “That night, they came back. We fought most of ‘em off. They killed some of us, but only managed to kidnap one; Doc’s Mom.” Charmer sighed and shook her head. “After that, we decided that we would only sell guns to travelers who we knew wouldn’t come back and use those guns against us. You seemed kind enough, so we felt safe sellin’ to ya’.”

And then I turned around and got your town destroyed and everyone you loved burned. Maybe you shouldn’t have sold to me after all. “So, no building guns?” was all I could say in response. I didn’t know what else to say. If I had known that this town actually trusted me, at least to the point they didn’t think I was going to try and kill them, I might have been a little more inclined to stay like Felix wanted. I probably wouldn’t have, but I might have not made such a scene when I left.

“No, no building guns,” Charmer told me once again. She wasn’t lying, there was no way. I would know, because I did it all the time, and after everything that had happened to her in the past day, I didn’t think she would lie to me.

I thought about asking if anyone else had run off to escape, but I didn’t think that was too smart with the mare being in the condition she was. I could ask later. Right then, she still needed to get to Doc. “Come on, let’s keep going,” I urged, and waved to what used to be a place that trusted me.

* * *

When we finally got back to the rubble where Doc had been hiding, I was surprised to find her out of the tarp. Felix’s leg had been wrapped in a dirty cloth, and no jagged metal was sticking out of his skin. Doc herself was laying a few feet from him, curled into a ball and hiding her face from the world as Felix read a book to her. I didn’t think she enjoyed it, but he had managed to get her out of that rubble, so he obviously knew better than me.

As soon as Charmer saw the filly she jumped forward and pulled the little pony into a tight embrace, mumbling into her ear over and over and stroking her mane. Doc took little time to return the embrace, and tears quickly streamed down Charmer’s back as the filly sobbed into her. A small grin formed over my lips as I watched the two, and I hoped that the other zebras present wouldn’t ruin it for them.

Thankfully, they didn’t. When Charmer and Doc finally broke away from each other, Doc instantly stopped crying as some kind of switch flipped in her head. The filly ran back under her tarp, and for a second I thought she was hiding from Charmer’s new appearance. A moment later the tarp ripped from top to bottom in one strip, and Doc came running out with it trailed behind her. The filly reached into Felix’s bag and pulled out the medical supplies that she had sold to him a few days before, placing it all in a line on the strip of tarp. The last thing she grabbed was a jagged piece of metal that used to be in Felix’s leg that for some reason she had kept in her mane.

I had to turn away as the filly worked. I could barely stand the sight of those burns, but watching as Doc cut away the burned skin from Charmer’s neck and chest was too much; it kept reminding me of the strip that had hung on my leg back in the Nest. The way I turned did get one thing going in my mind; where in Caesar’s name did Seer go? I had looked out to the hills where we had snuck up on the town, and at first thought nothing of the empty peaks overlooking Shanty. But after a few moments, I realized that a certain zebra who was supposed to be watching over us was nowhere to be seen.

“Great,” I grumbled under my breath before standing. “I’m going to go find Seer,” I whispered to Felix angrily. And I was probably going to kill her for deciding to leave us without any help.

Unfortunately, I had no idea where to start looking for the mare. There weren’t any buildings in the town left to hide in, and even if there were I doubted she would have gone into Shanty. So I just decided to go up to the hill and look around for any clues. On my way back to the hill I noticed one strange thing; a trail of hoofprints in the sand running along the base of the hill that definitely hadn’t been there when Felix and I went down into town. Deciding they must be Seer’s, I changed course and followed the tracks. About 50 meters along, a second pair of hooves joined the first from the top of the hill. Did that mean Seer came down the hill to follow somebody? Either way, I continued to follow the prints, and eventually came to a gap in the hill; a doorway with some kind of sign hung on it. Too bad I couldn’t tell what it said.

I pushed it open, and found myself looking into a long, dark tunnel. Luckily, somebody had thought to leave a lantern sitting on the floor just inside the door. How convenient. It didn’t provide much light once I managed to get it started, but it was enough to let me see where I was going, and I would have killed to have one when I ran away from home.

At the end of the first tunnel was a split of three different tunnels; one to the left, one to the right, and one straight ahead. I looked as far as I could down each one from the fork, and checked the ground to see if I could find the hoofprints but there was only stone; no more dirt to leave tracks. I sighed and decided to go straight, hoping it was correct, but doubting it. As I walked, I wondered what the tunnel was for. It was clearly not just a random hole in the hill, because it had a fully functional door and even a sign on the front. Which must mean that somebody had something in there right? I just hoped it was something useful, or that someone had already taken it. There was one niggling thought at the back of my mind I tried to ignore and push away, one that couldn’t possibly be true; that Charmer had lied, and at the end of that tunnel was a giant room where Shanty made guns.

The end of that tunnel didn’t have a giant room, thankfully. Instead, it had a me-sized pile of rotten wood. At least that was what I thought until it moved, and then it stood up, and then it turned around. Trust me, you’ll know ‘em when ya’ see ‘em.

And he was right, I knew exactly what it was. What I didn’t know is why it was in that tunnel, or what it actually was. All I knew was that what Strike had called a ‘Rottwood’ looked like a mangled dog. It actually looked like the thing’s body was made of rotting wood, which explained the name, but it somehow had a pair of glowing green eyes in the middle of its head. Below those was the thing I saw clearest; a wicked set of teeth made from shattered tree bark.

After it stood up, it only took a moment for me to realize how much trouble I was in. It also didn’t take long for me to realize that the lantern I was carrying was in my mouth, where my gun desperately needed to be. Not thinking completely clear, I dropped the lantern to the floor, where it landed with a loud crack and the light it had been giving instantly flicked out. It was like the sewer all over again. I was in the darkness, only able to see a pair of glowing eyes glaring at me hungrily.

But this time I didn’t forget my gun. I reached down and pulled it out right at the Rottwood jumped at me and barely missed my head, soaring over me and into the tunnel behind me. I spun around and waited to see the eyes again, not wanting to waste bullets. A disturbing crackling sound filled the air of the tunnel, and just to mess with me the lantern flickered a few times. In the flickering, I got to watch as the wood that made up the thing’s body twisted and snapped around to move the teeth and eyes back around to me. Because that was definitely faster than just turning around!

I pulled the trigger as fast as I could, sending every bullet from the magazine into the front-back of the twisting dog. The monster let out a long howl as my bullets tore through it and splintered the rotten sticks that made up its body. One of the legs fell off from the spray of metal, and the beast fell to one side, still glaring at me and howling angrily. I reloaded as best I could in the darkness, hoping that I put a full magazine in the gun and instantly firing again. Another string of bullets bit into the monster’s eyes, and the howl stopped. I still put a few more bullets into where I thought it was, just to be sure, and then stopped. I sat silently, waiting for it to stand up again, but I didn’t hear anything.

After a few moments, I risked leaning down to try turning the lantern back on, and of course it happily flickered back to life as soon as I hit the magical starter. Where there used to be a Rottwood was only a pile of old sticks full of bullet holes. It didn’t even look like a dog anymore. Just to be sure I wasn’t imagining things, I quickly looked myself over from head to hoof. It was a miracle; I had made it through a fight without getting shot, beaten, bitten, squeezed, or grazed. Things were starting to look up for me.

I put the gun back in my holster and lifted the lantern again, happily trotting back down the tunnel to the fork, not sure which way to go next; until I reached it and heard a grunt from the right. Choice made, hopefully I wasn’t hallucinating. I decided I wasn’t as I made my way down the tunnel and heard a few more grunts, each getting louder as I got further in.

Down that tunnel there was no Rottwood, thankfully, but there was another door, and a flickering light was coming from under it. I didn’t know what could be inside, but that grunting was definitely coming from the other side. I extinguished my lantern and quietly set it down, not dropping it that time, to pull out my pistol. I reloaded, just to be ready, and took a deep breath before kicking down the door.

Inside I found Seer, under Xion, grunting and slapping hips. And the best part: They both looked over and saw me pointing a gun at them and didn’t stop. I must have been the only sane one left in the Wasteland, because the number of crazies I had met in just a few days was mindboggling. My gun fell to the floor and clattered across the rock, but I didn’t even notice. I turned around, walked back out, and closed the door behind me. No matter how mad I was at that moment, I could wait to kill that mare, and probably Xion too. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long, because the door opened again a few seconds later.

I spun my head around to see Seer looking down at me with a neutral stare. “You have the worst timing.”

* * *

“So wait, let me get this straight,” I interjected once I had heard way too much. “You’re the one who started calling Xion’s team the Scorpions?” Seer nodded. “And you stayed behind because you didn’t want him to see you?” Nodded again. “But he did, and when you said he wanted to ‘stab you repeatedly’, you meant…that?” Another nod. I stopped walking and stared at her blankly, not sure if I was still angry or if I was just disgusted. “What is wrong with you?”

“There’s nothing wrong with me Shayle. This is how life works in the Wasteland,” she tried to explain once we reached the fork in the tunnels.

“This is life? Pissing off soldiers and then…screwing them?!” I shouted again, waving my hoof back down the tunnel.

“No, making the most of it, enjoying what little time we may have in our lives, having some fun? Any of that sound right?” she asked sarcastically, looking at me with a ‘are you stupid’ stare.

“But there are dying ponies outside! You couldn’t wait?”

“You seemed to be handling it pretty well by yourself,” she replied casually. “You didn’t get killed by Minx, so you really didn’t need my help.”

“Minx?”

“The first mare you talked to.”

Oh, Grins. “Of course she didn’t kill me, she was actually nice…as creepy as it was.”

“Exactly. Which means she actually likes you, and won’t let the others give you a hard time,” Seer told me with a grin.

“How do you know that?” I asked skeptically, starting to get worried that she seemed to know Minx well.

“They stop by Caesar’s Stand a lot. I drink with her.”

I…actually didn’t doubt that at all. “Okay, fine. But that doesn’t explain why you ran off and had sex with that…that…monster!”

“What? Because he burned a village and killed some ponies he’s a monster?” Seer asked aggressively. “He’s a soldier, he follows orders. That’s it.”

“Then why are they still here?” I asked angrily. “Why are they camping out and letting the survivors suffer?”

“That is a question for them, not me,” she dismissed with a wave of her hoof. “And you said there were survivors?”

“Yeah, two. I couldn’t find anyone else.”

“That’s good. Any parts you were looking for?”

What? “No, we were never looking for parts, remember?” I asked darkly, wondering why she even came along.

“Yes, I know, but we can’t tell the Praetor that,” the mare pointed out. “So, did you find anything useful?”

“No…there was nothing useful,” I replied hesitantly, thinking that I understood what was happening.

“Perfect, now let’s get your brother and get going.” Seer stepped around me and walked toward the exit, trotting like she didn’t have a care in the world.

“What about the others? Doc and Charmer?” I asked flatly.

“The survivors? Uh…leave them here and ask Minx to keep them safe.”

“No, they’re coming with us,” I demanded as she pushed open the door back to the world.

“To Caesar’s Stand? The town full of zebras who hate ponies more than anything?”

Touché. “Okay…fine…but we can’t leave them with the Scorpions, they don’t even care about them!” I argued. “Isn’t there a town we can take them to nearby?”

“Look Shayle, I know you want to help them for some reason, but you can trust Minx. She’s Remnant, but not all Remnant want to burn every pony they see.”

“And how do you know she won’t? Soldiers follow orders, right?”

Seer stopped and sighed, shaking her head slowly. “There are two towns we could go to. One of them is a few miles East, but they would never let you or me go anywhere close. It’s very…violent toward zebras.” I almost couldn’t believe that Seer was actually helping without me giving some kind of excessive reason. I didn’t even have to tell her some crap about looking for supplies. “The other one would probably let you get inside with your two friends if we explain what happened, but it’s on the other side of New Oatleans.”

“Then we’ll go to the close one, as long as they’re safe I don’t care if we can go in,” I told her with a smile.

“Okay, let’s go get them,” she said sadly. I don’t know why she was sad; she was going to help two ponies start a new life instead of dying slowly. So why did it worry me so much?

* * *

When we got back to where the others were waiting, Doc had finished her work on Charmer and was curled up sleeping at the mare’s hooves. From how quickly she did that work and passed out, I imagined it must have been the only sleep she’d gotten since the attack. Bandages covered most of Charmer’s face and back, but I could see a few nasty patches between the cloths. All of the supplies Felix had bought were used up on her, and I hoped we didn’t get attacked on the way to the next town, because there was nothing left in any of our bags.

“Are you feeling better?” I asked the flute-playing mare as we approached, hoping for at least something good.

She frowned, but still nodded. “A little. It’s good to see that Doc is okay,” she replied quietly. “Thanks again Shayle…for helpin’.”

I shook my head slowly. “Don’t thank me yet, we still need to get you somewhere safe.”

“There’s a town East of here, you know of it, right?” Seer asked. Charmer nodded with a little grin. “We’ll take you there, but we should go now. Before anything else unexpected shows up.”

“Right,” Charmer agreed with a determined tone. She nudged Doc softly and whispered for her to wake up, grinning happily as the filly groggily rose. “You can get better sleep when we find ya’ a bed sweetie.”

“I wish you safety on the road,” a stoic voice called out from behind me.

We all turned to find Xion standing right behind Seer, glaring at the two ponies.

“I said, before anything else unexpected shows up,” Seer growled.

“It was close enough.”

I don’t know what they were talking about, but an uneasy feeling started to crawl into my brain as I listened to the two.

“What do you want?” I asked viciously. Probably not the best tone to use with one of those crazies, but I really didn’t care for him at the moment.

“I wish to extend a deal to you,” the stallion replied neutrally, not even phased by my tone. “If you will hear it.”

“Fine, go ahead,” I hissed. Suddenly my holster was starting to itch a bit, and the urge to kill Xion was rising.

“I offer you a chance to repay killing my Rottwood.” Seriously? Who would have that thing as a pet?!

“You don’t have a pet Rottwood,” Seer grumbled softly. I don’t think she planned for me to hear that…

“You must choose one of your comrades to die.”

“No,” I responded instantly as the gun on my hoof went from itching to burning.

“You misunderstand. You must choose one.” I understood that the first time. That isn’t going to change it.

“Shayle, just hear him out,” Seer pleaded. Why did I feel like they did more than hump in that cave?

“Fine, but don’t expect me to listen,” I growled. I wasn’t going to listen, and I didn’t care what he thought about it.

“You can choose the young one, your brother. He doesn’t carry a gun, and cannot help in a fight, and with the little filly you will have a better medical pony.” Felix shrank back and whimpered a little while Doc reached out to his shoulder. “You can kill the burned one. She has lost everything and will live her life deformed and depressed, unless you put her out of that misery.” Charmer frowned and sat down, looking away and seeming like she would cry again. “You can choose the little filly, who has lost everyone who loved her.” Charmer wrapped a hoof around Doc as Xion glared down at her. “Or, you can kill our friend Seer.” I think Seer’s head almost fell off with how fast it spun around. “Who has not told you a single true word since you left that cave, but is your guide to survive in this place.”

I hated him. I hated him so much. Only two days before that I had seen him as the greatest zebra alive. He was my savior and someone to look up to. But with this, he was hated. He was someone that had to die, someone who didn’t deserve to be in the Remnant. Not all soldiers could be like him, not in a million years. He was sick, and so were the others with him.

Two other zebras materialized beside him, Rhyming Buck and the other one I hadn’t seen in the town before. The only one missing was Minx. All three of the stallions glared at me expectantly, almost looking excited to see what I would choose. They didn’t say a word, nobody did. Everything was still and silent. The only reason I still knew the world was turning was the soft sniffling of Doc as she tried to stay close to Charmer. None of them deserved to die, even Seer for what that’s worth. I hated her, she had lied to me and used me more than once, but Xion was right; she kept me and Felix alive. She knew where everything was, she knew how to shoot better than I could ever hope, and as sick as it was she was smart. I couldn’t kill her yet either, not until I could keep me and Felix alive without her.

“None,” I demanded, stomping my hoof. “I won’t choose any of them.” The two zebras behind Xion looked at one another, then back to me with a murderous glare. “None of them deserve it.”

Xion stared at me silently for a few seconds, a contemplative look on his face. In front of him Seer shook her head sadly. I messed up?

“Very well,” Xion flatly agreed, and shimmered into nothingness. I think I saw a smirk slither across his lips just before he disappeared. The two zebras behind him followed suit, and we were alone again.

“Thank ya’,” Charmer whispered with a grin across her face. “Thank ya’ so much.”

A little grin managed to cross my lips as well. Nobody else died because of me, and all it took was saying no. Everything in this town had seemed so much easier than I thought. I hardly had to lie, I only had to shoot one Rottwood, and I didn’t even get hurt. It was a wonderful feeling. And to make it better, I was going to get Doc and Charmer somewhere safe, a new home where they could try and be happy again. I just hoped they could move on…

I didn’t even hear the gunshot. All I heard was a whoosh, and suddenly there was blood everywhere. It splashed across Felix’s face, Charmer’s chest, and across my legs. The splatter almost threw me off my hooves in surprise, it came out of nowhere. At first I thought it was mine, and that I just didn’t feel it because I was already dead. But no, it couldn’t be mine. That would have been too simple.

When Charmer screamed I couldn’t stop myself, and I looked down. The front of Little Doc’s neck was torn open as blood poured to the ground and into her lungs turning her gurgled breathing into the worst sound I’d ever heard in my life. It only lasted a few seconds until she stopped forever, but they were the longest seconds of my life.

I messed up…

Footnote: Level Up! (Speech 20, Guns 35)

Author’s Note: Another giant thank you to Kkat for making such an awesome universe! I love it, and could never thank you enough for creating it and letting us other writers play around in the sandbox! Another thank you to Somber for expanding that universe with Project Horizons, and for giving me more building blocks to play with. And thank you to my pre-readers and editors, you’re awesome, this story would be awful without your help. And finally, thank you to the readers who keep me going! I hope I continue to entertain!

Chapter 7: What We Hold Dear

Chapter 7: What We Hold Dear
“You reap what you sow.”

CRACK

The striped mare fell to the dirt in front of me as a stream of blood began to trickle to the ground from her nose. She hardly made a sound as she fell; only sniffing roughly to pull some of the blood back into her body. Once again, she rose casually, looking over to me with regret as I wound up for another strike. My hoof flew into her eye, throwing Seer back into the dust and ash again while the others watched on in shock.

Charmer pulled the still form of Little Doc into her chest, not seeming to care that her belly was drenched in the filly’s cooling blood. The green coated pony never said a word in protest as I continued to beat Seer, her eyes locked on the two of us despite seeming dead and empty. Felix was following us with each strike, stepping forward behind me each time I had to get closer for a strong hit.

“Shayle! Stop, she didn’t know!” he yelled before grabbing my tail to try and pull me back.

I whipped my tail out of his grip and shooed him away with it, never taking my eyes off of Seer. “Yes she did, she knew something was up,” I growled before slamming a hoof down on the mare’s chest, finally getting a grunt of pain out of her. “And she’s going to tell me why!”

“She won’t if you keep hitting her!” Felix yelled again, this time jumping on my back and trying to pull me down to the ground. I didn’t understand why he cared. Seer had obviously lied to us from the beginning, and I think she knew Xion before that day. I couldn’t prove it, but he already knew her name, and none of ours.

I ignored the colt pulling on my neck and drove my hoof into Seer’s chest again, ignoring the blood that sprayed from her mouth as I realized I had just stomped on her wound from the day before. Noticing that, I stomped on the same spot again, and another splash of blood stained the dirt under her jaw.

“Please…wait,” she coughed.

“Why?” I growled again, raising my hoof for another strike.

“Let me explain,” she begged weakly, her eyes turning up to me in pain.

“Fine, but no more lies!” I snapped, placing my hoof down hard beside her, just to make sure she knew what would happen if I thought she was tricking me again.

The mare painfully lifted herself from the dirt, coughing roughly with every movement. “I’m sorry about your friend,” she told us regretfully, waving a hoof lightly at Doc’s cold body. “But I wasn’t allowed to stop it.”

“You knew it would happen?” I was going to kick her again, right in the jaw this time.

“Yes, but he was going to kill all of us if I warned you.” Seer leaned away from me slightly and winced at the effort. “He was testing you.”

“Why?”

“To see who you’re loyal to.” Seer frowned as she explained, still trying to keep just out of my reach. “Ponies or Zebras, he wanted to know which side you’re on. You came rushing to Shanty so fast he thought you had betrayed Caesar.”

My eyes widened as I backed away slightly, a hurt look crossing my face. “How…why…what would make him think that? We were just checking to see if they were okay!” I would never betray the one who had done so much for us! He gave me and Felix a home, he gave us safety from the Wasteland, and above all he was the one who ensured we lived on after the war. True, he didn’t do any of that directly, but he was our leader, the one who made sure all of it was possible at all.

“That was why. He thought you were pony sympathizers,” she told me with an ‘isn’t it obvious?’ tone.

“Why didn’t you tell him it wasn’t true?”

“Because I didn’t know myself. I’ve only known you for two days Shayle, I don’t know anything about you…or I didn’t.” She frowned as she said the last part, looking away for a moment.

“So what did choosing someone to die prove?” I asked venomously.

“It would have proven what you hold sacred. If you’d chosen one of the ponies, he would have known you are devoted to Caesar. If you chose me or Felix, he probably would have shot you for treason instead.”

My blood ran cold and knocked me to my haunches. I was a single word from death only minutes before, and I had never known it. I had even been considering telling Xion to kill Seer, I hated her so much, but if I had then that…that…bastard, would have killed me. I never had an actual choice, there were only two options, and neither of them was right.

“Why would he even give me Felix as an option then? He had to know I would never even think of doing that!” I said, panicked.

“I don’t know Shayle. Xion…he isn’t exactly all there,” Seer replied with a shake of her head. “None of them are.”

“But, they’re soldiers! They must be reasonable?” I pointed out.

“No, not in these days,” Seer told me matter-of-factly. “Maybe they were before, I don’t know, but soldiers like them, they don’t have issues doing things that a zebra with morals would question.”

I actually believed her this time. Everything I’d seen in Shanty proved what she told me, and there was no doubt in my mind that something was wrong with every one of those four zebras. They burned down a town, watched the survivors as they suffered through every second of grief and fear, and they smiled the entire time.

“So, they’ll do anything?” I asked fearfully, not really sure if I wanted to know that answer.

“As long as it doesn’t hurt the Remnant, yes.”

I looked over to Doc’s blood soaked corpse and a sense of dread swept over my body. If they were testing me, what did I just prove about myself by choosing to keep everyone alive? Had I shown loyalty to Caesar, or did Xion’s twisted mind somehow see me as a traitor now? I doubted it did, because according to Seer I would probably be dead if he thought that about me, but the thought still lingered in my mind.

“Shayle?” Charmer finally spoke up after realizing I was staring at Doc; I don’t know how long I had. “If you’re done…can we do a funeral? Please?”

I turned my gaze away from the dead filly, looking up to Charmer’s dead eye as she stared at me blankly. I slowly nodded once my mind processed what she had asked, before thinking of something else. “Do you know where any other bodies are? We should bury them too.”

Charmer stared at me for a few seconds without reacting. “No, I never saw any,” she told me flatly.

I nodded and looked around, not sure where she planned to do a funeral. “If you want, go find a place to bury her. I’ll look for others,” I told her glumly. I didn’t expect to find anyone else, but maybe their bodies were mixed in with their toppled houses.

She didn’t respond. The mare slowly stood up and placed Doc across her back, walking out toward the highway without saying a word to anyone. Felix frowned up to me and followed after her, his own walk no more lively than Charmer’s.

Only me and Seer were left standing by the rubble of what was once Shanty’s town hall, but as far as I was concerned the other mare wasn’t even alive anymore. I turned away from the sight of Felix, Charmer and Doc to begin looking, making sure to avoid eye contact with Seer.

“Do you want any help?” she asked quietly from behind me, sounding almost sorry for what had happened.

I pretended not to hear her and walked around to the other side of the rubble.

* * *

I could only find a few bodies, but I knew that it wasn’t everyone who had lived in Shanty. I found a single guard first, I could only tell by the heavy armor he wore and the charred gun lying by the place where he fell before burning. He had holed up in Doc’s old clinic for his final stand, and even with his burned body I could see countless holes torn through him. I couldn’t imagine how Doc made it out of the clinic with a gunfight going on in the door, but it didn’t much matter anymore.

After that I checked Load’s old store, and found three more corpses. The shack hadn’t been burned like the others, but was instead blown into shards of metal by what must have been the rocket carried by the Scorpions. Load’s body was torn apart behind where the store had stood, peppered by shrapnel to the point that he was barely recognizable. Not far from him were two more bodies. The mayor looked like he had been sitting down when he died, with a single bullet hole through his head and cuts from shrapnel after the explosion from the store. I didn’t know what that meant, but he seemed to have the cleanest death so far. As I started to pick him up, I saw a blood coated hoof sticking out from behind a nearby rock. I gently placed the mayor back into the dirt, deciding to gather the other body as well so I didn’t forget to bring it over.

When I first rounded the rock, I jumped back in surprise as a pair of light red eyes met me, staring straight up at my own. I thought the pony was alive for a second, until I saw the rest of the body. At least seven holes were punched through his chest, each one stained with blood and dust, with another marring his face to the point he didn’t even look like a pony anymore. He was leaned sideways into the rock, his gun resting on the ground beside him while his hooves sat gently in his lap. It looked like he just gave up on fighting, as if he knew he was going to die. I frowned and moved to pick the buck up, and froze when I finally saw his cutiemark; a single grey ‘X’.

“Strike…” I mumbled softly, stepping back again at the realization. I just stared at him, silently mourning even before the funeral. I don’t know what it was about seeing him dead like that, but it made my mind wander through every moment we had spent together. From him shooting off the tip of my ear, to when he saved me from the snake on Charmer’s job, to him helping me buy my first gun from Load; something that was even more…special, after what Charmer told me. I wondered if he would still be mad at me for leaving Shanty like I did, and if he would have blamed me and Felix for what happened. I hoped that he wouldn’t, but that didn’t stop me for blaming myself. He had helped both of us so much, and when we left he was so angry, as if he had wanted us to stick around and just settle down in Shanty. But now he was dead, and we were the reason. I was the reason.

My eyes drifted to his hooves, and I slowly leaned down to pick up a small string from between them. I hadn’t noticed it before, probably because the blood had a strange way of distracting me from anything else. What looked like a string ended up being a little necklace, something I had never seen Strike wearing. At the bottom was a pair of rather small fangs with a rusty metal ring in the center. It didn’t look like anything Strike would have worn, it didn’t seem like his kind of thing. Maybe Charmer would wear it, but…

I quickly put the necklace in my bag. I don’t know why I did, probably because with everything Charmer had gone through already, and that she was going to learn that her buck was dead to once I got him down to the road, she didn’t need to know about the necklace. I would give it to her later, once she’d had time to grieve and move on, if that was even possible.

Barely able to hold back my own tears, I lifted Strike onto my back and solemnly made my way back to the road.

* * *

I had expected a scene of tears and screaming when I brought Strike’s body to the burial site, completely convinced that Charmer would collapse in sadness at the sight of her dead coltfriend. Instead, she remained just as lifeless as she had in the minutes after Doc’s death, barely moving a muscle as she watched me place the body beside the filly’s. I could never imagine how she felt right then, as she saw the bodies of everyone she knew and loved being lined up beside the road at the same time. I hoped that I would never have to know that feeling.

Felix sat nearby her, not trying to comfort her. I wanted to hug her and tell her it was okay, but that would be a lie I could never tell. I could have told her that they went to a better place, which would be true, but I doubted it would help her. So I walked back to get the mayor’s body to add into the lineup, unable to think of any way to comfort the mare as her life continued to turn to ash around her.

When I finally had each body lined up beside each other, Seer trotted up to the other side of the line, keeping distance from me and glancing toward me every few seconds. Her left eye had almost swollen entirely shut, leaving her only a sliver to look through on that side. Her nose and mouth weren’t bleeding anymore either, but small stains could be seen on the white coat of her muzzle. To my surprise, she slowly trotted to the first body, Load, and knelt down beside him. She muttered something over the pony’s devastated body, and carefully kissed his burned forehead. As creepy as it was, I didn’t feel the need to stop her, there didn’t seem to be any harm done. She passed down the line slowly, stopping to render each body the same respect until she reached Doc. The mare froze and looked over to me for a few seconds, as if she expected me to jump on her if she moved again. Her eyes briefly drifted to Charmer before she finally knelt down and performed the strange ceremony for the dead filly.

After she finished, Seer quickly backed away from us and looked down the line of the dead. “I’ll try to find a shovel,” she murmured, just loud enough for us to hear before quickly turning and leaving us alone again. I think that beating her for a while somehow knocked something loose under that beaded mane.

Digging the graves took quite a while, even with the shovel that Seer had found. We only had the one, and she insisted on being the one to dig, no matter how many times Felix and I offered to help. It may seem crazy that I wanted to help her, and I didn’t. I wanted to give the ponies of Shanty the burial they deserved, and if that meant helping Seer, so be it. I ended up using my hooves to dig, no matter how slow it was.

Moving most of the bodies wasn’t too hard either. Me and Seer took care of that part, being the only two in a condition to do so at all. Felix was too small to help lift the bodies, and Charmer still hadn’t said a word or moved a muscle since I brought Strike over to the highway. Every minute that went on she seemed to be getting worse, and I was starting to get worried that she’d never want to leave that spot. I didn’t blame her at all.

Once Doc was finally in her grave along with the others, Seer and I stepped to the side of Felix and Charmer, looking over the bodies again. I don’t know why, but seeing them all in the graves like that hit me harder than when they were collapsed with the town, or leaning against a rock behind Load’s shop. I didn’t realize it until right then, but somewhere deep down I had convinced myself that they weren’t really dead, or that they could magically jump up and act like nothing happened. In the graves though, that is when the realization that they were gone truly hit me.

I looked to the others to make sure I wasn’t the only one, and was slightly relieved that Felix had started to break as well. Charmer had stood up to look over the bodies, but the same lifeless expression lingered over her face. This couldn’t have been her first funeral, not in the Wasteland. I’d only been out in it a few days and had seen more death than in my entire life before that point, and I shuddered to imagine how much she and Seer must have seen. But I guess everyone has their limits, and Charmer had finally reached hers at the sight of Doc and Strike.

So we all stood there, looking at the graves for Caesar knows how long. Nobody said a word, the silence only being broken once or twice by distant gunfire. As the light from the cloud-shielded sun began to dim, Seer slowly lifted the shovel from the dirt beside her. I didn’t know if I was ready to bury them all yet, but it was probably safest to do it before night. I stepped forward with the mare, only to be stopped by Charmer’s voice.

“When I first showed up in Shanty, with my Momma,” she began quietly, her gaze locked on the mayor’s body. “Merry Scroll told her it was no place fit for a filly my age. He said we should keep goin’, but Momma said no. She bet him that if I could get a job in town before her, we would stay; if not we would leave. He of course agreed, but he didn’t know that I already knew how to play flute. He had a shack built for us three days later.”

I didn’t understand what she was doing at first, but it still stopped us from burying the bodies as long as she spoke. It only took a few seconds after that for me to figure it out though, and I quietly stepped back to the line and looked at each body in order.

“Load was like Grandpa, always offerin’ to help Momma with her chores.” Charmer sat down as she spoke, and for a second I thought I saw some life coming back to her face. “Later I learned that he just wanted under her tail, but he was still good to me even after she turned him down.” The corner of her eyes began to water slowly, and I was left again to wonder why she was doing that to herself. “He used to take me out behind the hills and show me how to use any new guns he scavenged. Momma hated it so much.”

The mare looked to the next body, and a small grin broke the corner of her mouth for a second. “Bullwhip was my first buck after Momma died. He was always nice, and even let me sneak a few bullets out of his bags from time to time for shootin’ practice. After a few months with him, Strike came to town on a caravan. Bullwhip tried to fight him over a bottle a’ whiskey, and Strike whipped him.” She actually chuckled, something I thought would be impossible for her at the time. Sure, it was more of a sobbing chuckle, but it was still there. “After that, I was in bed with him before Bullwhip could stand up.”

My cheeks burned as I quickly looked away, not sure why that was appropriate for her to bring up at a funeral, especially with Felix around. The mare froze as her head turned to the next body, and any momentary happiness she had gained from the stories about her younger life was gone. “Strike…he was the best thing that ever happened to me.” The mare sniffled as she looked over the body, and suddenly I was even more glad I hadn’t shown her the necklace he had been holding when he died. “Came back every few months with the caravan, and one day he decided to settle down here. He protected me, but still let me fight for myself if I could handle it. He wasn’t exactly nice, but he was always kind to me, and never did anythin’ to hurt me if he could help it.” Her voice started to crack as she spoke, and I knew that she’d brought herself back to the edge. At least she was talking this time, instead of acting like she was already dead. “Bastard courted me for two years without proposin’, but those were the best two years of my life.”

Finally, her gaze reached Doc’s resting body, and the mare broke completely. “Doc…her Momma was the town doctor since I showed up. When she was born, we were all so happy to have her. She was the sweetest thing.” The mare shook her head briefly before looking back up to the body. “Her Momma died when she was only five, and all of us pitched in to help her grow up. The day she got her cutiemark, Neishka had been in a pissy mood and bit my hoof. I ran up to the clinic to find Little Doc studyin’ her Momma’s notes. We never really had any emergencies around here, so she’d never done much medical work before.” Thankfully, Charmer chuckled again between her sobs. “I thought I was gonna die with that filly workin’ on me. But a few hours later I was all fixed, and that little girl was bouncin’ around like a Bloatsprite hollerin’ about her new cutiemark.”

I grinned a little at that, because I instantly pictured Felix the day his glyph showed up. He had done the same thing, jumping around my room in joy to show off his glyph as I congratulated him and tried to calm him down. That was when I realized why Charmer had told all those stories about the townsponies. She was remembering the good times with them, the times that made her happy rather than focus on the sadness. And it was contagious. I could have never pictured myself smiling at a funeral, but there I was, sitting with a grin on my face as Charmer just tried to pull herself out of the darkness.

* * *

I took the first guard shift of the night, deciding that Seer would need at least some time to recover and possibly let her eye open again so that she could see better in the dark. We were the only two who were going to take a shift, giving Charmer time to rest after what had happened, and Felix couldn’t shoot anyways. I hoped that nothing would happen during the night; we didn’t have any more medical supplies if somebody got hurt, and I was the only one that was actually fully capable at the time. I didn’t know how well Seer could do in a fight after what I’d done to her, and I didn’t expect Charmer to be up to fighting either, plus we only had my pistol and Seer’s rifle.

As I rounded the rubble again I glanced over to the tarp where the others were sleeping; Doc’s hiding spot after the attack. There wasn’t much space in there, but it was just enough for three of us to get inside and rest if we didn’t mind being cramped. I turned my eyes back out to the Wasteland, barely able to see beyond the edge of town in the darkness of the night. The clouds must have been thicker than usual, because it was one of the darker nights I’d seen in my life. Maybe the ash from the fire somehow made it darker.

I didn’t know how long I had been out on guard, but it was getting harder and harder to stay awake even walking around. That was around the time I realized we had no way to tell what time it was, so I couldn’t wake up Seer for her shift at the right time. Wonderful. I could always wake her up early, or late, or whenever I was about to fall asleep, but I didn’t know if she had enough time for the swelling in her eye to go down. If it was hard for me to see with both eyes, I was worried that she might not be able to see a threat approaching in the night until it was too late.

“You look tired,” a soft voice called behind me. I spun around with my pistol at the ready to find Seer staring at me from just outside the tarp. “Go get some sleep.” Her eye didn’t look like it had healed very much, but it was open a little wider than it had been at the funeral earlier in the day.

“Are you going to be okay with that eye?” I asked, not so much caring about her eye, but more for the safety of Charmer, Felix and myself.

“I still have one,” she countered. “Have you seen anything?”

I shook my head as I walked toward her, anxious to get some sleep. She nodded in understanding and pulled the rifle from her back, leaving it to hang under her chin like the first time we’d met. A soft clink pulled my attention to that same strange ball hanging down from the sight. I’d seen it three times now, and I couldn’t stand not asking anymore.

“What is that thing on your rifle?”

The mare looked at me quizzically for a few seconds, then turned her gaze down to the necklace-looking-thing. “Oh, it’s a charm.”

“A charm? Why is it on your gun?”

“It, um…gives good luck to my bullets,” she explained nervously, quickly trotting by me.

“Is that how you killed that robot so quickly yesterday?” I asked with a cocked eyebrow, turning away from the shelter to face her.

She sighed and stopped walking. “That’s part of it. The rest is a story for another time. Now, go get some sleep.”

So she was back to being bossy Seer again? “Why can’t you just tell me what you said? I saw you whispering something before you shot it.”

Seer turned back to me with a stern look. “It wouldn’t help you, so just let it go.”

“Why not? Do I need one of those little charms for it to help?”

“Shayle, just go to bed,” she finally snapped. “Maybe I’ll tell you one day, but now isn’t the time.”

“Fine,” I growled before turning back to the tent. “It’s just a stupid piece of metal,” I mumbled under my breath before pulling back the tarp to go inside.

I shrugged the bags off my back and onto the ground just outside the tarp, there wasn’t enough room inside for them and all of us to sleep, so I placed them beside the others. My gun stayed in my holster on my hoof though; if we got attacked during Seer’s shift I wanted to be ready. I grinned a little at the sight of Charmer holding Felix close to her, like a mother holding a child who couldn’t sleep. If it had been anyone else I might have gotten worried, but they had been through a lot, and if it helped them sleep to be close to each other I wasn’t going to argue.

I squeezed myself under the table at the back of the hole we were spending the night in and curled up as comfortably as I could; trying not to make too much noise that might wake the other two up. Trying to get to sleep was harder than it should have been with how tired I was. My mind was going crazy with thoughts about why Seer wouldn’t tell me about the charm or what she said, like it was some weird secret only she was allowed to know. Maybe I shouldn’t have even asked, because at least when I didn’t know what the charm was I could still sleep. Now I still didn’t completely know what it was and I was busy trying to figure out why her little whispers magically made her bullets incredibly lucky.

Stupid mysterious zebra.

* * *

Waking up was painful. I hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep after my shift, and my body begged for me to go back to sleep as we trotted down the highway toward what would hopefully be Charmer’s new home. It felt strange taking someone else to find somewhere to live only a few days after I’d found my new home, and the circumstances that caused it made it even worse. Thankfully, the green mare was more lively than she had been before the funeral. I had expected her to take a little longer to recover, but telling the stories about each of the dead townsponies must have been better for her than I thought.

“What is this town called?” Felix asked as we followed Seer. He was still staying close to Charmer while we walked, and I was starting to worry that when we got to wherever we were going the two would break down without each other.

“Spur,” Seer replied calmly. “Not the friendliest ponies, but I don’t think they’ll shoot at us right away.”

“You don’t think they will?” I asked with a worried tone.

“It depends on their mood.” That didn’t instill any confidence in me.

“What if they do?” Charmer prodded quietly.

“Then we’ll have to try somewhere else,” Seer told her with a sigh.

I really didn’t want to have to walk all the way around New Oatleans to the other town Seer had mentioned the day before. I would do it if we had to so Charmer could be safe, but it would put us even further behind on our job from Caesar’s Stand, and we were already on our second day away from searching. I didn’t know if the officer we were doing it for had a timeline to keep, but if he did I would rather not keep him waiting.

“Can you tell us about Spur?” Felix asked after a few minutes of silence.

“No, zebras aren’t exactly welcome there,” Seer replied bluntly. “All I know is the name.”

Well, there went our distraction from the boring walk.

“It’s built around an old Equestrian Airbase,” Charmer spoke up. “Spurris.” Thank you Charmer, but they weren’t really creative with that name were they? “From what Momma used to tell me, the founders were a group of scavengers hopin’ to find a stash of pre-war weapons they could sell for a quick cap. When they got there, it was still mostly intact after the war, so they camped out for a little while.”

“And they ended up staying?” Felix questioned brightly, seemingly excited to be learning something new.

“Exactly,” Charmer replied with a grin. “Traders who visited the camp felt safer there than in the Wasteland, so they stuck around and eventually the camp turned into a pretty big town. Now they don’t sell their weapons at all, instead they keep ‘em to defend themselves. It’s one of the safest towns around here.”

“Safer than Caesar’s Stand?” Felix looked at her with a puzzled look.

“I wouldn’t know. Ponies can’t go there…so I guess Spur is like our version of that town.”

“Just without the soldiers,” Seer added. “They camp out closer to the city.”

“Yeah,” the pony agreed, sounding surprisingly warm toward our guide after what had happened. “Spur doesn’t like Steel Rangers any more than zebras, they’re worried that the soldiers would take all their guns.”

“Who are the Steel Rangers?” I asked from the back of the group. I’d heard them mentioned twice now, and they sounded like they were important around New Oatleans.

“They’re what remain of the Equestrian Military,” Charmer explained. “Except instead of defendin’ anyone, they just hoard weapons and pre-war technology for their own use. If ya’ can’t give ‘em any of that, they don’t care about ya’.”

That was surprising to hear. Why was it that the pony government, or whatever they had in the Wasteland, didn’t feel the need to protect their own kind? I didn’t understand. “Why don’t they help you?”

“They just don’t,” Charmer clarified. “If ya’ want to know, feel free to try askin’ one of them.”

I think I’ll pass.

“What do they look like?” Felix asked curiously. I don’t know why he asked, I was picturing ponies in armor and carrying rifles like the Remnant soldiers did. Not the Scorpions of course, just the regular soldiers who I’d seen much of my life.

“Robotic ponies,” Charmer told us with an oblivious look. “You’ve never seen them before?” We both shook our heads. “Wow…well I’m sure ya’ will eventually. They’re everywhere around here except near Caesar’s Stand. But most are in New Oatleans or just South of there.”

“Why’s that?” I asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Because there’s a war going on there,” Seer interrupted. “You didn’t think we were fighting Raiders there did you?”

“Well…no…but I just thought they were regular soldiers, like the Remnant.”

Charmer chuckled and shook her head slowly before looking back at me with an amused stare. “You thought there was an organized army of ponies like back in the old days?”

“Yeah, you just said the Steel Rangers were. Don’t ponies have other soldiers too?” I was officially confused. Charmer and Seer stopped in front of me and turned with a look that screamed ‘are you serious?’

“Shayle…the Steel Rangers aren’t a pony army, they’re their own army,” Seer explained flatly.

“Okay, so what do the ponies have for an army?”

“We don’t.” Charmer deadpanned. “The only pony armies are the Steel Rangers, and Red Eye’s slavers to the North. But those’re private armies. They only serve themselves.” She looked at me for a few more seconds, then frowned. “How did ya’ not know any of this?”

What? I’m a zebra, how was I supposed to know about pony army stuff? Besides, I grew up with the Remnant, never went to school, and only knew anything about the Wasteland from stories the elders told me! Was all of this stuff really common knowledge for everyone that wasn’t me?

“I never learned it,” I explained with a scowl. “Why would this stuff be important anyways? It’s not like knowing it makes a huge difference to me.”

“Because if you don’t know who will and won’t shoot you, you won’t survive out here,” Seer pointed out flatly. “Almost everyone that isn’t a zebra wants to kill you and me, Shayle. You’re lucky you found Shanty first, because otherwise you’d be dead.”

That had to be a lie. Not everyone could hate zebras or try to kill us on sight, that would just be ridiculous! Raiders and bandits might, but they tried to kill everyone, not just zebras. Then again, Charmer and Strike had shot at us the first time we met, and only stopped because Felix explained that we weren’t Remnant. I turned my gaze to Charmer, hoping that she would say Seer was just exaggerating. Instead, I was met with a sad nod that she was right.

“But…why does everyone hate us?” I asked sadly, not sure if I wanted to know.

“The same reason we’re supposed to hate them,” Felix answered quietly. “Remember the elders telling us about how ponies ruined the world and are evil?” I nodded. “They think the same thing about us.”

“Not all of us,” Charmer corrected. “Some of us know ya’ aren’t evil, Shayle. Most ponies do, but most ponies have never seen a zebra before. Around New Oatleans it used to be different, but when the Remnant and Steel Rangers showed up, that changed.”

“Why?” Felix asked with a quizzical look.

“Because they’re both extremists,” Charmer answered confidently. I was shocked to see Seer nodding in agreement in front of her. “The Steel Rangers only want technology, and don’t care what they have to do to get it. And the Remnant only want to kill every pony they see.”

That couldn’t be true, the Scorpions hadn’t killed her or Doc before I showed up!

“Of course, that’s just in general,” Seer added matter-of-factly. “There are always those on either side who don’t agree with what their leaders say or do, but what the majority does becomes the norm.”

“That’s why we thought you were Remnant at first,” Charmer spoke up again. “Most zebras around here are, and we couldn’t take the chance.” So they shot at us.

I knew that the Wasteland was pretty bad, and that there was a lot of stuff that would try to kill me, but until that moment I never knew that everyone who wasn’t a zebra would shoot me just because of my stripes. When I was younger I was always told ponies were evil, and that they caused all of the bad stuff in our lives, but it was never something I could believe. Zebras caused pain in life too; in fact the only pain I had ever known before leaving home was caused by a zebra. But what they were telling me made it sound like there were almost no good ponies or zebras at all. I had been lucky to run into two ponies who didn’t care if I was a zebra, they only thought I was some kind of murderer, which was apparently what the Remnant were. I still didn’t believe that part, even if Seer had agreed with it. They had protected me and my brother from the Wasteland all our lives, how could they be evil like Charmer said?

“So, who are we safe around?” I asked with a frown.

Seer and Charmer looked at each other for a moment, then back to us, as if they both knew we wouldn’t like the answer.

“Us,” Charmer replied with a ghost of a grin, something that helped me a little.

But that feeling of safety was quickly ruined by an unearthly scream that nearly threw me to my haunches. I had seen Seer replying, but never got to hear what she said in comparison to Charmer’s answer over the scream of something hungry. I didn’t even need to ask what it was, because I’d already heard it once in the past week.

“Shit, ferals!” Seer screamed as she spun to face the hills North of us. The rifle snapped forward as she lifted it to fire, and instantly began putting bullets into the hill. I pulled out my own pistol as Felix dove behind me, turning to the hills to see a swarm of rotting bodies bounding toward us. It didn’t seem possible for them to be moving that fast, but I didn’t bother to complain as I joined in with Seer’s gunfire.

One and two at a time the beasts fell to the dirt, only to be trampled by the group as they tried to reach their new meal. I wasn’t about to let that happen. Unfortunately, I didn’t think I had enough bullets to stop them before they overwhelmed us, and even Seer was starting to look worried as the swarm continued to approach us.

“Let’s just run for it,” Charmer pleaded from behind us. “We have a better chance of making it to Spur than trying to fight them off.”

Seer continued to fire until her rifle clicked on empty, then dropped it to hang from her neck again as she screamed in frustration. “Go, now,” she commanded as she switched out the magazine.

Charmer and Felix took off immediately, not bothering to argue with the other zebra as she opened fire again. I stayed beside her for a second, considering sticking behind with her, but that would leave the others defenseless if Seer went down.

I tuned and bolted after the others, still holding the half-loaded pistol in my jaw as I tried to catch up with them. It wasn’t too hard considering one of them was badly burned, and the other refused to leave her behind. Behind me, I could still hear the shots of Seer’s rifle occasionally accented by a scream from a fallen ghoul. Ahead of us was a pair of hills with a large barricade built across it, and almost a half mile behind that I could see a fence around a concrete tower.

I dropped my pistol into my bag as we ran, hoping I wouldn’t need it in a hurry. “Please tell me that’s not as far as it looks!” I yelled to Charmer.

“It’s not…as far as it looks,” she replied between gasps for air.

“Yes it is!” Felix argued from beside her with a panicked look.

“She didn’t ask…for the truth.”

I spun my head around when I realized that the gunfire had stopped, and expected to see a mass of rotting bodies climbing over a screaming mare. Instead, I saw a mass of rotting bodies stumbling over each other to try and reach a screaming mare as she bolted toward us as fast as she could. I never expected Seer of all zebras to look like a frightened filly, but I suppose a mob of flesh-eating monsters had that effect on everyone.

As we ran, I became acutely aware of a soft thumping in the air. At first I thought it might be gunfire, but it sounded too heavy, not like the popping I usually noticed with guns in the distance. And I wasn’t the only one to notice either.

“What’s that sound?” Felix asked nobody in particular, more focused on running than directing his question toward anyone in particular.

“Who cares? Just keep running!” Seer screamed as she finally caught up with us.

As we reached the two hills, the thumping grew to deafening levels, and a burst of air blasted down on us as…something flew over us.

I craned my head to watch the metal whatever it was shoot over us and go into a hover over the swarm of charging ghouls. “What…the hell…” I asked with a look of awe.

The clatter of gunfire tore through the air, somehow louder than the thumping of the machine as it continued to hover over the mob. Spurts of sickly colored fluid sprayed from the ghouls as a wall of bullets tore through them, peppered with bits of rotten flesh and some limbs. I would have commented on how disgusting it was, but I was too busy thanking Caesar that a giant flying thing was saving our lives.

We all came to a stop just before the barricade in the road, falling to our rumps to catch our breath and watch as the last few ghouls were torn apart.

“That…is…awesome,” Seer commented as she gasped for air, a rather creepy grin curled over her muzzle. I barely heard her over the thumping in the air, but I had to agree. Whatever that thing was, I wanted it.

Once all of the ghouls had perished, the machine spun around in the air to face us, and a pair of cannons on either side of the body swiveled their barrels right at us. A wall of dirt and rocks swept over us as it turned, stinging my eyes and probably adding a few bruises to all of us as the rocks peppered us.

“Still awesome?” Charmer asked with a rasp beside me.

“Remain where you are,” a magnified voice blared from somewhere on the machine as it continued to aim at us. “Security forces will arrive shortly.”

I couldn’t tell you if that was good or bad to me at the time, because I was still just glad to be alive.

The machine continued to hover over us while we waited. The sound coming from it pounded the air constantly, slowly causing my head to pound along with it until I thought I would be deaf forever. The guns never moved from us, and trying to ignore them was proving to be impossible after seeing what they’d done to the ferals that had been chasing us.

Felix, Charmer and myself all sat there looking around in worry as we waited for the ‘security forces’ to arrive from wherever they were at, but Seer had decided to take the chance to clean her rifle. She had somehow gone from screaming like a frightened foal to calmly cleaning her gun while being aimed at by a pair of machine guns. She was crazy, there was no other way to describe it.

“How are you so calm?” I shouted to her over the din of the rotor blades on the machine.

“What do you mean? It’s just a gunship,” she replied without looking up from her rifle.

“So, those were just ghouls and you were screaming!”

She stopped and turned her eyes up to me. “Being eaten alive is a little different than being blown to pieces.”

“How?” I shouted, throwing my hooves in the air.

“Being eaten hurts a lot more.”

I deadpanned and turned away from her, not even caring to think of an argument against that.

After a few more minutes the gunship pulled away from us and rose to the sky, finally relieving our ears and heads of the constant thumping. Unfortunately it left behind a constant ringing that almost made it harder to hear than the machine did. All of us looked over to see a trio of ponies walking up to us; one on either side of the lead pony with a pair of rifles slung on their back in some strange contraption, with the lead pony carrying a shotgun across his back.

“What are you doing out here?” the leader asked gruffly, but I barely heard him through the ringing in my head.

Charmer stood up and looked over to them, an action which was returned with the sound of loading rifles from the two ponies in the back. “We don’t mean any trouble,” the green mare promised louder than she probably needed to. “I’m from Shanty, and-”

The lead pony recoiled slightly at the sight of Charmer’s bandages, and his tone quickly changed. “I’m so sorry miss, I didn’t realize.” The pony looked to the rest of us and cocked an eyebrow. “But why are you with stripes?” We’re right here!

“They saved me,” Charmer explained calmly. “And they brought me here to try and keep me safe.”

“Well this is certainly the right place for that,” the lead buck told her with a nod. He looked up and waved into the air, and I was suddenly aware that the machine had been circling over us since it lifted off. After the leader waved, it wobbled slightly before speeding back toward the structure in the distance; I guessed that was Spur. “Unfortunately they cannot come any further.”

To my surprise, Charmer frowned at that. “So you’ll let me stay?”

“Of course. You’ve lost your home, why would we turn a fellow pony away after such a thing?”

The mare turned to us, looking between me and Felix sadly. “Well…thanks again…”

That didn’t sound very reassuring. “Are you going to be okay?” I asked with my own frown.

“I…” she looked back to Spur longingly, but quickly turned her eyes back on us. “I don’t know.”

“What’s wrong?” Felix asked as he stepped toward her.

“I just don’t know if I wanna leave ya’,” she explained somberly. “After what happened to Shanty, you’re all I have left. It sounds stupid, but ya’ll are the closest thing I have to family.”

I stepped forward and placed a hoof on her shoulder, trying to grin for her sake. “But this could be home for you. You’ll be safe, and I’m sure they’ll take care of you.” The guard pony nodded in assurance behind her.

“It won’t be home without somepony who actually cares,” Charmer argued quietly. “Can’t I stay with you, just for a while?”

I couldn’t believe it. She had the chance at a home where she would be safe and with her own kind, but she wanted to throw that away just to stay with some zebras she barely knew? Why didn’t she tell us that before we walked all the way out here?

“I’m sorry Charmer, but like you said, you wouldn’t be welcome in Caesar’s Stand with us.” I hated to tell her no like that, but staying in Spur would be better for her. Even if she didn’t want to see us leave, she could make better friends there, ones that wouldn’t bring her trouble and death.

“I know, but,” the mare shook her head. “Never mind. Go live your life.”

At this point Felix was glaring at me like he had back when I forced him to leave Shanty. He knew as well as I did that she couldn’t stay with us, so why was he so upset that I turned her down? It was for her safety, and there was nowhere else for her to go! We could take her to the other town, but would she really change her mind by that point? She seemed set on staying with us no matter where we tried to take her, and I doubted a more zebra-friendly town would change that.

Charmer pulled away from me and turned to Felix, wrapping her hooves around him in a tight embrace. “Take care of yourself buddy,” she told him softly, looking like she didn’t intend to release him.

Felix quickly returned the hug and sniffled. “You too.”

I don’t know when those two became so close, or when they started looking like a mother and her son, but when they released that hug I just cracked. As horrible of an idea as it was, Charmer had already been through enough loss and misery without me forcing her away from the last two zebras she knew.

“Fine,” I grumbled softly as Charmer trotted to the guards. “You can come with us.”

“What?” Seer snapped behind me. “Shayle, she’s got nowhere to go! What are you going to do, dump her in a ditch outside town every night?”

“No,” I corrected her sternly. “We’ll find somewhere close to Caesar’s Stand and spend the nights there. You and Felix can sleep in town, and me and Charmer will meet you in the mornings to keep looking for that stuff on our list.” Like I said, it was probably a bad idea.

“You would do that for me?” Charmer asked sappily, her frown finally starting to turn up to a ghost of a grin.

“Yes. Like you said, what’s home without someone who cares?”

“I can’t stay with you?” Felix asked grumpily.

Oh come on, was I really the only one who cared about safety? “Felix, it won’t be safe out of town, you should stay there with Seer and I’m sure she will watch out for you until we figure out what to do.” I shot a glare over to Seer to drive my point home and make sure she understood, but she was still drilling holes in my head with her stare.

“Yeah, I’ll watch out for you,” she finally agreed, even if she sounded like she wanted to club my face in with that rifle.

Felix grumbled and trotted over to Charmer.

“So…you aren’t staying?” the lead guard finally asked. He looked like we had been talking in some foreign language.

“No,” Charmer confirmed happily. “But thank ya’ for the offer.”

The three guards stared at the group of us for a few seconds before turning away with bewildered glances. Now that we’d gotten that out of the way, all I had to do was find a place for me and Charmer to spend the night near Caesar’s Stand. Easy enough, right?

* * *

Wrong.

As the sun began to set behind the clouds overhead, we finally found a shack about a mile out of Caesar’s Stand that would have to work as me and Charmer’s home until she had enough time to get over what happened. I hoped it wouldn’t take long for her, but after losing that much, I wasn’t planning on a night in Caesar’s Stand for a while. Because that was my luck; I found a nice place to live with my brother, only to be dragged back out after a few days. At least I could see the lights of Caesar’s Stand from the field our temporary home was in.

It wasn’t anything special, but at least the structure had walls and a sturdy roof for us to sleep under. And I didn’t plan to spend much time there outside of sleeping; I still had a job to do after all. I just hoped nothing would happen to us while we rested each night. First things first though, we had to clear it out. Of course it was too much to hope for an empty shack, such a thing could never exist in the Wasteland. The one we’d found was currently the home of a group of five ponies. At first Charmer argued that we couldn’t take a home away from the group of traders, but she quickly changed her mind when we found out what they were trading. The five we saw at first were definitely traders, but their merchandise came into view after a few minutes of watching; a trio of chained and blindfolded foals.

“So, how do you want to kill them?” Charmer growled beside me.

“The most painful way possible,” Seer suggested, already unslinging her rifle.

“Agreed,” I hissed from between them.

The only one who seemed a little put off by our decision was Felix, who had stopped a few feet behind us. “Do they really deserve that?” he asked shyly.

“Yes, yes they do,” Seer answered roughly. “If there’s one thing you don’t do, it’s treat foals like property.”

I nodded in agreement and readied my pistol before looking over at an unarmed Charmer. “Neeth a gum?” Talking around a pistol didn’t work very well.

“No, I’m sure I’ll find a better way ta’ kill ‘em.” If we were talking about anyone else, that would have sounded horrible.

“Great, let’s go,” Seer growled anxiously before lifting her rifle and charging forward.

I jumped up and followed her, waiting to shoot until she started the fight. Charmer did her best to keep up, but I could tell the burns were still hurting her under the bandages as she ran. One of the slavers must have seen us charging, because he darted into the shack screaming. Before we were half way there, the first bullets began to fly by us as they opened fire. Seer instantly returned the favor, sending a burst of fire toward them with every step she took.

I had seen her in a fight before, but this was different. The mare hardly looked like she was aiming, and the speed of her rifle’s shots was erratic. Bullets pinged everywhere around the slavers, but never actually hit them, and yet she didn’t slow down or try to fix her aim. I quickly joined in the fire, but tried to actually hit my targets rather than just scare them.

One of my rounds bit into one of the slaver’s eye with a splash of blood, and she fell with a scream to roll around in pain. I internally celebrated the first time I’d actually hit something while running, and quickly changed targets as Seer reached the shack. Before I knew what was happening, the mare had leaped toward one of the slavers and swung her rifle like a bat. The heated barrel cracked into the stallion’s head with a pop I could hear almost twenty feet behind the apparently very upset mare. Just like mine had, her target toppled with a scream as Seer pinned him down and started stomping his chest with all four hooves. His shouts for mercy quickly faded as his lungs popped one at a time under the weight of her blows, and soon his chest folded in like a crumpled cigarette pack.

My next target ate two bullets as I continued to fire over Seer, killing him instantly. Charmer was close behind me as we entered the shed, and I froze at the sight of the last to slavers holding shotguns to the heads of two colts.

“Don’t come any closer!” one of them ordered. “We’ll kill ‘em! Ah swear we will.” How did he talk around that gun so well?

“And then we’ll kill you,” Charmer promised beside me.

The two slavers looked at each other for a moment before turning back to us and lowering their guns. “Okay, we give up. Just…let us go.”

Nope.

A bullet flashed by my ear and flew right between the eyes of the first buck, throwing him forward to his chest as the back of his head blew out on the wall. Charmer squealed and dove to the side as I went the other way. Even if she hadn’t been aiming at me, Seer’s bullet was way too close. The second pony lifted his shotgun and fired at Seer, knocking the rifle from her mouth and adding a few new cuts to her face. Charmer quickly ran forward and jumped on him, screaming something I dare not repeat as she pummeled him into the floor.

And that was that. Charmer finished up with the final slaver, jamming his skull in with one last punch as his body quivered in misery. When she finally stood and turned back to me, half of her bandages had unraveled from her effort, revealing a disturbing rippled skin with no sign of regrown coat. At least the potions had done something to fix her up.

“Never do that again,” the green mare hissed to the other zebra between heavy breaths.

“Hey, it worked right?” Seer argued, not seeming to be bothered by the lightly bleeding gashes in her face.

“Yes, but you almost took my head off.”

I glanced between the two and nodded along with Charmer. “At least warn us next time?” I requested, not expecting her to agree.

“I’ll consider it.” The other zebra lifted her rifle and sighed at the damage before slinging it over her back and looking around. “This looks nice and cozy.”

“Um…hello?” Oh, yeah, the foals were still chained up.

I trotted over to them and stared at the chains for a moment before moving to search each of the slavers for a key. Charmer knelt down beside the foals as I looked, quietly assuring them that we were helping. The two colts looked pretty happy for that, but the filly still looked skeptical.

“Are you gonna take us home?” she asked quietly. She looked like she’d been out in the wastes for years, and I think she took most of the dirt with her; I couldn’t even tell what color her coat was supposed to be. What I could tell was that there was a thin trickle of dried blood running down the inside of her back legs, and that her tail was clamped under her like a vise.

The amount of control it took to not start shooting dead slavers was astonishing.

Before I lost it, I quickly ran outside to check the last few slavers for a key. Seer checked the one she had clobbered while I checked the buck I’d killed second. Still no key. Only one body left.

And it was still breathing.

“Please…” the mare squealed. “Help me.” She still held a hoof up to the eye I’d shot out at the start of the fight, looking up to me pleadingly with her remaining eye.

“Go on Shayle, help her out of her misery,” Seer hissed behind me.

I nodded and pulled the pistol from my holster, taking aim to finish the mare off.

“Shayle?” I froze as Felix’s voice called out from behind me. I didn’t turn around, I couldn’t risk the mare trying anything if I pulled the gun away. “She’s not armed…she just wants help.” He sounded like he was going to cry. Why he was upset, I don’t know.

“It’s okay Felix, she was a bad, bad pony,” Seer tried to assure him. “And your sister is punishing her for what she did to those foals in there.”

“Why though? Did you ask if she had a good reason?”

A good reason?! For selling foals? What reason could ever be good enough?

“There is no good reason Felix,” Seer told him softly. “Now, do you want to go inside and help the other kids?”

I could feel Felix’s eyes locked on me as I held the pistol steady on the mare’s shaking head, begging me not to do it for one reason or another. After a few seconds, I heard his little hooves trotting toward the shack, and eventually fade away.

“Please…” the mare begged one last time.

Sorry Felix.

Bang

Footnote: Level Up! (Guns 45)

New Perk: Quick Draw- Weapon Equipping and Holstering is now 50% faster

Author’s Notes: Once again, a huge thanks to Kkat and Somber for writing their amazing stories and creating the sandbox I now play around in. This wouldn’t have been possible without you, and I could never thank you two enough for that. For this chapter, thank you two the Project Horizons discussion group for helping me find details needed for a certain element. And of course thank you to my pre-readers for continuing to make sure I don’t mess this up!

Chapter 8: The Wasteland

Chapter 8: The Wasteland
“There’s good out here.”

I dumped the final body in the old crater we found, a reminder of the war that ravaged New Oatleans centuries ago. Her body crumpled over the other dead slavers we’d taken care of, her eyeless corpse staring up at me with an almost questioning look. Had she been able to speak in death, I don’t doubt she’d be asking me ‘Why?’ Because she took innocent foals and sold them for a life. Because she had allowed the others to defile a helpless filly and possibly two colts. I didn’t need any more reason than that.

“Let’s get back to the shack,” Seer suggested behind me as she tried to wipe a trail of blood from her jacket. I nodded and turned to follow her, ready to possibly get a full night’s sleep rather than the catnap I had the night before.

When we got back, Charmer and Felix had finished unchaining the foals and were working on trying to clean them up a little bit. None of them said a word to any of us, sitting perfectly silent as the green pony tore open a bag of pre-war carrot chips for them. The filly seemed completely uninterested in the food, and let the two colts cautiously accept the bag.

“Eat up young ones,” Seer chirped to them. “You look so hungry.”

I was slightly surprised by her tone with them. I guess I expected her to be cold toward them and simply order them to eat rather than requesting it. But they seemed to calm down a little and eagerly started munching on the little orange chips. They still cast us each a worried glance on occasion, and they still didn’t say a single word to any of us, but they seemed to understand we were trying to help.

Once they had almost finished the snack off, Seer turned to me. “I’m going back to Caesar’s Stand. We’ll meet you here tomorrow morning to head out.”

“What about them,” I pointed to the foals. “We need to take them home first.”

“We’ll take them on our way to the Stable, it’s a ways out from here.” She turned to them with a small grin. “They’ll be safe before we get there.”

I nodded and turned to Felix. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

The colt huffed and trotted over to Seer. “Yeah, enjoy your night,” he retorted without looking at me.

I cocked an eyebrow at the two as they left, and turned to Charmer. “Did I do something wrong?”

“You mean besides send him away with Seer, who I can only guess is still a stranger to you two?” she asked with a ‘are you serious’ glare.

“Oh…right. Well it’s to keep him safe,” I pointed out, but her gaze didn’t change.

“And it’s okay for you to stay out here where it ‘isn’t safe’ with me and three kids,” she quipped sarcastically.

I couldn’t argue with that, but it was already done. “We’ll be fine,” I assured, more for the foals than Charmer or myself. “If anything happens I can fight.”

“With one pistol? And what if they sneak up on us?”

Once again, no argument. It was starting to look like I’d be up all night on guard again, except this time there was no relief unless Charmer didn’t mind helping out with it.

I was about to bring that up when the filly finally spoke. “Ah can help,” she said shyly, still watching over the two colts while they ate.

“You can?” I asked in a confused tone. I could see Charmer pulling a guard shift, but a filly? That would just be ridiculous. Was she even old enough to know how to shoot?

“Yeah, Ah’ll make an alarm.” With what? Unless she magically conjured up a bunch of wires with her earth pony powers I didn’t see it happening.

“That would be great,” Charmer responded with a smile, pulling a gaze of surprise from me. Was I really missing something?

The filly grinned a little and stood up again, trotting to a pile of trash in the corner of the shed. She tossed out a few empty cans and trotted over to me with a cautious look. “Do ya’ have any strings?” No I didn’t have any strings! Why would you need it?

“No, I don’t.” The filly stepped back and frowned, looking like she’d done something wrong. “I mean, no, sorry. Is there anything else you can use?” I asked much more softly. Maybe if I knew what she needed it for I could help find a replacement easier.

“Anythin’ ta’ tie on the cans,” she nervously clarified. “The straps on yer bags could work.”

I frowned at the suggestion, but when the filly looked even sadder I couldn’t say no again. I guess I could always get new bags, and it wasn’t like I carried much in them. I shrugged the bags from my back and set them beside the filly, grinning and nodding to her that it was okay.

A small smile formed on her lips, and she started biting on the straps that held the two together. After a little work, the straps came off, and she happily took them over to the cans. I don’t know why, but I was curious to see what she was doing suddenly. Maybe it was because it might get me out of a nightly guard shift and would keep me in bed instead. I quietly trotted up behind the filly and sat down, peering over her shoulder at the cans and straps.

She was just staring at them as if she couldn’t think of what to do yet, and I was slightly disappointed that she wasn’t doing some kind of pony magic to make it work somehow. She spun around to ask something, and almost jumped out of her skin when she saw me only a few inches behind her.

“Sorry, sorry,” I apologized quickly. “I just wanted to see what you’re doing.”

After a few deep breaths, the little pony looked me over from head to hoof. She sighed and looked around me to the pair of colts. “Ruckus, can Ah borrow ya’?” One of the colts, a unicorn, stood up and walked over without a word, keeping a few feet between me and him as he trotted around to the cans. “Thank ya’,” the filly told him with a little smile. She picked up one of the cans and looked it over again, biting her tongue as she glanced up to Ruckus’ horn.

It was my turn to jump out of my skin as she slammed the bottom of the can over the colt’s horn. He didn’t even budge, so I think she’d done this before, but still! With a few little twists, she pulled the can off of his head and patted his mane gently. The base of the can had a perfectly round hole in the middle, just large enough for the strip of cloth from my bag to fit through.

The filly repeated the routine with each of the other three cans she’d gathered, smiling happily at her work. Once the last can had been punched, she kissed the tip of Ruckus’ horn and waved him back to the other colt. Once again, he kept his distance from me as he made his way back to the other colt and continued to watch their friend work.

I couldn’t begin to describe how the pony tied a knot in one end of the cloth strips, but it was rather impressive. After slipping the strip through one can and into another, she tied a knot on the other side to bind the two cans together. In the end, she had two of the strange creations.

She looked at each for a few seconds then glanced up to me. “Can ya’ pick that one up please?”

I slowly lowered my head and bit down on the cloth, lifting it with a confused look. Once I had gotten it off the floor, the two cans clanged together and I understood what she’d done. And here I was thinking she meant something electrical for an alarm. When it worked, the filly smiled brightly and lifted the other to make sure it was loud enough.

“Now we can all sleep, and if somepony hits the cans in the door or picks ‘em up we’ll hear ‘em.”

I smiled and nodded to the filly, clanging the cans together under my chin.

* * *

Getting the foals to sleep took a bit of work from me and Charmer, but the filly, who we learned was conveniently named Tinker, helped out a lot. She managed to convince the two colts that we actually were helping them, which is something they didn’t believe even after we killed the slavers who had been holding them, and that they should get some sleep so we could take them home the next morning.

When they finally fell asleep, huddled close together, I carefully placed the cans in the doorway like Tinker had told me before trotting to a corner to get some sleep of my own. Charmer took one last look out the open doorway, just to be sure there was nothing watching us, then trotted to my side before laying down a few feet away.

She sighed after a few seconds then rolled over to look at me. “Shayle?”

I cracked my eyes open to look at her. “Yeah?”

“Thanks again for lettin’ me come with ya’, I know this isn’t how ya’ wanted to spend your night.”

“It’s fine Charmer. If we hadn’t, we never would have found them,” I motioned over to the sleeping foals with my nose. “So it’s a good thing.”

“Yeah, but I still appreciate it,” she whispered. “I hope ya’ don’t hate me for imposin’.”

“Of course not,” I assured her. “You all took me in back in Shanty, I would be horrible for not returning the favor.” If only I had thought of that before I argued against her staying with us. So I was still at least a little horrible.

Charmer fell silent after that, and I looked over to see her gently sleeping. I sighed and closed my eyes again, hoping for a good night’s sleep for both of us.

It was strange going somewhere without Shayle, especially the place she called our home. I had never been far from her during my life, and I wasn’t sure if it would be easy to sleep knowing that she was out in the Wasteland without someone to help her if she got in any trouble. I knew that Charmer was there with her, and that was somewhat comforting, but she’d already been through so much that I didn’t know how much more she could take. I would have felt better if we’d all stayed in that shack, but I didn’t think that Seer would have been very big on it; she still seemed upset that we’d brought Charmer back with us.

I didn’t doubt that my sister could defend herself, she’d proven in only a few days that she didn’t mind killing to keep herself and others safe, and apparently killing just because she could didn’t bother her either. That was a thought that constantly lingered on my mind as we walked back; that Shayle was already being torn apart by the Wastes. I had never seen her as a zebra who would kill somebody, she had been so nice when we were younger. But she’d already taken a job to kill bandits just because we needed the money, and then she shot that slaver after she begged for mercy.

I was scared for her.

“So, Felix. How does a drink sound to you?” Seer asked me as we approached the gate of Caesar’s Stand.

“I just want to get to sleep,” I replied grumpily, not sure how she could be thinking of drinking after everything that had happened. Besides, I wasn’t old enough for that.

“Look, if you’re worried about Shayle finding out, I won’t tell her,” the mare explained with a sincere grin. “The past two days have been rough, and you deserve a little calming drink.”

She was right about that, I hated everything that happened since we got to Shanty. But I doubted a little alcohol would help me calm down like sleep could. “No, I’m fine. I’m too young to drink anyways,” I pointed out, hoping it would get her off my case.

“Too young? Felix, age doesn’t exist in the Wasteland. We’re all expected to survive right out of Mom, and that includes seeing others fail and die. After you’ve seen your best friend or family die, you’re an adult here.” Seer smiled down at me and rapped on the gate. “After Shanty, you’re old enough.”

I was still skeptical, but she made a good point. Back in Zeza, the town I used to call home before running away with Shayle, I would still be called a foal because I was physically young. I wouldn’t be expected to work for another few years, and only a couple of the others my age had a parent die while they were alive. Some had lost their Mother like I had, but most had at least their Dad alive, and none had actually seen their missing parent die. I guess those rules had to change in the Wasteland, because anyone could die at any time, there was no point in keeping track of age or caring about it.

“Fine, I’ll try,” I finally agreed, even if I was nervous about what might happen, and really just wanted to get some sleep in an actual bed. “But Shayle can’t know.”

“Trust me, she’ll never hear a word of this.”

* * *

You know, it really wasn’t too bad. I didn’t like the taste at first, but the drink left a pretty warm feeling in my belly, and I enjoyed that. I only had one glass since I wasn’t sure how strong the golden liquor would be, but about ten minutes after it was all gone I did feel a little better. I couldn’t even focus on the thoughts of what happened in Shanty, because my brain was constantly distracted by conversations around us, or Seer talking to me. It was a good feeling to be distracted, and I was starting to see why it was so popular to drink.

“How’re you feeling Felix?” Seer asked me once her second glass arrived, having respected my decision to stop at one.

“Better,” I told her with a grin. “Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure, because now you owe me a drink.”

“I do?” I stared at her for a few seconds to see if she was serious, but she just laughed.

“Well yeah. That’s how it works. I buy you one today, you buy me one tomorrow.”

I grinned and nodded. “Okay, I’ll try to get enough caps.”

“Easy, sell one of those bags of chips to a guard on the gate,” she pointed out and took a sip of her drink. I nodded again.

We both fell silent for a few minutes after that. Seer continued to casually sip her drink and look around like she was waiting for someone, and I assumed she was planning to ditch me for her guard friends once they came in off their shift. I didn’t really care either way, but I wasn’t sure I would be comfortable sitting alone in the bar. At least I knew Seer, so it wasn’t too bad to be drinking with her.

In the combination of desperation for someone to talk with me, and the alcohol, I finally spoke to her with a worried look. “Why did Shayle shoot that slaver?” I didn’t know if she would give me any good reason, and it was probably better to ask Shayle herself, but if I waited until I saw her the next day I might not feel like it was so important to know.

Seer finished off her glass of whiskey before turning to me. “Because she deserved it. What other reason did Shayle need?”

“Why did she deserve it though? What if she didn’t have any other way to live?” I pointed out, trying to make a case that the pony might not have had a choice in the matter.

“Really? You think that she couldn’t have found a different line of work, like selling bullets instead of ponies?” Seer sounded mad, like she was offended I had even brought it up.

“But getting bullets is dangerous, what if she couldn’t keep herself safe?”

“Being a slaver is much more dangerous than scavenging bullets Felix,” Seer pointed out, jabbing her hoof toward me. “You think we were the only ones that wanted to kill them as soon as we found out what they were? No, there are plenty of ponies and zebras out there who hate slavers and will gladly shoot them on sight.”

“So they chose a bad line of work, we could have given them a second chance,” I argued sternly. “But you didn’t even want to try!”

“Because they don’t deserve a second chance,” she growled back at me. “They gave up their right to that when they decided other ponies were lesser.”

I grumbled and looked away from the mare, deciding that trying to argue it any further was pointless. She wasn’t going to change her mind, I could see that much, but I did think of one thing that might at least calm her down. “Okay, fine. So why do you hate them so much?”

Seer’s eyes narrowed into a glare as I spoke, and she just stared at me silently for a few seconds before leaning back and softening her gaze. “Because they hurt everyone around them. Not just the ones they take, but the ones that loved the ones they take. Their children, their siblings,” the mare’s voice cracked a little as she paused, and her eyes glassed over for a moment. “Their mothers.”

I frowned a little at that, wishing I hadn’t brought it up after all. “Were you…taken by them?” I asked cautiously, hoping she wouldn’t get upset if I continued to push.

“No, not me,” she said sadly and waved to the bartender for another drink. She just looked at the table while she waited for the next glass, not looking away from the rough surface for even a second. When the drink finally hit the table beside her, she nodded to the waitress and took a long pull of the whiskey. “My daughter,” she told me softly after swallowing.

I froze and quickly tried to think of how I could fix what I’d done. If I had known that, I never would have brought it up, and seeing her slump down like that was horrible. I may not have agreed with the mare all that much, but she was still a fellow zebra, and I didn’t want to be the one causing her that pain. “I’m sorry,” I whispered to her. “I didn’t know…”

“It’s fine. It was a long time ago,” she replied roughly, squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head to clear the sadness from her face. “And I dealt with the ones who did it.”

As much as I didn’t want to make her sad again, I was curious, and I couldn’t let that go until I knew. “Did you see your daughter again?” Please don’t get upset.

“No, they sold her before I caught up with them.” She took another long drink and coughed as she set down the empty glass. “I was so mad… I killed them all before I even thought about asking who they sold her to.” I frowned and placed my hoof on hers, trying to comfort her even though it couldn’t possibly help. To my surprise, she grinned a little and looked over to me. “She would almost be your age by now,” the mare told me warmly. “Not quite as smart though. Her mother was a terrible teacher.” We both chuckled a little at that, me joining in only after she had started.

“I’m sure she’s a wonderful mare,” I told her with a smile, hoping to keep up the light mood.

“Don’t get any ideas,” she replied with a smirk that threw a blush on my face.

“O-of course not,” I stammered.

The mare laughed and leaned back, looking at me with an amused stare. “I’m joking, you look like you’ve never even held hooves with a filly before.”

“Have so!” I argued. “Kissed even!”

“Bullshit.” Seer laughed and called for another drink.

“No! I got one in Shanty.” Okay, not the best topic to bring up.

“Let me guess,” she leaned toward me and lowered her voice. “Doc?” I nodded and frowned. “You liked her huh?”

“Yeah,” I told her quietly. “She was really nice.”

Seer sighed and waved for the waitress to set the next glass next to me. I looked at the drink for a moment and took a small sip, kicking myself internally for breaking my own promise.

“Look bud.” She placed a hoof on my shoulder. “I know it sucks to lose someone you like, but she’s not the only filly in the Wasteland.” I looked up to her with sad eyes, trying to resist the urge to take another drink. “You’ll find someone else to hold hooves with and kiss on the cheek.”

I nodded slowly. “I know, I just miss her.” Okay, I didn’t really believe that I would find someone else, but I was trying to stay positive.

Seer smirked and rubbed my shoulder. “Hey, one of the other guards has a filly, she’s a little older than you, but I could introduce the two of you.”

I cocked my head to one side. “They would let you do that?”

“As long as you’re nice to her,” the mare pointed out. “And you really don’t seem like a mean colt, so I don’t think he’ll mind you taking his daughter out.”

“Out? Where?” I asked with a confused look. There was nowhere to go in Caesar’s Stand except the bar, and that didn’t really seem like a good place for a date.

“Walk her around town, buy her something nice, I don’t know,” Seer sighed and slammed her hoof to her forehead. “I’ve been out of the dating game for a long time Felix, ask your sister.”

Uh…that didn’t seem like such a good plan. I don’t think I ever saw Shayle with a buck. “I’ll just think of something,” I told her quickly. I honestly wasn’t in a mood to meet another girl, not so soon after losing Doc. It just seemed so wrong to do that, but if I could try to move on it might help me. I didn’t actually think I could bond with the new filly, but I was willing to try if Seer really wanted to help me.

She dropped her hoof and grinned. “Great, I’ll talk to her Father when we get back from the Stable and put in a good word for you. Now finish that drink so we can get some sleep.”

Sand kicked up all around me as a thundering noise filled the air, hammering at my head and blurring my vision until it finally faded. The sand burned my eyes whether they were open or closed, whipping into me with the wind and stinging every inch of my body. I didn’t know where I was or what was happening, but I could hear a faint voice calling out to me from somewhere in the storm. I dared to open my eyes in search of whoever was shouting for me, but the sand instantly pressed them shut again.

I tried to run toward the voice, hoping that I wouldn’t lose my footing as I blindly searched. The voice grew louder as I ran, and soon I burst through the wall of sand and found myself free from the wind and stinging. My eyes peered open slowly, and the stinging stopped. I was in a ruined town, only recently burned by something I could only guess at. Smoldering ashes surrounded me, and the cyclone I’d just escaped from was nowhere to be found. The voice continued to shout from somewhere in the wreckage, begging for help.

I ran toward it again, searching every pile of burned metal and wood I came across. The voice seemed to call from all of them, yet I only found charred corpses. Load, Merry Scroll, Strike; they were all there, but no survivor screaming for help. I forced myself to keep searching, digging through the ashes in hopes that the next swipe of my hoof would reveal the yelling body.

As I approached the last stack of rubble, it burst into flames and the screaming intensified. They must have been in there, whoever it was. I dashed in, trying to ignore the flames licking at my sides as I pulled chunks of red-hot metal from the pile. It burned, and I felt myself slowly starting to heat up the longer I remained in the flames. But I was getting closer, the screaming was only feet away, I just had to keep going.

Half of my face caught ablaze, and I fell to the dirt in an attempt to put it out. My vision cut out on that side, leaving me half-blinded and screaming in unison with the trapped survivor. I lifted myself up once the flames had left my face to continue digging, desperate to save just one from whatever had happened.

With one last piece of burning wood, I could finally see a filly screaming only inches away. I was almost there, just a little more. The flames lashed out and whipped my back, burning my flesh and throwing me back to the dirt. I let out another scream, but I couldn’t stop. I stood up again and tore at the last of the wreckage with my teeth, pulling it away from the trapped foal to give her a way out.

It was Doc.

She screamed even louder and dashed by me, running for safety while continuing to wail. I followed her out, trying to slow her down and tell her it was okay, but she didn’t listen; she just kept running.

“You’re evil!” she shouted over and over, running off into the Wasteland as fast as her little legs could carry her.

I tried to keep up and stop her, but no matter how fast I ran she still managed to keep getting further and further away. The sand came back again, swirling around both of us and getting thicker and thicker until I couldn’t see her anymore. But I could still hear her screams, and I tried to speed up and catch her. I had to tell her it wasn’t my fault, that I just wanted to help, but she was getting quieter and quieter as we continued to run.

Suddenly, her screams stopped to the sound of a gunshot that echoed through the sand and into my mind. I stopped running, there was no point anymore. I just wanted to help her, but she couldn’t let me do that.

Before my eyes, four shadowy figures stepped out of the sand, staring down at me with glowing eyes from hooded cloaks. Three of them turned and walked away, leaving me alone with the shadowy mare and her single visible eye. Her hood lowered, and I could recall her name; Minx. She was the creepy one that always grinned, and this was no different. Her smile taunted me, somehow making the entire situation worse as she looked upon me with a soft expression.

“Mali intra clades mannis,” she recited calmly, bringing her hoof over her chest with a small bow of her head.

I stared at her for a few seconds, trying to remember what I needed to say next, but I just couldn’t think of it. It was like a part of my mind was missing, preventing me from completing the mantra I had lived my life by. Instead, a phrase popped into my head that I wished I had remembered the first time I’d met Minx.

“Defeat the evil inside ponies,” I repeated to her, putting her words into a language I could understand. Obediently, I pressed my hoof to my chest and bowed, hoping it would suffice in place of the forgotten words.

The mare placed her hoof down and grinned warmly. “Shayle,” she whispered, staring at me as if waiting for a response. “Shayle,” she repeated, her words echoing through the swirling sand.

“Wake up.”

* * *

My eyes shot open and I was back in the shack. A pair of small hooves shook my shoulder roughly, and I looked up to see Tinker staring down at me with an expression of fear. “Shayle, somebody’s comin’!” she whispered urgently.

I shot to my hooves and drew my pistol, looking around quickly to see if the others were awake. The two colts were huddled in the corner, trying to hide in the pile of junk where Tinker had found the cans the night before, looking up at me in worry. Charmer stirred awake from the filly’s shaking, trying to get the burned mare on her hooves just in case I needed help. I hoped I wouldn’t need it, but I didn’t exactly have the best luck with fighting.

Cautiously, I stuck my head out the door and looked around the field in search of whoever Tinker had warned us about, but I couldn’t see anyone. I tightened my grip on the pistol and stepped out into the hazy light of day, keeping my steps as quiet as I could and making my way around the back of the shack. I still didn’t hear or see anyone, and I was starting to wonder if the little filly had just woken from a nightmare and thought somebody was coming to get her again.

I slowly peered around the corner, sticking one eye out to see if anyone was waiting on the south side of our temporary home before shooting. I almost jumped back around the corner when I saw a pair of zebras trotting up to us, one with a rifle slung under their neck and the other looking like they were unarmed. Luckily, my brain clicked and I quickly figured out who it was.

I holstered my pistol again and trotted back around the corner, grinning as Seer and Felix approached. “Morning Felix, did you sleep well?”

“Yes,” he replied simply with a nod. “Did you?”

“Got a full night in. That’s good for me,” I replied warmly.

Felix grinned and waved. “Good morning Charmer.”

I turned around to see Charmer stepping around the corner behind me. “Mornin’ Felix, mornin’ Seer.” Behind her, the three foals peered around the building nervously, apparently still worried that they were in danger.

“Good morning Shayle, Charmer, and little ones,” Seer told us all warmly, grinning from ear to ear.

The three foals seemed to relax a little at the tone, and slowly trotted out from behind the building to me and Charmer; Tinker in the lead with Ruckus and the other colt, Fracas, close behind. Those two really didn’t seem to be living up to their names in my mind, as they had yet to say a single word to either me or Charmer the entire night.

“Ready to get goin’?” Charmer asked from beside me, stretching out her legs a little.

“Yeah, let’s head out,” Seer confirmed with a nod. “It’s a long walk, so make sure you all have enough food and water for the trip.” I didn’t exactly have the option to get more, so I just hoped that Felix still had at least most of our food in his bags still.

* * *

“So where do you three call home?” Seer finally asked after almost an hour of silent walking, turning her head slightly toward the three foals still sticking close to Charmer and me.

“We’re from Celestia’s Rose,” Tinker replied quietly. “Do ya’ know where it is?”

“Yeah, I know the place,” Seer told her with a frown. “That’s a long way off, how long ago did you get taken?”

Tinker frowned and drooped her head. “Almost a month, Ah think.”

“A month? Why did they keep you three for so long?” Charmer cut in, keeping her voice as gentle as she could.

“Nopony wanted ta buy us. They jus’ wanted the younger kids.” Ruckus and Fracas shyly looked down as the filly explained.

“How many did they take from your town?” I asked cautiously, not sure if we were pushing the three too far with our questions.

“Almost all a’ us, at least those that didn’t already know how ta’ shoot,” Tinker continued to explain, her face twitching to frown as she forced herself to remain strong. “I don’t even know if home is still there.”

“So they attacked? Just the four of them?”

“No, a lot a’ Raiders started shootin’ while the slavers snuck in an’ took as many of us as they could.” I could see that the filly’s feigned strength was on the border of breaking as she continued to answer our questions, and probably reliving what had happened as she told us everything. I felt bad just for continuing the conversation. I should have just left it at ‘where are you from’.

“How far away is Celestia’s Rose?” I asked Seer, turning us away from the subject of what had happened to Tinker, Ruckus, and Fracas.

“A two day walk the safe way, one day if we go through New Oatleans,” Seer answered with a wave toward the looming city south east of us. “But I don’t think we want to go through there. Too dangerous, even if we didn’t have the little ones.”

“And where is the Stable at?” Felix spoke up from behind us.

“It’s a little over half way there, we won’t make it until tomorrow.” Seer fell silent for a few seconds, then continued. “But we might want to take the little ones home first, Stables have a lot of stories with them.”

“Stories? What kind of stories?” I asked with a frown.

“The bad kind. Some say they’re haunted or cursed, others say they’re nothing but giant death-traps. I don’t know if any of them are true, but better safe than sorry, right?” All of us nodded in agreement and fell silent. I didn’t know what the others were thinking about, but I think they may have been doing the same thing as me; trying to mentally picture what a ‘cursed’ Stable would look like.

For some reason I pictured a really big barn with corny ghosts flying around and strange writing all over the walls. Maybe if I knew what a real Stable looked like, I would be able to better picture it, but I’d only heard the name before. None of the Elders back home had told us any stories about what Stables actually were, or what they were made for. They would just mention it in passing during stories, and if any of the fillies or colts would ask what a Stable was, the storyteller would always say, “That’s a story for another time.”

Trying to think of Stables only lasted about ten minutes before my mind drifted off to other places, and we still had a full two days of walking ahead of us. I searched my mind for something to talk about, anything that could pass some time and didn’t leave us all walking in agonizing silence until we reached Celestia’s Rose. A few times I thought I had something, but my mind would instantly throw it out after I decided it wasn’t a good time.

After a while, my thoughts drifted to my dream. I couldn’t think of why, but something seemed so strange about it. Okay, the whole thing was strange, but one thing that bugged me more than anything else that happened was why my brain had decided to put Minx as the one who spoke to me rather than Xion. He was the leader of the Scorpions, and the one who had killed Doc, so I would have expected him to show up and speak with me rather than the creepy smiling mare. Yes, she had been the one to originally speak the phrase of faith in Caesar to me and Felix, so maybe it was my memory’s way of reminding me what the words meant.

And that thought set my mind on another track; that I should have seen the attack on Shanty coming after that encounter. Destroy the evil inside ponies. That was what she had told us moments after we brought up Shanty, a town filled with ponies. Once again, it looked like it was our fault that the town had met its fate, and all because we hadn’t even thought of how the four mentally disturbed zebras would react to learning that the town knew about them.

I looked up to see Seer glancing at me with a knowing look, her face drawn tight as her eyes locked with my own for a brief moment before she turned back to the road ahead of us.

* * *

Our first day of travel was once again very peaceful. Just like with our trip to the robotics facility, we hadn’t even seen a hint of Raiders or bandits during the walk. Once we reached the camp, Seer once again theorized that some soldiers must have cleared the area recently, but that the next leg of our journey to Celestia’s Rose would likely not be as quiet. The looming city of New Oatleans was directly east of our little camp, and according to Seer, we were about to pass into an area controlled by the Steel Rangers, out of the area where Remnant forces operated. I hoped that meant the pony soldiers would keep their area clear, but Seer didn’t seem to think that way.

Our camp was set up in a destroyed cart with a massive box attached to the back. A few boxes were strewn through the container, and after looting through them to find nothing but a bunch of cracked cups and plates, Seer tore them apart to build a small fire for us. The cart was crashed in a large gash through the Wasteland around us, giving us some good cover, and the ground was much looser. My hooves sank a few inches into the sand with each step, and I couldn't help but wonder what had caused such a scar to form. Looking both ways, the cut through the earth extended as far as I could see, from the horizon to the towers of New Oatleans.

“Don’t keep it lit too long, we don’t want to attract any unwanted attention,” the mare ordered once the small flame flickered to life just outside the cart. “Cook whatever food you want to eat, and we’ll get to sleep.”

I nodded in agreement with her and turned my attention to Felix’s bag, pulling out a can of beans for my own meal. Seer pulled out some of her own food for the foals, offering it to them with a warm smile and assurance that it was ‘yummy’.

I barely got the time to open my can of beans before the beaded mane swung in front of my face. “We need to talk,” the mare whispered into my ear urgently.

I sighed and put the can of beans down beside the fire before standing to follow Seer away from camp. Charmer and Felix cast a strange glance our way as I stood, but quickly turned back to their food when they realized I had seen it.

The zebra led me away from the camp just far enough that we could see the fire, but there was no chance of us being heard. The way she turned and looked at me once she felt we were far enough away sent a quick chill down my spine, and I had a feeling that something incredibly strange was about to happen.

“You were distracted today, care to explain why?” she asked with a scowl. I didn’t understand the tone she had taken, it’s not like we had gotten in a fight when I was lost in my own mind.

“I was just trying to think of what a Stable looked like,” I snapped. “What’s so bad about that?”

“You spent two hours thinking about what a Stable looks like?” she clarified with a cross look. “I don’t buy it.”

2 hours? Had I been lost in my dream for that long?

“Something’s on your mind, and I can’t have you stuck in your own world tomorrow.”

“It was just Shanty. I still don’t get why Xion attacked the town and killed Doc like that.” It wasn’t completely true, but it was still something that lingered in the back of my head a little.

“I already explained that to you, what else is there to get?” she snapped back. “They thought those ponies were selling guns to the Steel Rangers, and killing Doc was Xion’s way of testing your loyalty.”

I thought for a second to find something that she hadn’t explained, and quickly tried to flip the questioning back to her. “Well, there was you jumping in bed with Xion. What was that about?”

Seer froze and just stared at me for a few seconds, her mouth opening and closing without a word a few times. “I…really? Why do you care about my sex life?” Her pissed off tone had disappeared in exchange for a frantic stammer.

“Because it doesn’t make sense. Did he drag you in there?”

“N-no! I went in myself,” the mare explained. “I told you, he’s wanted to do that to me ever since I started calling them Scorpions.”

“So you let him?” I asked with a cocked brow.

“Better than being forced,” she growled, once again returning to anger. I didn’t know what to say to that. I could see where she was coming from with that, I had tried that same thing a few times back when Father was still alive, and she was right; it didn’t hurt as much if you at least pretended to agree.

“Is that really all that was bothering you? It’s a little creepy that you were thinking about me in bed for that long.”

“I was not!” I blurted quickly.

“You just said you were. So if that wasn’t it, then what is?” she asked with a smirk.

“Uh,” I deadpanned when I realized what she had just done, then growled as I realized she wouldn’t let me dance around the problem. “Fine, it was a weird dream okay?”

“When?” she asked simply, no longer sounding upset.

“Last night.”

“Okay, what happened in this dream that distracted you so much today?” Seer took a seat and pushed a lock of her mane out of her face.

“It was about Shanty,” I explained simply, not feeling a need to sit. “It was burning, and I found Doc.”

“She was still alive at this point?”

“Yes. Then she ran away screaming that I was evil,” I told her with a pained expression. “Just like when we found her for real.”

“Okay. What happened after that?”

Why do you care? “She ran off into a sandstorm and got shot.”

“So far this doesn’t sound strange Shayle. Get to the part that bothered you,” she quickly requested.

“Then the Scorpions walked out of the storm and stared at me. Most of them disappeared in their cloak things, but that creepy smiley one stayed behind.”

“Minx?”

“Yes,” I replied with a sigh. “She stayed behind and said, ‘mali intra clades mannis’.”

Seer nodded and closed her eyes. “She said this to you when you met in the town?”

“No, when we met before they sent us to Caesar’s Stand.”

“And how did you respond?” she asked after opening her eyes again.

“In the dream, or in real life?” I clarified.

“The dream.”

“I forgot what to say, so I just repeated her words in Equestrian,” I explained with a confused look. “Why does that matter?”

“Just tell me what happened next.”

I huffed and continued. “Then she smiled and said my name.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes, that’s it. Next thing that happened was Tinker waking me up because she saw you coming.”

Seer nodded and stood up again before trotting by me toward our camp. “It’s just a dream, think nothing of it.”

I deadpanned and kicked at the dirt. Had I really just gone through that entire dream, the thing that had apparently made me zone out for two hours, just to have her say it was nothing? How could she even know if it was nothing? What was she, some kind of dream expert?

“But why was it her, and not Xion?” I asked quickly, trying to step in front of Seer and stop her. “He was the one that killed Doc, and he’s their leader, right? Shouldn’t he have been the one I talked to?”

“It’s your mind Shayle; maybe it’s trying to tell you something.” That made almost no sense to me, but before I could protest further Seer had stepped around me again and continued back toward camp. “You’re the first guard shift, so I recommend you go eat now.”

I shook my head quickly and trotted after her, not exactly excited by the idea of taking a shift without food. Too bad Tinker’s can trick wouldn’t work very well in the middle of nowhere.

* * *

Come the next morning, Seer’s thoughts on my dream didn’t do anything to stop me from thinking about it more. What made it worse was her comment that my mind was somehow trying to tell me something through the conversation with Minx. I racked my brain as we continued on our way to Celestia’s Rose, trying to see what that message could have been. I still thought that it must be that I should have seen the attack on Shanty coming, and that I could have done something to stop it, or that I should have gone back to warn them that the Zebras might be planning something. I had a few random ideas that were quickly shot down, like the thought that I had seen Minx before; maybe that she’d visited our old home at some point and I was just too young to have remembered it, but that didn’t seem likely. What would she have gone to that little town for at all? It wasn’t like we had a bunch of barracks like Caesar’s Stand did, and I never got out much to see any visitors anyway, so that was out.

I caught Seer glaring at me a few times as we walked, most likely growing more agitated that I was still distracted by my dream even after she told me to stay focused. I tried to get my mind off of it, just in case something did happen before we reached the foals’ home, but it was just too hard to focus on anything when all around us was nothing but dirt and long-dead shrubs.

Felix and Charmer spent the walk close by the foals, trying to get to know them a little better for some reason even though they weren’t going to be following us anymore after we dropped them off in Celestia’s Rose. It didn’t make any sense to me really, but at least they had something to keep them busy and pass the time. And for some reason Seer didn’t seem bothered by that, but me thinking about my dreams was off limits. That mare was starting to annoy me.

But the sound of someone screaming nearby had a strange way of stopping their conversation, and Seer in her tracks. We all froze and listened for something more, trying to hear what might be going on or where the scream came from. My ears perked and twitched around for any further sounds, and I hoped it was nothing that would try to kill us. I was met with another bloodcurdling scream as a pony dragged himself out of a hole a few hundred feet in front of us that I hadn’t even seen. After only seeing the pony for a second, her body disappeared back into the ground with a yelp.

Seer quickly lifted her rifle into her mouth and sprinted forward, and I followed close behind with my readied pistol. I had no idea what we were planning to do, but if Seer was going to run forward and try to help the mare, I didn’t see why I shouldn’t help too. Charmer was soon running along beside me, her mouth filled with a shotgun she must have taken from the slaver’s we had killed two nights before and a look of determination covering the un-bandaged half of her face. I was amazed she could move so fast so soon, especially since she had been much slower a few days ago after being bandaged up by Doc. Magical healing was powerful stuff.

When Seer reached the spot where the pony had disappeared, she slid to a stop and swung her rifle to point down the hole, waiting on the two of us before moving any further. The tunnel in front of her didn’t look very natural, and I was amazed that a pony could fit down there at all. It was only big enough for a small pony to crawl inside, and I wasn’t exactly the biggest out of our group. Suddenly, I had a bad feeling about what was going to happen.

Seer bent down and poked her head in the hole with the rifle leading, trying to see how far she could get in, but getting stuck at her shoulders. She was just barely too big. Charmer quickly repeated, but she was slightly bulkier than Seer, not counting that she had a bunch of bandages that I weren’t sure were supposed to come off yet. She met with the same result, leaving only me.

I gulped and looked to the others. Charmer frowned slightly, and Seer nodded toward the hole expectantly. Cautiously I leaned down and stuck my head in the hole, and found that I couldn’t see anything more than five feet in. I didn’t know how deep it was, but I didn’t want that poor pony to die from…whatever could fit in there with her. I pushed myself deeper, and my shoulders slid by the dirt with just enough space to get me in. The next obstacle would be my hips, which I doubted would fit if my shoulders barely did.

“You okay Shayle?” I heard Charmer ask from behind me as I kicked my back legs to move my flank to the entrance. Of course, it got stuck. I sighed and stopped kicking. “Do you need a push?”

A what? NO!

I didn’t get time to protest before I felt four hooves press on my backside and shove me the rest of the way into the hole. What do you know, they did fit. But that didn’t stop me from screaming at the sudden push.

“Sorry,” Charmer called in behind me sarcastically, her voice muffled by my tunnel-blocking behind.

I just grumbled and started dragging myself forward with my outstretched forehooves. My back legs couldn’t do much, but I wiggled those around in the dirt and imagined that it helped.

“She’s got a big butt,” I heard one of the colts chuckle behind me, and so badly wanted to crawl out and smack him. I did not have a big butt!

“Fracas, stop staring,” Tinker snapped, and I heard her hoof whack him on the head.

A low growl ahead of me pulled my attention away from the group waiting outside and suddenly my heart raced as I imagined everything that it could be. Unfortunately I still couldn’t see anything in front of me, and had no idea what I was about to run into. What I wouldn’t have given for some kind of portable light.

I continued dragging myself ahead cautiously, my jaw clamped hard on the grip of my pistol as I prepared to shoot anything that showed up. In the darkness, my barrel bumped something soft and I froze, waiting for it to react and try to bite me or something. I didn’t move, I didn’t want to move, I wanted to get out of that hole!

Suddenly, the ground shifted under me, and my heart almost flew out of my chest as I started to sink lower. After only a second of sinking, the ground collapsed and dropped me into the darkness. The scream as I fell echoed all around me as I instantly thought I was going to die, and my pistol dropped from my jaw to go Caesar-knows-where. I felt really stupid for screaming when the fall was only about ten feet, but my body disagreed as I landed flat on my chest and suddenly couldn’t catch my breath.

“Shayle, are you okay?” I heard Felix’s distressed voice calling down into the hole behind me.

I coughed once I finally managed to inhale again, but at least I was breathing. I rolled to my back and took a few deep breaths, glad to be alive. “Yeah...I’m okay,” I shouted up between gasps.

“What happened?” Seer asked.

“The tunnel collapsed,” I answered loudly. “I’m…somewhere.”

“Can you be more specific?”

“Uh,” I looked around for any sign of where I was, but that might be hard when I was stuck in complete and total darkness! Oh, wait, there were glowing mushrooms. “There’s some glowing mushrooms, and it looks like they go into a tunnel,” I yelled back up.

“Don’t touch them!” Seer quickly shouted down to me. “They’re radioactive.” Oh great. “Do you see a way out?”

“Not right now,” I answered with a grouchy look. “I can’t get out through the hole, I’ll try to find another way out.” I rolled to my hooves and looked around, but the only way I could see was down the tunnel filled with radioactive glowing mushrooms.

“Do ya want us to wait for you here?” Charmer’s voice echoed into the pit.

“No, go drop off the foals, I’ll meet you…um…back where we made camp last night,” I called up as I cautiously looked at the tunnel.

“You sure?” the burned mare asked in a worried tone. “Ya don’t know where you’ll come out…”

“I’ll be fine,” I lied, I had no idea what would happen. Especially since I still didn’t know what had made that mare scream, or what I had bumped into before falling…

I frantically started looking for my pistol in the darkness around me, dragging my hooves around the stone ground and praying for my hoof to kick it before something bad happened.

“Okay…” I heard Charmer call back, not sounding too confident. I didn’t blame her, I wasn’t very confident in my ability to get out of there and back to the crashed cart either.

I didn’t hear any of them say anything after that, so I assumed they had continued on. Meanwhile, I was busy shuffling around looking for my pistol before something jumped on my face. I finally felt the weight of the gun bounce off my hoof, and I quickly leaned down and lifted it into my mouth. I already felt safer, even if I couldn’t see whatever was going to kill me.

As I looked around I heard that growl again, and my legs stiffened. I couldn’t tell where it came from or how close it was, or what it could possibly be. A shadow flashed in front of the glowing mushrooms, and I quickly backed up as much as I could until I hit a stone wall. My heart raced as I waited for some sign of where the whatever-it-was might be, and once again I thought it was going to jump out of my chest and run away from me. I faintly heard some scraping on the ground, but I couldn’t tell where it was in the chamber I found myself in.

Suddenly, whatever it was squealed and I heard it’s feet racing toward me in the darkness. My gun blazed as I pulled the trigger as fast as I could, the flash illuminating the room just enough to show a wooden jaw diving my way. When the pistol clicked on empty I heard a pile of sticks fall to the ground, but I still sat still. I didn’t know if I’d actually killed the beast or if it was just waiting for me to move again, and my ears perked up for even the slightest sound. After a few seconds I stepped forward and my hoof met a pile of rotted wood where the monster was moments ago.

At least I knew what had attacked the mare we had been trying to save, a mare that I still hadn’t seen since going in the hole. After a quick reload, I swiftly trotted the only way I could see to go. There was no chance of me getting back up where I had fallen, and so far I had yet to see any other way out, so I weaved my way between the glowing mushrooms and into the tunnel at the far end of the chamber.

Thankfully the mushrooms seemed to fill most of the path, which meant I could just follow them and eventually get somewhere. If it got to a dead-end, I could just turn around and follow them back…so that I could continue being trapped underground. Wonderful.

After a few minutes of walking, an echoing howl rippled through the tunnel behind me, and suddenly I decided that running was much more appealing than walking. I don’t know why the second Rottwood didn’t try to get me with the first, or where it had come from in the first place, but I didn’t much care at the moment. My hooves narrowly dodged the mushrooms as I dashed down the tunnel, my gun still pointing ahead of me just in case I ran into another wooden beast before reaching wherever it was I was going. Ahead I saw a faint glow in the tunnel, and my hopes soared as I picked up my pace to reach the light. Only a little further and I would be out of there and back above ground.

Or I would go deeper. The floor under my hooves suddenly disappeared and I went tumbling down a rocky slope. I don’t know how I managed to hold onto the pistol during that fall, probably because my teeth were digging into the grip like my life depended on it. When I finally stopped, I landed on my back against another stone floor. I groaned in pain and decided to lay there a few seconds, waiting for the pain to lessen before rolling to my hooves and looking around.

The first thing I saw was a tunnel leading up a slope opposite from the one I had just fallen down, and I could see a ragged wooden door up near the top. Where there was a door, there must have been ponies or zebras, so my hopes didn’t completely die there. I also found myself bathed in a pale yellow light from a lamp hanging from the ceiling above me. Thank Caesar I was allowed to see again!

I continued my search of the room, hoping it wouldn’t end with a maw of wooden teeth barreling toward my face. Instead my head stopped and stared at the wall a few feet from me. I didn’t know what it was, but I could have sworn it was a giant metal cog with the two yellow numbers emblazoned on the center.

After holstering my pistol, I stepped toward the big cog and tried to figure out what it might be. I don’t know why someone would make a giant metal wall thing underground, or why it would be lit up by the lamp. Was it some kind of weird art?

Beside the wall there was a little pedestal with some glowing lights and a big, yellow and black striped lever. It was tempting, but part of me argued that just pulling it would end badly. For all I knew, it would wake up a bunch of hidden robots or something. Then again, maybe it showed a way out? I couldn’t decide. I knew there was a door just a stone’s throw away that might lead to the surface, but I knew that if just went out that way my mind would never let the lever go until I came back and pulled it. If a dream had bothered me enough to be stuck on it for over a day, something this easy to figure out would tear me apart. So of course I had to pull the lever and see what happened.

As soon as I pulled it a red light started spinning around the room and an ear-shattering siren echoed around the cave, causing me to jump back a few feet and nearly fall on my rear. Then the giant wall moved. A grinding sound that almost blocked out the sound of the siren filled my ears as the big thing moved forward a foot or two and began to roll sideways. A gust of air blew out from behind it, carrying with it the heavy stench of rotten meat.

So it was a door into a cave that smelled like death.

I turned to run up the tunnel where the door was as fast as I could, deciding that I was tired of caves. The sight of a Rottwood standing up in front of that door, and a second rolling down the hill I had just come down changed my mind. A place smelling like death sounded much better to me than actually being dead, and I doubted those things could get through a giant metal door.

I spun around and pushed the lever back up again, and my ears were pounded by sirens and grinding metal. My hooves carried me as fast as they could through the door, and I begged for it to close behind me before the Rottwoods could get through. Once I was through, I spun around to see if they would make it, and sure enough they were sprinting forward, charging to get through the door before it could seal them away from me. One jumped and I froze, there wasn’t enough time for me to pull out my pistol, I was going to die. My eyes squeezed shut, and I waited for the teeth to sink into me.

Cruuuuunch.

The pain never came. I dared to open my eyes, expecting to see it standing in front of me with its jaws gaping and waiting for me to watch as it tore me apart. Instead, I saw a wall of metal with a few shards of wood jammed between the door and the wall. I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding, and fell to my haunches as I praised whoever built that door.

I was worried, more than that I was scared. Shayle told us she was okay and that we’d meet her again back at the camp, but I was afraid that she was wrong. She had managed to take care of herself, and me, up to that point, but even then she had needed help so many times that I didn’t know if she would make it. I knew it was horrible to think that my own sister couldn’t keep herself safe alone, but neither of us knew much about what was really in the Wasteland. She had almost died several times since we left Zeza, only to be saved through some stroke of luck, or by someone stepping in before she was taken away from me. By herself, I didn’t know if she would get that kind of luck.

I tried to shake the thought from my head, but I couldn’t do it. I wanted to see her again, and I wanted to believe she would be waiting back at the crashed cart for us when we got there. Part of me blamed Seer and Charmer for her being separated, after all they were the ones to push her down there, but I knew that they couldn’t have known what would happen. They were just trying to help a pony in trouble, and Shayle was the only one who could do it. But if I didn’t see my sister again, I didn’t know if I would be able to keep myself from hating them for it.

As we walked away from the hole, Ruckus and Fracas were still laughing about Shayle’s ‘big butt’ while Tinker huffed at them for it. Seer didn’t seem worried and continued to lead us on to Celestia’s Rose while Charmer stayed beside her silently.

“She’ll be okay, right?” I finally asked.

“Of course,” Charmer assured me, looking over her shoulder with a smile. “She’s a big girl.”

I nodded and looked over to Seer, hoping she would agree.

“Don’t worry Felix, we’ll see her again,” the zebra promised, still keeping her gaze ahead.

“Yeah, Big Butt will be fine,” Ruckus joked, finally seeming to get over being silent around us all. Fracas joined in his laughter until Tinker smacked them both on the back of the head.

I’ll admit I cracked a small smile at the joke, especially after seeing Shayle’s rear get caught stuck like that. Maybe I could use it to bug her later.

The rest of our walk to Celestia’s Rose was peaceful and quiet, even though I spent most of the trip worrying about Shayle and wondering what she was doing. I hoped she had found a way out of the cave and was already on her way to the cart, but then again I didn’t know if she would find it without Seer.

When we finally reached the town just before night fall, it reminded me of the first time we saw Shanty. The buildings were a little nicer, and looked like actual houses rather than the hastily built shacks in Charmer’s old home, but it was still pretty small. I could see a few ponies walking around between the buildings, but they hardly looked well-armed. They didn’t even have any armor, and their guns looked like they might break just from loading them. After what Tinker had told us of the attack, I was amazed that the town had managed to repel the Raiders at all.

The three foals; okay, I shouldn’t call them foals, they were almost my age; lit up as soon as they saw the other ponies wandering through town and took off at a sprint. Tinker was a little faster than the two colts with her longer legs, but they managed to keep a good pace behind her. When they reached the town, a few of the ponies just stared at the three as they ran by, while others ignored them.

Charmer, Seer and myself all stayed at a walk toward the town, each of us smiling brightly at the sight of the overjoyed youth finally returning to their home. By the time we made it, an aged stallion and mare were sobbing over Ruckus and Fracas as they pulled the colts in tight, unable to contain themselves at the sight of what must have been their children.

The three of us stopped just on the edge of town to watch, not wanting to get in the way of the happy family. I didn’t see where Tinker went, but I guessed that she must have run to her old house to greet her parents. I turned my gaze to Seer, and I could have sworn I saw a tear in the corner of her eye before she spun away from the sight. I frowned and thought of going to comfort her, but decided she probably just wanted to be alone rather than watch the reunion she never got.

Charmer sat down beside me and smiled. “See, there’s good out here,” she told me quietly as we watched the parents hold Ruckus and Fracas. I smiled and nodded in agreement.

After a few minutes, the colts’ Father looked up and trotted over to us. “Are…are you the ones that brought our sons back?” he asked through tear filled eyes.

We just nodded. Without warning, the pony swung his hooves over both of us and squeezed us tight, sobbing ‘thank you’ to each of us over and over again. Charmer put her hoof around him in return, but I just sat there. In all my life, I had never seen anyone so happy before, and I didn’t know how to react to such strong joy. Eventually I followed Charmer’s lead and returned the hug, a warm feeling bubbling up in my chest at what we’d done. If only Shayle had been there to see it.

When he released us to return to his sons, Charmer nudged me and nodded back to the road. We needed to head back before it got too dark, just to make sure we could find a place to camp out for the night. I looked back to see Seer sitting in wait a few hundred feet away, looking out from the town.

I looked back one last time to see the happy family before we left, not wanting to leave that scene behind for the rest of my days. I wish it hadn’t been soiled by the sight of Tinker sadly trotting out of a house behind them.

I gave a quick look to Charmer before standing to trot over to the filly. “Tinker, are you okay?” It was a stupid question.

She shook her head and leaned into me, her eyes clenched shut as she tried not to cry. “Momma and Papa weren’t here…the pony in there said…” she stopped and I put a hoof around her back. I knew what was coming next. It was too good to hope that the Raider attack had spared everyone like it had spared Ruckus and Fracas’ parents, I just wished it wasn’t Tinker who had to be the one to get hurt even more by it.

“I’m so sorry Tinker,” I whispered to her. I didn’t want her to say it, because I knew that she didn’t want to either.

Then the filly fell to her backside and cried, her tears staining my coat while she buried her head in my shoulder.

Footnote: Shayle LEVELED UP! (Guns 50, Survival 20)

Felix LEVELED UP! (Speech 25)

Author’s Note: This chapter took quite a while to get out. After the last chapter I became aware of some glaring issues, most notably that there was pretty much no happy or good at all. I realized that even though the Wasteland is supposed to be a horrible place, there is always good somewhere (no matter how hard it is to find), and I’m going to start adding at least some of that into Shayle and Felix’s story. However, because of my pessimistic nature, I cannot bring myself to let everything end 100% happy for everyone, so please don’t think I will be. This is still a dark story, and it will remain like that despite how much happy I start adding.

Now, on to thanks. As always, a huge thank you to Kkat and Somber for creating and expanding the world of Fallout Equestria. Without it, I would have a giant gap in my life, which has been filled by this universe, and I can never thank you two enough times for that. I also have to thank my pre-readers as well as anyone who points out errors in my story , they all help me make this as good as I can! And a thanks to all of my readers as well; you all keep me going on this, and every bit of feedback you give I take to heart to help improve my writing. I hope I continue to provide an entertaining story to you wonderful people!

Chapter 9: Just Under the Skin

Chapter 9: Just Under the Skin
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

The stench of death and decayed meat brought me back from my joy at being alive, reminding me that I was still trapped inside the cave, and likely no closer to finding a way out. I sighed and stood up, looking around to try and see if there was a way further in, and hopefully out of the cave. A greasy yellow light filled the room around me, casting dirty light across the metal walls. I wasn’t really in a cave anymore, it looked more like I had somehow ended up in one of those towers I could see in New Oatleans.

Dirty metal walls surrounded me on all sides, some with shattered windows and flaking paint rolled on them in a strange design. Those symbols that had been put on the outside of the door were plastered on the wall directly across from the way I came in just above a small doorway. It looked like the door was supposed to slide down, but it was stuck half way up. Another door was on a wall to my left, but it was sealed shut and I couldn’t see a way to get it open right away, leaving me with one option.

Before I could reach the door, a glowing screen caught my eye and stopped me. It was one of those ‘terminals’ that Seer and Felix had messed with down in the Robotics building, but without the flip-out board beneath it. Instead the board was hanging from the table by a cord connecting to the terminal itself. The same circle symbol with three lines as on the wall was flickering on the cracked screen, and in a moment I decided to try to mess with it. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do much, but maybe it wasn’t so hard.

I lifted the board back up to the table and sat down behind it. A bunch of buttons just large enough for the tip of my hoof to press covered it, but I couldn’t understand any of the symbols. Except those arrows on four of them, those I could understand! I pushed the ‘up’ arrow and the screen instantly changed. A bunch of gibberish flowed down the screen for a second, and I immediately regretted trying to play with the terminal before the text disappeared and was replaced by only three lines of writing. The top one flashed every few seconds, and I just stared at it confused. Only one thing to do.

I pushed the ‘down’ arrow, and to my joy the middle row of text started flashing instead. So the flashing was the one that was selected apparently; see, I can figure things out. Unfortunately, I had no idea what to do next. If I could select something, I assumed that meant I would be able to use it somehow, so I started pressing every button except the arrows to find out what would happen. Most of them didn’t do anything, but a big rectangle button I finally pushed made the screen change to a squiggly line.

A crackling sound came from the screen, and for a second I thought I had broken the terminal, but the crackling was quickly replaced by a crackly feminine voice.

Stable 81 security log, Day 256.

Sun Seed is at it again, this time she tried to crawl out through the ventilation ducts. She got caught when her flanks couldn’t make it more than a few feet through before getting stuck, leaving her tail sticking in the hall. Maintenance found her crying for help after being stuck for nearly an hour near Waste Processing; apparently she decided that since that area is only checked once a day she would be able to make it out without being caught.

I wish she would calm down a little, it’s not like living in a Stable is so bad. We’ve got food, water, and we aren’t dead like everyone who couldn’t make it in time. *sigh*

For now she’s being held in security, Cell 03. Maybe a few days without a soft bed will teach her how nice it is here.

This is Corporal Bluehoof, end of log.

Well, at least I knew I was in the Stable now. The supposedly cursed Stable that was too dangerous for foals. My heart started to race as I quickly looked around for any signs of a curse, but quickly realized I wouldn’t even know what to look for. It was pretty creepy that there was nobody in there with me, at least as far as I knew, and that the place smelled like someone had died in every corner, and suddenly I wished I’d just gone out the other door. Wait, there were two Rottwoods in the way, never mind.

I keyed back up to the line I skipped and pushed the big button again, and was greeted by the squiggly line and cracking sound.

Stable 81 security log, Day 148.

The eggheads downstairs have finally gotten the machinery working and are asking for volunteers to start testing it out. They’re offering double dinner rations to the one who does it, which sounds like a sweet deal to me, but I really just want the second pudding cup. If I wasn’t so scared of needles I would jump on the list in a second, but I don’t feel like volunteering to get poked at by a bunch of pale mares in lab coats.

Oh well, I’ll just have to keep getting friendly with Apple Fritter and hope that she’ll start sharing her cup.

This is Corporal Bluehoof, end of log.

Testing machinery? Well that definitely explained why the Stable was on our list to check for supplies. If they had some kind of experimental stuff down here, they must have gotten some of the stuff on our list, at least I hoped so. Suddenly falling down there didn’t seem so bad, the others could drop off Tinker, Ruckus and Fracas, and when we met back up I would already have a bunch of supplies so we could go straight back to Caesar’s Stand. Lucky me.

My ears perked as a soft sound echoing nearby. I couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but I could have sworn it was someone’s voice for a moment. I turned my head each direction looking for someone who was watching me, but there was nobody else in the room. I don’t know why anyone would even be in the Stable, it smelled like everything had died a long time ago, and even if they hadn’t it was creepy. Why wouldn’t they leave?

I looked back to the screen and stared at the last line of text, wanting so badly to listen to it and find out what else I could about the place, but the mysterious sound itched at the back of my head. I didn’t believe that there could be anyone in the Stable, but if there was even a chance I didn’t want them to sneak up on me while I listened to an audio log.

I cautiously stood and made my way to the door. I would just look around real quick, then go back and listen to the last report on the terminal. The door led into a narrow hallway, barely big enough for two zebras to walk down as long as they didn’t mind getting close to each other. At the end was a single closed door, once again without an obvious way to open it. I sighed and trotted down the hall quietly, my ears perked for any sound that might be the voice I’d heard earlier. When I got to the other door, it hissed open all by itself, nearly sending me reeling back down the hallway. That wasn’t made any better by the suddenly even worse smell of rotten meat.

The next room was massive, easily big enough to hold half of my old village and everyone living there. It was separated into two levels. At the top was a walkway extending around the entirety of the room with a few doors splitting off on each side. I could see that there used to be a railing around it, but it had since fallen to the floor below leaving bent portions awkwardly spaced around the walkway. The bottom floor looked like an auditorium, with a giant number painted on the floor, I assumed it was ‘81’ since that was the Stable I was in.

But the creepiest part of it was the skeletons littered around the room. They were everywhere, all draped in dirty, blue and yellow jackets. I couldn’t count how many there were around the room, it was just too many. I spun around and retched from the smell, finally reaching a point where I couldn’t stand it anymore. I wanted out, and I didn’t care about that stupid log or the supplies I was supposed to get anymore.

“Sandy…”

I froze at the voice that sounded like it had come from everywhere, not wanting to move because I knew that there was someone standing right next to me. There had to be, because it certainly sounded like it! They also had to be behind me, in front of me, over me, and below me. But most importantly, it sounded like it also came from the hallway I just left; so much for leaving as fast as I could.

I risked lifting my head to see that there was nobody standing around me, much to my relief. The smell of decay still bombarded my senses, but the thought that the voice could have come from anywhere, including the room with the terminal and the exit, left me too scared to care at the moment. I quickly pulled the pistol from my holster and looked around, but again found nothing to shoot. Stupid cursed Stable was messing with my head, and it was working way too well for my own comfort.

The door to the front room suddenly slammed shut, and I sprinted down the walkway in fear for reasons I didn’t exactly understand. It was just a door, but I had run away from it as if it was a feral ghoul. The door at the end of the room opened for me and sent me tumbling down a set of stairs. The last thing I remembered was the cold metal floor as I fell flat on my face.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, a bright light greeted me and sent a quick shot of pain through my head as I slammed them shut again. I grumbled and slowly opened them again, finding that the light was no longer over my head. Instead there was a dirty, tan unicorn staring down at me with her green eyes and ridiculously yellow mane.

“Sandy?” the mare chirped at me with a smile.

After a second to think, my eyes shot wide and I rolled to the side, quickly finding myself falling off of a table and onto the floor again. “Ouch.”

The dirty pony was at my side quickly to help me up, giggling softly at my fall. “Sandy?” she asked again, but I didn’t understand.

“My name isn’t Sandy,” I replied with a groan. My legs ached and shook slightly under me as I finally stood, but most importantly my holster wasn’t around my hoof anymore. On top of that, wasn’t my gun in my mouth when I fell? “Where’s my gun?” I asked frantically, suddenly scared for my life in the cursed Stable.

Except the room I was in didn’t look cursed at all. I wasn’t in the stairwell anymore, in fact I wasn’t even sure I was in the Stable at all. The walls were pristine, looking like they had been cleaned only moments before I woke up. The paint was bright and clear, completely free of flakes or cracking. Even the stench of death was barely recognizable, and only served as a reminder that I was actually still somewhere in Stable 81. The room was mostly empty except for the bed I had been laying on and a small table at the base of it. A First-Aid kit was open on top of the little table, and I could see an empty syringe of something sticking out from the metal case.

“Sandy,” the pony said yet again, pointing a hoof to the only door in the room. I looked at her questioningly, but she only nodded and started to nudge me at the door. I was pleasantly surprised to have the mare letting me lean on her while I walked, a grin on her face as the door opened to another hallway. Just like in the room, the hall was spotless. I think it was a little creepier than the bodies littering the floor somewhere else in the Stable.

The mare lead me down the hall cheerily, stopping us in front of another door that opened into a closet. My gun and bag were placed neatly on a shelf inside, and the pony nodded to me to get them. Definitely creeping me out more and more.

Once I had my holster and bag in place, I turned around to find the pony standing in the hall with…a pony that looked exactly the same, both looking at me with bright grins. I was suddenly reminded of Minx after she had burned down Shanty, and had a bad feeling that these ponies may have had something to do with the skeletons I saw.

I cautiously stepped back into the hall, and one of the two unicorns stepped back to my side for me to lean on her if I needed it. I shook my head and tried to smile, and the unicorn trotted merrily ahead of me with what must have been her twin sister. I followed the two down the hall, and they brought me to yet another door. When this one opened, I found myself in a bigger room with a dozen tables covered in what looked like food. At each of the tables sat a pair of unicorns, all looking exactly like the two who I was following. By the Stars, they were…septuplets? Bigger? Whatever, why were there so many of them!

One of the two I followed broke off to join her identical sister at a table, while the last one lead me to an empty table. She sat on the far side and waved for me to sit across from her with a smile. Despite how freaked out I was getting, the thought of possible food seemed good, and honestly I was a little glad that the ponies were treating me so nicely. Creeped out, but glad.

As soon as I sat down every one of the unicorns started eating silently. I looked down at the food with a confused stare, not exactly sure what it was. My plate was covered by a bunch of different colored chips, some green and some brown, and off to the side was a small cup filled with a white paste.

“Sandy!” the pony across from me chirped with a mouth full of chips.

Well, if they were all enjoying it…

I licked a chip into my mouth and chewed it, and was surprised to find the brown ones tasted like jerky. Oh yes, this I could eat. I quickly started taking more of the little chips in my mouth and chewing with a grin to match the unicorns’. The green ones weren’t as good, but they were still pretty tasty.

Once the unicorns all finished their chips each one started licking the paste from their cup. ‘Mmm’s filled the room as they all savored the paste, and I was anxious to try mine. It was so good! I had never tasted anything so sweet before, and quickly licked up the rest while getting a fair amount in the coat around my mouth.

After I finished eating, one of the sisters pulled a tall white cap from under her seat and put it on before starting to gather all of the plates in a yellow glow. My plate slid away effortlessly and out the door with the unicorn, leaving me with nothing to do but look around at the smiling ponies.

One by one, they all stood up and gathered around my table, staring at me with grins that had once again become incredibly creepy. I looked back to the one across from me and tried to smile, but I don’t think it’s possible to hide how worried I was.

“Sandy?” she asked, waving at me with her hoof. Why did she keep asking me that?

“No, I’m Shayle,” I told her plainly. “Um…what’s your name?”

“Sandy!” the unicorn proclaimed loudly. Wait, she was just saying her name over and over? Was that all she could say?

I turned around and looked at the others. I pointed to one at random. “What’s your name?”

“Sandy!”

Okay… I pointed to another. “And yours?”

“Sandy!”

I thought I could see what was going on. I pointed to another of the ponies. “Are you Sandy?”

“Sandy!”

So, they were all identical and had the same name. Wonderful, this had left creepyville and gone straight to ‘oh Caesar why’ land. “Um…why do you all have the same name?” I asked with a forced grin, hoping it wasn’t a sore subject with them or something.

The one at the table with me stood up and put a hoof on my shoulder. “Sandy.” I looked over to see her pointing at yet another door. What was up with Stables and doors?

I followed her over to find that it lead into a small office with a single terminal. The walls were all lined with shelves covered in old books and doo-dads, but nothing that looked very important. Sandy trotted to the screen and started rapping away at the keys until the familiar crackling sound from earlier filled the room. Another feminine voice replaced it, but this one was more wiry.

Welcome to Stable 81’s science labs.

This is Doctor Splice, and apparently I’ve been put in charge of whatever research we’re supposed to be doing down here while Equestria burns. I wish they had given me a little time to look over this stuff before locking me underground for the rest of my days, but it’s not like I have anything else to do with my life from now on.

According to what the Overmare, our supposed new ‘leader’, gave me this morning; after what I wouldn’t exactly call the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had; we’re going to be researching cloning technology. Thank Celestia for that, they actually gave me something to work on that I might understand. The only thing I wish they could have done more is let my partner stay in this Stable, but apparently only mares were allowed in 81. Sounds stupid to me, how are we supposed to you know… find someone, if there are no bucks! Whatever, I guess it’s too late to change it now.

I’ll start setting up the machinery tomorrow and see if I can figure out how it all works, but this is tech like I’ve never seen before.

I stared at Sandy with a confused look as the recording came to a close. Her smile faded at the sight of me, and she quickly turned back and pushed a few more keys to start another file.

Well, we’ve finally figured out how these machines work, and I must say they’re pretty impressive. I’d heard myths about the Mirror Pool as a filly, but I never thought they could actually be true! Unfortunately, that meant we had to find that stupid old nursery rhyme to make it work. Only a few of us had ever heard the story before, and even then none of us could remember the damn thing, so I thought this whole thing was going to be a bust. Luckily, someone at StableTec thought enough to give us a recording.

I’ve started asking for volunteers to help us test these things out, but I’m not sure how keen some of the mares will be to get shoved in a tube and drenched in shiny water, especially when they learn that there will suddenly be two of them. Not that I wouldn’t mind a little help from an identical me…

Sandy didn’t bother looking up to me and quickly started another file.

I don’t know if choosing Sandy Shells was such a good idea for this. Sure, she’s friendly enough and could always use an extra hoof with the cleaning, but this is starting to get out of hoof.

The first clone was a complete success, for the most part. It seems the pool somehow amplifies emotion in the one being ‘doubled’ and that emotion for Sandy was joy. The new clone wasn’t too far off the original, aside from smiling almost constantly, but after that we decided to test what would happen if we cloned the clone. The result was…I can’t even describe it. Almost no amount of yelling will keep her upset for more than 10 seconds, and even then it’s as if she forgets you were mad at her! The only thing that actually seems to keep the clones sad for extended periods is leaving them alone. Even the other clones can’t keep them company, it’s as if they crave companionship from actual ponies.

But the most interesting thing we found is a behavior I don’t even know what to call. It’s as if after using the Pool, the clones have an insatiable need to re-clone themselves. We left them in their rooms for the night last week, and the next morning they had actually managed to short circuit the locking mechanism and clone themselves again. Now we’ve got four Sandy clones running around down here. To make it more annoying, their cognitive abilities seemed to decay with each generation

I had Tesla Coil run a neurological exam on each of them, and sure enough the ‘youngest’ clones had lost nearly half of their mental capacity as compared to the original Sandy. That’s not to say they’re stupid, they’re incredibly smart creatures. If one of them can do a task, the others can actually just watch and instantly remember how to do it. I’m actually a little jealous. The only thing that doesn’t seem to share this trait is their speech. The 4th generation of clones (yes, they broke out again) seem to only barely be able to formulate sentences, and understanding them is becoming harder and harder for the staff. Luckily, they somehow retain the ability to understand us completely. I guess my brother’s studies on foal development and language proficiency were right after all.

Back on track, I recommend we shut down the project. No matter what StableTec says, this technology will never prove as a viable substitute for reproduction. It looks like Medical is going to have to break out those male ‘samples’ after all. Hopefully at least a few of us can have a colt so our daughters will actually know what a stallion is.

So they were all clones, not sisters. That actually made sense since they all looked exactly the same and acted exactly the same, and I understood why they could only say their name. And I actually felt kind of bad for them. From what I’d seen, everyone else in the Stable had died at some point, and for some unknown reason they couldn’t find any company with each other. That was why they seemed so happy that I had shown up, not because they were creepy or something like that; they were all lonely.

I looked at Sandy as she sat behind the computer with a plain look, waiting to see if she needed to play me another log so I could further understand, but I didn’t need to hear more. I finally grinned and of course received one in response before turning to leave the room. “Thank you, Sandy,” I told her warmly.

“Sandy!” she exclaimed before following me out.

The others had all gathered outside the door to watch us, and grinned giddily when I came back out to them. “So, do any of you know where I can find some parts?” I asked, deciding that they probably wouldn’t mind helping me find some parts if it meant I stuck around and spent time with them.

“Sandy!”

“Thanks anyways,” I said for the fifth time that night and stepped away from the rickety doorway.

Tinker looked up to me and frowned, her eyes still puffy and red after hearing about her parents. I didn’t think it would be such a problem for somebody else in Celestia’s Rose to take her, after all she was one of them. Did that somehow change just because her parents were gone? And yet every pony I asked said that they wouldn’t be able to take her in. Either they already had their own children to take care of, they couldn’t afford to take good care of her, or they didn’t have enough food to feed her.

“Felix…it’s okay. I can just go find somewhere else,” Tinker quietly tried to assure me yet again.

“No, I won’t let you just wander around, it isn’t safe,” I argued sternly, making my way to the next door with purpose.

Tinker’s hoof punched into my side and sent me stumbling to my haunches. “Look, I appreciate this, but I can take care a’ myself,” she told me with an angry face. “I managed ta survive those slavers; I can live through a walk ta the next town.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. Last time I checked, she was still captured when we got to her, and if I remembered right she was horrified of us even though we just saved her. “Then at least let us walk with you, just to be safe?” I tried to compromise with her, even if I wasn’t happy with her being forced to leave her home again.

“No, you’ve gotta get back ta Shayle, ya don’t need to waste time makin’ sure I can get to a town that probably won’t even take me,” she admitted through tear filled eyes. “Just leave me be, it’s not like I want to replace my parents.”

I stared at her for a second after that. I had no idea what to say anymore, because honestly anything I did say to argue that would just make me sound like a jerk. I wanted her to be safe and have somewhere to call home again, but if she didn’t then what could I do? I didn’t want to leave her there with nobody to feed her or keep her safe from the Wasteland, but I couldn’t just force her to leave either.

Then I got an idea. “Well…what if you came with us for a little while? Charmer lost her home too, so maybe you two could look for one together?”

“What?” she asked with a confused stare. “Where would we stay, back in that shack ya found us in?” she asked with a sarcastic snort. She must have noticed my expression. “Wait…that’s what you were doin’ there? Findin’ a place for Bandage Face to live until ya found another town?”

I nodded. “It wouldn’t be that bad, would it?”

“Why doesn’t she just stay here then? It’s a pony town, so she can actually live somewhere safe instead a’ in a shack in the middle a’ nowhere.”

“I don’t think she’s ready to do that yet,” I told her with a shake of my head. “She…she lost everyone in her old town. We found another place for her already, but she refused to stay there. She didn’t want to leave us since we’re the only ones she knows anymore.” Part of that sounded pretty familiar.

“And the only ones I know’re Fracas and Ruckus,” Tinker reminded me with a frown. “We’ve been like family since the slavers took us, but now that they’re back with their parents… I don’t know if they feel like that anymore.”

I frowned and stared at her again. We had tried to see if the colts’ parents would take Tinker in, but they were honest when they said no. They already had two colts to take care of, and as bad as they felt for what happened to her parents, the couple knew they wouldn’t be able to support the filly with what they had.

“Well, you know us right?” I tried to push. “It was only a couple days, but it’s more time than we knew Charmer before she came with us.”

“I don’t know,” the filly finally seemed to start relenting, dropping her head. “I mean, y’all have been good ta me so far, but I don’t really know ya.”

I sighed and nodded in agreement. I wished that she could just trust that we wouldn’t hurt her, but there was really no way I could guarantee that for her, even if it was true. I didn’t see Shayle doing anything bad to her, and I knew I wouldn’t. Charmer seemed almost harmless, and I didn’t think Seer could hurt a foal if she wanted to, not after what happened to her and how she’d treated Tinker, Ruckus and Fracas. And that gave me another idea. I looked to the edge of town where I could barely see Seer still sitting in the fading light of dusk, and hoped that she wouldn’t get mad if I told the filly.

“Look, you’ll be fine with us. Seer would never let something happen to you,” I assured Tinker with a small smile. “She lost her own daughter to slavers, and I don’t think that she’d ever stand for someone trying to hurt you.”

Tinker looked up to me with a questioning look. “She did?” I nodded, hoping that telling Seer’s secret might be enough to convince the filly to come with us just for a few days. She sighed and nodded. “Are ya sure they’ll be okay with that?”

“Couldn’t hurt to ask,” I answered simply. She nodded in agreement.

Seer and Charmer were silent when we reached them, both looking out to the Wasteland in wait. I could guess that Charmer had explained what was taking me so long, and I didn’t think she would mind it. I doubted that the mare would expect us to just leave Tinker without a home.

“Hey, Charmer, Seer?” I started quietly, hoping above hope that they would agree. “Would it be okay if Tinker came with us for a while?”

Charmer quickly turned with a smile on her face and opened her mouth to answer, but stopped short. She looked over to Seer, waiting to see what our guide said before telling us her more obvious answer.

Seer turned more slowly, not fully looking at any of us as she seemed to get lost in thought. For a second, I was afraid that she was going to say no, and that I was going to have to argue with her to change her mind. “As long as she doesn’t do anything to get us hurt, sure.”

I didn’t think I would be, but I was actually surprised when she said ‘yes’. I had expected it to be like when Charmer wanted to come along, with her disagreeing and only relenting if she agreed to not talk ever or something like that. It was a relief that she agreed to take the filly with us, but I was a little worried about how flatly she had responded. It was if she didn’t actually agree, but she somehow felt forced to.

“Let’s get going then, there’s a good spot to get some sleep a mile down the road.” The zebra stood and started walking without even making sure we would follow.

Charmer started off right behind the other mare, leaving me and Tinker standing just outside town. I looked over to the filly hopefully, and found her staring sadly back to Celestia’s Rose. I don’t know why it seemed like the thing to do at the time, but I gently put a hoof on her shoulder. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t have anything to say. After a few seconds I removed my hoof and started trotting after Charmer and Seer, waiting to see what Tinker would decide. She hadn’t yet told me ‘yes’ or ‘no’, I could only hope that she would come with us instead of trying to make it on her own.

After a few seconds, I heard her hooves dragging through the sand beside my own and I gave her a quick grin.

Welcome to the team.

* * *

My eyes shot open as a striped hoof jabbed my side. Seer crouched down beside me, looking into my eyes with a hoof pressed to her lips, urging me to remain silent. I nodded groggily and thought of asking what was happening, but I doubted I would get a response. The mare slunk around me to Charmer, who was up and moving as well, silently pointing over the sand berm a few feet from me. The two mares slid behind it, their guns ready and stern looks on their faces.

I looked over to Tinker in hopes that she would know what was happening, but she looked just as confused as I did. The filly was flat on her belly, looking at Seer and Charmer with a worried expression. A foreboding feeling grew in my belly, and I suddenly had the idea that whatever was about to happen might end poorly.

“Are you sure you saw one?” a feminine voice asked from the other side of where Seer and Charmer were hiding. It sounded like it was pretty far out, and I could just barely understand what was being said.

“Yeah I did, I saw its striped face!” a second, male voice called out.

“Bullshit, it’s too dark to see them,” another, deeper voice answered sternly. “Besides, it would have shot you.”

“No, it didn’t see me,” the first buck replied frantically. “I’m invisible at night!”

“No, you’re high at night,” the female voice quipped with a chuckle. “Probably just hallucinating.”

“Shut up Noose, you wish you could try this shit.”

“I prefer booze and you know it, so shut up and show me this imaginary Zebra of yours.”

“It was right over here.” The voices were getting closer, and I knew it was only a matter of time before they fell on top of us over the sand.

Seer didn’t let it happen. She swung her head over the cover and quickly took aim before firing a burst toward the voices.

“Holy shit!” a new voice screamed.

The air exploded in gunfire as Seer ducked back down just in time to avoid the shots that tore at the sand, sending a cloud into the air all around us. A soft squeak escaped Tinker’s mouth as she squeezed herself into my side. I looked over to see her cowering against me, her eyes clenched shut and her body shaking like a dead leaf. I dug my own head into the ground, trying to stay as low as I could and praying that I wouldn’t get shot.

Charmer and Seer jumped up in unison and returned fire somehow finding the courage to fight through the bullets flying at them from Caesar knows how many ponies. I didn’t dare look up to find out who was on the other side of the wall, and I honestly didn’t care. I just hoped that the two mares on our side could win out against whoever it was. Even if I had a gun I don’t know if I could have helped, I couldn’t even find the strength to lift my head up, and I was hidden. How the two older mares managed it was amazing to me.

A scream echoed through the night as one of the ponies attacking us got hit by something, but the gunfire didn’t die. It raged on, thundering in my ears and keeping my body planted in the ground where I was laying. Tinker tried to move closer to me as if it would make her safer. I certainly didn’t feel any safer, and I doubted I would until the fighting stopped.

I rolled my eyes up to see Seer drop behind the wall and start to switch out the magazine in her rifle. Her hooves moved with precision, somehow able to grip the clips with ease and move the full one into the bottom of the gun. She looked so calm, as if this was nothing new to her. Charmer hardly looked relaxed as she frantically changed between targets, firing with what seemed like no effect. I didn’t hear any screams of pain from the ones attacking us after her shots, and I started to get more and more worried that soon we would be overrun.

Charmer’s shotgun spun to face something just on the other side of the berm, and the gun blazed with light. A yelp of pain hit my ears after the shot, the scream of a dying pony. The mare dropped back into cover and started pushing new shells into the gun, but not nearly as smoothly as Seer had been able to reload. She was scared, and that made perfect sense. This was a gunfight, it was supposed to be scary; that is to everyone except Seer.

A blood soaked unicorn jumped over the wall and landed on Seer as she tried to stand back up. The strap keeping her rifle slung around her neck snapped and the rifle tumbled away, leaving Seer trapped under the frantic pony. Charmer hardly noticed, her eyes locked onto the shotgun as she continued to push new shells into the weapon. Seer struggled to get out from under the attacking pony, but the big mare managed to stay on top. Her horn lit up with a blue light, and a knife levitated from a sheath on her back leg.

I couldn’t move, I didn’t know what to do. Charmer seemed fixated on reloading, her mind overloaded by the fight as she tried to get herself back to shooting. Seer kicked out at the unicorn on top of her, unable to make an effective strike against the unicorn as the knife hovered over her head. The blade dove into the dirt beside the zebra’s head, pulled out and dove again. The unicorn grinned giddily as the helpless zebra under her continued to narrowly dodge death, as if it were a game to her.

Charmer jumped back up and aimed over the wall just in time to stop a second pony from jumping over, blasting the stallion back and into what I assumed would be a bloody heap just behind the wall. She couldn’t look away to help Seer, not if she wanted to stop the others from jumping over the wall. Tinker still hadn’t moved, her body frozen against mine as her eyes remained sealed to the fight around us.

I looked back to Seer, and knew that I had to do something. She was running out of room to fight, and soon the knife would dig into her rather than the dirt of the Wasteland. I had to move. The knife stopped jabbing at her head and levitated around the back of the two, leveling out behind their rumps. I don’t know what happened in my head at that sight, but a part of my brain kicked in that I had only experienced a few times before. It happened once or twice in Zeza when one of my friends was being bullied, and it happened when Strike was about to kill Shayle the day we ran away; the part that made me fight.

I jumped to my hooves and charged the wrestling mares a few feet away, screaming madly as I leaped on top of the unicorn. The magic around her knife flickered out and the blade fell to the ground while I started pounding my hooves into her back, shouting at her to get off of Seer. She started bucking her hips wildly, trying to throw me off without giving Seer any room to attack. I somehow managed to hold on as I quickly wrapped my legs around her neck, leaving me only one way to attack further. I dug my teeth into her ear, doing whatever I could to stop the mare from killing Seer or throwing me away from them.

The unicorn screamed in pain and threw her backside up further, finally finding the momentum to launch me off her. I landed roughly a few feet away. Gunfire continued to hammer through my head as Charmer kept up the fight on the other end of the wall, but I couldn’t tell who was winning. Without warning, a blade wrapped with a blue glow jammed through my hoof and into the dirt, pulling a scream from me that I didn’t think I could make. I spun my head to see the unicorn grinning madly at my pain as she turned her attention back to Seer. I tried to get up and help again, but the knife had pinned my hoof. Every time I pulled to try moving it just made me scream in agony, and after a few tries I gave up. I had failed.

Seer’s rifle lit up in a blue aura as it hovered to point at her eyes, and time seemed to freeze as I waited for the unicorn to inevitably pull the trigger. But that shot never happened. The zebra’s head lunged forward and her teeth dug into the unicorn’s muzzle, pulling the surprised pony down to the ground as Seer finally managed to get her hind legs under the mare’s belly. The magic faded from the rifle and it clattered to the ground again before the unicorn was kicked back into the wall.

Seer rolled to her hooves and ran to me. She didn’t say a word as her tail somehow wrapped around the hilt of the knife and yanked it from my leg. I screamed again as blood started to fall to the dirt in a stream. I rose shakily to get to my bag and the bandages we had gotten from Celestia’s Rose, desperate to stop the bleeding. From the corner of my eye, I saw Seer trotting casually to the mare she’d just bucked into the wall, the blood-soaked blade still wrapped in her tail. The zebra stopped to pick up the dropped rifle and finish reloading. Unlike when Shayle had shot the slaver back when we saved Tinker and the colts, I didn’t mind that she was about to execute the pony that had almost killed us both.

I didn’t expect Seer to take aim over the wall again and start firing. I thought she had either forgotten the unicorn, or she just didn’t see the pony as a threat anymore. Those thoughts died as the zebra started swinging her tail, and the knife, into the pony’s chest over and over, all while continuing to fire over the wall at the other attackers. My heart stopped at the sight, and for a brief moment I completely forgot I was bleeding. The unicorn squealed in misery as the blade jabbed through her again and again, drops of blood flicking across the dirt with each swing. I wouldn’t have minded her getting shot, but what Seer was doing… I couldn’t even describe what I thought of the zebra at that moment.

When the knife finally got stuck in the unicorn’s chest, Seer stopped swinging and the mare stopped screaming. The zebra’s tail released the blade as she placed all of her attention back on the firefight; her rifle expertly picked off the remaining ponies as if shooting was secondary to breathing for her. A warm feeling spread over my hoof and reminded me that I had other things to worry about, and I quickly dug into my bag for a bandage. Tinker’s eyes cracked open and looked to me, but another shot from Charmer’s gun clamped them shut again. I wished I could have been in her place, hiding from the fight and never being forced to see the death that was so wantonly thrown around. But instead I was left to wrap up my leg before I lost too much blood, the image of the knife and the screaming unicorn burned into my mind as I worked.

By the time I was done, the shooting had finally stopped. Charmer slumped behind the wall with a sigh and allowed her shotgun to clatter to the ground. Her legs shook as she sat there, and the mare’s breathing was all that broke the heavy silence that suddenly filled the night air. The bandages covering her face and much of her body hung loosely, threatening to fall off at any second. I wondered if it was okay for them to come off yet.

Seer reloaded her rifle a final time and sat beside Charmer, exhaling deeply and looking up to the black sky. “Good work Charmer,” she groaned softly, apparently more exhausted than she let on.

“Let’s not do that again,” the bandaged pony replied between breaths.

Seer nodded before looking down to me, a small smile on her face. “Thanks Felix, I owe you for that,” she told me with a nod.

I wasn’t too sure what to think of that, so I just nodded silently and looked over to Tinker. The filly had finally peeled her eyes open, and I could see a few tears that she was fighting to keep inside. “Are you okay?” I asked softly.

The filly nodded and stared at the body of the pony Seer had stabbed, her eyes locked on the sight. I didn’t know what she was thinking about it, but I was glad she hadn’t seen what had happened to the unicorn. I wished I hadn’t too, because even though I knew Seer wouldn’t do such a thing to me, at least I didn’t think so, I still couldn’t get over how casually the mare had butchered another equine. If it had been a slaver, I could have at least understood why she did it, but I don’t think I could ever agree with what she’d done. Killing was one thing, and apparently I’d have to get used to that in the Wasteland, but she hadn’t just killed that pony.

I had never really been too fond of Seer, she never seemed to care what happened to others as long as she was okay, and that was something I found to be disturbing. Even if she didn’t know the ponies of Shanty, I would have hoped that she could show some sympathy for what happened to them, but instead she didn’t care. She only agreed to go because me and Shayle didn’t give her a choice, and even then she only sat up on that hill rather than help us with the survivors. I had gained some respect for her after she gave the last rights to the dead of Shanty, and thought that maybe I had just misunderstood her, that she did care after all.

Then she told me what happened to her daughter, and I thought I understood why she seemed so cold, I even felt bad for what she’d gone through. But after the fight, and what she’d done, I couldn’t understand her anymore, or sympathize with her.

I was scared of her.

The Sandy’s were more than happy to help me out in finding some things that I thought might be on the list Seer had. I was slightly distressed when I realized I would have to guess, especially because I didn’t feel like carrying a bunch of pointless junk with me all the way back to Caesar’s Stand, but that feeling faded as I realized exactly how much Stables could hold.

I didn’t know exactly what to request from the Sandy’s, but I thought back to the parts we already gathered and asked if they had anything similar. They gladly showed me around the Stable, opening up doors and pulling out anything they weren’t using. I think they tried to ask me some questions a few times, but since they could only say ‘Sandy’, it was difficult to answer any of them. Instead, I just told them some things about me and a little bit about Caesar’s Stand while we searched, which seemed to make them happy.

At a point, I caught an assortment of glowing little cylinders through a window to my left, and stopped to stare at them. I couldn’t quite tell what they were, but they did look like something that might be on my list. “Hey Sandy, can I have a couple of those?” I asked and pointed to the window.

A couple of them trotted over and looked in the window, then quickly turned around with stern glares on their faces. “Sandy,” they growled in unison before shaking their heads and trotting back off to continue getting other things for me. That was weird, but apparently I had found the one thing in the world that could make them actually mad. I just hoped those glowing things weren’t on my list when I got back with Seer, Felix, and Charmer.

As we continued, one of the Sandy’s was always by my side with a pair of saddlebags that the others put parts and wires and such into, and somehow playing music from a big metal band around her foreleg. It had a screen on it like a terminal, but instead of a board to control it there were a bunch of knobs that she fiddled with to get the music. It was pretty neat looking, but I didn’t bother to ask what it was; she would just call it a Sandy. The bag over her back started to look pretty heavy after an hour or so, and I told them we had found enough supplies. They all cheered and stopped searching, quickly making their way back to the big room where we had eaten. The Sandy with the bag trotted back with me, grinning and humming along with the song that played from her hoof.

What had started out as a creepy happiness from them had started to rub off on me, and I wasn’t actually looking forward to leaving it. I knew I had to go back up to the Wasteland and continue on with my life, but a part of me wanted nothing more than to stay in Stable 81 with the Sandy’s and always be surrounded by their joy and smiles; both things I hadn’t seen very much of in my life. Sadly, I knew I couldn’t stay.

When we finally got back to the dining room, all of the Sandy’s grinned and their horns glowed. From behind them a blue and yellow jacket hovered into my view, one that was identical to the one each of them was wearing. I didn’t exactly know what was going on, but after a few seconds I figured it out. I didn’t really like it as much as I liked Seer’s long jacket, but it was still very nice, and for some reason they were going to give it to me? I grinned as one of them started putting it on me, and found that it was a surprisingly good fit. It was a little loose around the chest, but I didn’t really care, I was still confused as to why the Sandy’s were giving me one of their jackets at all.

Once it was on, they all looked at me expectantly, their faces straining with anticipation for me to do something. I looked over myself briefly before looking back up to them with a smile. “Thank you,” I told them warmly, and was suddenly swarmed. My body tightened up as I suddenly found myself at the center of a Sandy hug, and for a second I thought I might die. Some part of me said that the hug was bad and I should kick them off, but their smiling faces beat that part of me down for the time being.

“Sandy,” they all said in unison before breaking the hug.

I looked around to them all, and that urge to stay in the Stable rose yet again. I doubted I would ever see that much happiness again, or ever meet that many ponies who were so happy for the rest of my life, but I had to leave them. I didn’t like it, and I knew they wouldn’t, but it was time for me to go back to my brother and my life in the Wasteland. My smile faded, and each of them cocked their heads to the side in confusion.

“Thank you all so much,” I started quietly, each of them quickly getting their grins back. “I really appreciate the food and the help, and the jacket.”

“Sandy!” the one beside me with the bag chirped.

I grinned weakly to her before continuing. “But…I have to leave now.” All of them frowned and stuck their bottom lips out. Hello again urge to stay. “I have a family outside, and they’re probably very worried about me,” I tried to explain in a way that wouldn’t upset them too bad. “So I need to go make sure they know I’m okay.” The frowns and lips didn’t recede, and for a second I thought I was about to witness a sob-fest, but then I felt the bag come to a rest on my back.

I looked to my side to see the music-listening Sandy frowning like the others, but she still nodded to me. “Sandy,” she told me sadly, nodding to the hall behind us before turning to leave.

I sighed and waved to the others, all of whom returned the wave as a few started to cry. That pony in the recording wasn’t wrong, they really didn’t like being left alone.

The last Sandy lead me all the way back out to the main door of the Stable, the big cog one that saved my life earlier in the day. She walked with her head hung low in front of me, and I heard a sniffle every so often as she tried not to cry. I wouldn’t have minded if she did, after all I might be the last visitor they got for a very long time.

At the main door, Sandy stopped beside a panel with another striped lever and looked over at me sadly. “Sandy?” she asked sadly, probably trying to ask me to stay one last time.

I wanted to make her happy again, like she had been when I first saw her and all the other clones, but I knew she wouldn’t be like that until another outsider came to their Stable. So I tried my best. “I’ll…I’ll come back sometime,” I told her with a weak smile. “To visit.” Her lips quickly curled into a grin and she pulled the lever, filling the room with the flashing red light and siren as the door rolled open with a scream of old metal. “Bye Sandy, thanks again,” I told her one last time with a wave before I stepped out.

She waved back happily at first, but as soon as she pushed up the lever to close the door again her face fell back into sadness. She kept her hoof up in the wave, but I didn’t think she wanted to keep waving goodbye anymore.

When the door finally sealed behind me, I looked around the cave quickly. I couldn’t see the Rottwood who had survived earlier, and I hoped that meant it was gone for good. My ears perked up as I waited for a howl or some other sign that it was about to charge from the mushroom-covered tunnel to jump at me, but I didn’t hear a thing.

Confident that I was in the clear, I turned to the old wooden door and sprinted up to it, kicking it open to find myself face to face with the Wasteland night. Thank Caesar, no more cave! Too bad that meant I was back to the real world, and would likely never see the joyful land of Sandy Shells again. Instead, I had to find my way back to the crashed cart to wait for Felix, Charmer and Seer.

I looked around slowly, hoping to see something that would help me find out which way to go, and thankfully there were the always looming towers of New Oatleans in the distance. When we had camped out before they were East of us, so if I put them on the other side of me and started walking I would eventually hit that big gash in the desert. Once I was there, I could probably see the crashed cart in one direction or the other. Easy as Apple Bombs!

“Little one, what are you doing out here?” the familiar and horrifying voice hovered from behind me, sending a chill down my spine that stood my hairs on end.

There was no way my luck could be that bad. No. Way. Slowly, I turned my head and sure enough she was right behind me, sitting on top of the hill where the wooden door was hidden from the world. As usual, her lips were twisted into a smile from killing a puppy somewhere, and the one eye that wasn’t hidden by her mane looked down on me as though I were a filly.

“I-I…” I stammered, not even knowing how to react.

“You fell in a cave and got lost?” Minx finished for me, asking as if I didn’t know myself.

“Y-you knew?” I asked, growing more angry than horrified that she somehow knew what happened to me, yet did nothing to help. Not that I had needed it, but still. And why did she ask why I was there if she knew already!

“Yes. You were down there for a long time. I was starting to think you may never come out.”

“How?” I asked aggressively, my fear boiling fully into rage as she somehow stayed happy at the thought of me dying in that Stable. Did she know there was a Stable down there?

“I was watching. Xion has decided to put an extra eye on you.” The mare pointed up to her green orb and chuckled lightly at her stupid joke.

“Why?” I hissed.

“Because he doesn’t trust you.” Still smiling, still cheery. Did I actually leave Sandy Land, or did I fall asleep down there?

“Do you trust me?” I risked asking, not sure why I actually cared.

“More than he does.”

Well that was good, I guess. “So, since you’ve been watching,” I started, growing more calm as the anger from seeing Minx again began to fade from my system. “You wouldn’t happen to know how to get back to that cart, would you?”

“Of course.” She stood up and jumped down from the little hill. “Oh, and I like the new coat,” she commented with a quick nod to my Stable jacket. Not sure if serious.

* * *

“So, why doesn’t Xion trust me?” I finally said after a few hours of silent, awkward walking. I must have been down in the Stable for a lot longer than I thought, because the light of day overcame us after only an hour of trotting back to camp. I was slightly impressed that the mare had waited on top of the door for so long, but then again she didn’t exactly seem like the impatient type.

“He doesn’t think you believe in the way of the Remnant,” Minx answered calmly. “I tend to agree with him, but I think he may be holding on to old ways too tightly.”

“Old ways?” I asked, not quite sure what she meant.

“Much of the Remnant is starting to move away from the belief that all ponies are our eternal enemy, and that since we all survive in the Wasteland, we all should at least try to get along.” The mare fell silent for a second, as if she was waiting for me to agree or disagree. After I didn’t say anything for a few seconds she continued. “Xion does not share that belief, and holds to the final order of Caesar; that we must destroy our enemy, Equestria.”

“And you agree with him?” I asked neutrally, not entirely sure what to think of that.

“To an extent.”

I waited for her to elaborate, but she didn’t say anything further. “What do you think of us helping those foals then?” I tried to drag more out of her. I don’t know why I wanted to know more about her, but it wasn’t like I had much else to do for the next however long it was until we reached the crashed cart.

“If you want to know if I would do the same, no.” She turned to me and for once was flat faced rather than smiling. “If I recall correctly, you are supposed to be finding supplies for a rather prominent zebra. Helping the foals may have seemed right to you, but in doing so you betrayed commitment. So no, I do not agree with it.”

So she would have left them to die, great. I was travelling with a cold hearted psychopath. “What if they had been zebras?” I asked again, expecting a different answer.

“It would not change my opinion.”

I stopped in my tracks and glared at her. “Why not? You can’t spare a day out of your life to help innocent foals?”

“There is no innocence in this world Shayle.” If she hadn’t been watching me, I would have been scared that she knew my name somehow. “Even the young are plagued by the disease that is the Wasteland. If they survived to that age, they had to do something unclean.”

“Like burn down a town or shoot a scared filly?” I snapped a reminder of what the mare and her partners had done in Shanty.

“I do not regret killing the young pony, it had to be done so that you may live,” Minx barked back to me. If she had scared me when she smiled, seeing her actually getting mad was worse than a pouncing Rottwood.

“You shot her! Not Xion?” I screamed, and the holster on my hoof started to burn in anticipation. “And what do you mean ‘so I could live’?”

“The choice was given to me by my leader. I was told to shoot any of your group, regardless of what you actually said.” So that was it, I never did have a choice. “I chose the one who had nothing left. No family, no home, no hope to continue.”

“She had Charmer!” I snapped, trotting up to her and jamming my muzzle against hers. “Do you have any idea what that did to her? Doc was the last family she had, and you tore her away.”

“Would you have preferred I chose you?” the mare asked grimly, never taking her eye away from mine.

I bared my teeth and continued to glare up into her face as my body quaked in anger. They had lied to me, pretended to give me a choice only to have it be a farce. I could have told them to kill me and that…that bitch still would have shot Doc!

I jumped back and tore the pistol from my holster to aim at Minx. I was going to kill her, and I didn’t care what happened if I did. Xion could kill me himself for all I cared, but I was going to get revenge for what she did to Doc and Charmer.

She didn’t even flinch at the gun. The mare just stared at me with that scowl, her eye glued on the gun as she waited for me to pull the trigger. “Well, go ahead.” She taunted after almost a minute of staring down the barrel of my gun.

My tongue tightened over the trigger as I started to slowly pull back on it, my eyes taking in the look on Minx’s face; the last of her I would ever see before she was erased from the Wasteland forever. No more burning towns or killing foals for her, and no more of that smile greeting me when I least wanted to see it.

So why was she still alive? Why couldn’t I just finish what I started and turn her into another corpse in the dirt? I had killed bandits without hesitation, executed a slaver, and even tried to beat the life out of Charmer when we first met. But for some reason I didn’t understand, I couldn’t get my tongue to pull the metal any further.

I don’t know how long that lasted, how long I just sat there trying to put an end to the zebra that destroyed all that was Shanty and killed the ponies that had been so good to me without even knowing who I was. She didn’t even try to stop me. She didn’t reach for her gun, she didn’t push mine away, she just stared at me. She didn’t even pull out that smile I hated so much as we glared at each other in the middle of nowhere. When I had killed the slaver mare she begged for mercy, and I could see fear burning in the back of her eyes as she prayed for me to spare her. Minx didn’t have that. There was no fear in her eye, there was nothing inside her asking me to stop.

She didn’t care.

“Walk straight for three hours and you’ll hit the riverbed. Turn right and walk two more hours, you’ll see the cart.” That was the last thing she said before disappearing before my eyes.

I didn’t look around for her, I knew I wouldn’t see her again. She was somewhere nearby, I knew that, she still had to keep an eye on me despite knowing that I wanted to kill her. And now I wanted to even more. I had failed to pull the trigger with her in front of me, it would have been so easy. It’s not like she would be missed, there was no way anyone could love that psycho or even care about her like a friend. I doubted even Xion and the other Scorpions actually liked her, they probably saw her as a teammate if nothing else. And above all I knew that she would be back.

I would see her again, and then I would pull the trigger.

The echo from my gun didn’t carry far as I finally finished pulling the trigger, sending the bullet into the distance as I pictured Minx still standing in front of the barrel.

Footnote:
Shayle LEVELED UP! (Science 20, Speech 25)
New Perk Earned: Strong Back - +50% Carry Weight

Felix LEVELED UP! (Melee 25)
New Perk Earned: Educated - You gain 2 extra skill points each time you level up

Author’s Note: Got a quick turnaround on a new chapter this time since I’m in a motivation streak. Probably because I didn’t have access to my computer over the holidays and had built up inspiration that is now leaking out of every orifice. Don’t worry, I’ll be back to 1 month gaps between chapters in no time since school starts soon.
Even more thanks to Kkat and Somber for writing Fallout Equestria and Project Horizons, the world I’m building off of and hopefully not messing up too much in the process. I can still never thank you both enough for your stories that motivated me to write this, and I only hope that I give the universe justice with my add on.
Another thank you to my pre-readers and editors who help me to keep this from being too horrible to read and assuring me that it isn’t as bad as I seem to think.
And thank you to my readers, who still keep me going. You’re all amazing, and I hope that I continue to put out a story that is entertaining.

Chapter 10: Out of Sight

Chapter 10: Out of Sight
“There is no complete forgetting, even in death.”

I didn’t sleep well after the fight. Seer told us to go back to bed, to try and get a few more hours in before we got moving again, but I couldn’t find it in me to drift away. I was stuck on what I’d just seen. The knife plunging into her flesh again and again without remorse or even recognition of the act; it was as if she saw that pony like a piece of meat on a cutting board. It was horrifying to me that anyone could remove any sort of equinity from another pony or zebra like that, just butcher them like a beast and never once show any sort of emotion or remorse after.

Maybe I had overreacted, after all Tinker was able to get to sleep right beside me without too much trouble, and she was the one who had just learned what happened to her family; if she could get to sleep after that, I shouldn’t have had any issues after watching a raider die, right? The filly twitched a few times as she slept, her face stuck in a frown as tears started to fall from her eyes even in sleep. It was a horrible sight, at least to me. Dreams were supposed to be a safe place, the one time you could escape from anything bad and imagine the good times instead of being surrounded by reminders of whatever may plague your real world. Yet there she was, still trapped in the memories of everything that had happened to her.

I wanted to comfort her, hold her and tell her it would all be okay, but that didn’t work in dreams. I couldn’t be in there with her to help her get through whatever was happening, all I could do was watch as she cried inside her own head and saw Caesar-knows-what.

I almost jumped out of my skin at the sight of a striped body slinking down over the berm from the corner of my eye, but I calmed myself when I realized it was just Seer coming back from getting rid of the raider bodies. I doubted that she buried them or gave them anything like the treatment she showed the ponies of Shanty, she probably just found a hole to throw them in and forget they even existed. So, I looked away from her and back to Tinker, not caring to acknowledge the zebra who was slowly starting to look like a raider herself in my eyes.

I guess I didn’t try very hard to hide that I was still awake, because a few moments later her hooves were right beside me as her head leaned down. “You should sleep, it’s a long way back to camp tomorrow,” she whispered gently.

“I know,” I replied roughly, but softly. “But it’s hard to sleep.”

“Is it?” That was probably the stupidest question I’d heard up to that point, and also the strangest. “Just close your eyes, it’s very simple.”

I couldn’t tell if she was trying to upset me or not, but it seemed like she was. “Sorry I can’t do that without seeing you butchering a pony,” I hissed to her, trying very hard to keep my voice down so I didn’t wake up Tinker or Charmer.

Seer sighed and shook her head with a soft clatter of beads. “Felix, we can talk about that later. For now, get your rest.” She looked over to Tinker, then back to me. “If it helps, lie beside Tinker; maybe put a hoof over her? She looks like she could use it,” she suggested softly before standing and trotting off.

I hadn’t looked away from Tinker during our little conversation, and could tell she was still crying, and I still didn’t think that anything I did could help. She was crying inside her own mind, in her dream. I couldn’t go in there and help her, there was nothing I could do to help. And besides, that would be weird if she woke up and I was holding her like that. I was sure Charmer would get a kick out of it and probably start egging us on about looking cute or something, but I doubted Tinker would appreciate it. She’d probably kick me or something!

I quickly changed my mind when the filly whimpered softly and curled tighter around herself. Maybe Seer was right and it would somehow help, no matter how much I doubted it, and if I didn’t she would have to go through the whole night like that. I stood up and trotted to her side slowly, scared that I would wake her up and worry her if I moved to fast or held her wrong or something. A rumble from behind me stood my hair on end, but I turned and saw that it was just Charmer laying on her back and snoring. That was… interesting to see.

My attention went back to the sobbing filly, her breath still whimpering quietly as her hooves seemed to be trying to hold something that wasn’t there. It was heartbreaking to see that, and I could only imagine what kind of things her mind must have been tormenting her with. I carefully sank down to my belly, keeping a little bit of space between us at first mostly because I was nervous and didn’t want to scare her. I also didn’t fully believe what Seer had suggested about this helping Tinker in her dreams somehow.

When I finally brought myself to put a hoof on her shoulder, her body jerked slightly at the touch, and I instantly brought my hoof back to myself. Stupid Seer! Tinker rolled over slightly at being woken up, her eyes barely open as she looked over to me. I could barely see the pain in her glance, the sadness she was still stuck in from everything that had happened to her and now whatever dreams were plaguing her mind.

“Um… s-sorry,” I quietly tried to apologize. “I-I just-”

I didn’t bother finishing my apology as the filly wiggled her body against mine. She pressed her head into my neck and I could feel the wetness of her tears soaking through to my skin, and the quick, scared beating of her heart as her chest rested against mine. I froze at first, not sure quite what to do or what had just happened, but it didn’t take long for my brain to react. I gently placed a hoof over her shoulder and pulled her in close, welcoming the warmth of her sad, shaking body against mine. She seemed to calm a little, but I could still feel the moisture of her tears seeping through the coat of my neck as she continued to sob.

I thought about trying to comfort her further, to tell her it would be okay and that she was safe. Instead I just stroked the back of her mane and let her cry into me as much as she wanted. I wished there was something else I could do to help her, something that could stop her tears or keep her from dreaming about whatever had been tormenting her, but there was nothing in the Wasteland that could let her forget her parents. Nothing to remove the thoughts of being taken from home only to return and realize that home disappeared when she left.

All I could do was let her cry and do my best to let her know that I was there for her to cry on if she needed it.

I don’t know how long it took for her to finally fall asleep in my hooves, or how long it took me to drift to sleep after that, but apparently we had both gone off at some point. I only knew that because I was suddenly jerked from sleep by a squeak and an ‘awww’ from Charmer as she looked at the two of us.

* * *

I dared to glance over at Charmer again and instantly pulled my eyes away as I fought to not gag. I wish she hadn’t decided to take them off, but she insisted they weren’t helping anymore. She was right about that, the bandages weren’t doing any good now that her skin had healed and closed up, but they looked a lot better. Now instead of somewhat dirty white cloth covering half of her body, there was just uneven wavy skin that seemed to shine slightly.

That wasn’t really the part that bothered me though, as creepy as it was to see her like that, what really got me was the eye. I never knew what to expect when the bandages came off that side of her face, but it certainly wasn’t what I had been trying to avoid since she removed them. The hole was mostly empty, just a pit in her head that was already disturbing enough without something inside it, but there was still that one bit; the optic nerve still engorged and malformed at the back of the socket from the damage. It wasn’t infected, at least from what I could tell, but it was likely the most disgusting thing I’d ever seen. It just hung there.

It didn’t stick out from the socket, so I couldn’t see it while I walked beside her, but every time I looked up at her face I could still remember the sight of it when she first took off the bandages. Of course I lied to her; I told her she looked great. She’d already been through enough without being called ugly. She didn’t believe me, at least I don’t think she did since she could see what her skin looked like on one of her legs, but she still smiled and thanked me. I felt awful for lying, but I didn’t see a reason to tell her that her face barely looked like a pony’s anymore.

Even though she seemed to sleep well after I started holding her the night before, Tinker hardly looked like she was in a mood to go anywhere. The filly kept her head hung low, only looking up occasionally to see if we were any closer to the camp. She hadn’t said a word after waking up, and I don’t think I had seen her eyes at all either. She was always looking down, as if it was somehow better than looking at the world around her and risking a subtle reminder of her lost parents.

I trotted alongside her and leaned my head over, speaking quietly to not startle her. “Do you want a snack?” I asked gently. Of course, she just shook her head and kept walking, not even bothering to look over at me. “Are you sure? I’ve got an old snack cake,” I pressed, hoping that even if she didn’t accept any food she’d at least speak.

“I’m not hungry,” she replied under her breath, so quietly that I almost didn’t hear her.

I almost tried to force it further, but I knew it wouldn’t help. If she didn’t want to eat, she wouldn’t, and continuing to try and make her eat something would probably just upset her. So I dropped the subject and moved a few feet away again, falling back into the silent walk we’d been on for hours already, and would be on for another countless hours until we got to the camp and hopefully Shayle.

I still wondered what she might have been through since we got separated. The cave must have been horrifying; especially with the threat of whatever had pulled in that pony we had been trying to save. I wondered if she was alive too, maybe Shayle had managed to save her and we’d have yet another pony travelling with us until she could find a home. Another mare, and no colts or bucks for me to relate to.

That was probably the worst part about leaving home; losing all of my friends. I missed running through town with them playing Tag, Bounty Hunters and Slavers, Hide and Seek. I missed talking about the fillies we liked and always needing to punch Zaco for saying he wanted to date my sister. Sometimes I wondered if he actually would, or if he just did it to upset me. I missed Strike too. He’d been nice, he’d helped me and Shayle, and he actually listened when I talked; I missed that sometimes too.

And I missed Dad. He wasn’t always the best, I knew that. He hurt us both sometimes, and I don’t think he was very fair to Shayle by keeping her out of school, but he was still Dad. He took care of us, he brought home food and water from his stand, and he made sure we stayed safe. He taught me how to clean a gun and how to use one, showed me how to load it and how to use it to keep me and Shayle safe whenever he was gone. I never had to, but he still cared enough to teach me anyways. I hoped I would get to see him again, whenever he was out of the trouble Shayle told me he’d gotten in.

But now I was surrounded by mares and a filly.

I also wasn’t paying attention and rammed face-first into Seer’s bony butt.

She shot a look back to me, and I could feel my face burning as I quickly backed away. “Sorry.”

She didn’t reply, and instead turned back to the Wasteland ahead of us. There wasn’t much to see, just a few hills and rock formations, and of course the towers of New Oatleans to the East. Why did she stop?

“Charmer, keep Tinker close and pretend you’re eating,” she quickly ordered and spun around.

“Why? What’s going on?” Charmer asked as she sat down and watched Seer with one eye.

“Just do it.” The zebra trotted to me and grabbed my ear in her teeth to spin me around. “You, let’s go.”

I groaned in pain while she yanked my ear around and pulled me away from Tinker and Charmer. “Why, why, why, why?” I asked painfully.

She didn’t answer again. A few hundred feet from the two ponies, we dropped into a good sized crater where Seer finally let go of my ear and started dumping all of her water into the dirt. I think she was finally snapping, as if she wasn’t already crazy enough. As soon as she finished dumping her last bottle, the mare took off all of her equipment and set it to the side.

“Roll in the mud, now,” she ordered again, sounding panicked and worried.

I don’t think I’d ever heard her use that tone before, one that almost sounded afraid, so I just did it. I fell to the newly created mud and rolled around, covering my coat in the cold gunk. “What’s wrong?” I asked as I rolled, trying to get more from her than just commands.

“Just stay low and quiet,” the mare pleaded with me as she joined in with the mud-rolling. She was more frantic with it than I was, and wasn’t shy about covering any part of her body in the sticky muck. Whatever she saw ahead of us, it must have been horrifying. But if it was, why did she leave Tinker and Charmer out there while we hid?

“What about them?” I asked in a whisper.

“They’ll be fine,” Seer assured me. “Now keep quiet.”

I was really starting to get tired of the constant orders and secrecy.

After a few minutes, I was starting to wonder if Seer was actually insane. Nothing had shown up, and she still refused to move a muscle or let me go check on the others. It was freaking me out. Then I heard it; the heavy stomping of hooves, the soft whine of old metal, and finally the metallic voice.

“What are you doing out here?” it asked, likely directed at Charmer.

“Just taking a stroll,” Charmer replied grumpily.

“Nopony does that, especially not this close to the NOL,” a second metallic voice, a more feminine one, replied skeptically.

“Do I look like I care about that?” Charmer quipped, probably referring to her rather grotesque appearance.

No voices responded at first, but after a few seconds of silence the first metallic voice spoke up again. “Is this your daughter?”

“No, her parents were…” I think we were too far away, because I didn’t hear her finish what she was saying.

“And now you care for her?” Whoever was behind the metal voice, they didn’t sound convinced.

“Yeah. What was I supposed to do, just leave her without anyone to take care of her?” Charmer asked with an ‘are you stupid?’ tone.

“Very well,” the feminine voice responded. “Please do not continue further to the north, you are close to Zebra territory, and both of your safety will be at risk there.” So these metallic voices weren’t very friendly with zebras like me and Seer? It would explain why she was insistent we hid, but it didn’t seem like Seer to go to that extent for a few ponies. Surely she could handle whoever was talking with Charmer and Tinker, right?

“I’ll remember that, thank you,” Charmer answered.

The heavy hoofsteps resumed, and it sounded like they were heading straight toward our hiding spot. I tried to squeeze further into the dirt without moving too much and wished I could just sink through the dirt and mud. I think Seer felt the same, because the feeling of her tail grabbing mine made me think she was almost as scared as I was. If she was that worried about whatever was about to run over us, I had no reason to question why we hid. I just hoped they wouldn’t see us.

Thankfully, the hoofsteps marched right by us, not even stopping beside our crater. Whoever it was, they didn’t say a word as they passed, and I was afraid to even breath and risk them seeing it. I split open one eye and peered up as much as I could without lifting my head from the dirt, and wished I never did.

What I saw was a trio of completely metal ponies, all weighed down with guns so big they looked like walking tanks. None of them looked down to see me looking up, I thanked Caesar for that, and I didn’t blame Seer for rushing me off to hide from them. I didn’t even have to think hard to remember what they were called, after all what else could they be? Steel Rangers, that’s what Charmer and Seer had called them. What they didn’t say was how horrifying they were up close. If that was what the Remnant was fighting in New Oatleans, I was amazed that we were even in the fight at all. It was hard for me to even imagine bringing one of those machines down, not to mention what I assumed was a force equal to the number of soldiers I’d seen in Caesar’s Stand.

I didn’t dare to move even after they passed, and it took me a few minutes to realize that I’d wrapped my tail around Seer’s as well. I didn’t care, and I don’t think she did either, because we would have died without a fight if one of those Rangers had managed to see us. Inches from death, and even Seer had been afraid of that. She’d always seemed at least calm in a firefight, so having her take comfort from me was both a little scary and a little gratifying.

Almost five minutes after the stomping of metal hooves faded to the south of us, Seer pulled her tail away from mine and stood up, not bothering to try getting the caked up mud out of her coat before pulling her gear from the sand where she’d buried it. “We need to move. The faster we get away from here, the less chance we have of running into another patrol,” she ordered again. I just nodded this time and pulled my bags out of the sand.

“So, those were…” I tried to clarify, even though I knew already.

“Yes,” Seer confirmed and pulled on her jacket, cringing slightly at the feeling of crusty mud being pressed against her skin.

“How did you know they were coming?” I asked, not exactly believing she could have seen them from so far away without them seeing her too. After all, she was in the lead, and her white and black striped head didn’t exactly blend into the desert.

She didn’t answer at first, instead focusing on getting the rest of her gear before turning to me with a flat stare. “I saw them a ways out.”

“And they didn’t see you?” I continued skeptically.

“No, got lucky,” she asserted and stepped out of the crater. “Let’s get going, we have a long way to go.”

I nodded and stepped out of the crater behind her, making my way straight to Tinker to make sure she was okay. Apparently keeping up the act was what she needed to finally eat, because a half-eaten can of beans sat between her legs and some of the juice stained her lips.

“You need a bath,” she told me with a strange look.

“Maybe, but I haven’t seen any -” I almost got to finish explaining that I hadn’t seen any running water since leaving home. Instead I sputtered the rest of my sentence as the filly splashed water from her bag into my face. Once she finished I stared at her with a deadpan look. “Why?”

“Because you’re filthy,” she explained matter-of-factly.

“How did splashing me change that?” I asked with a quizzical look.

“It made your face clean.”

“So what?” I really wished I’d just let it go, but no.

A second splash of cold fell over my head and almost made me jump. Instead I spun my head to see Charmer joyously pouring some of her water on me to wash out the mud. I would have been mad about the waste of water and the embarrassment starting to rush to my face, but a soft giggle from Tinker quickly lightened my mood. I could live through a little silliness if it meant she could smile for even a second.

The flickering light of the fire I’d managed to start danced over my chest, casting a waving shadow onto the wall of dirt and stone behind me. I didn’t know if it was such a good idea to have the fire blazing in the night when I was by myself, but I knew that Felix and the others could arrive at any minute. I wanted to have the fire ready when they got to the cart so we could all eat and get to sleep before another long day of travel. Besides, I felt safe in the cart, and had no doubt that if any raiders or bandits tried to get to me I had an invisible watcher somewhere nearby to help. As much as I hated the idea, it somehow gave me comfort to know she was there, even if it was because her and Xion didn’t trust me enough to let me wander around without her eye on me.

But I wasn’t looking for her, at least not anymore. I’d stopped doing that after a few hours of walking silently through the emptiness of the Wasteland, convinced I wouldn’t be seeing her until she felt like it was necessary. Instead, my eyes were locked on the unloaded pistol resting in my hooves as I sat. As ashamed as I was to admit it, I still couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened even after hours and hours to get my mind off of it. It still bothered me, ate at my being, and sometimes even worried me. Why couldn’t I do it?

I had gone over that same question in my head every minute since I’d failed to kill Minx, unable to break the train of thoughts that looped through and through my brain. It was maddening, and no matter what I tried to focus on it wouldn’t derail those thoughts. I’d tried to think of what Felix and Charmer were up to, if they’d gotten in any fights, and even tried to picture the scene of Tinker, Ruckus and Fracas returning home. They were all promptly crushed under the overpowering thought of Minx’s smile. And the worst part was that even with all that time thinking and going over what happened again and again, I still hadn’t gotten any closer to figuring out why I couldn’t shoot that monster of a zebra.

I’d hesitated to kill before, I would be lying if I said I didn’t. Even killing my Father the night I ran away from home had given me pause. After everything that bastard had done to me; the life-long neglect, the beatings, the five years of wishing I would die, and I still paused when I had the chance to kill him. I had planned it all out, how I would do it and what I would do after. But then the time actually came, and I had to fight with myself just to drive the knife in his neck. I had been afraid of all the things that could go wrong. What if he woke up? What if Felix saw me? What if he survived? All of it almost stopped me.

But I still did it, and since then I hadn’t regretted it a single time. I threw him out of my life, out of Felix’s life. He couldn’t hurt me anymore because I had acted, and yet even with the good that came from it I couldn’t repeat the cycle with Minx? No, she hadn’t attacked me personally like Father did, she hadn’t attacked Felix like Father did, but she had burnt and murdered those who seemed to care for me. Was that not enough for me to pull the trigger? It would have stopped her from doing it to anypony ever again. No more fillies dying in the hooves of the only family they had left because Minx chose to end their life. No more of her smiling with joy after burning an entire settlement to the ground. But apparently it wasn’t enough for me.

The second time I hesitated was the slaver. I knew what she did; foalnapping fillies and colts just to sell them to whatever sick equine had the caps to buy them. She treated foals like property, completely disregarding their existence just to make a few caps. I’d even seen what it did to those they took. A defiled and devastated Tinker chained beside two frightened colts that the slavers decided were nothing more than meat, using the innocent as a shield in the face of death. But even after all of that, I still paused before I could pull the trigger. Felix had begged me not to, and for a moment I didn’t think I would. I was his big sister, I was supposed to be someone for him to look up to, and there I was with a gun to the helpless mare’s head. That thought almost stopped me, the worry that if I did it in front of him then he would someday do the same. Part of me still hoped he would kill those that deserved it, but another part didn’t want that for him. He was young, smart, and had so much he could be, but being an executioner wasn’t it. I was the one that could kill so he didn’t have to.

And so I paused, struggling with myself between wanting to end the pain that mare had brought to others and wishing Felix never had to see me do that. When Seer finally got him to look away and tend to Tinker, Ruckus and Fracas I was finally able to make up my mind. He would still know what I did, but somehow if he didn’t see it I felt better. And I pulled the trigger. Had Minx done anything different than that slaver? She’d killed foals, their families, everyone they loved. Everyone and everything Charmer knew was gone, and Minx had helped in assuring that, just like the slaver mare who had taken children away from their homes and their parents’ loving embrace for a life of misery. It should have been easy, because Felix wasn’t there. He would have never seen it; he wouldn’t have even heard the gunshot. And even if he had, I doubted even he would argue with removing Minx from the Wasteland.

But I still didn’t do it. I had every reason to do it, and none of the reasons not to. She was going to let me, she even told me to do it, but I couldn’t pull the trigger. I had tried so hard, but I couldn’t bring myself to take that shot until she was no longer in my sights. So what was it?

When I had the dream about Minx, Seer had told me that my mind could be trying to tell me something. I still wasn’t sure I believed that, or even understood it, but once the thought arrived it refused to leave. If a dream was my brain telling me something, then was my mercy the same? Was I missing something about Minx that part of me noticed, a part that wouldn’t let me kill her?

No, that couldn’t be it. I just needed another chance or another reason to give me that last push. She just needed to do one more horrible thing, and that would be it. I could pull the trigger and end her.

I growled to myself at that thought, and my legs started to shake. I had been telling myself I had all the reason I needed to kill Minx, but suddenly I was arguing I needed another reason? As if she hadn’t caused enough suffering to those who didn’t deserve it, now I was hoping for her to do something even worse so I wouldn’t hesitate next time?

Something strange started to pass through my body at that thought. At first it was confusion, but then my blood seemed to heat up, pulsing through my body faster and faster and heating me from head to hoof. My legs shook more violently, and suddenly the pistol in my hooves started to burn, like it wanted me to do it

I slammed the magazine into the gun with a grunt. No, I wouldn’t let her kill like that ever again..

I don’t know what I was thinking, maybe that I would get lucky or that she would jump in the way, but I still did it. I fired randomly, slinging bullets all around me in the hopes that it would hit her and remove her from the world. Instead I only kicked up dirt. No blood dripped to the ground, no screams of pain filled the air, and no zebras materialized in front of me only to fall lifeless.

My pistol hit the sand of the riverbed with a soft thump under my hooves once it was empty, followed closely by my rump. I had cried many times in my life, so many in fact that I couldn’t have kept track if I tried, but this time was different. I wasn’t hurting, I wasn’t miserable, I wasn’t even sad. I shed tears of anger. I wanted her gone so I didn’t have to think about her anymore. I needed her out of my head, and I wanted to make sure I never saw that smile again, not even in my own dreams.

A strange but somehow comforting feeling spread on my back, a gentle touch rubbing up and down my spine that always seemed to calm me down. A sad little smile curled across my lips as the touch brought back memories of when I was little, before Mama died. If I was ever upset all she had to do was pull me close, tell me it was okay and rub her hoof on my spine like that; it always worked because I knew she loved me and would keep me safe. I missed that feeling, the feeling that somebody loved me and would always protect me if I was in danger. I could have used Mama’s back rubs in the last few years, when all I ever felt was pain and sadness, and when I didn’t have anyone to protect me anymore. I knew Felix loved me, but he was my little brother; I protected him, not the other way around.

The anger that had taken over me for that moment faded away, disappearing as the strange feeling continued, my mind somehow calming me with the memories of what used to make me feel better. I sniffed and lifted my pistol from the dirt to stick it back in my holster. It was empty, but I didn’t want to risk exploding and wasting an entire magazine of bullets again. I had few enough as it was.

I almost didn’t want to stand up, I just wanted to let the imaginary backrub continue until the others arrived, but it had already stopped. I was alone again, with nobody to protect me out in the Wasteland where everything and almost everyone seemed obsessed with making life as miserable as possible. Not that I wasn’t used to it, but it wasn’t what I had expected when I ran away. I hoped for something better, a life where Felix and I were safe together. I expected a quiet home where he could go to school and I could find work to bring home food and water for us.

But instead I got this. I got a constant nightmare where either something was trying to kill me, or someone near me was suffering. I got a place where every choice I made seemed to go wrong and either got somebody killed or almost got me killed. I was still suffering, but now I’d dragged Felix into it as well. Instead of just letting him go to school with his friends and live somewhere that was actually safe, I took him somewhere he could die at any second because I didn’t like what was happening to me.

As the fire crackled and I waited for my brother and the others to get back, I did something I never thought I would.

For the first time since running away, I wished that I hadn’t.

* * *

“Shayle!”

I spun to the voice and lit up as Felix jumped into the riverbed and ran to me. We embraced, and I held him close as the others made their way into the camp casually.

“Are you okay?” he asked after almost a minute of squeezing me in his hooves.

“Yes, I’m fine,” I assured him as the two of us finally broke apart. “Why are you covered in mud?” I hadn’t even noticed at first, but almost everything behind his forelegs was caked in crusty dirt.

“Oh, we had to hide,” he explained simply. “What’s with the new jacket?” He poked a hoof into my shoulder, reminding me that I was still wearing the Stable jacket that Sandy had given me.

“It was a gift,” I explained with a smile. “The ponies in that Stable gave it to me, and a bunch of other things too.”

“You were in the Stable?” Seer asked from behind Felix.

I nodded. “Lots of dead bodies, but some survivors. They helped me get some supplies. I don’t know if we needed any of it, but hopefully some of it will help.” I waved a hoof to my bag and found that Tinker was already looking through the random things sticking out of it.

Wait, Tinker?

I turned back to Felix and Seer with a questioning look. “Didn’t you drop her off?” I asked quietly, not wanting to hurt her feelings or make her feel unwelcomed.

“We… um,” Felix started as Seer turned and walked away. My brother frowned and sat down in front of me, leaning close to whisper. “Her parents were killed when she was taken. There was nowhere for her to go,” he explained sadly. “We decided she could stay with us for a while, maybe go with Charmer when she finds a new home.”

“Oh.” I looked over to the filly and frowned as she pulled a strange looking bulb from my bag. “Is she doing okay?” I whispered back to Felix, even though I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.

He shook his head. “She’s having a really hard time.”

I didn’t know what else to say. I could have suggested some way to help her cope, but I couldn’t give any advice on that. I was much younger than her when Mama died, and Father… I didn’t exactly care that he died. Even if I remembered how I coped, I doubted it would work for her.

I sighed. “Get some food, fire’s ready,” I told Felix and tried to smile. “It’s good to see you again.”

He nodded and stood up. He went straight to Tinker and started whispering to her, but she just shook her head and kept looking through the random stuff in my bags. She was trying to attach a wire to the bulb, but it didn’t look like it was very easy for an earth pony to do.

I don’t know why, but I decided to go sit by her. Felix plopped down by the fire and pulled out some food from sand-filled bags while Seer climbed back out of the riverbed, apparently taking watch without even bothering to announce it. Charmer just stared at the fire as the light gleamed across her now un-bandaged skin. It was a tad creepy of a sight, but she didn’t seem too upset by it. Not exactly the reunion I expected, but it still felt pretty normal.

“What’re you working on?” I asked Tinker quietly as I watched her try to work. She didn’t answer and just kept trying to wrap the wire around two little pegs on the bottom of the bulb. “Do you need any help?” I tried to sound helpful, or at least caring, but I wasn’t exactly experienced in helping ponies get over sad things.

“No, I’m okay,” she replied quietly, seeming to have difficulty pushing the wire around with her hoof.

“Are you sure? I could give you some pointers,” I offered with a little grin.

“You know how ta connect wires?” She didn’t look up to me when she asked, and sounded almost lifeless while she spoke, but it was better than silence.

“No, but I used to work on little things with my hooves a lot.” Even if I hadn’t done it in years and probably couldn’t remember how. “It was a hobby.”

“Okay,” Tinker finally agreed and passed the pieces over. “I just need to get this wire around one pin.”

I nodded and looked it over for a second. “Well, they’re too close together for a hoof to push it through, so we could use something else to push it for us,” I suggested with a little grin. I looked over at my bag and grabbed a bobby pin. “Like this.” I put the pin in my teeth and used it to wind the wire carefully around one pin, then passed it over to the filly again. “Does that work?”

“Yeah.” She still didn’t sound any happier.

“So, what else do we need?” I asked as I looked over the supplies.

“Um… I don’t know. I should get some food though.” She set down the bulb and the wire and trotted to the fire to sit beside Felix.

Welcome back everyone.

* * *

I couldn’t sleep.

Charmer passed out pretty quick and didn’t say much. She never even left the fire. She just stared at it, lost in the dancing of the flames until they went out and she fell asleep. I don’t know what she thought about as she sat there, but I can’t imagine it was something she enjoyed. She’d lost everything to fire, including a large part of herself. Not just on the outside either, even I had noticed something different about the way she acted. I just hoped I wasn’t the only one.

I wanted the old Charmer back. The Charmer that mocked me and tricked bandits by swaying her hips. The pony that had laughed with Strike…

The pony I would never see again. I only knew her for a few days, but she was still so much different now that everything was gone. I still had that necklace in my bag too. Maybe it would help her, but I didn’t think it would. If anything it would remind her that she’d lost Strike, a pony who obviously loved her and who she loved. And it would remind her that she might never feel that way again.

I looked away from her and to Felix. He was curled up with Tinker, the two children holding each other and peacefully sleeping. I didn’t care about that anymore. A week ago I would have freaked out about Felix getting that close with a filly, but now I envied it. I used to do that with him on nights I was scared. The night Father had started his sick acts with me I’d done exactly what Tinker was now; staying close with him just to feel safe and cared for. He was probably doing the same.

And that left me and Seer. She was on watch, and I was laying in the sand staring at the sleeping equines around me. I don’t think it was just because I was distracted with thoughts of what we’d all lost since I left, that was just my most recent thoughts. No, my sleeplessness was the result of everything that had happened to me since leaving Stable 81, and Minx.

I sighed and stood up, deciding that if I couldn’t sleep I may as well let Seer get some rest. I strapped on my holster and jumped out of the riverbed, trotting to Seer’s side quietly. She was just sitting there, staring out at the Wasteland. She didn’t even react when I trotted up to her.

“You can get some sleep, I’ll take watch,” I told her plainly.

“Are you sure you can do that?” she asked and looked over at me. “Or are you still distracted?” I didn’t bother to answer, because I had a feeling she would know if I lied about it. “Have a seat Shayle. Tell me what’s bothering you now.”

I huffed and did as she said, plopping down by her side and looking into the night. “It’s Minx.”

“Still the dream?”

“No, it was actually her this time. She met me outside the Stable,” I explained and shook my head. “She said that Xion ordered her to tail us.”

Seer spun her head to me and sighed. “He doesn’t trust us.”

“That’s what Minx said too.”

“And why does that bother you?”

“That isn’t what bothers me. What bothers me is that I had a chance to shoot her and I didn’t,” I groaned. “She didn’t even flinch either. She actually encouraged me to do it.”

The zebra glared at me and hissed. “Why would you want to kill her?”

“Oh, I don’t know Seer. Maybe because she helped burn down Shanty. Or maybe it was because she told me that she’s the one who shot Little Doc?” I snapped back. “Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same.”

“I wouldn’t.” She didn’t even hesitate to answer; it was as if she knew I would say that.

“Then what would you do?”

“I would ignore it. She was following orders like always, and maybe someday she’ll regret it.”

“Maybe? What do you mean maybe? How could she not regret it?” I asked viciously. “She killed a filly! Is that some kind of routine for her?”

“Shayle, that isn’t the first time Minx has been told to kill innocents before.” She shook her head and looked back to the Wasteland. “I told you I drink with her a lot in Caesar’s Stand, and every time I do she has some story about how she was ordered to kill a foal, or shoot a single mother, or blow up a caravan. And every single time it’s because they’re ponies and Xion decided they were going to die.”

“Then why doesn’t he do it himself?” I asked. “She can just say no, right?”

“No, she can’t.” Seer quickly snapped at me. “She’s a soldier, and sometimes they have to do things they don’t like without questioning it. True, most of them aren’t told to kill civilians, but that’s what she does now. She’s done it enough that Xion knows she’ll pull the trigger no matter what, so it’s her job now. If he says it, she’ll kill it, no questions asked.”

She sighed and took a deep breath. “So take some solace in that. If Xion wanted us dead, we’d already be dead. Just be glad he only told her to follow us.”

I nodded and fell silent, taking in everything I’d been told. So maybe I jumped the gun on wanting to kill Minx. Maybe I didn’t. I still couldn’t tell. It still felt like something I should do, even if it’s just to make sure Xion won’t have his personal hitzebra to kill whoever he didn’t like. But at the same time I almost felt bad for her, and wondered if she’d ever been forced to kill someone she loved.

I sighed and calmly spoke up again. “That still doesn’t explain why I couldn’t kill her.”

“Because she has a cloak?” Seer suggested with a cocked eyebrow.

“No, that wouldn’t have mattered. She just stood there as I held the gun to her head, didn’t even blink.” I tried to explain it, but I just couldn’t find the right way to describe how I felt. “I just… I couldn’t pull the trigger. No matter how hard I tried it just wouldn’t pull back until she had disappeared again.”

“Maybe you could tell she wasn’t a bad zebra,” Seer suggested with a semi-serious look. “Or maybe it’s something else. Maybe she reminds you of someone from your past, somebody you lost?”

“I’ve only ever lost my mother, and Minx is nothing like how I remember Mama,” I replied matter-of-factly. “She would never kill a filly just because someone told her to.”

“Then I don’t know how to help you Shayle,” she finished with a sigh and stood up. “Maybe you should talk to Minx about it, because obviously there’s something about her you need to deal with. Oh, and try not to shoot at her.” With that, the zebra trotted back to camp and jumped into the riverbed, leaving me on watch like I’d asked. Great.

I don’t even know why I told Seer any of that. I constantly told myself I hated her, and that I couldn’t trust her ever since she tried to trick me into sleeping with Iredi, and yet I was still opening up to her with any problem I seemed to have. Maybe it was because I didn’t want to bother the others with my problems, or maybe it was because she seemed to force me into telling her, but either way it was weird. I didn’t trust her but I did at the same time. What was wrong with me?

I shook the thought from my head and looked back out on the desert. My eyes drifted over to flashing lights among the towers of New Oatleans. Apparently somebody was fighting there, Remnant and Ponies blasting at each other with everything they had for a city that looked like it could barely stand. I wondered if there was something important in there, something they both wanted but could never get as long as the other side was fighting them for it. Maybe one day I’d find out, but I hoped I wouldn’t. Going into a fight like that didn’t seem like something I wanted to do, especially not since I had to take care of Felix.

I just watched the lights for a while, wondering how long it would take for the fighting to stop for the night. It didn’t slow down though, and I actually thought that maybe the fighting never ended there. It seemed ridiculous, but I didn’t know anything about warfare or big fights. Maybe they wouldn’t stop until one side was wiped out entirely, civilians and all.

I didn’t know.

* * *

Once again, nothing happened on the zebra side of the river. Our walk was long, peaceful, and boring. Tinker stayed pretty close to Felix while we walked, Seer once again took the lead, Charmer stayed in the middle near the young ones, and I was left to follow behind. Part of me almost wanted a fight to break out, but mostly I hoped nothing would happen. I was weighed down by the giant bags filled with supplies on either side of me, and knew that trying to jump away from an explosive or move quickly in a gunfight was never going to happen with the extra weight.

And of course Tinker had to make a joke about it. I was surprised it was her at first, especially since she had seemed sad ever since we met back up at the camp, but I let it go. She was just trying to cheer herself up a little, even if it didn’t seem to work so well with how fast she fell silent again.

Why do I have to be in the back?

Because ya have a big butt to block all the bullets.

I was the only one that didn’t laugh.

“Okay, who’s coming back with me?” Seer asked once we reached our little shack again.

I sighed with relief and dropped the heavy bags from my back to stretch, glad to finally be able to rest. “I’ll stay here with Charmer and Tinker, Felix will go back with you,” I answered calmly.

“No.” I stopped and turned to see Felix looking at me sternly. “I’ll stay with Charmer and Tinker, you can go back to Caesar’s Stand.”

I cocked a brow and grumbled. “Felix, it’s safer in town.”

“So? Charmer has a shotgun, and I can use your pistol,” he continued to argue. “We’ll be plenty safe.”

The others all backed away a few steps as I glared and stomped forward. “This isn’t a discussion Felix. You’re going back.”

“No I’m not,” he countered and pressed his forehead against mine, trying to push me back. “I want to stay here.”

“And I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“So leave your gun! I know how to shoot.”

“That won’t stop you from getting shot.”

“But at least it’ll let me fight back!” he shouted and kicked a hoof into my chest, pushing me away. “I’m not a little kid! Dad taught me to shoot, just let me use the gun!”

“No! You’re too young to fight,” I continued, trying desperately to get him to understand that he’d be better off in Caesar’s Stand where it was safe.

“No I’m not. I already helped Seer while you were gone, and I’m fine.”

I froze and turned my gaze to Seer for a moment before looking back at him. “That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. You’re not staying here.”

“Shayle, just let him stay,” Charmer broke in quietly. “I promise I’ll keep him safe, okay? Besides, we haven’t really had a chance to talk with everythin’ that’s happened.”

I sighed and looked at Charmer, but stopped before I could argue with her. I could see that she wasn’t going to give up, and neither was Felix. Seer was indifferent and had retreated outside to wait for whoever was going to leave with her, and Tinker had taken up a spot leaning against my brother. So I was alone, and officially the only one that cared about keeping my own brother safe.

“Fine.” I pulled the pistol from my holster and dropped it in the dirt between us. “But only this once,” I huffed and stormed outside, trotting by Seer. “Let’s go.”

“Oh great, I get the grumpy one tonight,” she commented slyly and fell in line beside me. A few minutes later she bit down on my tail and spun me around. “Hey, lighten up on Felix, okay?”

“Ow! What do you mean?” I groaned.

“I mean stop telling him he’s too young to do things. He’s seen things in the past few days that most of us would rather never see.”

“Seer, he’s 12.”

“And in the last week he’s watched Doc die, saw what slavers do to foals, comforted a filly who lost everything she cared about, and is travelling with a pony who is burned over half her body. You don’t think that might make him a bit more mature than the average colt?” she asked sternly.

“Maybe it does, but maybe it means he should stay in town. If he wasn’t the only one with us with any kind of medical skill, I would make him stay in Caesar’s Stand.”

“You would do that? Force your own brother to stay caged up in a little town while you went out into a place where you could die at any time?” she snapped. “And you don’t think that would hurt him in any way? He just wants to help.”

“I don’t care! He’s all I have left Seer, and I will not lose him,” I hissed and stepped away from her, continuing back to Caesar’s Stand. How could she even question me about trying to keep my own brother safe? I just didn’t want to lose my last family, the only one I had left who ever cared for me. Without him I would have nothing.

“Fine, whatever you say,” I barely heard Seer growl behind me.

A trio of lights flickered ahead of me, and I almost died on the spot as Xion and two of his soldiers materialized only a few feet in front of me. The only one missing was Minx.

“Good evening Shayle,” the psycho greeted me warmly. “Would you and Seer please join me and my troops for a drink? We’d really enjoy some female company.”

“Yeah, sure,” I replied in a strained tone.

For a moment I almost thought I had a choice.

“Does it feel okay?”

“I don’t know… I can’t really feel it,” Charmer replied softly as she flexed her leg.

I was trying to see if the burned skin would be a problem for her. I pushed on it, poked it with sharp things, I even tried cutting it a little. She couldn’t feel a thing. It was as if the potions and magic that Doc used had given her the skin and damaged tissues, but none of the nerves. I guessed it could be a good thing, but we feel pain for a reason, and if she had some kind of issue and didn’t know because of the burns…

“So, nothing at all?” I asked again.

“No, nothin’. Just a little pressure when ya get close to the edges.” She sighed and pulled her leg back under her chest to lie down. “It’ll be fine Felix, Doc did a good job.”

“I know, I just… I wish she was here to help. I don’t know half of what she did,” I explained weakly, wishing I hadn’t brought her up at all.

“I know ya do buddy, I do too,” she assured me softly. “You should go get some sleep with Tinker. I’ll stay by the door in case anyone trips her little trap.”

I nodded and looked over to the cans lying across the doorway, glad that the filly had been able to make them again despite her constant sadness. I had tried to cheer her up, but it just didn’t seem to work at all. The only thing I could do was hold her at night so she wouldn’t have such bad dreams, but during the day nothing I tried helped her at all. There were little moments where she would smile or laugh, but they were short lived. I’d have to get used to it, because after losing her home like that I doubted she’d get over it soon, if at all. If I thought that before, it was foolish of me to even consider.

“You okay Tinker?” I asked her gently and lay down beside her, setting Shayle’s pistol in the dirt a few inches away; just in case.

She was across the room from Charmer, trying to stay as far from the door as she could just in case something bad did happen. I think she was still afraid that the slavers were going to come back for her, and I didn’t blame her. She just shook her head in response to me as I expected and wiggled in to hold me.

I rubbed a hoof up and down her back, trying to gently send her to sleep in my hooves and hoping that no nightmares would fill her mind. “You’ll be okay,” I whispered to her, hoping that she would at least try to believe it.

The filly sniffled softly and pulled herself closer, pressing her head into my shoulder as tears started to fill her eyes. “No I won’t.”

“Yes you will. We’ll make sure nothing happens to you,” I continued to assure her.

“I already lost Mama and Papa,” she sobbed into me. “You couldn’t stop that.”

That gave me pause for a second, because what could I say to it? She was already hurting, so how could I promise her it would go away?

“I know, but I can make sure you don’t lose anything else,” I promised her, even if it wasn’t really the best thing to promise. Especially not in the Wasteland. “Anything you care about, you won’t lose any of it.”

The filly looked up from my chest and sniffed. “Really?”

I nodded and grinned. “Really.”

I don’t know what I was expecting her to do after I made that promise I probably shouldn’t have made, but it definitely wasn’t what she did. Her lips were soft and warm, and they felt good against mine. I’d never actually kissed a filly before, the closest I’d gotten was Doc’s kiss on the cheek (because this was a perfect time to bring that up), but it felt great.

The only problem was that I didn’t know what to do, so I just froze until her lips broke away from mine, expecting either Charmer to start making some cutesy noise, or Shayle to burst through the wall and punt me to Caesar’s Stand.

I’m glad neither happened.

Footnote: No Level Ups Earned.

Author’s Note: Another huge thanks to Kkat and Somber for writing their stories. They’re both what got me writing this, and I love the universe they’ve created. Thank you as well to my pre-readers and everyone else who helps me with continuity and pointing out any mistakes I make in the story. I couldn’t do it without you guys, and I only hope that this story continues to be entertaining to you as well as my readers. On top of that, thank you to every one of you who read this and keep me writing. I love that I’ve somehow managed to entertain you all and keep you coming back for more, and I hope that I can continue to keep you interested in Shayle and Felix’s tale.
And this chapter gives a special Thank You to Doomande and Rattlesire. This is the first new chapter since getting the awesome cover art that Rattlesire drew up. I absolutely love it, and cannot thank him enough for making it. The same goes to Doomande, who was awesome enough to surprise me by commissioning Rattlesire to draw it for me. Both of them are awesome people who have my eternal thanks.

Chapter 11: Realign

Chapter 11: Realign
“Good and evil are two aspects of the same fruit.”

My heavy bags fell to the dirt with a thud just inside the gate to Caesar’s Stand, but I didn’t care if anything inside them had broken. I couldn’t even remember what the Sandy’s had gathered up for me in the Stable, not at the moment, so anything delicate was at the mercy of my frustration. I couldn’t really show it too much, not with Xion’s silent soldier watching me and ensuring I made it to the bar as soon as the supplies were dealt with.

Xion didn’t bother to wait, apparently he was too excited to get a warm drink in his belly and probably try to force himself on Seer again by the end of the night. So he took her with him, and brought the Rhyming Buck along with them, leaving me waiting for the guards at the gate to collect the parts along with that really quiet zebra; the one that I’d barely even noticed in my past interactions with the Scorpions.

He still hadn’t said anything, and just stared at me with a blank expression that matched his colorless face. Could he talk at all?

I guess I just didn’t pay much attention before, but I’d never noticed that he didn’t have a single stripe on his head. I wasn’t sure about the rest of his body, it was entirely covered by his cloak and a full set of thin armor that didn’t leave a single bit of his coat showing, but it was a little strange to see a zebra with no stripes visible.

One of the guards lifted my bags and carried them off to a small shack, out of sight. I didn’t know where they went from there, but I didn’t really care to think about it. Someone in the Remnant wanted them for something, I just gathered them. Maybe I’d ask at some point when I wasn’t being forced into a bar with a trio of insane zebras.

When I turned back, the other zebra was still just staring at me with his pale blue eyes, no expression or anything. He didn’t say anything to me when he turned around to go to the bar. I considered going home instead of following him, but I expected that wouldn’t end too well for me. He’d probably shoot me and tell Xion I was trying to run away. So I followed him up to the bar and was disappointed to see the group I was to join sitting in a barely-lit corner, all disrobed and relaxed. I was already upset about being forced to spend the night with them, and spending that night in a dark corner didn’t help at all.

“Shayle, please have a seat,” Xion requested, surprisingly warmly, and waved to a spot across from him. I didn’t bother to argue.

On my right side was the Rhyming Buck, a zebra who I’d never realized was almost a full head taller than me and about twice as wide. His cloak was hung on a hook beside him, along with Xion’s; the silent zebra remained dressed and took a seat on the other side of me. He wasn’t as big as the Rhyming Buck, but he was still bigger than I was. A faint prickling feeling itched at my neck as the realization that I was stuck between the two, and I desperately wanted Seer to be beside me instead of those two.

She looked more relaxed than I did, despite being stuck between Xion and the Rhyming Buck with a wall against her back. At least if something went wrong I could escape, she was helpless to get out from between those two. Not that we would make it far, but at least I had a slim chance to make it to the door.

“You can remove your coat, Shayle. Tetrarch will hang it for you,” Xion offered and nodded to the large zebra on my right.

I shook my head and tried to grin. “I’ll be fine, it’s comfortable.”

“Of course,” he told me calmly. “It’s unique, especially around here. I would not wish to part with such a souvenir either.” He smiled and looked around the table. “Well, now that we are all here, how about some drinks? What is your preference?” he asked and looked straight at me.

I just shook my head.

“Shayle, please. I greatly wish to treat you to a drink, don’t worry about being polite.”

I sighed and growled to myself. “I’ll take a cup of water,” I answered quietly.

“That’s all? That hardly counts as a drink, perhaps a shot?” Xion pressed, still remaining calm and disturbingly polite. Seer didn’t say a thing and just looked at me expectantly.

“No, I don’t drink.”

“Very well. And you, Seer?” the stallion looked over to the other mare.

“Whiskey,” she answered simply.

Xion nodded and waved over a waitress. “Two whiskeys and one water,” he told her.

“Another whiskey for me,” Rhyming Buck, or Tetrarch, whatever his name was, requested.

“Nothing for me,” the last zebra stated quickly. It could speak!

The waitress trotted off and returned less than an awkward and silent minute later with each of our drinks. “Anything else, Triarii?”

Xion shook his head and waved her off before taking a small sip from his glass. I sat there in silence and stared at my cup, not even sure what exactly I was supposed to be doing. I didn’t know why he had wanted me or Seer there, well I could guess for Seer, but I was starting to get nervous about how laid back the Scorpions were. None of them were doing anything that I could point out as bothersome, yet I still had a creeping feeling at the back of my neck.

“So, Shayle,” Xion finally spoke up after putting his glass back down. “Tell me about yourself. Where did you and your brother come from?”

I rolled my eyes up to him and tried to think of what to say. “Uh, a small village. Nothing very special,” I answered and quickly lifted my cup, hoping it would give a good reason not to elaborate.

He nodded. “Why did you leave?”

I swallowed. “Just needed a change of scenery,” I explained quietly, trying to keep my eyes off my cup while I talked with him.

“Was it a boring life?” Tetrarch interjected without even looking at me.

I just nodded, not knowing how to really describe my situation, and I didn’t particularly want to either. Xion was still looking at me, actually looking like he might be somewhat interested in my past, or he was just putting on a show to get something later. I’m pretty sure it was the latter. The quiet zebra on my left looked like he might be paying attention, but I couldn’t really tell since he still had his hood up and could only see one eye looking over at me.

“And is life out here more exciting?” Xion asked with a grin. “Or do you miss your old life?”

“Sometimes,” I answered simply. “Some parts are better, others are worse.” I took another drink and waited for another question while still trying to find some kind of plot that Xion may have been formulating.

“I hope Caesar’s Stand is one of the better parts,” he blurted and shot the rest of his drink. “I’ve always been fond of it.”

“It’s nice.” And it was, so far I hadn’t found much bad about it, if anything. The only thing I didn’t like was that Felix couldn’t stay there at the same time as me.

“That it is, very peaceful,” he agreed. “And the Praetor is very accommodating. Has she found a more permanent position for you two yet?”

I shook my head. “I haven’t been told yet. I hope she can, I’d like to stay.”

“Even with your pony friends out in the shack? Surely they wouldn’t appreciate you turning your back,” Tetrarch commented bluntly.

“They’ll find somewhere,” I assured myself, not so much him. “There are plenty of pony towns nearby.”

Xion stared at me for a few seconds before nodding stiffly. “That there are.”

I don’t know why, but something about that agitated the bad feeling still scratching at my neck.

“Of course it won’t detract from our mission,” Seer finally spoke, quickly assuring Xion. “Finding the supplies for the Remnant will always take priority.”

“I would hope so, they desperately need the support.” The ‘Triarii’, or whatever he was, responded as another drink was brought to him without even being asked. “The fighting in New Oatleans has intensified recently.”

“The Steel Rangers broke through the southern blockade?” Seer asked with a surprised look.

“It seems so,” Xion responded and turned to her, finally taking the focus away from me, thank Caesar.

I didn’t understand most of what they talked about after that, a lot of tactics and military stuff that I was surprised Seer understood. Maybe she’d been around soldiers, and loose-lipped drunk ones at that, long enough to pick up on a few things. All I could catch was that pony reinforcements had reached New Oatleans and given the Remnant a beating. I hoped it wasn’t too bad, and assumed that they must have been stopped at some point considering Caesar’s Stand was still standing.

Most of the talking was between Seer and Xion, with Tetrarch pointing out one or two things. The other zebra didn’t say anything. Actually, he didn’t even seem to be paying attention to the conversation at all. Every time I looked over at him he still had one eye locked on me from under that hood. It was a little disturbing, but then again Minx had told me that Xion wanted an eye on me. I guess I just assumed that would be her eye and not the silent stallion who refused to take off his armor in a bar. He was also the only one of them that still had his short rifle strapped on his back. I took a look around to make sure, and I was right; Xion, Tetrarch, and even Seer had their guns leaning against the wall. Either they didn’t think anything was going to happen, or they just assumed that Shy Guy beside me would take care of anything that did.

“And what about you Shayle?” Xion asked me out of nowhere, at least that’s what I thought. I looked over quickly and stared at him, completely at a loss. Whatever he wanted me to say, I missed it. “Do you think the city belongs to the zebras or the ponies?” he clarified.

Why, why would he ask me that? I knew what he wanted me to say, and it was probably the only answer that he would accept too. Seer had told me about him, so I felt comfortable guessing that he would do something drastic if I said the wrong thing. But I couldn’t be honest about it, not even if I wanted to say ‘zebras’. Yes, I was a zebra and so I suppose I should have thought we deserved the city for one reason or another, but I didn’t know anything about the city to begin with. All I knew was its name.

I stared at him for a few more seconds, trying to think of what I should say, and what could happen to me. If I said ‘zebra’, I thought that he would probably nod and agree, then hopefully talk with Seer more so I could pretend I wasn’t at the bar. If I said ‘pony’, then I didn’t feel too crazy for thinking he might have Shy Guy shoot me for treason or something like that. But if I didn’t say anything, would he assume I thought ponies owned New Oatleans?

So I went with the truth for once. “I don’t know enough about the city,” I told him, hoping it wouldn’t end like the last time I had refused to decide one way or the other.

“Fair enough, perhaps you’ll know after spending more time around the city,” he told me calmly and smiled. I waited for the bullet.

Seer leaned over to him and whispered in his ear, getting a nod in response. “Let’s get going Shayle, we have an early morning tomorrow.”

Thank Caesar! I was surprised by how quickly he agreed, and how short the night seemed to have been, but I didn’t care. Getting away from those three was more than welcome to me.

“Enjoy your evening,” Xion remarked with a smile and stood so Seer could get out from her spot. I pushed back from the table and nodded to him, not sure what the proper farewell or whatever was for Xion, Tetrarch and Shy Guy. Deciding it was good enough, I quickly followed Seer outside and sighed with relief as the night air hit me.

“Not so bad, right?” she asked me as we trotted toward the shacks, sounding pretty relieved herself.

“Whatever you say,” I grumbled. “How do you drink with them?”

“I don’t, that’s the first time I’ve ever sat down with Xion.”

“But you said-” I started but was cut off.

“I said I drink with Minx. The others stay away from me when she’s around,” the mare explained.

“Why?” I asked with a flick of my brow.

“They’re uncomfortable around her,” she told me. “She didn’t exactly get into the group traditionally.”

“What do you mean? Doesn’t the Remnant decide who gets put where?” I prodded. That’s how military stuff worked, right?

“Not with them. Xion decides who’s on his team, and if he says yes then nobody argues.” She shook her head. “Xion chose Minx after seeing her in a fight. She told him ‘no’. He didn’t like that, so he accused her of treason, sent a hit team after her, and she killed all three of them.”

“What?” I deadpanned. “Is that bad?”

“It’s impressive,” Seer answered. “Those teams are some of the best killers you’ll find in the Remnant, they have to be. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be very good hit teams.”

“And she beat them, so why did she still join up with Xion?” I didn’t get it.

“After that, she disappeared for a few years. Xion heard a rumor that she might be in a shitty little town up north and went to find her. Well he did, along with her little family.” I stopped and looked over at her. I had a good feeling I knew where this was going. “He threatened to kill them if she didn’t do what he wanted. That was all she needed.”

“Why doesn’t she just kill him and go back?” I asked. “She killed that hit team by herself, couldn’t she handle him?”

“Would you? If she failed then she wouldn’t be the one he killed, he would kill her family and make her watch. Some things aren’t worth that risk,” she explained sadly. “You don’t say no to him, Shayle. He wants the best, and he gets the best whether they like it or not.”

“Is that why Tetrarch and Shy Guy follow him around?” I asked, hoping that it wasn’t the same for all of them.

“Shy Guy?” she asked then chuckled. “Oh, you mean Solus!” Noted. “No, not them. Tetrarch asked to join after a rough fight in the city, Xion said yes. Solus was recruited for killing a pair of Steel Rangers by himself.”

“So they’re good at killing, I already knew that,” I told her sternly. “So they chose to join, they weren’t forced?”

“No, they actually want to be there.”

Good, then I wouldn’t have to feel bad about hating them. Minx on the other hoof, I was confused. I still hated her, after everything she did in Shanty I absolutely hated her. But at the same time I couldn’t. From what I’d been told and what I saw, it seemed like she didn’t want to do those things, she was forced. But did that make it okay? I didn’t know, and I hoped I would never have to be in the position to find out. I still wanted to shoot her, but I wasn’t so sure I could anymore, not knowing that somewhere she had a family waiting for her to come home.

I shook the thought from my head. “And why are they so interested in you and me?” I asked. “I’m guessing they don’t normally sit outside of town and ask the first pair of mares they see to go to the bar.”

“You really have to ask why Xion wanted me there?” Seer glanced over at me and shook her head. “As for you, I’d imagine it’s because he still doesn’t trust you. You saw what he did at Shanty, and you’ve been travelling around. He probably wants to make sure you don’t spread the word through pony towns and get them all pissed off at us.” She stopped and tapped her chin. “Well, more pissed with us than usual.”

“So I’m still on his possible hit list?” I asked fearfully.

She just shrugged. “I don’t know. You might be, you might not.”

“Why else would Shy Guy keep his rifle ready?” I pushed.

“His name is Solus, Shayle,” she told me again. “And he’s just an oddball, don’t let it bother you.”

“You’re right about that,” I agreed and dropped my head, scowling. “He stared at me all night.”

“Oh, you noticed,” Seer said with relief. “Again, don’t let it bother you.” She paused for a second, then looked over to me curiously. “But just out of curiosity, what do you think of him?

“He helped burn Shanty and doesn’t seem to care, what do you think?” I asked with a cross look.

“Oh, good, then you won’t get embarrassed.”

“About what?” I grumbled and lifted my head.

“Oh nothing, just that he could possibly have a crush on you.” What?! “He likes mares in your position, from what Minx has told me. Young, able to defend yourself, well kind of.”

“What? Why?” I almost screamed, barely catching myself. “What in the Wasteland would make him think those two things about me, or be attracted to them?”

“Well I think you can guess for the young part.” Yes, I could, and I didn’t like it. “As for the ‘defend yourself’ part, I can pretty well bet that Minx told them about our little incident with those slavers. Not to mention you’re in a Stable jacket, and those places are pretty well known for being death traps in the Wasteland. And I guess he likes strong mares, apparently he asked Minx out at one point. Of course she didn’t say ‘yes’, but still.”

“He’s not going to ask me out, right?” I asked painfully. When she didn’t answer I looked over to her and asked louder. “Right?”

“Maybe?”

Oh come on! It was bad enough that I was being watched constantly by that group of crazies, and that one of them might decide to kill me at any moment, but now another one might try to date me? What did I do to deserve that kind of attention?

“Can I just say no?” I whined.

“Of course, it’s not Xion,” she told me and turned into her hut.

That didn’t help me feel much better about it.

* * *

Not surprisingly, sleep came to me slowly that night. My mind worked overtime to run through everything that I’d learned that night, determined to keep me awake until I had ordered it all out and decided what to think about it. I still despised Xion, which was easy enough to figure out. I just added on more things to hate about him than I had before, like his blackmailing of Minx. I felt the same about Tetrarch, and didn’t know enough about him to change my thought on that. Solus was a bit more awkward to think about. I still hated him for Shanty, and if Seer was right about him having a crush on me then it didn’t really change that. The only new thing with him was that I was afraid he might actually try to get closer to me, and that was something I could never be comfortable with.

Minx was where my mind was stuck. She didn’t want to do the things she did, at least I hoped that was the case after everything I learned about her, but she still did them. The question I had asked myself earlier in the night kept swirling through my head, poking at my mind each time I thought I’d decided my opinion on her; Does that make it okay?

I wanted to feel bad for her, and a part of me did, but I wasn’t sure I could forgive her, not even knowing what her situation was. She’d still killed Doc, she’d still helped burn Shanty, and who knows what else she’d done for the sake of keeping her family safe from Xion? I tried to put myself in her hooves and constantly thought about what Seer had asked me.

Would I do the same to keep Felix safe?

I didn’t think I could answer that question. I wanted to believe I would, I told myself ‘of course I would!’ After all, he’s my brother, I would do anything to keep him safe. But I had doubts, I had worries, and above all I was confused. Would I really kill an innocent filly just because someone told me they would kill Felix if I didn’t? Could I rob one family of their loved one just to keep my own? Minx did, she did anything and everything to make sure her family stayed safe, and she didn’t even know if Xion would let her see them again. If he didn’t, would she take the risk to kill him, or would she keep the hope that he’d change his mind?

I loved Felix more than anything, he was the only thing I had left, and even before I killed Father he was the only true family I had. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if he was in danger, and especially not if I lost him. I didn’t want to think that Xion would do that to me, and yet I didn’t doubt that he would. If he really didn’t want me to spread the word of what happened in Shanty, what was he willing to do?

* * *

A faint light shimmered around me as I pulled down my hood, bringing me back into view as I looked around. The town at the base of the cliff didn’t look like much, and I didn’t expect it to be; how impressive could you make a town called Listening Post? And yet they had apparently managed to make it quite an impressive place. Reports indicated Steel Ranger recruits were being housed in the cliffs near town while they waited for the next convoy to roll through. If we stopped them in Listening Post, the Rangers would be forced to look further north for new soldiers.

Daylight gleamed across a long scar on my leg, a memento from a fight back in the days of New Oatleans. I couldn’t even remember how I’d gotten it, just that it was there and it had probably hurt severely. But I wasn’t the only one.

Xion stepped up beside me and looked out on the town sternly, searching for anything that might help us approach without being seen. Even with the cloaks, some towns had countermeasures; mines, wire, for some reason I even thought of motion sensors. And if this was where they brought recruits, I was willing to bet the town was much more secure than it seemed from the outside.

I didn’t catch sight of anything particularly special as far as guards, in fact there weren’t any. Everyone just kept a gun on them as they went about their business, which meant they probably didn’t have night guards. All the more reason to be looking for traps or alarm systems.

“Any ideas?” Xion asked roughly from beside me. He had gotten older since I first met him, but his body had hardly aged. He was still stronger than me, not quite as fast, but more than tough enough to hold his own in a fight. He’d saved my life more than once, and I his, but I still felt the same wall of hatred between us every time I looked at him. I couldn’t even remember why, just that he had done something to me that I could never forgive him for.

“No official guards, so expect traps,” I started listing off my observations, hoping it would fit into whatever plan he’d been working out. “The cliff entrance is probably hidden and guarded from the inside. They wouldn’t want Rangers out in the open giving them away.”

“Good. Any thoughts on weak points?”

I pointed to the south end of the town. “Over here they’ve got a thinner bit of the ravine to watch, so they’ll likely pay less attention to it. That might mean more traps.” Sometimes I wondered where I picked up these little tricks and knowing how to spot advantages. I certainly didn’t learn it in the school I never attended, I never learned it from Felix, and I doubted Xion would be asking me if he knew better. Maybe it was one of those things you just picked up, or maybe I was just guessing and got lucky sometimes. Who knows?

“We’ll go in there. Keep your eyes open and be ready. Minx and Solus will take the other way in.”

I nodded and lifted my hood, no longer seeing reason to stick around and waste time.

The rifle hanging from my neck felt good in my hooves as I checked it one last time, making sure it was loaded and ready to fire at a moment’s notice. I had always loved it, ever since I first got the chance to call it my own. The old owner didn’t need it by the time I came across her body, limp and cold from the bullet Xion had put through her head. I remembered being sad about it at the time, but I didn’t anymore. I had the rifle to remember her by.

I’d even kept the little metal ball on a string hanging from the sight like she always did. She said it was good luck.

I must have zoned out for a while, because suddenly the town was only 100 meters in front of me. It looked even smaller up close, which was strange to me. I’d expected everything to expand, but it looked more compact when I wasn’t looking at it from above. I couldn’t even see the ponies trotting around like I had from the top of the cliff, they were all hidden by the walls. I couldn’t see him, but I knew Xion was beside me. He never strayed far, knowing that I had the younger eyes that could find targets and dangers faster than his. He was still a better shot though.

I didn’t say anything, I just started forward, scanning the dirt with my eyes for mines and any other danger. It was surprisingly clear to see them, and it only took a minute or two to weave our way through them to the wall of the first shack. It was dull, pockmarked with bullet holes, and not very sturdy. I probably could have kicked it down if I wanted to, but I didn’t. It was someone’s home or work, and I couldn’t ruin that. I was already about to ruin a lot more than that.

Xion fired first, dropping a unicorn with a shotgun silently and quickly changing targets. I poked around the opposite corner and started popping off targets as well. A mare with a sharp shovel, a stallion with a rusty rifle, but not the foals. Even though they had knives and sometimes pistols, I wouldn’t kill them. Never. Xion did it for me.

More bodies started to drop as Minx and Solus came in through the other side of the town. Those who were unlucky enough to see the death around them started running and screaming, dashing toward their homes or shops only to be cut down by one of us before they could even touch the doors. Some of the shopkeepers ran outside ready for a fight, but they didn’t fare any better. These were townsfolk, some of them barely knew how to shoot; we were professionals, and they didn’t stand a chance.

By the time they were all dead, I was already searching along the walls of the canyon on either side of us, looking for a hidden entrance to the cave where Steel Rangers were supposedly hiding. I found it after a few minutes, hidden behind a tarp with rocks pasted on it to match with the loose gravel around the base of the canyon. It was a clever trick, but it wasn’t quite good enough. We lined up and pulled back the tarp, staying to the side of the entrance in wait. But no bullets flew out at us; nobody had been waiting for us to go into the cave. I cocked my brow and peeked around, expecting a few iron-clad ponies and all the firepower that came along with them.

Instead, I saw a horrified mare huddled in the corner with two foals. There was armor, oh yes, but it wasn’t worn. It was torn apart, scrapped, and salvaged. Further back, I could see sets of half-finished armor laying across the dirt, all varying sizes. There were some for large stallions, some for smaller mares, even one or two sets for foals and every size in between.

I took off my hood and trotted slowly forward, letting my rifle hang from my neck as I looked around the room. Whoever told us it was a staging area had gotten it unbelievably wrong. “This is just a workshop,” I announced to the others. “They were only making armor to protect themselves, not moving an army.”

The others didn’t say anything back. They just trotted forward and aimed at the group, preparing to fire. Orders were orders after all, no matter how much some of us hated them.

I winced and got in line with them, frowning as I lifted my rifle and pointed it at the mare; the others could live with killing foals. I knew the pony in my sights, at least I thought I did. She was much older though, almost fully grown, but still tinkering around and trying to make things to keep other ponies safe.

She had always been such a good filly, ever since we saved her from those slavers years and years before. I missed those days, the days when my only job was gathering supplies with Seer, Felix and Charmer. I thought Tinker could have helped, but times changed.

I tried to stop the tear from leaving my eye, but I just couldn’t. I thought she recognized me, I could see it in her face as she stared into my eyes and held the children close, begging for us not to do it. But at the same time, I could see that she realized what I had become, and that I didn’t have the choice anymore.

I just hoped she would understand.

Snap.

* * *

When I woke up, I thought I was drowning. My mattress was soaked through, my coat was stuck to my skin with sweat and tears, and my eyes burned as tears continued to flow. I couldn’t escape the feeling of how real it all seemed, even though I knew it was just a dream. I didn’t want to move, I didn’t want to get up and go out to the shack. All I could think about was that I would find it empty, and that Felix had been taken away from me. I was afraid that I would find Seer’s rifle leaning against my wall and a cloak hanging beside it. I was afraid I would walk outside just to follow Xion off on some horrible mission like the one I’d just been a part of. I didn’t want to believe it, but I was afraid to prove myself wrong.

I wanted my old life back. Not the ‘old life’ during my dream; that was my current life, the one I was stuck in. I wanted my life back home with Dad and Felix, and cleaning the house everyday just to be beaten or worse the next morning. At least then I had known my brother was safe and that I wouldn’t have to do anything horrible to someone who didn’t deserve it. Even though I had been miserable and wanted nothing more than to leave it, my new life was somehow even worse. I was still being used, just in a different way. It wasn’t degrading like what my Father did, it wasn’t even lonely, but I still felt like a tool. I always had been, and it seemed like I always would be. Even in my dreams I was nothing more than a tool, and it killed me to think that I could even imagine doing what I had just seen without questioning it.

And the worst part was that I knew what had put me in that situation during my dream. I knew why I was standing beside Xion and helping him slaughter a town, I knew why I had shot Tinker just because I was told to. It was because I became the new Minx. I did it for Felix, to keep him safe and alive so I could go home to him one day. So I could see him smile and laugh and give me a hard time when I did something stupid. It was all I wanted…

* * *

I was late. Seer had to be waiting at the gate already, impatiently tapping her hoof and grumbling to herself about what might be taking me so long. I didn’t care. I took extra time to clean my coat as much as I could, pouring water over myself to wash out the sweat and clear out the clumps. I didn’t want her to know I’d been crying or thrashing in my sleep, nobody could know that.

The town was still quiet as I made my way to meet her, and the clouded light of day had just started to creep between the shacks and streets of Caesar’s Stand. Only the morning guards and a few early-rising shopkeepers were out and about, everyone else still cozy in their beds.

I had somehow managed to clear the doubts from my head and convince myself that it was all a dream; that none of it had happened and Felix would still be smiling in the shack with Charmer and Tinker, completely safe and rested. Everything was fine, and it would stay that way because I was going to keep my mouth shut and just accept what had happened. I wasn’t going to try and stop it, I wasn’t going to argue with it, I was going to let Xion be Xion and do whatever I could to convince him I was trustworthy even if I only wanted was to watch him burn.

But Seer wasn’t waiting at the gate. Instead I found myself trotting up to two of the zebras I hated, and my hopes suddenly sank into the dirt and buried themselves. Minx was smiling of course, sporting a newly cut mane that let me barely see her other eye. It was actually pretty nice, and she seemed less menacing now that I could see more of her inviting face. Solus was standing beside her, still wrapped up tight in his armor and cloak, still keeping his stripeless face hidden as best he could.

“Good morning young one,” Minx greeted me cheerily. “Are you ready to go?” I found it a bit disturbing that she was so welcoming to me after our last meeting.

“Where’s Seer?” I asked grumpily, not in a mood to mirror her happiness.

“She’s picking up your brother to go on their next trip,” she answered. “We’ll be going elsewhere today.”

“I’m not going with them?”

“No. The Praetor here needs a job done, and we offered to help you.” Why did I doubt that was the truth?

“What kind of job?” I asked as I came to a stop a few feet from them.

“I’ll explain on the way, but we need to get going,” she told me and turned to the already-open gate. “Do you have everything you need?”

I shook my head. “Will I need a gun?”

“It’s the Wasteland,” Solus pointed out quickly.

Minx shot a quick glance at Solus. “You don’t have your pistol?” she asked with a disappointed look back to me. I just shook my head, actually surprised she hadn’t been watching when I gave it to Felix the night before. The mare craned her neck back and pulled a large pistol from under her cloak, offering it to me impatiently.

It was heavier than mine, and much larger. There was no way it would fit in my holster, so I just slipped it into one of the pockets on my jacket. It barely fit, but I didn’t think it would fall out while we travelled.

“Okay, let’s go,” Minx spoke again and continued to lead us out of town.

I’d never woken up with a filly in my hooves before, but it was something I wouldn’t mind repeating. It filled me with a strange warmth, something more than just our bodies keeping each other warm. It was more than that. Maybe it was the feeling that I was safe and so was she as long as we held each other like that, or maybe it was that we both cared for each other. I couldn’t really say, and I don’t think I ever would know, but that didn’t matter to me. I was happy, I hoped she was too, and that was more than enough for me.

I didn’t bother to wake her up once my eyes were open; she deserved to sleep as long as she wanted. We didn’t have to leave yet, there was nothing forcing us to wake up, so I let her sleep and bathed in the feeling of her body pressed against mine. Charmer was still sound asleep in the far corner of the shed, her head on top of her hooves on top of her shotgun. I couldn’t tell how she felt at the time, or what she might be dreaming about, but I wished for it to be happy.

Her rippled skin shined even in the dim light of morning, casting crooked and saddening shadows across her face. The hole where her eye used to be sat still and dark, hiding the stem that would likely give me nightmares if I didn’t have Tinker close, but I could still see it; I would never be free from the sight of it.

Tinker’s soft rustling pulled my eyes away from the sleeping pony across from us and put a smile back on my lips as her tired eyes fluttered open. She looked almost lost at first, as if she couldn’t quite remember how she’d gotten so close to me, but her lips pressed to mine after a drowsy moment. I didn’t freeze this time, and gently returned the gesture.

We didn’t say anything; instead she buried her head in the crook of my neck and closed her eyes again. The warmth surged again and I forgot about the burned mare sharing the hut with us, completely lost in the feeling of the filly’s gently breath on my shoulder and her heartbeat against my chest.

That is until the cans in the door rattled along with a storm of profanities.

Charmer was on her hooves in an instant, her shotgun leveled at the intruder with such speed that for a second I thought she had never been asleep at all. Tinker rolled away from me as I quickly grabbed Shayle’s pistol and prepared for a fight, hoping that I remembered all of Dad’s classes about how to shoot. Luckily I wouldn’t need to.

Seer rose and stomped the cans flat as she continued to string out profanities; something that was actually pretty funny once I realized we weren’t in danger at all. Tinker didn’t seem to find it funny as she watched her alarm get destroyed.

“Thanks for the wake up,” Charmer chortled and slung the shotgun on her back.

“Yeah, whatever,” Seer grumbled as she kicked the cans out the door. “Let’s just get going.”

“What’s got your stripes in a knot?” I asked cautiously and holstered the pistol.

“Fuckin’ Xion, that’s what,” she answered grumpily. “He pulled Shayle for another job.”

That was about when I realized my sister wasn’t with her. “W-what job?” I stammered.

“I don’t know, I just found out,” she barked. I recoiled and fell silent, not willing to anger her further with more questions she might not know the answer to.

“Okay, well let’s go. I’m sure she’ll meet us back here when she’s done,” Charmer assured me and lifted her bags. The two mares trotted outside to wait, but I could hear Charmer saying something to Seer.

I just nodded and picked up my bags with a sigh, not sure I liked the thought of Shayle being taken for a different job, especially not with the Scorpions. They were Remnant, so they probably had a good reason to take her, but I didn’t trust them. I tried to remind myself that this was a war, and that the Remnant was fighting for the good of all us zebras, but I didn’t think I agreed with how Xion was doing it. Burning a town just didn’t seem like the right way to do things to me.

I was surprised by a small nose nuzzling into my neck as Tinker came up beside me. “Are you worried about her?” she asked me quietly.

I nodded. “I don’t want her to get hurt.” Or hurt anyone that might deserve a chance to live. Of course I couldn’t say that out loud, that wasn’t anything anyone else needed to, or seemed to, care about. I was the only one who disagreed with her executing that slaver, and I was still worried that she would do it again. What if the Scorpions made her do something like that or they were taking her to kill another pony town? I didn’t know if I could forgive her doing anything of the sort.

“She’ll be okay. She made it out of that cave alone, right?” the filly told me with a smile and a nudge. I nodded and felt a little better, after all Tinker had a point. “As long as there are no small holes for her big butt to get stuck in, we’ll see her when we get back.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, you’re right.” I didn’t know if I completely believed that, but at least she’d gotten me smiling. “Thanks, Tinker.”

“That’s what fillyfriends are for,” she told me with a quick kiss on the cheek before trotting out to Seer and Charmer.

I followed her out with a smile on my face, ready to get another quick job done and getting back to see my sister alive and well.

“Alright, let’s get going. It’s a rough walk to the city,” Seer blurted once we had both gotten outside.

“The city? Where are we going?” I asked and picked up my pace to catch up.

“A warehouse in New Oatleans.”

A little chill went down my spine at those words. “Isn’t that a warzone?” I asked nervously and looked around the group. Seer nodded, Charmer nodded, and Tinker just stared at me worriedly.

“Yes, but we’ll be far from the fighting. The warehouse is on the outskirts, so we won’t be in the crossfire,” she explained plainly. “We’ll probably have our own problems though.”

“Like what?” Tinker asked for me.

“Anyone or anything that calls the place home.”

That didn’t instill much confidence in me.

“And how do you plan to get in?” I asked with fear in my voice.

“We don’t have to get in,” Minx repeated impatiently. “We just need to reach the fence.”

“Except I don’t have one of those cloaks,” I pointed out. “It’ll be easy for them to see me coming.”

“You’ll stay back and keep lookout,” Solus interjected. “If any of the patrols are about to stumble on us, distract them.”

I shook my head and grumbled. Those zebras were crazy, both of them. I already knew that before, but this was a different kind of crazy. Most intelligent creatures wouldn’t willingly walk up to a highly secure and zebra-hating settlement just to kill one pony. And they certainly wouldn’t do it in the middle of the day.

And the best part? Apparently the only reason they wanted me there was to be a distraction. The invisible zebras with fancy rifles and advanced training weren’t the distraction, oh no, it was the perfectly visible zebra with a pistol she could barely shoot straight. If I didn’t know any better, and I didn’t, I would have thought that Xion planned for me to be killed. In fact, that was exactly what I was thinking by the time Minx finished explaining our job.

All we had to do was go to Spur, find the pilot for that big flying gunship and kill him. The problems; Spur hates zebras, the gunship might be flying around on patrol, and if we were caught we’d be shot without question. Oh, and the gunship that may or may be flying around could blow us in half, I’d seen that myself. But wait, they had a plan for if it was flying around! Tetrarch had let them borrow a rocket that was strapped across Solus’ back, and if it was flying around we had to get it to stop so he could blow it up. If he missed… well he just said “I don’t miss.”

I’d rather go back to the robotics facility.

“And you’re sure this will work?” I looked to them with the same worried face I’d been wearing since they told me what we were going to do, hoping they wouldn’t share my doubts.

“Of course,” Minx assured me with a warm smile. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, just do what we told you and everything will work out perfectly.” Maybe I would feel better about that if we hadn’t just trotted by the skeleton of Shanty less than an hour earlier.

We already had Spur in sight, and the two Scorpions I was grouped with were crouched low behind a pile of scrap metal, staring out on the city while I waited for them to do something. They whispered to each other almost constantly, pointing out things they saw or something, I really didn’t know. I guessed they were planning where they would move and set up, and that did something to comfort me. I shouldn’t have been so worried, after all they were the ones to walk up to the fence to find their target.

That sent a little thought into my head that I hoped had been in theirs too. “Do you know who we’re looking for?” I asked.

Minx sat down and turned her head to me with a puzzled look. “You mean the pony we’re supposed to kill?”

“Yes, do you know what he looks like?”

“Well, she is a pegasus, and generally they’re easy to spot in the Wasteland,” the zebra responded with a roll of her eyes. “Why do you ask?”

“I wanted to make sure. How do you know it’s a pegasus?” I cocked my brow.

“We heard she's a natural flyer,” she explained. "That makes a pegasus seem like the most likely option, so we'll be looking for a set of wings. Hopefully we're not wrong.”

“What if you are?” I asked worriedly, suddenly not so convinced that everything would work out, not that I ever was.

“Then we’ll have to look a little harder,” Solus quickly answered me. “It looks clear for now, we should move.”

Minx nodded and looked back at me, placing a gentle hoof on my shoulder that was a little uncomfortable for me. “Remember, don’t draw attention to yourself unless you absolutely have to,” she told me urgently. “And if any trouble finds you, just run away. We’ll catch up.”

I nodded in understanding as the mare and the stallion disappeared, off to find some unsuspecting pegasus and end her life. I wondered if it would be worth it, if we even made it out alive.

A quick gust of wind whipped through my mane once they were gone, sending up a curl of sand that was followed by several others. I looked up to the clouds and saw a wave of black spreading through it from the north, pulling a storm along with it. I grumbled to myself about rain and wished for us to be gone before it hit Spur; I would rather avoid being caught in a tempest again.

Sand splashed across my coat as the wind picked up, lashing thin curtains across me that forced me to press up against the scrap pile to get out of it. Unfortunately, that meant I couldn’t keep an eye out for any trouble that might be heading my way. I hissed quietly and poked my head over the pile, squinting to keep the sand out of my eyes as I looked out to Spur.

I couldn’t see Minx or Solus, but that was probably a good thing. If I was actually looking for them and couldn’t find them, there was no way an unsuspecting patrol would catch them. But why did I care? I wasn’t exactly a big fan of Solus, and Minx was still holding a spot on my hate-list until I figured out her actual thoughts instead of just knowing what I was told. If they both died it would be 2 less problems for me, right? At the very least I wouldn’t have to worry about Solus possibly asking me out.

And I would also be all alone in a storm, uncomfortably close to a town with horrifying military hardware and an intense hatred for zebras.

No, I would rather they survived.

I dropped behind the pile again and rubbed my eyes furiously, trying to eliminate the burning from the blowing sand but only making it worse. I whined to myself and stopped to shake my head furiously, hoping it would do something to get the grains out. Of course it didn’t, and I was left dizzy and with burning eyes. If only they made something that could cover your face or eyes to block the sand during a storm, that would be great! I made a mental note to ask Minx about it, or maybe Seer when I got the chance.

“Why the fuck are we out here?” a faint voice shouted over the blustering wind and whipping sand. I froze and perked my ears, listening for where it came from.

“It’s a patrol, numbnuts. We do them every day,” a second voice called back; a squeaky, feminine yell. They were on the other side of the scrap pile, maybe 10 meters, but I couldn’t tell without poking out my head.

“Even in a storm? Who’s going to try attacking us in the middle of this shit?” the first voice yelled again, closer than before. I found it a little ironic that I heard that question with my current job.

“Somebody very dedicated,” the mare replied grumpily. “Stop your bitching and keep that rifle ready.”

“It’s a battle saddle, Torque. It’s always ready.”

I winced and shrunk down further, praying for them to just turn around or at least go a different direction.

“Check that pile,” the mare’s voice called out after a second or two. “And hurry up, my ass is chafing.” So much for staying out of sight.

“I’ve told you before; if you would let me give that a little attention you wouldn’t have this problem.” I scowled and pulled out my pistol as the voice drew closer.

“And I’ve told you that I don’t want you anywhere near my ass.”

He rounded the pile slowly, still looking back at his partner and blowing a raspberry at her. My tongue tightened on the trigger, pulling slowly as time seemed to slow. I saw everything about him in that second; his dusty orange mane sticking out under a thin shawl, his pale yellow eyes, and the torch blazing on his flank. I tried to think of what got him that mark, a blazing torch against his deep grey coat. Maybe he was an electrician. I would never know.

I knew he didn’t actually turn that slow, but in that fraction of a second it took to spin his head to me I could see a flash of realization, fear, and finally acceptance in his eyes. This hadn’t happened with the slaver, not even a little. I saw the fear in her eyes before I killed her, that’s true, but killing her was different. This was a pony who had gone to the wrong place at the wrong time, and if I didn’t kill him he would kill me. I didn’t have any other reason than that. For all I knew, he was a father, a son, maybe even a brother. And there I was taking him away from someone that loved him. He might have been a good pony, and I would never have a chance to see that in that second it took to pull the trigger.

His head snapped back as the bullet bit between his eyes, spraying a flower of blood behind him that hung just long enough to see before it fell to the dirt.

A shuffle of hooves on the other side of the pile stopped me from wasting any time thinking about what I’d just done. Besides, I was given plenty of time to do that as I killed him. I jumped to my hooves and waited for the mare to show herself, expecting the same slowing of time and the same detail in her just before I killed her. Instead I got blur of neon-blue as she jumped around the corner with a pair of mounted rifles aimed at my chest. I barely managed to pull the trigger and stagger her before she fired, sending both of her shots into the dirt inches in front of me.

Blood trickled from her knee as she righted herself, but it was too late. My second, third, and fourth shots ripped into her body, but I didn’t know where. I didn’t care where, I was just shooting and hoping the pony went down before she got the chance to shoot back. It worked, and she crumpled face down in the sand beside her partner. Neither of them moved after that, only their tails blew around in the wind.

I didn’t move much either, I didn’t have anywhere to move. I just had to wait for Minx and Solus, nothing more. But now I was going to be waiting with a pair of ponies I had been forced to kill in order to stay alive. Raiders I could kill, bandits I could kill, and slavers I could definitely kill; they were evil, they were scum, and they ruined the lives of others just because they could. These ponies were just doing their job, just like I was, and now they were dead just because we happened to cross paths. If they had shown up only 20 minutes earlier they would still be alive, and if they had been just 20 minutes slower they would be able to go home too. But the Wasteland decided to lead them to that one pile of scrap in the short time I was there.

So now I was a killer, and another reason that Spur hated us zebras so much.

An alarm blared out across the desert from the town, breaking the monotony of the whistling wind and finally bringing me out of my own mind. I slid the pistol back in my pocket and turned away from the two bodies, wishing I had taken a moment to bury them or something. Just do something besides leave them crumpled in a storm.

But I didn’t have time for that.

“Shayle,” Minx stated calmly as she shimmered into view next to me. “We need to go, quickly.”

I nodded and picked up a quick trot out the way we had come, staying beside Minx as we left Spur behind. “Did you get her?” I asked quietly, hoping that the mare would hear me over the wind.

“Yes, we did,” she stated flatly. “What happened with you?”

I knew what she was asking, but for some reason I just didn’t want to explain. She could guess what happened, but I wasn’t going to give her the details. “I shot first,” was all I said before falling silent.

“It’ll get easier,” Minx told me quietly. I’m not even sure if she intended for me to hear that, but it set off more than one alarm in my head. “Just don’t think about it too hard.”

I wanted to do that, I really did, but not thinking about what I did isn’t my strong suit. I couldn’t let it go, and I knew that. So I would have to find some other way to keep going after taking the life of someone who I couldn’t justify killing. I wanted to ask Minx how she did it, if she did it at all, but I couldn’t find the words to say it. Instead I just went with the first thing I could think of; family.

I killed them so I could go back to my family.

Footnote:
Shayle LEVELED UP!! (Guns 55, Sneak 20)

Author’s Note: Once again, a huge thank you to Kkat and Somber for writing their stories and constructing this amazing world to play in. I only wish that I do it the justice that it deserves. I still need to thank Doomande and Rattlesire for the cover of this story; Doomande for paying and Rattlesire for doing such an amazing job drawing it, you’re both amazing. Thank you to those who pre-read my chapters and help with edits and make sure I don’t mess up too much, as well as anyone who points out errors after the fact as well. And thank you to my readers, who continue to motivate me to keep this going, I love you all!
A special thank you for this chapter goes out to Kippershy for not only supporting this story, but promoting in places I don’t venture and continuing to bring in readers. He’s a fantastic person, and you should all read his story Broken Bonds. Thanks a bunch man!

Chapter 12: Parish

Chapter 12: Parish
“Pinkie’s made a lot of predictions today but… ugh, what’s that smell?”

Tinker groaned softly as we trotted by the decrepit sign, and I felt her move a little closer to me as we finally entered the city of New Oatleans. I could tell that the sign used to be a light blue, but the color had long since faded and flaked away from the wood, peeling away the golden text that used to welcome visitors to the city. A strange symbol still remained surprisingly untouched at the center of the sign. It almost looked like a flower, but I didn’t exactly have anything to compare it to aside from the paper Shayle used to fold when we were younger. Maybe she would have known what it was, but she wasn’t with us.

I wondered where she was, what she was doing as I passed from the Wasteland into what everyone kept telling me was a war zone that should be avoided. I could hear distant pops every so often, the only signs that anyone was fighting there at all, but we were too far to know anything else. Maybe she was closer, deeper into the city and getting a closer look at the war we had been told about between the Remnant and those Steel Rangers. I hoped she wasn’t, I wanted her to be further away, off in the Wasteland where it was at least somewhat peaceful.

Seer stopped briefly once we had passed the sign, lowering her head silently. We all stopped behind her, watching on and looking to each other in confusion over what the zebra leading us into the city was doing. I sat down and looked around nervously, searching for anything that looked like a warehouse among the looming towers ahead.

From a distance, it had seemed big, but not nearly as large as it actually was now that we were almost among the skyscrapers and crumbling structures. It was amazing in a way, to think that over two centuries before ponies had somehow built things so tall they could almost touch the clouds, and so sturdy that some survived the bombs that had burned the rest of our world. And it was intimidating to think of what could be waiting inside, or what made that place so important as to start a new war between pony and zebra.

“Stay close,” Seer finally spoke up and pulled my eyes away from the towering buildings. “And don’t get distracted. This place is never safe.” She was already walking forward, her rifle seeming to have been tightened against her body in anticipation.

Charmer reached back and checked her shotgun one last time before falling in behind the beaded-mane ahead of us. I think I saw some fear in her eye in the brief moment she gazed at me and Tinker, and the worry I was trying to suppress took up more of my mind.

I followed suit and checked to make sure Shayle’s pistol was still firmly strapped to my leg and pulled it once or twice to be certain it would come out if I needed it. I tried to tell myself that it wouldn’t be necessary, but I knew it would be. Every other trip we had made for supplies involved fighting at some point, and going into a place that even kept Seer and Charmer on edge didn’t make any promises of safety in my mind. I just hoped it wouldn’t end with my friends’ blood, or my own.

“Why do we have to do this?” Tinker asked me quietly once we had started off behind the two mares.

“To get supplies for the Remnant,” I explained to her.

“Why can’t they send soldiers to do that?” She urged and looked around. “Or at least someone who knows how to fight?”

I shrugged and continued walking, not sure of a good answer myself. “I guess the soldiers are all fighting. They can’t spare anyone to do this.”

“But I’m not even a zebra, and neither is Charmer. Helping you can only hurt us,” she said in a whisper, as if not wanting the others to hear her. “What if they use what you find to kill ponies like me and her?”

“They’re using it for the war,” I assured her, pushing her worry and doubt into a compartment in the back of my brain. “They wouldn’t kill innocent ponies like that.” Unless Xion was in charge, but he wasn’t. The Remnant would leave the other ponies alone once the Steel Rangers were gone and let them live in peace, right?

Tinker whined quietly and looked away from me. She mumbled something to herself, but I didn’t catch it, I don’t think I was supposed to.

I almost jumped out of my coat when my hoof dropped an extra inch into a pool of lukewarm water, and squealed quickly as I yanked it from the puddle. Seer spun on her hooves to face me, glaring at my display before nodding to the ground. The dirt and dust of the Wasteland had started to disappear, replaced by mud and even some sickly yellow-green spongy stuff growing out of countless puddles.

“Watch your step and keep your voice down,” she hissed at me. “We don’t want to wake the locals.”

“Locals?” Tinker asked quietly, cocking her brow at Seer.

“Wildlife, the dangerous kind,” the zebra snapped back at her before turning back around and continuing forward.

The puddles only got bigger and more frequent as we got closer to the actual city, and soon each step came with a disgusting squish or slurp as the ground turned to sticking mud. Tinker groaned beside me as she squeezed her eyes shut, probably trying to ignore the feeling under and around her hooves and hoping for dry ground. I would be lying if I didn’t want the same right about then.

The foul smell of rot and mold came slowly at first, but before we even reached the first of the towers it was unbearable. The pools of water around us reeked of countless disgusting things, and the smell only seeped into the mud around us and onto our hooves. I figured out that part when I tried to cover my nostrils and got a big whiff of the putrid gunk covering my hoof that burned my nose and started a bout of coughing for a few seconds. Charmer heaved once or twice as we walked, and I think I saw Seer holding her breath as long as possible up at the front.

If that was what the entire city smelled like, I was having a really hard time thinking of why anyone would want to be in there, no matter what valuable supplies or weapons might be lying around. I just wanted it to end, and wished that it would only be the outskirts that smelled so horrible.

Unfortunately, that’s not how it was. The stench started to fade once we came to a boardwalk of cracked and stained planks, but it still wafted through the air all around us, only helping to make the city more miserable than it should have been. Tinker stopped behind us a few feet once we hit the planks and tried to scrape the mud from her hooves, apparently bothered by the feeling of the foul slime squishing under her with each step. Luckily we didn’t need to worry about leaving her behind; Seer and Charmer stopped once the burned pony couldn’t handle the stench anymore and puked on the side of the walkway.

“You can go back if you want,” Seer told her quietly, just barely loud enough for me to hear. “We’ll meet you back at the sign.”

“Hell no,” Charmer spat once she finished retching. “I’m not goin’ back through that shit yet.”

The zebra nodded and stepped back. She looked over at me and Tinker and waved us over, grinning lightly. We both stepped up beside her, and I finally got my first look at what New Oatleans was.

The boardwalk we stood on was the last bit of actual land I could see, only broken by bits of rubble sticking out of the ocean of dirty water that claimed the city’s ancient streets. Tangled vines and layers of moss climbed the buildings, reaching for the upper floors before they died and dried up at their highest points. Ripples of movement danced over the surface as whatever waited under the surface swam about, staying hidden from watching eyes.

From where we were, I could see almost straight into the center of the city, but my vision was stopped by a curtain of swirling green-yellow gasses that curled up toward the sky, only making it a few meters off the surface of the water. Bridges of planks strapped over empty barrels spanned the canals between buildings. Some barely looked safe enough for someone as young as me or Tinker to cross without it breaking, while others already drifted in segments that had been broken by gunfights, or something much more horrifying.

More bridges spanned the gaps between taller towers, rope holding loose boards between them reaching between higher floors to keep soldiers or travelers away from the stinking water below. I didn’t see many, but a few zebras trotted along one of the bridges that trailed from the depths of the city. Their weapons were slung over their backs as the bandaged soldiers limped out of the fighting, making their way to wherever the Remnant had set up a hospital or safe area for the wounded. They paid us no mind, their eyes glued on the striped body ahead of them until they disappeared into one of the towers looming over us.

“Welcome to New Oatleans,” Seer expressed quietly. “Is it what you expected?”

I shook my head in unison with Tinker, struck by the sight of the city that had seemed so much different from a distance. I don’t know exactly what I had been expecting, maybe a larger, better built version of Shanty, but it wasn’t the marshy ghost town in front of me.

“How did it flood?” I asked curiously, unable to comprehend why everything around the city had been so dry.

“Someone dammed the river,” she explained quietly. “I don’t know why, but now the water flows into the city.”

“How do they fight in here?” Tinker asked in awe. “It seems impossible.”

“They fight between buildings.” Seer shook her head. “It’s never a pretty fight either.”

“Why don’t they stop then?” the filly beside me continued, obviously confused about the entire war.

“Because they can’t,” Seer answered calmly. “Someone tells them what to do and they do it. I doubt most of them even know why.”

“Do you?” Charmer interrupted from behind us, finally finished with her purge. Seer just shook her head again.

“We should get moving,” the zebra quickly announced. “I want to be out of here before sunset.” None of us argued. “And stay away from the water if you can. Move quickly over bridges, don’t stop for anything.”

“Why?” I don’t know why I asked, I should have just assumed she had a good reason, but I had to know what was so dangerous about it.

“Hopefully you won’t have to learn that answer,” she answered quickly and started off across a low-lying bridge.

A pang of disappointment shot through me, but I knew that was all I would get out of her. I decided to take her word for it and pray that we wouldn’t find out why she was so worried about the water, but I had a feeling the ripples weren’t caused by any friendly critters.

Seer led us into a shorter tower just off the boardwalk, across a bridge with a quickly erected sign with a single Zebrican word; Cavete. Beware.

The room we found ourselves in was almost barren. Only a few desks flipped up to block the windows had any real impact on the room, and the floor was littered with spent brass and pockmarks of stains from blood. The stench from outside was less apparent inside, but it was still there; the faint burning in my nostrils with each breath assured me of that much.

Seer wasted no time in the room; she didn’t even bother looking around for where to go next. She trotted quickly around a corner and out to another bridge, leading us across to a new building that looked almost identical to the first on the inside and outside. Above us, something slammed to the ground as hooves stomped around, and a muffled voice carried down to us.

“I told you she was spying, sir.”

Seer stopped short of the next door and put a hoof up to her lips to make sure we stayed quiet before sitting down slowly and closing her eyes. We all stopped and sat as well, looking around confused as the voices overhead continued.

“Where were you taking these supplies, spurcus?” a more collected voice asked roughly.

“She was taking them to the Rangers! I know-” The first voice suddenly stopped, and something fell to the ground above us again. I had a feeling it wasn’t a saddlebag.

“I was asking her, not you,” the calm, apparently in charge, voice stated. “Where were you taking them?”

I couldn’t understand what the new voice was saying, but her quiet, stammering voice sounded scared. I didn’t know what was happening, but I wasn’t comfortable with it. I looked over at Seer, suddenly wanting to rush up there and help the mare being questioned, but she was just sitting with her eyes closed and a peaceful expression on her face.

“That’s not a very good excuse,” the commanding voice responded.

“She’s probably a pony, damn spurs,” a new voice joined in, one that sounded excited.

“No!” I heard the feminine voice that time as she pleaded. “Please, I not spy!”

“I don’t believe you.”

Shuffling hooves and muffled screams in a language I had never heard before filled the floor above us, moving across the room toward the wall. My eyes tracked the movement through the ceiling, fear and horror filling my mind until I finally lifted my hooves to pull down my ears. I didn’t want to listen to whatever was happening, and I didn’t want to believe that soldiers would do whatever was happening to the poor mare.

A moment later, a stripeless body fell to the water through the window with a nightmarish scream. A splash of blood covered her chest from a gash running almost the entire length of her underside, and soon the water around her churned into a splotch of red. Her head popped out of the water with a scream, and the mare flailed her hooves helplessly to stay afloat. I stood to race over to the window and help, unable to watch her inevitably drown, bleed out, or both.

A jaw clamped down on my tail and yanked me back before striped hooves wrapped around my chest and muzzle. “Don’t,” Seer whispered to me regretfully. “Just leave her.”

I thrashed to get away, unable to believe that Seer could possibly ask me not to help the mare as she continued to scream in pain and panic and flail in the water.

And then it stopped with a tremendous splash.

I stopped thrashing and looked to the window, but the mare was gone. Her blood still covered a circle of the sea outside, but her blank white body had disappeared entirely, leaving behind violent ripples that splashed across the buildings around where she had fallen.

Overhead I heard hooves walking away from the wall where they had dropped her, a few little chuckles barely making it through the floor to us. “Why couldn’t we have some fun with her first, sir?” One asked.

“Because we have a mission to do, and we will not be late for the sake of morale.”

A few grumbles answered, but no protest was voiced. I wanted to yell up to them, probably along with a few bullets from the gun on my hoof, but I was still restrained by Seer. She tightened her grip when I looked up at the ceiling again, but she didn’t say anything.

After a few minutes of silence, I relaxed and dropped my head, staring at the striped hoof that was wrapped around my chest. She wasn’t holding my muzzle anymore, but for some reason still had her hoof around me, as if she expected me to jump out the window to try and save the mare from whatever had happened to her. I didn’t want to do that, I knew there was no point. She was gone.

“Why did they do it?” I asked Seer quietly, still staring down at her hoof.

“They thought she was a pony spy,” she told me softly, her voice quivering slightly.

“I know that,” I grumbled. “I mean why did they think that? And why did they throw her to… whatever took her?”

“Because she is a Kupigala,” she answered. “A member of a very old and small tribe who have never had stripes.”

“But, they’re still zebras, right?” I asked, confused. I had never heard of such a zebra before, let alone seen one of them.

“Yes, they are. Some just don’t want to believe so,” the mare explained sadly. “Most of the Remnant sees them as impure.”

“Just because they don’t have stripes?”

“That’s part of it, but the rest would take too long to explain. Maybe when we’re done here I can tell you.” Seer finally released me and stood up. Tinker and Charmer stared at us with confusion; probably too far away to have heard what we were talking about.

I stood looked around, suddenly very worried about Charmer and Tinker being with us. If they had thought a fellow zebra, with stripes or not, was a spy, what would they think of two actual ponies being around? I tried to ignore that worry as I followed Seer out to another bridge, catching up as fast as I could to ask her one last niggling question.

“Seer, what does spurcus mean?”

She stopped and looked down to me sadly. “It’s a hateful word for the Kupigala. It means ‘tainted’.” She looked away again and continued. “You shouldn’t say it, ever.”

I just nodded. Apparently even among ourselves, zebras couldn’t get along.

* * *

A gust of wind blew across the bridge and shook the barrels, pulling a discomforting creak from the boards over top of them as we watched. Sprays of water splashed over the tops of the planks, slicking the surface and making it even more worrisome that we would have to cross that bridge. Seer didn’t seem very worried, nor did Charmer, but me and Tinker stood back and looked on as we waited for the older mares to start crossing.

“Can’t we find another way?” Tinker asked shakily, staring at the wet, wobbly bridge uncomfortably.

“It would take too long to go around, every other bridge is probably in the same condition,” the zebra replied and turned to smile at us. “It’ll be fine.” She took her first steps confidently and continued to the center of the bridge without hesitating. “See, it’s perfectly safe,” she assured us and continued to the other side.

Charmer went next, crossing the bridge worry free as the planks groaned quietly underneath her. At least I think it was quietly, every noise they made seemed deafening as I prepared myself to cross with Tinker. She leaned into me and gulped before stepping onto the first plank in unison with me, receiving yet another squeak of protest from the soaked wood.

One of her hooves slipped under her, but the filly quickly caught her balance after squealing in fear. The bridge shook slightly under her near-fall, but quickly fell back into rocking along with the small waves splashing against the barrels. I put a gentle hoof under her foreleg and led her forward slowly, smiling despite how nervous I was that we would both end up in the water.

The bridge lurched as something hit the underside, and Tinker flew at me and tossed her legs around my neck with a squeal. My hooves locked on the bridge where we were, probably a whole meter from where we had started, and waited for it to stop wobbling as my mind raced through everything that could have caused the jump.

“Hurry up you two,” Seer called from the far side. “We’ve got a ways to go still.”

I took a deep breath and looked down at the filly who was clamped around me. She looked up and quickly released me, blushing slightly. “Sorry.”

The bridge bounced again, but this time both of us fell to our bellies. My jaw smacked into the wood, sending a painful ring through my skull that receded to focus on my teeth. I heard Charmer say something, but it was drowned out by the bridge suddenly screaming and shifting. I opened my eyes to see a sickly-green colored mass in front of me. I rolled my view up, following a long, scaly neck that ended in a horrifically familiar head.

A mutant snake.

The monster opened its jaws and flashed a row of jagged teeth as the head swung back and forth, staring between me and Tinker. The filly froze and locked her eyes on the beast, shaking uncontrollably until a gunshot cracked the air. A chunk of the snake’s neck blew apart, spraying the water with blood and flesh. The gunshot was apparently just enough for Tinker, and the filly jumped to her hooves to run.

“Tinker!” I heard Charmer scream before another blast from her shotgun tore into the serpent over me.

Its gaze locked on the fleeing filly, and before I knew what was happening the monster struck out at her. I screamed and pulled the pistol from my hoof, quickly firing off every shot I could into the snake’s coiled body. It didn’t seem to do much, but Charmer’s shotgun firing off again pushed the monster’s head off course and shook the bridge. I jumped up and turned, hoping to see Tinker still running. Thank Caesar she was; I just caught sight of her tail whipping into the building behind us.

I followed her quickly as more gunshots filled the air behind me, and I prayed that the snake’s attention would turn to the mares who actually posed a threat to it. I reached the door and looked inside to find Tinker cowering in a corner, her body still shaking violently and her head buried in her hooves. Certain she was safe, I turned around and reloaded the pistol, an act which took a little longer than I would have liked, and got ready to help fight off the serpent with Charmer and Seer. The toothy maw had turned to them, completely ignoring the easier meals to focus on the threat. A few chunks were missing from its back, along with a few gushing holes from Seer’s rifle.

With the extra time I had, I closed one eye to aim and fired off neatly aimed shots at the creature, putting a few more little holes in the scales. Suddenly, another blast from Charmer’s shotgun sent a spray of blood out from one side of the snake’s face, and the coils around the bridge tightened. Wood splintered and barrels collapsed under the weight, tearing the bridge apart and sending the snake back into the water.

Along with Charmer.

The mouth shot out and clamped down on the mare’s leg, pulling her into the murky pool with a screech as her shotgun clattered into the building behind where the mares were standing. Seer jumped to the edge and took aim, but never fired. Instead she collapsed in the doorway and waited with her rifle pointed at the water, waiting for something to surface again. I just stared where they had fallen in and dug my teeth into the grip of Shayle’s pistol, shaking and waiting for Charmer to rise victorious.

A stream of bubbles popped along the surface where I’d last seen her, along with a few larger ones from the snake. Only a few seconds later, the large bubbles stopped, and a layer of red slowly creeped across the pool. I almost jumped for joy. She’d killed it!

Then the small ones stopped, and still no Charmer.

The pistol clattered to the floor where I stood, along with my heart as the blood continued to spread through the water. She couldn’t be, she had won! The snake died first, it had to have died first. She wasn’t dead!

Her mane broke the surface first, splaying across the water until her back came into view. But she didn’t move. She just floated there, limp and still as the waves bobbed her body up and down. No.

Seer’s hooves plunged into the water and pulled the pony out. Her leg was still bleeding in a row where the snake’s teeth had broken her skin and blood streamed slowly down to her hoof. The zebra dragged her into the building and placed her carefully on her back. I didn’t see her breathing, I didn’t see her moving at all.

“Felix! Find a way around,” Seer shouted across to me. “We’ll wait here, please hurry,” she explained and turned her attention to Charmer. She started pressing on the pony’s chest desperately, trying to get her breathing again.

I wanted to watch, I had to see that Charmer was still alive. She had to be alive. But I couldn’t, I had to help, and that meant finding a way over to her as fast as I could. I quickly put the pistol back in its holster, ran into the building and lifted Tinker to her hooves. She protested at first, but when she realized it was me she shakily rose.

“Let’s go, Charmer’s hurt,” I told her quickly and ran around the room looking for another way out.

“She is? What happened?” she asked worriedly and followed me.

“No time, we need to find a way across,” I frantically explained. Thankfully, a staircase led up to the second floor, and hopefully a bridge. “This way, let’s go!”

“Felix, slow down, we need to be careful.”

“No, we need to go fast, she’s dying,” I snapped and ran up the stairs. There was a bridge, but it didn’t go where I needed. It went further into the city, but it was the only way out anymore, not that I looked. I quickly ran onto the boards, ignoring Tinker’s protests behind me. The bridge was dry, safe from the spraying water below, so I didn’t care about slipping. I just went as fast as I could. The wood protested loudly beneath me, but I ignored it too. Only one thing mattered, and that was reaching Charmer.

Into the next building, around the corner and across another bridge going deeper. I looked over to my right and saw a set of bridges running parallel to me, straight back to the building Seer and Charmer were in. I just needed to find a way across.

The next building gave it to me, but it was on the fourth floor. I turned and sprinted around the room, snapping my head around in search for the stairs.

“Felix! Wait,” the filly yelled from behind me again. I didn’t listen, I couldn’t slow down. I found the stairs on the outside through a door marked ‘Fire Exit’. They were metal and rusted, but they seemed stable enough as I jumped up them as fast as I could, racing to the fourth floor and the bridge across.

Tinker’s hooves rattled the metal close behind me, following and still arguing that I needed to slow down.

I dashed into the fourth floor room and ran across it, dodging the smashed desks and holes that had been blown in the floor at some point. I could see the bridge on the other side, I just had to reach it. I jumped over the last hole and barely made it to the other side, cracking the floor behind me as I raced onto the bridge spanning the sea under us. The boards squealed just like on the other bridges, but again I ignored it, I didn’t have time to care about that. If a full grown zebra could walk across them I could run across them.

Tinker’s hooves hit the wood a few seconds after mine, following desperately. “Felix wa-”

Snap.

The filly’s yell cut off in a scream, and I slid to a halt at the far side of the bridge. I turned around to see what had happened, and froze. I could only see her head and forelegs gripping for life on the boards, the rest of her body left to dangle over the water four stories below. A plank had snapped under her weight, and the bits of wood splashed almost silently to the water below.

“Felix!” she screamed and slid down until her head disappeared, leaving only her hooves holding on for dear life.

I galloped back onto the bridge and dropped my forelegs into the gap, hooking my hooves under her shoulders as my tail gripped around one of the ropes that ran alongside the planks. Why couldn’t I just slow down? Why couldn’t I have just listened to Tinker and maybe stopped this from happening at all? Because I wasn’t thinking, I was only thinking about saving Charmer, and now my fillyfriend was dangling over almost certain death.

I pulled up as hard as I could with my back legs and my tail, trying to get the filly back on the bridge. I almost got her head back above the planks before my back legs slipped and we both slid further down, leaving her hanging by one hoof. Tears streaked down her face as she squeezed her eyes shut, and her choked sobs were all I could hear.

I put my back legs under myself again and pushed up, straining to pull Tinker out of the gap. I could feel my hooves slipping again, and tried to reposition them before we fell. Her other hoof gripped over the planks and pulled, helping me get her up.

My hooves slipped again and I slammed down to my belly, but didn’t slide into the gap with Tinker. She wasn’t even there anymore.

She slipped out of my grip and screamed while she fell. It echoed through my head, pounded at my ears, and shattered my mind until it finally ended with a splash four floors below.

I didn’t even think about it, I just let go with my tail and pushed myself into the gap to drop after her. I wouldn’t leave her in there to drown or meet whatever fate the mare from earlier had. Charmer had Seer helping her, and hopefully the zebra could keep her alive.

When I hit the water, the first thing I felt was pain. The front half of my body stung as it slapped into the sea, and the cold sent a quick shock through my body that froze my lungs for a few seconds. I opened my eyes to look around, and they instantly started burning from whatever was in the water; probably a very unsafe level of radiation. I could barely see down there, but I still caught sight of Tinker’s mane flowing around with the minor current. Her eyes were shut, and her mouth hung open limply.

I quickly flailed my legs to move toward her, at that moment remembering that I had no idea how to swim! But I had to do it, I had to reach her and pull her up to the surface. I pumped my legs frantically to force my body forward, slowly getting closer to the motionless pony. When I finally reached her, I put my forehooves around her and kicked wildly with my back legs, trying to reach the surface. It didn’t look like it was getting any closer, and for a moment I could picture our bodies floating on the surface just before being swallowed by some monster from the depths.

My legs kicked faster, pushing us up to the surface slowly. My lungs burned, my eyes stung, and my vision was suddenly circled by a creeping red blur. I didn’t think I was bleeding, and it wasn’t spreading fast enough to be blood anyways. I had to make it, I had to get us out of the water, or at least where we could breathe! My lungs screamed for air, begging for just one gasp that threatened to overtake my will and fill my lungs with the cloudy water around us.

When I finally broke the surface, my lungs took over and gasped for air, sucking down a small splash of water that sent me into a fit of coughing, but I never let go of Tinker. I pulled her head above the surface, still kicking my legs desperately to keep us both up. I looked around as fast as I could once the coughing stopped, searching for some way out. The bridges were too high off the surface for me to get us out, and they lined up with the lowest windows I could see to get in. The only hope I had was a crumbled building almost 100 meters away. The wall had been blown open right above the water, allowing a small amount of the sea to flow inside, and even us if I could reach it.

I shifted my legs and started kicking, but we weren’t moving fast enough. I wasn’t sure I could keep us going all the way there, and that was if a predator hadn’t heard the splashes and raced over to catch a quick meal. If I was going to make it, there was only one thing I could do.

“Seer!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, holding it for as long as I could until my tired lungs couldn’t push out the word anymore. I doubted she had heard me, we were too far away, and even if we weren’t she was distracted. I still called out again, wishing I was louder as my voice fell into another fit of coughing.

The water under me swirled as something swam beneath us, and my heart screeched to a stop for a second before cranking into overdrive. I couldn’t kick any harder, and I couldn’t go any faster, not with the unconscious filly in my hooves. There was only one way I could ever hope to reach the broken building, and I was not going to do it.

A scaly head rose from the water a few meters from my hooves, and a pair of yellow eyes spun to look at us. I started shaking Tinker and begging her to wake up and help, never taking my eyes off of whatever was about to turn us into lunch. The head rose further and opened its jaws. A row of teeth almost as big as my hoof was all I could see, and I knew it was over. The maw closed in, not bothering to move quicker than necessary; it knew we couldn’t escape.

I squeezed Tinker close and closed my eyes, once again wishing that I had just listened to her and slowed down. If I had just taken a few more seconds, we would have lived.

Whoosh.

Boom!

My eyes shot open as a small shockwave washed over my body, pushing me and Tinker under the surface for a moment. When I pulled us back up, chunks of meat and scales floated about and plopped into the water from above, and the smell of cooked ozone filled my nostrils. The monster that had been about to eat us was nowhere to be seen, but I knew it was still around. There wasn’t nearly enough meat floating around me to make up something that size.

A flutter of feathers was the last thing I heard before stabbing pain shot through my shoulders and I was lifted from the sea below along with Tinker. I yelped and looked up to see a very, very big bird carrying us. Except it had… were those paws?

Yes, yes they were.

“You two are pretty damn stupid,” the griffin slurred as he carried us wherever he was taking us. He had an interesting accent, definitely nothing I’d heard in the Wasteland before. It almost sounded like he was drunk. “Going for a swim with a gator, fucking idiots.”

Obviously he missed the first part of our ‘swim’. “We fell in!” I snapped at him with a cough.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

I grumbled and looked down, quickly wishing I hadn’t. Whoever our savior was, for some reason he decided to take us up a lot higher than was probably necessary, and also the wrong way.

“Hey!” I yelled up to him. “Turn around; our friends are back that way.” I pointed back the direction Seer and Charmer were, trying not to focus on the pain from his talons biting into my shoulders.

“I didn’t see anyone else,” he grumbled. “Are you sure they weren’t eaten?”

“No!” I snapped. “We were trying to reach them after a bridge collapsed.”

“Collapsed? All by itself?” he asked with a smug grin as he tilted and turned back where I had waved.

“Well, no. A snake did it,” I explained grumpily. “And one of them is hurt.”

“I can see that, she doesn’t look too bad though,” he replied simply. “Give her a good smack and she’ll be up in a flash.”

My jaw dropped as I looked up at the jerk carrying us. If I wasn’t in for certain death should he choose to drop me, I would have given him a good smack. “Not her,” I grumbled instead of my other option. “One of our other friends. She got bitten.”

“Aw, don’t worry about that. Snakes around here aren’t poisonous, just big and hungry.”

“The ones in Shanty had poison!” I argued without thinking.

“There’s more than one type of snake, you tool. Oatleans snakes prefer to crush their prey; makes it easier to swallow.”

“What are you, a snake expert?” I growled, allowing my curiosity to indulge itself in another tidbit of what he knew.

“Expert? No, it just helps to stay alive if you know their habits.”

That actually made sense. “So you live here? Don’t you know there’s a war?” I asked, suddenly more confused than upset. Actually, I don’t know why I was upset with the griffin that had just saved us; maybe it was because he was a bit of a jerk. And he was distracting me from the fact that Charmer was still hurt and needed my help!

“There’s also good hunting, and that means damn good scran.”

“Scran?” I asked with a cocked brow. Stupid curiosity keeping me distracted.

“Food,” he clarified with a sigh.

“Then why didn’t you just say that?”

“Because I like my word better.” He grumbled to himself for a few seconds then came to a hover over a tower. “Can I put you down here, your majesty?” he asked sarcastically.

I looked around for where the broken bridge was, hoping we could reach it easily from the building we were over. Even if it was a longer walk, I really didn’t want to ride around under the griffin anymore. Oddly enough, he’d managed to bring us to the roof of the building Seer and Charmer were in. I would have called it a coincidence, but I really doubted that.

“Yeah, this works,” I told him and was promptly dropped onto the roof for a rough landing. At least he was kind enough to gently put Tinker down instead of dropping her. “Thank you.”

“Just try not to ‘fall in’ again,” he requested mockingly. “And don’t piss off gators either, bad idea.” Well, at least I wasn’t crazy for thinking he sounded drunk; his breath might have been flammable.

“I’ll keep it in mind,” I replied, trying to sound at least a little grateful despite still wanting to punch him for saying I should hit Tinker.

“Oh, and don’t touch any whiskey you find, that’s mine,” he growled and poked me in the chest. “If my stash goes missing, I’ll cut your balls off.”

My eyes shot wide and I quickly nodded in understanding. Don’t touch the whiskey, got it. Though I was a little surprised that he threatened to cut off a rather sensitive area when he had both a rifle and a… bow, on his back along with a quiver full of assorted arrows and other devices.

“Good boy,” he told me with a wide smile and patted my head before taking off.

A quiet groan behind me turned my attention to Tinker, who had of course just then started to wake up. “Ugh, what happened?” she asked with a cough.

I practically jumped to the filly’s side and wrapped her in my hooves, a display that gave her a little scare and made her flinch. I didn’t care though, I was too happy to see her waking up by herself.

She returned the gesture after a moment, but I could feel her head turning to look around. “Didn’t I fall off a bridge?” she asked, sounding confused. “Why are we on a roof?”

“I’ll explain after we see that Charmer is okay,” I told the filly and helped her up, not quite in a mood to recount our time with... I never learned his name.

“Okay,” she agreed and coughed again.

I led her downstairs, taking it slow this time, and looked around for the two mares we had been trying to reach. It took awhile to get down from the roof, about 10 flights of stairs, and my legs burned even worse by the time we got down.

Luckily, I wouldn’t have to do any more straining work with them. We rounded the corner on the floor where Seer and Charmer were supposed to be waiting, and my heart started racing as I waited to see what was waiting around the corner. Would Seer still be pressing on the pony? I had no idea, but I hoped I could help somehow.

“Damn it, that hurts!” Charmer yelped as we rounded the corner.

A smile leapt onto my face at the sight of Seer wrapping a bandage around Charmer’s leg, apparently a little too tight. The pony didn’t look her best, mostly because her mane and coat were matted with dirt from the murky water and her leg was caked with a little blood, but she was alive and awake! She still smiled when she saw us, but quickly grimaced again as Seer secured the bandage.

The zebra turned to us looking a little exhausted and stressed after everything that had happened. She looked over us both for a moment then cocked her head to one side. “I didn’t know you could swim.”

I rubbed the back of my neck and grinned awkwardly. “I, uh, can’t.”

The mares looked at me strangely then shook their heads after figuring out what had happened. Or at least part of it, I doubted they knew how we had gotten out of the water, even I was having a hard time figuring out the odds of that happening. I didn’t even know griffins lived in New Oatleans, let alone that they would care about saving a pair of foals from the grip of, I think he called it a gator.

“Well?” Charmer finally broke the strange silence, looking at me expectantly. “Are you going to tell us the story?”

“Maybe when we get to the warehouse,” I suggested with a nervous grin. “Shouldn’t we get going?”

A rumble of thunder outside answered my question, and a moment later the light plop-plop of rain dropping into the sea around us filled my ears. Seer looked out the door and straight up in the air with squinted eyes. “I’m not sure if that’s…”

Suddenly the sound of raindrops picked up, and a curtain of water overcame our building, drenching Seer’s face. She pulled her head back and looked at us with a dry expression. At least it would have been dry if her face wasn’t soaked through to her skin.

I stifled a chuckle at the look of her, and in an instant her eyes were glued to my face. The flipped a lock of beaded mane from her face and glared at me for a moment before smiling. “No, I think I’d like to hear your story now. We can get going once this blows over.”

I smiled nervously and sat down. “Okay, um, so we were running around looking for a way to reach you-”

“He was running around, I was telling him to slow down,” Tinker butted in with a sly grin. I couldn’t tell if she was actually upset about that, or if she was just pretending since we were alive. I would probably find out later. In the corner, Charmer laughed at the interruption.

“Okay, I was running around looking for way to reach you…”

I shrugged off my bag and pulled the pistol from my pocket, setting it gently on the ground before falling to my backside and sighing. The lighting in the cave was strange and cast dancing shadows across the walls around us once Solus had lit the lamps. An old stained couch was the only noticeable piece of furniture in the room, and I did my best to avoid looking at it. I would rather not picture Xion and Seer on it, doing the thing that zebras did for fun sometimes.

Solus sat on the opposite side of the room from me, only setting his bag and the rocket off to the side while keeping the rifle slung over his cloak. He cast a quick glance over at me then pulled back his hood. It wasn’t just his face without stripes, there were no stripes anywhere on his head or neck. Not a single one. If I wasn’t certain that he was Remnant, I could have believed he was a pony; maybe a lithe one, but still a pony. He stared at the door waiting for Minx to show up, almost as if he didn’t know what to do without her.

The mare had told us to hunker down in the cave first while she checked the area, just to make sure there weren’t any raiders or other less-than-friendly equines stalking around or looking to surprise us during the storm. I doubted it would have mattered, I felt surprisingly safe with Minx and Solus around. Safe from others that is, my mind was still fighting with the little thought that Xion told them to kill me if I did anything suspicious.

So I lay on my side and turned away from Solus, who was still looking over at me from the corner of his eye every so often. I closed my eyes and I could see it all again; his eyes, his mark, the blood spraying behind him as my bullet tore through him. I quickly snapped my eyes open again. I didn’t want to relive it, I couldn’t. I just wanted to forget, or wake up and find that it was all just a dream and that I was actually still back in Caesar’s Stand dreaming. I would probably be stuck thinking about it for days, but at least it would only be a dream. I wouldn’t have killed those two ponies, I wouldn’t have gone out with the Scorpions, none of that. I would still be gathering supplies; an easy, straight forward job that only meant killing robots or monsters that didn’t have foals or parents or a special someone.

I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to kill ponies who were just trying to live their lives. Raiders and slavers I could, and would, kill. They ruined lives for a living, and they deserved nothing less than death for their actions. But ponies guarding their home, just trying to keep the ones they loved safe? I squeezed my eyes shut as a thought wiggled into my brain, poisoning my last argument with something that never occurred to me before.

What about Minx?

I had asked myself that question many, many times in the past few days, but it seemed different this time. She was only with the Scorpions, and doing everything Xion said, because she wanted her family to be safe. Even though she may never see them again, and I was starting to hope she would, she still did anything to make sure they stayed alive. She killed and ruined lives, but she had a reason, right? Could I really kill a mare just because she didn’t want to lose the ones she loved? I told myself I couldn’t, but…

I lifted my head and thumped it on the ground a few times while I groaned to myself. “Stupid, stupid, stop thinking.” I rolled over and looked at Solus, deciding that I needed to get my mind off of the Minx and killing stuff for a little bit, even if it meant talking to a likely psychopathic killer. “Um… Solus?” I asked quietly, hoping he wouldn’t jump down my throat just for speaking to him.

His eyes rolled over to me, but he didn’t turn his head. “Yes?”

I never thought of anything to ask him! My first thought was to ask why he didn’t have any stripes, but then I thought that might have been a little rude. Maybe asking about his home, or would that be too private? I bumped my head on the floor again. No thinking, just ask!

“Did you, uh, kill the pegasus?”

“No, she was not a pegasus,” he quickly answered. “She was a unicorn.”

“But I thought Minx said she was,” I pointed out.

“She was wrong,” he explained plainly. “There were no pegasi in Spur.”

“Then how do you know you killed the right pony?” I didn’t mean to sound upset, but I was. How could they just kill another pony, did they even wait long enough to see if it was the pony they wanted?

“She was doing something in the cockpit, running inspections most likely.” He rolled his eyes away from me and to the door.

I guess that made sense, but I didn’t know enough about flying ships or the ponies flying them to question it. They knew better than I did, so I would just have to take their word for it, but I wasn’t sure if it was okay for them to have killed her. Was she really that big of a threat that they had to kill her when, as far as I knew, she hadn’t attacked any zebra towns or anything like that.

And there went my distraction. I had to think of something new to ask, and quick. I didn’t want my mind wandering off to the places I was trying to avoid for just a while. So I quickly thought up something new to distract myself, and prayed that it wouldn’t go somewhere bad.

“Uh, where are you from?” I asked nervously, hoping it wasn’t too stupid of a question.

He turned his head to me and stared strangely. “Far away, why?”

“Just trying to pass the time,” I quickly blurted.

He tilted his brow at me, not answering at first. It got a little awkward. “It is a small tribal land in Zebrica,” he started explaining. “It’s old and very dry now.”

“From the war?” I asked, assuming that would be an obvious reason.

“Yes, of course,” he confirmed with a nod. “My mother and father both live there still, I was sent here when I was young,” he told me, much slower than his usual speech. I hadn’t noticed any accent before, but now that he slowed down I could hear how he said some parts of words more sharp than I was used to. “They raise mutant chickens and sell the eggs.” He almost sounded happy, and I could see a little grin over his lips as he talked about his home.

“Was it a small town?” I asked, hoping to keep him going so my mind would stay off of other topics as long as possible.

“Yes, very. Only four families live there with my mother’s,” he answered and looked back at me.

“Five families? Are you safe like that?” I asked. Five families meant, what? Maybe 12 zebras?

“Of course, they are very big families, at least compared to how you live here,” he told me with a chuckle. “How do you move away from your parents so young?”

I rolled my eyes down and frowned. “Some of us have to.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I did not mean to, uh, upset you,” he quickly replied, sounding like he was panicked. “I only meant that where I come from, we live with every member of our family. Mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, children, aunts, uncles and cousins all share one home; we do not split apart like the zebras here.”

I looked back up to him. “That’s a lot of zebras in one house.”

“No, there is plenty of space. My family lived on a farm with a large barn. Me, my brother, two sisters and three cousins slept in the barn. Mother, father and mother’s parents and siblings slept in the house. More than enough space for everyone.” He grinned.

Great, next he just needed to tell me the story about how he was forced into joining the Scorpions and I wouldn’t be able to hate him as much either. Though I had to admit, he was a surprisingly nice stallion. “Why did you leave?” I asked, ready to hear even more of Xion’s evil and blackmail.

“My family and I did not always get along. I always dreamed about being one of the brave warriors from grandfather’s stories about when he was with the Remnant.” He looked back and the door and continued smiling, lost in the memory of his old home. “My mother wanted me to help with the farm until I was old enough to be wed. But I did not want that. So I asked grandfather how to join the warriors he always told me about, but he told me I must respect my mother’s wishes.”

The stripeless stallion looked back at me. “I ran away and got lost in the desert. I almost died three times,” he explained with a chuckle that seemed inappropriate somehow. “One day, a patrol found me and I asked them if I could become one of them. They told me yes and took me to the base. Many months later, I was sent here to fight in the city.”

No blackmail, no threats to kill his family, only a mildly interesting story that made me wonder how old he was. “How long ago was that?” I asked curiously.

“Four years,” he told me plainly. “Almost died a lot more than three times.” Was he actually proud of how many times he almost died?

“And how did you meet Xion?” I finally got the chance to ask, actually curious to hear how he killed two Steel Rangers by himself. I wasn’t sure how much of a feat that actually was since I’d never seen a Ranger before, but Seer made it sound impressive.

The door swung open and Minx trotted in, looking between the two of us strangely from under her soaking wet hood. “Rainy day story time?” she asked casually.

“I was just about to tell the young one how I met the Triarii,” Solus answered plainly.

“Is it three or four Rangers this time?” the mare retorted with a dry look.

“I thought it was only two,” I quickly cut in, very confused.

“You have heard this story?” the stallion asked me with a questioning stare.

“No, but Seer said you killed two Steel Rangers alone.”

Minx sighed and looked at Solus. “Do you see what happens when you change the story? Do you even remember what actually happened?”

“Of course! It was three, but one of them was out of ammo,” he proudly asserted.

And I was officially lost.

“I only remember two, and they were Scribes,” Minx countered.

“Still Rangers, just less armor,” the stallion argued. “And they have magic.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” she told him jokingly. Suddenly I was starting to wonder why Solus had been so quiet and quick-talking until the last few minutes. And why the two of them were so much more… normal, when Xion wasn’t around. It was as if they were completely different zebras.

“Can I tell my story now?” Solus asked, not looking like he cared what Minx told him.

“As long as it doesn’t disrupt mine, then yes,” she said with a grin and took a seat not far from me.

The mare casually removed everything she was wearing until her entire body was exposed. I instantly noticed how slender she was, almost as skinny as me except she actually had tone. I guess I had expected her to be a little bigger under the cloak she constantly wore, but that wasn’t the case. Her coat was marred from Caesar knows how many fights, but she didn’t seem to care. She just sat down and pulled out a book of all things, opened it to wherever she had left off, and started reading.

Had I officially left the real world, the place where Minx and Solus were professional assassins, or something, who never did anything except for watch me, shoot someone, or do whatever invisible zebras do? When I left with them that morning, the last thing I expected was to be listening to a story that may or may not be true while the mare beside me read a book. And I especially didn’t expect to do it in a cave next to where Shanty used to be, with the zebras who had burned it. I had to be dreaming again.

“Would you still like to hear it, Shayle?” he asked with a warm smile.

“Sure.” Why not? It wasn’t like I had anything better to do than get to know him a little better until the storm passed. I just hoped it wouldn’t end with him asking me to be his marefriend.

* * *

I’m not sure when I actually got to sleep, but I knew that I had definitely heard Solus’ entire story before it happened. I listened intently to most of it, but I was skeptical through a lot of the actual fight. That was probably because Minx had shut down who he had actually fought before he even started. He stuck with it being two Scribes, whatever that meant, I didn’t bother to ask for clarification, but he took the liberty of adding in details like auto turrets and landmines. Every time he mentioned something like that Minx would snigger quietly from her corner, apparently not entirely lost in her book.

I was worried at first that staying by her would upset the zebra, after all she had warned against interrupting her book, but I wasn’t comfortable moving. Solus was nice, yes, but he was also bigger and stronger than me, and being too close to him without Minx closer worried me somehow. I still enjoyed the story for the most part, and Minx didn’t seem too bothered by how loud Solus told it at some points, but the entire situation still felt strange to me. Wrong.

At least the distraction kept my mind off of other things like I had hoped, so I fell asleep without too much trouble. I doubt I was out long though, it turns out the cold stone floors weren’t exactly great for sleeping on. My back was tight when I rolled over and sat up, and a quiet crack reverberated through my body when I turned my head, but at least I wasn’t in pain, sweating, or sobbing.

The first place I looked was to the door, but Solus wasn’t there anymore, only his bags still sat in the corner where he had dropped them. I looked around the room slowly, wondering if he had just moved elsewhere, but I didn’t see him. At least Minx was still in there with me, sitting in her corner with her back to me and staring down at something in her hooves, probably her book.

Her gear was still stripped off and set aside, including the rifle that leaned over her bag. She didn’t seem worried about being able to protect herself from me, even though I had put a gun to her head and threatened to shoot her. Then again, she could probably kill me with her hooves if she wanted to, she probably knew some of those fighting moves that Felix told me about back when he was little and just starting school. Why the teacher talked about zebra fighting styles so early on was beyond me, but I guess that was what Remnant controlled education got him.

Then I noticed the top of her book just barely sticking out of her bag.

I slowly stood and trotted over to her, trying to get a peek at what she was staring at. It was probably rude, but I was curious. And a quiet sniffle from the mare didn’t help that. Was she crying?

I stopped for a moment and considered just going back to my bag, laying down, and pretending I had never seen the professional killer crying over something. But suddenly I wanted to know even more, so I gulped and looked down.

“Minx?” I asked quietly, hoping she wouldn’t instantly kick me or something.

She flinched as soon as I spoke, and quickly looked over her shoulder to me before looking back at whatever she was holding. “Yes, little one?”

“Are you okay?” Please don’t hit me!

“Of course, I’m just… remembering,” she explained without turning around. I still couldn’t see what she was holding, and now that she knew I was there I doubted I could get away with peeking over her shoulder at it.

“Your family?” I asked softly, still praying that something I said wouldn’t get me killed.

She looked back at me again with a stern look in her eye, but her voice was still soft and regretful. “Yes.”

I didn’t know what to say after that, because once again I hadn’t thought of anything else to say. I sat down and started running through questions that I could ask without sounding like I was prying, but that was pretty hard, so I just asked the first thing that came to my mind.

“What were they like?”

“My family?” she asked, not sounding irritated like I thought she might become. I nodded. “They were quiet, at least my mate was,” she explained softly. “My daughter wasn’t. She was always excited and happy; I don’t think I ever saw her frown.” The mare smiled at the thought as her eyes glazed over for a moment.

“She sounds like a cute filly,” I told her and put on a smile.

“Yeah, she was,” the mare agreed and nodded. “Sometimes I think she forgot where we lived; she always talked about things from the old stories about the times before the bombs fell.”

“I’m sure she’s still the same happy filly,” I told her, hoping it was true. “And that she really misses her mother.”

The mare shook her head and sniffed loudly. “I hope so too,” she stated flatly. “And hopefully her father was smart enough to tell her I died.”

My smiled dropped. “Why? Don’t you want to see her again?” I asked, completely confused. Wasn’t going back to her family the reason she still listened to Xion?

“I do, more than anything in the world I want to hug my little filly again,” she told me and frowned. “I’ll never get to do that, but I won’t let my daughter know what I’ve become.” Her voice shook and I could hear a few drops hitting the stone under her and dripping against something paper in her hooves. “I want her to know I was a loving mother, not a killer.”

I was about to say something, I didn’t even know what, to try and comfort her, but the words stuck in my throat. What could I have said? I didn’t know how to comfort zebras, or ponies for that matter. My last try with Tinker ended in her walking away, how could trying to help Minx end any different?

So I turned away and curled up by my bag again. There was nothing left to do except wait for the storm to pass.

The door swung open and smacked against the stone wall, pulling my head instantly up to see what had happened. Solus stood in the doorway with his cloak on and soaked from head to hoof. “Trouble coming,” he stated quickly.

Minx was already lifting the rifle from her bag by the time I rolled to my hooves, her eyes dried and a stern look on her face. She didn’t bother grabbing her cloak, apparently not caring to use it, and trotted over to the door with only the gun. I followed closely behind her, hoping that Solus’ definition of ‘trouble’ didn’t mean a huge fight.

“What did you see?” Minx asked quickly as we trotted through the tunnel the way we had come in.

“Very upset, armed ponies,” he explained simply. “Maybe ten.” Oh good, only three times more of them than us. “Probably from Spur.”

“Great,” Minx deadpanned and turned to me. “Find a place to hide and stay there, only shoot if you can hit them. Don’t waste any ammo.” I nodded and she looked back at Solus. “Do what you do; I’ll do what I do.”

“Got it,” the stallion confirmed and lifted his hood, disappearing into thin air as he pushed through the door and into the raging storm. I could see the rain stopping where it hit his cloak, but it was barely noticeable with how heavy the storm was. Minx followed out after him and instantly turned to the hill on the left, jumping up the soaked and sliding mud to reach the top as fast as she could.

That left me alone to find somewhere to hide like Minx said. I looked around frantically, and found a cropping of rocks not far off. I jumped behind them and pulled out my pistol. My mane stuck to one side of my face in the torrent, blocking my vision. I grumbled and brushed the hair back along my head, putting as much of it behind my ear as I could. Suddenly Seer’s separated and beaded mane made more sense than just to look good.

I looked up to the hill to see if I could find Minx, but I didn’t see anything, not even the barrel of her rifle. I didn’t bother looking for Solus. I peeked around the rock to see if anyone was in sight yet, and caught sight of the group of ponies trotting through the rain toward us. I couldn’t hear them if they were talking, but I didn’t really care for what they were saying even if I could. They were armored, some of them anyways, with vests and awkward looking helmets.

The helmet didn’t seem to help much when the loud snapping of a rifle cut the air in a burst of three shots. I barely saw the flashes from where they floated behind the group of ponies, taking off the top of one head and pulling all of their attention backwards.

Minx’s rifle didn’t do quite as much to give her away. The only reason I knew she had shot was one of the pony’s head snapping to the side violently before they crumpled to the mud.

That was when hell broke loose. The ponies all formed a circle and fired outward, sweeping their automatic rifles back and forth to spray a complete circle around them with gunfire. I pulled my head back behind the rocks as shards of stone and splashes of mud flew around me.

Another burst from Solus’ gun cut off their fire, and I pictured another pony falling. I looked back around to see the ponies running away from the invisible zebra, trying to find a better position. That position happened to be where I was.

I pulled the trigger on my pistol and sent shots flying into the group, not specifically aiming at anything. I just wanted them to stop before they reached me. A few ponies stumbled as my shots hit them in the chest and legs, but I didn’t take any down or stop them. The pony at the front of the group jerked violently to one side and fell as Minx took another shot, tripping two of the runners behind him and turning the others around in fear.

I quickly reloaded and got ready to kill, once again being forced to do it if I wanted to live, because I really doubted those ponies would do anything less than kill me after I had already shot at them. I stuck my head back out as one of the tripped ponies got up, and sent a trio of shots into his head and neck. He crumpled back down, and I repeated the process with the pony beside him. Unfortunately, the helmets were good for something, and that was deflecting pistol shots. The pony levitated his rifle in a blue aura, pointed it at me, and opened fire.

I barely got away from the death by pulling my head back behind the rock, only getting a nice burning feeling along my cheek from a grazing shot. Unfortunately that wasn’t good enough for the pony, and his rifle quickly rounded the corner on me. I fired off the pistol as fast as I could, but he wasn’t there, only the floating rifle in his magic looked at me. Three bullets cut into my side like butter, one through my chest and two into my gut, sending an unbelievable wave of pain through my entire body that made me drop the gun from my mouth.

I gasped and slid down on my unhurt side, surprised that my first reaction hadn’t been to scream in misery. My chest seized up for a moment, but quickly started up my breathing again, along with the pounding of my heart trying to escape from my body. The pony stepped around the corner and pushed the rifle to my forehead as I looked up to his face. I wanted to beg, to ask him not to kill me, but I couldn’t find the strength to speak. Instead I looked up in horror, hoping that he would for some reason spare me. His eyes told a different story, and I knew I was going to die.

His head exploded over me as Minx finally took the shot and saved my life, but I only took a moment to savor it before my body reminded me that I was still well on my way to death. I dropped my head into the mud, letting my mane and one side of my face rest in the cold for however long I had left before it all faded away.

My insides burned and convulsed as pain continued to pulse through my body with every beat of my heart. I could barely breath, and a disturbing bubbling sound irritated my ear from somewhere on my chest. I didn’t want look down at it; I didn’t want to see the blood that was doubtlessly covering my belly. I did it anyways, I had to see how bad I was hurt and if I would be okay or if I could stop the bleeding, even though I felt like there was no way, absolutely no way, I could be okay with the amount of pain I was feeling.

Seeing a slick, pasty white tube sticking out of my side didn’t help, not at all! Whatever it was, it looked important, and it was sticking out of me! I looked away as fast as I could, but it didn’t stop me from vomiting. The bile that covered the dirt in front of me was strung with red, but I didn’t focus on it long after the world started to spin out of control around me.

The sound of Solus’ rifle faded away as my ears rang, cutting out all of the sound around me until all I heard was a constant droning tone. A familiar rifle slapped down in the mud next to the fallen unicorn who had shot me, and I rolled my eye down to see Minx sitting beside me and frantically screaming out to someone, probably Solus. Her hoof pressed down on my chest, adding an extra layer of misery to my world of pain that I just wanted to end.

She looked down at me and said something, but I didn’t hear it over the ring. I just looked up at her and felt… I don’t know what I felt. She looked scared, horrified in fact, as she looked down at me. Her wide, bloodshot eyes shined in the rain, and drops of water coursed down her cheeks. She looked back up and screamed again, dropping a bit of rain from her face and onto my mouth. No, it was a tear. She was… crying? For me?

Solus appeared beside her a moment later with a bag in his muzzle instead of the rifle. Minx pulled a bandage from it and pressed it to my chest. The stallion did the same to my gut, but I didn’t think it would help. My vision blurred and started to slowly fade into black. Minx looked down at me again and screamed something at me before digging into the bag. She pulled out a large syringe that I recognized from a few years earlier and jabbed it into my belly.

Hydra.

I wanted to flail away from it, I didn’t want it near me or in me, but I couldn’t control my body anymore. I just closed my eyes as the chilling drug flowed into my body, undoing the damage that had been done by the bullets as I cried and begged for it to go away. I didn’t know if I actually said anything the two zebras over me could hear, but I didn’t care. The needle pulled out of my skin once it was empty, and the pain in my body started to fade away slowly. A second needle stabbed into my thigh, and soon my pain faded into only a mild aching. I kept my eyes closed and tried to get to sleep, suddenly feeling the need to rest.

The ringing in my ears faded away mostly, leaving me with the quiet drippy drop of rain hitting me and the mud. It was nice, peaceful. I liked it.

A soft feeling pressed into my neck, the gentle touch of a wet head burrowing into my coat. It only lingered for a second, but I cracked open my eye enough to see Minx nuzzling against me while Solus covered me with his cloak. I was confused, but my head swam and told me to close my eye again. I could think about it later.

Right then I just wanted to sleep.

Footnote:
Felix LEVELED UP! (Guns 27)

Author’s Note: Again, a million thanks to Kkat and Somber for writing their stories and making this universe one of my favorites, and definitely my favorite overall to write in. I love it, and can’t imagine what I’d be doing with myself if it had never come about. Thank you again to my pre-reader ScytoHarmony for going through each and every chapter to make sure I don’t mess everything up before I publish this. He’s a huge help and I can’t thank him enough. Thank you to Rattlesire, the amazing artist who drew the cover for this story, and to Doomande for being the awesome person he is and paying for the cover. You guys are both awesome! And thanks to every reader who keeps me going with feedback and even just reading the story, it’s fantastic to know that I’ve somehow managed to make something entertaining that keeps people coming back for more, and I hope and pray that I can keep you all entertained.

Chapter 13: Arts and Crafts

Chapter 13: Arts and Crafts
“Now, weave them through there, yes. Uh, take some ribbon, yes, oh uh, n... not there.”

“And that’s when we got back here,” I finished with a shallow breath, after more than a couple interruptions from Seer for clarification or suggesting we steal that griffin’s whiskey.

“That sounds like it was exciting,” Charmer commented sarcastically from the wall where she was still resting.

“Not really,” I told her with a shake of my head. “I would call it scary or crazy.”

“Or both,” Tinker suggested with a rasp. Her voice had gotten pretty bad since she’d woken up, but at least the coughing had stopped. She still wasn’t talking much and I saw her looking at the ground more than anything while I was telling the mares what had happened to us after we got separated, so I thought she was upset with me.

I didn’t blame her if she was, after all I had almost gotten both of us killed, but I hoped she at least understood why I acted how I did. It was important to help Charmer, and falling off the bridge was just bad luck! It wouldn’t happen next time, and we would both forget about our near death eventually. At least I hoped we would, I had never really thought about that kind of thing much.

Well, I didn’t use to. After Doc died, I thought about it a lot. I wondered where she went and what happened to her after the light in her eyes went out forever. I wondered if she had felt the bullet that killed her or if she had gone out as soon as it hit her neck. I hoped she didn't, I couldn’t imagine how it would feel to bleed to death in just a few seconds, choking on your own blood and begging for it to all end. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, especially not Little Doc.

But that wasn’t me. I thought I was going to die when that gator opened its mouth to swallow us, and I expected something. I don’t know what, maybe that old story some of the elders would tell us about seeing a bright light or your life flashing before your eyes? I didn’t know. What I did know was that I didn’t see any of that, all I saw was a lot of teeth before I closed my eyes and waited for the snap that never came.

That was the scary part. The crazy part was the griffin who saved us, and I had already told that story. It still didn’t make much sense to me even after the fact, but I wasn’t going to complain about it. I was alive because of him, and so was Tinker. Too bad I never thanked him for that; I was too busy trying to figure out why he was in the city at all!

“So this griffin just came out of nowhere and swept you two up?” Seer asked out of the blue.

I nodded. “I was surprised too. I never even knew that griffins lived in this city, nobody ever mentioned them before.”

“That’s because I didn’t know they were here either,” the zebra commented. “You’d think that some drunk soldier would have said something about them.”

“Really?” Charmer asked suddenly with a cocked brow. “The zebras don’t know there’s griffins here?” We all looked over at her with confused stares. “What? I didn’t expect them to still be here. They were around back when Momma hunted.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“What, you think I learned how to play flute for snakes because destiny taught me? No, Momma taught me so I could calm them down until she lined up her shot.” The mare hissed and grabbed her leg, which made her flinch in pain.

“It still hurts?” Seer asked softly and trotted over while I continued to stare at the pony at a loss.

“Your mom hunted snakes?”

Charmer nodded and ground her teeth together. Seer sat beside her and pulled out a needle of Med-X from her bag, I think it was one of the syringes she’d taken from the robotics facility back when we first met her, but I didn’t know. She pushed the drug into Charmer’s leg right above the wound and the pony sighed with relief as the area numbed.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it, crybaby,” Seer joked and walked back over to the stairs. “I’ll be back in a bit, going to see if I can spot the end of the storm.” We all nodded to her before she disappeared upstairs.

I looked back over to Charmer. “So, your mom hunted here? Why?”

“Good business. Ponies would pay pretty well for meat and teeth from the critters around this city, as long as we avoided the fighting.”

“There was already fighting when you were little?” Tinker broke in and instantly coughed from the effort.

“Yeah. It wasn’t as bad as it is now, and the Steel Rangers weren’t involved yet, but zebras still fought ponies for the city. Of course back then it was for food, I don’t know what it’s about now.” She shook her head and looked up to the ceiling. “We left after Papa died.”

I frowned and dropped my ears at the mention of her father. “I’m sorry,” I told her quietly.

“Why?” she quickly asked. “He wasn’t my real dad, even Momma didn’t know which stallion humped her good enough for me to pop out.” The mare chuckled and looked back to us. “He and Momma got along really well and we lived with him for a while, but he got caught in a gunfight and then we left.”

Tinker’s cheeks were pink while Charmer talked, and the filly looked away after the mare finished explaining about Papa. It was a little awkward to hear Charmer talking about her mother’s sexual habits, almost as awkward as when she mentioned her own at the funeral, but I was more confused than embarrassed or nervous. I couldn’t figure out how she had gone from talking about griffins to talking about how she was born.

“And, uh, there were griffins here when you were little?” I asked and rubbed my head.

“Oh, yeah. They were dicks. They thought that just because they were bigger and stronger than Momma that they could push her around and steal her game. Stole more than one fresh kill from her.” The pony slurred and crossed her hooves. “They tried to steal Neishka too, back when she was just a hatchling. What kind of featherball asshole do you have to be to steal a filly’s pet?”

“You kept one of those as a pet?” Tinker asked quickly.

“Yeah, Momma gave her to me as an egg on my fifth birthday. Took her everywhere I went,” the mare explained with a grin that quickly faded and sank into a look of despair. “Well, I used to.”

An awkward silence fell over the room while I tried to think of something to say. Too bad there wasn’t much I could say, because I doubted that Charmer was only remembering that her pet snake had died that day.

She sighed and looked down at the ground before yawning dramatically. “Wow, those drugs work fast, I’m getting sleepy,” she blurted and slid onto her uninjured side. She almost sounded cheery again, and even smiled to us. Maybe it was just the Med-X taking effect, but I doubted it would cause that kind of mood swing.

“Okay, we’ll let you rest,” I told her quietly with a nod. “You could probably get some sleep too Tinker, I don’t think we’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.”

The filly looked over to me and nodded. “Yeah, but maybe we should check on Seer first?” she asked and pointed up to the ceiling. “She’s been gone for a pretty long time to just be checking on the storm.”

“I can take care of that, you stay here and rest,” I told her warmly and stood up to trot upstairs. But she was right behind me faster than I thought she could be.

“No, I’ll go with you,” she replied quietly and smiled back at Charmer, but the mare was already asleep. Maybe the drug was hitting her pretty hard. Something about the filly’s tone gave me the feeling she didn’t care about checking on Seer.

We barely got to the second floor before she pulled on my tail and spun me around. She just stared at me, her eyes shaking and looking around my face as her lips parted every so often to try speaking. But nothing came out, only silence and the occasional first letter of an unfinished word. Eventually, she fell to her rump and kicked her hoof into my chest just hard enough to push me back a few inches.

I grunted at the impact and winced, but it wasn’t bad. I was mostly confused. “What was that for?” I asked in a loud whisper, trying not to get loud enough to wake the pony snoozing below us.

“For almost getting us killed,” she hissed. The quiet speech didn’t have the same rasping as her usual voice, but still sounded strained and hurt. “Why didn’t you just listen to me?”

“I just wanted to help,” I quickly argued. “How could I know the bridge would break? It was fine when I crossed it.”

“That’s not the point, Felix.” The filly stood up and trotted close to me, sticking her nose less than an inch from mine. “What if that griffin hadn’t been there to help us? Then you and me would be dead.”

“We aren’t though, we survived. Why are you making this a big deal?” I asked sternly.

“Because we might not be as lucky next time,” the filly almost shouted and coughed for a few seconds before glaring back at me. “Why don’t you care that we almost died?”

“I do.” I sighed and looked down briefly. “But I had to help Charmer; it was all I could think about.”

“I know you wanted to help her,” the filly groaned. “But would it be so bad to take a few extra seconds for your own safety?” She paused and looked over my face again. “Or mine?”

“I don’t know,” I quickly answered. “That few seconds might be all she could spare.” Tinker’s eyes twitched and she stepped back. “I would do the same for you, even if I got hurt.”

“You would die trying to save someone?” she snapped at me, no longer bothering to keep her voice down. I nodded confidently in response.

She didn’t even say anything. The next thing I knew, Tinker was trotting back down the stairs. She even made sure to look away from me as she rounded the bend and disappeared.

What did I do?

* * *

I tried to push away the conversation with Tinker as I made my way up through the building, looking on each floor for Seer as I ascended. I was worried about what had made the filly leave like that, and if she would ever tell me what had her in such a bad mood, but I couldn’t think of anything. Maybe it was something I said or the way I said it. I wasn’t trying to be mean or sound bad, I was just being honest.

I stepped onto the last floor and sighed when I found it empty. The only place she could still be was the roof, and I really wasn’t looking forward to getting soaked by the storm. I had already gone swimming in the city once that day, and I had just finished drying off a few minutes before.

Besides, Seer would be fine out there doing whatever it was she was doing. It was just a little rain, it’s not like something would go through the trouble of climbing up a building to get her. She was probably just being really thorough at looking at the storm to find the end, or she was just trying to get some fresh air after the fight and Charmer almost drowning. Either way, she would come back down when she was ready, right?

I told myself that was the case and decided I should join the others for a nap; I could use some sleep after my near-death experience, and from the sound of the storm it would still be around for at least a few hours. But when I got to the stairs I could hear Seer’s voice through the rain. I wouldn’t have stopped to listen, but whatever she was saying wasn’t in Equestrian, or even unified Zebrican.

After a few seconds of eavesdropping, my curiosity got the best of me and I turned away from the stairs down to head up to the roof. A little rain wouldn’t hurt me, and I really did need to make sure that Seer was okay out there by herself and that she wasn’t hiding an injury or something like that. I didn’t bother trying to stay quiet up the stairs, I doubted that Seer would be able to hear my hoofsteps over the torrent of rain and her own speech, and poked my head out into the storm to look around.

I couldn’t even see the edges of the building from where I was through the rain, and within moments of looking out my head was soaked as if I had just jumped back into the sea of New Oatleans. What I could see was Seer sitting in the center of the roof, her back to me as she chanted something over and over in a strange language. It sounded almost musical and rolled off her tongue naturally, and I got the feeling that this wasn’t the first time she had sung that strange tune in the rain. The mare’s shoulders bobbed up and down as she waved her forelegs in front of her body, moving in rhythm with her chant.

I quietly climbed onto the roof and embraced the rain as it soaked through my coat entirely, chilling me to the bone and sending a shiver through my body. My mane drooped and stuck into my face until I slicked it back and tucked it behind my ears. It felt strange, I normally didn’t even feel my mane because of how it stuck up, so the feeling of hair pressed against my head was just enough to make my scalp itch for no reason.

When I finally reached Seer, I stopped a few feet behind her and craned my neck to look over her shoulder, hoping to see what she was doing and hear her words more clearly. Laid out in front of her was a soaked, red rug that was immaculately clean and covered in strange markings. Swirling lines and curved symbols all meshed together to circle a single bowl at the center of the rug which was catching the rain as it fell. A few inches over the rim, Seer waved a stick… no, a bone of some kind through the air. I couldn’t tell what it was from or what it was for, but I didn’t feel like disrupting whatever it was Seer was doing.

When the bowl finally overflowed with water, Seer stopped waving the bone and lifted a small pouch in her hooves. The mare poured a pale blue powder in the bowl as she continued to chant, but her speed slowed dramatically. I still didn’t understand any of the words she was saying, but obviously they had some meaning to the zebra. The pouch was flung off the side of the building with her final word, and the zebra took the bone up again, swirling one end through the water until the powder mixed in and thickened into a thin paste. Seemingly satisfied with her… bowl of stuff, Seer covered the mixture with a small cloth to stop any more water from falling in.

“What was that?” I finally asked, convinced that she must be done.

The mare almost slipped as she jumped to her hooves and spun to me, a rusty knife clenched in her teeth already. She sighed and dropped the blade to the ground at the sight of me, then shook her head and sat back down. “What are you doing up here?”

“I heard you talking, or chanting, or something,” I answered plainly. “What were you doing?”

“Making paint,” she stated simply and started rolling up the rug gently. “Why were you close enough to hear me?”

“Why are you making paint?” I asked with a cocked brow.

“I already answered a question, your turn to answer mine.”

I huffed. “I was checking on you, it doesn’t take that long to see how long a storm will be around.”

“Maybe I was doing math to figure it out,” she pointed out with a smirk.

“You can’t do math to figure that kind of thing out!” I argued without even thinking.

“I wouldn’t know.” The mare placed the rolled rug into her bag and smiled at me. “Can you take this inside for me? I don’t want to risk spilling the paint.”

“Yeah, sure,” I agreed and lifted her bag in my mouth.

We both trotted back inside and sat down. She was very careful with the bowl that was balanced on her rump, which I finally noticed was decorated in a very similar way to the rug.

“What is this stuff?” I asked.

“What, the paint?” She looked at me and smiled. “It’s special body paint.”

“Okay, but what about the bowl and rug?” I clarified, not as interested in the paint anymore.

“They’re special too.” She looked down to the bowl and pulled the cloth away to reveal the paste, smiling at her work. “My mentor gave them to me when she passed away.”

“What makes them special?” I persisted, hoping she wouldn’t say something like ‘because they have symbols on them’.

“They’re for making potions and paints,” she explained plainly.

“I thought you could use any bowl to make a potion.” I scratched at the itching under my mane and stared at the bowl.

“This is for special potions; it’s magic,” she told me with a grin. “The paint will make a shield to keep us dry in the storm as long as it is not washed off.”

“That doesn’t sound possible,” I blurted and shook my head.

“Why? There are fetishes to grow wings, why shouldn’t there be paint to make a rain shield?” she asked and pulled the bone back out from her bag.

“Because it doesn’t make any sense. How can paint protect you from getting wet? Won’t it wash off?” I was confused, and she wasn’t giving any good reasons!

“It’s magic paint, Felix. Just trust me.”

I groaned and fell on my back. “What are you?” I asked sarcastically and clapped my hooves to my eyes.

“A shaman, you didn’t know that?” she asked honestly.

I didn’t think she was serious at first, but after the room fell dead silent for a few seconds I uncovered my eyes. Seer was staring down at me with a curious look, and then it hit me that she actually wanted an answer. “No… I didn’t,” I told her. “Why would I think you’re a shaman? You work as a town guard for Caesar’s Stand!”

“I can’t have two jobs?” she asked and tilted her head to one side.

“Well, yes, but aren’t shamans supposed to sit in their hut and talk with spirits or make potions all day?” I asked and rolled back to my rump.

“Maybe in the old days, but now we actually need to be useful,” she stated and grinned. “If I just sat at home all day I would get kicked into the Wasteland, and there’s no bar out here.”

“So you learned how to fight?” I continued, unable to stop my mind from spitting out more and more questions that it demanded I ask.

“Oh no, I already knew how to do that before I was the town’s shaman or a guard,” she explained. “I’ve had an interesting life. Maybe I’ll tell you the story someday.”

“Okay,” I agreed, not sure if I should be excited or nervous. After all, if it was her life story it probably involved learning how to mix potions, talk with ghosts, and stab ponies repeatedly at the same time. No, I was scared to hear her life story. I cleared my throat and looked around. “Do you really think we should use this paint? The others are already asleep and I think it would be good for them to rest through the storm,” I pointed out and scratched my scalp again.

“I would rather not,” the mare bluntly stated, no longer sounding like the happy Shaman I had been talking to. “If the storm doesn’t lift soon, we’ll be stuck here overnight. That isn’t something you want to experience,” she warned and stuck the bone in the paste. “Go wake them up so we can get going.”

“No, Charmer needs to rest her injury and Tinker is still exhausted from what happened,” I argued quickly. I don’t know why I decided to fight her on it, but I did.

“They can rest when we get out of this city,” Seer countered. “Resting here isn’t really rest, it’s more of becoming lunch.” She scowled and leaned in close. “So we’re going to wake them up and get moving.”

I stood up shakily, not sure if I was ready to argue with her, but I felt like I was right; I knew I was right. “No we’re not. I’ll stay on guard if I have to, but they need to sleep until the storm passes. It will be good for them.”

A low growl seeped out of the mare’s mouth as she stared at me, her eyes still level with mine even though she was sitting down. She locked her glare on me for a moment, her eyes drilling holes into my skull and out the back of my head, but then stopped and pulled the bone from the paint. She lifted the tail of her jacket and exposed her glyph; a curling line that whipped out on either side to vaguely resemble an eye; and drew a strange symbol at the center of it.

She poured the paint onto the floor and packed away the bowl and bone before glaring back at me and standing. “Fine, you stand guard. I’ll be back when I finish the job that you were supposed to do.”

Her shoulder rammed into my chest and pushed me into the wall as she trotted by me and down the stairwell. I don’t know why, but I could have sworn Tinker trotted that exact same way when she had walked away from me earlier. But that wasn’t really what had bothered me, what bothered me was how Seer had acted.

And it wasn’t just at that moment either, it had been recurring since I met her. She would be happy, smiling and friendly when we talked. She would even joke and just be an overall nice zebra. But then she would change like she had when I said we should wait. Suddenly, Seer became an aggressive, demanding… what was that word Dad used to describe annoying mares? Bitch, yeah, she became a bitch.

I didn’t know why, and I didn’t really want to, but it was starting to get to the point I couldn’t stand it. I put up with it before because she was arguing with others and I actually thought she was right, but this time she wasn’t. She may have been our guide, but that didn’t always mean she was right, and I needed to make sure she knew that.

So instead of running out to tell her she should stay and rest too, I just let her go. If she got hurt, we would find her whenever we got to the warehouse and then she would see that I was right.

And I would feel like a complete dick, as Charmer put it.

* * *

Trying to follow Seer was a little harder than I thought it would be. I could follow her hoofprints, but just barely. The paint she had made worked like a charm, something that still surprised me even after she had explained that making things like that was part of her job, to the point that the magic even seemed to enchant the spots where she stepped. I don’t know if it would last long, but everywhere she stepped the ground seemed unable to get wet even in the storm. It was surreal, and I thought that I might be going crazy as I followed the still-dry spots of ground through the city.

I don’t think I did a good job of duplicating the symbol using her spilled paint though. I was drenched again, and the paint on my glyph had washed away after only a few seconds in the torrent, leaving me cold and shivering. With any luck, the storm would pass before we made our way back to where Charmer and Tinker were sleeping, and hopefully they would still be okay and safe in that building. I felt bad for leaving them alone, but I couldn’t let Seer go off by herself. If anything happened to her…

I couldn’t decide if it was more idiotic to argue with her in the first place, or to follow her through the city and hope that I could catch up. She could probably take care of herself, she had a lot more experience than I did in the Wasteland and in defending herself, but she was right; this was mine and Shayle’s job to do, and I couldn’t just let her do it and risk her own safety while I rested. She was afraid of something in the night of New Oatleans, and the last time she was scared of something we were inches away from being blown apart by Steel Rangers. It was probably better to listen to her.

Too bad I hadn’t thought of that before letting her run off into the storm alone.

Looming shadows of buildings surrounded me behind the shroud of rain as I made my way deeper into the city, and across every low bridge I could feel the water surging under my hooves with the storm. None of the planks or barrels lurched as violently as the snake had thrown them, but each large swell made my heart jump into my throat briefly. Luckily, no scaly maw jumped from the sea to swallow me without a fight.

A low rumble of thunder put a little grin on my face while I walked, and I wanted to laugh a little bit. I could only imagine how Shayle was doing in the storm, especially after she froze up during the last one we were stuck in. I could almost see her mud-covered chest as she stood up from the ground on shaky legs, trying to tell herself it wasn’t an explosion. I had to remember to ask her about it when we met up again, I was sure it would be an entertaining story; at least for me.

And maybe she would get a laugh out of something we did. I couldn’t think of anything off the top of my head, but I hoped something that happened to us would make her smile. I didn’t know how her job was going with the Scorpions, but I couldn’t imagine it being very enjoyable for her. I knew I would have hated working with them, Caesar only knew what they had her doing.

The tracks finally led me to a looming complex that looked like it had seen better days. I couldn’t get a full view of the warehouse, but the front wall looked like it had been put back together more than a few times since the war. Metal sheets were haphazardly slapped across its face along with torn tarps that flapped in the wind, giving the wall a guise of imminent failure. With any luck, it would stay up long enough to let me and Seer get out with what we needed.

The zebra’s tracks ended at a door that banged loudly against the wall as the wind threw it back and forth, a sound that reverberated through the massive room ahead of me. Inside, stacks of crates and metal containers rose almost to the ceiling, each marked with faded symbols that I couldn’t understand if I tried. One looked like a cog with a sword, but it was so decayed I could only guess at what it used to be.

I pulled the door shut behind me when I entered, not really excited to hear it banging over and over while I looked for Seer and whatever supplies we were supposed to be gathering from the warehouse. Once it was shut, the only sound that could be heard in the room was the drone of rain washing over the roof and walls, and some drops falling on the containers through the unpatched holes. Compared to the cacophony outside, it was blissfully quiet.

“Seer?” I called through the room, hoping that she was the only other thing in the room with me. She had said something about locals taking up residence there, but seeing the place for myself I started to doubt that. There were plenty of better places to stay in the city; ones with fewer holes and that didn’t look like they could fall apart if you sneezed too hard.

Nothing responded, I didn’t even hear the shuffling of hooves. Maybe the room was too big, or there was another room further in, but I didn’t think that Seer could hear me. Hopefully that was the case anyways, but I tried not to think of her being hurt or worse already.

I took a deep breath and stepped further in, weaving into the maze of containers and crates that filled the warehouse. The faint aroma of rotted wood drifted between the stacks, but it was overpowered by something else. I didn’t recognize whatever it was, but it was hardly the most pleasant thing I’d experienced in my life. I looked down the paths to either side of me as I continued down the center of the room, hoping to spot the mare as she browsed the wares in search of whatever it was we were supposed to find there.

A shadow launched out of view when I looked down one of the paths through the warehouse, and I almost jumped out of my coat. I didn’t see what it was exactly, but it was equine and moved fast.

“Seer?” I asked shakily, hoping it had been her. What else could it have been? Her tracks led to the warehouse, and I was sure that if it was hostile it would have tried to run at me, not away. So I decided to follow the shadow.

When I reached the point where I had seen the fleeing equine, I was at a crossroads in the containers. I turned left, down the path the shadow had disappeared, and started walking slowly. I looked all around for a sign of whatever had run away from me, mostly keeping an eye out for Seer.

Instead, I found something a little creepier.

Pinned against one of the containers was a little doll made of canvas. Two buttons were stitched into the face for eyes, and three nails were driven into its chest to keep it on the metal siding. The scariest part was the dried blood that covered the box it was connected to. But I couldn’t look away. Something about the little doll was mesmerizing, and I couldn’t figure out why.

A hoof hooked over my shoulder and stopped my heart just before I fell to my chest with a yelp that echoed through the maze. My jaw knocked on the floor and rattled my head, ringing at my ears and making me even surer that I was going to die.

“Felix,” Seer hissed down to me. “What are you doing here?”

I looked up and my heart started again. “Seer, thank Caesar you’re okay,” I grunted and stood up feeling a little foolish.

“I won’t be if you don’t quiet down,” she growled and helped me up. “I thought you were staying back.”

“I changed my mind,” I whispered nervously. “Why do we need to be quiet?”

“Because we aren’t alone here, or do you think I made that omen?” she hissed and pointed at the doll.

“Omen?” I tilted my head and looked back at the disturbing little effigy. “Omen of what?”

“Stop looking at it.” Her hoof gripped me again and spun me to face her. “Don’t look at any of the dolls.”

“Why?”

“They’re hexed, just trust me.” She turned and quickly trotted away from the ‘omen’, waving with her tail for me to follow. “Have you found anything useful?”

“No, I was looking for you,” I told her quietly.

The mare grumbled and led me back to the center pathway. “Well, I’m here, so let’s get what we need and leave.”

“You have the list, what do we need?” I asked and looked around for nothing in particular.

“A box,” she quickly answered. “It’ll be the size of a cigarette pack, and probably locked with some kind of magic.”

“Okay, what’s in it?” I asked curiously. “And how do we find something that small in here? This place is huge.”

“I don’t know what’s in it, I don’t care, and we need to find the offices. If the box is locked with magic, it will probably be somewhere hard to get.”

“Like a safe?” I suggested and looked back at Seer.

“Exactly.”

A loud creaking filled the air and both of us froze. Seer’s eyes darted around the room, looking for whatever was causing the noise until a loud crash sounded behind us. We both spun, and the mare behind me snapped up her rifle with a speed that scared me. The path was blocked off. Two of the giant crates had fallen to block us from leaving that way. More creaking squealed through the room, and a moment later more crashes rang out through the warehouse. Boxes fell on either side of us from higher in the stacks, blocking off paths on either side of us until only one way was left open.

“Seer?” I asked quietly, my voice cracking with fear and worry.

“We need to move, get your gun out,” she ordered sternly and started quickly walking down the only open path.

I complied and quickly pulled out the pistol from my holster, my teeth clattering against the grip until I bit down hard enough to stop it. Following behind her, my head darted all around looking for whatever had moved the crates. One crate falling was a coincidence, but all of them? We were being trapped.

I almost had to run to keep up with Seer’s pace, and my heart pounded in my ears, only interrupted by the occasional clop of hooves somewhere else in the warehouse. Somewhere, someone started laughing until it was all I heard. The cackle filled my head and echoed through my mind, driving me mad as I fought to stay focused.

A container dropped in front of us, forcing Seer to take us right and down a narrow path between the stacks that had become a labyrinth. Falling crates sent us winding through the warehouse, and I started to notice that the nasty smell I caught when I first walked in was getting stronger as we went deeper. Whatever it was, I was afraid we were going to find out what caused it very soon.

Seer kicked open a door when we finally reached the far side of the room, and the smell leapt out and bucked me in the face. The mare in front of me stopped and coughed before stepping through the door. “Hurry up,” she barked and waited. Once I was through, she slammed the door shut and leaned against it.

“What’s going on?” I demanded and tried to ignore the blood smeared over the walls all around us in strange symbols. A hole filled with something green and red reeked of death and something worse at the center of the room, horrifically answering the question of what had been filling the warehouse with the stench.

“We’re being herded,” she answered shakily. The cackling laughter filled my head again, and something slammed into the door, almost knocking Seer over as she strained to keep it shut. “Find something to block this, hurry!” she ordered and leaned into the door with new purpose.

I spun around and looked for anything that might help. A chain held a half-dissected corpse over the rancid pit and wrapped down to a hook in the floor. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was all I saw in my panic.

I grabbed the chain and yanked on it, pulling the loops off the hook and almost got dragged into the swill of nasty before I found my footing. The door lurched again as whatever was trying to get us rammed it again, and Seer screamed at me to hurry.

My teeth ached as I yanked the chain again, trying to get it off the body and over to the door where we could tie the handles together. With a sickening tear, the meat fell away from the chain and splashed into the mix, spraying me with stuff I would rather not think about. Another slam on the door almost broke through, and Seer screamed in a way I never thought she could. I’d seen her afraid before, but this…

I pulled the chain over and looped it over the handles as many times as I could, praying that it would hold long enough for us to get out of that room. “Let’s go,” I squealed and ran to the far side, followed closely by the other zebra.

She swung her rifle to the door after each rattle of the metal as whatever was on the other side tried to force its way in. The chain held with each lurch, but I didn’t think it would last long. The cackling still filled my head as we ran through another door and blocked it with a nearby metal desk. The smell still plagued my nostrils, but it wasn’t nearly as strong anymore. I didn’t think I could ever forget that, no matter how much I wanted to.

“Hurry, find a safe or something,” Seer demanded and started pushing over desks in search of anything that might hold the box we needed.

I followed suit and peeked under the desks she hadn’t thrown, along the walls, in corners, anywhere a safe might be hidden. It looked like we were in some kind of office, a lot like the one we had found in the robotics facility. Dirty paper flew off the desks whenever Seer tipped them, but I didn’t care to focus on that.

“Found one!” Seer yelled and I ran over. She was bent over and pulling a bobby pin from her mane, already holding a metal rod that looked like it was made specifically for lock picking. Where did she get that thing?

A bang and jingle of chains tore through the air behind us followed closely by a storm of hooves until the next door pushed violently against the desk we moved in the way. “Hurry up, they got through!” I yelled even though the mare was only a few inches away from me. I pointed my pistol at the door and prayed that she would get the safe open before whatever wanted us dead broke through.

The light clicking of metal in the lock behind me was all I heard between the door being rammed over and over. After the longest minute of my life, the slamming stopped, and Seer cheered with success.

“I got it! Let’s go!”

I spun around and saw her tucking a black and green box into her bag, and could have cheered along with her.

A crack filled the air and I looked back at the door, horrified to see an axe-blade sticking through it. The blade pulled back and a moment later punched through the door again.

“Felix!”

I turned at the yell and sprinted after Seer to help her kick at a metal sheet that was covering a missing chunk of wall. After each of our bucks, the axe bit through the door until I could see a pair of bloodshot eyes glaring through at us.

“I see you, little striped one,” a voice gurgled before the blade slammed through the wood. Crackly laughter filled the air again.

Finally, the metal behind us fell out with one last kick. I spun around and jumped down after Seer, but only landed on another container. We were in a slightly smaller store room; at least it looked smaller from the water that filled half of it. The containers we sprinted and jumped across kept us only a few feet above the surface, and I hoped that the racket we caused wouldn’t wake up anything sleeping under the water.

A stampede of hooves hit the metal less than a minute after we had started running, along with that same demonic laughter that made my skin crawl. I jumped another gap between containers and barely made it behind Seer before turning my head to get a glimpse of what was chasing us.

It was a pack, 5 ponies and zebras merrily jumping across the platforms to catch us. With each bound, two of them slammed down their bloated and twisted front hooves; if they even qualified as hooves anymore, they looked more like spiked clubs. The other three almost looked normal if I ignored the distended jaws and boils sticking out of their coats, seeming to be filled with whatever had been in that rancid pit that I could still smell. Ragged jackets flared out behind them with each jump, fluttering in the air like leathery wings.

Seer sped further and further ahead of me, her long legs able to push her faster and further than mine could, and all the while the monsters behind me gained ground. The zebra leading me jumped off to a catwalk on one side and spun to look at me before lifting her rifle and firing at the things chasing us. One of them squealed as a bullet hit her, but I don’t think it slowed her down.

“Jump!” Seer screamed and fired again. I could see the rifle shaking in her grip, and I was amazed that she could hit them at all.

I landed on the last container before the metal walkway and pushed to keep moving, knowing that the monsters were snapping at my tail. Those things weren’t going to leave us alone until they were dead or out of that warehouse; at least I hoped they would stop chasing us if we left the warehouse. Only a few seconds behind me, a heavy pair of hooves slammed into the container and jumped toward me, getting closer with every hop.

Another crack from Seer’s rifle only made it grunt as the thing gained on me. I jumped off the edge for the window as the smell of the pit hit me even stronger than before, and hot breath washed over my back hooves. I landed on the iron catwalk and rolled into the wall just before Seer’s rifle swung over my head and smacked into the mutant’s face behind me.

It yelped and crumpled on the side of the metal walkway before sliding off and falling into the water below, splashing my belly with cold water through the grating. The others slid to a stop at the edge of the container and turned, racing for a different spot on the catwalk to cut us off.

Seer grabbed me by the mane and pulled me up painfully before running off, going a little slower so I could keep up this time. I followed closely and ignored my heart pounding in my ears and hammering to escape my chest.

A bullet slapped into the floor inches behind me, and I screamed again. It was bad enough that they were monsters who had cursed dolls and smelled like rotten death, but now they could use guns? What kind of horror created those things, or turned them into those things? And why would they want to kill us just for going in the warehouse?

Seer stumbled and fell as a bullet hit her in the leg, and I tripped over her. We rolled and tangled together with grunts and squeals until we finally came to rest and raced to get up again. She whinnied and pushed to keep going, but I didn’t follow her. I couldn’t, I didn’t want to.

All I could see was a creepy, but wonderful doll floating in the water below me. A pair of blue buttons barely hung on to the canvas that made up the body; a sad pair of eyes that looked up at me knowingly. It was as if the little toy was trying to talk to me, and I refused to leave until I knew what it was trying to say.

I could hear the hooves bouncing toward me on the catwalk, and I could hear Seer screaming for me to get up and run, but I didn’t care. The doll wanted to warn me, or tell me a secret, a very important secret before it sank into the abyss. Blood started spreading out under it, filling the water with red, too much for such a little thing to ever hold by itself. It was dying, and it had one last…

“Felix!” Seer screamed and yanked me up by my ear, and suddenly I remembered that I was supposed to be running for my life!

I cursed the little doll for distracting me and ran while Seer fired a burst at the monsters closing in on us. One of them yelped and fell in a limp heap when a bullet punched through his head, leaving only 3 chasing us. The one who still had a gun fired back, but missed both of us.

Seer ran beside me and looked down desperately, fear filling her face. “Take the box from my bag.”

“What?” I asked for clarification and stared at her in disbelief.

“Take the damn box!” she screamed and craned her neck to fire another burst at the mutants still chasing us. I shoved my head in her bags and pulled out the box, slipping it into my own sack.

“What’s going on?” I asked fearfully.

“Hold your breath and kick in rhythm,” she told me quickly, even though I didn’t understand whatever she just said.

“What?”

Seer slid to a stop and spun, pointing her rump at me. The next thing I knew, her hooves punched into my side and I was airborne; crashing through an old window just before one of the beasts tackled her. I screamed, but there was nothing I could do. In an instant, they were out of view and I was falling again, plummeting toward the sea through the rain.

Just before I hit the water, I took a deep breath and held it. When I closed my eyes to get ready for impact, I could see her tumbling across the catwalk with one of those monsters chomping down at her face.

Splash

Wrinkles smoothed and faded under each swipe of my hoof, fading into the paper and leaving only little ripples in the sheet to give away that they used to be there. It was thin and dirty, but it was all I could find lying around town. I was careful not to tear it, this was a special project and it had to be perfect!

The rest of the house was quiet while I worked; Mama and Daddy were still asleep in their room while I smoothed out the paper under the light of a small lantern I kept beside my hay-bed. The spotty orange glow from the old light made it hard to see how good I was doing on the paper, and dust and dirt along the glass of the lamp projected odd spots over my room. I was used to it for the most part, it wasn’t my first time working in the night under the light of the lamp, but I preferred working during the day when the light was more white and natural; it made it easier to see if I was doing a good job.

But I couldn’t wait for morning to come for this one. Mama couldn’t know that I was making it yet, it was supposed to be a surprise for her and nighttime was the only time I knew she wouldn’t walk in on me. Even though I had already been trying for a week to finish my latest project and was on my eighth piece of paper, I didn’t want to risk her seeing it no matter what, and that meant doing it at night.

I picked up the paper once it looked smooth and flat enough, holding it closer to the light to analyze my job after blowing my short-hanging mane out of my face. It wasn’t completely perfect, but it was as good as I could get with scrap paper. Next was the tricky part, and I would have to be careful not to tear the delicate sheet in my hooves while I folded it into the new form it would soon be.

I slowly started making my folds, following the same order that I believed would make the prettiest flower I could imagine. I couldn’t remember exactly what it was called in the stories, or even if it was from the stories I had been told, but I thought it should be. It looked really pretty in my dreams.

Big folds came first as usual, getting the paper into the shape of a bud before I could make it bloom into the flower I loved most in my dreams. They were pretty easy, and not very special to that flower, most of the flowers I made started with the same folds until it was what I needed.

The skittering of something outside my window froze my work, and I quickly blew out the little flame in the lamp to cast my room back into darkness. It was what Mama always told me to do when I heard something outside, just in case it was dangerous. Most of the time it was probably just one of the guards trotting around to check for anything scary, but when I was little a big bug had tried to dig into my room while I was asleep. Luckily Daddy was still awake and heard it, so he ran inside and stomped on it before it could bite me, then he hugged me and slept in my room to keep me safe in case another one came!

After a few minutes of silence I quietly lit the lamp again by pushing the button that made it go clickity click until the fire started. I had the big folds all done, so all I had left was the little folds to make the petals and then puffing it up! I gently held my tongue between my lips while I worked, nervous that I would accidentally tear it during the smaller folds like I had on my other tries. I was really slow as I worked the corners down carefully to make the folds.

I started on the last one, gently rolling down the corner with my hooftip to make the final petal. Suddenly, I heard Mama gasp loudly and squeal from her bedroom and I pushed too hard. The paper tore, leaving the last almost-finished petal hanging down sadly. I wanted to cry. I had been so close, and it was ruined again! I sniffed quietly and tossed the failed flower at the wall, but it just flailed a few feet before falling lightly to the ground.

Daddy must have woken up when Mama cried, because I heard him talking to her softly but couldn’t make out what he was saying. She squealed again and sounded really hurt. I heard their door swing open and then their hooves quickly shuffling through the hallway toward the door. They whispered to each other as they walked by my room, probably thinking that I was still asleep and not wanting to wake me.

I blew out the lamp and sadly stood up, wishing that I could just finish the stupid flower and not mess it up. I hoped Mama and Daddy wouldn’t be upset that I was awake, it was too late for me to be up, but I wanted to make sure she was okay. So I quietly went to my door and pushed it open to peek out into the house. Mama was standing by the door with her eyes squeezed shut and holding her bubble-belly; it was so big I could only see half of her curly heart glyph. Meanwhile, Daddy was busy shuffling around the room to throw a bunch of things in his bag. Were they leaving?

“Mama?” I called from my door with worry. “Where are you going?”

Her pretty green eyes opened a little bit I think, it was hard to tell in the dark, and she turned her head to look at me. “Shayle, sweetie you should be asleep.”

I squeaked and looked down, ashamed that I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to. “But you sounded hurt,” I replied softly before closing my door a little bit, still leaving just enough room to look out.

“I’m fine, sweetie,” she assured me before grunting quietly. “Mama just needs to go to see the Shaman… if Daddy could just get the bag.”

“You’re the one who unpacked it to make sure it had everything, again.” Daddy grunted as he threw a dirty towel in the pack.

My ears perked up at the news that Mama was going to see the Shaman. “Is the baby coming tonight?” I asked hopefully. Daddy had told me they were going to get another baby a few weeks earlier, and that they had to go see the Shaman to get her, or him; they didn’t tell me if it was a filly or a colt.

“Yes,” Daddy quickly replied and finally picked up the bag. “Ready to go?”

Mama nodded quickly and kicked the door open behind her. “Yes, let’s go!”

I started to close my door as my ears drooped. I wanted to finish the flower before the new baby came so I could give it to Mama and Daddy. I don’t know why, but I thought that if I gave them something pretty it would make the baby happier. I heard a story about that once; that babies were happier if their parents were happy when they arrived. But it wasn’t finished, and all I had was the last torn one. It wasn’t pretty enough…

I quickly ran over and picked it up. Maybe it would still help the baby a little bit, even if it was ruined. I held it on my tail and ran out to Mama and Daddy before they could close the door behind them.

“Shayle, you need to go back to bed,” Daddy told me with a tired look. “I’ll wake you up when we bring the baby home.”

I stopped and shrank back. “But I made this for you and Mommy,” I said and held my tail toward them.

Mama smiled for a second before grunting in pain again. “It’s very pretty, sweetie. Thank you,” she told me as warmly as she could through grinding teeth. I could tell she actually liked it though; she was just hurt because the baby was coming and couldn’t smile very good.

Daddy grinned and put it in the bag before kissing me on the forehead. “Thank you, Shayle. Now please go back to bed, we’ll see you soon.”

“Okay,” I agreed and trotted back inside, making sure I closed the door behind me.

* * *

My eyes slowly opened to a blurry room, maybe. I could see shapes, colors, but they all blended together in a fog. Something black and white moved in front of me and I turned my head up to see a pair of green blobs looking down at me. I blinked a few times and it cleared until the blobs turned into glossy eyes.

“Mama?” I asked drowsily and received a little chuckle in response.

“Why would you think that, Shayle,” the mare over me replied softly. Minx smiled and looked around before picking up a little vial from the table beside me. “Are you in pain?”

I shook my head and looked around. Wherever I was, it was very clean and filled with all kinds of strange tools. Metal prongs and scissors and knives were lined up neatly on the walls, and a few blood-stained ones were on a table beside me. My body felt strange, like I wasn’t actually in it anymore. I could feel something, but at the same time I didn’t feel anything, anywhere.

“What…” I started to ask but lost my train of thought and stared at a poorly-drawn picture that was nailed to the wall behind Minx. It looked like a foal had tried to draw something, but it was barely recognizable.

“You got shot,” a blunt voice quickly stated from the other side of me. I craned my neck to look over and saw Solus standing in the corner, soaked from head to tail. “Three times.”

Oh yeah.

I flopped my head back down and shut my eyes again, trying to remember how I had gotten shot at all. I remembered a storm, and some ponies…

A rifle shrouded in glittering color floated around the rock inches away and swiveled.

I grunted and opened my eyes again as a throb of pressure hit me in the chest and gut. I remembered. I remembered the pain and feeling like I was going to die at any second. In fact, I thought I had died when the lights all went out, so why was I still alive?

“Where are we?” I asked weakly and tried to look around again, but couldn’t pick up anything for sure in the likely drug induced haze of my mind.

“The clinic in Caesar’s Stand,” Minx answered warmly. “We got you here as fast as we could.”

I sighed and put my head back down on the bed again. “How bad was I?”

“Bad,” Solus answered first. “Any longer and you would be elsewhere.”

Great, I almost died. Yes, I thought that I was going to back when I first got shot, but hearing it from someone else was different. Something about it just felt more real, more absolute than me thinking it would happen. I’d have to thank the doctor for stopping that. Speaking of which, why wasn’t the doctor in the clinic with me?

“Where’s the doctor?” I asked.

“Back to asking questions already, Shayle?” Minx asked me with a joking grin. “I thought you might be tired of that by now.” I grumbled and closed my eyes. “He’s out right now. He should be back in an hour or two.”

“Great,” I replied and wheezed a little. “What if something goes wrong?”

“Then Minx will help you and I will go find the doctor,” Solus explained simply. “Don’t you trust us?”

I shook my head a little. “Not really.”

“Why not?” the blank zebra asked curiously. “We helped you and carried you here, should that not be enough to gain trust?”

“You also burned an entire town of innocent ponies,” I countered quietly.

“Shayle, we talked about that,” Minx quickly jumped in. “Now get your rest, we’ll be right here if you need us.”

I grumbled again and tried to relax; not an easy task after almost dying. I wasn’t really bothered by the two Scorpions in the same room as me, I’d slept fine with them in the cave and they didn’t do anything to me, so I wasn’t worried about that. I was more worried about not waking up again. I didn’t know if that was really something that could happen, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to risk it. I woke up after getting shot three times and thinking I was sure to die, what if I couldn’t do that again?

And why did I ask so many questions?

I opened my eyes again and found that apparently I had dozed off for at least a little bit. The light in the room was dimmed, and only Minx was there with me. Her face was buried in the book, scanning the pages with a little smile. I even think her cheeks were starting to turn red.

“What are you reading?” I asked after a few seconds.

She calmly looked up and grinned. “A book from before the war.” She looked down to the pages again, but didn’t scan the words with her eyes. “Do you like to read?”

I swallowed and looked around awkwardly. “Uh, no.”

“Why not? It’s very relaxing,” she told me softly.

“I just never have,” I explained, trying to avoid saying that I didn’t even know how to. Apparently I was the only one in the Wasteland who couldn’t, so saying it seemed wrong somehow.

“You should try sometime. I’ll lend you one of mine if you’re ever interested.” The mare closed the book and looked back up to me. “What do you like to do?”

That was weird. “Why do you want to know?” I asked and stared at her strangely.

“Well, you always ask others about themselves. Can’t I ask you about yourself?” She smiled and tilted her head.

“Uh, sure…” I wasn’t so sure I liked where that might go, but I figured I could just lie about anything I didn’t want to answer. “I like, um, sleeping?” I had no idea, I don’t think I had done anything for fun or relaxation in years; I was always busy trying to forget things and rest.

She just chuckled. “That’s nice, but what about when you’re awake? Do you have a favorite hobby?”

“Not really, I’m usually too busy,” I told her simply. It wasn’t technically a lie.

“That’s not healthy. You should find a way to unwind and have fun,” she offered with a smile. “Maybe your brother has something you could do together?”

“I don’t think so. He likes books and stuff like that, not really my kind of thing.”

“Well, you’ll think of something.” She put the book back in her bag and kept on smiling. She was starting to look like that creepy Minx I had met back in Shanty. “What about your family, do you have anyone besides your brother?”

I shook my head. “Not anymore. Mama died a long time ago, and Father died recently.”

The mare looked down at that befoe looking up with a sad look in her eyes. “That’s too bad, I’m sorry for your losses,” she offered. “Were you close to them?”

“I don’t know. Mama died when I was little, and I can’t remember much about her.” At least I couldn’t until I got shot and almost died. “And I didn’t get along with Father very well.”

“Why not?” she asked curiously.

“Because he was an ass,” I blurted without even thinking about it. I don’t think I had ever actually said that about him out loud, not even to my brother. Of course my brother still thought that Father was a prisoner somewhere and that we would see him again.

“I see.” Minx looked over to the door for a moment before turning her attention to me again. “Do you have any friends back home? Or someone you spent a lot of time with?

Father.

“No, not really,” I answered quickly. “I didn’t get out very much.” Do drugs make you more honest or talk more? Because I don’t think I actually wanted to say most of this stuff.

“It sounds like you had a boring life,” the mare commented and stood up.

Not even close…

“It could have been worse, I guess.” Yeah, I could have gone through it all without Felix. That thought reminded me of something. “Has my brother come back with the others yet?” I asked quickly, hoping she wasn’t about to leave.

“Not yet. I think they had a long way to travel,” Minx told me calmly. “I’ll let you know as soon as they get back.”

“Thank you.” I tried to grin, but couldn’t find a reason to. I appreciated her offer, but I didn’t think I could be happy with her yet, not after what I’d seen from her. I might have been able to after talking with her about her family, but seeing her cry over my body like that, yes I remembered, just made it weird. I don’t know why, but I just didn’t know how to feel about her after that. Should I have felt happy around her or cared about her? She seemed to actually care about me, but I couldn’t feel the same about her, could I? She had still killed Little Doc, she still helped destroy Shanty.

“Get some sleep, Shayle. I’ll be right outside.”

I nodded and started to look away before I noticed something. Just before the door closed, I caught a glimpse of Minx’s glyph; something I hadn’t even bothered to care about before.

A pair of thick, curving lines that hooked over one another to form a heart.

Footnote: No Levels Earned

Authors Note: As usual, a huge thanks to both Kkat and Somber for writing Fallout Equestria and Project Horizons. Without Kkat’s story, this universe wouldn’t exist and I would live a sad and lonely life. I can’t thank her enough for making this world happen. And to Somber for expanding it and showing me that it was possible to expand and broaden that world into something even more amazing. Keep up the fantastic work on PH! Thank you again to Rattlesire and Doomande for making the cover of this story happen, you two are both awesome and I love you forever and ever. And of course thank you two my pre-readers for making sure this doesn’t completely suck, and to my readers for trying to continually convince me I don’t suck at this. Without you guys I would have given up a long LONG time ago, so thank you for keeping me going even though I’m nowhere near as good as you make it sound.

Chapter 14: A Job Well Done

Chapter 14: A Job Well Done
“Here's all those apples you wanted, Fluttershy, but I still can't figure why you need so many.”

Icy water slapped my back and embraced me, pulling me into the sea that was New Oatleans to wash away the heat of the chase from my body. My lungs seized at the sudden freezing sensation along with my legs, paralyzing my body for the first few seconds as I sank deeper. When my mind finally reset and realized what was happening I flailed my legs to orient myself for ascension.

Hold your breath and kick in rhythm.

Seer’s words splashed through my head, directing my body to survival. I thrust with all four legs at once and felt myself rise slightly higher. My hooves pulled back into my chest and kicked down again, pushing me up another few inches toward air. My body burned in the cold, still unable to comprehend how I’d gone from burning up in the warehouse to freezing in an instant.

Another kick and I rose further. My lungs tightened and told my mind it was time for another breath.

Kick.

My head throbbed and fought the instinct to breathe, holding back the urge in a losing battle. I was running out of time. A stream of bubbles leaked from my nostrils and mouth as my lungs forced out the bad air in hope of a fresh breath.

Kick.

I had to be close, I needed to be close. If not I wasn’t going to make it. My lungs screamed and burned to suck in another gulp of air, somehow unable to comprehend that all they would get was a surge of water.

Kick.

Even with my eyes closed, my vision dropped behind a curtain of red. My legs screamed in misery and cried for rest, tired of the constant race for life that New Oatleans had become. They longed for the mattress back in Caesar’s Stand, or even just a particularly soft patch of dirt; anything that wasn’t swimming or running to survive.

One last kick and my head surfaced into the rain. My mouth shot open and sucked in a gulp of air and a spray of water, throwing me into a coughing fit that hurt more than I thought was possible. If only that was my biggest problem, but it wasn’t. I still had to get out of the water before something got to me or I lost the strength to swim. My head spun violently looking for a spot I could climb out. The first thing I saw was an open double door that was just barely above the surface, plenty low enough for me to pull myself up.

I kicked violently, completely forgetting the advice Seer had given me before kicking me out the window. I just wanted out, and I was starting to feel like that might never happen. Inch by inch the door drew closer, and after each kick of my legs my head dropped under the water before pushing me up and forward again. More than once I swallowed a wash of cold water, something I couldn’t imagine was good for me, but I didn’t care, I was almost there.

When I finally reached the side and pulled myself up I had the sudden urge to kiss the ground under my hooves; I don’t think I would ever appreciate dry land as much as I did after that day. But the realization of where I had climbed out stopped me. The door led right back into the warehouse, particularly the room I had gone into in the first place. Aside from the fear I instantly felt at looking back into the room I was shocked that the door was open at all. I had closed it when I went in, I knew I did.

Then I heard the scream.

My insides squirmed at the sound, and I tried to deny who it must have been. I tried to tell myself it was one of the monsters inside, but every time I did the common sense at the back of my brain kicked the idea away and reminded me of what it was. I didn’t want to believe it, but a part of me refused to let me deny the truth.

Above all, I wanted to sprint back inside and race to her, to save her from those mutated freaks doing Caesar knows what to her. There were only three left, Seer killed the other two; I could handle three monsters if it meant saving her, it was just a matter of careful aiming and taking my time. That is if they weren’t waiting for me to come back. I’d already fallen into one trap and almost died; I would have if Seer hadn’t been there to pull me away from the dolls and hold the doors while I tried to barricade them.

Didn’t I owe it to her to save her life after she saved mine at least three times in that warehouse?

But I knew I couldn’t just run in. They would kill me and Seer, and didn’t know what would happen to Charmer and Tinker. Would they try to find us both and stumble into the warehouse, only to be killed by the mutated equines inside? Or would they be lost in the city until something ate them or shot them?

My head throbbed as a screaming match broke out within my own mind. Half of me wanted to run in and try to save Seer, kill the mutants, or die trying. I could save her; all I had to do was go in there and try to fight like she did. The other half of my mind argued that I should go back to Tinker and Charmer, get them and then go look for Seer. Yes, Seer might be dead by that point, but at least I was more likely to survive if I had help. That side kept reminding me of what Tinker had said, and how she reacted to my willingness to die for the life of another.

During it all, I just stood there and stared into the building. I watched and listened for anything to make up my mind, not even knowing what it might be. If she screamed again I didn’t even know if I would run in to help. Whether that was a sign that she was still alive or if it was her death was something I couldn’t know until I found her.

“Come on in, little striped one,” a high pitched voice echoed through the storage room. I stepped back and swiveled my head, searching for any sign of where the mutant was. Were they watching me as I stood in the door? “Don’t you want to help your friend?” it asked with a sick giggle that scratched at my brain.

My brain screamed yes, every bit of me screamed yes, but I didn’t run in. I wouldn’t. They were waiting for me, laughing in a corner until I walked in to hang me from that chain or whatever those monsters did. I wanted to run in there so badly, to save Seer and finally not be the colt who needed to be protected.

But I couldn’t do it, not yet. I would die, and I knew it. I choked back the urge to sprint inside alone and backed away from the door, begging for Seer to forgive me if she was still alive and telling her I was sorry if she wasn’t. I was still going in for her, there was nothing that could stop me from at least hoping she would still be alive, but I needed to ask for some help first. I just prayed that she lived long enough for it to matter.

* * *

The curtain of rain had thinned slightly by the time I got back to where I had left Tinker and Charmer, allowing me to see across the channels flowing between the buildings of New Oatleans. I was still soaked, and probably would be until we finally made it back to our shack, but it didn’t bother me as much anymore. I was in a hurry, and knew that every second I took away from going back to the warehouse was just another second that Seer could die.

A faint clop of hooves on the tattered floors was the first thing I heard when I stepped off the bridge onto the floor above where the two ponies had been sleeping; a frantic pace of little taps broken by discussion. The building was even darker than before as the already faint light of the daytime storm quickly faded toward the darkness of sunset, and I hoped that Seer had been exaggerating the danger of New Oatleans at night.

“I’m sure they’re fine, Tinker,” Charmer calmly stated below me.

“How are you so sure? Why wouldn’t they wake us up to go with them?” Tinker quickly asked. Her voice was shaking and uneven.

“Ask them when they get back.” Charmer seemed calmer than she should have been, and I dreaded going down to tell them the bad news.

I started down the stairs to them quickly. The chatter and clip clop of hooves stopped when I hit the second stair, and the unmistakable rack of a shotgun pump cut through the air. I froze at the bend in the staircase and felt a shiver go down my spine.

“It’s me!” I called down quickly, not in the mood to walk into the barrel of a shotgun, even if it was one of my friends holding it.

“Felix?” Tinker’s voice called back, and in a flash she ran up the stairs to meet me. Even though I heard her coming, I still flinched when the filly swung around the bend and wrapped her hooves around my neck. “Thank the Goddesses you’re okay.”

“Uh, yeah,” I stammered out and briefly hugged her back before pulling away.

“What’s wrong?” she asked and looked behind me before turning back to my face. “Where’s Seer?”

“At the warehouse,” I told her and continued down the stairs. “She’s in trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?” Charmer asked, already pulling her bag from the floor to get moving.

I didn’t actually know how to describe exactly what the warehouse was or the kind of danger inside, so I just used the most straight-forward explanation I could. “The deadly kind.”

The pony didn’t say anything more and quickly finished getting her gear on. Her legs wobbled slightly as she made her way over to the stairs, but I guessed that was because of the drug Seer had given her. Either that or she was almost as exhausted as I was. My legs still burned after everything I’d done that day, and the only reason I hadn’t collapsed yet was likely pure adrenaline. As long as I didn’t have to swim again I would be fine though.

Tinker waited on the stairs for us to meet her; the filly didn’t have anything to carry with her except the small bag hanging on her left side that could only carry a few small items. I think she had a couple bags of carrot chips, but nothing else. I wished she had a gun, Caesar knew we would need it in that warehouse.

I followed Charmer back up the stairs to the second floor where she waited for me to go in front and lead the way. I wasn’t anxious to take them back into that hell of a building, but we had to. If Seer was still alive, she needed help, and fast.

“Would you mind explaining what happened on the way?” Charmer asked flatly once we stepped back into the rain and crossed the first bridge.

I nodded and quickly ran over what happened in my mind to make sure I got it all right; minus a few of the more horrifying details that we were about to see anyways. With any luck we wouldn’t have to go through the room with the hanging body, but for some reason I doubted that could be avoided. Unless those things were keeping Seer in the first storage room we would probably have to go in there. That is if we could find a way into the maze of fallen containers.

Charmer remained surprisingly calm and unaffected while I explained everything important about how we were chased through the building while still trying to find what we were there for. Even when I told them that some kind of mutated ponies and zebras were the ones chasing us, she didn’t show any shock or even worry. Tinker on the other hoof groaned at one or two points, and I didn’t blame her.

“So you killed two of them?” Charmer finally asked when I finished retelling the story. I was expecting something more along the lines of showing worry for Seer or disgust at what happened; the things that the Charmer I met on my first day out in the Wasteland would care about.

“Uh, yeah,” I replied and shook my head. “There’s still three left though.”

The mare didn’t say anything after that, she just fell silent and continued trotting alongside me toward the warehouse. I could vaguely hear Tinker’s short hoofsteps behind us, and I looked over my shoulder to make sure she was doing okay. Not surprisingly, she looked horrified. Her tail hung low along with her head, and her eyes snapped from side to side nervously.

“It’ll be okay, Tinker,” I tried to assure her. She didn’t say anything.

I wondered if I should let her wait outside the warehouse, but in the end I decided that was probably a bad idea. Me and Charmer were both armed, she wasn’t. So if we left her alone I didn’t doubt that the mutated freaks would quickly decide she was the easiest target. No, she was better off with us, as much as I hated to do it to her.

“Is that it?” Charmer asked and nodded ahead of us to the looming form of the warehouse in the rain. I nodded and swallowed the knot forming in my throat. “Any ideas for a plan?” She looked down at me with a dead serious look; something that was easy for her since half of her face was basically dead already.

“No. I don’t know what those things will do, so I guess just shoot them and don’t get separated?” I suggested uneasily.

“You’re definitely Shayle’s brother,” the mare commented with a ghost of a smile. I flicked my brow in confusion, and she shook her head. “You make the same plans.” A little grin tried to curl on the corners of my mouth, but I couldn’t find the heart to do it. At least Charmer had tried to be a little more like her old self, but it didn’t feel the same.

We stopped about 50 feet from the door and checked our guns, getting ready for a fight as soon as we opened the warehouse. I had a feeling we would be put through some kind of horrifying game again, and for once I actually wanted a fight rather than being chased through the containers and offices again.

Charmer looked over to Tinker, who sat shaking in the rain and staring at the ground, and pulled a knife out of her bag. “Tinker, do you know how to use this?” she asked softly and pushed the blade over.

The filly looked up at it and stared, then nodded. “A little.” I could barely hear her over the rain.

“Good. I want you to hold it close, okay? If anything tries to get you, swing it as hard as you can and don’t stop until they aren’t moving anymore.” Tinker nodded and picked up the knife before shakily rising to her hooves.

I sighed and looked over to the door, dreading what we might find inside. A small part of me still insisted that Seer was alive, but most of my mind had convinced me that there was no way anymore. The most we could give her anymore was a burial, and making sure that those monsters couldn’t take anyone else.

Ready as we could be, I started toward the warehouse with Charmer and Tinker close by me. For a moment I could have sworn I heard that deranged laughter as we approached, but it was just my mind. Soon it wouldn’t be though; I would hear it for real once we were through that door. I prayed it wouldn’t be the last thing I heard.

Before pushing open the doors I turned to the two ponies one last time to make sure one very important fact was clear. “Do not look at the dolls,” I stressed again, just in case the five times I had said it while retelling my first experience in the warehouse hadn’t been enough. They both nodded and I took a deep breath.

I didn’t even touch the doors before they flew open with a smash, stopping my heart for a second and sinking my hopes of not playing another twisted game with those monsters. Something dropped onto my head and I fell to my belly with a squeal. Tinker gasped behind me but didn’t move, and neither did Charmer.

I cautiously stood back up and felt whatever had hit me bump against the top of my head again. I brushed it away and looked over to the two ponies behind me, but they weren’t looking at me. Their heads swung back and forth with their eyes locked just over my head, completely blank looks on their faces. I didn’t need to think hard to figure out what they were looking at, and quickly grabbed their heads to spin them around. A twisted chuckle drifted from the warehouse behind me, and I spun to face it, but there was nothing; just a wall of containers in an otherwise empty room.

Charmer and Tinker walked by me with their heads pointed down, avoiding the doll that was doubtlessly hanging in the doorway. Tinker shuddered and sniffed when she finally looked up again, the knife held in a death grip between her teeth.

“We need to go fast,” I slurred around the gun in my mouth. “They know we’re here already.”

Charmer nodded and led the way further in, looking for a way to get over the crashed containers and stacks of crates. Me and Tinker stayed close beside her while I looked for the mutated freaks that were now hunting us and hiding until the perfect moment. A constant shiver filled my body from the feeling of being watched, and I waited for one of them to jump out from the floor itself.

Echoing cackles and snickers came from every direction while we circled the crates, jerking my eyes back and forth across the room so much my head started to hurt. Once or twice I could have sworn I saw them, but I never had time to shoot before they disappeared.

“Here!” Charmer almost cheered and pulled my attention away from the walls.

We all ran to a single door in the back corner of the storeroom, something which made me feel incredibly uneasy. I knew it had to be what the monsters wanted us to do, but we didn’t have any other choice. I just hoped we could defend ourselves when they finally showed their faces.

Charmer kicked open the door and ran in shotgun-first with me and Tinker close behind. The room was completely empty and had two doors leading to the right and straight ahead of us; something that surprised me. I didn’t doubt that they were waiting through either one for us, but maybe one of them would be safer. If only we had a way to know which.

The mare looked between the two doors and turned to the right, quickly bucking the wooden door off its hinges. A repeating laugh screeched from the doorway, looping over and over with the screech of a rewinding tape. Charmer jumped to the side of the door and waited while Tinker and I pressed ourselves back against the door we came through.

Whatever we all expected to happen never did, and the laughter continued to loop until Charmer decided she’d waited long enough. The mare stepped through the door cautiously, her shotgun swinging quickly from side to side. Tinker pushed off the wall and nervously followed the mare through the door while I walked backwards behind her, waiting for an axe to slam through the door behind us.

Instead, the door slammed in my face as soon as I got through it, knocking the pistol from my grip and pulling a stream of blood from my nose. I yelped and fell to my haunches while Tinker raced over to my gun. The filly pushed it over for me and helped me up. That was the first time I heard the soft whine with every breath she took, and I wanted to try and calm her down. But it wouldn’t help, I wasn’t nearly calm enough to help her, and we had to keep going.

We turned and quickly trotted to catch up with Charmer while trying to ignore the grating laugh track that played constantly in the background. The hall we were in was just as barren as the last room and only a few candles on the floor gave any light for us to travel by. Doors on both sides were barricaded with scraps of smashed crates, leading us right where the monsters wanted us to go. Again.

Charmer turned suddenly and pushed open a door on our left, thankfully without the addition of another looping cackle to push my nerves even further toward a breakdown. Before I could round the corner with her, the bark of a shotgun rang through my ears. I spun through the door with my pistol ready; just in time to see Charmer’s shotgun blast another chunk out of a waiting monster.

The blood-stained axe in its twisted jaw clattered to the ground as the thing howled in misery, but still didn’t die. I pulled the trigger three times, sending a triangle of bullets into the thing’s chest with about the same effectiveness as the shotgun. It screamed in pain again and threw up its massive bony forelegs to slam Charmer against the wall before the pony could fire again.

Another three shots from my pistol hit the grotesque appendages, staggering the creature enough to let Charmer fall back to the floor. I kept firing into the mutant until it fell down, blood dripping from countless holes and chunks of missing flesh. Among the blood I could see patches of black and white coat that hadn’t disappeared into the former zebra’s monstrous form. How could a zebra turn into that thing?

“Felix!” Tinker screamed behind me and I spun around. She wasn’t in the doorway anymore.

I jumped back into the hall and my gut dropped at the sight of Tinker backing down the hall with a very skinny something trotting toward her. The filly kicked out with her hooves and swung her knife viciously, but the thing just laughed at her and stayed far enough back to avoid the blows; waiting for Tinker to hit a wall and be trapped.

I reloaded and sprinted down the hall, not caring that I smashed almost every candle under my hooves; followed by darkness as I moved in for the kill.

The creature spun and screeched, its jaw opening about three times wider than a normal pony’s should as crooked wings that could never be used for flight flared on either side of it. My gun roared and punched a hole in the bony monstrosity about half of the time, the other half of my shots hitting the wall behind it. Tinker squealed and fell to the floor to avoid my shots, and I stopped shooting at the realization I might hit her.

A quick hoof smacked into my head and pushed me against the wall, rattling my skull and forcing me to drop the pistol. “Welcome back, little striped one,” the thing cackled and smacked my head again, glaring at me with its bloodshot eyes.

The thunder of approaching hooves filled my ears just before the blast of a shotgun pounded through the hall only inches from my head. The monster crumpled in front of me in a mess of blood with half of its head gone.

The burned mare pulled me back up before doing the same for Tinker. Strands of blood pooled along the ripples of her new skin, and for a moment I was actually afraid of the pony who had just saved our lives. I wasn’t afraid that she would hurt me, I knew she wouldn’t, I was afraid of what she looked like. The missing eye was bad enough, but with the blood her skin looked cracked and torn like paint flaking off of a wall. Once again, I could barely recognize her.

“One left, right?” she asked through heavy breaths. I nodded and picked my gun up again, trying to ignore the taste of copper on the grip. One more freak, and then we could get Seer out of that place.

* * *

After killing the two mutants downstairs, we didn’t see or hear the other hunting us. I tried to take comfort in that and thought maybe we had scared it into hiding by killing its two friends, but I knew that wasn’t true. The thing was waiting for us somewhere, I knew it was. Every corner we turned and every door we opened I was waiting for it to jump out at us or hear it laughing sickly just before we fell into some trap it had set. I almost would have preferred being chased, at least then we would have known where it was.

Tinker pressed against me almost constantly while we searched the warehouse, her body shaking while little whimpers escaped her lips. Charmer on the other hoof hardly seemed nervous, but I doubted that was the case. She moved quickly and confidently, but I caught her hesitating before opening most of the doors. The monster still stalking the halls had us on edge, and that was exactly what it wanted from us. Something bad was in our future, I just didn’t know what.

When we finally found a staircase to the upper offices, a soft cackling echoed through the halls again, and my nerves frayed. Tinker turned to go back down the stairs, apparently finally reaching the end of what she could take of the living nightmare. Before she could make it the door slammed shut by a string that snaked through the wall to our left. The filly pushed and kicked to try getting it open, but the door didn’t budge. We were right where it wanted us, and we weren’t allowed to leave yet.

We all walked out from the small cubicle we were in to find ourselves on the catwalks that rung the storeroom below. Makeshift walls were lashed into place along the railings at random intervals, finally answering the question of how the monsters had appeared and disappeared so quickly when we first entered the warehouse.

Charmer spun left and ran around the corner to the next room, ready to shoot the mutant that had slammed the door on us. We found the rope tied around a half-decayed unicorn’s neck that leaned against the wall. Pushing the door only tightened the neck around the corpse, holding it shut in the most horrific way possible. Tinker instantly turned and ran back out at the sight to kick at the stairwell door again, sobbing and pleading to leave.

I followed her and put my hooves around her, pulling her back from the door and squeezing her tight. She squirmed around in my hooves for a moment but soon fell limp. “It’s okay, Tinker,” I tried to assure her. “We’ll get out soon.”

We sat there for a few minutes, me holding her tight and trying to get her to stop crying before we could move on. I felt horrible for dragging her in there, for taking her into that nightmare city at all. The worst part was that I had taken her through all of that after trying so hard to convince her that she should travel with us after what happened with her parents. If I had just let her look for a regular home instead of wanting her to leave with me, she wouldn’t have even been there. It was my fault she was going through that.

Charmer trotted in after a short while and stood over us. “We need to move,” she told us softly. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get out of this place.”

I nodded and squeezed Tinker one last time before standing us both back up. I didn’t like it, but Charmer was right. We couldn’t stop.

I picked up the knife and gave it back to the filly before turning to follow Charmer again. Tinker leaned on me again, still shaking and whimpering quietly as we continued our trip through hell to find a zebra that was more than likely dead. We walked back into the room where the rotting doorstop was but it was gone. I could only guess that Charmer had moved it so Tinker wouldn’t see it again.

Beside where the body used to be was a door that hung slightly open; obviously an invitation from our stalker to follow it into whatever new trap it was setting. But it was also the only way to go anymore if our knowledge of what those things did was still accurate. If it really wanted us to follow it, we wouldn’t find another way to go.

Charmer nosed the door open with her shotgun, slowly creaking the hinges until we could see the entire hallway through the door. She stepped in and cautiously moved forward with us right on her tail, keeping an eye out for traps and especially the last remaining mutant in the warehouse. Like always, every door in the hallway was barricaded except for one; in this case the door at the far end.

Three quick raps hit the door before a quiet snickering filled the hallway. Did those things do anything but laugh and grin at us? It was the last one, and still it laughed and ran like we were playing a game of tag.

Apparently, Charmer was out of patience and blasted a hole through the door with her shotgun before bothering to open it. The thing screamed and apparently ran off, her hoofsteps shuffling away quickly before another door slammed shut. Charmer pushed the half-destroyed door open and ran through. She followed a trail of fresh blood droplets to yet another door and fired, blowing a hole through and getting another scream from whatever we were chasing. She kicked the rest of the door open and ran inside.

Suddenly I felt a little better knowing that we had flipped the tables on that sick freak.

That is until a sheet of metal fell and blocked the doorway before me or Tinker could follow Charmer through it. Then the laughter picked up again and I lost it.

My hooves slammed against the metal over and over but didn’t even make so much as a dent. All I succeeded in doing was making my legs even more sore and completely lose track of my surroundings. When I finally stopped, Charmer’s own hooves cracked against the metal from the other side.

“Felix, are you two okay?” she asked frantically.

“Yes, we’re fine,” I panted. “What about you?”

“Yeah. The thing trapped me in here and went… somewhere. I don’t know,” she explained and hit the metal panel again. “You two stay there, I’ll try to find a way out.”

I nodded even though she couldn’t see me and turned back to Tinker and froze. She was gone, and she didn’t even make a sound! My head spun from side to side looking for her, and I barely saw her tail slip around a corner at the end of the hall. I quickly ran after the filly, calling her name but getting nothing in response.

When I got around the corner I yelled out to her again, but it wasn’t going to work. The little pony trotted almost lifelessly after a little doll surrounded by a flickering brown aura that happily danced through the air, closer and closer to a double-door. I sprinted after her with the gun in my mouth, trying to get close enough to shoot the doll and hopefully break whatever power it had over Tinker.

The doors at the end of the hallway slowly started opening into a room bathed in a swaying orange light, blocked at the center by the silhouette of a disproportionate unicorn. When it saw me, the doll dropped and Tinker stopped to stare down at it, mesmerized by the limp toy as I ran by her. Ahead of me, a rifle floated from the unicorn’s back and pointed at me. A shot rang out and clipped through my mane, almost making me fall to my belly just to avoid the next bullet.

I pulled the trigger and sent my own volley into the thing, hitting it in the leg and dropping the not-quite-a-pony to its side. Another shot flew from the rifle and bit into the floor beside me, kicking up some concrete shards. I fired another volley at the monster, receiving a scream that cut off suddenly before the body crumpled and the rifle fell to the floor.

I slid to a stop and stared at the still body lying in the doorway for almost a minute, my shaking aim hovering on the thing and just waiting for a sign that it was alive. It didn’t move an inch. When I was confident it was dead I spun on my hoof and ran back to Tinker.

I stomped on the doll and grabbed her shoulder. “Tinker,” I quietly said and looked into her eyes. “Are you okay?”

The filly looked around in confusion before turning her attention to me. “Uh, yeah,” she stammered. “What happened?”

“A doll,” I told her softly. “But it’s dead.”

“The doll?” she asked with a strange look.

“No, the monster,” I told her with a little grin. “It’s gone.”

The filly smiled and pressed her face into my neck before sighing and kissing me softly. I grinned and rubbed my hoof on her back, just as relieved as her that the nightmare seemed to be over.

“Felix? Tinker?” Charmer yelled from somewhere.

I pulled away from Tinker and turned around, thinking I had heard the pony’s voice from where the dead monster was. “We’re over here,” I called back. “We’re okay.”

The pony ran out behind the dead body and let out a deep breath. “Thank Celestia,” she groaned before looking down at the body and kicking it swiftly. I winced a little at the act, but at the same time I understood why she did it; the thing had taken us for quite a ride, and almost killed all of us.

And probably did kill one of us.

“Um, Charmer?” I started shakily. “Did you find her?”

The pony looked up to me and just stared for a moment, but then her head tilted up and down painfully. “Wait here. I’ll go get her.”

I stepped away from Tinker and kicked the doll against a wall. “I’ll come with you,” I offered and walked behind her.

The room where the final monster had died was lit by four fire pits, one in each corner that cast the dancing orange light across the walls and ceiling. A table at the center was covered in canvas and dry mold, along with thread and sewing needles that looked rusted and overused. Two half-finished dolls sat at the center of the table with dry mold sticking from the yet to be sewn on heads.

Through there, Charmer led me into a small office that had been converted into some kind of ceremonial chamber. Strange masks and symbols covered the walls, all of which made my skin crawl just by looking at them. In the center was a poorly constructed table that looked like it was made from destroyed crates and nailed together with bent screws.

Seer’s body rested on the center of this table, completely still. A large bite was on her face from the monster who had tackled her while I flew out the window, but it looked like they had cleaned it of blood and tried to halt the bleeding with some kind of powder. Actually, most of her coat looked like it had been washed and brushed since I saw her last, and her mane had been cropped short to remove the beaded locks. Even her tail had been brushed straight and free of tangles. They had worked fast after I got away to get all of that done before I returned with Charmer and Seer and still set up their new game. It was horrifying to think that they had killing that way down to a science.

I almost would have thought the zebra was alive if it wasn’t for the single hole in her chest and the blood running in a single neat stream down her side from the wound. The blade responsible sat in a small jar of red water just beside her head, its blade etched with symbols almost identical to those on the walls. It had been instant; she probably didn’t even feel it before she passed away, but I still couldn’t move.

I had already seen my friends’ corpses since travelling into the Wasteland. I’d seen Little Doc die; I saw Strike’s body when Shayle carried it over from the town; but for some reason Seer’s body hit me in a new way. She was dead after saving my life, after kicking me out the window so that I would be spared only so that she could be captured and murdered by those psychopaths. If it wasn’t for her, I might have been beside her with a hole in my chest; coat brushed and mane combed like it may have been before the apocalypse.

Instead she died alone, without even a friend to see her off in her final moments or hold her dying body before she passed on.

I fell to my backside and tried not to cry, but I couldn’t stop it. I should have been there to help her; we should have gotten out of the warehouse together! She died to save me, and instead of feeling grateful I only felt guilt for that happening to her. I could have done so much different and she might still be alive. I could have woken the others like she told me to, then we would have been able to win against those things. I could have tried to shoot the monsters as I ran away, and maybe we could have killed them and gotten away without needing to drag Tinker and Charmer into the warehouse.

But I didn’t do those things, and she died.

I watched as Charmer gently and silently pulled the dead zebra onto her back. She nodded over to Seer’s gear in a corner of the room; her jacket, her rifle, and her bags all stacked up neatly. I stood back up and swallowed my tears for the moment, trying to force them back where I wouldn’t have to let them out. I draped her coat and bags over my back before slinging the rifle around my neck like Seer always did.

The little ball hanging from the sight post bounced a silent dirge on my hoof with each step, bidding a final farewell to the zebra who had shown me the Wasteland.

* * *

The crackling of burning wood and the light drumming of rain on the roof of the warehouse were all that broke the silence of the storeroom where we sent Seer to peace. The dancing flames reflected off of the scattered puddles along the floor, seeming to add more light to the darkening warehouse as night began to overtake New Oatleans.

The zebra bundled in her jacket had long since disappeared into the pyre since none of us knew how to make a proper one. It collapsed after only a few minutes, but it did its job all the same. Not a word was said as the three of us watched the fire grow over Seer, not even Charmer offered a warm story about her like she had for the town of Shanty. I didn’t know if any of us really could, none of us actually knew her. I had known the mare the longest, and even then it was only just over a week.

It felt wrong having her funeral in the ratty warehouse rather than back at Caesar’s Stand or anywhere else for that matter. She deserved a proper funeral, at least in my mind, but the improvised cremation was all we could do for her. There was nowhere to bury her in the city that wouldn’t end in some creature swallowing the body for a quick meal, and having Charmer carry her back to town through the Remnant side of the city was just asking for trouble.

I hoped she wouldn’t mind.

After so much silence, I couldn’t take it anymore. The past day had ruined all of us, physically and mentally, from the moment we stepped into that mud. It took and took until it took away something we could never get back, and even then we still had to leave. Nothing good had come of it, not a single good memory for any of us. We all needed to cheer up a little, maybe smile. Luckily I had been wrong, I did have one good story to share about the zebra, and if Charmer could do it at a funeral, so could I.

“She tried to set me up on a date,” I blurted over the sound of the fire. The two ponies looked over to me and tilted their heads as if I was crazy. “We were out for a drink and she was making jokes about me never dating before, then she offered to set me up with one of the fillies in town.” It wasn’t the greatest story, I knew that, and it wasn’t nearly as entertaining as Charmer’s funeral stories, but at least it was something. And it did make me smile a little; it was a good moment for me.

“So,” Charmer started quietly and I could see a smirk forming at the corner of her mouth. “She was trying to get you drunk and set you up on a date?” I nodded, not sure where she was going. The mare smiled and looked back at the fire cockily. “I thought she might like the young ones.”

I flushed and stammered, not quite sure what to say to that, Tinker snorted and looked down at her hooves to hide her face behind her mane, and Charmer started chuckling as if nothing was wrong for the first time since we left Shanty.

“That’s not what,” I started but lost what I was trying to say. “She didn’t,” I couldn’t get it out. Charmer laughed a little harder and even Tinker joined in.

I didn’t join in the laughing, there was no way I could bring myself to laugh at that as I just tried to think of what to say, but I wanted to. Part of me found it sad that of all the places in that city for me to laugh and actually enjoy a few moments, it was at Seer’s funeral. It was actually really messed up to even consider that a place for any happiness or laughter, but most of me was just glad a little joy finally came out of our trip.

By the time that moment had ended, the fire from the pyre had started spreading to the containers and crates in the warehouse. Whatever useful supplies, food, or ammo may have been in there were about to be lost to anyone hoping to get them as the flames prepared to take it all down, and I actually liked that. Even though those mutants were all dead, the place still felt like a living nightmare to me, and I was sure Tinker and Charmer agreed.

Without a word, Charmer gave one last look to Seer and turned away. Tinker followed right behind her, most likely anxious to get out of that place after almost dying and being tormented since the moment we walked in. I stayed back for a few more seconds, not quite ready to leave yet.

“Thank you,” I whispered to the zebra who had saved my life. It was the first time I had actually been able to say it, and I prayed that wherever she ended up she could hear it.

With one last goodbye, I slung Seer’s rifle and trotted out the front door, into the storm that had become only a light drizzling in the near complete darkness of night. It was finally time for us to go home and hopefully never return to that nightmare city again. If only Seer could have left with us.

A mess of mud stuck around my hooves when I stepped out into Caesar’s Stand and took a breath of the thick post-storm air. The night sent a chill into me through the torn and bloodied Stable jacket, and for a moment I considered spending the night in the clinic rather than leaving. However, the doctor’s promise that I would be just fine as long as I didn’t exert myself for the next few days made it seem pointless to stay. I had my own bed to rest in, and it was much more comfortable than the stiff cot on the clinic floor.

Besides that, I wasn’t very tired after being unconscious most of the day and laying alone in the clinic was uncomfortable and strange. The doctor was rarely around to check on me, and he told me that was because he was comfortable with the treatment he had given that I wouldn’t have any problems. If I did, he was always in the room beside where I was resting, and the door was cracked open so he could hear me if I was suddenly in pain. Luckily that hadn’t happened yet.

To my surprise, Solus was still standing outside the clinic when I left. His head bobbed casually up and down for some reason, and a little wire ran up to a bud in his ear. Whatever it was, he seemed entertained by it. Minx was nowhere to be seen, and I found myself wondering what she was up to. Maybe she’d gone to sleep while Solus stayed just in case I had a problem; something that I still didn’t understand. Why they worried so much about me that they would stay and wait when the doctor was there too was a mystery to me, and a little creepy.

Well, it would have been creepy if I didn’t have a new suspicion about Minx; one that I was actually hoping was true deep down. At first it scared me that she might be Mama, and that I was related to a zebra I still saw as a monster for what she did to Shanty, Doc, and countless others during the years she spent following Xion’s orders. I couldn’t believe that my mother could turn into such a zebra.

I couldn’t remember much about her from when I was little, but what I did remember was that she never did anything to hurt someone in town. She was always so nice and friendly in my brief and sparse memories of her, and I could never see her as a murderer. Even knowing how Xion controlled her, I didn’t want to believe that Minx could be Mama, and that she did all of that for me to stay safe. She had burned Shanty and killed Doc just to keep me, Felix and Father alive; that is if Father wasn’t dead, but she didn’t know that. That only left me and my brother as her reason to do what that monster told her.

But beside all of that, I still wished she would have told me that she was my mother. She had to have known once she learned our names, she knew the entire time and she still refused to even bring it up to me or my brother. Even when I asked her about her family back in that cave, she talked as if they were so far away that she would never see them again, and didn’t mention a son at all.

Maybe I was wrong, and it was all a coincidence that she just happened to look like Mama did in my dream, right down to the same glyph. Maybe my mind had been messing with me again, like it had with that dream of me destroying a town with the Scorpions; but I didn’t want it to be that way. I still hated her a little for what she had done, but if she was my mother I liked to think I could forgive her. Maybe if she was, we could find a way to get her out of Xion’s hooves so that she never had to do any of those things again.

I shook myself back to the world and trotted over to the head-bobbing stallion. “Solus?”

The soldier looked over at me and quickly pushed the little bud out of his ear; I could faintly hear music coming from it before it fell down to his cloak. “Shayle, are you feeling well?” he asked plainly.

I nodded and looked around. “Where’s Minx?”

“She is waiting at the shack where you and your pony friends live,” he answered and grinned. I still wasn’t very comfortable with the Scorpions knowing about that place, but it didn’t surprise me anymore. “She will return and inform you when they get back from their mission.”

“Oh, thank you,” I replied with a grin. That was actually a surprise to me, and only furthered my fantasy about Minx being my mother.

The stallion smiled again before looking around, seeming to look everywhere except for me. After a few seconds, he turned his gaze back to me. “Did the doctor say you will be alright?” he asked flatly.

“Yeah, he said I should rest for a few days though,” I replied and looked down. “Something about the hydra causing issues if I exert myself.”

Solus frowned. “May I ask you something?” he quietly asked and sat down in the mud.

I looked back up with a curious stare. “Go ahead.” Please don’t ask me out, please don’t ask me out.

“After you were shot, you were still awake when we gave you the hydra,” he started quietly and looked around as if he was making sure nobody was listening. “You mumbled that you didn’t want it, why?”

My gut sank and tried to pull the rest of my body with it. Of course I had said that out loud while I was bordering on death rather than just thinking it, and of course he had to ask about it. I think I would have preferred him asking if I was single, that was an easier lie.

“I, uh, thought it was something else,” I lied shakily. “I couldn’t think very clearly with three holes in me,” I explained and hoped he would just accept it. If not, it would be a lot harder to get away from the subject.

“Of course,” the stallion responded after a few seconds of staring at me. “I apologize for thinking otherwise.”

I tilted my head at him and nervously pushed. “What did you think it was?”

“That you had a bad experience with it as a child. It happens sometimes when doctors give too high of a dose,” he explained. “But it was foolish to think, not many children get injured bad enough to require such a powerful medication as hydra.”

“Oh, that makes sense I guess,” I agreed and looked away from him. “No, I was just confused.” I stared at the clinic wall for a few seconds before looking back to him with a puzzled stare. “What made you want to ask?”

“Curiosity,” he quickly answered. I nodded and looked back at the clinic, growing more uncomfortable with each second.

I wasn’t sure why being around him made me uncomfortable, but it probably had something to do with his apparent crush on me. If Seer had never told me that then I might have actually been able to sit within ten feet of Solus without worrying constantly about him making a move on me. Then again, he was fast, and strong, and bigger than me. If he really wanted to he could probably…

“I think I’ll go wait for my brother at the shack,” I blurted without thinking and stood up. “Thank you for keeping an eye on me, Solus.”

“Of course,” he replied and grinned. “Do you need an escort out of town? You don’t have a gun, and it might be dangerous.”

“No, I’ll be okay,” I quickly answered. “But thank you for the offer.” It seemed like the nice thing to say, because he was probably just being polite. It was only about 10 minutes to the shack, so he couldn’t really do anything, and I doubted he would, but I still didn’t think I wanted him around me without someone else there.

“Alright, if you’re sure.” The stallion nodded and lifted the bud back into his ear after a few attempts to position it.

I trotted by the zebra and to the gate, sighing a little inside when I got away from him. I didn’t know why I was so nervous around him, he had been nothing but nice to me since I actually met him at the bar; if not a little awkward. And in the cave he was actually good company, even if his story did seem like it was embellished a bit to make himself sound more impressive. Still, the thought of being alone with him put an odd feeling in my gut that made me uncomfortable.

I really needed to have a talk with Seer about telling me things I didn’t want to know once they got back.

* * *

The shack was silent and dark when I got there, and not a soul was in sight. I wished Felix and the others were back, but I supposed they had gone further than I originally thought. I hoped that was the case, after all we didn’t exactly have a good track record with that supply gathering job. Something always went wrong at each place we checked, so I didn’t doubt that the same luck held true for the last scavenging run.

I didn’t even see Minx around the shack as I approached, but I didn’t doubt that she was around and hidden under her cloak while she waited. I wondered what made those things so appealing and why she chose to be hidden so much. There was nobody at the shack, so what was the point of staying invisible?

Maybe it was to continue giving me heart attacks. As I walked by the fence outside the shack the mare appeared from nothing right where I had executed the slaver from our first night in the shack. I almost jumped out of my coat when Minx shimmered into view, of course smiling like she usually did. I wasn’t sure I could ever get used to that, even if she might be Mama.

“Are you feeling well, Shayle?” she asked merrily.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I answered as my heart slowed to its regular pace. “Why were you invisible? There’s nobody here.”

“Just in case,” she answered and trotted over to me. “What are you here for? Didn’t Solus tell you I could let you know when your brother returned?”

“He did, but I want to be here when they get back,” I explained.

She nodded and trotted to the door. “Maybe we should wait inside? The ground is dry there, we could sit.”

I shrugged and followed her inside, glad to find that she was right about the floor. Some spots were still soaked by the storm throwing rain through the window and door, but most of the dirt coated ground was completely dry, if not a little cold. I found a spot in the corner and slumped down, laying with my forelegs crossed in front of me. Minx took off her bag from under the cloak and set it along the wall along with her rifle before sitting down a few feet from me.

After almost a minute of silence, I finally spoke up. “Do you know where they went today?” I asked and looked over to the mare.

“I think they were going to a warehouse in the city,” she explained. “I imagine the storm slowed them down quite a bit.”

I nodded and looked around again, not sure what else to say. I knew what I wanted to say, but I couldn’t get my body to spit out the words. It should have been easy, all I had to do was ask if she was my mother, and that would be it. Either she would say yes or no, it wasn’t like she would shoot me or something crazy like that. If she wanted to do that she could have done it at any point during our day together. Or she could have just let me die after that pony shot me.

“Was Solus outside when you woke?” Minx asked after another minute or two.

I looked over to her and found that at some point while I was lost in my mind she had pulled a book out and begun reading. It wasn’t the same one she had been reading in the cave, and I think she had just started the new one; only a few pages were behind her hoof from the spot she was at.

“Yeah, he was,” I answered. “I think he was listening to music, I don’t know how though.” I wasn’t sure why that last part was necessary, but I decided to say it anyways. Maybe it would help me get more comfortable so bringing up my suspicion wouldn’t be so awkward for me.

“Oh, he finally got that thing working again,” she claimed happily. “It’s a little device he spent a year or two making. He says it’s a portable radio, but I’ve never understood that kind of thing,” she explained and looked back at her book. “It broke a few months back; he was very upset.”

“Why did he want to make something like that?” I asked.

“It’s his hobby,” she responded and tapped the book. “I read, he listens to music with his crazy toy.”

“Do all of you have hobbies?” I asked and scratched some of the mud off of my hoof.

“Of course.” The mare grinned. “The Wasteland isn’t always shooting and running, even for those of us who do it for a living. We all need something to do that makes us happy and passes the time between fights,” she explained. “Even Xion does things that don’t involve being a soldier.”

I had a really hard time believing that. “Really? What does he do, drink?”

Minx chuckled and shook her head. “Sometimes, but only in town. When we’re out between missions he actually whittles.”

I tilted my head. “He does what?”

“Whittles. He carves wood into different things with a knife,” she explained and smiled. “He’s gotten really good at it. His room back at the barracks is full of little sculptures and wooden knives.”

“He makes knives out of wood using a knife?” I asked and continued to scratch at the mud on my hooves. “Why?”

“It’s just to pass time, Shayle,” she told me calmly. “He doesn’t even use them, he actually protects them like children after how long he spent on them.”

“Who does he have to protect them from?” I asked with a puzzled look. Seriously, who would want to take a wooden knife?

“One of the shopkeepers in town has tried to get them from him a few times,” Minx started with a grin. “He thinks they would sell for a good price, but Xion can’t bear to part ways with any of them. I don’t know why.” She shook her head and chuckled. “It was actually pretty cute to see him shoo the shopkeeper out of his room.”

Wait, wasn’t Minx supposed to hate Xion? How could anything he did be cute, especially to her? “What was cute about it?” I asked with a suddenly sick feeling in my stomach.

“He didn’t want to risk breaking any of his sculptures, so instead of pushing or kicking he whipped at the shopkeeper with his tail.”

Hello new mental image of Xion not resorting to killing or fighting right away. I was pretty sure that at least a few threats were made by the zebra, but Minx just decided to leave those out. I wasn’t really sure why she would do that, but then again I was still confused as to why she actually seemed to have a good thought about Xion in her head after everything he had done to her.

And I couldn’t stand that thought anymore. “Minx, why don’t you hate him?” I blurted and instantly kicked myself.

The mare’s formerly happy expression hardened and her eyes locked on mine. “My feelings about my commander are no concern of yours,” she snapped and closed her book.

I shrank back a little, but couldn’t stop. I’d already opened the door, and I couldn’t stop. Her story had put an itch in my brain that I had to scratch, and I was going to as long as she wasn’t threatening me yet. “But after everything he’s done to you, how could you ever smile while talking about him?”

“And what do you know about what he’s done to me?” she asked bitterly.

“That he threatened to kill your family if you don’t listen to him,” I offered firmly.

Minx fell silent at that, her eyes still locked on mine and filled with anger. I wasn’t sure if it was toward me, but I really hoped it wasn’t. If she was still as good as Seer claimed she was, I really didn’t want that zebra mad at me or trying to kill me; I would lose.

“Seer told you that?” she groaned. I could see her legs starting to shake, and I was suddenly worried about what might happen.

“Yes… how did you know?” I asked, much less confident than I had been a moment earlier.

“Because Solus would not know that, and I doubt you talked with Xion or Tetrarch about me.” The zebra’s hoof started flexing against the dirt, and the feeling that I was on thin ice with her intensified. “She is the only other zebra who knows.” I looked down and tried to ignore her glare, not sure what else to say that could possibly bring me back from the edge. “But why would you think I hate him for that?”

I didn’t look back up, I was afraid to see that anger in her eyes again. “Because I know I would hate him if it was me,” I quietly explained, praying that I wasn’t entering my last moments for bringing up something that was obviously sensitive with her.

Her hoof stopped digging into the dirt at that, and for a few seconds the room was dead silent. I still didn’t risk looking up, just in case she was waiting for an excuse to do something drastic. Even the suspicion of who she was didn’t stop my mind from deciding I might die soon.

“Even if I did hate him, it wouldn’t change anything,” she stated plainly. “I would still be his subordinate; I would still be forced to follow his orders; and I would still never get to go back to my family.”

“So you don’t?” I asked, confused about what she had said.

“Not anymore,” she sighed. “For the first few years I did, but it just made my life worse,” she explained sadly. “Then one day it changed when he allowed me to see them.”

“See who?” I asked and finally looked back up. The sudden sorrow in her voice calmed me, and I didn’t feel that I was close to death anymore. Instead I was curious.

“My family. I didn’t get to talk to them or let them see me, but he let me walk through the town.” She smiled a little, and I was confused again. “It was the first time I had seen any of them in years, and it would end up being the last.”

“He didn’t let you go back to see them again?” I asked grumpily. It was just a tease, the asshole had actually teased her with a look at her family.

“He said I could, but I didn’t want to,” she stated and broke a part of my brain. How could she not want to see her family again? “It was wonderful while it lasted, but in the weeks after that I couldn’t stand being away from them again. I had seen my daughter cleaning up the house while my mate worked at his stand in the town market. They both looked happy, even though I was gone.” Her eyes glassed over for a moment, but a few blinks cleared them again. “It was worse than the first time I left them, and I couldn’t go through it again. So the next time he offered to take me back there, I said no. And I said no every time he offered after that until he finally stopped.”

I didn’t know what to say. I could have said I was sorry, but it wouldn’t help, I wasn’t sure if anything could help her. Well, I could think of one thing, and that was it. She had told me that she wanted to hug her daughter again when we were in the cave, that it was the thing she wanted most in the world. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Maybe I was wrong, and it really was just a coincidence that I happened to lose my mother at a young age; and that her mate worked at a goods stand while her daughter cleaned at home, we couldn’t be the only family like that in the Wasteland.

But mostly it was because a certain thing she had said was what really stopped me from trying to actually find out if I was really her daughter. The reason she still believed that she would never see her family again even if Xion died or let her leave.

I want her to know I was a loving mother, not a killer.

Even if I was her daughter and she knew it, she would never admit to it. There was nothing that could make her admit to it, even if I pushed and prodded and found a way to prove it, Minx wouldn’t let me know for sure, ever. Because for some reason, even after trying to justify her actions to me after everything I accused her of and arguing to make me see that she didn’t have a choice, she was still ashamed of what she did for a living.

So I stood up and trotted to the door without a word, not knowing what else to say to the zebra who may or may not be my mother. She didn’t question me leaving, probably because she knew I wouldn’t go far. I still wanted to be there when Felix and the others got back, and her being there didn’t change that. But I could wait outside and leave Minx alone to her thoughts, no matter how painful they were for her.

* * *

I squeezed my brother tight when they finally got back just after dawn, not wanting to let go from the moment I saw him. I hadn’t even thought about it before that moment, but I had come within a hair of dying and would have never gotten a chance to say goodbye to him. And if I had died, the last thing he would have ever remembered about me was the fight we had on our last night together.

That thought almost made me cry, and my eyes surged with tears just begging to flow out into the night air as I held my brother close. He held the hug for a few seconds once it started, but after I insisted on dragging it out for nearly a minute he quietly protested into my shoulder.

“Shayle, uh, are you okay?” he asked and tried to pull away, but I didn’t let him. I squeezed tighter. He sighed and stopped squirming, just letting me hold him and probably staring at the others with an embarrassed look on his face.

When I finally decided it was safe to let him go, I stepped back and smiled down at him. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I told him and nodded merrily. “Just glad to see you.”

“I’m glad you’re okay too,” he offered and looked over me with a puzzled stare. “What happened to your jacket?”

“Oh, we got in a little fight,” I told him and shook my head. “It was nothing, just a little issue with some raiders.” I felt bad about lying, but I would rather not let my brother know that not only had we assassinated a pony, but the town where we did it hunted us down before we killed them too.

“You got shot?” he asked worriedly and stuck his face a few inches from my chest. “Does it hurt?”

“No, it’s okay,” I assured him and pushed the colt back. “The doctor already fixed me up, I’ll be fine,” I explained and smiled. “How did your trip go?”

Felix looked down and kicked at the dirt. “Not well,” he quietly answered.

I tilted my head and looked around to Charmer and Tinker, who looked just as sad as Felix. All three hung their heads low and silent, as if they were afraid to say what happened.

Wait, three?

I spun my head and looked at the group again, taking a count of everyone and realizing why that sounded wrong. “Where’s Seer?” I asked and turned back to Felix. How had I not noticed when they were walking up? Was I really so happy to see my brother that I didn’t even notice someone was missing? Or that the rifle she always carried was for some reason with Felix?

“She didn’t make it,” Felix quietly answered before trotting over to rejoin Tinker and Charmer.

A crushing pressure gripped around my chest as I took in the thought that Seer was dead. I never really thought much of her, she did more than one thing to put her on my bad side since we had met, but for some reason I still couldn’t believe she was gone. It hurt, and a part of me didn’t want to know what had happened to her, already having heard enough just knowing she was gone.

“What happened?” I still asked for some reason I didn’t even know and trotted over to them somberly.

“Locals got her,” Charmer answered simply.

I wanted to ask for more than that, but I decided not to. I guessed that they had already seen her die once, and reliving it was hardly something that they would want to do. I knew I wouldn’t want to answer if someone asked me how Little Doc had died, and this was probably the same for them.

I sat down in the mud and looked down, not sure how I should react or what I should say. My chest felt like a vice was clamping down on it, and I couldn’t figure out how to make it go away. Even after the fights and disagreements we had, I still felt like something was torn out of my chest knowing that she was gone. It wasn’t like I had felt when Doc died, but maybe it was because I hadn’t seen Seer die right in front of me. I just didn’t know.

Luckily, I didn’t need to think of anything to say before Felix trotted over and dropped a box at my hooves. The brightly colored container stuck corner-first into the mud, and I lifted my head to look at my brother. “What’s this?”

“It’s what we went there for,” he answered simply. “Can you please take it back to town? We haven’t slept in over a day.”

“We can take it back later,” I told him with a somewhat forced smile and stood up. “I’ll stay here to keep watch while you sleep,” I offered and picked up the box for him.

“We’ll be fine, Shayle,” Felix argued drowsily. “Seer died for that box, so I would rather not see it anymore. Please just take it back.”

I frowned but nodded, not willing to argue with my brother again after what we had both gone through in just one day. I could go back and keep an eye on them after I gave the box to the guard at the gate, it was only half an hour and I would be back to help. Besides, Minx might have still been around and had the same thought that I did.

I balanced the box on my tail and wished them all peaceful sleep before turning to go back into Caesar’s Stand. The weight of Seer’s death fell back on me once I turned away from the three survivors of the trip, and I realized that it could have been any of them who died. If Seer had lived, could it have been my brother?

I shook the worry from my head and tried not to think about it. That was supposed to be our last stop for the salvage job that the Praetor had given us, which meant we were off the hook. We could stay in Caesar’s Stand and live a normal life finally; well, first we had to find a new home for Charmer and Tinker. Until then we could still take turns spending the night out there with them.

So I might finally have a real job in a friendly town, Felix could go back to school, Charmer and Tinker could find a happy place to live together, and we wouldn’t be wandering around the Wasteland on the verge of death every day. And I would be stuck wondering if Mama was actually alive, hiding from Solus any time they came to town, and hoping that Xion would finally get off of my back.

Altogether, the most normal and quiet life I had ever gotten to live, and something that I was really looking forward to. Just thinking about it managed to get my mind off of Seer and almost losing my brother, but only for a moment. A happy life at the cost of another zebra, how good of me to enjoy the moment.

When I reached the gate, it was already open and three zebras were waiting there. At first I couldn’t tell who, but when I got closer I felt my gut twisting and turning. On the left was a zebra I had never seen before, dressed in a red and black set of some kind of armor adorned with gold buckles and insignias. He stood proudly and confidently, and a little grin curled over his lips. Beside him was the town’s Praetor, her mane in a mess and seeming to be upset about waiting at the gate so early in the morning. And on the other side of her was the reason my gut was doing flips – Xion.

“Shayle,” Xion warmly greeted me once I got to the gate, something that actually made me more uncomfortable. “We expected your brother to bring back the box, where is he?” the zebra asked.

“They’re resting, it was a long day for them,” I replied huffily. “So I brought it for them.”

“Of course, no trip to New Oatleans is an easy one,” he agreed and smiled. “Now then, where are my manners? I expect you’ve met the town’s Praetor,” he waved to the elderly mare beside him who just grumbled. I nodded and grinned to the mare, but her disposition didn’t change a bit. “And this is Tribune Leos.”

The zebra in the ornate garb nodded to me. “A pleasure to finally meet you, I have heard much.” If I had to guess, that was the zebra we had been getting a bunch of junk for.

“Yeah, good to meet you too,” I replied with a little groan.

“Please excuse her,” Xion quickly told Leos and trotted forward. “She had a close call with the Reaper yesterday.”

“I understand completely,” the zebra agreed before looking back to me. “And I do appreciate everything you and your brother have done for me. Without you I cannot think of what I would have done.”

Maybe send a few actual soldiers? “Happy to help,” I lied and tossed the box over with a flick of my tail. “This should be the last thing you asked for, right?”

The Tribune stood on his back legs to catch the box in his hooves, and I saw a little glimmer of joy flash through his eyes. “Yes, this is exactly it,” he replied. “I do not believe you missed anything on my list.” How did he stay balanced on his back legs like that?

“Please, come in Shayle,” Xion offered and waved to the gate. “Now that we’ve finished that business, I believe we have the matter of a more permanent position in the town to discuss?”

And with that my insides tried to drop out to the ground. Why else would Xion have been there except to try and put me in some job where he could keep an eye on me? Even after I helped with his little assassination, he still didn’t trust me, and so I would always be watched through a magnifying glass. Great.

Of course he would never make me join his team, there was no way. I could barely shoot straight, I could barely hold my own in a fight, and I wasn’t even technically a Remnant zebra. So luckily that would be avoided, but I was still under his hoof it seemed.

“What did you have in mind?” I asked him and the Praetor, not seeing a reason to recognize the other zebra anymore. He had what he wanted, and I could forget he existed.

“A few things, but perhaps we could discuss what you think?” the Praetor offered with a yawn.

“Sure,” I agreed, glad that a zebra who actually cared about my opinion was present.

* * *

The three of us sat at the center of the park, finally getting down to business after waiting for the Praetor to wake and feed her son so he could enjoy the park while we talked. Xion had surprisingly said nothing to me while we waited for her to arrive, apparently content to sit in silence rather than try to ask my opinion on politics or the war or something like that. Maybe he was too busy thinking about his precious sculpture collection.

A few other foals ran around the park with the Praetor’s son, playing some kind of game that looked like it was actually pretty fun, but I was a little too old to join in on such a thing. That and I had business to discuss, something that would decide my future in the town.

“So, Shayle, while you helped our friendly Tribune, I looked over the vacant jobs in the town,” the Praetor started warmly, her body finally awake and lively. “There are three openings, but I couldn’t decide for you. I don’t know what you’re capable of,” she explained. “But my friend Xion here has had an eye on you for a few days now, which is why I asked him to help me talk to you about it.”

So he wasn’t there to force me into a job? That actually surprised me. “Okay, what openings are there?” I asked and grinned. This talk was starting out much better than I expected.

“Well, the first one is a merchant. The stallion who trades with the food caravans and sells it to the citizens here is getting on in years, and he doesn’t have a child to take over for him when he passes. He asked me to find someone to be his student and take over the shop when he dies,” the Praetor explained. “Does that sound like something you’d like to do?”

Actually, I didn’t really care what I did. Working at a shop was peaceful, quiet, and I probably didn’t have to go out and scavenge for anything where I might get killed. It was appealing, but then again, it reminded me too much of Zeza. Father ran a similar shop there, and I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to go into the same line of work as him.

“Maybe,” I answered and shrugged. “What are the other openings?”

“We’ve been looking to start up a daycare center here, mostly for the soldiers with foals so that their young ones can have somewhere to stay while they’re away on a mission. A friend of mine is looking for young mares to work as caretakers there to help watch the foals.”

“I wouldn’t recommend that,” Xion broke in with a shake of his head.

Why not? That job actually sounded really good, and I loved foals! What made him think I shouldn’t do it?

“Why do you say that?” the Praetor calmly asked and looked over at him.

“She’s proven that she cares about the young, she saved a trio of foals from slavers,” he started. I didn’t see how that was a bad qualification. “But from what I’ve heard, they don’t enjoy her company. She is nice enough and caring, but little ones tend to be uncomfortable around her,” he explained and shook her head. “My soldier couldn’t figure out why.”

“Well then, that wouldn’t be a good match,” the Praetor mumbled and looked over to me. “Sorry, dear.”

I just crossed my forelegs and glared at Xion. “What’s the last position?” I grumbled.

“It actually just opened up today,” she said sadly. “Only a few minutes before you got back from seeing your brother.” I didn’t like where this was going. “Minx told me that our dear Seer passed away during their search in New Oatleans, I assume you heard as well?”

My glare softened into a frown and I looked away from Xion, nodding slowly. “Yes, I heard.”

“Well, as much as I hate to do it, her job does need to be filled,” the old mare somberly explained. “I know you spent some time with her, and it can’t be comfortable to consider, but if you wish we can train you to take her job as a town guard.”

I half expected Xion to interrupt and say how I was a terrible shot that couldn’t hope to defend the town if it was attacked, but it never happened. Instead he sat silently and waited for me to answer.

The Praetor was right about one thing, I wasn’t very comfortable with replacing Seer. It felt wrong after how recently she died, and I really wasn’t the best zebra to take the empty spot. She was a great shot and actually knew things about the Wasteland, both things that I didn’t have. I could barely hit anything that wasn’t right in my face, and the only things I knew about the Wasteland were the things that I had been told since I left home. I couldn’t even replace half of what Seer had given to Caesar’s Stand.

“It would be a good position for her,” Xion suggested after I didn’t respond for a full minute. My head almost snapped off with how fast it spun to face him. Did he just compliment me? Had I actually died after getting shot?

“What makes you say that?” the Praetor asked and turned to Xion.

“Right now, she wouldn’t be the greatest guard, but with some training I am confident she would develop the skills needed. And as with foals, she is very dedicated to the protection of others, especially those she cares about,” he explained and looked over to me. “Give her a month or two and she’ll be exponentially better at the job.”

I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t even move. I couldn’t do anything. My brain was too busy trying to start back up after shutting down from the shock and utter surprise of Xion, the zebra who I was convinced wanted me dead and couldn’t trust me further than he could spit, actually complimenting me and saying I could be trusted to guard Caesar’s Stand. I had to be dead…

“Well then, it sounds like a good fit for you,” the Praetor happily agreed and looked back at me. “Does that sound like something you would want to do? We could start your training next week, after you’ve recovered from your injuries,” she offered.

It wasn’t the safest job I could think of, being a guard. I wanted to get away from dangerous stuff after the time I had spent in the Wasteland, but then again, how often would raiders or bandits attack a place where Remnant soldiers lived? Even they couldn’t be that stupid, and I would have trained help to defend the town if they ever did. Besides, being a guard didn’t seem that bad overall. Most of them seemed happy when they got off work and hit the bar, and that was something I wanted. Not the bar, the happiness.

And of course, it guaranteed me and Felix a home of our own within Caesar’s Stand. I wished it could include Charmer and Tinker, but unfortunately it didn’t. They could still stay in the shack outside of town until they found somewhere else to stay, and I could visit when I was off duty along with Felix. It wouldn’t be like we just abandoned them, I couldn’t do that.

But what if that’s what happened? What if while Felix and I were in town for the day something happened to them? Raiders could attack, slavers could take Tinker again, or some wild animal could find them. Charmer could take care of them for the most part, but even she had her limits, and too much trouble could still beat her.

Could I live with myself if we found them dead one day?

What if I helped them find a home first? Once they found somewhere, me and Felix could go back to Caesar’s Stand and settle in knowing that our pony friends were safe and secure. All I had to do was walk away from the life I wanted for a little while longer; it would still be there when I came back. It would be worth it to help them, right?

I sighed and shook my head before looking over at a confused Praetor. “I’m sorry, but no. I appreciate the offer, and I want to take it, but I promised some friends that I would help them find a home,” I explained calmly. “Maybe after they have somewhere safe to live, we can come back if you still have a place for us.”

Both of the zebras with me stared with confusion, then looked to each other, then back to me. At first I thought they were about to argue that I was crazy or something, or that Xion was going to smack me in the head for taking his recommendation and throwing it away, but neither happened. Instead the old mare nodded, and Xion stood up to leave.

“I understand your problem,” the Praetor stated as the stallion walked away. “I doubt that he does however. Not all of us have been so lucky as to befriend ponies in our lives, rather than only knowing them as enemies.” I looked over at Xion as he trotted off, and for some reason felt some worry that he might try something. I doubted it, but the fear was still there.

The old zebra smiled and put a gentle hoof on my shoulder. “After you find your friends a safe home, there will still be a place here for you and your brother.”

I grinned. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, dear.”

Footnote:
Shayle LEVELED UP! (Speech 35)
New Perk Earned: From the Brink - Your brush with death has made you stronger. +30 HP

Felix LEVELED UP! (Guns 39)
New Perk Earned: Travel Light - While wearing light armor or no armor, you run 10% faster.

Author’s Note: And here at the end of what I guess would be called the first “book” of All That Remains, I happily thank both Kkat and Somber for writing their stories which created and expanded the world of Fallout Equestria, a universe which I’ve become incredibly fond of since getting into it just over 1 year ago. Thank you both so much! Another huge thanks to both Doomande and Rattlesire for the cover of this story, you’re both awesome and will forever have my gratitude! Thank you to my pre-reader ScytoHarmony for looking over each chapter before I publish it and making sure I didn’t make world shattering errors, as well as helping me ensure the story flows well and makes sense. And of course, a huge thank you to my readers for sticking with me through this. You’re all the greatest, and I couldn’t thank you all enough for keeping me going on this. I only hope that I continue to provide a good story that you’ll still enjoy reading.

Chapter 15: Blood of the Fallen

Chapter 15: Blood of the Fallen
“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.”

What does it truly mean to lose something?

In the Wasteland, everyone loses something, usually a lot more than we expect while we live in youth. Perhaps some colts and fillies are taught that they should expect loss or have to experience it early on to truly learn what the feeling of loss is. I was one of those fillies; the unfortunates who lose what they love at such a young age that we forget what it felt like by the time we grow up. When I finally went out into the world, I could barely remember who Mama was, let alone how I felt when she didn’t come back that night.

Then there are those who go through their lives without losing much of anything. Maybe they are robbed by a wandering thief, or they lose their favorite gun, but they don’t lose anything truly important to them. Until the day when the Wasteland has decided they’ve gone long enough with everything they started with. One of their greatest friends is killed, or their love is taken away without even so much as a warning. I think that would be worse, because how would they know how to deal with such a loss?

Do they give up and forget what it means to live? Or do they give themselves over to revenge until they get back at the one responsible for their loss? Honestly, I couldn’t say which one is better, or which one I would have turned to if the Wasteland started taking even more from me than I already lost in my youth. I would like to think I could have coped, that I could have accepted the loss and found a way to move on without the thing I cared about so much, but I don’t think it’s possible to truly do that unless you’ve already lost something.

I think Charmer had already learned that lesson long before her home was burned and the stallion she loved was taken away from her. I couldn’t imagine what she felt the day her mom died, or what she went through in the following weeks and months, but whatever it was I liked to think that she figured out how to go on. Even after Shanty was reduced to ash, she still managed to find an excuse to smile, a reason to laugh, and something to keep her going. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was just a mask to hide what was happening to her under the burns, but at least she was trying.

When my father took away my childhood, it was the first time I truly had to learn that lesson. I wanted to give up more than once, just end the misery and pain that I felt day in and day out while the other children in Zeza went about their usual lives. I didn’t realize until later why it had hurt so bad. Plenty of mares in the Wasteland had been raped both before and after I was; Tinker was one of them and she never seemed quite as ruined by it as I was, perhaps because the pain of her parents’ deaths overshadowed the feelings of what she’d gone through.

No, it hurt more because of who did it to me. I not only lost my innocence and my childhood; I lost the one who was supposed to protect me and love me. Everything that a filly was supposed to have at my age was stolen in a single act, and it left me with nothing. My brother was the only reason I didn’t give up on life entirely, because I couldn’t stand to leave him. I dragged myself closer to him at every chance, both physically and emotionally, just to find some light in my hell of a life.

And maybe that’s what loss is truly about; gaining it back. Not in the way of replacing what we lose or taking back what was taken away from us, I don’t think either of those are ever possible to achieve, not truly. You can’t replace what you loved, because it will never be the same as what was taken. Instead, I think that losing is the world’s way of getting you to find something new that you never realized you needed. Even if you don’t see it at first, everyone that finally manages to move on has something or someone that they turned to as their reason to keep trying.

For me, I think it was my brother. I lost my life and my father that night, but would I really be as close to Felix if it had never happened? Without my need to find something strong to keep me up and that desire to keep going for his sake, I didn’t think I would have been able to find the same comfort in him. I wouldn’t have had the reason to get so close and stay so close that I was almost dependent on him. No, we didn’t always get along, but when was the last time you saw a brother and sister who didn’t fight or get on each other’s last nerve? It wasn’t perfect, and maybe that was my fault for being so desperate to keep him close, but I loved him and always will. He was all I had, and I couldn’t lose that.

And if I did, would I ever be able to find something new to keep me going?

* * *

The days following Seer’s death were tough on all of us, just for different reasons. I think Felix took it the hardest; he had hardly said a thing to any of us for a few days after they got back from New Oatleans and spent most of his time in a corner of the shack reading. The only one he really talked to was Tinker, and even then it was sporadic and short, only a few words between them to check how the other was doing before the colt was back in his book. I tried to see how he was feeling a few times, but all I ever got in response was a quick “I’m fine,” and he fell silent again.

I could tell that he was hurting and lying about it, maybe even to himself, but I couldn’t get him to open up about it. All he cared to do was fall into a book and forget where he was, completely tuning out the world around him like he had back in Zeza. When he was younger it was always something that made me smile when he spent an afternoon reading because he was happy when he did it, it was his favorite thing in the world to do. But now it was just sad, and I couldn’t think of any way to cheer him up that would actually work.

I would sit beside him and peer over his shoulder, hoping that he might read it out loud to me like he used to back home until I got lost and ended up asking questions about some things he had said. But that never happened, he stayed silent and scanned the pages, only moving to turn a page and then freezing in place to read the new passages. I wasn’t even sure he noticed me beside him.

Tinker usually stayed close to him, but didn’t try to talk much. She would sleep nearby when she could, but otherwise she would mess around with the scrap that was piled outside the shack. I’d done a little cleaning after letting them know I wasn’t staying in Caesar’s Stand to clear out some space from the little shack; I had decided that even though me and Felix were still welcome, I would rather stay out with them to make sure they were okay until we finally found a more permanent home for them.

The filly never finished any of the projects that she started, and in her corner were almost a dozen little constructs that I couldn’t even begin to guess the future purpose of. Some of them looked more like trash than anything useful, and I had an urge to throw them out just to reduce the clutter around the little pony, but I didn’t want to risk upsetting her over something so small. So they sat in the corner untouched until Tinker picked them up again and started making additions only to put them aside still-unfinished.

I only tried to talk to her once, but decided it was pointless when she never even replied. Just like she had back in the riverbed camp, the filly tinkered around with whatever she was working on while I tried to talk until my presence somehow offended her and she moved beside Felix and curled up to sleep. I wished she would just try talking to me, but apparently there was something she didn’t like about me, and that ate at me for a few hours. But I decided she would just need some time to realize I wasn’t bad, or whatever it was she thought of me, and stayed away from her for our time in the shack.

Charmer hadn’t changed much from her usual silence that she usually kept ever since Shanty, but since we didn’t have anywhere to go she slept a lot. Almost every time I saw her she was curled up in the corner snoozing, her one eye shut while the eternal gap in the other side of her head was hidden against her chest. She spent a day or two like that, hardly moving and almost dead already, as if she didn’t care to prove that she was still alive.

By the time the third day rolled around, she started moving around more and actually asked me if we could go out and stretch our legs a little. To me that was much more appealing than sitting around for another day, so the two of us went on a walk. We both loaded up our guns just in case and left my old pistol with Felix; the two young ones didn’t want to join us, and I didn’t feel like trying to argue with him over it. If they wanted to stay back they could.

Charmer’s shotgun felt strange where it was slung on my side from the weight in comparison to the small pistol I was used to carrying, but we both agreed that Felix would be better off with the pistol than the shotgun or rifle. So I took the short pump-action and Charmer slung Seer’s old rifle around her neck. It was a little weird to look at without the little ball dangling off the sight, but Charmer felt that it wouldn’t have helped her shoot the thing any better. It sounded wrong to take it off so soon after the zebra had died, but I guess that in the Wasteland practicality had to come before sentiment.

Still, I couldn’t stand to see it go away, and quickly offered to keep it for Seer. Felix pointed out that it should be kept on the rifle like I thought, but Charmer’s argument quickly convinced him that she was right, and the colt agreed that me holding it would be better than just throwing it out. And so the shiny little ball found a new home around my neck with the help of a bit of old twine that was mixed in with the pile of junk from the shack. It surprised me how cold the ball felt all the time; even after a few hours tucked into the neck of my jacket it still chilled my chest where it rested, but I could ignore it most of the time.

When we finally started out on our walk Charmer took the lead, even though she didn’t know where she wanted to go either. The only thing she said was that she didn’t want to go south toward New Oatleans or Caesar’s Stand, and I couldn’t have agreed more. Wherever we did end up didn’t really matter, it was just nice to finally get some time out of our rickety home.

After almost an hour of walking to the east, Charmer stopped and turned to me casually. “Do you know how to shoot that?” she asked calmly and nodded to the shotgun on my side. I shook my head. “Maybe we should stop and teach you then,” she offered. “At least so you can know what to do if we get attacked by something.”

“Sure,” I agreed with a smile and pulled the shotgun from my side.

Charmer sat down beside me and pulled a box of ammo from my bag. She struggled to open it with her hooves for a second, but after it opened up she didn’t have much trouble pulling out a few shells and setting them aside. “Okay, I’ll show you how to load it first.”

The pony took the shotgun and pulled back the grippy thing on the bottom of the gun with her hoof, thankfully a convenient little loop was attached to it for hooves. “These things are easier for unicorns, so don’t be worried if it takes a while to figure out,” Charmer explained and pushed a shell into a slot on the side of the gun. “You put the first shell in here,” the mare stated and pushed the loop forward to chamber the shot. “Now it’s ready to shoot, but you need more than one in a real fight.”

I nodded as she showed me the rest of the loading process, making sure to take mental notes so I wouldn’t forget it when it was my turn to load the gun. She made it look easy, and I could tell she had done it a lot in her life, that and I constantly wondered how she could somehow grip the shells with her hoof.

When she finished, the pony cocked the loop seven times to kick out the shells and pushed the gun over to me. “Now you try.”

I was not nearly as good as Charmer was. Pulling back the loop to open the chamber was easy enough, but after that I fell apart. I tried grabbing the shells with my hoof like she had, but it just didn’t work. All I did was move them around in the dirt while she watched until I finally got the sense to use my teeth. Shotgun shells taste bad by the way.

When I finally got the first shot loaded Charmer nodded to me and assured me again. “Don’t get frustrated with it, you just need to practice.”

I nodded and groaned to myself before looking back down to pick up the next shell, once again deciding to try my hoof first and failing before getting another taste of old metal and plastic. It took a few minutes, but I finally got the gun fully loaded and ready to fire.

“Good job, that’s the hard part,” Charmer commented and grinned to me. I smiled back and felt a little warm that she was finally smiling again. “Now we can shoot it and practice pumping.”

“Pumping?” I asked and flicked my brow.

“Yeah, you have to pump it after each shot before you can shoot it again,” she explained. “You didn’t know that?”

No, I thought the pump was only there to load it! Why couldn’t every gun be as easy as my pistol was?

I shook my head and looked at the gun with a confused stare before Charmer took it from me again and held it in her hooves. “Like I said, these are easier for unicorns. For those of us without magic, it actually takes effort to get used to.” She grinned and put her hoof in the loop.

“There aren’t any for non-unicorns?” I asked and looked at the gun with a newfound irritation.

“There are, but they’re hard to find and expensive,” she told me and looked back to the shotgun. “And pumps feel better anyways.” I groaned again and she smirked. “So, to start you need to figure out which hoof feels better in the pump. For me, it feels better to pump it with my right hoof.” The pony stood up and lifted the gun in her jaw with her hoof still in the loop. It didn’t look like a very comfortable position.

“When you shoot it, keep your grip tight enough to hold on, but not too tight or you’ll get one hell of a headache,” she slurred around the grip in a way that I could only just understand what she said.

The gun thundered and sprayed the air in front of her with pellets, but I didn’t pay attention to that. I was watching to see how she pumped it, and again it hardly looked comfortable. After each of her three shots the pony’s hoof slammed back and forth to load the next shell with a threatening cha-chink until she stopped and looked over to me with a wide smile around the grip.

She passed the gun over and helped me put my right hoof in the loop before pointing me out into the desert. “Take your time with the pumping, because it will feel weird at first and you don’t want to lose your balance.”

Her saliva was still on the grip when I put it in my mouth, and it was really, really weird to think about that. It didn’t upset me, it just felt strange and stuck in my mind for a moment, but for some reason I wasn’t completely comfortable with the thought of her spit in my mouth; I should have wiped the grip off first. My focus turned back to the gun and my hoof in the leather strap before I pulled the trigger and blasted the empty Wasteland with metal, and then came the challenge of getting my hoof to pull the right way for the pump to work. I wanted to pull down, not toward myself, it was so wrong! But after a few seconds I figured it out and grinned to myself.

I repeated the process three more times before the gun was empty, and I still didn’t like the feel of pumping the thing. Charmer walked me through loading it again and tried to help me work on picking up the shells with my hoof, but it still didn’t work for me so I just used my teeth. After loading it I went back to shooting again, this time without Charmer demonstrating and leaving the grip wet, except she wanted me to try my left hoof on the pump.

It felt a little better, but I still couldn’t get myself to be comfortable with the pumping; I almost jammed the gun at one point when I didn’t pull the loop back far enough before Charmer stopped me and showed me the problem. I wanted my pistol back.

Rather than continue practicing, Charmer loaded the shotgun fully again and gave it back to me before slinging her rifle and turning to continue our walk. “You did good for your first time, just practice pumping it when we don’t have anything to do,” she told me and smiled. “But for now we shouldn’t use up all of our ammo on practice. We can practice shooting again if we find more.”

“I could do that,” I agreed and smiled. I had never done any shooting except in a fight, but I liked the idea of practicing. Maybe then I could actually be better and not miss so much when I wasn’t at point blank. Plus it gave me and Charmer something to do, and maybe the two young ones could join in too; it was better than sitting around in sad silence, right?

I lashed the shotgun back under the straps of my saddlebag and trotted off after Charmer in a much better mood than I had been for days, and I hoped she felt the same.

* * *

I couldn’t think of anything to say to Charmer yet again, so I just sat beside her silently while she stared down at the dirt. Her eye was locked onto one of the depressed points in the ground where the dirt had been disturbed and unpacked until the storm soaked it down. They were all in a perfect line beside the road across from where Shanty used to be, and Charmer hadn’t even needed to guess which one was the grave she wanted to see.

The skeleton of the town still sent shivers through my body when we crested the hill to see it, and my mood had sunk instantly from where it had been after the shooting lesson from the pony beside me. Even after the storm the ruins were haunting and dreary in my eyes, and I doubted that Charmer felt any differently about that. I thought about asking why she would want to go back to that place again, but when she turned straight for the graves I pushed that thought out one ear and followed her.

As usual she wasn’t crying or saying a word, even if I was waiting for her to tell an inappropriate story about the stallion who rested under the sunken spot before us. Instead she looked like a sorrowful statue over the grave, and I wondered what she was thinking about. The temptation to get her talking grew with every moment we sat there, but I couldn’t figure out if it would be better for her or if I should leave her to silently mourn the loss of her lover. She hadn’t gotten much time after the burial with night falling, and since then we had been on the move so much that she never had a chance to go back. To be honest, I was surprised she wanted to at all.

I knew that some zebras back home would visit the cemetery where their loved ones were buried on occasion, but I never understood the appeal. I always imagined that the loss would carry such sorrow and hurt that simply seeing the grave again would be enough to tear apart even the strongest individual; a lot like how Minx felt about going back to see her family.

That was the reason I never wanted to go with my father to see the place where Mama had been buried after her death. Felix went once or twice, but after a while they just stopped going. I always assumed that the pain from seeing her grave was too much to take, even for my brother who had never even known the mare. Father told me I should go and see her, and that wherever Mama was it would make her happy, but I couldn’t bear to do it. I remembered how bad the funeral was for me, and I think that was what kept me away from the cemetery even before Father restricted me from leaving the house.

It even hurt just to look at Strike’s grave, and I had only known him for a few days, so I couldn’t imagine what Charmer must have felt. But even if it was the greatest pain she had ever known I couldn’t see it on her face. At least not for a while, not until her eye started to twitch around and gleam with tears that fought to finally escape from the stoic mare. It almost looked painful how hard she was trying to hold it back, like she was afraid to show her sorrow to the world and would rather die than let anyone know how she truly felt.

So I stood up and took a step back, thinking that if I was gone she could finally let out the sadness that had been bottled up in her ever since that horrible day when her life was burned to ash. A spark flashed in my mind and reminded me of what I had in my bag, and told me that if there was a time to give it to the pony, it was now. Sure, I could wait until she wasn’t on the verge of tears and give her Strike’s final gift at a happier time, but I already felt bad enough for how long I had kept it away from her; especially after the funeral when she mentioned that she was waiting for him to pop the question.

I dug into the bag on my side and pulled out the necklace with the fangs and the ring dangling lovingly at the center. For another minute I just stared down while it dangled in my mouth, watching the ring gently wobble back and forth to ding gently against the snake’s fangs in the breeze. A bit of my mind still told me I should hold onto it until she actually had time to grieve rather than making Strike’s death even more painful for the mare, but most of my mind told me she would want it, even if it was a painful reminder of her lost love.

I stepped back forward silently and placed the necklace in the dirt that covered the grave, and hoped that the pony wouldn’t spin and pummel me for keeping it away from her. Instead she looked up to me with her one moist eye. “What’s that?” she asked half-confused.

I swallowed and looked over to her, bracing myself for whatever she would do. “Strike was holding it when I found him,” I explained somberly. “I think it was for you.”

The pony looked back down at the band and lifted it from the dirt in her hooves. After a few seconds, whatever strength she was using to hold back the tears in her eye faded and poured a stream down the curve of her cheek and muzzle.

“Why did you keep it so long?” she asked shakily while her eyes looked over every detail.

“I didn’t want to make his death worse for you,” I explained softly and tried not to tear up with her. I wasn’t even sure why it was so hard for me, I had only known Strike for a few days, and I’d only known Charmer a week longer than that. Maybe it was the sight of someone mourning their love that hit me, but I wasn’t completely sure.

She mouthed something down at the necklace or the grave, I couldn’t tell which, but I couldn’t make it out. Whatever it was, it cut off with a quick sob.

Before the knot in my throat could get any bigger, I stepped back from Charmer and started trotting off to the town so she could have time to herself. There wasn’t anything else I could do for her, and I had a feeling that what I had done just made the moment even worse for her.

* * *

There was no blood left behind the rock where I had been shot days before, but I could still picture the red splashed over the stone and pooled in the sand where I had been lying. Even though I never actually saw it, I could imagine the blood as it trickled down the rock mixed in with the rain to stain the dirt underneath my limp body; a sight I thanked myself for avoiding at the time. I couldn’t actually remember much from those minutes I spent clinging onto life as it slipped away in the storm, and only got small moments of it here and there as I stared at the rock.

The rifle which had almost sealed my fate was still resting where it had fallen, sunken slightly into the sand and starting to rust lightly where the metal was exposed. The pony bodies were nowhere to be seen, but drag lines through the dirt gave me at least some hint that someone or something had taken them away from the places they fell. Gleaming casings from my gun and the pony’s rifle stuck from the dirt here and there; makeshift tombstones for the souls they claimed.

I wasn’t sure why I decided to go see the spot I almost died; it was probably foolish that I desired it at all, or that it had crossed my mind. But there was little else I could do while I gave Charmer her time to visit with Strike, and even fewer places for me to go in the skeleton of Shanty. Everywhere I looked were places that ponies had died so it wasn’t like I could escape the aura of death, so I had decided I should go look around that cave and make sure none of my things had been left behind when Minx and Solus packed up to take me back to town. But when I caught sight of the spot where I was shot, I couldn’t seem to look away or walk passed.

The scars on my belly and chest throbbed as the image of the rifle’s flash filled my mind, but it only lasted a moment before I was back to the present. My coat tingled where blood had streamed through it and down to the ground, and the ghostly echo of a gunshot filled my ears to mark the point in my recollection when Minx had shot my would-be-killer. After that it was fuzzy, only snippets of the two zebras crouched beside me and putting things in my body to stop the bleeding.

My eyes drifted over to an empty bottle that had been semi-buried since the storm. A colorful stain marked the bottom where unused potion had come to a rest and dried up. I didn’t know if potions stayed in your body after it was poured over a wound, but if it did that was where the rest of it was; flowing through my veins after doing its job of sealing the holes that were punched into me.

I was still awake when they dumped the bottle over my underside, and I remembered that it killed the pain slightly, replacing it with a tingling as whatever was in the fluid worked its magic on my injuries and replaced the skin where it had been taken by the hot lead. But that couldn’t have been enough, because if it was I would have stood up and been fine, right? That was how magic healing worked; at least that’s how I thought it did.

No, there must have been something worse, I thought to myself and turned my head to look around more. I should have just stopped and stood up to go check on Charmer, which would have been the smart thing to do. Reminiscing over my own near-death really didn’t make any sense or change anything; so what if I knew what had happened? I was still alive, and that was what mattered, at least it should have been. But instead I kept looking around to figure out more of what exactly had happened from the time I was shot to when I finally blacked out and couldn’t remember any more.

A small silver syringe stuck up from the dirt near the potion bottle with its sharp tip hidden under the ground where it wouldn’t stick into an unsuspecting traveler. Something was written on the side in faded block-lettering, but I couldn’t make it out. It must have been some kind of drug, probably a painkiller or something similar to that, because it was too small to be a potion.

I didn’t remember exactly when it had been pushed into my body, but I guessed that it had something to do with why I couldn’t remember being carried away or much of anything at all. Whatever it was, I was okay with it for at least trying to keep the memory and pain away for a time.

Right beside it was a very familiar needle, and one of the few things I couldn’t forget about being treated by Minx. A shiver rippled down my spine at the sight and I instantly turned away from the cluster of needles that seemed to have strips of skin growing off of the ends.

This will make everything better, sweetheart. Just stay still.

I stumbled to my hooves and trotted away from the rock back toward Shanty, desperate to get the needle out of my mind and replace it with anything else. I didn’t even notice Charmer had come up behind me before I slammed into her and sent both of us tumbling into the dirt.

“Did I scare you?” she asked plainly and pushed me off of her.

I groaned and rolled to my hooves, making sure that I didn’t even look in the direction of the Hydra needle that stuck from the dirt. “Uh, yeah, I didn’t hear you come up,” I lied nervously. Her eye was red and still a little moist, but other than that I could hardly tell the mare had been crying. The ring and fang necklace was fit tightly around her neck, and I wondered how she had gotten it on with only her hooves.

“What are you doing over here anyways?” the pony asked as she stood up and brushed some of the dirt from her chest.

“Oh, just looking around,” I quickly answered. “I didn’t want to bother you or anything.”

“Right,” she sarcastically agreed and looked around. “Well I think we can head back if you’re ready. Wouldn’t want to worry the other young ones,” she told me and grinned.

“Yeah, sounds good.” Against my best intentions, my eyes flashed a quick look back toward the rock before I left, but all they saw was the cluster of dirty needles sticking out of the dirt behind it.

See? It’s all better.

* * *

My eyes drifted over the dirt while we made our way back to our temporary home outside of Caesar’s Stand, but I didn’t actually see anything there. It was just a sheet of brown running endlessly through my mind that didn’t even register as my memories swam years in the past. The dirty needles poked at my mind constantly and kept me from realizing where I actually was, doing everything they could to keep me in the darkness of my time with Father.

His bedroom was never a place I enjoyed, yet it was the one place I remembered most about my old home. Dirt always covered the walls like everything else in the Wasteland, but somehow it seemed so much worse in that particular room. The floor was no different, but I could tell that at one time long ago it used to be nice; small shards of tile still hung in the corners where scavengers hadn’t been able to rip them up since the bombs fell, but they still looked nicer than the stained and littered chipped plywood that was left behind.

It was barely big enough for the makeshift bed he had thrown into the center of the room and left just enough space to walk around the edges without stepping on the hay that made up the mattress. His old smelly armor was always piled up in the corner to stink up the room just enough to notice it, but I could ignore it after only a few minutes so I guess it could have been worse. And of course it was always dark. I always thought he must enjoy the darkness, because he boarded up the window years before he started ‘inviting’ me in. Something about that managed to make the entire place just a little bit worse; not being able to see anything perfectly, but still enough light so that I could recall every little detail that I managed to notice over the years.

Actually the only thing about that room I didn’t think I could remember was how he looked. Outside of the room I remembered everything about him; the way he walked, how he talked to me and every line in his face that formed over the years of abusing me. But inside I couldn’t recall anything about what he looked like; only what he felt like. I didn’t look at him in there, which may have been why I could remember the room so well; I was always looking at the walls or the floor, anywhere but at him.

It was only his hooves that stuck in my mind, and only from one afternoon; the afternoon when that needle was in his hooves and hovering over me.

And I remembered his voice.

“Shayle?”

My head shot up and spun to my left where Charmer was walking. A quick burn hit my wide eyes and I blinked a few times like I had just woken up from a nap I didn’t know I was taking. “What?” I quickly asked in my confusion and tried to remind myself that I wasn’t in that room anymore, and never would be.

“Are you alright? You’ve been staring at the ground for almost an hour now,” she pointed out with a concerned look on her face.

“Oh, yeah. I’m just thinking,” I lied and turned my gaze to the front. We were almost to the spot where the raiders had ambushed us the day me and Felix had originally left Shanty, and I could faintly see the burnt rubble a little ways down the highway ahead of us.

“You do that more than is healthy,” the pony commented playfully. She must have caught my questioning glance over to her, because she quickly continued. “You spaced out just like that when we were taking Tinker and the others home.”

I thought only Seer had noticed that. “I just have a lot on my mind.”

“You seem a little young to have that much on your mind.” The mare nudged me lightly on the shoulder and grinned. “Try to lighten up. You don’t see me staring at the dirt for hours on end, do you?”

No, but she did sleep a lot, and she hadn’t exactly said much recently either. “Not on walks,” I argued, trying to sound a little light hearted but failing.

Charmer’s face scrunched up and she looked away from me, but her eye still swiveled to look at me. “So you can notice some things.” She sounded a little upset, but not so bad that I felt like she was angry with me.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She shook her head. “You haven’t exactly been the best at seeing how others feel, Shayle.” The pony looked back at me with her nose still shrunk up. Before I could even try to argue she broke in and continued. “I’m honestly surprised you haven’t tried to dump me in another new town yet.”

“I was never going to dump you somewhere,” I quickly gasped.

“Right, not like you did at Spur?” Her gaze hardened.

“That was different.”

“Because you didn’t know I wanted to stay with you yet?” she asked as her voice grew louder.

“Well,” I stopped and flicked my tail. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“You guess so? That’s the only reason I’m still here,” she snapped. “If I hadn’t told you then you would have left me in Spur, alone.”

I considered arguing that there were other ponies there, and that she wouldn’t be alone with them around, but then I remembered that we’d already gone through that one time before. She didn’t care about others being around if she didn’t know them, so she would still say that she was alone even in the middle of a bustling pre-war city.

“And what about Tinker?” the frustrated mare continued. “Are you gonna drop her off in some random town just because you think she needs a home?”

“She does need one,” I argued. “And an old shed in a field isn’t a home!”

“What would you know about that?” Charmer stopped and stomped her hoof in the dirt. “You and your brother were covered in dirt and grime, lost in the middle of nowhere when we found you. Do you even know what a home is?”

“It’s where you live,” I told her and huffed. “It’s somewhere safe to sleep at night.”

“That’s a house,” she told me. “Home is wherever the ones you care about are. That shack is her home now, and it’s yours and mine too.”

“I don’t want that to be our home,” I yelled.

Charmer opened her mouth but closed it without a word. She wanted to say something, and to keep arguing that I was wrong about where we lived, but instead she started walking again. When she passed me, the pony tilted her head to me and grumbled. “Then go where you want to live, but the rest of us aren’t going anywhere yet.”

I didn’t follow her at first, in fact my hooves felt like they were rooted to the dirt where I stood. I didn’t understand what I had said that was so wrong, or why she was so adamant about not finding a new home. She had seemed happy to be settled down in Shanty, and I doubted that her time travelling around with us was something she considered as pleasant or somehow better than town-life. She had known us for less than a month, so would it really be so hard to make new friends wherever she ended up? Friends who didn’t drag her to dangerous places and who she could actually talk to more than she talked with us?

Or was there some other reason that she was sticking around with us that I just hadn’t picked up on yet? I didn’t know, and I wasn’t about to ask her as she walked away from me in a fit. Whatever it might be, I would just have to wait and find out, because despite her insistence that I didn’t need to stick around I didn’t plan on leaving. I had my brother to take care of, and I wanted to make sure her and Tinker stayed safe until the home thing was all sorted out too. I had a feeling that could be a while, but maybe she would come around and realize that squatting outside of Caesar’s Stand was no home for her.

But for the time I wasn’t going to push it anymore; she wasn’t going to listen. So I finally got my hooves out of the dirt and started walking behind her just as my belly growled and ached.

I hadn’t been paying attention to how long we were out, but apparently it was too long according to my stomach and it was time to eat. I craned my neck around to my bag while I walked and hoped that no rocks would stick up to trip me while I grabbed a quick snack. At least I wanted to grab a snack until I realized there was no such thing in my bag. All I had was a bottle of water and the spare shells for the shotgun, but no food.

I grit my teeth and cursed myself for forgetting food even after how much Seer had pounded the idea into my head about how important it was, and turned my attention back to the walk back to the shack. I tried to distract myself for a while, something that wasn’t too hard since my brain had the argument with Charmer to mull over, but it didn’t last long before my stomach warned me of its emptiness again.

I would have tried to make it back before getting food, but we were still a couple hours away, and without anything to completely distract myself it would just get worse and worse. So I took a deep breath and jogged up to Charmer’s side.

“Hey, Charmer?” I quietly asked. “Do you have any snacks?”

“You didn’t pack any?” she asked in agitation and swiveled her eye to me.

“I guess not,” I replied regretfully and prayed that she wasn’t upset enough to deny me a little food.

“Damn kids forget everything,” she grumbled and stopped to check her own bags. I squinted a little at the comment, but didn’t bother to bring it up to her. After a few seconds of shuffling through her equipment, the pony lifted her head up and tossed a can over to me.

After narrowly stopping the tin from hitting me in the nose, I nodded a ‘thank you’ to the mare and sat down to get the thing open. “It’s all I’ve got left, so enjoy it,” she told me and kept walking.

After almost a minute of fiddling with the little knobby thing on top of the can I managed to pull it open and lick up some of the pureed veggie paste inside. Honestly it tasted terrible, but at least it was something. After getting a little taste I rested the can on my tail and jogged to catch up with the pony. By the time I got there, my belly groaned for another bite and I stopped to pull the can off my tail and force down another glob of the greenish paste.

This quickly became a pattern that eventually got a small smirk out of Charmer, and I realized that she was taking a bit too much joy in my attempts at eating and keeping up at the same time. “Can we stop for just a minute so I can finish this?” I finally asked after repeating the process of eating and jogging four times.

“I’d rather not.” The mare sneered and picked up her pace a little.

“Why not? It would only be a minute!” I pleaded and sped up to meet her.

“Because watching you eat is making me hungry, so I wanna get back and get some food too.” And I’m sure that’s the only reason she had.

“We could share,” I offered and pushed my tail toward her with the can.

“I’ll pass.” She shook her head and continued walking.

Oh well, more for me.

* * *

“What do you mean we’re out of food?” Charmer snapped and shoved her head into Felix’s bag.

My brother put down his book and looked at the two of us with a regretful stare. “We don’t have any more. Shayle and I haven’t bought any since we left Shanty,” he explained. “And I haven’t seen you or Tinker get more either.”

“You didn’t buy any those times you went into town between jobs?” the mare asked, muffled through the bag.

“No, they didn’t pay us for it,” I pointed out quickly. Charmer’s head shot out of the saddlebag and glared at me with an expression somewhere between surprise and confusion. “Our payment was getting a house in Caesar’s Stand.”

“But you aren’t living there!” she argued and waved a hoof in the general direction of the city. “So you did it for free.”

“No, we’re welcome back at any time,” I told her.

“That doesn’t help us, Shayle. We need caps for food, not a place to crash if we want to.” The pony turned back and dug into her own bag to pull out a small pouch. The bag flipped and dumped a couple caps into the dirt, but it wasn’t much. “How much does food cost there? Will this get us anything?” She had gotten through surprise and gone into a panic.

“Five caps?” Felix asked and shook his head. “If the prices are anything like in Shanty, we might be able to get one box of apple flakes.”

Charmer’s expression sank and she kicked the caps across the room.

“Did Seer have any in her bags?” Tinker piped up from the corner and quickly looked down when all of us swiveled our heads to her. “I mean, we really need it, maybe she wouldn’t mind?” the filly suggested and nodded over to Seer’s dusty bag.

Charmer stared at her for a few seconds before quickly pulling the dead zebra’s bag over and sticking her head in to look around. I don’t know why she kept doing that when it was probably easier just to hold it open and look inside. She pulled her head out after a second and dropped a jingling bag to the floor. She undid the string holding it shut and poured the caps out into a neat pile.

“That’ll work,” the pony told us with a sad smile. “Girl sure was prepared.”

We all nodded somberly as she put the caps back in the little pouch. Even though it seemed crass to take her money so quickly and without any of us offering an argument, but it was all we had. I just hoped that Seer would have been okay with us using it.

The pony stared at the bag for a few more seconds before she cinched it and looked up to me. “Do you mind doing a run into town? I can’t be the only hungry one here.”

“I’ll do it,” Felix quickly offered and stood up. I looked over at him and flicked my brow up, surprised by his sudden desire to do anything besides sit in the shed and read. “Strike taught me about picking good food, and you, uh.” He stopped and looked around like he had suddenly lost something. “You can’t count the caps,” he nervously finished and grabbed the bag.

“She can’t?” Charmer and Tinker asked in unison and looked at me.

“Yes I can,” I argued. “I learned a long time ago, I just forgot some of the numbers,” I explained and looked around to each of them. They were starting to seem amused at my outburst. “What?”

“How do you forget stuff like that?” Charmer sniggered and pointed at me. “Especially when your own brother knows how.”

My eyes narrowed and I flicked my tail violently. “Because I cleaned and did other chores at home while he went to school,” I growled. “Those things don’t require counting.”

“How about I just go, and you all can do… something, while I’m gone,” Felix quickly broke in. “Something that isn’t arguing?”

“We aren’t arguing, I was just wondering,” Charmer pointed out. “She’s the one who got defensive.”

I was not defensive! I just didn’t want them to think I was stupid or something. So what if I couldn’t count? It’s not like it was super important to be able to do that sort of thing in the Wasteland, and as long as Felix was around I never needed to worry about doing it. But instead of actually telling her that, I just grumbled and plopped down on my rump, glad that the conversation was over and I didn’t need to talk about why I never went to school with my brother.

“Can you see if they have any jerky?” I asked grumpily and scratched at the dirt with a hoof. I could feel Charmer’s eye start to burn a hole in the top of my head.

“Yes, I’ll check,” the colt said with a nod. “Any other requests?”

“Sugar Bombs?” the green mare asked and got another ‘okay’ from Felix.

Tinker leaned in and whispered something to him, I’m really not sure why, but he nodded and grinned to her before she kissed him softly on the cheek. A red hot poker stabbed into the back of my neck at the sight, and I locked my eyes onto the filly.

“Okay, I’ll be back in a little bit,” Felix told us and I think he walked straight outside. I couldn’t really tell since I was busy staring down the pony who had just kissed my brother.

After a few seconds she looked over to me and noticed, and her head dropped. The filly walked to the corner opposite of me and curled up with her junk, keeping her back to me as she tried to get to sleep.

I turned my head to Charmer, but she was busy looking over Seer’s rifle and wiping off some of the dirt from it. If there was one thing I liked most, it was being stuck in a shack with two ponies who I was suddenly not on the best terms with, so I quickly stood up. “I’m going to go with him just in case he needs help carrying something,” I told them and walked outside to follow my brother.

Neither of them said anything in response, but I did see Charmer shrug just before I went through the doorway.

* * *

“You really didn’t need to come along,” Felix told me again as he looked over a stack of cans on one of the stands around the town’s park. “I can handle a little shopping by myself.”

“I never said you couldn’t,” I pointed out from behind him. “I just haven’t gotten to spend time with you that much.”

“Shayle, we’ve been together almost every day,” he told me and pulled a rectangular tin off of a stack and set it in front of the trader.

“I meant just the two of us.” I looked around at the stands again for any jerky that might be for sale, but once again couldn’t see any that was obvious. Most stores seemed to have the same stuff for sale as far as food went, with a few carrying clothes or random equipment. “Like we used to before we left home.”

“Is this all you need?” the zebra behind the counter asked with a small grin.

“Yes,” Felix replied and counted out the caps to pay. “Thank you.” After putting the new food in his bags, the colt stepped back and turned to me with a confused tilt of his head. “So you want to talk about our days?”

“We don’t have to,” I told him and shrugged. “But I wouldn’t mind hearing what you were up to while I was with Charmer.”

“I read one of my books,” he replied simply and trotted toward the next stand. “Nothing else.”

“You didn’t talk with Tinker at all?”

“No, she was busy making something,” he explained.

“Are you sure? You two seemed pretty friendly,” I commented and looked down to him.

“Oh, yeah. We uh, I guess we kinda got together a while ago.” The young zebra scratched his head and looked up at me nervously. “At least I think so.”

“How did that happen?” I asked with mild irritation.

“It just did,” he told me and scowled. “And please don’t start that big sister thing again.”

“What ‘big sister thing’? I just wanted to know,” I quickly snipped and played dumb.

“No, you wanted to show me that you don’t approve,” he argued and glared up at me. “Just like you did with Doc.”

I flinched for a moment at that, but kept going alongside him. “Okay, so I don’t. Is that so bad?”

“Yes, it is, because you don’t have a reason to,” he continued arguing.

“Of course I do,” I snapped back. “More than one even.”

“Oh really? And what are they?” he requested.

“Well, first off you’re twelve, and she’s what, ten?”

“She’s fourteen,” he growled. “And I don’t see why that matters.”

“Because neither of you are old enough to be in a relationship with someone,” I pointed out and jabbed a hoof at him. “Especially not someone you just met a week ago.”

“And what do you know about that? I’ve never seen you dating anybody,” he quipped. “Or are you too young for it?”

“Of course I am,” I agreed, even if it wasn’t completely true in my mind.

“Okay, how old is old enough to be with someone?” Felix stopped walking and turned to me with a look of annoyance.

“I don’t know, nineteen or twenty?” I suggested with an uncertain tilt in my voice.

“Why? Because that’s when I’ll suddenly figure out relationships?” he snapped.

“Uh, yes?” Great, I didn’t even know where I was going anymore, or how to keep making my point make sense.

“You don’t even know, do you?” he asked. “You’re just saying that because you don’t want me to be with Tinker.”

“No, I don’t.”

“That’s stupid!”

“I don’t care, that’s the way it is.”

Felix’s face tightened into a look that I would almost call hatred before he turned away from me and stomped off. Seeing that look in his eyes burned away at a part of me and drowned my anger in sorrow as I realized what I had done. I just wanted to keep him close and protect him, but instead I was pushing him further and further away every time we fought. Before running away from home we almost never had an argument or yelled at each other, but out in the Wasteland we had argued more than I could ever remember doing back home.

We argued about staying in Shanty, about who would stay out in the shack with the others, about Doc and Tinker; and those were just the times I could remember. And after the last fight I could have sworn he hated me. He wasn’t just upset and would be fine again in a day, I had actually pushed him into hating me.

I needed to apologize, to tell him that I didn’t care if he was with Tinker, even if it was a lie. I wouldn’t like it, but at least I would get my brother back. If only I could get the nerve to even approach him again. I was still rooted to the spot he had stormed away from, and couldn’t stop watching him as he continued to shop for food like I wasn’t even there.

My ears filled with the thumping of my heart as I tried to figure out how I could make it right, but my hooves still wouldn’t move. I didn’t know why they seemed glued to the dirt of the park, but something stopped me from moving. The thudding of my heart grew deeper and louder until it seemed to rock my entire body with each beat, and suddenly Felix looked back at me. For a moment I almost thought he could tell what had happened to me, but then his gaze tilted upward and his still-firm scowl melted into a look of terror.

A scream ripped through the air and allowed my hooves to move just before the thunder of machine guns assaulted my ears and sent me flat on my belly.

Dirt kicked up all around me as a storm of bullets rained down on the markets and the park, swerving back and forth to shred everything caught in their path. My gaze swiveled up and for a moment my heart stopped beating at the sight of the flying machine from Spur. The guns on either side swiveled and sprayed across Caesar’s Stand, tearing into zebras and buildings alike. I could occasionally hear a quiet ping of bullets ringing against its body as the town guards returned fire, but it didn’t do anything except draw the ire of whoever was inside the machine. A hail of firepower tore across the gate and sent bits of meat and armor flying as the guards were cut down with no effort.

I didn’t understand, how was that thing even flying or attacking? Solus and Minx killed the pilot, they said they got her and that she was the only one capable of flying it! So either they were wrong, or they lied about something; I hoped it was the first one. Not that it really mattered, either way the gunship was right there, gunning down the zebras of Caesar’s Stand with nothing to stop it.

I spun my head around the market in search of a certain small zebra as the hammering of my heart rivaled the speed of the machine guns. When I didn’t see him right away I could feel a sense of pure dread overtaking me from the inside out and my chest seized. ‘He couldn’t be gone already, he would just be hiding,’ I thought to myself.

Every bit of my body screamed for me to just stay on the ground and pretend I was already dead with the hope of going unnoticed by the gunship, and each roar of lead spraying over the town reinforced that idea. My brain stopped working with each growl of firepower and only told me "don't move or else, don't move or else". But between each burst, a small bit of my brain constantly reminded me that Felix was still there and probably just as scared as I was, and I had to find him.

I had to know he was okay.

Ignoring every impulse of fear and logic to stay on the ground and wait out the attack, I jumped up and where I last saw him. I didn’t care that I was probably going to be torn apart by the death machine overhead, I didn’t even care that there didn’t seem to be anybody firing back at the thing anymore, all I cared about was finding my brother and making sure he didn’t fall into the sights of that damn pony.

With the guns focused on a different part of town, I managed to reach the stand where I saw Felix last and slid to a stop. A shredded, striped body was crumpled behind what remained of the small shop, its blood sprayed across the ground behind where they were standing. At first glance my heart sank at the thought that it must be Felix, but after a moment I realized that the remaining bits were too big to be my brother.

“Shayle!” I faintly heard a shout to my left and I spun.

Hiding under a collapsed stand was my brother, spackled with blood and shaking uncontrollably. Without hesitating I sprinted over to him and tried to wiggle into the hiding spot, but it wasn’t big enough for both of us to fit fully. I grunted and groaned as I tried to find a way to get my entire body under the battered wood, but it wasn’t working. Defeated, I stopped trying to squeeze in beside Felix and left my rump hanging out the front of his cover, silently begging and hoping that the gunship wouldn’t notice.

“Shayle, what’s going on?” Felix asked in fear as he squeezed himself as close to me as possible.

“I don’t know,” I told him softly, trying to sound half as scared as I actually was. I don’t think I succeeded, but I didn’t think Felix would care if I was afraid of a death machine.

Neither of us said anything after that, we both just huddled together silently and waited to see if it was our time to go. I wasn’t ashamed to say that I cried a lot while the constant thumping of guns and rotors bombarded my ears, and I knew that Felix was doing the same. Occasionally we could hear someone scream, but only at first, and just barely. After the first few minutes that felt like hours I didn’t hear anything except the gunship as it continued the extermination of everyone in Caesar’s Stand.

At least I was going to die with my brother, who still held me close and cried with me after everything I had said to him.

Who still loved me.

Footnote: No Levels Earned

Author’s Note:
Well, now that I’m back into it and starting off on Book II of this story, I would like to offer an extra big thanks to Kkat and Somber for their fantastic stories which created and expanded the Fallout:Equestria universe. It’s helped me through some tough times as of late, and I don’t think I would be doing half as well as I am without this world to read and write for. And again, I need to thank Doomande for commissioning the amazing Rattlesire to do the cover art of this story, as well as the artists who have drawn the fantastic fanart of this story. I can’t begin to express how happy it makes me to see my story put in pictures. And of course a huge thank you to the folks who pre-read and help me with editing this into a readable story, as well as all of you readers who continue to stick with it and keep me going on it. I hope that the second part of this story can live up to all of your expectations, and thank you all again for the support.

Chapter 16: Memories of Youth

Chapter 16: Memories of Youth
“Life’s not the breath you take.”

I don’t know how long we lay there for, waiting for the end to come or to somehow come out alive. All I knew was that after a while my ears just rang and thumped until they drowned out the sound of machine guns and spinning rotors from the gunship over us. Even then, after the sound of destruction was dead to my ears, I didn’t dare crawl back to look up and see if it was over for fear of being noticed if the machine was still around. Instead, we stayed still and waited.

For a while, my thoughts only rested on the relief that Felix was safe, if not terrified like me, and utter shock over how quickly the attack had come. I didn’t even care that it had happened anymore; no matter how long I spent trying to figure out how it came I couldn’t find an answer. Regardless of what had allowed it, the ponies had managed to fly the thing over and take out a town without warning, so they either had another pilot or Minx had killed the wrong pony. It didn’t really matter which one it was, I would probably never know anyways.

By the time my ears finally stopped ringing and allowed me to hear again, the sound of thumping rotors and firing guns was gone. At some point the attack had ended, but I didn’t know if it was because they had left or if someone had finally managed to take the thing down. I doubted it was the latter; even with my ruined hearing I would have heard the sound of a crashing or exploding gunship, right?

Either way, I finally managed to feel safe enough, or brave or stupid enough, to crawl out of my half-hiding spot. A part of me prodded that some pony might be waiting in town to kill any survivors, but I ignored it and just told myself it was over. Felix cautiously released the squeeze of his hooves around my leg as I backed out from under the collapsed stand but didn’t follow me out right away. The shuddering of his body had stopped a while ago, but I could see that he was still too scared to leave until he was sure it was safe.

To my relief, the gunship and any other ponies that my mind was worried may be around killing survivors were all gone. No more bullets zipped through the air of the city, and no more screams called out to anyone who may be able to help. Instead, most of the town lay still and silent, only bothered by the occasional stirring and groaning of wounded zebras. A few wobbled around on unsteady hooves to check the damage done to their homes, their faces locked in shock and grief at the sight of the destruction.

Every building I could see had been reduced to rubble with the exception of the apparently hardy barracks where soldiers would have been if they weren’t all out in New Oatleans, and even those were pockmarked and cracked by the barrage of fire that had rained down on them. Every structure that was less solidly built, including all of the homes and shops, had been toppled to piles where they stood, but it seemed that most of the survivors had been taking shelter in them during the attack. Those lucky few, like us, who had been untouched by the weight of their homes or the shots that peppered the housing, and still managed to wiggle out.

But what I noticed most was the smell lingering around the destroyed city. I didn’t know exactly what it was or where it came from considering no buildings appeared to have caught fire, but my nose constantly stung with the smell of something burning. It was as if the air itself had been ignited, but at least it didn’t come along with the stench of the dead bodies all around.

After taking a few minutes to take in the aftermath of the attack, my hooves lifted and carried me through the town, though I didn’t know exactly why. Perhaps it was some part of my mind that was morbidly curious about what was left, and to see for myself exactly how bad it had been outside of the park. Not much was left around where me and Felix had hidden; there was nowhere to really hide for those that were caught out in the open ground. That thought pushed a feeling of complete relief through my body, and I couldn’t help but feel like it was too good to be true that we both survived where everyone else had fallen.

When I finally reached what had once been the housing area, my heart sank at the feeling that I had seen that damage before. If the wreckage had been covered in ash and soot, I would have sworn that it was exactly like Shanty, just on a larger scale. Down each row, at least one survivor, but never more than four, scrambled around the skeletons of their homes trying to reach loved ones and neighbors who had not been lucky enough to get out or were trapped in their own homes.

Most were battered and covered in dirt and thin streams of blood from random cuts over their bodies. I felt some relief at the sight of at least a couple who looked untouched by the attack; those who were lucky like me and Felix and had somehow been spared from even the smallest injury. And still some others looked like they may die at any moment. Those with legs trapped under fallen roofs that had somehow cut clear to the bone when they landed; and still those who dragged themselves toward other survivors with messy stumps in the dirt behind them.

I tried not to look at those for too long.

But I think the worst were those who had managed to get their loved ones out of the tombs the shacks had become. Husbands and wives cried as they held the limp form of their spouse in their hooves, or what was left of them. And then there was the soul-shattering sight of a father trying to shake his young son awake in front of where he used to live. The stallion hadn’t even started crying yet, and I could hear his quiet pleas for the colt to wake up.

I stopped walking and watched for a minute or two, not sure if I was waiting for the child to wake up as well, or if I was just unable to look away because of that morbid spot in my mind that demanded I saw everything. I hoped it was the former, and I truly did start begging for the colt to suddenly move and stave off the misery of one more zebra. If it wasn’t for the blood spackled shard of metal embedded just behind his ear, I almost could have believed that it might happen.

Before I was able to shake out of the sullen place my mind had travelled, the stallion looked up at me with sad eyes, eyes that were finally starting to tear up as he realized the inevitable. “Please, can you help him?” he asked pitifully and stopped shaking the small body lying in front of him.

I wanted to tell him yes so badly, to somehow know a way to walk over to the lifeless body and magically make him okay, but I didn’t. Yet, at the same time, I couldn’t find a way to tell him what we both already knew; that his son was gone. I couldn’t help, and I couldn’t tell him the truth, so I did the only thing that I could think of.

I turned and walked away.

I didn’t dare look back at the devastated father who probably thought I had ignored him; I couldn’t bear to see him break down or continue trying to revive the son who was dead and gone.

Just beyond the housing area, my ears perked to a faint crackling sound that seemed to appear and disappear randomly. I shakily turned to my right and trotted toward where I thought it was, noticing quickly that I was walking up the familiar path to the bar at the center of town. To no surprise, the building was completely collapsed and riddled with bullet holes from the gunship just like the rest of Caesar’s Stand. Out front, just like everywhere else in the city, was a small pile of bodies right in front of where the door used to be, all cut apart and bleeding over each other and onto the ground.

It wasn’t nearly as much blood as I thought there would be, but the sight still made my guts surge for a moment. I could almost see the stream of zebras trying to run outside in the midst of the metal rain only to be cut down only a few feet outside with nowhere to go except over their friends and into the same fate. I shook the thought away and tucked it down with the sketch of a father in denial and lifeless lovers.

I turned my attention back to finding the crackling sound, which I discovered was alternating between static and playing broken up and hard-to-understand music. It didn’t take me long to figure out it was the radio from the bar, and yet I still decided to look for it further. I ended up climbing onto the collapsed roof of the destroyed building and following the tinny reverberation of the sound to a point almost at the middle of where it all fell down, but that was as close as I could get. Through a rather large cluster of holes that had been punched into the metal, I could see a flickering light from the front of the box that matched up with the coming and going of music and static.

After finding it unreachable, I lost interest and trotted off of the metal roofing, but suddenly found myself unwilling to even check the Remnant barracks at the far side of town. I’m not exactly sure what made me disregard them, but for some reason I decided that there wouldn’t be anyone there. If there was, then they would have fought back and shot down the gunship, right? After all, they would have bigger guns and maybe one of those rockets like the Scorpions carried around.

Somberly, I trotted back to where I had left Felix and kept my eyes on the dirt at my hooves. I already knew what was around me from only minutes before, and if I wanted to see it again all I had to do was close my eyes to picture the misery and death on either side. A broken shack, a bloodied corpse, a crying zebra…

I tried to push it all away into the pit of my mind where the worst of it already was, but that spot was already filled with more than it could hold. Everything since I had left Zeza bulged in my mind like a load too large for the sack carrying it, threatening to snap the stitching and let it all pour out over me. The death, the loss, the complete sense of failure at finding a safe and happy place for me and my brother to live; it all started falling out piece by piece as I made room for the new horrors.

I felt the roughness of dirt and gritty stone slam against my rump when I fell, but I didn’t pay any attention to it. I needed a break, and apparently my mind decided that the middle of the street, surrounded by the grief and pain of Caesar’s Stand was the place to take one. I longed for the peace of the last week; the only time since I had left when nobody I knew lost anything or got hurt. The time when leaving home didn’t feel like such a bad choice.

I just wanted a better place than where I had been, somewhere that I didn’t fear for what the next day would bring or wish that I wasn’t treated like a toy for someone else’s amusement. Instead, all I found was death and failure, like I had gone from one evil straight into something even worse. And the worst part was that I dragged my brother into it with me. I pulled him out of the normal life he once had; one with friends and school and being generally happy, at least from what I saw of him. And now he was surrounded by this.

Searing tears trickled down my cheeks and mixed in with the charred air until they fell to the dirt and clumped into balls of mud and dust; the feelings and memories that I hoped were being driven out to a place they would never bother me again. But it didn’t make it any better, I still felt the sadness and the anger with myself for bringing all of it into our life.

Even though I knew that it was not our fault Caesar’s Stand was reduced to rubble, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had helped bring it about. I was there when Minx and Solus pulled the trigger just outside Spur, and I helped fight back against the ponies who just wanted justice for what they had done. I was a part of it, and for that at least some of the blame was on me. That father lost his son because of us, these zebras lost their homes because we couldn’t let one pony live, and the one place I thought I might be able to be happy was nothing but dust and ruin because we chose to fight.

Everything I had tried to do for me and Felix had fallen apart because of one afternoon, and I couldn’t do anything to fix it.

I had to start all over…

My hoof pushed away the tears and replaced it with a splash of dust in my coat, forcing the bad thoughts back into the bag even tighter than before and piling them back on top of the things still sitting at the bottom. The things that I would never remove. I had to try again, for Felix’s sake and my own, even if I had already failed once. Even if I couldn’t be there with him when I finally found the place or the thing that made his life out here better than it was before, I needed to try for him. No matter how much I wanted to be there with him when it came.

I rose back onto unsteady legs and trotted forth weakly, held up by something I couldn’t name. I wanted to sit back down and stay there, to remain with the miserable masses of those who I had helped destroy, but I couldn’t. I had a job to do, promises to fulfill, and the hope that I might yet find what I wanted.

What I needed.

* * *

Felix wasn’t where I left him.

In fact, he wasn’t in the park anywhere. All I found where he used to be was the half-collapsed stand where we had hidden from the gunship when it arrived, the place we had ridden out the storm together and where I hoped he would still be when I came back. But instead, I found an empty hole.

My heart pounded in my ears and my blood rushed through my veins as I tried to think, tried to figure out what could have happened to him while I was away. There was no blood where he was lying, no sign at all that he had been pulled away or killed in the time I was looking around town instead of staying by his side like I should have. The bad thoughts started pushing at the bag again, threatening to unload themselves again and leave me a heap in the dirt after yet another failure. But I couldn’t let that happen yet.

Instead, I told myself that I had been gone longer than I thought, and that he must have gone looking for me. That’s what he did, he wasn’t missing, he didn’t get taken away or disappear without a sign. He was just walking around looking for his big sister.

I desperately held onto that assurance and spun away from our shelter, swiveled my head from side to side and started trotting around the side of town where I hadn’t walked. He must have gone the wrong way, because I would have seen him if he had followed where I went, we couldn’t have missed each other. Down each row of shacks I took in every body, hoping that down the next one I would see my brother aimlessly wandering in his search for me. But I didn’t find him among the wrecked homes and crumpled corpses. I only found what I had seen when I left him alone; the same survivors grieving the same deaths while those who were on the verge before finally passed.

It wasn’t until I reached the gate that I finally slowed and released the breath I never realized I was holding. My vision swam at the sudden release, and righted itself only after I took a deep breath and let my body fill with the air it had wanted since I started my search. My lungs stung from the effort, but my heart slowed and swelled with joy at the sight of my brother, still alive and standing, just inside the tattered and tilted gate.

That feeling faded and withered when I saw the tiny zebra beside him, and the stained coat of an older zebra in front of them. I could barely recognize the short, messy mane of the little colt beside Felix from where I was, mostly because the only time I had ever seen it before it was pasted to his head from the rain and merry puddle jumping.

I hesitantly stepped forward despite the overwhelming desire to avoid seeing who the two young zebras were standing over, only able to push past it because my brother was one of them. After a few seconds, I realized the small one, the little colt just tall enough to reach my chest, had his hooves on the blood speckled body under him. He shook at the coat gently, and muttered something that I wasn’t close enough to hear yet.

In a flash, my mind pulled out the picture of a father trying to revive his dead son, and I fought to fold it back up again while I prayed that I wouldn’t be adding a new one.

I stepped carefully around the drip-drop of blood from overhead where one of the guards had been shot down while trying to fight back against the attacker. I pretended not to see his back legs hanging from a railing without a chest or head attached to them. I could faintly smell the strange tingle from the blood, but it was tainted by the scent of burnt something hanging in the air; something I didn’t mind.

By the time I reached the three zebras, I couldn’t hold back the picture of the helpless father anymore. The colt was bent down slightly, his hooves pressing roughly into her chest now as the little zebra tried to shake life back into his mother as best he could. But even if he was the strongest equine in the Wasteland, there was no help his trembling hooves could give.

“Please, Mama,” he coughed and shook harder, barely able to move her body. “Wake up.”

I turned my gaze to Felix for a moment, for some reason hoping that he could think of something to say or do that would help, something that would at least get the poor thing to stop tormenting himself with wishes for something that could never happen. But he just stared down at the body, his eyes empty and shivering in his head at the sight.

Without thinking, I sat down beside the little zebra and looked down at him, unsure if what I planned to do would even work. It probably wasn’t the perfect thing to do, or even something he wanted, but it was all I could think of. Because I think that if it had been me, it would at least help.

I leaned in and gently put a hoof around him, pulled back his hooves from the body and hugged the foal close, expecting him to push me away and continue trying to wake up his mother even though she never would. Instead, the little body leaned into me and started crying. Not the subdued crying of an older pony, not like what me or Felix did, but the cry of a child too young to worry about holding in how they really felt. A wail that I hadn’t heard since Felix was just a baby.

He felt so small in my hooves as I held him and tried my best to make him feel safe, and I couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen to him. I didn’t know if he had a father around to take care of him, whether he was dead or soldier off at war in the city who probably didn’t even know that his wife was dead and his child alone. I just knew that I had never seen him, or bothered to think about it at all before.

I knew I had to ask him at some point, to know if he had someone else that would come home and take him somewhere safe and raise him, but I didn’t want to. Not while he was still crying and dealing with the realization that his Mama was never coming back. And if he didn’t have anyone else, what would happen? Should I just leave him with another survivor and hope they take care of him? Or would I end up doing what I seemed to do with everyone I met who lost everyone they loved and take them along?

I didn’t want to do that, not with him. The Wasteland had nearly killed me and the others I was with more times than I cared to think about in my short time out there; it was not a place for a foal his age, or any age really. Even Felix and Tinker were too young in my mind, but I guess I didn’t have a choice with them. But with the colt I did, and I wouldn’t let him go through the things I seemed destined to experience.

Even though he’d already experienced some of the worst of it.

By the time the colt had finished crying and quieted down into a symphony of coughing and sniffing, Felix was sitting down beside me and staring at the gate emptily. I just leaned on him, not wanting to put down the colt who was cradled against my chest while he still needed someone to comfort him. Felix flinched at my touch, but soon he leaned in slightly, his body tense and quaking noticeably even though it wasn’t cold outside.

His coat scraped slightly against mine where we leaned into each other as a small patch of dried blood crumbled away from his shoulder; the remains of his close call when someone near him had been shot. At least that’s what I assumed had happened. But that wasn’t what I was worried about, at least not mostly. I was worried about how he just stared away, not saying or doing anything. It was like he didn’t know what to do, or what had happened. As if he didn’t know how to react to everything that he saw in the town, or the dead Praetor and her son.

“Are you okay?” I finally asked him quietly, wanting it to snap him back to the world or at least make him look at me.

He just nodded, didn’t even turn his head the slightest bit toward me.

My heart clenched at the sight, and I thought it might stop if he didn’t show some sign of life before too long. So I stopped looking and tried to distract myself while I forced another lie into my head, one that I begged to become truth sooner than later. He’ll be back to normal soon. He just needs time to sort it all out.

I wish I knew how much time it would take.

I turned my attention back to the colt in my hooves and leaned my head down to him, trying to keep my voice quiet and calm when I whispered to him. “What’s your name?” I’m not sure if I managed to keep the calm part, because I barely managed to get the words out around the dryness in my throat. He answered, but it was so quiet I couldn’t hear him. “What was that?” I asked gently and tried to pull him a little closer.

“Vulpe,” he piped and looked up with glossy red eyes.

“Vulpe, do you know where your father is?” I asked cautiously, hoping that it wouldn’t make the little guy wail again.

He shook his head indifferently, not even looking that he might cry again. “Went away before I was born.”

My chest tightened again as I went back to asking myself what to do. I couldn’t leave him, but taking him out into the hell of a life I seemed stuck in seemed almost as bad as just leaving him with his dead mother. And yet, I couldn’t think of anything else to do with him. I guessed that I could just leave him with another survivor and hope that they would take care of him, at least then he might know who he was with, but something about the entire situation made that seem wrong.

I had been part of the reason the attack came, and part of the reason little Vulpe’s mother had died. He didn’t know that, there was no way he could, and yet I still felt like I needed to make it up to him. I needed to make sure he stayed safe, and that he eventually found a place that wasn’t torn apart by war and the death of everyone he knew. Besides, Caesar’s Stand couldn’t truly be considered safe anymore, could it?

With the gunship around, I doubted anywhere was safe for us anymore.

So, no matter what I did with the poor colt, he would still be in danger. Even if he was in the safest place I could find, that machine would be able to find it and tear it down without warning; and then he would be in the same situation as he was now. With nobody to care for him, nobody to tell him it would be alright or to make him feel cared for. It was probably one of the worst ideas I’ve ever had, but for some reason it felt like the right one.

And not only for him…

It’s all better now sweetie...

I shook the voice back out of my head and pulled Vulpe closer, deciding that if I was going to do it, I needed to make sure it was the best option for him. That there was nobody else he would rather stay with, because strangers like me were probably at the very bottom of his list of people to stay with.

“Vulpe, do you have any other family here? Anybody who can take care of you?” I asked quietly. In the corner of my eye I caught Felix look over at me; finally managing to break from the trance that seemed to hold him ever since the attack; and for a moment I’m sure he knew what I was thinking.

Still curled in my hooves, the colt shook his head and sniffed again. “All dead,” he breathed and continued staring up at me, his eyes finally starting to dry and fill with a web of red veins at the corners. A knot shot into my throat at his reply, but I quickly forced it back down with a rough gulp. No child should be so casual or certain about saying that, not at his age, even if it was the Wasteland.

Though that question had decided what I was going to do, and I was certain it was the best way for me to make it up to Vulpe, I couldn’t seem to find a way to ask him. How was I supposed to start asking a child so young if they wanted to wander off with total strangers? It seemed wrong to even be considering it, but I really couldn’t think of anything else to do. Well, I could, but none that made any more sense than him going with us.

“Do you…” I started, but still couldn’t think of the words to finish my question. It shouldn’t have been so hard, it was just a question, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was wrong to take him away from his home of rubble and ruin. “Would you feel okay coming with us?” I finally managed to force out the words and make them sound not-too-wrong. I just hoped he would know what I meant.

He didn’t offer any real reply, instead only nodding and trying to wiggle back onto his own hooves. A little stream of blood trickled down the back of his leg and ended in a rock that had apparently been thrown into his thigh, probably from the rotors on the gunship, but it didn’t seem to bother him. “Vulpe, is your leg okay?” I asked and rolled back to my own hooves with Felix beside me. He was already reaching into his dirty bag for a bandage.

The colt looked back to me. “It burns.”

Before I could say anything more, Felix was crouching beside him with a dirty wad of cloth in his jaw to gently remove the rock and cover the little pockmark in the colt’s skin. I was almost glad when the little guy didn’t whine or flinch, but under the circumstance it seemed like a bad sign of how he was doing. Children were supposed to cry when they got hurt, not sit there and act like nothing was wrong. If they did, something much worse was happening to them, and I had a feeling I knew exactly what that was for our newest orphan.

* * *

We didn’t care to stay in the town much longer after that. I gave Felix enough time to wrap up Vulpe’s leg and make sure the bleeding stopped, then we managed to find someone who knew how to work the gate before making our way back to our shack slowly. Our hooves dragged in the dirt while we walked, not feeling the strength to lift fully from the ground to take the next step, both of us weighed down by the things we saw piled up along with everything else that happened during our short time in the Wasteland. At least for me, I couldn’t begin to guess what Felix may have had bottled up in that head of his, but I doubted that the attack was the least of it.

Vulpe had fallen asleep before we were half way to our temporary home in the desert, his little body overwhelmed and exhausted from the day’s chaos and loss. I barely noticed his small body lying out between the bags on my back, but I didn’t mind either way. Between the death of his mother and the hole just under his rump, I didn’t think it was wise for him to walk all the way back with us, and chose to carry him.

I still worried about what would happen to him now that he was with us, and constantly feared that we would be thrown into another fight before too long, leaving us with yet another member of our little group who couldn’t help fight back. Charmer was the only one left who really knew how to shoot; I didn’t exactly count with how new the activity was; and that left her as the one who would have to defend us.

That realization hurt, the realization that no matter how much I wanted to protect my brother and now Vulpe, as well as Tinker if it came down to it, I was almost helpless to do any good. Even if I did fight, I seemed to have a nasty habit of getting shot or otherwise injured to the point that someone else needed to save me. Yes, we had Felix, who had at least some skill with medicine and some small amount of supplies to help, but I wasn’t sure it would be enough.

All of those thoughts piled together and walked to the front of my mind to form one question that I wanted to ignore, but didn’t have the strength to at the time.

What if I died?

What would happen to my brother, to Vulpe, to the two ponies travelling with us who were just as bad off as I was after everything we’d gone through? It was something I didn’t want to consider, didn’t want to think about or even try to plan for, but my tired mind insisted that I dwelled on it at least for a while. I hoped, I begged, for them to be okay without me, and it wasn’t exactly hard for me to accept that. I didn’t truly bring anything important or useful to the broken souls I travelled with, so would it even make a difference if I died?

Charmer could shoot and fight better than I could hope to do, and she had the experience of living out here that none of us could match. She knew where to go, where not to go, and how to protect herself and us if we got into trouble. And if that failed, and one of us was hurt, Felix would be there to save us. Even if it wasn’t the most medical knowledge in the Wasteland, and his supplies were thin, my little brother would at least try his best and do everything he could to make sure we made it through the worst of what might happen.

Even Tinker had something to give. She knew the area at least a little bit, and if nothing else she knew how to make some things that helped; alarms, for one thing, to wake us if someone decided we looked like easy victims.

That left me and Vulpe, the two who couldn’t do anything to contribute. The only difference between us was that he was too young to know how to help or to do anything that would make the group safer. I didn’t have that excuse. All I could do was try and fight, fail, and end up causing more trouble when I got hurt. I could use up Felix’s supplies until when someone else needed them they were already gone. And I could make one stupid decision that ended in us all suffering. Saying the wrong thing to the wrong zebra, shooting the wrong ponies.

I wanted to help, to be useful, to have something I could give to the group that wasn’t just another body or gun that couldn’t hit anything unless it was on top of me. But so far I hadn’t been able to do that.

I needed to find something, anything…

Charmer and Tinker were both sitting in front of the shack when we arrived, their faces drawn tight with worry and relief when they saw us trotting toward them. Tinker instantly stood and trotted to Felix’s side, nuzzled him softly in the neck and tried to take his bag. He didn’t argue, and returned the touch with a hint of a smile. My mane prickled slightly at the sight, but I didn’t say anything, I didn’t want to bring up the same argument from earlier again when it had almost been the last things we said to one another.

Charmer flicked her eye between me and the small zebra on my back, her expression tightening at the sight before she stood up and waited for me to get close. I stopped beside her and waited, knowing that she wanted to say something, but not quite sure what.

The pony leaned in close and whispered, thankfully realizing that Vulpe was asleep. “What happened?” she strained and kept her one eye trained on the snoozing foal.

“Caesar’s Stand was attacked,” I hesitantly told her and motioned to Vulpe with my head. “His mother was killed.”

I waited for the pony to ask for more on the attack, but she just leaned away and shook her head before turning back inside, a look of discomfort and unease dwelling on her sharp features. Before she made it inside, I faintly heard her mumble about a ‘daycare’.

The rest of us followed her inside and retreated to separate corners of the room as usual, for some reason still not comfortable with staying together even after how long we’d been with one another. Charmer sat down and stared blankly at the door as the darkness of night started to settle in over the New Oatleans wastes, her face giving me no sense of how she felt. I guessed that she must be a little irritated about us bringing home yet another mouth too young to be in this life, but I didn’t think it would last long. After all, we were all there for the same reason; all we had left was each other.

And it wasn’t like I planned to keep Vulpe around too long, I knew he needed somewhere better to live than in the middle of nowhere with the constant threat of being shot. Somewhere better than with us. But for the time, it was all I could do for him, and I was going to at least try making it bearable for him.

Tinker and Felix sat in the back corner closest to her and curled up together, whispering things back and forth too quiet for me to hear. That itch in my mane returned at the sight, but I bit my tongue and let it go, at least for the moment. I was too exhausted to care much anyways, and just wanted to lie down and try to get some rest.

I took the corner opposite from them and tried to push together some of the dead grass and dirt into as much of a bed as I could muster at the time. It wasn’t pretty, and certainly wasn’t what the colt on my back was used to, but it was better than nothing, at least in my mind. I gently slid him into my hooves and lay him down in the middle of the little mound I had made, trying my best not to wake him.

His eyes slid open slightly when I pulled my hooves out from under his small body, and I quickly leaned in and cooed for him to go back to sleep. It only took one try for Vulpe to close his eyes and drift off again, and I grinned a little at the sight of the sleeping foal. I hoped that he wouldn’t be stuck reliving what he saw through the day, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath for that. Even if he didn’t dream about it that night, at some point it would come back to him, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Before I got a chance to lay down beside him and get some sleep of my own, a hoof jabbed at my side and a harsh voice hissed into my ear. “We need to talk.”

My eyes turned up to see Charmer at my side, her scar tight over the bone underneath and pushing out the disgusting stalk still clinging at the back of her empty eye socket. I took one last look down at Vulpe to make sure he was fast asleep before standing and walking with the mare outside, suddenly reminded of all the times when I shared similar moments with Seer in the dead of night.

We didn’t go too far away, just far enough so that the others wouldn’t hear our discussion that I was sure would be bitter. I didn’t need to guess what it was about from her demeanor, and prepared to defend my decision.

She didn’t start talking right away, but instead glared at me for a few moments while she chewed on her words and got them just the way she wanted it to sound. “Did you at least get the food?” she asked sourly and sat down as if she were too worn out to stand through our discussion.

That surprised me. I had expected a scolding about bringing Vulpe back with us, or at least a complaint, which I suppose she had added in silently with her question about the food. “Yes, we got some before the attack came,” I explained and reminded her about why we had been gone so long. Maybe it would get her to calm down at least a little.

“Good, we’ll need it,” she quickly told me and sighed. “What’s this about an attack?”

“That gunship from Spur, it showed up and shot everyone,” I bluntly told her, not feeling a need or a wish to go into detail. I’d already gone through it once, and probably would again a few times in my own head for the rest of my life, so I didn’t see a point in an extra retelling.

“And the kid, his mama was killed?” she asked like I had been lying before. I just nodded and scowled. Once again, I was surprised not to receive an argument or a stern warning about bringing him with us. Instead, the mare frowned and looked in the direction of Caesar’s Stand, the strain on her scar and face dropping and letting the skin loosen again. “There was nowhere else to leave him?” she asked solemnly.

“No. Almost everyone died, only a few survivors made it out from what I could see,” I explained calmly and realized that she wasn’t actually mad about it.

“You know he needs a real home, right?” She rolled her head back to me. “And we don’t exactly fit that.”

“I know,” I agreed and nodded. “It’s just until we find him somewhere better.”

“That seems to be pretty common for us.” A small smile cracked at the corner of the pony’s mouth for a moment, but it died quickly. “Tomorrow we need to start looking.”

“Yes.”

“I’ve heard rumors that a place called Gold’s Corral takes in ponies and zebras,” she stated. I’d heard the name once before, I thought it was Merry Scroll who mentioned it, back before we left Shanty, but I couldn’t remember anymore. All I knew was that a pony told us from that town, and I never even considered it. “It’s on the other side of the city, at least a few days away, but it will be hard to get there.”

“Why?” I asked and continued staring at the pony, suddenly worried.

“Well, if we go around the east side of the city, we have to go past Spur, and I doubt that they’ll like you three being near them.” I didn’t doubt that either. “And around the west side we have to pass the Steel Ranger camp. I don’t know where it is, only that it’s between us and the Corral.”

“So either way we have to pass ponies who don’t like zebras?” I clarified and snorted.

“Exactly.”

My head dropped a little and my guts twisted at the thought of where we had to go. Even if it would get us somewhere a little safer, at least according to the rumors that Charmer had heard, we had to go through hostile territory. And that was going around the city, but going through seemed like an even worse idea from what I’d heard. “Is there anyone we can ask for help? A town that wouldn’t shoot us on sight?” I hazarded and prayed.

“Maybe. I haven’t been south of the river for a long time, Shayle. Towns that used to be friendly might not be anymore, and no matter where we go there are always the Steel Rangers.” She sighed and shook her head. “I guess we could try finding some old friends of my Mama’s, but they might have moved on.”

I groaned and sat down beside her, wishing that there was an easier way, or a closer place. “Unless you know of another town away from the city, that sounds like our only choice.” At least the only one I had heard. I couldn’t think of any myself, and of course she knew the area a lot better than I did.

“No, I don’t. We could always ask, but I wouldn’t count on it if I was you,” she commented. “One of Mama’s friends used to live in a town a few days from here, and she’s the closest right now,” she started explaining like there was no other choice. “If me and Tinker stay with you, there shouldn’t be any trouble getting in, but there’s always the chance.” She looked at me with worry and caution. “Just don’t cause any problems.”

“We won’t,” I promised her. “What if she isn’t there?”

“Then we’ll have to try somewhere else,” she offered. “Hopefully one of them is still around and remembers me.”

Yeah, hopefully.

Footnote: No Levels Earned

Author’s Note:
As per my usual, I want to give a huge thank you to Kkat for creating this universe that I’ve come to love so much. It’s gotten me through hard times and sustained me in good, and seems that it will continue to do so for a long time to come. And thank you to Somber for expanding the universe and showing me that it can be made larger and more fantastic with each and every story that comes out. Of course, thank you to Doomande and Rattlesire for the fantastic cover, as well as every artist who has felt this story worthy of art. It all makes me smile and I love you all for it. Thank you too my pre-readers and those who give me edits even after release so this story can be at its best, you’re all awesome. And a very special thank you to the Cloudsville readers who helped me get through this latest chapter when I was at a down time in my life. You’re all the best friends a guy could hope for, and I only wish I could repay the favor.
As a final note, I’m very sorry for how long it has taken to get this chapter out. I was unbelievably busy in June and July, and most of the time I wasn’t in town at all, so I’m sorry for the wait. I’ll try my best to get the next chapter out sooner, but I apologize ahead of time if I don’t. And thank you all for reading, you make my day!

Chapter 18: Strangers - Part II

Chapter 18: Strangers – Part II
“…down came the rain and washed the spider out…”

“Thank you for your business,” Starry Night recited to yet another customer with a smile. Her bag of caps slapped back into the cart she stood beside, jingling loudly after how much it had swollen in just the short time she had been receiving business from the ponies of Bunker. A few times I wondered if it was common to make so much money in the trade business, and if so then why didn’t more ponies do it? I knew that some of the ponies in her caravan claimed it was a very dangerous life, but she seemed perfectly fine with protecting herself against anything that might threaten her group.

Not that I was interested in picking up the business, I wouldn’t even know where to begin or how to decide how much something was worth when I sold it. On top of that, I didn’t even know where she got half of the stuff she was selling. The guns seemed straight forward enough, they weren’t exactly hard to come across in the Wasteland, but I would never know where she managed to find actual books. Back when we lived in Zeza, Felix had a hard time finding new ones that weren’t at least torn or missing a few pages, so where she found nearly perfect looking tomes was a complete mystery.

Suddenly a light flicked on in my head, and I spun my head to check through my bags for any caps I might have lying around at the bottom. Unfortunately, all I had was a bunch of loose shotgun shells, a few little snacks from our final visit to Caesar’s Stand, and some trash that I really needed to get rid of. I grumbled softly and wished that the others hadn’t been so keen on Felix holding all the caps, and decided that if I couldn’t buy some for him, I would at least let my brother know that Starry had some books he might like.

“Hey, how much for this?” a voice suddenly snapped my attention out of my bag. A rather large mare, at least compared to me, stood a few feet away, pointing to a rusty old pot that dangled from the side of the nearest cart.

“Uh,” I quickly remembered I was supposed to be helping Starry, but couldn’t even begin to guess at the price for a pot. “You’ll have to ask Starry Night, I’m just a guard,” I quickly explained and pointed her to the tall unicorn who walked around her carts intently watching each customer. Someone was apparently paranoid.

“Yeah, shoulda guessed,” the mare commented and trotted off to speak with the actual salespony. I mumbled something profane I once heard Father say, and ignored the shocked stare that it earned from Sandy.

It only took a few more minutes of waiting around before the guards started wandering about and speaking with the residents of Bunker, apparently starting to usher them all inside before dark; which honestly surprised me a bit. I had never heard of a town having any sort of curfew put on the ponies or zebras living there, even in a Remnant run place like Caesar’s Stand. Part of me wondered if it was because I was outside, but that didn’t seem very likely. If they didn’t want to be around zebras after dark, they probably wouldn’t have let Felix inside in the first place.

The last few ponies outside finished their purchases and were assured that if they needed anything else, Starry and I would still be outside in the morning before they went back inside. My branded companion waved to them until they were all out of sight, then quickly turned and pulled out the ammo can where she had been putting the night’s earnings.

Before she could start counting it out, the guards walked up to her and explained that if she needed anything in the night they would have ponies in the entrance. She thanked them for the offer and started counting out her new caps intently, separating them into several stacks. By the time the door to Bunker was shut and locked, she seemed like the world didn’t even exist around her anymore. I doubted that was the case for her, after all, she didn’t seem like a pony to let her guard down for even a moment, but her concentration was a little intense.

No longer needing to be on constant alert for shoplifters, I pulled off my bags and leaned the shotgun against them before laying down myself. Thankfully, my head didn’t pound or ache anymore, instead only giving me a brief wash of dizziness with the sudden change of position before settling back to normal. Vulpe looked around for a moment before lying down against my side and looking around as a child does when they’re bored. I wished that I had something for him to do, something that would make him happy like he was the first time I saw him; jumping around in the rain with a smile on his face and mud covering his hooves. Sadly, I didn’t.

I’m not sure how, or why, but apparently Sandy was thinking the same thing about the colt, because before I could even come up with the idea, she pushed a toy cart with only one wheel through the dirt in front of him. I could only assume she got it from one of Starry’s carts, and hoped that the pony wouldn’t mind us borrowing it for a little bit. I glanced over to her to see if she was glaring at us, but the mare still rhythmically separated out caps that floated from the can one at a time.

The warmth of Vulpe’s body lifted away from my side and prompted me to look over where he used to be, and I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him and Sandy pushing the cart around and bouncing a battered pony doll around it. I doubted he enjoyed it as much as he did the rain, but at least he was getting to play like a foal should.

My attention drifted away from them and to the slowly darkening hills around us. Suddenly I felt a growing worry that someone or something was waiting just out of view, waiting for the chance to jump out at the four of us before we could do anything about it. I tried to push the thought away, but it kept coming back until I finally had to find something to distract myself. Even having Starry Night around didn’t make me feel any more comfortable with the sense of dread hanging over me, but she did manage to provide me with a distraction. Not on purpose, but it still worked.

A small lamp glowed beside the quiet mare while she sorted out her caps, neatly placing them one on top of the other in neat stacks for some reason. I was sure she had a method behind it, I just couldn’t figure out what exactly it could be; mostly because I was distracted by the designs that marked her body from her neck down to her hooves. Only one was on her head, the tulip just behind her ear, so I started looking through the other patterns, trying to see what they may be. Some of them were just too small to recognize in the flickering light of the lantern, and others seemed to wind into those beside them, making them almost impossible to tell apart. Luckily, many of them were big enough and clear enough for me to make them out, even though I didn’t know what a few were.

What I could pick out was what looked like a star on her left shoulder, and a cluster of clouds just beside that. When she readjusted her left leg, I caught a glimpse of a gun of some kind on part of her chest, and a few inches behind that she had a pair of crossed spears on her belly. They seemed to be very well done, and I wondered how, or where, she got them done. I had never met a pony, or zebra for that matter, with artistic burns like hers. And if I had, they were well hidden, not like the pony tuned canvas I couldn’t seem to look away from. But the strangest part was that I couldn’t see her glyph, or mark, or whatever ponies called them. It wasn’t burned off or covered by a brand either, it just seemed like it wasn’t there. One moment I would swear I saw a bolt of lightning surrounded by chains, and the next it would just be blank purple coat.

“See something you like?”

My eyes tore away from her flank and up to her dim eyes, surprised that she had stopped counting her money without me noticing. I tried to think of something to say, but my mouth just opened and closed a few times before I gave up and looked away.

“You’re a shy one, aren’t you?” the mare asked and pulled my gaze back to her. “That’s fine; I’ve swung with shy mares before.”

My eyes went wide and I quickly shook my head after realizing what she was implying. “No,” I stammered. “I was just looking at your markings.”

“You mean the brands?” she asked and looked over herself for a moment. “And you were just naturally drawn to the ones on my ass?” she slyly probed.

My ears were starting to burn up while an uncomfortable feeling brewed in my gut as I tried to think of how to explain away what I was doing. “It wasn’t that,” I quipped and glanced over to see Sandy and Vulpe staring at me quizzically. “I had already seen the ones on your neck and chest, so I was looking at the other ones.”

“So you were checking me out?”

“No!”

“It’s okay to admit it you know,” she continued with a smirk. “I won’t bi-”

“I just like the designs,” I snapped and hoped my face wasn’t as red as it felt. Why didn’t she believe that I just wanted to look at the brands, not… that!

“Alright, alright,” she conceded. “No need to get so hot headed.”

Behind me, Sandy snickered violently before returning to the toys with Vulpe.

I huffed and looked around awkwardly before realizing that Starry was still staring at me expectantly. “What?”

“You aren’t going to ask about them?” She tilted her head and almost looked confused. “Most ponies tend to do that.”

Well, it looked like that was my chance. “Okay, what do they mean?”

“Most of them are cutiemarks from ponies I worked with or knew well,” she told me plainly. “Some are zebra marks, whatever you call them.”

Since she mentioned it, I did notice a few designs that looked similar to zebra glyphs. “Why did you get cutiemarks and glyphs?”

“To remember them.” She shrugged. “Same reason ponies carry around things that remind them of the ones they love.”

“But you didn’t love all of them?”

“No, but I knew them and watched most of them die. Didn’t feel right to forget about them,” she explained fondly.

That kept the discomfort in my gut brewing. I would have expected mementos of the dead to bring more sadness than anything else. Not a smile. “Doesn’t it hurt to have constant memories of them with you all day?”

“Not really. In the caravan business you get used to losing those you work with.” She still didn’t seem very upset, but she didn’t look happy either. “I just remember the good times I had with them before they died.”

My churning stomach calmed at that. It made sense I guess, but it was still a little odd to think that she was able to filter out the good memories from the bad. I was never able to do that, even though I suddenly found myself wishing I could.

“Hey,” she suddenly spoke up again and rose to her hooves. “If you stick around a little longer, maybe I’ll get one to remember you too,” she told me with a grin.

It was an odd thing to say, but I didn’t think too much of it. Instead I just smiled and nodded, glad that I had apparently made a good impression since meeting her the night before. Especially since I thought she would kill me in my sleep with the way she glared at me and my brother.

Casually, Starry walked over to the door leading down to Bunker and rapped on it sharply. A dimly lit face appeared in the barred window at the center of the door and looked over the mare uncertainly, but didn’t say a word. “Do you mind if I go downstairs to check on my crew for a minute?” she asked the guards politely, which was more than a little odd after how she had been talking to them earlier. Come to think of it, our whole conversation seemed a bit too nice and laidback from how I’d seen her behave during the day.

“Sure, just make it quick,” the stallion behind the door agreed and pulled it wide open for her.

Before I knew what was happening, Starry’s horn lit up violently and blasted two streams of what looked like yellow lightning into the guards’ chests, toppling them instantly. Their bodies limply slumped to the ground of the entrance, one of them cracking his head on the corner of the stairwell.

Vulpe, Sandy and I were on our hooves in an instant, but other than that I didn’t even know what to do. Luckily, the others seemed to figure it out before I did. Sandy pulled her screwdriver from somewhere on her jacket and took up an aggressive stance while Vulpe pinned himself against my legs before I could even tell him to get behind me. Another jolt of magic whipped past my head and coursed through Sandy, sending her into some kind of seizure before I watched her limply fall to the dirt.

I crouched and reached out for my shotgun, but only met the back end of it swinging into my face with a yellow glow. For the second time that day, everything went white and I felt myself fall to the ground while Vulpe squealed and presumably tried to run. The snap of Starry’s magic bit into the air again, but I didn’t feel it hit me. When my vision finally cleared up into splotchy blurriness, I looked over to see the colt squirming violently while spit dribbled from his cheek and into the dirt.

My chest tightened and heaved at the sight before urging me to get up and help him however I could. I wasn’t even sure how, but I had to do something. At the very least I could get him down to Felix; he would know what to do. All I had to do was get up and grab him before our attacker hit me with whatever magic she was using.

I never got that chance.

With another snap of brutal energy, my body felt like it had just burst into flames. My teeth snapped against each other so hard I thought they would crack, my legs went numb and twitched uselessly in the dirt, and my vision flashed more colors than I could ever imagine. And through it all, the only thing I could think about was the convulsing colt only feet away from me and how I couldn’t help him.

Until finally it all went black.

“Just let us go down and get him ourselves then,” Charmer argued and pushed her face as close as she could to the guard captain’s without actually touching her.

The mare who had brought us to Bunker looked a lot different without all her gear on, especially now that her violently green mane hung down almost to her hooves. I’d never seen anyone with such long hair before, and it was a little odd to get used to. I almost wanted to ask why she didn’t get it cut, but decided against it.

“Why would I do that?” she asked and backed up to get away from Charmer. “He’s down there for a reason you know?”

“I get that, but we’ll take him out of town entirely. You’ll never see him again,” Charmer continued. “Isn’t that the point of him being in Death Row in the first place?”

“No, the point is for him to die, if he hasn’t already that is.” The guard pony trotted around to a desk and sat down. “Which I’m almost certain he has. Nobody lasts long down there.”

Charmer growled and stepped up to the desk, continuing her argument on the lines that if he’s presumed dead, then they shouldn’t care if they went down to get him, but I didn’t pay much attention. Instead, my attention was drawn to Tinker walking into the next room with curiosity written across her face.

I quickly turned and followed her, intending to make sure she didn’t wander and get us in trouble like Shayle almost did upstairs. “Where are you going?” I whispered just loud enough for her to hear me.

The filly stopped and turned back to me, only offering a little nod in the direction of the next room before taking a seat and perking her ear up to the barely-open door. I sighed and went to her side, wondering what could possibly have caught her attention.

“… approaching the compound now. Solus, keep an eye on that outhouse.”

Wait, was that Xion? Why was Xion on the radio?

“Why do we care enough to listen to this?” one of the ponies inside the room asked with boredom.

“Quiet,” a high-pitched, feminine voice replied. “This is the good part.”

“He’s coming out now. Minx, do you see him?” an unfamiliar voice asked, someone I could only guess was one of the Scorpions I hadn’t talked to yet.

“Yes, I see him now,” Minx gently replied, seeming to be completely calm wherever they were.

“Take the shot then.”

Everything went silent for a moment, and I barely caught a bit of the conversation behind us going south. Those two really didn’t seem to be getting along. But I didn’t really catch much of it once the radio in the next room crackled to life again.

“He’s down, but they heard it,” Minx announced. “Shit, Rangers in the bar!” She didn’t sound calm anymore.

“Everyone open fire!” Xion ordered through the din of crackling gunfire that had already started up. “Tetrarch, where the fuck are you?”

“No fucking way,” one of the ponies inside declared. “They didn’t actually pick a fight with Rangers, right?”

“Hey, you heard them. They’re just as stupid as -”

“Get away from there!” an angry voice snapped behind us, whipping both of our attentions back to the desk. The guard captain was glaring at us from behind Charmer, who looked just about as mad as the other mare. Only thing was that she looked a bit more threatening since half of her face was gone.

We both stood up and walked back toward the desk before hearing the door behind us get kicked shut. I looked over to Tinker with distaste and got a mouthed apology in return, which I suppose helped a little. Besides, it wasn’t like we were doing anything really bad.

“Now then,” the pony with the long mane turned away from us and glared at Charmer. “What exactly do you need him for? I’m sure plenty of ponies here could help you better than that brute.”

“I doubt that,” my burned friend replied. “Name me one pony here who knows a safe way through the city.”

“Safe way? That’s hilarious,” the other pony snorted. “Have you tried Tailspin? I heard he used to go out there a lot.”

“He already said no,” Charmer explained. “And that leaves Goober.”

“So you’d rather take a psychopath than just risk it yourself?”

“Psychopaths generally know how to survive, so yes.”

Wait, so he was a psycho? Why did she want him with us if she already knew that?

The guard pony grumbled and looked around for a moment before her eyes fell on a pair of old keys that hung from a little hook on her wall. “And you promise he’ll never come back?”

“I can make sure of that,” Charmer agreed, even if it did seem like she was just saying what the other pony wanted to hear.

“Fine, but keep your kids on a leash,” she demanded and looked to Tinker and me with fire in her eyes.

“Don’t worry, I will.”

“Good.” The mare walked around the table and pulled the keys down from the wall. “Follow me.”

We all obeyed and followed her out of the office, my eyes flicking briefly over to the radio room where those guards were listening in on whatever was happening, or had happened, with Minx and the other Scorpions. I wasn’t planning on sneaking over again, that could only end with us being thrown out of town without Goober, but I was still curious about what happened. Maybe I could find out some other time.

The Captain led us down into the main town from her office, where the ponies who had gone outside to shop with Starry Night seemed to have returned. The town wasn’t necessarily bustling anymore, as most of the residents seemed to be creeping off to their shacks, but some still gathered around burning barrels and small meals to chat. It seemed like a friendly enough place right then, but the way the guard upstairs had treated Shayle still kept a bitter taste for it all in my mouth.

“So, do you have a name, or should I just keep calling you ‘guard’?” Charmer suddenly asked the captain who escorted us through town. I pretended to stay interested with the ponies shuffling about around us, but perked my ears to the conversation in hopes of catching the name as well.

“Reverb Blues,” she replied simply. I supposed it made sense considering her little magic show when we first met. And of course it made me wonder how pony’s parents seemed to know exactly what their foals would be good at later in life. Maybe they were just really lucky at guessing, or they changed their names when they figured it out. Either way, it was a little odd.

“Well that explains your attitude,” Charmer poked with a sly grin that showed off the deformed teeth under her scarred cheek.

“Funny.” Reverb held up her hoof to us and stopped walking at a guard who seemed to be standing in no important place; just a random open space somewhere in the town. “These three are going down to get Goober,” she announced and passed the key over to the new guard.

“What?” He seemed surprised.

“Just open it,” she ordered before turning back to us. “Alright, here’s the deal. I’ll give you all until dawn to find him and get back here, that’s about 10 hours from now. If you aren’t back by then, I’m going to assume you died and lock this thing back up. Understood?”

“Perfectly,” Charmer grumbled. “How big is it down there?”

“That depends on how far the Diggers have gotten. I wouldn’t imagine it being too big, but you never know with those damn things.”

“You idiots never killed those off?” She knew what they were?

“And waste a perfectly good execution method? No.” Reverb almost sounded proud of that decision, and I had a feeling she may have been the one to make that call in the first place.

“Of course, how silly of me.” Charmer stepped up to a large gate in the floor and waited for the guard to finish unlocking it, a task he seemed to be having problems with. “Wanna hurry up?” she asked angrily. “You’re wasting my time here.”

The lock finally clicked open, and the guard swung up the gate which covered a somewhat deep, very poorly lit hole in the ground. And of course it looked like it split off in two directions, which made me wonder how we could possibly figure out where Goober was, if he was even alive. I just hoped it didn’t mean us splitting up.

One at a time, we all jumped into the hole, starting with Charmer. I was glad she went first, because if she hadn’t caught me and Tinker I doubted we would have had a very comfortable landing. The hole smelled like rotten meat and something else, but I couldn’t put my hoof on whatever it was. It was familiar though.

“Remember, 10 hours,” Reverb called down to us before swinging the gate shut with a loud clang that echoed through the tunnels.

Something deeper in answered it with a long, chittering screech that sent a shiver up my legs.

“What was that?” Tinker asked in a high pitched stutter and took a step closer to me.

“A Digger,” Charmer replied calmly. “Don’t worry about them, they’re harmless as long as you stay away from the nests and their food.”

“What are they exactly?” I asked with a cocked brow that I doubted she could see very well.

“I don’t know what they used to be, but now they’re very big and look like something from Tartarus.” She started walking and continued. “They’re also very annoying if they get chatty while you’re trying to sleep.”

“So, they’ve been here a while then?” Tinker quickly asked and followed along behind her, staying at my side while her head darted back and forth nervously.

“Ever since me and Mamma moved in way back when I was a filly,” she explained. “I thought they would be gone by now though.”

“And, you’re sure they’re harmless?” the frightened filly beside me squeaked after a quick clicking from a small hole in the wall.

“They were when I was here, but things change.” That was comforting. So comforting that I took a step closer to Tinker and sped us up to stay closer behind Charmer. “Don’t worry, I doubt they’ve gotten aggressive. Just stay away from anywhere you see a big group of them.”

As if one of them knew we were talking about it, a bundle of chitin and legs scuttled from a hole that filled most of the hallway ahead of us. I couldn’t even begin to describe what it was, or what it might have been at one point, but Charmer’s description of where it may be from was dead on. Along with a pair of legs on either side of its body, the monster boasted a pair of massive, shielded forearms and a head that was covered in more jaws than I cared to count. No matter what the green pony ahead of me said, it did not look harmless at all.

Tinker squealed and pressed hard into my side, which would have knocked me over if my legs weren’t locked into the ground from the sight of the me-sized thing. But it never charged like I thought it would, instead it just stared at us, tilting its head from side to side while a long pair of antennae folded forward and probed the air around us. Even Charmer didn’t move at all; not to look back at us, or reach for the rifle that…

Wasn’t there. Because the guards upstairs didn’t think to give us our guns back. How did they expect us to defend ourselves from these things if we didn’t even have weapons? What were they thinking?

What was I supposed to do if Charmer was wrong about them?

Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about it just yet. The creature stopped probing toward us with the whip-like antenna on its head and lowered itself back into the hole it came from; apparently deciding we weren’t food, or intruders, or whatever it thought we were at first.

“See?” Charmer proudly stated and looked back at us. “Harmless.”

Quivering, Tinker didn’t seem convinced yet.

* * *

I don’t know how much time had passed since we jumped down into Death Row, it seemed even harder to tell underground than it usually was on the surface, not that it was easy there either. I didn’t even know how far we had gone since everything seemed to meld together in the stone tunnel that was only scarcely lit by a few magical lamps hung every so often. Most of it was constantly bathed in darkness, with small bubbles of light that only served to keep us on the main track.

We passed countless side tunnels, most of which were bored straight down or off in strange angles through the walls. All of them clicked with the chatter of Diggers who were just out of sight, and each time it sent my heart racing from the fear of one jumping out at us after deciding we were food. Thankfully, that never happened, and we continued onward un-assaulted by the insects.

None of us had said a word since our first encounter with one of the bugs, which was something I had gotten used to after spending countless silent hours trotting around the Wasteland ever since my sister had dragged us away from home. The question of whether we would ever go back niggled at the back of my mind suddenly, and I found myself worrying about Dad, wherever he was. I didn’t know where the Remnant took prisoners or why they would have taken him, but I started thinking of how to bring it up to Shayle. I had tried not to think about it since we left, which wasn’t too hard with everything that happened since then, but in the monotonous tunnels of Death Row my mind ran free and trekked back to the day we left.

It had been so sudden, and didn’t make a lot of sense then, and made even less sense now. Dad was only a trader, a shop owner back home who didn’t have much chance to do anything illegal with a business to run and two kids to care for, so what could he have done? And how did I not get woken up by the soldiers showing up to take him away? My father wouldn’t have gone without making some kind of noise, or at least wanting to say goodbye to us, but he hadn’t even tried. Or maybe he had and just didn’t want to wake me. I wasn’t completely sure, and that filled me with the sudden need to know why it had happened.

I was whipped back out of my thoughts when my nose squished into Charmer’s hip, eliciting a surprised squeal from the mare and a swift, instinctive kick into my ribs. I stumbled back into Tinker, who screamed in surprise. I spun around to look at her, and saw the filly curling onto the ground and shaking like a leaf.

“Sorry,” I whispered to her softly and bent down to help her up.

“Please don’t do that again, I thought you were one of those things,” she squeaked and accepted my hoof to get up, her voice cracking more than once. I almost wanted to ask why she thought I was a Digger, but decided not to press it when Charmer cleared her throat behind me with annoyance.

“We’ve got company,” she hissed and looked forward.

I followed her gaze down the tunnel to the next ball of light cast from a lantern, and my heart started racing at the sight of a twitching pony laying on the stone. “Is that him?” I asked softly and stepped up to Charmer’s side. I really hoped it was, because I was tired of that tunnel.

“No, wrong colors,” she explained and started creeping forward. “We should still check on them.”

I nodded in agreement and followed the pony’s lead, walking forward as quietly as I could until we were within a few feet of the spasming body. Despite what I thought before, the pony didn’t seem to be having a seizure or be in pain at all, instead it looked more like she was being shaken by some unseen force. Her eyes were shut and seemed to have been leaking blood recently, which made me think she must have been dead. That and the fact that her lower jaw was unhinged and a pool of crusty blood under her head.

“Well, let’s keep going then,” Charmer announced and stepped over the body to continue onward. I nodded and walked around the body that still shook violently, partly curious about what was causing it, but mostly intent on not finding out. Tinker seemed to share that sentiment, and gave the body a wide berth while still trying to stay close to me and Charmer.

Suddenly, a gory crack echoed from the body and froze me and Charmer in our tracks, while Tinker sprinted off to get behind us. I put my tail over her withers and stared at the body, hoping it had just been all of our imaginations. It wasn’t.

The belly caved in and tore violently, spilling a mix of liquefied guts and the most rotten smell I’d ever experienced before a wriggling form slid out into the mess of gore. It looked like a hoof-sized maggot, but had the beginnings of legs hanging limply on either side of its body. But I didn’t stick around long enough to find out. All three of us spun on our hooves and trotted further into the tunnel with new purpose; to get far away from whatever just happened as fast as we could.

Sadly, we didn’t get far before all three of us stopped in front of a wall of…something, that blocked the tunnel. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear it was made of bones and slimy dirt. Beyond it, I could hear a lot of chittering and crunching sounds, and really didn’t want to think about what it probably was.

“Well, we have to go through it,” Charmer declared and looked it over for a few minutes, poking at random spots and sometimes kicking it.

I really didn’t agree with her. Was finding Goober worth going through whatever congregation of monsters waited on the otherside? Apparently it was to her, but I definitely just wanted to turn around and find another way. She said she had a few friends around the city, and trying to break one out of that place hardly seemed as simple as just finding another one.

With a swift kick on a particularly slimy bit of wall, the bones and dirt crunched inward and revealed a hole with faint light glowing on the other side. “Let’s get this over with,” Charmer said unsurely and crawled into the passage she made.

I grumbled about how bad an idea that was, but still followed, deciding it was better to just get it done and leave as quick as we could. With any luck, Goober was in the barricaded area so we could just turn around.

The wall was blocking off a rather large chamber that split off in almost every direction with Digger tunnels ranging from the size of my head, to almost being Charmer’s height. The center of the room was dominated by a mass of what I could easily call rotting meat from the smell, and more bones than I could count. The clattery sounds of Diggers filled the entire room, though I couldn’t see a single one of them actually in the chamber with us. There was one light on a wall, but it was almost entirely covered up with the nasty gunk we had just crawled through.

And on the ground near it was a large pony covered in cuts and bleeding profusely from his mouth. But even with that, I could see his chest rising steadily with each labored breath he took. He was actually alive. We all ran over to him once Charmer started, her face contorted into a mask of worry. It had to be Goober.

Charmer skid to a stop and started shaking the stallion roughly, her voice flat and strained. “Goober, get up.”

Surprisingly, the stallion actually did awake, and instantly slammed his hoof into Charmer’s ear. The mare reeled and fell to the ground, clamping her hoof over the boxed ear while she grumbled and squeaked in pain. Meanwhile, Goober jumped up and looked around frantically before spitting a wad of bloody spittle at his hooves. His eyes narrowed at me and Tinker, and the large pony started toward us brutally.

“Goober, stop you idiot!” Charmer kicked out her hoof and tripped the other pony while still gnashing her teeth in pain.

Goober rolled back to his hooves and looked down to Charmer with fire in his eyes, but it almost instantly extinguished. “Charm?” His voice gurgled with the sound of blood still coating his throat, and the stallion quickly hacked to spit up another glob of red gunk. But I was stuck on wondering how he could recognize her so quickly, especially since I could only assume they hadn’t seen each other since she was a filly.

“Yes, you idiot,” she growled and finally stood up, though her ear did twitch every few seconds.

“Holy shit, you’ve grown,” the stallion coughed and stepped toward her. “How’s Ma?”

“She’s dead,” Charmer explained flatly. “But we can catch up later, it’s time to go.”

“Go where?” he asked, seeming to be a little put off by the snappiness of Charmer’s command. “Nobody leaves this place, you know that.”

“We have an arrangement with Captain Reverb…”

“Bitch,” Goober interjected without hesitation.

Charmer grumbled and continued. “We have an arrangement to take you with us. So let’s go.”

“Not the same shy little girl I see,” the stallion joked and shook his head. “Whatever, let’s go then.”

“Are you sure, I can take a look at him first,” I suggested and pointed at the blood. “Just to make sure.”

“Do it when we get out of this fucking town,” Goober demanded. “It’s just a little blood.”

I sighed, but agreed with a shrug. Hopefully he wasn’t as bad as he looked and could make it that far.

Before we could even turn around to leave, Tinker squealed and back peddled into me. I spun and looked at the wall we came through, only to see a trio of Diggers crawling over it and trying to repair the hole with some kind of slime they spat out. And now the wall was even more disgusting than it originally seemed.

“Damnit, shoot them,” Goober shouted and turned to Charmer, who just shrugged.

“Reverb didn’t give our guns back,” she explained and grabbed a bone from the pile of decomposing bodies. Gross.

The mare charged forward, and Goober followed suit, holding a large rock in a shroud of orange magic. I grumbled and swept up a rock in my tail before running after the two, and not really surprised that Tinker didn’t join in.

Before any of us made it to the wall, Goober launched the rock from his magic, smashing the head of one bug into the wall and instantly earning the attention of the other two. The massive insects screamed toward us, each one folding their antennae and opening a wicked pair of jaws that almost stopped me in my tracks. Instead, I flung my tail forward and watched the rock smack into the armored hide of one bug, not even slowing it down. I looked around for another and hoped the next time I would have better aim.

Charmer slammed headlong into the first, largest bug and jammed the bone deep into its mouth. Even then, the monster bowled over her and slammed the pony on her back before snapping the bone in its jaws and started at her face.

Goober tackled the other, adding the power of his magic to his own brute strength to tear off each of the monster’s legs. I didn’t see what happened after that because I charged at the bug pinning Charmer. It had already cut her pretty good with a few bites, but so far hadn’t done any major damage by the time I reached them. I put all of my weight into one of the legs, and shivered at the feeling of the appendage snapping off against my side before I rammed into the Digger’s abdomen. Instantly, it stopped and spun to me, and slapped me in the face with one of its massive forelegs. I fell back and kicked out just to be sure it wasn’t trying to mount me, and was glad I did when my hoof plunged into one of its clusters of eyes with a gooey squish.

The thing backed up before charging again, this time right at me. Before it could get to me, another bug’s shielded foreleg swatted it to the side and sent its head rolling, much to my relief. And horror, because now another one was right behind me. At least I thought that until I tilted my head back and saw Goober throwing the leg across the room with his magic.

“Nice kick, kid,” the stallion complimented and lifted me up in a tingly orange glow. “But next time don’t get knocked down.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” I commented and brushed a glob of bug guts from my chest.

Charmer walked up to us with Tinker close behind and looked around. “How about we leave before more come?” she suggested and started for the wall before anyone protested, not that any of us were going to.

Now we just had to stomach the sight of that blood coated maggot again, and hope we didn’t run into anther bug before getting out of that nightmare of a tunnel.

* * *

It wasn’t hard to know when we were almost back to Bunker, even with the tunnels all looking alike, because the look of the tunnel had nothing to do with us figuring it out. After walking for what felt like too long, we started to hear a soft ringing sound that came and went every few seconds. At first, I thought it was just my imagination, that I was just hearing things after going so long not hearing anything while we silently walked through Death Row, but soon enough, I saw Tinker looking around for the source of some sound.

“What is that?” I finally asked once it was almost as loud as my voice.

“Sounds like alarms,” Charmer suggested. “But I don’t know why they would be blasting alarms unless something was happening.”

“It’s the attack alarm,” Goober added in. “It means someone is either trying to get into Bunker, or they already are.”

“What?” I almost shouted and took off running, ignoring Tinker’s calls behind me. If they were trying to get into town, then Shayle was in trouble, or worse. They were right outside the gatehouse, there was no way they would have gotten away from whatever happened unless the guards let them in. That didn’t seem very likely after how Shayle was treated earlier.

“Felix!” I heard Charmer shout behind me right before I was lifted off the ground in a mist of magic. “Slow down, we don’t know what we’ll run in to.”

“I just need to check on Shayle,” I told her and thrashed to get out of the magic field, but it was useless. I just floated there, lashing out at nothing.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Charmer tried to assure me, “Starry probably got her and the others away before anything happened.”

“Starry?” Goober suddenly asked. I found it odd that he’d ask about her and not Shayle, but oh well.

“Yeah, a trader we ran into the other day,” Charmer explained. “Please put him down.”

Goober seemed to hesitate, but put me down soon enough and looked down the tunnel. “So do we wait for them to stop, or go check on it?” he asked, putting more inflection on waiting than going to see what was happening.

“Might as well.” Charmer looked over to me and gave me a strange look. “Besides, I doubt we would be able to keep him here for too long.”

“Oh, I bet I could,” Goober pointed out. “But if you say so.”

To my relief, we all continued toward Bunker while worry and fear built up in my chest, putting my heart in a vice that only made it pump faster. Every worst case flashed through my head. Maybe Shayle got kidnapped by slavers. Maybe they were already killed by the attackers. Maybe the guards decided to kill her and said she attacked the town. Every one of them seemed just as likely as the last, no matter how hard I tried to argue that none of them were true. One of them had to be, because Shayle wasn’t lucky enough to escape some kind of injury if a fight broke out.

“You okay?” Tinker asked me quietly while we walked, trying to keep it only between the two of us.

“No,” I told her quietly and looked over at the two grown ponies a few feet away. I doubted they could hear our whispers with how loud the alarms were getting, but I didn’t want them to listen in on us regardless.

“She’ll be okay,” Tinker tried to assure me. “You’ll see, it was probably just a scare with some Raiders.”

“I don’t know,” I disagreed. “Why are the alarms still going off if it was just a scare?”

She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again and looked down at her hooves. “I don’t know. Just, try to hope for it, okay?”

I already was, but it was still a good thing to remember. Especially with the bad thoughts of everything that could have happened starting to take over every bit of my thoughts. I still had some hope that Goober was wrong, or that it was a test, but those thoughts weren’t even close to winning out over the bad.

Finally, I just said, “I’ll try,” and fell silent again. The filly nudged my neck with her nose, trying to calm me down, but it didn’t work. I appreciated the effort, but it was my sister. It wasn’t just a random townspony, it was my sister that might be in trouble.

Or worse.

When we finally reached the gated passage up to Bunker, I didn’t quite feel the relief I hoped to when we first left to find Goober. I originally thought it would be an amazing sight, and even thought that after we heard the alarms and I started my minor freak out about Shayle, but it wasn’t. Despite knowing that I would be able to find out what happened soon, I just got more worried. I almost didn’t want to know, I just wanted them to say if Shayle was okay or not. I didn’t want details, but at the same time I did. I wanted to know everything, but part of me screamed not to ask about anything.

“Hey, open up!” Charmer shouted over the alarms overhead once she was under the light from town.

Nobody came to the gate.

“Open the fucking gate, you twats,” Goober shouted up after her. His voice was much more demanding, and louder.

Finally, a rather cute mare looked over the edge and down at us with a shotgun floating beside her. “Oh, it’s you,” she shouted down, trying to be heard over the still-blaring alarms. “You’re gonna have to wait. We’ve got a problem.” My chest tightened.

“What kind of problem?” Goober asked roughly, apparently deciding to be the new spokesman until the alarms turned off.

“The possible intruder kind,” the petite mare replied. “That trader and the others with her outside disappeared, and the guards were knocked out,” she explained. “So you have to stay here until-”

I stopped listening around that point. Not on purpose, I actually wanted to know everything I could about the situation, but my curiosity lost the fight in an instant. Instead, my fears and worries took over and flooded out everything, only leaving me with the muffled sound of sirens and the same phrase repeated over and over.

She disappeared.

My heart raced, my teeth clenched, and I could hardly feel it when Tinker leaned into me and tried to embrace me. But I didn’t want a hug, I didn’t want her to try and make me feel better. I didn’t care about that. I just wanted my sister to be okay.

She disappeared.

I didn’t even think about the others. I didn’t know them like I knew my sister. I mean, two of the three others were complete strangers I had only met a day ago, and Vulpe was just a kid we took with us after Caesar’s Stand. She was closer to him than I was, and the same went for Sandy. But her… she was family. She took care of me when I was sick, she charged into battle when I cowered, and she got hurt for it more than I ever had been. Yes, she was a bit of a mule when it came to me and fillies, but that was just one thing.

She did so much more good for me than bad.

But suddenly…

She disappeared.

My body burned when I finally woke up again. I didn’t remember what I dreamed about, or if I had at all, all I could remember was how much everything burned while I slept. My teeth ached, my ears rang, and above everything else my heart felt like it was about to explode. I hadn’t even opened my eyes yet, and I didn’t want to. The light would only make them burn even more than they already did.

“M-mom,” I heard a soft voice moan, and for a moment almost didn’t recognize it.

When I realized it was Vulpe, my eyes shot open, and of course burned even more when the dim light of a fire bit into them. I blinked again and again while looking around for Vulpe, knowing that he didn’t call for me, but still worried about what happened to him. When I finally saw him, my panic subsided a little bit, but not nearly all the way. The colt seemed to be just waking up, along with the Stable pony who was lying a few feet to his side. She seemed the least bothered by whatever had happened to us, but…

What did happen to us? All I remembered was a flash of light, searing pain, and Vulpe’s squeals as lightning coursed over his body. Why was lightning on him?

“Good, you’re all up,” a wicked voice stated from somewhere behind me. “I was starting to worry that the sun would come up before you did.”

It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Was it Minx? No, it was a little too high pitched for her. Seer? No, she was dead. I put a hoof on my head and rubbed it like it would somehow knock the memories back into place, but of course it didn’t. I could hardly remember anything, and I had a feeling that I really needed to remember what happened.

“Well, since you’re all being so quiet, I’ll start,” the voice said again, finally making me turn around to see who it was.

Starry Night.

The name came back to me as soon as I saw the brands covering her body, which were glowing violently in the firelight. It looked like her body was covered in ancient burning script, and only leant to the horrifying image of everything she did racing back to me just from looking upon her.

She had shocked the guards. Then she shocked us without warning. She had seemed so happy, so nice, and suddenly she was electrocuting everyone in sight with a smile still firmly on her lips. Now, her horn glowed a venomous yellow, and her eyes flickered with the flames dancing between the two of us.

“We’re all going to play a game of Hide and Seek,” she started explaining while a strange rage built in my chest. “You three have ten minutes to go hide wherever you want, then I’m going to try and find you.” The unicorn levitated the blocky rifle from behind her. “I suggest the town down that hill behind me. It has a lot of places to hide, and no ponies to ruin our game.”

She was insane, absolutely insane.

“Sandy?” I looked back over to Sandy and saw her wobbling a little with some bits of vomit stuck in the coat of her chin.

Starry sighed angrily. “I’m not explaining it again, so if you’re asking what I’m talking about, ask your zebra friend,” she told the Stable pony with an irritated glare. “So, any questions Shayle?”

I didn’t expect her to ask me anything, so I froze. It took a few seconds to decipher what she had asked me due to my still buzzing head, but once I figured it out I quickly started thinking of something, anything to ask that might help.

“Uh, what happens if you find us?” I quickly asked even though I was certain I already knew.

“Well, that depends on my mood when I find you, but it won’t be good for you at all,” she told me with a sick grin. “Anything else?”

“Do we get weapons?”

“Yes. Your guns are all hidden in the town down there,” she told me and pointed down the hill. “If you can find them, you can use them. I can’t make it too easy.” She chuckled and spun her rifle around like a baton in her magic, obviously enjoying her little game much more than anyone should. “One more question, then we start.” Something seemed different about her, like she had completely changed into a different pony from the mare I spent the night selling goods to. Everything she said sounded like a laugh, and I don’t think she had stopped smiling once, even when she was scolding Sandy.

I thought hard, trying to think of something to ask that would maybe stop her or give us extra time. I didn’t bother to ask why she was doing that to us, because I doubted the answer would make me feel any better or help me at all. She was still going to hunt us like animals in that town. So, I just asked her something random.

“How long do you have to find us?”

“Until one of us wins, of course,” she answered enthusiastically. “But I have to warn you, I’m the Wasteland Grand Champion of Hide and Seek.” She giggled frantically and spun the rifle around one more time before jumping on top of the fire and putting it out with her magic after getting a few burns on her hooves. “Ready?”

No, I wasn’t.

“Go!”

Footnote:
Felix leveled up! (Melee 30, Unarmed 20)

Author’s Note:
Like with every chapter, I would like to thank Kkat for creating the Fallout: Equestria universe that so many of us love so much, and is just way too fun to play around in. I’d also like to thank and offer my support to anyone out there who is writing or has written a story in this wonderful universe that gets bigger and bigger every day, and for continuing to provide nearly endless reading for me and many others. Keep up the good work.
And I would like to thank everyone who reads this story, even through the way too long breaks between chapters and me constantly promising to get them out sooner, even though I never do. I can’t thank you all enough for sticking with me through it all, and only hope that I can keep this story up to a readable standard for all of you wonderful people.
So thank you all, and as tradition mandates, I’m going to say yet again that I’m going to try my best not to have a huge gap between now and the next chapter.

Chapter 4: Home

Chapter 4: Home
“This one speaks ‘Hello’, and this one ‘Welcome’.”

Strike had been right about Doc, she did allow us to stay for a small fee, only 10 caps. I was slightly surprised that she made the cost so low, especially after the 100 cap fee to fix me up that morning. She took our caps with a smile and showed us to our beds, which were actually two of the operating tables. Her only warning was that late-night patients took priority over us and that she’d happily flip the bed over if we didn’t move on our own. Felix took that as a joke and laughed it off, but I didn’t doubt that the filly was serious.

They weren’t the most comfortable beds ever, but at least the little pony was kind enough to provide us with her own blankets, a pair of nicely sewn quilts which seemed much too nice to be in the Wasteland. The filly took to sleeping with a ragged and torn curtain that she pulled from the wall, and didn’t seem to have any issue with that. I thought of questioning her, but a small amount of stitching on the center of the blanket stopped me. I couldn’t read it myself, but Felix whispered what it said to me: ‘Little gifts are the biggest to those who need them’.

I didn’t completely understand it, but it seemed like something important to Little Doc. And I wasn’t about to turn away the offer of a warm night’s sleep for however long we stayed, even if it meant the filly was cold. She didn’t seem to care as she trotted to her own room and closed the door behind her without a second look to us.

That was night number one of our stay, and the first sleep that Felix and I had gotten since the day before we left home. Well, the first sleep I had gotten, but the few hours Felix had been running on couldn’t really count as true sleep. Apparently we ended up sleeping a little too late, because I found myself waking up with a face full of dirt after a short drop from the table.

“That’s long enough, I might have patients soon,” Little Doc told me with a smirk, obviously proud of herself. Strangely, she didn’t wake Felix the same way, and instead nudged him with a hoof to end his sleeping. Not fair, not fair at all.

Because I was curious and suspicious, and because I was his big sister, I decided to ask Felix about it once we left the clinic to begin our preparations to leave. “So…what did you two do yesterday while I was gone?”

“You want the short version right?” he asked me knowingly. I nodded. “I saw her books on medicine and stuff, and she offered to teach me a few things if I wanted.”

“And what did you learn?”

“How to stop bleeding from gunshots, how to set broken bones, and we started on stitching,” he listed off enthusiastically. “Then we just talked until you got back.”

I looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. “Talked about what?”

“Just…you know, things,” he replied nervously, looking away from me to the nearest shop. “Oh, food! We should get that first, so we don’t forget.” He looked back to me with a big, cheesy smile. He was horrible at hiding things, but I’d figure it out, it was on my mental checklist! I couldn’t forget about it then.

“You go ahead.” I pulled out our pouch of caps and placed it in his bag. “I need to talk to Charmer; she said something about a job. Just don’t spend all of it on food,” I recommended with a smile and a quick hug.

He looked back at me with a small frown. “Another dangerous one?”

“No, I don’t even need a gun.” I hoped I wouldn’t need a gun.

“Well, okay, just hurry back.” He still looked worried, even with my assurance of safety. I guess I couldn’t blame him. We’d only been out in the world for one day and I’d already been chewed on by a ghoul, shot by Strike, mauled by Charmer, nearly strangled by a giant snake, and shot at again by bandits. If that was just one day, I wasn’t looking forward to what would happen until we finally reached wherever we decided to settle down. I hoped that the answer was ‘nothing’, but somehow I doubted it.

I nudged him with a smile before trotting off to Charmer’s shack, hoping she hadn’t left before I woke up. Three quick knocks and the door…fell into the house.

Charmer’s face greeted me from across the room with a shocked look. “Um...Sorry,” I said while looking between her and the fallen door.

“It’s okay…happens sometimes.” She lifted the door back into place, and I heard her hooves smacking along one side as she tried to reattach it to the hinges. Once she was done, the door swung open and she peeked out as if I had never knocked it over. “So, what’s going on?”

“Do you still want help with the snakes?” I asked cautiously, wondering if she was still upset about the meat argument from the night before.

“Already fed them,” she told me with a small frown. “Sorry.”

I frowned too. “No, it’s fine.” I scratched my neck with a hoof as we stared awkwardly at each other.

“Shayle, I’m sorry about last night,” she mumbled after a few seconds.

“Don’t be, I didn’t know about the ‘no meat’ thing around here. My fault,” I told her, even if I didn’t actually think it was my fault. But I didn’t want one of the few ponies that was nice to me to hate me. The mare smiled and nodded. Awkward moment over, back to normal Charmer…or, what I thought was normal Charmer after one day with her.

* * *

During the few minutes I was gone, apparently Felix had run into Strike again. Apparently another effect of the small town was that it wasn’t hard for the ponies there to spot us since we were the only two zebras around. The horned-pony had apparently gone looking for us to see if we needed any help getting ready to go, and was with Felix at the same food shack I left him at. The pony was pointing out which foods were best for travelling, and which ones we should leave alone.

“If it’s closed up, like this box of Apple Bombs, take it. It’ll last longer than opened food, and won’t get wet if it rains,” he told my brother, pointing out the cereal and levitating it over to them.

The two paid me no mind when I trotted up behind them, listening in just in case we needed to restock between Shanty and wherever we ended up. He was pretty smart about this stuff for a pony that was settled down, and I had a suspicion that he might be more experienced in travelling than I first thought.

“Also, you should smell everything you pick out. If it is really strong, don’t take it. Critters will smell it, and you don’t want a pack of Rottwoods coming down on ya’ while you sleep.” That was something I never thought of, even if I had no idea what a ‘Rottwood’ was.

“What are those?” Felix asked, looking up to the pony with a confused stare.

“Trust me, you’ll know them when ya’ see them,” he offered, waving his hoof dismissively. That wasn’t particularly helpful, but it definitely made me want to avoid whatever the mystery creature was. Something that would be easier if I knew what to look for!

Felix caught me from the corner of his eye and turned with a smile. “Already done?”

“Yeah, she went while we slept,” I told him with a grin.

Strike turned to me and nodded. “Mornin’, Shayle.”

“Good morning.” I didn’t know if it was actually still morning with how much I’d slept, and the constant grey curtain overhead didn’t do much to help with telling the time in the Wasteland, so I just took the pony’s word that it was still in the early hours.

The stallion turned back to Felix. “So, know what you’re gonna buy?” My brother smiled and nodded, looking confident that he could get us all the food we would need. “Great.” Strike turned back to me. “While he does that, you should come with me to get a gun, you’ll need it.”

I nodded and nervously followed the pony across town to a small shack behind the mayor’s house. I'll admit, I was a little scared about carrying a gun around again, mostly because I thought I might lose it and then we'd be defenseless. But aside from that, I was just worried that I still didn't know how to use one, at least not well. I hadn't even thought about it when I took Father's and ran off with it in the middle of the night, I was just so dedicated to protecting me and my brother outside town that I never thought about how much good it would do me. Sure, I knew how to load it and pull the trigger from watching Felix's lessons, but I had still never even used one before.

When we arrived, a single guard was stationed outside the shed, his back laden with a strange contraption that held a shotgun on one side and a long rifle on the other. I stared at the guns curiously for a few seconds while Strike talked with the guard, explaining that I was leaving and needed something to protect myself that wasn't my own hooves.

Hesitantly the guard let us pass, but still followed us into the shed, presumably to keep an eye on me. I could see why once we were inside; the walls of the shack were completely covered in guns and ammo of all kinds. Most were rusted and old, but still looked maintained well enough to shoot, while a few at the far end of the shed looked newer than the box I assumed they came in. Of course my eyes were drawn to these superior weapons, even though I knew my tiny assortment of caps could never hope to put one of those in my hooves. I reluctantly pulled my gaze away from the pristine guns and back to those which might fit in my budget, looking over them to figure out the one I wanted. Unfortunately, none looked like the old revolver I had lost in the sewer, so I wasn't even sure if I knew how to use any of them.

A tall grey stallion sat in the corner looking over an old revolver, almost twice the size of my old one, in his hooves. Much of his coat was missing, along with all but a few hairs from his mane and tail. His cutiemark was among these patches of missing hair, but the backside of a pair of bullets could be seen just at the edge of the missing patch. The buck wore a loose leather vest to cover much of his patchy coat, but it was almost more battered than his own body. He looked over to us with milky eyes, the orbs completely devoid of color.

“Who might be visiting me today?” the old pony asked in a raspy voice, sounding more like rocks on a chalkboard than a pony talking.

“Good to see ya’ again Load,” Strike said soothingly from beside me.

“Oh, Strike my boy! So great to hear you again.” Did he just say ‘hear’ instead of ‘see’? “You don’t come by nearly enough. What, you don’t shoot anymore?”

The horned-pony beside me chuckled and shook his head at the old stallion. “Not nearly as much as I used to.”

“Well, what brings you in here then?” Load asked, standing and walking along the wall, knocking one hoof against the steel molding while he moved across the store.

“A traveler stopped by yesterday, she needs a new gun,” he explained.

“Ah, the zebra girl?”

Um, yes, I’m standing right there. Couldn’t he see that I was a zebra?

“That’s right,” Strike replied, looking over the wall of guns as he spoke.

“So, what’s her strong point?” Strong point?

“She’s fast, but not very patient.” Strike looked at me with a smug smile.

“So no rifles then.” Aw, but the one with the telescope thing on top looked so cool! “And not a revolver either, too long of a reload for your trigger happy tongue.” The buck spoke as if he knew me personally and had seen me shoot. It creeped me out, but at the same time, I was curious about what made him think I was trigger happy. I was not! “How does an SMG sound my striped friend?”

I didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded good, I’ll take it. “I would say a pistol Load, she’s not experienced enough for that.” Oh come on!

“Ah, just a little filly.” No, no, no! I huffed and snapped my tail impatiently. Why couldn’t I just choose my own gun? The old stallion chuckled. “You’re right, definitely a pistol for her.” Load ran his nose across the wall, bumping it against each gun until he stopped and lifted one from the pegs holding it up. “Try this one.”

The old pony sat down and held the gun he chose in his hooves for us to see. It was pretty small, barely bigger than my hoof and definitely smaller than the one Strike had leant to me the day before. The metal looked a little worn and had several scars across the slide and grip, but other than that it was clean and free of rust. It couldn’t have held more than seven bullets at a time with how small it was, and those would be small bullets too, but the thing that really caught my eye about it was the strange shape of the barrel. It jutted almost two inches from the body, and was almost as big around as the rest of the gun, with a few small dents in a line down each side.

“Nothing special, but I think it might work well for you little filly.” Load spoke as if magic had chosen the gun for me rather than his nose. “It’s a .22, so don’t plan on killing Hellhounds with it, but it will be perfect for raiders and bandits. Quiet too, for those times you don’t want to be seen.”

He did make the gun sound pretty good, and I didn’t know what a Hellhound was, but the name made me want to avoid them. The assurance that it would drop any bandits or raiders that messed with us was enough for me, and I grinned happily at the gun being held in the old pony’s hooves. “How much?” I asked.

“For you? Fifty caps, and I’ll throw in three magazines of ammo and a hoof holster.” That sounded good to me! It left us with, um…100, take out ten for last night in the clinic was 90, take out 50 was 40. So, 40 caps to buy food, unless we stayed another night. 30 caps to buy food. Yes, I can do simple math, Felix taught me!

I looked up to Strike. “How much will the food cost?”

“Not as much as you’re thinkin’,” he replied with a grin. Oh thank Caesar.

“So young one?” the buck asked again, still holding the gun out to me.

Stop calling me young! “I’ll take it,” I replied happily. Hopefully I wouldn’t lose it this time.

* * *

“What do you mean we’re out of caps?” I snapped.

So it turns out the math I did to figure out how many caps we would have was absolutely correct, but left out one little detail; Felix. I found him still looking over food at the shack where we had left him, apparently making sure we got the most we could for the money we had, and took 50 of our caps to buy the gun, ammo, and holster from Load. That was easy, and left him with 40 caps to buy food and pay Doc for one more night in her clinic. Once I had the gun and it was securely attached to my foreleg (plus a lesson from Strike on how to draw it properly and maintain it), I returned to the food shack. Felix wasn’t there anymore, so I made a guess and went to the clinic.

He was there waiting for us, and chatting away happily with Doc, who was giggling like a schoolfilly when I walked in. Of course that should have been a given considering she probably belonged in school, but now I really wanted to know what they talked about while I was gone. I thanked her for letting us stay another night, and to my surprise she asked for the 10 caps for our fee. I thought Felix would have paid that by that point, but I still turned to him with a smile and asked him to pay her.

And that brings us back to “What do you mean we’re out of caps?”

He winced and shrank back a little. “Well…I bought enough food for a week for most of it…and spent the rest on medical supplies from Doc,” the colt explained, sounding a little nervous.

“We don’t have enough to stay here?” I asked him again, as if I had misunderstood his explanation. “Where are we going to sleep?”

“Felix can stay for free if he wants,” Doc purred.

No.

“No,” I stated flatly. I could see Felix frown a little in the corner of my eye. At least now I had an idea what they may have been discussing while I was away. “Unless you have a better plan, I guess we should leave,” I said to the younger zebra. It made sense to me, we had everything we needed, and it was early enough that we could make it a good ways toward…somewhere I still needed to ask Mayor Scroll about.

“But…we just got here,” Felix groaned. “Why can’t we stay a while?”

“Because this isn’t home,” I told him.

“I know, we ran away from there, remember?” he chided. Was he…upset about that?

“Of course I remember,” I said softly, trying to calm him down. “But we need to live with other zebras.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re zebras. You don’t see any other zebras living with ponies, do you?” I asked in an irritated tone, waving out toward the town.

“So, that doesn’t mean we can’t.” The colt had moved closer to me, standing on the tips of his hooves to get as close to my face as he could.

“Felix! This isn’t up for debate,” I shouted. I had almost never done that before, shouting at my own brother, or even ordering him around. When we left I never needed to, he was too tired to argue, and my own urgency made my request sound important. But now, it was different. I don’t know why he was so intent on staying in Shanty, or why he was so mad about us leaving. Maybe he just really liked Doc that much? No, it had only been one day, he was probably just upset because he wasn’t used to travelling. I wasn’t either, but I was still on the high from being free.

My yell is what finally ended the debate, and my little brother huffed before turning and getting his bag. Strike was staring at me like I was some kind of monster and shook his head slowly before turning and leaving without a word. Doc was stuck somewhere between frowning and burning a hole in my head with her glare.

“Sorry, but this is how it is,” I told the little zebra softly, trying to calm him and myself down.

“Well I don’t like how it is,” he grumbled.

I spun to the door and pushed it open for us to leave, stepping into the constant grey light of Shanty in front of Felix. I heard a quick clatter of hooves behind me and turned to see Doc peck on Felix’s cheek just before he got out the door. I glared at the little horned-filly as she pulled away from him; suddenly I was even gladder we were getting out of Shanty. Felix just grinned as his ears turned a soft pink.

“D’awww.” I spun back around to see Charmer staring at the two young 'lovers' with a grin covering most of her face. “You two are so adorable,” she squealed. Once she had her moment of squeeing, the mare looked between me and Felix before her smile faded. “So you two really are heading out huh?”

I guess Strike had already told her what was going on, or word traveled really, really fast in the town. “Yeah, we need to keep moving.”

“Well, thanks for the help with Neishka and the others,” she said plainly. “Really wish ya’ could’ve met the babies.”

A small shiver passed down my spine. “Yeah, maybe someday,” I lied, never planning to set hoof in Shanty again once I was gone, and definitely not in the Nest.

“Well, take care Shayle. You too Felix.” The mare waved to each of us before turning back to her own shack.

* * *

So that was it. We talked with Merry Scroll and he told us there was a small Remnant camp a few miles down the road just outside of Shanty. If they couldn’t take us in, he told us the zebras there might know of a place nearby, and if not we should talk to a group called Gold’s Corral. He didn’t tell us much about them, just that they welcomed ponies and zebras into their homes. It sounded like a good backup in case there were no other zebra towns around, but I would rather find a purely zebra place to live. It was probably because it was what I was used to, but for some reason living surrounded by my own kind just made me more comfortable.

Felix didn’t say anything to me, he had been silent since we left Little Doc’s clinic. It was as if we’d never even stopped there, we were right back into the silent travel we’d been through after leaving home the morning before. It was for different reasons of course, but I had no idea what might be going through my little brother’s head. He was probably upset we’d left Doc behind, even if the two of them were definitely too young for that kind of behavior toward each other, but that would fade in time. I regretted yelling at him like I had, but he hadn’t been thinking clearly back there. Strike, Charmer, and Doc may have been civil and friendly to us, but other ponies in the town looked at me as if they expected me to go on a killing rampage at any second. We weren’t welcome there.

I was a little disappointed that we hadn’t bumped into Strike again on our way out of town, I really needed to thank him for all of the help he’d given us while we stayed; on the jobs we were given and with getting supplies to leave. Why I hadn’t thanked him after each job and after buying the gun I would never know, but it niggled at my mind constantly while we walked.

We passed by the trading post not long after leaving town, and I was grateful that we had taken the bandits out the night before as we walked by without being mugged. The corpses of the two ponies that had fallen outside the door were missing completely, leaving behind dried blood and not a single hint to where they may have gone. Maybe Charmer’s snakes had gotten them? No, this was too far for them to travel, and besides, the green pony had just fed them that morning.

After almost an hour of walking, I was starting to think the mayor had lied to us about the camp. It was nowhere to be seen; in fact not much of anything was around. I could see some buildings in the distance, over a line of hills that stretched parallel to the road south of us, but they looked utterly lifeless from where we were. I would have turned us down that way, but I didn’t feel like walking all that way just to find out my suspicions about the towers being nothing but wreckage were right. Instead, I looked to our north. Nope, nothing. The only thing that I could see on the road was what looked like a pile of torn apart chariots a quarter mile further.

It didn’t look like a camp, it looked like a garbage heap left over from the war I’d been told about as a foal. And there were no zebras patrolling around the crash, so it couldn’t have been Remnant. Their soldiers were much more vigilant than that, and they wouldn’t claim a pile of trash to be a camp, right?

Still, I looked at Felix to see if he wanted to check it out. He stared at me and shrugged, obviously not caring what we did. I wished he would just speak up; maybe tell me what he was thinking about or something instead of giving me the cold shoulder.

I looked back to the crash and pushed toward it. If nothing else it might have a few supplies laying around or some caps, just in case we needed them again.

Lucky me! It had neither. Just a lot of bullets, flying at us.

Felix jumped to the side of the road and crouched in a small ditch that had been dug out while I sprinted to the opposite side of the street and pulled the pistol from its place on my leg. I charged toward the crash as fast as I could and was ready for a fight. Whoever was in the pile was at least a little smart, and immediately every gun turned away from Felix and toward the crazy zebra running at them with a gun.

Bullets zipped off of the rocks and dirt around me, whizzed between my legs, and narrowly missed tearing the tip of my other ear off, the one Strike had thankfully missed in favor of punching a hole in my flank.

I could barely see a greasy face sticking out from under one of the chariots holding a rifle very similar to Strike’s. The pony’s mane was held in a row of spikes by what could have been blood, and her bloodshot eyes never blinked as the mare continued to fire at me, reload, and fire again. I took aim as I ran, praying that my attackers’ terrible aim would hold strong. Three shots from my pistol went wide, biting into the wooden cart that the pony was hiding under. Load had been right, the gun was almost completely silent, but running while shooting was harder than I thought.

The spray of bullets continued to kick up the dirt around me, every gun in the wreck insistent on bringing me down before I could get close enough to do anything. This would be a really good time for Strike and Charmer to be around, not only for the extra guns but so that whoever was inside there couldn’t only target me. I really needed to get Felix a gun…why hadn’t I just done another job back in Shanty to afford one more pistol for him? Oh yeah, I’m impatient and bad at plans.

My leg fell out from under me as one of the bullets finally found its way into my skin, tearing a wonderful hole through me just above the holster from Load. My gun clattered to the ground in front of me as my jaw slammed into the dirt, followed by my chest and finally thighs. A sick bout of laughter erupted from the mound of carts as the ponies inside leaped into the street and began dancing their way toward me. They were actually celebrating that they had managed to hit me, all five of them and their horrible aim. Actually, only three of them had guns, the other two were jumping around with a shovel and a mining pick in their mouths.

All of the ponies now dancing their way down the road looked pretty much the same. They each had their manes pulled up or back with dried blood which stained the tops of their heads as well. The two mares in the group wore necklaces made of teeth, and had some pointed bones pierced through their ears and nostrils; the jewelry looked really good with their blood-soaked-leather jackets and skeleton related cutiemarks. They looked like sisters. The stallions lacked the necklaces and piercings, except the one with a row of what looked like ribs stuck under the skin on either side of his chest, but they did each have a dark, reddish brown stain covering most of their bodies.

From the stories I’d been told back home, these were definitely raiders, no doubt about it. Which meant if I didn’t get my gun again, I was going to have a very, VERY bad day.

I lifted myself back to my hooves and limped over to the gun, reaching it just in time to feel the blunt face of the shovel slam into my chest. I had made it much further than I thought during my initial charge, leaving less than 100 feet for the raiders to cover in order to reach me, and prancing psychopaths were faster than a zebra with a bullet in her leg. I fell back to the dirt, surrounded by deranged laughter and whooping calls of victory.

I whipped my tail up, flinging dirt into the eyes of one mare who fell back with a scream, and kicked my back hooves into the legs of another raider, sending them toppling to the ground behind me. The shovel once again swung down into my ribs, knocking the wind from me and halting my fight for a moment. I kicked my legs out again to try knocking over the one with the shovel, but he dodged my blow and brought the handle of his tool down into the bullet hole in my leg.

“She’s a fighter! This will be fuuuuun!” the mare I hadn’t blinded squealed with delight, kicking at me with her hooves as I fought for breath.

That would have been a wonderful time for Felix to arrive with a really heavy book.

Instead, I received a crack and the splitting of Shovel Pony’s head over me. The tool he had been holding fell to the ground beside me, and the other raiders scrambled in fury; even the pony with sand in her eyes managed to scramble with the others. They looked like pissed of bees with nothing to sting at first, but then I realized they were more like moths trying to escape a flyswatter without leaving a lamp’s light. I was the lamp in this situation.

Another head popped open with a crack of gunfire, and the remaining three raiders finally gathered enough common sense to run back to their ramshackle fortress. A few more gunshots echoed out over the street, but none found a mark on the raiders, instead pinging off the ground behind them to keep them moving back to the pile of scrap. Whoever was shooting just corralled the psychos into one, cramped place.

Guess what happened next.

I barely saw the contrail before the piled chariots blew apart in a swirl of smoke and fire, sending shards of wood and metal ornament raining down around me. The resounding boom of the explosion echoed through my ears again and again, leaving behind a continuous ring that refused to leave me in peace. Felix sprinted up to my side, completely ignoring the raining debris as his shaking body huddled in to me. I covered him from the falling scrap as best I could, but the smaller bits still bounced off of his coat.

The debris fell for almost ten seconds before it stopped, leaving a layer of shattered wood and ash in a wide circle around where the chariots once stood. Thank Caesar no body parts were blown anywhere near me or Felix, or anywhere I could see. I could only guess that they were stopped by the mass of chariot over them before they could fly into the air.

I refused to raise my head or any other part of my body from the side of the road, remaining perfectly still as I waited for whoever had killed the raiders to turn on the two cowering zebras. We were an easy target, and I didn’t care. With that kind of firepower, I knew there was no hope in trying to escape, so I didn’t even bother. I wished I had listened to Felix. I wished we had stayed in Shanty with Charmer and Strike and Doc.

“You two, rise.” A deep voice appeared beside us as we curled into each other, neither of us wanting to look up. “In Caesar’s name, I order you to rise.”

Wait, Caesar? I hesitantly lifted my head from Felix, and could have died from happiness as I looked upon the striped coat of the shooter. I nudged Felix lightly, and my brother lifted his head to our savior, grinning warmly.

“Why are you here? This is dangerous territory,” the zebra stallion asked us sternly.

Neither of us answered at first, still shaken from the explosion and the joy of still being alive. Felix recovered first, speaking for the first time since we’d left Shanty. “We were looking for a Remnant camp, but it wasn’t here.”

“You have found us,” the buck replied plainly.

My smile widened at those words. “Thank you,” I said warmly.

“You are welcomed, now rise.”

Felix and I shakily rose to our hooves. I stood on three, keeping the one that had been shot lifted to avoid more pain. Once we were on our hooves, three more zebras shimmered into view behind the first as their magical cloaks deactivated. All of them had a long rifle slung over their backs, each in such pristine condition that they couldn’t have been fired more than twice before just then. One of them also had a long metal tube laying across his withers, the launcher that had turned the raiders’ chariot base into a burning heap of scrap.

“Why do you seek us?” the first of the zebras, presumably the team’s leader, asked.

“We’re looking for a home,” Felix replied, his grin still plastered to his muzzle.

“You are wanderers?” one of the other soldiers, a petite mare, asked softly.

We both nodded. I considered telling them we had run away from home, but that would have opened up a line of explanations I wasn’t ready to make quite yet.

“Why are two so young out here alone? Were they born without a home?” another of the soldiers asked his commander and us. His way of speaking was odd, but then Charmer and Strike had strange accents too.

Neither of us answered. Thankfully, Felix seemed to have my same mindset about telling them we’d run away.

“It seems so, but they know of Caesar,” the leader responded, sounding suspicious. “How have you heard of us?”

“The mayor of a town not far from here told us about you,” Felix offered.

The soldiers looked between one another, each with an unsure look on their faces. One, the mare, stepped forward and whispered to the leader, to which he nodded. The zebra turned back to us, a stern look on his face. “If you seek a home, travel to Caesar’s Stand.” He pointed a hoof toward the towers in the south. Me and Felix both looked at the towers briefly before turning back to the soldiers. “Not the towers, that place is unfriendly for wanderers. The place you seek is nearer to us.”

We both nodded. “Thank you sir,” Felix offered happily, a large grin on his face.

“Again, you are welcomed.”

Each of the zebras disappeared in a shimmer, until only the mare remained. “Take care young ones.” Why does everyone keep calling me that! “Mali intra clades mannis.” As she spoke, the zebra placed a hoof across her chest, bowing slightly.

The old tongue, something I had not heard spoken since I was just a filly. It was not a common thing to hear, even in the zebra village we had grown up in, and was only spoken for sayings, no longer the common tongue. For everyday talk, we spoke the common language; Equestrian. The time zebras had spent in the Wasteland made it so, but the Remnant ensured we did not lose our roots in the villages, including using the words of our ancestors. We may not have been Remnant, but being raised under their care made sure we did not fall away from our glorious origins.

I had long since forgotten the meaning of the phrase that the mare uttered, they were just words after going so long without hearing them, but I could never forget the response or what it meant. “Servent fidem Caesar,” Felix and I replied in unison, each bowing with a hoof across our chests as we were always taught. Keep faith in Caesar.

* * *

Once the soldiers had gone, Felix and I sat on the side of the road and took a calming breath, grinning giddily. My luck with fights seemed to hold strong, in that I continued to live through them, even if I did tend to get hurt every time. I didn’t mind it as long as I was still breathing, but I think I’d had enough near-death experiences to last a lifetime in the past few days.

Felix dug into one of his bags and pulled out a rolled bandage along with a brightly colored vial before looking down to my leg. “Why do you get hurt so much?” he joked, unable to be upset with me at that moment. I just shrugged and continued smiling. He took a moment to wipe as much dirt as he could out of the hole in my leg before he unrolled the bandage and lightly began wrapping it around my bloody foreleg. “Drink that.” The colt nodded to the colorful vial while he worked, never taking his eyes off of my leg and sticking out his tongue in focus.

Whatever was in that thing tasted horrible, but the bright side was a soft tingling in my leg that seemed to make it hurt a little less. Tasted bad, felt good, so it was okay in my book.

I was incredibly grateful that Felix had decided to take our spare caps on spend them on medical supplies rather than an extra night at Doc’s. Along with that came a feeling of regret for how I reacted to it at the time, especially since the supplies, and any other medical help, had been focused on me and never him. I was also very glad the colt had gotten medical lessons from the horned-filly, I didn’t even want to think of what might have happened if she hadn’t taught him how to use this stuff or sold it to him. It would probably mean a very painful walk back to Shanty and another visit with the medical pony. Probably best that I don’t mention that part to Felix.

“Too tight?” he asked once his hooves finished their work, looking over the bandage closely for…something, I don’t know, medicine isn’t my field.

“What?” I looked down at him with a cocked eyebrow, not sure what he was asking.

“Is the bandage too tight?”

I wiggled my hoof around and smiled. “No.” I didn’t know why that mattered, but if he had asked about it, then the tightness of the bandage must be important somehow right? I dropped my hoof back to the dirt, and was relieved to feel only a slight pinch where there was once burning pain. “Thanks.”

“No problem, just don’t make it a habit,” the colt told me with a cheeky grin.

* * *

I had never seen much in the way of weather back when we still lived at home, it was always just a constant grey cover of clouds that never changed and never went away. It rained once or twice during my foalhood, but it was rare. So of course it had to rain during our walk to Caesar’s Stand, once we had gotten to the hills and had no place to go for protection from the storm.

It was torrential, and I couldn’t see anything more than twenty feet in any direction. I don’t know exactly when it started, there was no warning at all before the downpour swept over us. The heavy water soaked me from head to hoof within a few minutes, and saturated the bandage on my leg until it just fell off. Felix frowned and tried to put it back on for me, but it had quickly become a long strip of muddy cloth. Luckily, we had reached the point where we couldn’t get any wetter, so we didn’t mind continuing on in the storm.

I didn’t think that anyone would try to attack us in the rain, it would be impossible to see us coming until we were right on top of any would be attackers, and nobody would actually want to be outside during this if they could avoid it. Still, I was ready to draw the pistol from my leg holster if I had to (yes, I remembered to pick it up).

I kept my head low, for some reason thinking it might keep some of the rain out of my face, and looked for anywhere the two of us could get some shelter and try to warm up a little. But with the minimal visibility, I wasn’t holding my breath for a shack or cave. I don’t think I would go in a cave though, underground was bad for me. Felix trotted close beside me, practically leaning against me to make sure we weren’t separated in the storm. My mane had long since become plastered to the side of my face, providing me with a constant itchy feeling as the hairs tangled with my coat.

Even Felix’s usually stuck up mane slicked down against his neck, once he pushed it back from his face that is. It originally covered his eyes and gave me a bit of a laugh, but he ruined it by slicking it back with a hoof.

Once we finally got over the top of the hills and started down the other side, a blast of sound all around us sent me to my belly, and I flung my hooves over my head to protect myself from the incoming falling debris. When did the Remnant soldiers start following us? And when did they gain the ability to see through the rain enough that they could blow up more raiders with that tube launcher thing? That list of unanswered questions in my head was starting to get unruly.

Instead of falling debris, all I got was a bout of laughter from Felix as he nudged me with a hoof. “What are you doing Sis?”

I moved my hooves and looked up at him. What did he think I was doing? I was hiding from the rockets! “Did you not hear that explosion?” I asked frantically.

He laughed even harder. “When did you get scared of thunder?”

Thunder…right…what was that again? The word sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite remember what it was. I shakily rose to my hooves, looking around for fire or smoke. “Are you sure it wasn’t an explosion?”

“Yes I’m su-”

BOOOOM

And my belly hit the mud once again. That one was definitely an explosion! Or not, Felix was laughing even harder this time. How could he laugh at that? I didn’t think he knew what an explosion sounded like; did he miss that one back on the road? I’m pretty sure stuff was exploding around us.

I glared up at the laughing colt from between my hooves, growling softly as he continued to mock my completely logical reaction to exploding things. “Why is this funny?”

“Because I never knew you were scared of thunder,” he said once his laughter died down. It isn’t thunder, those are explosions! I just continued glaring at him from the mud, not sure if I should bother getting up.

A flash of light surrounded us, and moments later another explosion echoed through the rain. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to sink lower into the mud. Why was Felix still laughing! “Come on Shayle, it’s just the storm.”

I moved my hooves again and looked up at him, not believing it. “H-how does a s-storm make t-that noise?” I stammered. What? Things were exploding around me! I was allowed to be worried, and maybe a little scared.

Felix opened his mouth to explain, but closed it again and looked down at me. “It just does,” he said with a grin. Either it was something he didn’t want me to know, or he didn’t want to confuse me with some long, hard to understand explanation. And ‘it just does’ was a perfectly fine explanation for me.

A softer boom rumbled around us, not nearly as sc-startling as the other explosions, thunder, whatever, but still startling. I just lay in the mud looking up at Felix as he waited for me to get up, but I couldn’t do it. I thought about getting my hooves under me once or twice, but I knew that as soon as I was up another boom would send me back into the mud.

My brother sighed, and curled into me in the mud. “You baby,” he said softly, stifling a chuckle as he tried to calm me down. I’m not a baby! I’m the big sister, I just didn’t want to get us blown up, or whatever ‘thunder’ could do to a zebra. It had to be bad with a sound like that.

I had never really gotten a close look at Felix’s glyph before that point. He had shown me back when it first appeared, actually only a year earlier, but he couldn’t tell me what had gotten it for him. A lot of things happened that day according to him, and he didn’t notice it until he was crawling into bed for the night. It was much better than mine, and looked good on him; a ring of triangles around a single small dot, arranged with their points out. I didn’t know what it meant, but it was better than a stupid cracked swirl.

Felix nuzzled me soothingly for a while, I don’t know exactly how long, until the thunder had stopped pounding all around us, and had somehow moved to the north. I could still hear it echoing behind us, but at least it wasn’t on us anymore, and it was going further away. I shakily got to my hooves and looked around. If only the rain had gone away too, that would be great. But no, it still hammered down on us as we resumed our walk south. Felix still giggled whenever I shivered at the sound of distant thunder, but at least I wasn’t hiding in the mud anymore, which was probably the smart thing to do just in case it came back.

After another hour or so of walking through the downpour that still refused to let up, a gunshot cracked through the air and kicked up the mud in front of us. Oh come on!

“You there, identify yourselves!” a feminine voice called out from ahead of us. I couldn’t see the one speaking, and couldn’t even imagine how they saw me, but at least they were talking instead of just gunning us down. So why did they shoot in the first place?

I looked down to Felix for a moment before looking back up to where the voice came from. “We’re travelers,” I yelled into the rain. “Do you have any shelter?” Please have somewhere we could warm up, preferably without having to pay up front.

The sound of groaning metal broke through the curtain of rain in front of us, and a few moments later we could vaguely hear hoofs splatting through the mud toward us until the speaker materialized through the rain. I really liked her coat! It was a long brown cloth covering all of her body including a pair of sleeves on the front to cover her front legs and was drawn closed at the front with small clasps to keep her chest dry. A large hood kept her mane and face protected from the rain, as well as making the mare look rather mysterious. All I could see was the tip of her nose and a chord of her mane hanging out on one side of her muzzle. A short rifle was hanging from a thick band across her chest, keeping the bite grip within easy reach for a quick shot.

“What brings you here?” she asked us, sounding more welcoming than she had before coming out to see us.

“We’re looking for Caesar’s Stand,” Felix explained quickly.

“I could have guessed that,” she sniggered. “I mean why?”

“We heard it could be a good place to settle down,” I replied.

She remained silent for a moment, staring at us from under her hood. “Who told you that?” She sounded almost disappointed with our explanation.

“A group of soldiers on the road.” I waved back the way we had come, starting to get nervous about why the mare hadn’t confirmed that Caesar’s Stand was a nice place.

“Xion and his group?” the mare chuckled briefly. “Lying bastards.”

“So…it’s not a good place?” Felix asked, shuffling a little closer to me.

“It’s safe and it’s home,” the mare replied simply. “Come on in.” She turned back into the torrent and began walking.

I quickly followed her, and Felix stayed right beside me as we approached a massive iron gate. It was opened from the top, pulled up by two large winches that held the door with cables thicker than my leg. Once we were inside, a loud rumble pulled my eyes up to the winches, which began spinning to lower the door back into place behind us. A thick cloud of black smoke churned out of a large generator mounted on one side of the gate, powering the winches, barely.

The area just after the gate was covered with a large tarp, keeping the ground as dry as it could, but still allowing leaks in where there were holes or gaps in the fabric. The mare who led us in pulled back her hood and shook her mane out. It was a little strange to see that her hair was pulled into clumps of each color, alternating between the white and black of her stripes and held in place by a row of yellow beads at the end of each lock of hair. The mare turned to us, her yellow eyes matched the beads nicely.

“Welcome to Caesar’s Stand travelers.” The zebra lifted a hoof to us with a smile. “Seer.”

“I lifted my own hoof to shake with hers, grinning and happy to be out of the rain. “Shayle. This is Felix,” I said with a nod to my brother, who shook Seer’s hoof after me.

“Sorry about the gunshot, I wasn’t expecting anyone to find us in this storm.” The zebra gestured to the sky, just in case we had forgotten about the soaking air all around us.

Honestly, I was more interested in how she even saw us. “Not a problem,” I waved it off. “At least you didn’t hit us.”

Seer chuckled. “So, you need a place to stay?” she asked warmly. We both nodded to her. “Then you should talk with the Praetor, she’ll know more about that than I do.”

“Where do we find him?” Felix asked, looking out into the rain-soaked town behind the mare.

“She will probably be in the town square. She likes spend time there with her foal.” Seer pointed the direction we should go. “Don’t worry, you can’t miss it.” We both nodded and shook hooves with Seer again, smiling brightly. “Come find me later tonight, you two look like you could use a drink.”

“Eh, sure,” I replied hesitantly. Seer looked at me strange for a moment, then turned and trotted toward a stairwell leading to the top of the gate.

The two of us walked out into the rain once again, but this time inside Caesar’s Stand. It was a very impressive city, especially compared to Shanty. There were rows upon rows of concrete buildings, shacks and tents, the largest of which were all together on one side of the rectangular city, and descending in size as we looked across, ending with rows of tents on the furthest side from us. Streets ran between each row of buildings and shacks, keeping a very orderly appearance and never breaking formation. As we walked, we could see that the side with the largest buildings was actually the barracks for any Remnant soldiers who stayed in the town. I had a feeling it wasn’t a permanent location for most of them, more of a place to rest overnight while they moved between missions, but there were still plenty of them roaming between the buildings in parkas and cloaks.

When we reached the middle portion of the city, it broke any semblance of the order that consumed the part we had just trotted through. The ground was cleared out around a large, seemingly non-functional fountain at the center. Shacks circled the very outside of this park, little shops that, at the moment, were closed to due to the rain.

The park was empty during the storm, with the exception of a very young foal splashing about in the puddles while an older zebra crouched nearby. Neither of them wore any sort of clothing to protect them from the rain, but the foal didn’t seem to care as he bounced between the puddles and constantly giggled.

As we approached, the older zebra sat down and spoke to us while she watched her son bound through the rain. “It has been too long since the last rain. I feared he may never get to experience the joy of it as only the young can.” She looked over to us, a small smile across her lips. “You are new, but I don’t think you are soldiers. Did you find yourself lost?”

How do you find yourself lost? “No, we were told of this place by a group of soldiers to the north,” Felix explained.

“Ah, so you were lost.” No, we just didn’t know where we were going. “Tell me, are you looking for a home, or do you seek rest before you continue being lost?” she asked with a little smile.

The colt splashed a puddle right beside us, spraying the three of us with muddy water before giggling and bounding into the next puddle in his path. I deadpanned, Felix grinned, and the Praetor chuckled along with her son. “I apologize for his youth, but the falling water always brings them such joy.”

Why were we meeting so many zebras and ponies that talked weird? I never heard any strange accents or talking like that back home…not that I ever got to talk with many zebras back home. “We’re looking for a home, if you have one to spare,” I told the old zebra politely.

“I always have a home open for those who need it,” she replied calmly, never taking her eyes from her son. “All I ask is that you do your part here, and the home will be provided.”

“Our part?” Felix asked, looking up at the Praetor in confusion.

“We do not require money for homes here, so long as each member of our city does their duty. The soldiers protect Caesar and our way of life, the guards defend us from attack and crime, the traders hunt and gather food for us. Everyone does their part. We still all receive pay of course, one cannot feed their family without it, but why force one of our own to buy a home when they already do their part for us? Paying you just to receive the money again for your home is pointless.” That… was a long explanation. She could have just told us what she wanted, but I guess it was nice to know how things ran in Caesar’s Stand.

“What would you have us do?” I asked her, hoping it wouldn’t be related to killing mutant snakes.

The old zebra mumbled to herself for a few seconds, watching her son jump through the rain while she thought. Her lips curled into a smile, and she nodded to herself. “A high ranking soldier came here a week ago, he has a big project. He needs supplies; machines, technical devices; so many things I could never guess their use.” She looked over at us for a moment. “He told me several places to find these supplies. If you go out and get them, I will allow you to stay here until I think of a more permanent position for you.”

We both grinned. Gathering machines sounded really easy! I could do that. But…wait…that would require knowing what they looked like right? “Um, Praetor?” I asked softly. “Do you have someone in your city who could help us know what the supplies are?”

“Or someone to show us where they are?” Felix added.

The mare looked back to her son. “You are not from these parts…” she sounded a little disappointed, but quickly thought of something. “I will send someone to meet you at the gate before you leave tomorrow, they will have the list I was given.”

“Thank you Praetor,” I replied with a grin.

The mare rose from the mud, whistling softly. “That’s enough fun in the rain for now.” The young colt quickly changed direction and bounced back to his mother, grinning as he finally came to a stop beside us.

The Praetor looked back to us. “Your new home will be Shack 13, you can find it in the third row.” She pointed back to the buildings we had already passed, smiling warmly. “Rest well young ones.” Seriously, how old does everyone think I am? I know Felix is still young, but I’m a grown mare!

We both nodded and began our walk to our new home, grinning giddily and barely restraining ourselves from bouncing along like the colt in the puddles.

Footnote: Level Up! (Speech 15, Unarmed 30)

Companion (Felix): (Medicine 25) New Perk! [Comprehension] - You gain one additional skill point for reading books, and double the skill points for reading magazines! And I guess you can try to explain it to Shayle too.

Author’s Note: Another huge thanks to Kkat for the creation of Fallout Equestria and its wonderful world, to Somber for expanding it with Project Horizons, and to every other side-fic writer out there who keeps this universe changing and living on for all of us to enjoy. Another thank you to the PH RP group for getting my butt writing on this, and a huge thanks to my pre-readers for making sure I don’t mess up too much.

Chapter 17: Strangers - Part I

Chapter 17: Strangers – Part I
“The teensy weensy spider went up the water spout...”

Scalding water slapped my skin and surrounded me, licking feverishly at every bit of my coat and through it to burn at my body. My eyes stung and blinked uncontrollably, trying to push away the boiling water before it could steam them in my sockets. I could feel my coat starting to fall off in patches where the skin died and couldn’t hold it anymore, replaced by rippling, gleaming folds of pink.

From above I heard screams, the calls of misery and pain from so many, but I couldn’t tell who. I only saw blurs, all mixed together and blurred by the thrashing water all around me as I tried everything I could to reach the surface. I kicked, I flailed, and I pushed against the assaulting water to get higher, but no matter how hard I tried the faces seemed to move further and further away.

Panic whipped through my body when my vision started to thin between curtains of pulsing red, followed closely by shadows blacker than night. My chest screamed for air, just a quick breath to push back the tide of pain and worry, but every other part of my being argued against it. It would only kill me.

The curtains advanced moment by moment, hiding away the faces only a second after my eyes managed to make them out. First I saw Doc smiling down at me before the red surrounded her; starting at her neck oddly enough and twisting her face into a look of… disappointment?

Next was Charmer. She was smiling at first, a caring smile I had only ever seen from Shayle and occasionally Dad, the smile of someone who cares about you. But then it melted away as the red jumped across her face and burned the smile away into a scowl of distaste and misery. She disappeared after that, but left behind a blotch of black where one eye used to be; eternally open yet unable to share what it saw.

The curtain slowed and spread around the next face with some patience, though I wish it had never allowed me to see her. My legs stopped moving and allowed the blistering heat to do its work on my body; it felt wrong to try escaping the pain when she still suffered. Her mane was braided into the long dreadlocks I originally knew her for, and the same hurt yet lively glow glimmered behind her eyes. I couldn’t stand to look at her, but I couldn’t look away before I said one last thing to her, the thing I wanted to make sure she knew before she faded away. But all that came out were bubbles which welcomed the burning to my mouth and throat.

The red darkened and spread through the water around her face, obscuring her and leaving me with a dull ache against my ribs in the shape of two hooves.

I started kicking again, no longer able to argue with my lungs. They had convinced so much of my body that it was time to breathe again, and soon there would be nothing to stop them from getting their way. Finally, I could feel the surface getting closer, see the light above me starting to clear and reveal the last two faces above me.

They appeared together, both with fear and worry in their eyes as I fought to reach the surface. In unison, Shayle and Tinker bent down to me and pushed a hoof to the water, not seeming to care about the searing of their flesh. I kicked viciously to get closer, but then my legs stopped working, and I began falling back down, down into the abyss. My chest heaved and pulled in a torrent of water, burning my lungs and filling my body with the worst misery I had ever known. Above me, the zebra and the filly thrust themselves into the lake and reached as far as they could.

I felt their hooves scrap against my skin just before I dropped too low, too deep to save. I watched as the curtains folded shut over their faces in unison and took away the two mares I cared for most; all I had left.

It all just faded into red, and then darkness.

* * *

My heart was still thundering in my chest when I finally opened my eyes to the morning light; on dry land, much to my relief.

Beside me, Tinker snoozed quietly in a little ball that she always managed to curl into during the night, even if she had fallen asleep on her back. My head jerked away from the dirt and spun quickly to each corner of the room as if I was afraid someone would be dead or missing after the dream that still had my body shivering.

Even though I couldn’t feel the burning on my skin or the crushing helplessness in my chest anymore, the memory of what it felt like rattled around in my brain as if it had really happened and this was the dream. But no, I was awake. I knew I was, because Seer was gone, Doc was gone, and I was still in the little shack in the middle of nowhere.

Actually, Charmer was gone too, which normally wouldn’t worry me since she always seemed to be out of the shack by the time I woke up, but after that nightmare I was already on edge. My eyes darted to the door to see if she was just outside, but I didn’t catch her. I knew that she was probably just sitting nearby watching out into nothing for some reason, or making sure nobody had tried to sneak up in the night, but that one part of my brain that still believed the dream was at least a little real kept the worry alive.

In the last corner, Shayle still slept with our newest member laying up against her. Vulpe drooled a little in his sleep, and the dirt all around his hooves was pushed in random directions from where he had been kicking in the night, most likely due to nightmares. I wasn’t surprised after what he went through the day before.

My sister didn’t seem quite as bothered in her sleep. Actually, I could see a little smile at the corner of her mouth, something I can honestly say I didn’t see nearly enough from her, especially recently. Truthfully, I never saw it much from her back home either; she was either frowning, or most often she just looked lifeless. Like she didn’t care about anything around her. She would always perk up a little bit when we talked or spent time together, but actually seeing her smile was rare at best. Not to mention laughing; I could only remember about seven times in my life when I had ever heard her laugh, or even just giggle, and two of those were in the couple weeks it had been since we left home.

So it felt good to see her sleeping so well, even if I could never hope to guess how she managed to do so after what happened in Caesar’s Stand.

“Are you okay?” Tinker asked drowsily beside me. I looked down and realized that I must have woken her up in my panic.

“Yeah, sorry,” I told her and put my head back down beside hers, getting a small peck on the cheek.

Of course, that was the moment that Charmer walked in, and I watched as her face changed from some kind of neutral expression, to what a mother looks like whenever a baby yawns. Luckily, it didn’t come with her usual ‘awww’ of approval or whatever it was this time.

After about ten minutes of fluttering eyes and wide yawns while we lay together, everyone was awake and groggily starting to get up and conduct their morning business, whatever that meant for each of us aside from the more… obvious, acts.

Shayle busied herself with her mane, which apparently had become just a little too disheveled in the night, and was running her hooves through it to try straightening it out again. Until then, I got to chuckle a little at the sight of her hair sticking almost straight out to one side in spots from how she had been laying on it. Tinker didn’t seem to care about her mane and only shook the dirt away before leaving it messy and sticking every which way for the day.

Meanwhile, Charmer explained where we were going and why. Shayle either already knew all of it, or just didn’t care, because I don’t think she paid any attention. Even Vulpe seemed more interested than she was. Of course he was just staring at Charmer with a look that was mixed between some fear and wonder. Was she the first pony he’d ever seen, or was it just the burns? I didn’t know.

“He’s one of my mom’s old hunting buddies,” Charmer explained and brushed a rock out of her coat. “So hopefully he didn’t decide to move anywhere, and actually has some advice for us.” Apparently, we were looking for old ponies from her past to get us to a new town.

She called it ‘Gold’s Corral’, which I didn’t really remember hearing anywhere despite Shayle trying to remind me that the mayor of Shanty told us about it. From what she said, they generally don’t care if you’re a zebra, a pony, or anyone as long as you don’t cause any trouble in town, which sounded like the perfect place for our little group to settle in without splitting up. I just hoped it was actually like that, and not just rumors that had been lost in translation.

“And you remember how to reach the town?” Tinker asked.

“Yeah, I moved around that side of the city all the time as a filly, so unless Bunker up and moved, we’ll find it.” She sounded confident, so I didn’t doubt her. But I was starting to become curious about why she moved around so much as a filly. Maybe it had something to do with her mom’s work as a hunter; at least I think that’s what Charmer said about her. “So whenever everyone is ready, we should get going. We’ve got about two days walking from here to reach it.”

Shayle looked away from her mane at that. “Do we have enough food for that?”

“Yes, we have plenty after yesterday,” I told her. “I didn’t lose it.”

“Okay, just making sure,” she told me and smiled before returning to her mane.

Tinker snickered a little and stood up to walk outside with Charmer, her bags already packed up with some snacks and a whole lot of random junk. Of course, she picked up the can-alarms from our doorway before she left and tied them around her neck like a necklace that constantly clanged around while she walked. Hopefully she would figure out that it was really annoying and put them elsewhere.

Otherwise we were in for a long day of walking.

* * *

Charmer’s body nearly disappeared against the riverbank where she was laying and trying to peek over the side without being noticed; at least from our side. With a fire going, and the half of her face that had a tendency to shimmer in the dancing light, I worried that she would be seen by the cluster of travelers no more than 10 meters away. Thankfully nobody down below shot at her, or even seemed to notice at all.

Our trip out to the same cart we had stayed in on our last trip south of the river went smoothly, with very little conversation or even acknowledgement that we knew each other. Sure, we stayed close together, but anyone watching from the outside would have thought we were a cluster of strangers just heading to the same place. I always stayed close to Tinker while we walked, for some reason feeling more comfortable while she was nearby than when she wasn’t. I couldn’t really understand the feeling, but I didn’t mind it or want to push it away; it was a good feeling.

Vulpe rode on Shayle’s back almost the entire way, and honestly seemed really bored the whole time. I occasionally caught a glance of him tapping my sister on the shoulder or whispering something to her, but I never did figure out why. She would just quietly tell him something or pull a little snack out of her bag that he would look at for a second and maybe take a nibble from. He didn’t really seem hungry though, he just didn’t have anything to do.

Charmer on the other hoof stayed to herself at the front of our group with Seer’s old rifle slung over her chest just in case something or someone decided to make a move on us. I almost wanted to try talking with her while we walked, but I couldn’t think of anything to say. ‘Hey, how are your scars doing?’ seemed really inappropriate, even if I was technically the medical zebra out of us. Besides, no matter what she said there was nothing I could have done to make it better for her, so it would probably just be a painful reminder that she was permanently disfigured.

By the time we finally reached our rest stop for the night, only a little later than usual after we all slept longer than we wanted to, the light of day was long gone. Luckily, that was probably the only reason we spotted the dancing light of the fire already burning in the river where we usually camped, and the sound of cheery and familiar chatting around it. Some part of me wanted to walk straight down to the fire and join in, but that spark of an idea was suffocated by every other bit of my brain. Even if they were friendly and didn’t instantly kill me, I honestly wasn’t in a mood to join in such happy conversation; and I doubted anyone else walking around me was either.

Charmer shimmied back to us on her belly with her head low and marked with confusion. Her tail barely caught the flickering orange light over the edge of the riverbed, glowing eerily as it waved back and forth before she settled back into the little circle we had all formed. All of us looked at her questioningly and hoped for good news, or at least news that it wasn’t something dangerous.

“From what I can tell, it’s just a caravan,” the green mare explained in a whisper. “But I don’t know why they’re this far north.”

I raised an eyebrow to her and leaned in, not sure why that was weird. “Do caravans not come up this way often?”

“Not pony caravans. They tend to stay south of the river, away from anywhere they might run into the Remnant.” She shook her head and nodded back toward the river bank. “We could try talking to them, or avoid them if you think it’s too dangerous.” From the sound in her voice, it sounded like she would prefer talking to them, but I couldn’t really tell in such a quiet tone.

“I say we give it a chance,” I offered. After all, if Charmer thought it was just a caravan, I believed her.

“And what if they’re slavers or someone else unfriendly?” Tinker pointed out. “They outnumber us, right?” She looked over to Charmer for clarification, who drowsily nodded in the affirmative.

“Where else would we go?” I argued. “I would rather not wander around at night or sleep in the open.” I knew we had done it before, but so far our stays in the destroyed cart had been safe and without incident.

“I agree with Tinker,” Shayle added quietly. “We wouldn’t be able to fight back very well.”

“But if they are friendly they could help,” I continued to demand. “Safety in numbers.”

“But they might not be.” Tinker huffed and dragged her hoof in the dirt. “And we have no way to be sure.”

“I could just go ask,” I suggested. “If they shoot at me, just shoot back and I’ll run away. It’s worth a try.”

“Or it might not be,” my sister insisted. “Another ten minutes of walking to stay safe isn’t so bad.”

“No, I’m going to talk to them,” I declared and stood, making up my mind regardless of what the others thought. Maybe it was a bad idea, but it might make us some new friends and get us a bigger group to travel with through an area that was decidedly dangerous for zebras. Another thing I failed to consider might get me shot by the group of strangers, but in the end seemed like more of a benefit if they didn’t want to kill us right away.

Shayle tried to argue against it and even went as far as pulling back on my tail to stop me, but I just ignored it. I could make my own decisions, and I was getting really tired of her constantly trying to control what I did. It hadn’t helped us at all so far, and I wasn’t going to just do what she said because she thought it was the safe or right choice.

The only thing that almost stopped me was the barely visible sight of Tinker’s worried face watching me go; the same face that she’d given me back in New Oatleans when I sprinted off to try saving Charmer. A pang of guilt hit me from her gaze, but I turned away from it, knowing that trying to be civil was the right choice. Well, hoping it was, there was no way of knowing anything in the Wasteland it seemed, but I wasn’t going to just sit back and assume the worst all the time. That was Shayle’s job, not mine.

Charmer just shrugged and put the bite of Seer’s rifle in her mouth to cover me, but I couldn’t tell if it was because she agreed or if she didn’t want to argue. I imagined it was the former, after all she didn’t seem to think the caravan was much trouble, otherwise she would have said something about it or tried to stop me. So I nodded to her and walked over to the edge of the river, took a deep breath and slid down the side to the sandy bottom.

As soon as I hit the loose bottom, every face around the fire turned to me with suspicious scowls. A few guns were pulled from beside the ponies gathered around, most of them gripped in clouds of glittering magic as the almost completely unicorn filled group prepared to fight.

But they didn’t shoot right away, instead they just glared and loaded their weapons with loud clacks that sent shivers down my spine and images of my hole-filled corpse flying through my head. I didn’t dare step closer, partly because it seemed stupid in the situation, but mostly because fear of death froze every muscle in my body and demanded I stay still.

The urge to run back out of the river flowed over me like a wave of boiling water, but I stood strong through it and cleared my throat, determined to go through with my decision. “Please don’t shoot.” I couldn’t control it, I had to say it. I don’t know why it seemed like the first thing I should say; maybe the sight of more than a couple guns aimed my way put the thought in my head, but at least it got my desire not to die across quickly. I hadn’t even realized that my butt was pressing into the side of the river as my body subconsciously tried to get as far away from the threat as possible.

“Why not?” one of the ponies snapped, but I couldn’t tell which. It sounded like a stallion’s voice, but my head was buzzing and flooding my ears with a whooshing sound that wouldn’t go away.

“Because I don’t have a gun,” I stammered and tried to calm down, but failed.

“So what? You might start doing that zebra kung-fu stuff,” another pony pointed out; a raspy, young voice that sounded a tad feminine. At the word ‘zebra’ another pony rose from behind the group and a shiver tore down my spine. She was tall, too tall, almost standing two heads over the rest of the group, and her eyes gleamed with rage as she looked over me.

I almost didn’t see the hoof jab into a young mare’s side before the older sounding voice returned, my eyes locked on the threatening mare behind the wall of guns. It was from a rough looking stallion near the middle of the group, and apparently someone in charge. “What do you want?”

“Me and my friends are just looking for somewhere to camp out,” I hesitantly explained, slightly encouraged by the fact that I was still alive. “We don’t want to fight.”

“How do we know you ain’t lying?” the younger mare probed and jabbed her teal-shrouded gun at me. It looked pretty beat up and had more than its share of tape around almost every bit of it, but I didn’t doubt it could still do its job. My ears perked at the sound of Charmer flicking the safety off the rifle somewhere behind me.

I paused at that, not exactly sure how I could guarantee them that we wouldn’t attack them, even though I knew that we wouldn’t, I wasn’t sure how I could make them believe it. Unfortunately, I had to try and just hope that they would take my word for it. Caesar, I hoped they would. “I promise we won’t do anything to hurt you,” I offered and tried to look as non-threatening as possible.

The ponies just stared at me for a few more seconds that felt like an eternity before one of the rifles lowered to a rest in the sand beside the stallion I assumed was in charge. The others took notice and followed suit one at a time, until finally the teal magic around the battered gun finally faded and the anxious mare gave up.

“How many do you have?” the stallion asked and waved me over, much to my relief. Charmer stood up behind me and called to the others, and the tension in my body released.

“Just five,” I told him and walked forward. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, kid.” He held out his hoof when I got close enough and half-grinned. “Rust Bucket.”

“Felix,” I introduced myself and shook his hoof before looking back to find the others already jumping down into the riverbed. “This is Charmer, Tinker, Shayle and Vulpe.”

“Good to meet you all.” He nodded to each of the others and turned to his own group, which was slightly bigger than I originally thought.

Pointing at each, he listed their names. “Misty, Brand, Sun Dried, Splinter, Fog Horn, Diamond, Lace, Starry Night…” Most of the ponies nodded or waved to us when their name was called, with three exceptions. Misty, the juvenile mare who still looked like she wanted to shoot me, just huffed and looked away from us, her taped up shotgun leaning into her side just in case; and Starry Night, the horrifyingly tall unicorn who I just realized had designs all over her body, had backed up to the fire but was still glaring at me with eyes of fire.

The last was a very, very excited mare who jumped away from the fire and ran at Shayle with a squeal and almost gave me a heart attack. Charmer’s rifle was up in a heartbeat, but my sister barely seemed to care. I think she was actually smiling? I figured it out when I realized the pony running at her was wearing the same jacket.

“Sandy!” the pony yelled and threw her hooves around Shayle’s neck joyously. The zebra twitched a little at the gesture, but returned it regardless. I think she may have flinched more from the swollen row of poorly done stitches than ran from the Stable Pony’s left temple around the back of her head to end at her right ear.

“And I guess you already know Sandy,” Rust Bucket finished.

“We’ve met,” Shayle confirmed with a happy nod and stepped away from the Stable pony who spun around and stood beside her.

“So what are you zebras doing down this way?” he asked once everyone had been announced. “Shouldn’t you be up north in your big city?”

“Uh, we had to leave.” I skirted a more detailed reason for our leaving and scratched my neck. “We’re on our way to a town in the south. Why are you so far north?”

“Just got here,” he stated. “We’re running a caravan through the towns down here to trade.”

“So you’re from somewhere else?” Charmer asked curiously.

“Yup, all over. A few of us are from Coltchester, but the rest we picked up along the way,” he explained.

“Sandy!” the strange stable pony chimed in excitedly.

“She’s the newest,” Rust commented in mild irritation. “Still don’t know what’s wrong with her, doesn’t say anything except what I assume is her name.”

“She’s a dipshit,” Misty added.

“She’s a clone,” Shayle corrected angrily.

“A dipshit clone,” Misty persisted, not seeming to care about the whole ‘clone’ concept. Everyone else at least looked at the pony with strange stares and some whispered to each other. The rest of us didn’t really care though, we’d gotten through the whole ‘clone’ thing when Shayle first told us the story about what happened in the Stable, so I was able to ignore it and jump in on the conversation.

“So you’re traders?” I quickly asked, trying to get away from a possible incident.

“We are now. Better than sitting around and waiting to die,” one of the others, a mare that I think was Lace replied. “At least now we have jobs.”

“What she means to say,” Rust broke in. “Is that before this job we were all wanderers who would probably be dead by the end of the week. Thank the Goddesses, Starry Night over there has a thing for giving desperate ponies work.” So apparently he wasn’t in charge, but if she was so helpful, why did she look like she wanted to kill us?

“How did she find you all?” Shayle asked and sat down with Sandy following suite soon after.

“We just bumped into her,” he told us. “She offered us good pay if we helped her with her trade business, mostly as guards.”

“This is a lot of guards for one caravan,” Charmer commented. “Aren’t you worried about drawing unwanted attention?”

“So far we’ve been lucky,” Misty pointed out. “Only one band of raiders tried to mess with us, and they didn’t last long.”

“You all know how to fight?” Charmer asked. “Or did you just get lucky?”

“A little of both,” the mare continued. “All of us know how to shoot, the Wasteland teaches that pretty quick,” she pointed out and looked at Charmer like she should already know that. “But Starry did most of the work.”

Charmer raised an eyebrow at that, but didn’t question it. “So where are you heading?”

“Right now? Some place called Bunker. Starry says it’s probably got the most need for trading,” the unicorn explained and moved a lock of hair that had fallen over her eyes. “Apparently they don’t get out much.”

“No, they don’t,” Charmer confirmed.

I tried to keep paying attention to the conversation, but it travelled off somewhere that didn’t really interest me anymore. Charmer and the two most talkative from the new crew kept talking about the town, seeming unsure of whether or not it was such a good idea for us to all travel together since we were conveniently heading to the same place. I didn’t know if it was because she didn’t trust them, or if she found it too convenient. But I didn’t really try to figure it out.

I got distracted from it by Shayle and Sandy behind me, apparently bored of the conversation before myself and talking alone. Well, Shayle was talking. Sandy was doing a lot of moving around and acting out things that I couldn’t really put together along with sound effects that vaguely sounded like guns.

I was distracted from that by Tinker leaning into my side. “Should we get to bed?” she asked quietly. “I’m a little tired.”

Honestly, that sounded like a good idea, and it wasn’t like I had any reason to stay awake. So I nodded to her and smiled, happily standing up to go find a place where we could curl up together.

The land around us had quickly blended into a sheet of greyish brown once we turned off the main road, taking us off the course we once took to reach Celestia’s Rose. I shivered a little when we trotted by the still gaping hole in the ground where I had been pushed into the cave where Stable 81 was hidden, but it didn’t last long. I don’t think Sandy even knew what it was when we saw it, and if she did there was nothing to give it away on her face. All around us was nothing but dirt, and loose dirt, along with a narrow dirt path that was leading us toward the bumps of some hills in the distance.

In every direction nothing moved above ground with us, taking shelter from the relative heat from the bare Wasteland floor. I think normal zebras would consider that a good thing; it meant we weren’t really in danger of getting shot at, and if someone decided to try jumping us we would see them for miles. However, I must not be a normal zebra, because I was begging for something to move around and draw my thoughts away from what they refused to let me ignore. Even if it was just for a moment, it was one less moment with the memories of blood and fire.

From the ghoul attacks, to the destroyed towns smoldering around me, to the ponies and zebras I had watched die everywhere I went; it all replayed in my mind like a recording that had been edited to only show the worst bits of my time in the Wasteland. The blood glowed a brilliant red among the otherwise subdued world that existed in my mind, only rivaled in clarity by the look in the eyes of the dead I had seen. Doc’s fear as the blood spilled over her chest, Strike’s sadness after dying before he got the chance to go the last step with his love, the horrible acceptance in the amber eyes of the unlucky guard who found me near Spur…

My thoughts rarely made it past that point, kept away from the more recent memories by the regular bumps against my side from Sandy as if she didn’t know how to walk in a straight line. Even when she wasn’t pressed briefly to my side, she seemed to zig and zag between me and the roadside, sometimes going that one extra step to hit me. I could never tell if it was on purpose or if she was distracted by something I was unable to see, but honestly it never annoyed me. In fact, I often found myself internally thanking the pony for her clumsy stumbling against me; a welcome reprieve from the daydreaming that seemed to be constant if I walked anywhere for a length of time.

Of course I doubted I would be so open to the contact from anyone else in the group aside from Felix and maybe Charmer, but definitely not from any of the caravan ponies we’d met the night before. I think it might have been because I knew Sandy, sort of, after our meeting in her Stable a week or so before and nothing about her gave the impression she would do anything to hurt me if she could help it. Her and her, uh, ‘sisters’ had been nothing but nice to me during my stay there, which surprised me at the time after seeing all of the corpses, but in the end I think it was one of the greatest moments I’d experienced since leaving home. That made her one of the only ponies I actually felt completely comfortable and safe around, the others being Charmer and formerly Strike.

But that might have had something to do with that fact that she didn’t plan on killing me or try to shoot me as soon as she saw me. I’m not saying that I hated Charmer just because she tried to beat me to death when we first met, that was just a misunderstanding that we had since forgotten about and let go; plus I was trying to do the same to her, so I couldn’t really hold it against her.

Which was probably why I was so happy to see Sandy again, even if I wasn’t sure exactly which one it was; she was a friend. Naturally, when I first saw her I wondered why she wasn’t in her stable, especially with a brand new gash across her head, but since then I had decided I would probably never know. Even after her attempts to tell the story through a long and confusing game of charades, complete with sound effects, all I had figured out was that there was some shooting, some robots, and she got hit in the head by something. Regardless of what she had gone through that put her out in the Wasteland, I was glad to see the eccentric clone alive and well, and happy that she remembered who I was.

On my other side, Vulpe spent most of the day trotting briskly to keep up. I had asked if he wanted me to carry him more than once, but each time he had insisted that he could walk by himself for one day; complete with a proud puff of his chest for a few minutes after the claim. It was cute to see, and I was glad that he appeared to be coping with his mother’s death better than I thought he would, but at the same time it was a somber contrast to Sandy’s naïve joy. So I let him do as he wished, and stopped asking after a while. I still needed to nudge him along once or twice when walking beside him dropped us just a little further behind the group than I wanted to, but he did really good.

At the front of our small group, the caravan ponies talked almost constantly along with Felix, Tinker and Charmer about just about everything they could think of. They all took turns pulling the big carts that Starry’s goods were in, but the job hardly stopped them from staying active in the conversations going on. They didn’t really look like they agreed with Seer’s old obsession with staying quiet and on alert. In fact, the only one who didn’t join in was the purple unicorn up front who ran the trade outfit; and she actually became a bit of a distraction for me.

Between bumps and nightmares I would always sneak a peek or two her way, not to admire her too-short mane or anything, I just liked the scars all over her legs and neck. At first they didn’t seem too special, I actually thought she had just gotten in a really bad fight or lit on fire, but after a few glances at the mare I figured out she was covered in designs that had been burned into her skin. I couldn’t tell what most of them were since they seemed to just be curls and hook shapes around her limbs, but I figured out one or two unique ones. Personally, I couldn’t understand why she would subject herself to being burned like that just so she could look tough or whatever, but I also didn’t care to ask her about it.

Mostly because I didn’t trust her or her coworkers yet. And that wasn’t helped at all by the fact that Vulpe, Felix and I were shunned by most of the group at first. Tinker and Charmer were happily pulled into conversations, but only a couple of the traders bothered to try talking with me or my brother until Felix started trying to join in on his own. I just stayed out of it entirely.

Another dream and another flank-bump from Sandy pulled my attention back out of my own thoughts and to the real world. Apparently my most recent day-nightmare had been a long one, because suddenly the hills that used to be in the distance were on either side of us, looming ominously in the faded light of dusk. Vulpe had since slowed and started leaning against my tail while we walked, which I guess I had started using to help him keep walking at some point.

On an unrelated note; a quick peek at Starry Night revealed that the branding behind her left ear was a tulip, I think.

Charmer slowed down a little bit and fell away from the caravaneers before staying beside me. “We’re almost there, keep your guard up,” she told me quietly and started checking her rifle for some reason.

When she told us we were looking for her friend, I didn’t think it would involve going to a town where she actually had her rifle loaded and ready for a fight. Maybe on the way there, but she hadn’t even picked the thing up during out entire walk, so her sudden worry about possibly needing it didn’t exactly fill me with confidence. Deciding she must have a good reason, I quickly thought back and took a quick look in the chamber of my shotgun to make sure it was loaded.

Luckily, my sudden paranoia managed to keep my thoughts from drifting for a little while so my eyes could scan the hilltops around us. I fully expected someone or something to jump up and attack us at any second, I just didn’t know what. Hopefully nothing big or another horde of ghouls, I’d had enough of those things.

Apparently, the hilltops weren’t what I should worry about, because without warning a series of pops broke the relative silence of our group and tendrils of dark purple smoke reached out to coil around us. The caravan disappeared from my view and the smoke fogged the sight of my friends while it stung my eyes and burned down my throat. I heard Sandy and Tinker squeal in surprise, and of course felt Sandy back into me, while Vulpe tugged violently at my tail to be picked up. I quickly turned and lifted him to my back before pulling my shotgun out; ready for a fight with whoever had been waiting for us.

A cacophony of clanging metal and surprised yells filled the air while the caravan ponies started pulling their own weapons out and presumably looking for our attackers, but I didn’t hear any gunshots yet. In response, a violent and aggressive voice blasted over us with the order to drop our weapons. I couldn’t tell where it came from, it seemed to come from everywhere at once, so I started looking around randomly and clamped down tighter on the grip of my shotgun.

My teeth ached by the time the order was repeated, this time complete with a threat. “Drop them now, or we will open fire!”

The part of my brain that demanded survival opened my jaw and dropped the gun, which smacked the dirt road loudly. One by one I heard other weapons drop to the ground, and I started to wonder if that was a good idea. When the smoke started to clear away, Charmer was sitting down a little ways in front of me with her rifle on the ground neatly, seeming to be waiting for something. The others looked panicked like I was and looked around frantically, one or two still holding guns.

A mechanical whirring filled the air, and the last two guns I could see dropped instantly. I turned up to one of the hilltops to see what had prompted such a quick reaction, and was met with the sight of what was likely the biggest stallion I’d seen in my life, with an equally big gun strapped on his side. I didn’t know what it did, I didn’t want to know what it did, but the cluster of spinning barrels was more than enough to convince me that I was about to die.

The death-machine toting pony began sweeping the gun over our heads menacingly once the smoke was all gone, and I instinctively crouched down while anticipation of something bad happening filled the air around me. While this happened, the omnipresent voice from before yelled out again, still demanding we drop our weapons. I started to think it was a fake, but then I looked over and saw Starry standing in the center of the road with some kind of strange, boxy rifle floating beside her face and pointed at the big stallion.

“Tell him to stop pointing that at us, and I will,” the branded unicorn ordered defensively and kept her gun up, unwavering. I saw a few of her friends looking over and visually pleading for her to just listen. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t too.

A tense silence fell over the road, bothered only by the whirring of the death-gun pointing down on us and the hammering of my own heart as all eyes locked on Starry. For some reason, I didn’t think that the markings all over her body were just to look tough anymore, and I hoped that she could back up her stubbornness if it came to that.

“Put it down, or he starts shooting,” the voice came again, but this time only from one side of us; over where the big pony was.

At first, Starry just kept aiming at him and didn’t move at all, and that feeling that something very bad was about to happen intensified. I crouched a little lower and prepared to jump away with Vulpe if the spinning barrels opened up, just hoping that he would know to hold on and that I would be fast enough to get away.

A few seconds later the whirring grew louder and the barrels sped up as the big pony braced himself. Charmer leaned forward a little, ready to grab her rifle, while the caravan ponies continued to stare at Starry as if confused by the display that was about to get us killed. Thankfully the white-shrouded rifle lowered and floated to the ground gently, and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief at the lack of bullets flying through us.

Hoofsteps cracked through the dirt behind us and we all turned to see a unicorn with her face hidden in a checkered scarf stepping into view. “Good girl,” she proudly told Starry before looking at each of us and the carts. “What are you all doing out here?” she demanded. The gun looking over us was still spinning, and I didn’t doubt that if we did anything stupid it would start shooting. I just hoped that Starry was done with whatever that was.

“We’re just traders,” Rust Bucket quickly blurted out. “We aren’t looking for any trouble.”

“Traders huh?” The shrouded mare asked and stepped to the nearest cart to take a look inside. “Why do you have so many guards, Mr. Trader?” she asked, but it sounded like she was on the other side of us suddenly.

“Call us paranoid,” Misty piped and crossed her hooves over her chest. “Some assholes like to shoot caravans.”

The scarf-covered face snapped up to Misty and scowled, I think. “Shut it, Missy. If we wanted to shoot you, we wouldn’t have warned you.” The mare walked across the street to the hill where her overwatch was waiting and spun around before magically pulling the cloth off her muzzle. The big gun stopped spinning, and I stood back up from the low crouch I was still in, trying to ignore the aching in my legs for holding the position so long.

“Okay, follow me to town if you want,” the mare announced unceremoniously and turned away from us, down a path between two hills. “Just don’t use any of those guns near me.”

Charmer was the first one up and moving with her rifle haphazardly slung, apparently in some kind of hurry to catch up with the abrasive pony and talk with her; probably something about her friend. Assuming we were going to the right place that is. The rest of us all started picking up our own guns, or screwdriver in Sandy’s case, and following along. Three of the caravan ponies switched out with the previous pullers to finish out the trip, and Felix leaned over to make sure Tinker was okay. I didn’t know what had happened, but she was limping a little bit on her first few steps toward the path.

Vulpe poked his head up next to mine from where he sat on my back and watched the path while we walked, apparently just as curious about where we were going as I was. When Charmer said we were going to a town, I didn’t expect something hidden in the hills.

I also didn’t expect a concrete shed five minutes away from the road. I wanted to think it was just a gate, but it was just sitting in a clearing barely big enough for all of us to gather in between the hills. For some reason, I started to imagine that the ‘town’ of Bunker was just the scarf wearing mare and the really big stallion living in the box and calling it a town to scare off smaller bandit groups. That quickly changed to four ponies crammed together in the bunker with barely any personal space when two more guards stepped out the front door and started welcoming us to town; starting with Charmer.

Our group quickly turned into a line at the door, which confused me at first. I was about to ask what was happening when I saw the guards taking away everyone’s guns before allowing them into the little bunker. Apparently there was a staircase inside, because I just barely caught the sight of Misty’s mane dipping underground.

“This is the only way in?” a disgruntled Starry Night asked a few feet away from me.

“Yes, this is it,” the pony who led us to town replied flatly.

“How am I supposed to get my stuff inside? You don’t expect us to start carrying it all down there do you?” She didn’t sound happy at all.

“Just set up here. We’ll let the townsfolk know you’re here and send them up,” the scarf-wearing pony suggested.

Starry said something after that, something less than pleased with the suggestion, but I didn’t hear exactly what it was because someone was tearing the shotgun off of my back and starting to rip open my bag. My head spun to see what was going on, and I caught one of the guards throwing all of my stuff onto the ground with his magic, and he growled something about a ‘contraband check’. That was weird enough considering I didn’t see them doing that for any of the ponies ahead of me, let alone throwing their stuff all across the field. “Get out of my bag,” I snapped and pulled away from him.

“Either I check your bag, or you don’t go inside, Stripe,” he countered venomously before shrouding my bag in his magic and yanking them off. Either he didn’t see Vulpe looking at him, or he just didn’t care that the colt was on my back. Whichever one it was, I didn’t care, because he still got hit in the head by one of the bags, and he still fell off of me and into the dirt.

Everything turned red, and I couldn’t remember what happened. What I did remember was my left forehoof throbbing and held up against my chest, and I was staring down at the guard while he writhed on the floor and held his hooves up to one eye. That was about the time I realized I had probably done something very, very bad. I didn’t actually remember exactly what I did, but I doubted it really mattered to the guard who ran up on my other side and swung his rifle like a bat.

Before I could react, everything went white and my head started screaming in pain where the muzzle cracked against my skull.

The next thing I knew I was sprawled out on the ground and couldn’t shake the feeling that I was about to vomit. Over me I heard a lot of yelling, some guns being loaded, and some blurry shapes and bodies starting to show up as the daze wore off. A lot of unfamiliar faces swirled over me at first, but then they melded into just two of them – a guard pointing a gun at my face and Vulpe staring at me with a worried look.

I turned my head to look up at whoever was yelling, and found myself looking right at Felix’s butt, from the look of the glyph on its side. I dropped my head again and tried to ignore the pain still thumping through it, but it wasn’t working very well. The place where I had been hit throbbed with every heartbeat, sending waves of pain through my skull that seemed to be getting worse.

“Are you okay?” I vaguely understood Vulpe ask and nodded up to him. Then I winced when my head protested against that movement.

After hearing him, I could still hear the guard I hit screaming while they pulled him over to the town’s entrance, and I actually grinned a little at that; because I wasn’t screaming like a newborn filly. I really, really wanted to, but something inside me kept saying ‘no screaming’.

After that, I finally got to hear some of whatever yelling was happening above me, but I missed most of it. “-cause any trouble. Just let her-” Felix started, I think, I couldn’t tell how long he’d been talking, but he was cut off.

“Out of the question, you saw what she did,” the mare who led us up to Bunker replied sternly. I wanted to look up and see their faces, but I didn’t want to provoke my throbbing head further.

“He started it though, that was completely-” Felix tried to argue again but suddenly stopped.

“I don’t care. She can’t come in, and that’s final.”

Somewhere in my screaming and confused head, the pieces started to click together and I figured out that I’d managed to get myself banned from going inside. Which meant I had to stay in the middle of nowhere by myself.

“Where’s she supposed to go? She can’t stay here by herself,” Felix argued and stepped forward. “Just keep her under guard or something if you’re that worried.”

“No. Rules are rules, and she broke a big one. She can stay out here and guard your fucking carts if you want, but she’s not going inside.”

“I’ll stay with her,” a voice suddenly called out over the argument and turned everyone’s attention to one side. Except for mine anyways. “I need to wait for customers anyways,” the semi-familiar voice of Starry Night explained. Perfect, the crazy pony was going to stay with me while I could barely think straight.

“I’ll stay too,” Felix quickly offered, gaining a little snort of displeasure from Tinker.

“No, you need to help Charmer find her friend,” I slurred and tried to look up at him, luckily not receiving a surge of extra pain. Why did I say it though?

“Are you sure?” he asked worriedly. “I don’t mind staying to look at your head,” he pointed out and frowned.

“I’ll be fine,” I told him and tried to look fine, but probably just looked stupid. “I just need to lay down for a little bit.” He didn’t stop frowning, but he didn’t argue either.

He put a hoof on my shoulder gently and told me to be safe, then turned with Tinker and walked to the door with a guard in tow. Apparently I had made it so he couldn’t be trusted to go anywhere alone, which really didn’t help me feel any better about hitting that guard.

Probably because I didn’t feel bad about it.

As soon as he was out of sight, I scrunched up my nose and tried to think of why I was suddenly okay with him going anywhere without me, especially a town that neither of us knew and was apparently unfriendly with zebras. I tried to figure it out for a few seconds, but quickly settled on the recent head injury that I had gotten. Besides, I was quickly more troubled by Vulpe’s face still looking down at me instead of inside with my brother, Tinker and Charmer where it was probably safer than out in the Wasteland in the quickly approaching nighttime.

“You don’t want to go inside?” I asked him and rolled onto my belly. My head didn’t argue too much, so I decided to stay there for a little bit.

He shook his head and frowned. “Too many ponies.”

I frowned a little at that, but I couldn’t really argue with him if that’s what his reason was. And even if I could, it’s not like I had a way to send him inside anymore. Well, unless Sandy took him, because she was standing next to me still, but I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to send a clone who couldn’t say anything except her name and a colt who didn’t want to go inside anyways into the town alone. So I supposed they were just going to stay outside with Starry and me.

Which actually made me feel quite a bit better about the entire situation, aside from my worries about Vulpe being out at night that is. I felt safe enough with Starry, who was apparently more than capable of defending herself if the other caravaneers and her display earlier were real and not just a show. As long as she didn’t plan on killing me and my friends herself anyways, but I had started to really doubt that. If she really wanted to kill us, her and the rest of her group could have done that at any time during the day while we travelled together without much of a fight. I still didn’t fully trust her, but at least I felt like I might survive around her.

Especially considering the xenophobic guards who were close enough to throw a rock at probably wouldn’t even consider helping me if someone decided I looked like an easy target in the middle of the night.

“Sandy?” the clone asked and looked down at me confused, like she couldn’t figure out why I was still laying down.

“Fine,” I grumbled, stood up, and tried to ignore the sudden throb of my head from the effort.

I barely made it down the stairs before a hoof smacked against the back of my head and nearly sent me stumbling to my haunches. It didn’t hurt too bad, but it was enough to make me wonder what just happened. I quickly spun my head to one side and then the other, but realized the only pony nearby was Tinker and her angry-pouty look. I didn’t understand how she managed it, but it was pretty good at making me feel bad about whatever it was that I did.

“Why?” I asked her and rubbed the sore spot on the back of my head.

“You know why,” she snapped and kept staring at me with that horrible look.

“No I don’t,” I told her and started to panic and think back to whatever it was that I did upstairs to upset her. “Just tell me what I did, please?”

“You offered to stay upstairs instead of coming down here to help Charmer and me,” she explained. “And she already had that unicorn and weird clone girl to help her.”

“I just wanted to make sure she was okay,” I told her and tried to look apologetic. “And make sure she stayed safe. I didn’t think it was such a big deal.” It wasn’t right? Because honestly it made sense with our track record for getting into fights and Shayle getting hurt. And no, the argument upstairs didn’t count as a fight as far as I was concerned, even if I’m pretty sure Shayle might have permanently damaged that stallion’s eye.

“Just think about it a little more next time, okay? We might need your help too,” she pointed out and pressed her cheek against mine, apparently feeling a little better after getting her thoughts out and smacking me. “Now let’s go find Charmer, goof.”

I smiled and nodded before walking alongside her down a narrow hallway that opened up onto an equally narrow and worryingly creaky catwalk, but what the metal path hung over is what almost stopped me in my tracks. It looked like the entire town was contained in the one massive room we looked down over, a room that looked like it was a warehouse rather than a bunker. A quick thought jumped up in my mind at the warehouse idea, but I pushed it away before I got too worried.

Dozens of homes and businesses were scattered throughout the room in no particular order, all appearing to be built from old machinery of some kind, yet each one managing to look somewhat unique from the others. Some were adorned with shining cogs or computer parts to stand out, while others looked like they may have just been put together with the nearest pieces to cut down on building time. None looked like they were rusted at all, which confused me until I realized that the entire space was filled by the undying hum of some kind of ventilation. The entire place must have been self-contained and filtered with fresh air somehow; which I guess made sense for a bunker made during a war that had both sides making horrible weapons of every kind, but what kind of bunker needed that much space?

Between the structures, ponies gathered around old barrels with brilliant fires burning away in them, chatting and visiting with one another as night approached. Not that they could tell, the entire place was lit by an array of powerful lights that hung from the ceiling rather than any natural light source. I wondered what they did if a light burned out and they needed a new bulb, but didn’t think too far into it. Above those where the vents that must fill the place with air, continuously purring as they did their work.

Tinker nudged me softly while I admired the town and pointed down the catwalk to a green hoof waving us over. Apparently I had stopped walking at some point, and quickly apologized. Tinker just rolled her eyes and pressed against me while we walked, trying to stay on one side while ponies in grease coated coveralls talked in front of an open panel in the wall.

While we made our way to Charmer, the room snapped and screamed with an earsplitting whine from overhead, which was quickly replaced by a buzz of static. I looked down and saw every head turn upward before a raspy voice replaced the static. “Attention. All citizens of Bunker should be aware that a trade caravan has arrived in town.” The voice paused for a moment, and I could faintly hear a few voices talking about something in the background before it started again. “Those wishing to trade are welcome to exit the town and visit with the trader waiting just outside the door under watch of the guards. Please be polite to our visitors… including the Stripes with them,” the announcement finished sourly and the buzzing cut off.

And I officially felt very unwelcome.

At first only a few ponies below us started to move toward the stairways and catwalks, but others followed along after taking a few more moments to take in more heat from the fires or wave goodbye to their friends who didn’t need to talk with Starry upstairs. I looked away and up to Charmer, who we had finally reached and looked a little jittery.

“Enjoying the sights?” she asked us with a little grin.

I nodded and grinned back, then looked to Tinker to see what she thought. Surprisingly, she didn’t seem to care much, and just shrugged about the houses made from machines. I thought she would love that, but apparently I was wrong.

“Not impressed with the place?” Charmer asked her and led us toward one of the stairwells to get down to the floor.

“It’s neat, but they could at least try to make their houses walk or something with all this machinery,” she pointed out. “Maybe I’ll stay here and work on that,” she suggested and looked at me with a devilish grin.

“I’m sure they’d love all the noise you would make,” I joked and wondered if she was actually considering it.

“Not as much as they would love my zebra roommate,” she countered and winked at me. My face started to feel warm at the idea, and some part of me actually hoped she was being serious. She snorted and bumped against my side softly. “Relax, I’m just kidding. I’d rather not live in an underground box.”

I grinned and nodded in agreement, even if I did kind of like the idea of living with her. But Shayle would need to be there too, and she wasn’t really allowed in Bunker anymore. Plus, she would probably try to bring Vulpe along since she seemed a bit too attached to the little colt already, something that I probably needed to talk to her about.

“So where’s Shayle?” Charmer asked as if she could read my mind.

“She hit a guard,” I explained briefly. “Got banned from coming inside.”

The burned pony shook her head and kept walking. “Surprise,” she sarcastically groaned. “At least she’s not in jail or something.” They had one of those here?

Whoever Charmer had asked about her friend sure had been specific about where to find them, because after only a few minutes we were at their door. At least I thought it was, it was kind of hard to tell when most of the shack looked like it would collapse if someone sneezed too hard nearby. I actually started wondering if it was some kind of communal bathroom, because it barely looked big enough to house a pony with more than a bed and a box for a table. And apparently if they were okay with the door nearly falling into the place with Charmer’s knocking.

“Yes?” a nearly inaudible voice answered from inside.

“Tailspin?” Charmer asked warmly, smiling a little.

A soft rustling filled the room beyond the door before a little slat in the metal slid open to reveal a worried pair of blue eyes. “Yes, what do you want?” the pony inside asked, sounding like he was scared of the burnt face in front of his door.

“It’s Charmer, you were friends with my mom,” she explained and smiled.

“Charmer?” the voice stammered excitedly and shut the slat. The sound of at least three locks being undone rang through the door before it finally swung open, revealing a pony that looked almost as fragile as his house did.

And he had wings…

“Wow, you’ve gotten big,” the pegasus commented with a nervous smile.

Charmer smirked and sat down, holding her hooves out for a hug. “It’s good to see you too.” Tailspin looked horrified by the gesture at first, but eventually put his hooves limply around the mare, taking great care not to touch the rippling skin along her face and neck.

“So, um, how have you been?” he asked shakily and pulled away from the hug after a brief second.

“I’ve been better,” Charmer replied and turned the scarred half of her face away from him with a look of disappointment in her eye. “You?”

“The same,” he quickly offered and looked around at us. “Uh, do you and your… friends, want to come in?” His eyes lingered on me for a long moment, and I started to wonder if I made him more uncomfortable, or if Charmer’s burns did.

“We’d love to,” the burned mare answered for all of us and stood up again. She tried to smile while still keeping her burns facing away from the skittish pegasus in front of her, but I could see that she wasn’t enjoying the reunion very much.

The inside of Tailspin’s home was no more impressive than the outside. An old drum of some kind sat in the middle of the room as a table, judging by the half-eaten can of beans sitting in the center of it. In one corner of the ‘house’ was half of an old mattress that barely looked big enough to hold the emaciated pegasus that owned it, with a bundle of something under an old sheet at the foot. I tried to see what it might be without lifting the sheet up, and managed to see the faint shine of a scope through a hole in the fabric. Beside that was a small heap of garbage that smelled rotten and filled the room with a constant burning sensation. Luckily, no bugs were anywhere to be seen, which I supposed was a perk of living in a fully contained bunker.

“Sorry about the mess,” Tailspin nervously apologized. “Um, make yourselves comfortable,” he offered and waved to the entire room before sitting next to the ‘table’.

Charmer sat down at his side so that he could only see the unscarred side of her; something that made me feel a little sad. I sat down on her other side to stay nearby, but I’m almost certain that Tailspin scooted an extra inch away when I did. Tinker sat in the last empty spot, between me and our skinny pegasus host, but looked disgusted just being inside.

“So, what brings you to town?” Tailspin started while staring down at the table, taking quick glances up to us.

“You, of course,” Charmer told him. “Do you really think I would go through the ridiculous security here just to pass through?”

The nervous pony chortled and nodded. “It hasn’t changed much since you and your mother moved out, has it?”

“Wait, you lived here?” I blurted out without really thinking about it.

“Yeah. Momma met Tailspin on a hunt and we moved in a few days later,” she explained, but elaborated when she saw my skeptical expression. “She liked quiet guys.”

Oh, so it was that kind of move-in. I considered asking what made them move back out again, but Charmer’s past stories and remembering what she had said about her mother’s… habits, in the past quickly changed my mind.

“Yes, uh,” the pegasus tapped the table and looked down with some embarrassment before continuing. “What did you need to see me for?” He seemed confused by the concept.

“Advice, or some help if you’re feeling adventurous again,” Charmer replied and smiled. “We need to reach Gold’s Corral.”

Tailspin nodded and looked over at me. “I’m guessing you want him to go along?” he stammered.

Charmer nodded and added, “Plus two more upstairs.”

“Well, that makes it harder,” the blue pony told us and looked over at Charmer. “You remember who’s in the way right?”

“That’s why I’m asking for help,” she pointed out.

Tailspin took a deep breath and looked around the room as if it would give him some great idea for how to help us, and apparently it did. His eyes stopped at the foot of his bed and his lips turned up in a little grin before looking back to Charmer. “How’s your hunting?”

Charmer’s brow twisted. “I haven’t been since we moved north, why?” The two just looked at each other for a second before Charmer’s face twisted into realization and worry. “No. Fuck no, Tailspin,” she blurted.

“Charmer, just listen,” he started and put his hoof on her shoulder. “You won’t actually have to hunt. It’s just a cover for -”

“I don’t care,” she cut him off. “I’ve got kids with me, I’m not taking them in there again.”

“Wait, what’s going on?” Tinker asked and looked around to each of us.

“Dipshit over here wants us to go through New Oatleans,” Charmer explained. I instantly agreed with her. Our first trip through the city almost got us all killed, and voluntarily taking another trip through there seemed like a horrible idea.

“I can give you a map,” the pegasus quickly pointed out. “There’s routes running from this side to just north of The Corral. And I can give you some names.”

“You still have friends in the business?” Charmer asked and looked at him unbelievingly. “I thought you quit.”

“Um,” our host stammered and scratched his neck. “I may get an itch on occasion. So yes, I know a few ponies and griffins that could help you.”

Charmer grumbled and looked away from him. “I’d prefer a different plan entirely,” she told the other pony.

Tinker raised a hoof and shook it a little before the pegasus looked at her. “We could also stop in Celestia’s Rose. A few hunters live there too,” she added.

Charmer shot her an aggressive look before looking at me. “I take it you’re going to offer a way to help now?”

“I’d rather stay out of it,” I pointed out and scooted away from the table.

She looked back at Tailspin. “And even if I did like the idea, I would feel better doing it with someone I actually know. Like, I don’t know, you?”

The skittish pony shook his head. “Oh no, no, no. I’m okay with a quick hunt on occasion, but trying to hide zebras from the Rangers and stay away from the recently pissed off Remnant at the same time? No, I’ll stay out of this,” he stammered out sternly.

Charmer sighed. “You don’t know any other way do you?” He shook his head apologetically. “Fine. Are any of those names you have someone that Momma knew?”

“Well… nevermind,” he started and quickly stopped before standing up. “I’ll get the map.”

“Tailspin,” Charmer growled and put her hoof in his chest. “Who don’t you want me to talk to?”

“Uh, well, it’s not really one of your mom’s friends…” he backed off her hoof and spun to go around the other side of the table. “I’m sure you remember Goober?”

Charmer looked at him and flinched a little at the name before regaining her composure. “I vaguely recall the name… among other things.”

“Yeah, I bet you do,” Tailspin told her with a smirk. “Well, I guess if you want someone you trust, you could always talk to him. And he’s in town…kind of.”

“What does that mean?” she asked and trotted over to the pegasus while he pulled out a map from under his bed.

“He may or may not be in jail right now.”

Charmer groaned and looked up, mumbling something that vaguely sounded like ‘fucking déjà vu’. “Which one is he in?” she asked and looked back down at the map.

“Um, death row?” our host told her nervously. “I hope you’re not surprised.”

Charmer’s head snapped over to him. “Jail, no. Death row, yes. What the fuck did he do?”

“Death row?” Tinker and I both asked in unison.

“Yes, death row,” Tailspin confirmed. “Well, he was just in jail for a while, then he got in a fight with some of the guards, and they put him deeper.”

“Great,” the green pony grumbled and pushed the map into her bag. “Well, thanks Tailspin. It was good to see you again,” she told him half-heartedly and turned to leave.

“Yeah, you too,” the nervous pegasus told her with a wave. “Stay safe,” was the last thing we heard him say before leaving.

“So, now what do we do?” I asked Charmer once we were out in the town again.

“We post bail.”

Footnote: Shayle Leveled Up! (Unarmed 45)
New Perk Earned: Finesse – You have a 5% greater chance to get a critical hit. Like the eyes.

Author’s Note:
Well, I’m back, and with a new chapter as well. I’m sorry it’s been so long since the last one, but with a new move and school starting, it’s been a hell of a time getting this done. Luckily, a work weekend came up where I literally had nothing to do for the first day, so I got around 8 hours of nothing but forcing myself to work on a chapter and edit the crud out of it. That is what you see starting at Shayle’s section. Hopefully parts 2 and 3 of this won’t take forever long to get out, and I’ll work on that.
As usual, a thank you to Kkat for creating this universe, and Somber and the other side-fic authors for expanding it and making it just way too much fun and too distracting for me. I love all y’all and hope my story is worthy of this fandom. Thank you again to my pre-readers and editors, as well as anyone who gives me recommendations and fixes as they read, you all make sure this isn’t as bad as it would be otherwise, and I am forever grateful. Thank you to Doomande and Rattlesire for the cover you see on this story whenever you read it, as well as to any artist who has produced art for this story, commissioned or otherwise. You all make me smile, and I love seeing the story come to life, so to speak.
Also, I guess September 13 is some kind of year anniversary thing.
Because of this special event, I want to give an extra special thank you to every single person who has read my story, whether they still do or not. Thank you for giving All That Remains and me a chance and taking time from your lives to read it. I know it isn’t as grand or fantastic as the original Fallout Equestria or some of the side stories like Project Horizons and Murky Number Seven, but you all still decided it was worth a shot, even if it was just for the prologue.
Because of you all, I kept writing and sticking with the universe, striving to constantly improve and just hoping that it would be something that you all could call entertaining and keep reading. So thank every last one of you for the last year, and hopefully some more great times to come. It may not be another year, it may be longer than that, I can’t say for sure yet, but I hope you all continue to stick with me and that I manage to keep you all hooked on Shayle and Felix’s rather miserable life for at least a while longer.