Fallout Equestria: Gun Trotters

Chapters

Chapter 1: Nerves
Chapter 2: Separated
Chapter 3: FUBAR
Chapter 4: The Caravan
Prologue

Chapter 1: Nerves

It may have been the weekend, but Neighvarro still bustled with activity. Looming above the cloud cover that separated it from the wasteland below, the largest base the Enclave had to offer was built around the hub that controlled every bit of cloud in pegasus territory. Even the leviathan Thunderhead-class cloudship permanently assigned to Neighvarro, the Victorious, appeared toy-like next to it. Every aspect of the base was meant to be overly impressive, to inspire its occupants and shock and awe its enemies; even the barracks for cadets had an imposing aesthetic.

The late afternoon sun flooded one cadet’s room with light, drowning out the surfaces that faced it in shades of orange and yellow. It provided heavy contrast to the dull gray walls, as well as the shades of purple and green in the Enclave flag that dominated one side of the room. Unfortunately, the sun washed out the cloud terminal’s screen with a healthy amount of glare, keeping the two pegasi gathered around it from reading properly.

“Hey, can you block the sun for just a second? I’m almost done reading,” The blue stallion on the right asked, the request being quickly granted by his companion. Unfolding a wing and extending it up, she took away the glare for the time being, letting the stallion finish the last couple sentences he was on. His eyes widened as he got to the end, amazed by everything coming together, and could only say one thing:

“Wow.”

The stallion’s eyes were glued to the screen, soaking in what he just read. The prologue alone was awesome, completely different from what his friend had attempted in the past—

“Dauntless.” His name being uttered shocked the pegasus back to his senses, as Dauntless sheepishly turned to face the mare sitting to his left.

“S-Sorry. I couldn’t help but get caught up in reading it over and over again,” He apologized, rubbing the back of his head with a hoof.

“Is it good? I don’t know what to think about that last part, if it fits, or even…” The mare rattled off a worryingly long list of concerns, not able to stop until Dauntless put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Arctic Charm.” Dauntless said, mimicking how his friend broke him out of his spell earlier. “I think everything works, it’s fine. You did a lot better than the last few times you tried writing a story.”

“Phew. I’m so glad those workshops weren’t totally worthless,” Arctic sighed, letting all of the tension out of her shoulders.

“Well I didn’t struggle with reading this time around, if that means anything!” Dauntless affirmed, only to be met with a glare from the light gray pegasus and an awkward silence. He shifted in his seat nervously, a sorry grin spreading across his face as he hurriedly tried to come up with something that’d fix his mistake. “Y-You know what I meant, Arctic. It’s good, don’t worry.”

“It better be. I’d hate for today to end on a sour note,” She said, ejecting the log from the terminal and placing it on the pile adjacent to it with a soft clack. The soft blue glow of the monitor winked out, the sun’s glare turning it into a makeshift mirror and highlighting a few spikes in Arctic’s mane that had drooped down. Running a hoof through her light blue hair to set them back up, she turned to Dauntless. “You wanna grab something to eat before I head out? All of this story talk’s got me hungry.”

“I was just about to ask if you wanted to hit up the mess hall. Hopefully they have some sorta special tonight.”

“Well, let’s go see,” Arctic declared, the two pegasi getting out of their chairs and making their way to the door of Dauntless’ room. The taller mare caught something out of the corner of her eye; a book peeking out of her friend’s saddlebag, just enough for her to catch the title: “Advanced Pre-War Flight Maneuvers?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I just didn’t expect you to be reading about something so old.”

“Like how you told me you have to study law from when the sky was open?” Dauntless said with a smug, letting Arctic pass by him as he closed and locked the door.

“Okay, you got me there,” his friend giggled. The two walked silently for a bit, the sound of their hooves echoing off the walls of the dull gray hallway. They had gotten to a pause in the monotony, a decently sized window, when Arctic broke the silence: “But seriously though—why that book?”

Dauntless’ expression sobered up before taking a long look down the hallway. The sun turned his already reddish brown mane orange, casting a series of shadows over his face while bringing out the gold in his eyes. “...Just needed something to keep me from freaking out over this last field test.”

“Aren’t you doing something on the surface? I know my brother is, based on whatever my father’s coaxed out of him.”

“Eyup. Can’t say anything besides that though.”

“So that’s why Father couldn’t get that much out of him…” Arctic muttered to herself. “Is this part of some special program since you two were always the fastest in your class?”

To her surprise, Dauntless didn’t answer right away. At least, audibly answered right away; she only heard the quietest mutter from him, along with his cheeks starting to glow red. “Sorry? Didn’t catch that,” She grinned awkwardly. Dauntless’ wings flared up out of embarrassment as he managed to choke out something that could be heard:

“W-Wonderbolts…”

Now it was her turn to throw her wings up, but out of surprise. “WHAT?!” Arctic yelled, making other pegasi up and down the hallway turn towards the pair. “Dauntless, you know what you’d be getting into, right?? The Wonderbolts are…well they’re the best! In every possible way!”

“I know…I just had to please my mom somehow.” Oh. That explains it, she thought. It was definitely in character for Dauntless’ mom to demand what seemed unrealistic. But she had helped Dauntless pass with flying colors for their academy entrance exams, so maybe she was onto something.

“...What about you, Arctic?” Her friend said, putting an abrupt end to her train of thought. “What are you trying to do?” Arctic felt her own face getting hot, as she struggled to answer just like Dauntless did.

“H-High Council…” The words felt ridiculous leaving her mouth, but seeing that it made her friend excited calmed her down some.

“Omigosh, Council?! We’d be working together if everything goes right!” Dauntless said, looking like he was going to start bouncing off the walls. “I’d answer to you for missions, and you’d be carving your own path in the Enclave!” Fuck! He immediately knew that that last part may have pushed the envelope some, as his friend hung her head and wings.

“I guess that’d be pretty nice…” Arctic said quietly, looking to the side. Dauntless cursed himself for bringing that topic up; how could he forget Arctic Charm was the outlier of her family? The bearers of a long and prestigious flying heritage had scoffed when she wanted to pursue the legal side of the Enclave, and he’d just reminded her of it all. The rest of the walk to the mess hall was quiet after that.

The mess hall’s design betrayed its actual size. The ceiling was low for something made by pegasi, and the choices in color and lighting made it feel more like a diner or saloon. Ubiquitous blue lights glowed softly from the ceiling, walls, and pillars. At capacity, it’d be borderline claustrophobic for its winged occupants. But right now, before the bulk of the personnel would pass through the mess hall, it was relatively open and quiet; Dauntless and Arctic Charm even got a booth to themselves. The blue stallion still felt bad over earlier, barely picking at his food while his friend was laser-focused on eating. Maybe it was time to change the subject a little bit.

“I don’t like going back to him,” Dauntless started, prompting Arctic to pause eating, “But how is Ice doing? He’s been almost silent these last two months of training, only speaking when spoken to, and I can’t think of an answer as to why.”

The light gray mare swallowed and put a hoof to her chin, trying to think like her fraternal twin. “Hmm…I don’t see Ice that often, even if we have breaks at the same time. It’s only been in passing, or seeing him talk to Father. Why?” She asked, picking up her drink and taking a gulp.

“Because a flight leader has to make sure all members of their team are in good shape,” Dauntless said, before getting absolutely soaked by a splash of water, accompanied by the telltale PBBT! of a spit-take.

“YOU’RE HIS FLIGHT LEADER?!!” Arctic yelled, wings outstretched and forehooves on the table, drawing a bit of attention from the rest of the pegasi in the room. “MY BROTHER! ICE COLD! UNDER YOUR COMMAND?!” Her outburst was met by an embarrassed smile and a squee from across the table. “Well. That definitely answers why I’ve never heard him talk about training, if he has to be told what to do by you. And why he’s always sulking with the other two stallions in your flight…”

“River Rush and Steamburst? Yeah, I have no idea when they don’t tail him around, and that has me a little worried.”

Arctic stopped wiping up her mess. “Wh-What, you think he’s gonna try and have them follow him in a rebellion against you or something?”

“Ice has always wanted to be the flight leader, Arctic. Wouldn’t be the first time he’s attempted it,” Dauntless said glumly, crossing his forehooves. “I have this feeling he’ll do the same on the surface, but I don’t know when it’ll happen.”

“Has he done anything up here?” Arctic asked with a raised eyebrow. In her head, it’d be a lot harder for her brother to stage something if other cadets were around.

“Probably.” Dauntless’ brow furrowed as he tried to find an answer for his friend’s question in his memories, but nothing stood out. “There’ve been times where I had to correct him for being a shithead, but I can’t remember being put in a situation I couldn’t resolve. But like you said, that’s up here around other trainees and instructors.” He sighed and hunched his shoulders some. “The surface is gonna be completely different. I don’t know what I’m gonna do Arctic; I won’t have the safety cloud of the instructors to fall back on.” Looking back across the table, Dauntless saw that the light in the gray mare’s eyes had changed; she was wearing the same look she wore while practicing her speeches.

“Dauntless.” Arctic’s voice was much more assertive and demanded the blue stallion’s attention, snapping him out of his funk. “Before you get inside your own head…think about why you’re the flight leader, and why Ice isn’t. He’s still stuck in the past—clinging onto that stupid notion that if he gets you back for ruining his life, everything will be better. But you’re looking ahead, towards becoming a Wonderbolt, and I bet your instructors see that difference in the two of you.” She pointed a hoof at Dauntless for emphasis. “You can absolutely handle my shithead brother on the surface. It’s not like you to come this far just to be thrown off at the end, Dauntless.”

Arctic had left her friend at an absolute loss for words with her pep-talk. All he could do for a few seconds was stare across the table, his jaw threatening to slam down on top of it. After a few seconds of stunned silence, Dauntless managed to squeak out something:

“A-Arctic Charm, do you know how scarily good you are at convincing ponies of things?” The question made the gray mare turn pink, flattered by the compliment.

“H-Heh, I guess that’s why I want my shot at the High Council down the line…” Arctic chuckled, looking to the side and running a hoof through her spiky light blue mane.

“And you’ll get it. I know it,” Dauntless said, raising his mug. “Cheers?”

“Cheers,” Arctic responded in kind, clinking her mug against her friend’s.

“Ice, you gotta stop staring at them…ponies are gonna notice,” River Rush said, extending a foreleg across the table towards Ice Cold. Arctic Charm’s twin didn’t take the advice from the pony across the table; his bright blue eyes were firmly fixed on Dauntless. If looks could kill, that miserable little blue stallion would’ve been a glowing pile of ash by now. The comment from River had even gotten Ice’s hoof shaking in quiet fury, worrying him and the fourth member of their flight, Steamburst. Turning to the ash gray stallion, River Rush whispered harshly,
“Why the hell are they here this early?!”

“How was Ah supposed t’know?!” Steamburst whispered back in a thick drawl. The sea blue stallion rolled his eyes and sighed as he turned back towards Ice, wanting to do something.

“Ice, if you wanna go somewhere else—”

“We’re staying,” Ice finally spoke. “I’m just glad our booth’s far away from the shithead.” The other two didn’t have a response to that, only managing to further drench the atmosphere of the booth in awkwardness. After a couple minutes of silence, River tried making small talk.

“Ugh…think they have anything good today?”

“Couldn’t tell. Ah was more focused on seein’ Dauntless an’ Arctic Charm here.” Steamburst’s response elicited a reaction from Ice at the mention of the two ponies, even if the others didn’t see it. As the conversation dragged on, Ice became increasingly angry, until the rage eventually boiled over—

“If you two are going to be running your mouths, it’d better be about the plan,” Ice said quietly, but with an overwhelming amount of venom and wrath backing his voice. River Rush and Steamburst immediately paled at the mention of this, shooting each other nervous glances.

“Are we really goin’ over that again?”

“Ice, we’ve gone over the plan a thousand times already. You should be trying to relax before our assessment on the surface—”

“No,” Ice cut River off harshly. “This plan has to go perfectly, and I refuse to let either of you compromise it because you forgot something.” The others stared at him with a mixture of exasperation and anxiety on their faces, before the conversation was interrupted by a fellow cadet approaching their table.

“Hey, aren’t you Dauntless’ flight?” A vein started to bulge in Ice’s temple as he and the others turned to face their new arrival. The mare’s face changed to an expression of confusion under her purple and pink mane as she gestured behind her with a tan wing. “Shouldn’t you be sitting with him over there?”

“If you think I’m gonna sit with a dirty cheating little—” Ice began to rant, but was muffled by River shooting across the table to cover his mouth.The bemused cadet watched as the light gray stallion got even angrier (if that was even possible), while his sea blue companion tried to explain why they were sitting separately.

“W-We’re just relaxing before the final; there’s no need for the four of us to be together one hundred percent of the time,” River said shakily, trying to keep Ice from getting out of his seat.

“Y-Yeah, I can see that,” The cadet said, taking a step back. “Actually, I wanted to ask you guys about Dauntless. Since the four of you are at the top of our class he must be a great leader, right?”

“He’s uhh…he’s good,” Steamburst mumbled, trying to tread the line between the truth and what would keep Ice from exploding. “Does his job like he’s supposed to. Yer welcome ta ask ‘im about it too, ya know.”

“Oh I plan to, don’t worry,” The cadet grinned. “I actually had a couple questions for him about flight maneuvers—” Her sentence was cut off by a rush of air and a blur of gray, blue, and black passing in front of her; other cadets were also stopped in their tracks as Ice sprinted out of the mess hall, tears flying from his face.

“Ice! Ice, wait!” River Rush and Steamburst trailed after him, but Ice had the head start on them. He ran through the halls of Neighvarro, not taking a particular direction to go in, just anywhere that’d take him away from the source of his anger and humiliation. At some point he stopped in front of a window, the now setting sun bathing the stallion and the hall around him in orange and red light. Wiping his eyes with a wing, Ice turned to face outside, looking at the cloud cover, the rest of the base, and the sun setting beneath it all. His eyes now sparkled red from the light, complementing his mood. Ice let his imagination run free as he stared at the clouds; images of him standing in formation with the rest of the Wonderbolts, a vapor cone forming around him as he approached supersonic speeds, and a broken, miserable Dauntless branded with the Dashite mark sitting in a dark and poisoned wasteland. Sniffing and wiping his nose, Ice said quietly to himself,

“One more week. One more week and seven years of humiliation will be over. I can see it now Dauntless; I’m going to take back what you fucking stole from me.”

“Oh, I’m so glad I got to spend at least a little time with you, Dauntless,” Arctic Charm said happily. With their stomachs full and having moved to lighter topics, the walk back to Dauntless’ room was much more pleasant for the two friends.

“I am too! I honestly needed this visit with you, Arctic,” The blue stallion replied, looking up into her bright blue eyes while letting her back into his room.

“Needed it? What do you mean?”

“Before you came over I couldn’t stop thinking about the surface, and how much time I’ll have to spend with Ice down there. A break from that was really nice to have, what with hanging out with you and being myself again, even if it was only for an afternoon.”

Arctic thought as she moved her story logs to her saddlebag, revealing a photo of the two pegasi as foals, sitting together happily. “I feel the same way. Just getting to sit with you made today better, like I wasn’t just some trainee.” Looking around at Dauntless’ room, a thought popped into the light gray mare’s head, something she’d been wanting to say since her friend said he was striving to be a Wonderbolt. “Look, I know we’re talking about feeling normal-ish again, but I can’t believe how much you’ve changed since we were first friends. Nopony would know if you came into or left a room, and now you’re aiming to be part of the most prolific group of pegasi the Enclave has to offer.”

“Well, I can’t exactly let everything I’ve worked for over seven years towards go to waste, can I?” Dauntless said, his expression sombering as he unfolded a wing and spread the feathers apart. “I’ve got to do something with my talent pool, right?”

“As long as that something isn’t cleaning up a mess my brother made.”

“That’s the plan, but you know how he is,” Dauntless rolled his eyes at the thought of dealing with his squadmate’s shenanigans as he let Arctic out of his room.

“Yeah…” She trailed off, staring at the wall. Unexpectedly, she grabbed her friend and hugged him tightly, the smaller pegasus staggering some under the weight of a pony taller than him. “I-I know we’ll definitely see each other again, but I’m gonna miss you Dauntless,” Arctic Charm said, tears spilling out of her eyes. “P…Please come back safe.”

After recovering from the shock of being grabbed, Dauntless was also overcome with emotion and hugged the light gray mare back, his own eyes watering up. “I’ll m-miss you too, Arctic. But I’ll definitely be back, I promise.”

Footnote:

Discovered:
Neighvarro

Chapter 2: Separated

The Everfree Forest was a nightmare for a species of pony that depended on open space to move freely. The canopy hung low, some leaves even brushing ponies’ manes as they picked their steps carefully between tree roots. Vines snaked their way around trunks, thorns threatening to snag on a feather or barding. And those were just the problems with the plant life. But for such a distinctive and infamous location, the wildlife in the Everfree Forest was unusually quiet today. Of course, the flights of pegasi trampling around may have had something to do with that. The cadets were especially noisy, but that was to be expected from a group who was on the surface for the first time in their lives. Even though they were the top of their class, Dauntless' flight was no different; almost everyone had taken a couple of spills from unexpected terrain save for Ice Cold, who had kept his balance through sheer force of will so far. Miraculously, none of their equipment was damaged from the falls, the glass in the visors wasn’t even cracked or nicked. An amazing feat, considering everything the flight had with them was well over one hundred years old, with scores of previous trainees wearing the same kit.

While not as sophisticated or flashy as the powered armor civilians had come to recognize the Enclave by, in their minds the Scout armor used for training was clearly leagues above whatever the surface dwellers could cobble together. Composed of what the Enclave thought was the bare minimum for venturing into the Equestrian Wasteland, the outfit still boasted decent protection against ballistic and magical weapons, as well as a mask to filter out harmful gasses and particles. Integrated into the mask was a heads-up display, or HUD, on the inside of the visor. Along with providing flight telemetry such as airspeed and altitude to the pegasus using it, the HUD could also be programmed with functions specific to the task at hoof; in the case of the training exam, the map system only encompassed the Everfree Forest, and communications were restricted to local suits of armor only.

Currently, the cadets were on the land navigation portion of their final. All flights were given a series of points they had to reach within three hours, as well as in a specific order. The points Dauntless’ flight was assigned took them through the denser parts of the forest, grounding them and limiting their speed, but they forged ahead at a much faster pace than the other cadets despite this. River Rush led the formation as the scout/navigator, followed by Dauntless and Ice Cold, who kept the pace count for the group, while Steamburst kept head count and brought up the rear. Suddenly, River stopped and leaned forward slightly, narrowing his eyes to make out an object through the foliage. The familiar metallic glint of a control point peeked out from the hole in a tree, across an old overgrown dirt path. A spark of realization jolted the sea blue stallion, as he called out to the others, “I have eyes on the point!”

“Good shit, River,” Dauntless responded. “Let’s cross over and prep for the next one. Ice, your pace count is outstanding today, too. Nice going!”

“Yes, sir,” The light gray stallion said as evenly as he could, trying to keep the idea that he was being patronized from taking over. The flight made its way to the other side of the path methodically; one stallion sprinted across while the others covered him, until all four regrouped next to the point.

“Alright, you all know what to do,” Dauntless said, his voice taking on a more authoritative tone. “Steamburst, you’re on patrol duty. The rest of you, start planning the next route with me.”

“Yes, sir!” The other stallions replied. While Steamburst began sweeping the area for threats, the others’ visors started to glow, bringing up the provided map of the forest and the descriptions of all the points they had to reach. Everything was running smoothly, until Steamburst saw something that made him stop. Something roughly pony-sized was heading their way, but the stocky buck wasn’t able to make out any details in the shadows.

“H-Hey, Ah gotta contact down the ol’ path, distance, 100!” All four pegasi immediately sprang into action, taking cover behind trees next to the path.

“Please don’t be a surface dweller…” River Rush muttered, shooting a glance at Ice. The element leader gave the slightest shrug in return, then watched Dauntless as he peeked around a tree.

“The last time I checked, surface dwellers don’t glow from the eyes,” The flight leader said in a low voice, settling back behind his cover. “Pull back into the woods more, and be absolutely silent.” Everyone followed Dauntless’ lead, moving further and further away from the path; no sooner had Steamburst’s tail rounded a tree than the cadets heard activity coming from the point. Dauntless could just barely make it out as hoofsteps and muttering, before the noises stopped abruptly. All he could hear were the “normal” noises of the forest, before the soundscape was dominated by a mare’s yelling:

“WHO’S THERE? YOU ARE ON GRAND PEGASUS ENCLAVE TRAINING GROUNDS, IDENTIFY YOURSELF!”

The lieutenant grumbled as she led the trainees back to the point. Today hadn’t been very kind to her so far, and dragging these stallions out of the woods certainly wasn’t helping. At least they had the sense to immediately respond to her commands…

“Alright, carry on cadets,” She ordered, upon returning to the point. The flight, still recovering from having a set of full-blown powered armor run up on them, awkwardly went back to guarding and finishing their route plan. The lieutenant turned away to focus on her own tasks, trying to figure out what was wrong with her own armor this time. Apparently, her cursing and muttering was louder than the lieutenant thought, because the shorter blue stallion approached her.

“What broke, ma’am?” He asked. Damn, these days even the cadets knew the stuff everypony had to work with was falling apart!

“My rifles, targeting display, and comms are dead. That’s why I wasn’t able to contact you.” The cadets were expecting an answer along the lines of broken equipment, but the news still jolted them. “It’s not safe for you to continue here without supervision, given that you’re unarmed trainees. I was able to call in a replacement while my radio was still up; I’ll stay with you until they get to this point. Shouldn’t be more than a couple minutes.”

“On another note, your flight looks to be in top shape Dauntless; you must’ve been on a blistering pace if you beat me to this point. I’m sorry my armor had to fall apart on me.”

“T-Thank you, ma’am,” Dauntless said, blushing a little behind the visor. “I’m just glad we had zero problems otherwise—”

“No, nonono! FUCK!”

“Steamburst? Don’t tell me something just broke…”

“Sorry Dauntless, mah whole display’s down. Whole damn thing blinked off just now,” The stormy gray stallion confirmed.

“Mine’s out too. I can’t access anything,” River Rush chimed in, a blinking light on the top of his muzzle indicating he had multiple faults with his HUD.

The Lieutenant brought a hoof up to her face with a heavy clank. “You bring it up for one suit, two more follow…” She said to herself, then moved to address the group. “I don’t like this, but you two’ll have to come with me. Dauntless, stay here with your element leader; the other supervisor will be here any minute now.”

“Yes, ma’am,” He said, trying to keep his voice even. As he and Ice Cold watched the others walk off and eventually fly out of a clearing, Dauntless noticed something off about the body language of the two stallions. “What are they looking back at us for…?”

“FUCK!” Ice was jolted by an outburst from his flight leader as he turned and walked away. “I hate being stuck with this equipment, Ice. Something always has to break, doesn’t it?”

“I doubt we’re the only ones having issues, Dauntless…”

“I know, I know, two hundred year-old armor won’t be the same as when it was fresh from the factory,” The blue stallion ranted, finding a spot on the ground to sit on. “We were just doing so well…”

Ice Cold stared at Dauntless from behind, trying to hide his sense of accomplishment even though no one could see his face at the moment. His plan had gone off without a hitch! River Rush and Steamburst had fooled the Lieutenant into taking them with her, leaving him and Dauntless alone. All that was left was to get the stupid fucker riled up…

“...So, any thoughts on the exam so far?” Dauntless looked back at Ice’s question with a raised eyebrow.

“Huh?” Even Dauntless knew this type of question was out of character for Ice, but he couldn’t not entertain it. They had nothing to do for however long they’d been standing in the same patch of forest since the others left. What was taking that replacement so long? “It’s…been good, I guess? Despite half our flight leaving over equipment issues…”

Yeah, YOU think it’s equipment issues, Ice thought to himself, but said nothing. An awkward silence settled on the two pegasi for another minute, before Ice broke it with another dumb question. “Uh…How do you feel about graduation? I mean we are gonna graduate, of course,” Ice added, trying to chuckle at the comment, “so—”

“Ice.” The authoritative tone was back, cutting down the gray stallion’s bullshit question. “You keep talking to me like I’m a mare you’re hitting on. What’s up—”

CLIK.

CLIK CLIK.

“Whoa. Rad counter’s going off.” The noise shocked Dauntless, making him tunnel vision on it. Every click reverberated in his body; this wasn’t like being shown a recording or diagram of how it sounded/function. This was real, and the frequency of clicks was climbing steadily.

CLIK. CLIKCLIK CLIK. CLIKCLIK CLIKCLK.

The sound of the counter masked Ice Cold’s approach on his flight leader from behind. A slow, predatory pace, with measured steps and care taken to not make any noise.

CLKCLK CLIK CLIK. CLKCLKCLIK. CLIK CLIK CLIK CLK.

“Geez, it’s getting worse. Is there a radioactive zone we weren’t briefed on?” Ice didn’t respond, his gaze still fixated on the back of the stallion who had taken everything from him, and as far as he was concerned, was already dead..

CLIKCLIK CLIKCLK CLKCLK CLIK CLIKCLKCLKCLIK. CLKCLKCLK.

“Ice, what do you think would cause a spike—” Was all Dauntless managed to get out, before both of their rad counters really started screaming.

CLKCLKCLKCLKCLIKCLIIKCLKCLKICLKCLKCLKCILKCLKCLKICLKCILKCLKCLKCLKCLKCLKCLKCILKCLKICLKCLKCLKCLKCLKCLKCLKCLKCLKCLKICLKCLIKCLKCLKCLKCILKCLKCILKICLKCLKCLIKCLK.

A shadow fell over the two pegasi, stopping Ice right behind his flight leader. He looked up to see what was casting it, but felt himself get slammed back hard. Ice could only watch as a bright green blur crashed into the ground in front of him, separating the light gray stallion from his target. The push caused him to stumble and land face-first in the dirt, but Ice quickly recovered. What he saw before him was something out of a nightmare, even worse than what the Enclave had taught him lived beneath the clouds.

“Th-These are surface dwellers?!” Ice spluttered, his gaze fixed on the trio of griffons that were staring back at him. Each one had huge tufts of feathers missing and exposed flesh everywhere; the skull of the smallest one was even visible, underneath a thin layer of dried blood. Their eyes were blank, giving off no emotion except for the feral desire to consume, save for the largest griffon. This one was consumed by balefire, the flames licking off of its body and giving it a permanently green tint, not to mention being the source of the rad counters going crazy. Its glowing eyes had no irises or pupils, making it hard to tell what had its attention.

“Stay back you c-creeps,” Ice said in a much higher voice than intended, chills going down his spine every time the zombified griffons drew a labored breath. He found himself backing away, wings extended. This wasn’t part of his plan at all! Even if Dauntless ended up being dead, Ice would still have to figure out what to do with these—

“ICE!! GET OUT OF HERE, FIND THE SUPERVISOR!”

What?! How the fuck is that little shit still alive?! Ice thought frantically, trying to see where his flight leader had yelled from. He managed to spot Dauntless on the ground behind the griffons; the blue stallion was indeed alive, albeit bleeding from a nasty gash to the left side of his face, and the surrounding sections of his helmet were missing. But that fucker, that worthless undeserving piece of garbage, was still alive. Ice’s fear of the griffons and whatever else the Everfree Forest was whisked away, replaced by a sense of nearly-uncontrollable rage.

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GO!!!”

There were about ten thousand things Ice Cold wanted to say to that. Most of them involved telling Dauntless he was being left to die; a couple even went as far as Ice laughing at the situation. But in the end, he settled on a simple “Yes, sir,” with all of the venom he could slather onto it, and started his takeoff run away from the scene. The griffons started to follow him, unfolding their deteriorated wings and making guttural noises, but were distracted by rocks hitting the head of the largest one. It immediately turned around at the thrower, who had gotten back on his hooves in a crouched position.

“Didn’t you want a piece of me first?!” Dauntless growled, his taunt evoking howls of rage from the wretched beings in front of him. He then broke into a gallop towards the woods, away from the point and in the opposite direction the other pegasi had gone. The largest and smallest griffons followed him, while the third flew after Ice Cold. Dauntless ignored the pain in his face, focusing on taking off instead. He went up to a sprint as he unfolded his wings, bracing himself for an even bigger lurch of acceleration as he left the ground. Dauntless was now in his element, and no one could touch him.

It was like the whole world was a little sharper, a little more colorful when Dauntless flew. It just felt better. No longer was he stuck on the ground, he could move in any direction he wanted. A sense of absolute freedom.

That wasn’t the case with the route he took in the Everfree Forest.

Dauntless never found a chance to pour on the straight-line speed he wanted, and had to resort to tight turns around the seemingly infinite number of trees. He still did this quickly of course, but he wasn’t gaining the ground on the zombie griffons that he wanted, a point that was made when Dauntless stopped on a large branch to survey the forest behind him.

“Was…Was that enough to lose them?” He panted, unable to control the involuntary blinking of the eye adjacent to his cut. As if to answer his question, the fiery griffon rose up before him, like a miniature green sun, talons outstretched and ready to draw more blood. The blue stallion missed getting his face carved up by a hair, his momentum carrying him off the branch into freefall. This didn’t throw Dauntless off guard though; he simply extended his wings and let gravity do the rest. The griffon, now joined by its partner, lurched itself into the air and followed the pegasus, clumsily yet determined. Again, Dauntless had to focus more on agility than pure speed; ducking and weaving between branches, kicking off of trunks to quickly change angles, and avoiding anything that’d get in his way. All of this, plus their disregard for the same obstacles, meant his pursuers could gain on him.

This isn’t working, Dauntless thought. His strategy had to change. Taking advantage of a particularly crowded section of forest, he put enough cover between himself and the griffons to attempt to hide. The crunching of wood against flesh quickly subsided, letting Dauntless breathe some. It was probably best to travel on the ground, albeit in cover, so he darted from bush to bush to avoid being spotted. Upon passing through his third or fourth, the pegasus was greeted with a gruesome sight. An Enclave soldier, in full power armor, had been torn to bits by…by something. Blood, feathers, and entrails coated every surface the soldier was on, painting the scene in horrifying shades of red, pink, and gray. All Dauntless could do was scream; this was worse than any nightmare he had had. At least those he could wake up from and maybe move on from them within a couple of days, but this…he wouldn’t forget this.

As much as Dauntless wanted to look away from the gore, his gaze was locked on it. Locked on it hard enough to only just notice the shadows and talons arcing towards him from behind. Once again, the griffons swiped empty air, as their prey rolled away and sprinted into another takeoff.

“A-Are they gonna let up?! I don’t even know where I’m going at this point!” The young stallion managed to mutter in between breaths. Then, almost as if the forest listened to him, Dauntless could see an opening in the canopy. Freedom. ‘Bout damn time, he thought, adding power to his flaps and climbing through the hole. He shot up, continuing to climb completely vertical. If…if I can make these damn things stall, they’ll just fall back into the forest and I can find my way back above the trees, Dauntless said, trying to rationalize the potentially dangerous maneuver to himself. Ngh…I just have to outlast them in a vertical climb…COME ON! Sweat poured in buckets, and his muscles started to scream as they burned, but Dauntless pushed towards the clouds. Below him, the technique seemed to be working; the wings on the smaller of the two griffons gave out, and it spun ungracefully down towards the trees. But the stallion had underestimated the fiery one, and as he turned around at the peak of his climb, he was greeted with the sight of talons that had tasted his blood, and wanted more.

CRASH!

The two collided and started to drop back down to earth. Dauntless, head ringing from the hit, struggled to pry himself from the griffon’s grip and avoid another slash of talons aimed at his body. He managed to avoid most of the attack, but one talon carved into his armor, drawing another gash from the bottom of his neck to the middle of his chest. He yelled and kicked hard, striking and breaking the wing root of his assailant. The griffon wailed and released him out of reflex, unable to quickly regain its hold on the pegasus. Another kick sent Dauntless tumbling away from the zombie, saving him from one threat but introducing another. The tussle had dropped them much lower than either combatant could recover from, and even as Dauntless tried pulling up, he hurtled through the canopy. White-hot pain erupted all over his body as trees caught his wings, torso, and legs; breaking more than just his fall. The last thing the pegasus stallion saw before slamming into the ground was a bed of unusually blue flowers, standing out from the rest of the forest floor.

Footnote:

Discovered:
The Everfree Forest

Chapter 3: FUBAR

Ice Cold had anticipated armed security would take care of the undead problem behind him, but what he didn’t expect was to run into the Lieutenant from earlier. She met him about two-thirds of the way back to camp, her eyes widening as she saw the griffon behind him.

SKZZT!

The Lieutenant’s magical energy rifles erupted in sync, lancing past either side of Ice and turning the ghoul that had been chasing him into a puddle of sizzling, sickly green goo. After confirming she had dispatched the threat she turned towards the trainee, fuming almost as much as the remains of the griffon.

“Cadet, you were supposed to stay at your point and wait for the new supervisor! What’s the meaning of dragging a surface dweller towards our base?!” The Lieutenant snapped. Her words sent a jolt down Ice’s spine as he fought for words, trying to get out of this verbal flat-spin he’d been thrown into.

“Supervisor…never came, ma’am,” He finally managed to squeak out. “Pack of undead griffons showed up first.”

“But…But that junior lieutenant was less than three minutes out!” The officer spluttered, bewildered by this turn of events. Why didn’t they radio in if they were suffering from slowdowns? Even if the replacement had communication problems they would’ve gotten to the trainees and headed back to base, so why hadn’t they shown up? “This is bad. We’ll have to send out a search party and— Oh no, where’s Dauntless?! Cadet, where did your flight leader go?”

Ice Cold almost answered with the truth, but something in the depths of his mind stopped him. Even if Dauntless had died to those zombies, he still would’ve cast a shadow over Ice with his act of self-sacrifice. The thought of being in debt to that little shit made the stallion’s anger flare up once more, and Ice felt himself cross a line as he felt the words leave his mouth, compounded by body language that masked his true intentions.

“Dauntless attacked me before the zombies showed up, and left me for dead with them while he saved his own skin.”

The raging inferno inside of him burned as intensely as ever, but it was different this time. It was crueler, sadistic even. It felt good to slander the stallion who had been in Ice’s way all this time. If Ice pulled this off, Dauntless would have his name dragged through the dirt, dead or alive. And if the bastard somehow found his way back to the Enclave, he’d immediately lose everything that he stole from Ice.

As fate would have it, Dauntless was dragging himself through the dirt, literally. The pegasus had woken up face-down in the bed of strikingly blue flowers he had plowed into, and was trying to move out of the clearing into the cover of the woods. Only once he was safely behind a tree did Dauntless try and assess his condition. Layers of intense pain in his left wing told him it was broken, a feeling like he was being stabbed in his chest every time he tried to breathe or speak told him ribs were cracked or broken, but his legs merely felt sore. Good enough to walk for the stricken stallion, but the extent of his other injuries would likely require that he stop for rest regularly.

The further Dauntless trudged his way through the Everfree Forest, the more it became apparent that this was probably the worst case scenario for any cadet. Separated from their flight, grounded, and in unfamiliar territory. A ball of anxiety started to swell in Dauntless’ chest, not doing favors for his already labored breathing. Additionally, it may have been the pain messing with his senses, but the stallion felt like more was off with him than just his injuries. One thing at a time, he thought, putting his remaining energy towards getting out of the forest. In Dauntless’ clouded mind, getting to clearer terrain meant a greater chance for being spotted and rescued. He also wouldn’t have to worry about not seeing surface dwellers sneaking up on him, if the Equestrian Wasteland was as barren as he was taught it should be.

Coming across a small pool, Dauntless waved his rad counter over it. After reading that the water was within permissible radiation levels, he sighed and gingerly sat down next to the pool to rest, being careful not to aggravate his ruined wing. It was a good thing that piece of equipment was still working, because his mask had been shredded by the griffon’s talons. Come to think of it, Dauntless hadn’t checked on the cuts he’d gotten from the zombie. A couple of disconnects later, and his helmet slid off his head. Blood had been wind-dried all along the left side of the massive hole cut into it, and Dauntless could feel the same on the respective side of his face. Nothing a bit of water from the pool couldn’t fix.

Any sort of a scream Dauntless tried to make was stifled by his cracked ribs, but his shock temporarily replaced the pain. The pegasus had jerked back from the pool after he got a good look at his face; Dauntless expected merely an ugly cut, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. To make sure he wasn’t dreaming, he shuffled back to the edge and peered into the water. Staring back at him was the reflection of a mare who looked just like him, even down to the gashes that ran from her eye to her jaw, and partially down her chest. She had the same messy, spiky auburn mane; the same golden eyes; the same dumbstruck expression he felt himself wearing. He was her, and she was him.

“What the fuck is this…?” The mare muttered, turning her head to either side to examine herself more. Dauntless could’ve gone on, but noises from deeper in the Everfree broke the trance this revelation had on him. He had to move; the confusion could wait until he was safe from other nightmare fuel creatures. Whatever direction is away from the rumblings must be out of here, right? Dauntless thought, his inner monologue one of the few parts of him left unchanged by whatever…transformation he had gone through to become a mare. For now, the pegasus focused on surviving, slipping his bloodstained helmet back on and slinking away from the pool.

It felt like an eternity before Dauntless saw something that even resembled a clearing. In his condition he couldn’t move at the pace he wanted, and with no functioning HUD he was roaming around blind. But through a mix of tenacity and panic, the pegasus was able to find an overgrown path that led out of the forest. Amazed by his luck, Dauntless pushed himself as fast as his body would allow, his excitement over being out of this damned place pushing aside the anxiety he had previously felt. An excitement that was abruptly cut short and replaced with abject terror at the land that lied beyond the Everfree.

“W-Wow…” Dauntless barely managed to choke out, briefly forgetting he now spoke with a mare’s voice. He had seen glimpses of the Equestrian Wasteland on his way down to the surface, but it was a different thing altogether to be stuck in it. Everything was drowned in shades of brown, green, and gray, draining all other colors from the landscape. The sky was completely covered in the clouds Dauntless was familiar with, but they looked brooding and ominous from underneath, threatening to unleash unchecked storms at any moment; any light that managed to pierce the layers of cloud was swiftly cut off as soon as it appeared. Wind swept through the area, picking up loose bits of wood and dirt, whisking it away to who knows where. Some of it smacked against the derelict wagons that dotted the roads and trails in the distance. The few trees that weren’t collapsed had no leaves and looked sickly, a far cry from the blooming flora in the Everfree. It all appeared as Dauntless was taught to believe: The land below the clouds was a poisoned, desolate hellscape. One that he was dead set on getting out of, one way or another. Swallowing down his fear, the pegasus spotted a small cluster of boulders within walking distance, set to the side of a beaten dirt path, and suddenly the wasteland didn’t feel as hopeless. He could take temporary shelter there, and find a way to reestablish contact with his trainers. Dauntless took a breath as deep as his ribs would allow, then started the short trip to what he hoped would be his last stop in the wasteland.

As Dauntless finished patching up what injuries he could and switched to the communications system on his armor, something slammed into the dirt with a muffled thud near the boulders he had huddled next to, kicking up a cloud of dust and making a sound he had never heard before. The boom that followed immediately after, though, was recognizable enough to send Dauntless to the ground as fast as he dared. A gunshot. The first of many, as the same pattern repeated all around where Dauntless had taken cover. Some even struck the largest boulder the pegasus had dropped himself behind, sending shocks through his body where it pressed against the rock. A long stream of curses escaping his lips, Dauntless tried looking for a gap in the boulders to see just exactly who — or what — was shooting at him. His eyes widened when he saw a firefight erupting down the path; several pony-like figures were darting around cover, most of them taking shots at one, who looked to be on the defensive. However, the whole group kept moving closer to Dauntless’ spot, making the pegasus start to panic. He couldn’t move away quickly, not without aggravating his injuries. He’d risk getting caught in the crossfire or, even worse, taken prisoner by whoever these surface dwellers were. All Dauntless could do was sit and watch the battle, helpless.

A powerful shot burst through the gap Dauntless had been using to peek on the battle, narrowly missing the pegasus. Struggling to keep more choice words down out of fear of getting noticed, he was shocked to see that the rocks had been melted, not blasted apart into chunks. The telltale green goo indicated that somepony out there was using a magical energy weapon, possibly even—
The Enclave? Dauntless hoped, but kept in check. This was still no time to give himself away, even if fellow pegasi were on the other side of this boulder.

“Yeah, yeah! Tear ‘im apart!” A rough voice shouted in between shots. Curious, Dauntless moved to look through the now larger gap, and saw that the combatants had gotten close enough to make out some of their appearances through the dust the fight had kicked up. The one being focused on by the rest, a lemon/lime unicorn draped in some kind of long jacket, brandished a small magic-wrapped arsenal in front of him; five gleaming weapons of varying shapes and sizes were pointed at equal numbers of targets. By contrast, his attackers were more crudely armored, wearing bits of old leather and metal scraps over tattered rags. The group carried a mix of weapons; some held jagged, rusty shovels/axes in their mouths or a magical grip, and some carried pistols that looked like they’d fall apart if shaken hard enough.

Despite the disadvantages in firepower and range, the rougher group still threatened the lone unicorn with numbers and dividing his attention between themselves; he knew this too, as he tried to keep his attackers focused in a cone in front of him. Dauntless could see that this deadly dance had been going on for longer than he was aware of it, as all of the ponies were looking noticeably fatigued. One of the attacking ponies, a thinner mare wearing leather studded with spikes, tripped over her own hooves and failed to make it behind cover in time. The unicorn attempted to take advantage of this shift in the stalemate, turning her into a bullet-ridden mass of goo, but made two fatal errors. He not only tunnel-visioned on the fallen mare, temporarily forgetting he was being pursued by four other ponies, but the stallion also stopped moving to aim properly. Dauntless saw the metal apple land behind him before he did, giving the pegasus enough time to duck behind their boulders before an explosion rocked the area.

Ears still ringing from the blast, Dauntless crawled from his spot on the ground back to the gap in the rocks he had watched the battle from. Smoke and dust from the explosion were still billowing upwards, shrouding whoever was still on the other side of the pegasus’ cover in shadows.

“S-See that shit?! We blew ‘im c-clean in half!” A deep, crazed voice cackled from somewhere in the cloud.

“Ya think he’s still alive? Please tell me he’s still ali—” A second gravelly voice asked before being cut off by a third, much clearer one:

“If he’s alive, put him out of his misery. Nothing else, got it?”

“Fine…You got it, boss,” The second voice said reluctantly. A few seconds later, a final gunshot rang out, and specks of bright red blood splashed onto one of the rocks Dauntless was hiding behind. Despite having listened to and felt an entire gunfight earlier, this last shot made the pegasus jump the most. Somepony had just been executed on the other side of his rock.

“Grab his stuff. We’ll make camp further down the road,” The boss's voice rang out again, followed by the jingling and handling of gear, both by mouth/hoof and magic. An alarm bell started to go off in Dauntless’ head at the mention of the other ponies leaving the area. If these…these savages spotted him, what the fuck would they do to him?!

The sounds of looting stopped, being replaced with the clops of hooves walking around one side of the boulder cluster. Summoning a small burst of energy, Dauntless lurched himself around the opposite side, staying low to minimize his chances of being seen. Once he was on the far corner of the rocks, he peeked from behind one of the taller ones to see if his movement had worked. Thankfully, none of the surface dwellers had bothered to check over their shoulders, granting Dauntless what he thought was a respite. He sighed and turned to register the blur of colors his peripheral vision had picked up, only to jump and stumble back onto his rump from what he saw.

A very-dead unicorn lay before him in a still-growing pool of blood. Everything below the middle of the torso was gone; splinters of bone and entrails poked out of the massive hole that remained. A single gunshot wound to the head had splattered contents of the stallion’s skull next to him; eyes half open with a blank, empty expression; skin already turning pallid under the colorful fur, giving him a ghostly appearance.

“Hhhh…Fuck…” Dauntless gagged, trying not to throw up out of fear. Instead, he focused on the barding the unicorn was wearing. The dark, dull blue with yellow stripes identified him as a Stable Dweller, hailing from one of the fallout shelters Equestria had constructed before it was wiped off the map. A couple had been constructed above the clouds for pegasi and griffons, but the Enclave had torn them down for resources decades ago.

He should have one of those PipBuck devices too, Dauntless thought, but both of the stallion’s forelegs were bare. The group must’ve taken it when they looted everything else earlier. The thought brought Dauntless back to the present, and the fact that he was looking at another dead pony, after the shredded supervisor he had come across in the Everfree Forest. This time felt different though; he had seen this unicorn alive earlier, unlike the other pegasus. To be witness to an execution of a surface dweller…of a pony like that…it felt wrong. Despite knowing the stallion was somepony he should dislike by virtue of being a surface dweller, Dauntless couldn’t help but feel awful for how he went out.

The pegasus shook his head. He was getting distracted from his new goal: To get the fuck out of here and try to wipe everything from today from his mind! Unfortunately, the loudest bug chittering Dauntless could recall wouldn’t let him go that easily. A massive cockroach, at least the size of his head, made its way around the unicorn’s corpse to inspect it itself. Midway through probing at the exposed entrails, it noticed the live pegasus mare sitting a short distance away. The two stared at each other awkwardly, until the roach spread its wings and launched itself at its new target. Bracing himself for the pain, Dauntless rolled to the side, feeling hot knives being driven into his wing and ribs as his momentum carried him into a boulder. The bug soared over his head harmlessly, but landed and positioned itself for another attack. This time, Dauntless was ready.

KKKKTTTSHHH!

The sound of the roach’s midsection being flattened between his hoof and the rock was strangely satisfying, but also extremely loud. Dauntless waited for a reaction to the noise. None came. He sighed and reached up with his other foreleg, bracing it against the now-dead bug to pull out the hoof that killed it.
“Gross,” The pegasus said to themselves, trying to wipe the goop off on their forelegs. Maybe now they could catch a break.

“Whoa. Hey boss, we got a straggler!”

Or maybe not.

“Stay right where you are, bitch,” The crazed-looking unicorn mare said in a low voice, almost as close to Dauntless’ ear as the pistol pointed to his temple was. He forced himself to stay rooted in place, suppressing the urge to recoil from the stench emanating from the other pony. It was like she hadn’t bathed for a week, then rolled around in a pile of decomposing bodies. One could only imagine what the stains on her clothes were from…

At this rate, the smell might kill me before the gun would, Dauntless thought, but he held his tongue. The clearer voice from before called out, from the direction the rest of the ponies had gone—

“What are they? Earth pony? Unicorn?”

“Pegasus mare. Some kinda fancy armor, an’ I think one of their wing’s broken.”

“...Bring her over.”

“You got it,” The unicorn mare grinned, showing off a few missing teeth to her captive as she stepped back, gun still trained on the pegasus. “Get up slowly, now. No sudden moves.” Dauntless obeyed, getting to his hooves with a healthy amount of wincing. His broken wing hung uselessly at his side as he made his way slowly and painfully around the boulders, coming face to face with the rest of the gang. Two of them were textbook surface dwellers, just like the mare with the gun: Deranged appearances and demeanors, poorly maintained arms and armor, and very clearly on some sort of drugs. One had a duffle bag slung around his shoulders. The third one, an older looking unicorn stallion, stood out among the rest; his equipment was in much better condition, and he carried himself much more seriously than his companions. He sported a scowl under his messy, faded purple mane, and stubble peppered a similarly faded yellow face.

Must be the leader from earlier, Dauntless guessed, as the unicorn stepped forward to look over the pegasus that had been brought before him, brow furrowing once he got to the bum wing.

“How the hell did you manage this?” Dauntless remained silent, choosing to try to fold the wing and felt tears immediately well up in his eyes from the resulting pain. The unicorn gave him a funny look, then continued. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. But if you’re injured, I’m still going to help you.”

Wh- He wants to help me?! “What’s your game?” The pegasus mare asked, still unfamiliar with her new voice.

“You’re our ticket out of a certain mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. Just need to see how much you’ll go for.”

Yeah, fuck that, Dauntless retorted silently, turning and starting to walk away.

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be, Miss. You can’t outfight or outrun us in your condition.” As if to prove his point, the two larger stallions moved to flank their new captive, maybe a little closer than they had to be to send the message.

Today had been the worst day for Dauntless in a while, if not ever. He’d been chased away from his training unit, grounded, and was now awaiting the fate of whatever these messed up ponies had planned for him. On top of all of this, he had somehow become a mare. Like Dauntless needed an existential crisis with everything else on his plate.

The gang had stripped him of his armor and other equipment, haphazardly bandaged up his wounds, and made him sit with the bag holding all of their loot, with one of the stallions keeping watch over both. There was nothing for Dauntless to do but watch his first sunset in the wasteland, the gray/green monotony of the cloud cover being temporarily dispersed by deep oranges and pinks. All it made him think about was the idea that he might never see a proper one again, if he truly was stuck down here.

“Hey.” The voice of the leader startled Dauntless, before dragging him back into his pit of despair. He waved off the other stallion, letting them know he’d take over guard duty for a bit, then sat down next to the captive pegasus mare. “I wasn’t lying when I said I’d help you with your injuries,” The leader said in a low voice. “Bandages can only do so much, so I ‘borrowed’ these from my friends.” His horn gently lit up, a bright turquoise that matched his irises, and a syringe labeled ‘Med-X’ and pill bottle labeled ‘Buck’ floated out of his coat pocket. “The Med-X’ll get rid of your pain, and a couple of these pills’ll give you more than enough strength to walk tonight.”

Hope you know how to sterilize, The pegasus thought, eyeing the needle.

“I did what I could. Heated it up over the fire, dipped it in whiskey…we don’t have a lot of options, Miss.” Dauntless relented, and offered his wing to the leader while accepting the bottle of Buck. He forced a couple down while feeling the needle penetrate down to the muscles in his wing, the pain of the injection not even remotely comparable to what the pegasus had been feeling all afternoon, but that —along with all other discomforts— slowly went away.

“The pills should be kicking in soon, our other group should be back by then—”

“Dad?”

Both Dauntless and the leader jolted around to see another pack of ponies sporting the same gear the first group had, headed by a younger, lime-colored unicorn mare. Even in the low light, Dauntless could see the family resemblance: She had the same wild purple mane as her father, and the same bright turquoise eyes. Right now though, those eyes were focused right on the pegasus, brow furrowed with confusion.
“Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in a raider camp?”

Dauntless said nothing and neither did the mare’s father, who looked visibly discomforted by his daughter’s early arrival. “Dad, what the fuck is going on, who is she?”

“Honey, can you come on a walk with me? I can explain.”

“Uh, okay? What for?” The daughter replied. Dauntless watched the two unicorns walk off, deep in conversation. At some point along the way, the daughter stopped cold in her tracks. In the dying light, Dauntless couldn’t make out what expression was on her face, but given the rising volume of the-now argument, it couldn’t be a happy one. As he slowly got to his hooves, the daughter started back towards the camp at a faster pace, with her dad chasing her down, trying to get her to stop.

“Six-Shooter, please listen to me—”

“At the cost of her freedom?? It’s WRONG!”

“This is the only way we can pay off our debts on time!” The father shot back, raising his voice. “If we let her go, who knows if she’d even survive on her own? Six, the mare can barely walk, much less fly! And what if a payout this big never comes around again?”

Freedom? Payout?? Dauntless exclaimed in his head, trying to put the pieces together.

“Dad, I will walk away right now if you keep defending this. You know I can’t cross this line.” Six’s threat immediately took the wind out of her father’s sails, leaving him looking like she had just slapped him.

“Sweetie, please—”

“DON’T YOU DARE CALL ME SWEETIE, WHEN YOU WANT TO TAKE THIS MARE’S LIFE AWAY FROM HER!”

Dauntless’ blood ran cold. It was slavery. These ponies were trying to sell him into slavery.

“Is it true?” He asked the father.

The unicorn stallion had no answer for neither daughter nor captive, simply hanging his head. But instead of feeling relieved that he was technically free to go, Dauntless knew it’d be stupid to think he could walk through a group of raiders. With their leadership compromised, nopony was in place to keep their more sadistic behaviors locked down. A point that was immediately proven when one of the larger stallions tackled Dauntless to the ground, something that would’ve brought on immense pain without the painkillers from earlier. At the same time, the other raiders moved to block Six-Shooter from doing anything to pry the two apart.

“Not gonna sell ya off, might as well keep ya for ourselves,” He breathed down the pegasus’ neck, moving to pin her in place.

Dauntless saw red.

No. NO. NONONONONONONONONONO.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!!!”

Out of all the sounds expected from what was happening behind them, the raiders expected least of all to hear one of their own in excruciating pain, or to see him rolling away from his would-be victim, trailing blood from his face.

“Holy shit, she bit his fucking nose off! Get ‘er!” The crazed mare from earlier yelled, her horn glowing as she telekinetically reached for her holster. But no sooner had she wrapped her grip around the gun, two bullets flashed through her skull, splattering blood and brains in front of her and dissipating her magic like a light winking out. Six-Shooter held her own piece, a black and white revolver with gold engravings, in a shaky bright turquoise grip; her face held expressions of horror, disgust, and confusion.

With two of their own either dead or severely injured, the raiders turned the camp into a battleground. Whatever ponies weren’t behind cover, trading shots with Six, were trying to lock down Dauntless, who was proving to be quite the slippery target even with a severe handicap. After knocking down most of the raiders trailing him, the pegasus came face to face with his first attacker again.

“YOU BITGC!” The noseless raider bellowed. “IG ONNA FUGGI KIYOU!”

Dauntless said nothing, still seeing red. This stallion had to be put down, after what he just tried to do. Looking for something that could help with that, Dauntless’ gaze fell upon the raiders’ loot bag. Perfect. He grabbed the handle in his teeth and swung with everything he had at the raider. Whatever was in the bag made a sickening, crunching impact against the stallion’s skull and he dropped like a rock, the side of his head a broken, caved-in mess. Dauntless looked around, ready to thrash anyone else who wanted to take him down, but everyone who wasn’t fighting the other unicorn mare was either dead or unconscious. It was time to go.

Dauntless broke away from the fighting as fast as his body would let him, already pushed to the limit from injury and the drugs coursing through his system. In all of the chaos he had forgotten to drop the bag, but that wasn’t important right now. What was were the lights he could see in the distance; at this point he didn’t care if it was Enclave or not, as long as the lights belonged to those who’d defend him from the worst ponies he’d seen, period. Dauntless was confident he could make it before anyone behind him could catch up, but he was proven wrong when a bullet crashed into one of his forelegs, destroying his gait and sending the pegasus crashing into the ground. Thanks to the Med-X he was able to shakily stand back up, but Dauntless still screamed through the bag when he saw the damage the bullet had done. He kept moving, even as bullets flew all around him, limping as fast as he could with a leg that was spilling blood.

However loud the gunshots behind him were, they were all drowned out by a much more powerful one coming from the lights. Dauntless heard the whiz and crack of the bullet fly past him, presumably finding its target. He had no idea of knowing anymore; his vision had started to fade in and out from the blood lost, and he collapsed again, the bag finally tumbling out of his mouth. Several figures blotted out the lights as they passed in front of them, shouting, before being abruptly cut off as Dauntless fell unconscious, his overexertion finally catching up with him.

Author's Note

Despite being physically a mare now, for the moment I'll still be using male pronouns to address Dauntless when writing from his perspective. He still hasn't fully taken in the fact that he's a she, and he still thinks there has to be a way to revert back.

Chapter 4: The Caravan

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Prologue

Cloudsdale.

The capital of the pegasi, and the largest weather factory in Equestria.

Gone. Like the city was never built.

The first of many Equestrian targets for Zebra megaspells deployed on the Last Day.

After Cloudsdale was vaporized, the festering thoughts of pegasus isolationism came to a head, and they turned their backs on the world being ravaged with balefire…

…Eventually resulting in the formation of the Grand Pegasus Enclave.

Closing off the clouds from the now-broken surface was met with overwhelming praise…save for one pegasus.

After Rainbow Dash rebelled and returned to the surface, the Enclave called for her head and labeled anypony else who tried following her as Dashites — traitors to the Enclave, who had to live in exile in the Wasteland with their identities tarnished by their namesake: A branding of the Ministry Mare’s cutie mark over their own.

Two hundred years have passed since the Last Day, and the Enclave still maintains a thick layer of cloud cover over the Equestrian Wasteland. Its fleets of cloudships and powered armor, though still airworthy and a threat, are showing their age and require increasing care to stay in service. The pillaging of installations above the clouds, alongside conflicts with griffons over their territory and resources, have partially solved this, even giving science/intelligence divisions opportunities for advancements in armor, weaponry, and several experimental projects.

That being said, the pegasus population is still strictly controlled due to limited production of food. Additionally, cracks in the image the Enclave works so hard to maintain are starting to show, despite the crackdowns on dissent and the magnitude of punishment following conviction.

If these issues aren’t addressed soon, more pegasi may start to question the status quo and possibly form a rival to the Enclave, posing a threat to it and the security it provides for the ponies above the clouds.

Just like how the zebras struck first, and wiped out Cloudsdale.

Because war…war never changes.