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.