Fallout Equestria: Tales from Stable 83

Chapters

Chapter 1: An average Tuesday
Chapter 2: Saviors
Chapter 3: Projects
Chapter 4: A New World
Chapter 5: A Tough Lesson
Chapter 6: Hunting Trip
Chapter 7: Tenuous Prospects
Chapter 8: Payday
Chapter 9: Even the Best Laid Plans
Chapter 10: Old Friends
Chapter 11: And the Stories They Tell

Chapter 1: An average Tuesday

Ah, it was finally time to call it quits for the week, at least that’s what I gathered with my science pod opening up before my eyes. The steam hissed by for a few seconds before the restraints opened up and I could finally move my limbs again. Felt like this ‘week’ had been substantially longer than usual. I know the time dilation of the pods does that, but it felt like a year had passed this time. I guessed the technicians tuned the matrices so we could get more work done in the same period of time. That would mean a pay raise for all of us.

This place looked just like how I left it, cold and metallic. The gray steel walls stretched upwards for what seemed like forever, since the lights overhead were only a few feet above our stations. Must be a pain in the flank for the pegasi janitors to clean up there.

It was colder than I remembered it being normally. Maybe they had turned off the heaters to help save on power, or maybe I was still just readjusting to the normal atmosphere. Both were plausible options, we did spend a mountain of bits to operate the temperature controls.

“Good morning everypony!” I exclaimed as I rolled forward and dropped out of my pod to the cold steel floor below. Nopony responded. Which was odd, but I guess none of the others had been woken up yet.

The air was quiet today, no hum buzz from air moving through the vents or chatter from my coworkers talking about how they’d be spending their time off. What really irked me was none of the interns or lower level staff were around to give me a cup of coffee. It wouldn't help with the fog over my eyes as I woke up, but it would at least make me feel like my work was appreciated.

I yawned and wandered over to one of the other pods to check in on one of my fellow researchers.

Gloria was still asleep in her pod, a smile plastered on her face made her look awfully at peace considering the circumstances. Her screen wasn’t outputting anything, so she must be taking some time to let her mind rest. No new notes were written on the notepad next to her pod. She must have not made any breakthroughs yet, but that left me wondering what she was working on. Maybe a better healing potion? Or maybe a new gun with some custom rounds? Whatever she was working on would help out Equestria in the long run. Her work was of the utmost quality. Gloria was after all the brightest mind on our team.

“I’ll see you in a while Gloria, I think I’m going to go home and take a few days to spend with my family. Don’t do too much work while I’m out.” I tapped on the glass a few times to bid her goodbye for now before continuing on my way.

The fog on my eyes was lifting slightly, but slowly enough to tell me I had been under for a lot longer than I was supposed to have been. Maybe the princess ordered us to work a little longer this time just in case we did go to war. Luckily if anything big had happened in my life I would have been woken up earlier. I had told them to wake me if my wife went into labor.

As I walked, I made sure to cast quick glances at all the equipment to make sure the technicians had been doing their work. There were dust bunnies everywhere and sheets on a few of the pods that I knew were in use. All of their notepads were blank of any recent notes. This worried me a little, but I shrugged it off as the interns took the used pages elsewhere for processing. Still meant I was going to have to talk to the higher ups about how we’re running this place and who we were letting work here. Our research is important and we can’t have just any schmuck working with us after all.

Of the machines I passed by only one had anything interesting being displayed on the monitoring device. Steel Flash was working on a new weapon prototype, some sort of automatic grenade launcher. Looked like maybe he had been creating custom grenades and had a mishap or two with how charred his workbench was. They were maybe sixty millimeter grenades from the looks of them. It would take an exceptionally strong stallion to lug that thing around, but everypony knows our fighting stallions are the strongest in the world. So the weight wouldn’t be a problem. Maybe we could mount them on one of those tanks as the secondary weapon instead of those heavy machine-guns.

I kept trudging on towards the main door of the facility rubbing my eyes as I went. Upper management would be my first stop once I returned to work, everypony was slacking on their duties.

That could wait though, I needed to get back home to my beautiful wife and unborn foal. Hopefully she hadn’t had the baby yet, but she was due any day now. I couldn’t wait to hold my child in my hooves for the first time. We knew she was going to be a pegasus. So no need to worry about magical outbursts, but we were betting she’d be flying as soon as her wings would let her. Though I wasn’t looking forward to changing diapers or waking up throughout the night to feed her.

The atrium was quiet and some of the doors to the other wings were open. I could hear the sounds of some of the heart rate monitors from medical beeping in time with someone's heartbeat. The compactors we used for waste management treating the waste for use as fuel. Maybe even the scream of one of the boilers, but I couldn’t care less I was awake and going home. The door on the far side of the atrium that opened up to that big steel door marked with that yellow 83 was open as well. No keycard needed this time, my lucky day.

I did fumble around with my magic to make sure my card was still on me. My personal card was in my right lab coat pocket, alongside my notepad. I should leave the coat and notes here, but they can deal without it for a few days. None of my current notes would progress any projects, nor could anypony but me readily read them. It’d be best to take it with me, use some of my spare time to write my notes legibly.

In the airlock I saw a few basic tools were scattered around the area next to the door opening mechanism. The toolbox on the wall was open and the lock sat precariously atop the box. One of the techs must have just finished fixing something before being dragged away to a bigger more important problem. My bet would be that boiler I heard screaming, boiler six if I remembered correctly.

I levitated the few tools back into a toolbox on the wall, that was the least I could do for them. “Breeze, you and I are going to have a word when I get back about leaving your tools scattered on the ground. Creating a tripping hazard is one thing when everypony coming through the area can properly see, but for us that’s against company policy.” With a chuckle I closed the toolbox and stepped up to the console.

I fumbled around again to levitate my keycard out of my pocket and into the chip reader of the door controls. The card slipped into place and a small indicator light came on. A second later the transparent shield over the button for the door opened with a click. With the shield opened and locked backwards into place I placed my hoof on the button and pressed down. Surprisingly, there was an abnormal amount of resistance. Yet another problem to take up with the other staff.

The mechanism whirred to life and that damn siren began to blare. Soon enough the orange beacon lights twenty feet overhead began to fill the room with that bright flashing light. The steel arm swung down to grab hold of that big steel door. After a few seconds the arm locked into place and began to pull the door inwards so it could roll out of the way.

I hated that this was the common procedure for entering and exiting work, but apparently with the potential war hanging overhead we needed to do our research in one of these new stables. A precautionary measure, just in case the enemy got a hold of a megaspell or some devastating explosives. As if that would happen, surely Twilight and her friends would figure something out before we went to war.

As the door began to roll away and the natural light of day began to seep in, the foulest smell I’d ever had the displeasure of knowing hit me and made me gag. “Oh, for Celestia’s sake! I thought we told those idiots to dump the trash around the back and not right in front of the main door. It’s just one thing after another today, isn’t it? What next? Princess Celestia drops by to say they’re cutting our budget again?” I said with an exasperated tone.

Hopefully not, I’d need the extra pay to cover the unpaid paternity leave. My savings would likely be enough, but Celestia knows how much money you burn to raise a foal.

I brought my labcoat up over my nose and trotted down the steps and out the main door, not even bothering to hit the button to close it behind me. If I had to smell this trash pile outside everypony else did as well. Maybe if they smelled it we could finally get some new garbage-ponies that actually listened, but that would be a miracle.

I’d hear that siren and the grinding of metal again in a few minutes or so as I got just out of shouting range. Just as planned, the squeaky wheel gets the grease as they say. I strolled outside about ten feet and stopped to let my eyes adjust so I didn’t put my hoof into whatever pile of trash or fecal matter that was sitting out here. A minute or so passed before my eyes adjusted and I could see the world outside properly for the first time in probably a good few weeks.

What I saw was not a pile of trash, but something far far worse. Instead of the path lined with beautiful flowers, trees, and shrubs that normally welcomed me back to the normal world. There were instead branches strewn about the ground and the few trees that were still standing had been killed and stripped of their leaves. “What… what happened here? Did we get attacked while I was under? Oh no.”

My wife was in danger if we were attacked. What if they did attack and she wasn’t in one of the stables? Surely, she would have been taken to one right away, right? I worked for the princesses after all, my family was supposed to be some of the first ponies to be locked safely away.

Just as I was about to take off in a sprint towards the nearest train station, I heard a rustling to my right. I turned to look and see who was there. I caught a glimpse of a bright green tentacle swinging what I assumed was a crowbar directly at my face. There wasn’t enough time to identify whoever was next to me as the crowbar slammed into my face at eye level.

My skull cracked from the impact and a searing pain took over my mind. I stumbled back and started to yell at this dumbass but was stopped as I heard a gunshot and felt a bullet rip into my chest knocking the wind out of my lungs. A second shot followed quickly after causing me to collapse and sprawl out on the ground. My keycard clattered onto the ground and blood began to pool around me.

“Finally,” his voice was slimy and dripping with malice, “one of you ponies opens the door and lets a true scientist in. Thank you my good stallion. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to ask that you kindly bleed out while I go and make myself at home.” That voice sounded familiar, but with my ears ringing I wasn’t certain. Whoever this was bent down and grabbed my keycard from the ground before trotting inside. One of his limbs was dragging with the sickening sound of bones cracking. Even so, he moved a lot faster on his hooves than I would have expected.

I tried to force myself to get up and fight back, I couldn’t let that creep walk in there and hurt my friends. Try as I might, I just couldn’t force myself back to my hooves. Every breath or tiny movement caused searing pain to rack my entire body and my mind scrambled as I tried to think my way out of this. I started to crawl towards the door as fast as my now broken body would let me. I knew I was too late as my now bloodshot vision and ringing hearing slowly returned with the report of the stable door closing.

“Fuck” I muttered as I started to crawl away. “I’m going to die out here, and that bastard is going to ruin everything we built.” I made it another 10 feet before running out of energy to keep pulling myself along. I accepted my fate and began closing my eyes, ready to die.

It hurt to know I’d never see my wife again and she’d have to raise our daughter alone. As my eyes closed and I accepted death, I heard a mare’s voice and the flapping of wings. My mind focused as best it could and held onto this new beacon of hope.

“Dammit, he must have gone inside. No way we’ll catch him now.” The wing beats grew closer, and the downdraft kicked up a cloud of dust from the ground around me. “Hello? Are you still in the world of the living?” She got closer to me and began checking for a pulse. A good samaritan, with a gentle and kind voice. If she wasn’t alone I would have a chance to get to a hospital and live through this attempted murder.

I coughed as the dust and what was probably blood entered into my lungs. “Yes, barely” I croaked out, lifting my head off the ground. My eyes refused to open but I knew the mare had closed the distance and was thinking of what to do. If she didn’t hurry I would suffer a death by exsanguination. I tried to speak again but couldn’t muster the energy. My head hit the ground and the dark abyss I found myself in began spinning.

“That’s enough for me. Just hang in there, we’re gonna take you somewhere safe. Smoky get over here, we got a live one!” She popped the cork on something that I could only assume was alcohol and shoved it into my mouth. The liquid didn’t taste like alcohol, so scratch that idea. Maybe a healing potion, but it tasted bitter in comparison. “Drink this and don’t you dare die on me…” Were the last words I heard from her before losing consciousness completely.

Chapter 2: Saviors

When I awoke I couldn’t see due to something covering my eyes. So I could only guess where I was. By how hot it was I would have guessed Celestia sent me to Tartarus for some crime I committed while I was alive. Probably all the lies about the cost of our operation. The familiar feeling of leather bindings over my torso was present, so that probably meant eternal torture as well.

“How’s he doing?” A stallion asked a few feet from my right. His voice was rough and grating on the ears, but he sounded concerned. Maybe I was still alive for the time being. “He looks like shit. You’re sure he’s going to pull through?” Ok worried, but by no means a medical professional with that kind of language. Hopefully not the nurse, that would be some rough treatment if he was.

“I wouldn’t’ve brought him back if I thought he was gonna die. We’re low on medical supplies as is, I’m not wasting ‘em on a corpse.” That was the mare who saved me. Good to hear a familiar voice, even if she did just compare me to a corpse. I knew I was in bad shape, but I’d seen ponies come back from worse. “He’s currently recovering from sepsis, and from what I can tell parts of his skull are still cracked. He’ll need another one of the good potions and a few days in bed ‘for he can be up and walkin again.” She trotted over to my bed and began inspecting where I knew my wounds were. “I did what I could in the field, he wouldn’t’ve lasted much longer without help.” She ran a hoof over the fresh scars left by the bullets and sighed.

I coughed a couple of times and drew this putrid and humid air into my lungs. “Yeah, thanks for that. Didn’t expect to get mugged on my way home.” I coughed a few more times, feeling a lot worse having expended some energy to speak. At least I knew I was still alive, even though I wished I wasn’t.

Sepsis huh? That was really bad, but if this was a top rate hospital I’d be out quickly and on my way back home. I’d get an earful for making my wife worry this close to the foal being born, but who would have expected I’d get shot on my way home?

The stallion let out a soft sigh. “Well, seems ya patched him up well enough. If you’ve got the strength for it, might I ask your name?” Considerate, a good quality to have. Didn’t make him a good nurse though.

How did they not know my name already? This had to be the hospital in Fillydelphia, that was the closest proper hospital to work. I knew my records were on file there and they knew who I was. So maybe this was a triage tent and they were waiting for a proper medical transport for me.

I took a few deep breaths to try and quell the pain before I spoke again, it helped ever so slightly. I knew that this was still going to hurt. “Crimson Armor, PhD. At your service as much as I can be after getting shot.” I took slow shallow breaths and concluded that was the best way to breathe for the time being as it didn’t hurt nearly as bad.

“Twice,” she said with a hint of irritation. “Plus a pretty nasty head wound, but you’re alive, so that’s a start.” I felt the blanket pull away from my body and a needle rest against my right foreleg. “This might hurt a bit, but it’ll help with the pain. It’ll also keep ya awake so we can talk an make sure the head trauma didn’t give ya serious brain damage.” Without hesitation the needle pierced my hide and injected some sort of medicine.

Whatever was in the needle kicked in fast and I felt quite a bit better. Breathing became easier and the sense of pain coursing through my body dulled enough to be only slightly irritating. My pain level is a two now nurse, maybe another shot would quell it completely? “I don’t think my mental faculties were damaged when I got hit, though I’m not trained to diagnose that sort of injury. My only prognosis is that whatever was in that needle is fantastic.” Medical professionals probably already knew my blood type and that important information, so I was prepared to answer some more personal questions. “What do you want to talk about?”

The mare walked away as the stallion stepped closer. He tossed the cover back up to where it had been resting before he spoke. “Well, first and foremost we want to know what was in that stable ya walked out of. The pony that closed the door has a pretty high bounty on his head and we need to know what we’re up against if we can find a way in there. It wasn’t full of weapons and heavy duty armor, was it?” The way he said ‘pony’ worried me.

What did he mean saying it with that inflection? A criminal? Or did he mean to call him less than a pony due to some physical deformity? Either option was unprofessional in this situation. Maybe that broken leg was what he meant.

“Well, not exactly. There is an armory in there, but from what I remember mostly small caliber rifles and pistols. Precautionary measure just in case the staff had to arm themselves during an emergency. We hired guards to keep the place safe, they packed around the big guns.”

I stopped for a brief moment to think about what that meant. This wasn’t a hospital, I couldn’t hear any other ponies or any of the usual medical equipment. Not a triage tent and not a hospital. So where in the wide world of Equestria was I? “I thought bounty hunting was frowned on unless you got orders from Celestia herself. You two outlaws, or are you friends with Celestia?” I was hoping for the second option, but the first was much more likely.

The room became deathly quiet, they both stopped moving and breathing as far as I could tell. I waited with bated breath thinking I may have just offended my rescuers. But when she spoke, even more questions entered my mind. “Ya mean… Princess Celestia? As in, the princess before everythin went to shit? There’s no way in Equestria ya met her, all stories say she’s been dead for over a hundred an fifty years.”

Now it was my turn to be dumbfounded and not talk or breathe. I opened my mouth as if to say something a few times just trying to grasp what I had been told. Princess Celestia, my boss and one of the rulers of Equestria. Was dead, and had been dead for over a hundred years? Surely they were joking, I’d only been under for a month… hadn’t I?

“Ye… yeah that’s the one. I gave her a monthly report on the progress we were making in our research so we could keep justifying the ludicrous amount of bits we were shoveling into that place… You’re joking right? This is just some sick prank you like to play on ponies?” There was no way Celestia was dead, these two were just trying to scare me. A sick prank and one I’d be reporting to whoever managed these two.

The stallion cleared his throat after a few seconds and sighed. “Afraid not friend, we heard she died around the same time the war broke out. So if what you’re saying is true, that you actually met her... You’re almost two hundred years old. Looking pretty good if that’s the case, and not that you have severe brain damage.” He chuckled nervously after he finished, he was really sticking to the bit.

“Now come on Smoky, give him some benefit of the doubt. I admit I thought brain damage at first, but just look at ‘im. He look like the type ta lie?” Ok, rude. I could get away with lying, but I would never lie about meeting Celestia herself. “Don’t give me that sour look. I know you’re doubtin ‘im, but let’s just wait and see.” She closed some kind of metal box before trotting back over. “What’d ya do in there Crimson? Or was it just some sorta spell that froze you in time?”

“Well, a number of things…” I don’t know if these two can be trusted, but they’re already on guard and will catch me in a lie. I’ll tell them just enough to get by for now, until I figure out what’s actually going on. “I was one of the researchers. I helped out with all the other projects we were working on. My specialty was in composites used in armor making, that’s what my PhD got me in for. Nothing particularly special” I said, leaving it intentionally vague. That would hopefully be enough to get me by, and avoided saying anything about power armor.

“Alright, armorer by trade. Any sorta experience with alchemy or potion making? Much as I hate to bring it up, we spent a lotta remaining resources on keepin ya alive. We need to refill that stockpile if we wanna keep doin our jobs.” She at least sounded remorseful, but this was more predatory than any medical center I’d ever been to before. At least most hospitals waited a few weeks to send you the bill.

“If you’ve got the equipment to make them, I’ve got a few recipes memorized. In fact, since my eyes are still covered in this… bandage, and I am in no condition to work. If you’ve got my lab coat, there is a notepad in the chest pocket that has a couple of recipes on it. I think the twentieth page has a pretty simple one that only requires a hot plate and a couple of beakers for equipment.” Nothing on that notepad could be used against me, only some basic recipes that most medical professionals would know. Nothing special, just enough to convince them I was worth keeping alive.

That reminds me, once I can see properly again I need to write down the notes from my last time under. See about finally getting my prototype armor fabricated, or maybe start making it myself.

She was quiet for a moment as she ruffled through my lab coat. “Well, it’s still here so that’s good news. Bad news is one of us’ll have ta go out and find the plants we can use ta make this from. Smoky, if ya wouldn’t mind making a run out ta the grove, we can start rebuilding our supplies while we let Crimson recover.” That recipe didn’t say anything about plants, but she could know what plants released those chemicals. Why plants? Shouldn’t any proper practitioner have access to chemicals?

Smoky trotted over and looked at the notepad for a few moments before trotting for the door. “I’ll be out for a few hours. If I’m not back by dusk come looking for me. I’ll try and shoot some game while I’m out, could always sell any extra hides to help out. Stay safe Orchid, and keep him in line.” As if I could get into any trouble right now. Bound, injured, and unable to see. I would be such a threat to a mare with every advantage over me.

“Roger that Smoky, I’ll keep the bound an helpless stallion from doin anythin stupid” Orchid said sarcastically. Sarcasm, lovely, at least she was having fun with it. “Get goin or ya won’t reach the grove by nightfall.” She had some redeeming qualities, if I could get on her good side I’d get out of this just fine.

I heard Smoky trot out of whatever shelter we were in, hopefully he was back soon. At least then I could be a little bit of help to the ponies who had saved my life. Until I got my sight back and could strategize my way out. “So… out of curiosity. How long until we can get this bandage off my eyes? I know injuries like this take time to heal, but I’m getting really tired of staring at an endless black abyss.” I was tempted to flirt with her, but I still needed to know more about her before making that kind of decision.

Orchid took a seat nearby and began fiddling with something made of metal. I knew the sound of a pistol being cocked and chambering a round when I heard it. A gun, and one that was currently loaded. “Tomorrow more than likely. After a night a rest we’ll need ta take the bandages off an make sure those cracks in yer skull are healing proper. If you’re on the mend, then the bandage can stay off an you might be able ta walk around a little. If not, you’ll be laying in that bed for the next couple a days.” A consummate professional, with a gun likely aimed at my head.

“Ah, I see. Well, let’s hope that I can be up helping out tomorrow. I know my hornwriting is pretty atrocious. That or just the bare minimum for me to remember the process.” I sat in silence listening to her mess with that gun. The magazine dropped out and a fresh round was loaded in. Topping up the magazine was unnecessary if she meant to kill me.

“Let’s hope. That brings up the next question I have for ya. Ya said there was an armory in that place in case you had ta defend yerself. That mean ya know how ta handle a gun? You’ll learn pretty quick out here that damn near everyone and everythin wants ya dead. An honestly, I don’t want to see this world take anypony else 'for it’s their time.” That sounded terribly somber, she must have lost somepony close… I guess we’re not so different after all.

Can’t let that distract me, this could be a dangerous outlaw… Wait, everything wants to kill me? So we had gone to war. That meant this was a medical tent, a woefully understocked one. “Yeah… well… technically. I bought a gun and practiced at the range a bit before… all of this. I’m not the best shot but I can probably hit a stationary target.” I wonder if that range is still in use, probably is if they’re lying about everything.

There was a light click as she flipped on what I could only assume was the safety. I would be living to see another day. “That’s better than nothin, I guess. I’ll leave this pistol an a spare mag with yer things. Not the best gun an not in the best condition, but it’ll hopefully be all ya need. Once you’re on ya hooves again we’ll have ya start helping out. For now, why don’tcha try an get some rest. That syringe is gonna wear off anytime now. We can talk more tomorrow.” She stood and walked towards where Smoky had left from.

“Alright. I’ll be here if you need anything from me.” No response, guess I’m alone with my thoughts then. Goddesses, I hope this is just a fever dream. What if it isn’t? What happened to my wife and our foal? Oh please, for the love of Celestia and Luna, let this just be a bad dream.

I could feel the medicine’s effects waning, the pains in my chest and head were creeping back in. Short lasting dose and they didn’t ask any form of medical questions. Either I was in incredible hooves, or was going to die very shortly. Only way to find out would be to make it through the night and wake up tomorrow. I thought of my wife’s beautiful smiling face to forget the pain. With my eyes already blinded, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

My dreams were filled with visions of my wife. Her beautiful plum coat and lilac mane with those mint highlights she got done regularly. Her sapphire eyes looked right through me as always. Never had I felt deeper love than when looking into her eyes. I simply embraced her and enjoyed this moment of peace.

Chapter 3: Projects

“You are seriously a dumbass. I understan we need the caps so we can afford ammo an whatever else we need, but trottin into a den of twenty yotes? You’re lucky we’ve got the supplies to get botha ya fixed up.” Orchid was definitely upset, it might be best to just keep my mouth shut for a little while longer. Lest I inspire her ire and get hit for it.

“Speaking of him, why isn’t he awake yet? I know it’s still pretty early, but if we want him to survive out here with us he needs to wake up early.” And suddenly I wasn’t glad he was back. “With his help we can get a lot of small shit done today. You two can start working on the potions and I can start tanning these hides I brought back.”

I felt a twinge of hunger in my stomach, they hadn’t force fed me. At least one of them had made sure I drank something, dehydration hadn’t set in yet. No time like the present to let them know I’m awake I suppose, since this isn’t just a fever dream. “I’m awake. Probably pretty hard to tell since I’m still bound to this bed and still have my eyes covered by this bandage. I’d be more than happy to help you out, just need you to release me first.” We’ll see how this goes. I may not be in that much trouble, guess worse comes to worse I can find that gun and shoot them.

Orchid exasperatedly sighed at Smoky before trotting over. She first undid the leather bindings and did a quick look over where I had been shot. “You’re healin well, but still try an take it easy today. I’m gonna take that bandage off now, just be warned it might take yer eyes some time to readjust after being blind for three days.” I tilted my head forward enough for her to grab the bandage and start unwinding it. After she was done, she took a few steps back and waited.

I slowly opened up my eyes and was unsurprisingly immediately uncomfortable with how bright the world was. It took a few minutes of shielding my eyes with one of my forelegs before I could finally see properly without my eyes stinging. “My eyes still work, that’s good. Hopefully that means no permanent damage. Thanks for the help.”

Orchid gave a small smile. “Of course, we help who we can when we can.” I knew I had heard the flap of wings when she saved me. Now that I could finally see her, I finally got to realize she was a lot prettier than I had first imagined. Her coat was a soft tangerine and her mane, although a little messy, was two tone of peach and rouge. Eyes of a deep sapphire blue that betrayed a kind nature behind the ragged and dangerous outward look. She wore a suit of plain leather armor that looked like it had been hoof-stitched and repaired several times. At her side was a holstered low caliber semiautomatic pistol.

Then there was Smoky, he was big. Nearly twice my size and he looked a whole lot meaner. A coat that reminded me of freshly watered dirt, that muddy brown color that looked like a pile of shit. His mane was a solid orange brown, not too much darker than rusty iron. Even though his eyes looked sunken and almost soulless, the green irises looked like they might have a sliver of happiness hidden somewhere deep inside. He also wore a suit of plain leather armor, though his was much patchier. “Now you can help us to repay that kindness.” Or maybe he was a soulless lich sent to haunt me for eternity.

The shelter around us wasn’t luxurious by any means. The ceiling was peppered with holes that let in natural light. The floors were bare dirt and what little furniture I could see looked unstable and ready to fall apart. On the wall next to the doorway hung a small medical box, hard to recognize it with the faded paint and holes in it. In the opposite wall was a door leading to a darkened room. Their shelter was just a ramshackle building that was barely holding together.

I gave him a small nod ignoring the fact that Orchid was glaring daggers at him. “Of course, where can I start? I don’t know much about tanning hides or fixing guns, but if you want me to work on potions I can mix up a few.” I rolled out of bed onto the dirt floor below. This time my legs gave out on me. I crumpled to the floor pretty hard, luckily I landed just right to not take a bite out of the rock sticking out of the ground. “If I can stand properly that is.” Smooth Crimson, defuse with humor to not look stupid

Smoky offered one of his hooves to me and I was really glad it was to help me up, because that hoof was close to the size of my head. I took the hoof and he pulled me up. “Well, I kinda expected that to happen the first time you rolled out of bed after that kinda trauma. Just take it easy and you’ll be fine.”

I pray to Celestia I can figure this stallion out. Is he rude or kind? I just can’t tell.

I shakily let go of his hoof and rested my weight fully on my own legs. It wasn’t comfortable in the slightest, but I knew I’d be able to walk. If only just. “Yeah, I’ll take it slow, at least physically.” I lit my horn up and telekinetically dragged my lab coat over to me. After sliding it on I pulled the notepad from my pocket and hobbled over to the hot plate sitting on a table in the corner. “Now I think I heard you two talking about having Orchid work with me on potions.” Getting rid of Smoky fast would be a blessing, even if it hurt like a bitch to move.

Orchid nodded and waved a hoof at Smoky to get him to go elsewhere. She walked over to the table as Smoky walked outside grabbing a box next to the door on his way out. “Yes, the plan was ta have ya teach me some of those recipes ya know as part a ya repaying us fer saving your life. While I can figure out what plants and other chemicals go into some of ‘em, ya didn’t exactly leave a good method to produce them.”

I flipped through the notepad to the first recipe and looked it over. A pretty basic healing potion, nothing too potent. Definitely enough to feel out where I stood with these two. “Yeah, this one here is written in my shorthoof. If you’ve got some paper around, I’ll write out the specifics for you while we work. If not, I’ll just go as slow as I can and explain the process as I go.”

Orchid set a piece of paper and a pen down on the table next to my notepad. “Both. While I trust learnin by seein it done, havin the details written down is nice just in case.” She produced a couple of plants and some basic tools from her saddlebags and waited for me to start.

“Alright, the first step is to purify some water as best as we can. Start by running the water through a filter made of sand, charcoal, and small rocks placed in that order. Following this, take the filtered water, place it in a beaker and bring it to a boil.” I was writing the steps down as I talked and worked, making sure to give Orchid a glance every now and then to make sure she was following. She seemed to be, so I continued, “Using a few pieces of glassware or plastic in a pinch we can collect the water vapor as it leaves the beaker. Now we have a batch of distilled water, this is the bare minimum work to put in for making water safe to use in this recipe.” If I’m making it at least. I could use dirty water I suppose… no, has to be clean.

Orchid nodded and chuckled lightly. “I know how ta purify water. Ya didn’t have ta explain that ta me, you know. I do appreciate the advice though.” That chuckle was adorable, maybe she wasn’t so bad. She set up the hot plate and beakers to start the purification process. “What next?”

“Next, we take a few sprigs of ginseng, a cactus flower, and a few aloe leaves and we grind them into a paste. This paste will serve as the base for the potion. Once we have this paste and the purified water, we mix the two thoroughly together and then put the combination back into a beaker and bring it back to boil.” I had to flip the piece of paper over to get the entire process on this one piece of paper. Must not have paper processing around, these are mere scraps compared to what I’m used to. “Once the mixture comes to a boil, we occasionally lift the beaker to swirl the mix around. This process continues for roughly ten minutes before the potion should start to take on the proper red coloration. At which point, we pour the contents into two separate bottles and let the mixture cool. Then the potions are ready for use.”

Orchid was following along with the instruction as I gave them, it was pretty clear she had a talent for this work. She set the paste down long enough to transfer the now purified water over to a new beaker and started mixing the paste and water together. “That’s pretty easy all things considered. What else ya got in that magic little book of yers? Maybe something to deal with animal venoms?”

I levitated it and the pen up, so she had more workspace before flipping through the pad to the next open page. “Not written down here. Just some notes from the time I spent in my pod at work. A lot of it is just experimental data and thoughts about ways to improve the brewing process or potential new weapon designs to run by Steel when he wakes up. Though usually he’s thought of everything I have long before I present the idea.” I sure do miss him, if he was here with me right now I could walk free. Smoky may be big, but he’s got nothing on Steel.

“Anything ya can easily make out here? Or are ya limited to potions and other basics?” Orchid waited for a few moments before adding “Iffn ya don’t mind me asking that is.” Ok, she’s nice at the very least. Or that could be a ploy to get me to spill more information…

I wrote down some notes in silence for a minute before setting my pen down. “Unless you’ve got a workshop full of tools on hoof, I can’t produce anything big or complex. I do have a potential armor design that I’ve had brewing for a while, but it requires a lot of leather, metal and adhesive.” The underlying principle would be ok to do for now… but maybe they can be trusted with the actual design.

“Ya did say ya were an armorer by trade, so that don’t surprise me much. How much leather do ya need? We’ve got a few larger hides plus the ones that Smoky is working on tanning out there, and these old leathers we’ve got on. Would that be enuff ta make yer armor?” She asked before picking up the flask to swirl the mixture, which was starting to take on a light red color, potions would be ready soon enough.

Just give them the basics for now Crimson. “Enough for one of you probably. I’d have to get my hooves on the hides and a couple of measurements before I could say for certain. I’d say for nearly certain I could make a design that would fit you properly. I have serious doubts about making it for Smoky, he’s quite a bit bigger than the pony I designed the suit for.” The design was towards the back of my notepad, not a full scale design drawing, just enough of a sketch to act as a guideline for armoring a stallion of my size.

Orchid motioned me to keep track of the hotplate before trotting off into the other darkened room of this ruined building. I could hear her tossing stuff to the side as she searched through what sounded like a trunk. After a few minutes she trotted back in and set several tanned hides and some bottles of wonderglue onto the bed I had been sleeping in. “Once this batch a potions is done, I can take over at the hotplate. I’d like ya ta start work on making that suit of yers. Use yer own measurements for it, we’ll call it a forward payment for ya helping us out. You’ll need armor out here just in case something tries to attack ya again.” She was quiet for a moment before adding “we don’t have the supplies ta keep saving ya from gunshots.”

Well, that’s more than I was expecting out of complete strangers. Then again, they did save my life when they could have just as easily left me to die out there. Maybe they can be trusted… I guess I don’t have a much better option. “Sure, I guess. As long as you think you can part with the resources I’ll need to make the suit. Won’t be able to finish it today unfortunately. With most of the hides and leather I need already here, I should be able to get something light to wear before nightfall.”

“That’ll have to do for now then” Smoky trotted through the door with a worried expression on his face. “Looks like we’ll need to be moving on tomorrow. Just saw a group of raiders eyeing this place up from a good mile away. They’ll no doubt be back in the morning to take this place over. I only saw five of them, but who knows how many more they’ll come back with. I’ll pack what I can into my bags. Only take what we need, can’t be slowed down by unnecessary weight.” That level of worry made me nervous, if this big bastard was scared… Fuck...

Based on the way both Orchid and Smoky began moving around the building and stuffing things into their saddlebags, I had to assume that meant we were probably dead if we didn’t get out of here. Normally I would have questioned what they were talking about, but for once in my life I had the good sense to just focus on my work instead. I already had my own measurements on my notepad so that would speed up the process of making myself a suit of armor, hopefully enough to get it done and get a good night’s rest.

The design of my armor was simplistic when compared to any modern body armor, but unless I could get my hooves on a proper lab or proper tools this was going to have to do. The design drew from the old days of Appleloosan gunslingers and those cheesy action western movies they use to run. A base layer of leather foraged from the animals they slayed along the way plus a duster to add in a little extra body protection. Later I’d add in some metal plates over the most important areas and that’d do without getting ballistic plates. That would be the base of my armor and all I could likely get done today with how often I kept dropping the fucking needle and thread.

While I worked, I watched the two ponies who had saved me frantically run about gathering up what probably amounted to the entirety of their possessions. It was almost like watching somepony who was moving to a new city pack their house since they’ve got to be out the door by the end of the day and procrastinated packing to the last minute. The sight would have been a tad bit amusing to me if the implications of failing to pack everything wasn’t a slow agonizing death. They made quick work of gathering everything they owned, maybe an hour or so, and now came the hard part. Now they had to decide what was worth keeping and what they could live without taking.

Smoky was practical when it came to sorting through their belongings, tossing aside anything that didn’t seem to have any immediate value. Medical supplies, ammunition, weapons, food that was probably still edible. Almost what you’d expect a soldier to pack first, the essentials for war. The way he packed though was inefficient and sloppy, his saddlebags could probably hold twice as much if he just took a second to sit and think about how to pack. Though I didn’t dare to say anything just yet.

Orchid was much more organized in the way she packed, placing the heaviest objects closer to her body, and making sure everything fit together in a compact manner. She packed less of the essentials into her bags, but she did leave a small pile of medical supplies and spare mags out just to her right. The hotplate and glassware we had used for potion making made its way into the saddlebags, all of it wrapped in leather scraps to keep it from breaking. Smart. She either read that somewhere, or she’s had to do this a few too many times in her life.

We all sat in silence as we worked, and the hours went on. The sun was just setting by the time I had finished the base of my suit, I even had enough time to fashion a basic built in holster so I could draw my gun in a hurry if push came to shove. There wasn’t enough leather gifted to me to fashion any form of helmet or tail covering. It would, at the very least, give some resistance to bullets hitting me anywhere but the head or tail.

The last little bit of the pile on the floor was a few hides and some miscellaneous items including a camera, some chunks of scrap metal, and a few small piles of circuit boards and wires.

Orchid stood up tossing her saddlebags onto her back. “I’ll take first watch. Smoky, you an Crimson here get some rest. Ya know the deal, four hours of rest and then we’ll switch.” She trotted to the door and gave me a nod. “Crimson make sure you’re ready ta travel in the morning. An if you think you’re up to it, try and carry as much as ya can from that pile. Might come in handy later and we’ll need everything we can carry ta survive out there.”

I didn’t get the chance to respond before she had trotted out the door. “Copy that, I guess. I’ll figure something out.” I sat down by the edge of the pile and started fashioning one of the hides into a rudimentary saddlebag. It wouldn’t hold nearly as much as a proper one would, but it would do for now. “Where are we going tomorrow, Smoky? Or is it just anywhere but here?” Maybe I could glean more about where we were, just in case I needed to make a break for it.

He trotted over to a spot in the corner of the room and laid down. “Ideally, we’d make enough ground to make it to one of the caravan routes or we could try and settle into that train station if nopony else is there. Beyond that I don’t know, somewhere we won’t be shot at.” He laid his head down on the ground and sighed. “Hoped we had outrun ‘em this time. But you can never truly be safe out here, one wrong step and it’s all over.” Said with a level of melancholy that I had heard only once in my life, just before that stallion shot himself.

That wasn’t a comforting message, but I guess that’s just life now. “That’s not comforting at all. Has the world really gone that badly to shit? From what I’ve heard the world is a whole lot different than what I remember it being.”

Smoky let out a small chuckle and picked his head up. “I’m guessing out here must be a fuckton worse than where you trotted out of. If you don’t mind me asking, what was life like before all this? Orchid and I found a couple of books a while back that seemed like they were pre-war. Life sounded simpler, less worry about being killed every day.”

“Well, you got that last part right, mostly. Other than the threat of war, life was pretty peaceful for most of us. Everypony I knew only had a few complaints, hours were long and the pay didn’t seem like enough” I sighed. “But we were making our way.” I finished up the first side of my impromptu saddlebags and then started packing the remaining materials, heavy stuff close to my body just like Orchid had done. “There was some worry about being killed, but the criminals were few and far between, and most of us packed around some kind of weapon for self-defense. I never had to shoot anypony, but there was a time or two I did draw my gun to deter a stallion with a knife.” He was on one of those new drugs if I remember right, got loose from the testing area.

“Working life never changes then, hours are still too long and the pay just ain’t enough.” He hesitated before asking “Any family? I know that’s probably a sore subject right now.”

I had to stop and think for a few seconds, because he was right, that is a sore subject. “Yeah, it is. I had a wife, and was expecting a filly. Beyond that not really, mom died a few years back. My father and I were estranged, and I hadn’t heard much from my sister. You?”

Smoky was clearly pretty uncomfortable with that answer, probably regretting asking. “Shit… That’s rough, sorry… As far as I know it’s just me and Orchid left in our family. Never really got to know our mom and dad, and we’ve been on the move every day that we can remember. Traveling with caravans from town to town and doing odd jobs to earn caps. Once we thought we were old enough we ran off on our own to do whatever we wanted. Looking back, that was a bad idea. We’ve barely scraped by, but caravan work was too strict for us. Not to mention all the friends we lost.”

“You’ve made it this far, it seems you two are doing well enough on your own. Then again, I’ve only had a few days of time to make that judgment. Time will tell I suppose. For now, I think I’m going to try and get some rest. Still not feeling like my normal self and sounds like we’ve got a long day tomorrow.” I gathered my stuff and trotted out of view of the main door before laying down and resting my head on my new bags. The pain was still ever present as I slowed my breathing, but I could deal with it for now.

Smoky looked over at me just before closing his eyes. “Good idea.” It wasn’t long before he had drifted off to sleep, though it didn’t seem like a very deep sleep.

Chapter 4: A New World

I dreamt of my wife and the foal, they were so scared. The foal cried while my wife cradled her. Bits of the roof came down around them, barely missing them. Something was shaking the ground and knocking vases down and the dishes out of the cupboards, and it wasn’t letting up.

There was another large crash before a suit of power armor slammed through the front door, twin miniguns aimed and already spooled up ready to fire. The guns slowed to a stop and the stallion inside rushed over to help my wife up from the ground. He said something but I couldn’t hear what it was, it got her moving though. The guns spun back up and he charged back outside, letting loose a long barrage of rounds that only stopped when a rifle round struck him in the chest. He wobbled uneasily, but managed to start the guns back up and yell at my wife.

She ran with the foal, almost getting shot as she ran to the next building over. The world around was a damn warzone, ponies lying dead everywhere. Craters made from explosives made the ground hard to traverse and there was so much blood pooling into them. She made it to the next building, opened the door and I looked into the eyes of… something.

The creature before me looked like a pony, but the many long glowing green tentacles made it feel corrupted and wrong. It stared at me, eyes filled with malice. Its crackle chilled me to the bone. This thing was familiar, was this what I saw when I left the stable?

It leaned in and whispered “You and I will soon be together again.”

I shot bolt upright, jumping all the way to my hooves from my sleeping position. I was sweating, a cold sweat. What did that thing mean? Who was he? Why did he look like… no, that wasn’t possible. I saw him still in his pod… didn’t I?

My mind rushed with questions while my heart raced. The adrenaline had kicked in enough to numb but not ignore the pain of such an explosive action.

I nearly jumped out of my skin as Orchid laid a hoof on my shoulder. “Crimson, are ya alright? What’s wrong?” Her tone was a harsh whisper, but showed clear concern.

I let a few seconds go by, taking a few deep breaths to recenter myself and come back down to earth. It was still dark outside but I could see Smoky standing guard at the door, he cast a glance over his shoulder to look at me. “Nightmare… it was just a nightmare.”

“Just a nightmare?” She asked, taking her hoof off my shoulder and setting it back down on the ground. “I was just about ta wake ya up an ya jumped to your hooves looking like ya were ready to fight something. Are ya sure yer alright?”

“I think so, I’ll tell you more about it later.” I picked up my bag and set it over my back. “We’re about to move out right?” She’s safe Crimson, they’re both safe. It'll all be ok, just keep a level head and you’ll see them again.

Smoky sounded off “Yeah, we need to get moving. I can see where those raiders camped out, a few miles out based on the campfire I’m seeing. None close, but if we don’t leave soon we’re gonna risk a confrontation.” His tail lightly grabbed at his pistol, lifting it an inch or so before setting it back into the holster it was in.

I checked to make sure the pistol they had given me was close at hoof. Still in the holster where I had left it last night. They trusted me enough to let me keep it. “Then let’s get moving, I didn’t much enjoy the last time I got shot. I’d like to try and not feel pain like that for the rest of my life.” I started towards the door, wincing ever so slightly at the pain in my chest.

Smoky started moving, keeping his eyes towards the camp. “Crimson keep your eyes peeled, watch our six and be ready to shoot just in case we meet some trouble along the way. Orchid you take to the skies, keep close but try and stay out of sight if possible.” He then began to trot forward.

Orchid did as she was told. “I’ll do my best, if I see somethin I’ll drop back down and let ya know.” And like that she took off into the sky, far enough out that I couldn’t see her in the dark.

I kept pace with Smoky as best as I could. Much to my chagrin, my body was not happy to be moving this fast after the recent trauma. I couldn’t let myself slow down though, not with the risk of death on the horizon. “How far to where we’re headed?” I asked through pained breaths.

Smoky slowed slightly, clearly hearing that I wouldn’t be able to keep this up forever. “Fifteen miles or so, if I’m remembering the lay of the land correctly. Might be more though, hard to tell without a map. You gonna be alright? Didn’t exactly start the day off in a pleasant way.”

I sighed, glad to be moving at a slower pace. “Yeah, I had a nightmare about my wife. She was in our house, with the foal. Outside was a damn warzone, friends and soldiers dead outside.” I shook my head, clearing the image from my mind. “Plus I saw something, or somepony… I’m not sure, but I thought I knew him, and he sounded like the bastard that shot me as I left work.”

“Really rough start to the day then, sorry to hear that.” Smoky stopped me and drew his gun. “Hold up, you see that there? About fifty yards in front of us.” He pointed up ahead to a dark patch, something was definitely moving but it was hard to tell what.

“I think so, hard to tell in the dark.” I didn’t dare draw my gun using magic, the light from my horn would be seen. I slowly reached down and grabbed it with my teeth, nestling it gently into position.

“Giant Mantis. I can only see the one right now, but they never travel alone. We’ll need to divert course around them to avoid attracting unwanted attention. I don’t want those bastards following us if we can help it.” He kept an eye on them and began to skirt around them, keeping them at about a fifty yard distance.

I followed closely behind, glancing over my shoulder to make sure we weren’t being followed. The sun started to peak over the horizon just enough for me to more clearly see the mantises. A dozen or so of them skittered around, their forelegs looking as sharp as knives. “Those don’t look pleasant to deal with, those forelegs look like knives. Are those very common?”

“Unfortunately so” Smoky said reholstering his gun. “They can cut you up in a hurry if they swarm ya, bites a bit worse than those blades of theirs. If you can stand the smell they make for a decent source of nutrition in a pinch.” He paused for a moment before adding “If you can eat meat that is, most ponies can’t.”

“Well I can digest it just fine.” I wonder if they taste like crab? Legs would probably have the same amount of meat on them. “Found that out during a business trip into the griffinlands, some type of fish as I recall.”

Smoky chuckled lightly. “Probably not comparable to prewar meat, they taste about as good as they smell. Like I said, good in a pinch, but not something you should eat on a regular basis. Guess now Orchid won’t be the only one to eat the animals we hunt, means we can keep more of what we kill. That’ll keep food out of raider hooves, or keep worse things from following us.”

“You’re telling me there’s worse than foot tall mantises with razor sharp legs?” Oh goddesses, what could be worse than that? An even bigger bug? Only one way to find out. “More giant bugs? Or dragons?”

“Haven’t seen any dragons around, nor heard any tales of them. I meant radscorpions and hellhounds, the nastiest things you might run into while wandering around.” Ok, radscorpions seem simple, just really big scorpions that have mutated due to radiation.

Now what in the fuck is a hellhound? “Hellhound?” I asked not entirely sure I wanted a proper answer.

Smoky gave me a look over his shoulder, and by the frown I could only guess they were particularly nasty. “Mutated descendants of what you knew as Diamond Dogs, bigger and meaner than ever. With claws as long as a foreleg that tear through steel like it was paper.”

Before I had time to process that, the flap of wings from above startled me. Orchid was hovering just a few feet overhead. How she had gotten there as quietly as she did was beyond me. “Bad news, we’re in for a fight.” She had her small pistol grasped in her tail. “Looks like they got friends out in front of us. I saw three of ‘em, and I think they saw me.”

I looked off in the direction we had been traveling, I could see something moving in the distance. “So what do we do?” I really didn’t want to get shot again.

Smoky set a hoof on my shoulder, clearly he had heard the fear in my voice. “We deal with the problem.” He pointed a ways forward. “We take cover right there, get our guns ready and ambush them as best we can. Don’t worry, you got us by your side this time.”

That was the most reassuring thing I’d ever heard him say. It still didn’t make me feel much better about our odds. I shakily took a deep breath in and slowly released it before drawing my gun with telekinesis. “Alright, I’ll follow your lead.” I pulled the slide back just enough to make sure there was a round chambered and readied the second magazine I was given just in case.

Orchid landed a few feet ahead and began trotting side by side with Smoky to a small mound of dirt. “You take the one on the left, I’ll take the right. Crimson you’ve got the one in the center. Don’t do anythin fancy, just aim fer her chest and slowly squeeze the trigger.” The small hitch in her voice betrayed her, she was scared but managing to hide it well.

“Ok, I’ll do what I can.” If this is a fever dream now would be a great time to wake up. If not… may the goddesses forgive me for what I have to do here.

Following Smoky and Orchid’s lead I approached the mound and got as low to the ground as I could without laying down. Gun at the ready I took a moment to watch their movements more closely.

The way they operated without talking made me think of the few drills I had watched our fighting stallions perform. No nonsense, no need to talk after working together for long enough. Though they were far less trained, most likely self taught rather than instructed. They were straight to the point, ready to strike when the opportunity presented itself. And when it did they sure moved fast.

The raiders had closed to about fifty feet when Orchid and Smoky fired their first shots. BAM, BAM. I watched as two rounds found purchase, Smoky landing a good shot to his target’s chest and Orchid crippling the foreleg of her’s.

I aimed and pulled the trigger, BAM, but my shot was not nearly as effective. I saw the dirt fly a few feet in front of my target, a missed shot and just the opportunity they needed to return fire.

They were quick to return fire with two submachineguns while the third started galloping towards us with a machete clasped in her teeth. The bullets whizzed overhead sending dirt and debris into the air as the bullets struck our cover.

I pressed myself even harder to the ground and took a few short rapid breaths to try and regain my composure. That was of no help, but did give them time to empty their guns so I could pop up and fire again. As I did so the mare with the machete had closed the distance and was only about ten feet from me. I didn’t take time to aim and instead pulled the trigger as fast as I could.

BAM, BAM, BAM. Three shots off in rapid succession, leaving my ears ringing and heart pumping much faster than I cared for. The first grazed the armor covering her chest, leaving only a small trail of scuffed leather. My second shot found purchase in the base of her neck, hitting something vital by the looks of the blood pouring out of the wound. The last one sealed her fate, it entered into her skull above her left eye, popping said eye out and launching chunks of bone and brain matter out the back.

Her body continued forward with the momentum she had built up, coming up over our dirt mound and landing squarely on top of me. I could feel the blood pouring over my armor, down the sides of my face, and into my mouth as I scrambled to get out from under the corpse. Shots continued to ring out, making my ears ring and only compounding the feeling of being sick to my stomach.

By the time I got free of the corpse, everything was quiet. No gunshots, no voices, no nothing. I looked around to see that both Smoky and Orchid were still standing, looks of relief on their faces as they stood up. With no danger in sight I sighed a breath of relief and proceeded to void what little contents my stomach had onto the corpse at my hooves. This only made the sickly sweet smell of blood and viscera worse. It was almost enough to cause another round of vomiting.

The corpse on the ground at my hooves was barely recognizable as a mare anymore. The blood and vomit was one thing, but being this close I could see the devastation caused by the bullets I had fired. The back of her neck had a hole a few inches across through which I could see her spinal column and windpipe, or what remained of them. The hole in her head was larger, and both sides were still pouring blood onto the soil. Brain matter was slowly oozing its way out of the larger exit hole. She was dead the moment that bullet hit her… thank the goddesses for that at least.

It took a few seconds for the realization of what I had just done to kick in. Another pony lay dead at my hooves, her blood covering my face and chest. I had killed her. “I… I… I killed her.” The shake in my voice was evident and it would only be worsened by the second round of vomit I felt coming up my throat. This time it was worse. It was mostly just bile and it stung coming up. I fought the urge to puke again, and fought back the tears in my eyes as I felt somepony shake me.

Orchid continued to softly shake me to snap me out of it. “Hey, it was them or us. If we hadn’t killed ‘em, they woulda killed us. Ain’t no reasonin with ‘em, only option is to fight.” Her words did little to comfort me, but at least she was trying. “Now come on, we need ta keep movin. Anypony in a mile radius or so heard that, we need to move before more come.”

Smoky was off next to the two he and Orchid had shot. He was rifling through their saddlebags and stuffing various things into his own. I would have been more upset by this, but it didn’t seem like he was taking any pleasure in it. He slung both submachineguns onto his back and stuffed the spare magazines and ammo into an extra set of saddlebags that he quickly shouldered.

I looked back down at the dead mare, she still had that machete clasped in her teeth. That could be useful in a pinch, but taking it seems wrong… but Smoky took the guns... It’s do or die out here Crimson, set your morals aside for one second and just survive. That’s the only way back to your family.

I reached out with my magic and grabbed a hold of the machete and slowly wiggled it free from her jaws. Luckily rigor mortis hadn’t had time to set in yet, and her jaw didn’t lock from the brain damage. There was still plenty of blood on it, but it could be cleaned later when we were out of danger.

I began trotting forward towards where Smoky was standing. The adrenaline was slowly wearing off, and I began to feel some new pains. I ignored them and kept pushing forward, now was no time to worry about any injuries that weren’t life threatening.

Orchid stayed close to me. Clearly still a little shaken up, but clearly pleased that I took the machete with me. “Ya did good for yer first firefight. Fifty fifty ain’t bad under high amounts of stress.” She had holstered her gun and snatched up the saddlebags from the mare I killed.

I gave a small nod, still processing everything. “I was caught off guard by your shots on the first one, and still apprehensive about shooting somepony.” I felt a trickle of blood enter into my ear canal, and instinctively tilted my head to get it out.

Smoky looked at me for a second like I was crazy, must have looked it covered in as much blood as I was. “Still standing, good. Got worried there for a second when you collapsed under that raider.” He paused and looked over at Orchid for a second gesturing at her for something. “Didn’t get away unscathed though it seems.”

I knew what he was talking about, I could feel that searing pain and heat emanating from the center of my ear. One of the bullets had punched a hole in it during the fight, and now that I wasn’t in danger I could actually feel the pain. “Yeah, fuck that hurts.” I put a hoof up to my ear, accomplishing nothing but bloodying the hoof even further.

Orchid pushed the hoof down and began applying a bandage to the hole. The wound was quickly soothed as she finished wrapping the bandage around it. If I wasn’t mistaken I could feel the bullet hole closing. “Won’t hurt soon, these bandages do wonders for treatin small wounds like that.”

I let out a sigh of relief as the pain faded away. “Thanks Orchid.” They were covered in a little bit of blood, but not nearly as much as I had currently drying on my body. “Here, let me help with the blood.” I charged up my horn and waved it over the bloodied areas. The blood and dirt slowly disappeared, leaving the armor looking almost like new. “A little trick I learned a while back. Helps keep things clean and sanitizes areas for surgery in a pinch.”

“Might want to use that on yourself, you look like you took a bath in blood.” Smoky chuckled as he started trotting towards our destination once again. “Plus I think leaving it on ya can cause an infection if I remember Orchid’s lessons correctly.”

I cast the spell again, cleaning the blood off of my face and the exposed sections of my coat that had gotten covered in blood. If nothing else it made me feel better and not nearly so sticky from my blood bath. “As I recall you can, some nasty ones too. Plus getting the blood off makes me feel a bit better about… everything that just happened” I said fighting the urge to look back and puke.

I pressed the magazine catch inwards to unload the now partially empty magazine in my gun. With a few quick clicks the magazine was fully loaded and back in my gun, ready for the next time I needed to use it.

“Let’s get moving, I don’t want to have another fight come knocking right now.” I said, looking to my companions. Both were carrying two sets of saddlebags. The other dead raider also had a set, in better shape than the ramshackle set I had made from leather. As we trotted by I levitated the bags onto my back and started rifling through them.

There wasn’t much left in the bags, Smoky had done a good job of clearing the bags of anything useful. All that remained was a few scraps of cloth that could be used for bandages and a single metallic bottle cap. The name had been rubbed off, but I’d recognize the brand anywhere. Sparkle Cola, one of the best sodas we had at work. Though I much preferred coffee, they would do in a pinch.

“These’ll hold a bit more than my leathers, only a few scraps of cloth and this old Sparkle Cola cap left in them.” I wonder if I could still turn some of these in for a bit or two, probably could if we ever found civilization.

“Well that’ll replace one of the bullets you fired.” What did he mean by that? Somepony would give me a bullet for this thing? Ammo must be more abundant now for what amounts to pocket change being worth one round.

Orchid, having seen my confusion said “We use ‘em as money. Almost everypony does. Some still use bits, but most tradin is done through caps now.”

That cleared up the first statement but still left me wondering why. “You’re telling me, you use these minuscule pieces of aluminum as money instead of the more precious bits we used to use? This world truly has gone mad.”

“Just the way we do it now. I don’t know what to tell you beyond that.” Smoky shrugged and continued trotting forward. “Keep any you find, it’ll help us buy the essentials next time we’re in a town.”

I put the cap back into my saddlebags making a mental note that it was money not trash. “Ok then, I’ll keep an eye out for more of them.”

Orchid flapped her wings and gave us a nod. “I’ll keep an eye out fer any further trouble. Let’s keep up the pace, I think we can reach the train station by nightfall.” With that she took off into the air and began circling above us.

I didn’t have much to say, and neither did Smoky as we walked the next few hours in silence. The only noise was the sound of dirt and gravel underhoof as we trudged along.

This left me with time to think and reflect. Time to try and figure out the predicament I now found myself in. I didn’t make much leeway as my mind was always brought back to here and now by a noise or some kind of motion. What I did figure is that we were in the middle of summer. The sun behind the clouds hung in the sky for long enough and the temperature rose to almost unbearable levels. Now to just find a calendar and figure out what day it actually was, maybe it would be my birthday and this would all be some drug fueled trip.

This time when I was brought back to reality it was by the sound of hooves on wooden planks. We had reached the train station, just in time as the sun was beginning to creep below the horizon.

I began to look the station over, wondering if we were really where I thought we were. “Wait a minute, I know this station!” We weren’t far from my house. “This is, uh… was my stop. There should be a small town just east of here, that’s where I used to live.”

Smoky stopped at the door, one hoof pressed to it ready to fling it open. “Keep your voice down!” He said in a harsh whisper. “Could be raiders inside, get yer gun ready.” He drew his gun and clenched it in his teeth.

Orchid had landed near silently behind me again.Her gun drawn with her tail, ready for anything that might be on the other side of that door. She nudged past me and started making hoof signals to Smoky. From what I could gather they would clear the sides of the room and I was to take the center. She gave me a look just as I drew my gun. “Let’s do this.”

Smoky pushed hard on the door and it swung open slamming against the wall and rebounding back towards him. He entered first followed closely by Orchid and then me. We had our weapons trained on our areas ready for a fight, but there wasn’t one waiting for us.

The train station was clear of any form of life large enough to use a gun on. Who knows how much bacteria and other various pathogens were covering the walls and old shelves. We were definitely at the stop I remembered, though it was hard to tell with everything in the state of disrepair it was in. All but one of the vending machines had been broken into and the contents robbed from them. Maybe we’d get lucky and some chips or sparkle colas were still trapped inside, but I had my doubts. The counter still had a chair behind it, but everything else had been stripped from it.

I trotted a few steps into the building before closing the door behind me. “Looks clear to me. What do you two think?” I asked surveying the room further.

Both were silent a moment before holstering their guns and letting out a sigh of relief. Orchid immediately went to work setting up some blankets in the center of the room.

Smoky turned to me and said “We’re safe for now. How about you help me barricade the main entrance and see what we can do about those windows.”

I holstered my gun and nodded, a genuine smile on my face for the first time since I left work. “Sure.” Hopefully tonight would bring a better rest than last.

I levitated over the chair from behind the counter and jammed it under the door handle like I had seen in a few cheesy old action movies. I jiggled the handle to make sure it wouldn’t move before dropping the small lock at the top of the door into place. I kicked myself for not grabbing some of those tools back at work before I left. Could have used a hammer to board the door up with some of the scraps in here.

Smoky had pushed a bookshelf in front of the back door of the station and stacked some wood scraps in front of that. He was now looking through the books that he scattered on the ground moving the shelf. A few piqued his interest as he placed them into his saddlebags.

Orchid was still hard at work making this place as comfortable as possible. Wooden floors aren’t all that comfortable to sleep on, even if you’ve got a few blankets between you and the boards. She finished setting out the blankets and set to taking off her armor.

Before I turned away to look around I saw much more of her body than I was expecting. All four legs were covered in scars, and she was missing several large patches of her coat around her ribs. I could only guess the leg wounds were times she had been shot or cut in fights. The missing patches of coat revealed what looked like chemical burns of some sort, a potent acid like hydrochloric acid sprang to mind. Her cutie mark was a mortar and pestle I noticed before my eyes began to trail towards her nether region. I turned away from the sight and back to the rest of the station.

What remained of this station was an absolute mess, even more so since we got in here. Books and scraps of old shelves scattered around the floor in jumbled piles. The smell wasn’t much better, without proper care rain had leaked into the building rotting the counter and the surrounding boards. In a far corner there were several husks of what looked like giant cockroaches, they smelled of sulfur and rotten cabbage.

Along the back wall were three vending machines, two of which had been broken into. Glass shards covered the floor below them, as did a few splotches of dried blood. The third was still intact and looked like it hadn’t been broken into. I decided to investigate the machine to see if I could get it open.

“I think this place’ll do fer now, what’s the plan now?” Orchid asked, clearly posing the question to Smoky.

“Assuming we aren’t attacked we could hold out here for a few days and gather up some supplies from the surrounding area. Reorganize our stores and head for the nearest settlement.” Smoky dropped his bags to the ground with a heavy THUMP, before laying down as well.

The vending machine door had a lock on it with several dents and gashes marring the surface, same story for the back of the machine. Breaking in with brute force wasn’t an option, at least not with my level of physical strength. I peered behind and saw that the machine was still plugged in and the cooling unit still running. The plug was stubborn but came free with a little force and the sound of the machine stopped.

Smoky called out to me “What ya thinking Crimson?” He was staring at me as I paced around the vending machine.

“Thinking about how to open this thing up.” I said drawing my machete to use as a screwdriver. “Drawing on some past experience.”

I could hear a bit of judgment as Smoky chuckled at me. “Past experience huh? You don’t seem like the type to have any criminal record.”

“You’d be surprised what I got up to.” I unscrewed a few screws and pulled the back panel off the machine. “Petty theft and destruction of property never ended up on my record because I never got caught. Bribing ponies with soda and some bits helped keep my name out of their mouths.” The bit collection tray slid out easily, with a few bits still inside. I set it down next to Smoky and gave him a devious smile. “Don’t underestimate me, I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeves.”

The pair looked a little stunned at first but eventually they nodded. “Got it.”

I set the back panel against the wall and started loosening more screws with my machete. It took a few minutes to remove all of the electronics and plastic but I eventually was able to grab the few drinks that remained inside. Five bottles of water and four unopened sparkle colas were all that was left, but they would still be fresh.

The drinks I stashed quickly into my bags before trotting over to the last open bed. “Still had drinks in it, nothing fancy though. This station was always the last one to get the fancier drinks.” I laid my bags down and popped three of the colas out. “One for each of us and one extra for later.”

Smoky and Orchid both grabbed the cola in front of them before opening them in two very different ways.

Smoky pried the cap off with his teeth, making an awful grinding noise as he did so. He then proceeded to spit the cap into his saddlebags.

Orchid pulled out a small knife and used the back edge of it to knock the cap off. She caught the cap with her wing and carefully set it into her bags.

After watching them pop their caps off I slowly twisted mine off the bottle and set it on the floor in front of me. “They’re twist offs, no bottle openers needed.”

“An you waited until now to tell us that?!” Orchid asked frustrated with me. “Yer an asshole.”

“Guilty as charged.” I placed my right forehoof on my chest and whipped my mane to the right. “I thought you would have figured that out just looking at them.” I guess maybe the standard is pop tops now. Wasn’t that the direction they were going to sell more soda?

Orchid sighed and started sipping at the cola. “The few I’ve seen weren’t twist offs, so I just assumed.” She set her drink down and looked over at me, her eyes a deep beautiful blue. “Now what was this nightmare ya were talkin bout this morning?”

I swirled my soda a little after taking a sip. “Yeah, that mess. I’ve never had one so vivid and so real. I know it took place at my house, at least at first. A war was raging outside and my wife and our foal were so scared. A stallion in power armor burst through the door and escorted her somewhere, miniguns spraying rounds at a foe I couldn’t see.” I swallowed down the lump in my throat and continued. “Then a new door opened in front of me, and in there stood a creature that looked like a stallion with a dozen slimy green tentacles extending from his body. What really got me was I knew his face and voice, we worked together on several projects before. He said we’d see each other again soon, with such malice and certainty. That’s when I woke up.”

Something gnawed at the back of my mind, screaming that I knew more than that. For the life of me I couldn’t actively remember anything else from that nightmare, but I knew there was more to it.

The pair looked at me before Orchid pulled a folded poster from her saddlebags. “What ya just described sounds like the stallion we were huntin down when we found ya bleedin out.” She slid the paper over to me and waited.

I hesitantly grabbed the paper and unfolded it. The picture before me was exactly what I had seen in my dream. A stallion that had grown grotesque neon green tentacles out of his body. At the base of each tentacle was a bare spot of burned skin and what looked like jagged bone shards protruded around the base. I could only assume the rib bones had splintered and were now protruding from the skin.

I forced myself to look beyond the tentacles and grotesquely distorted body to look at his face. Staring back was a set of maroon eyes, and a face turned down in a snarl like a rabid dog. A coat of dull green accentuated by a short two tone mane of rusty orange and yellow akin to piss. There was no mistaking that look for anypony else. “What happened to you?” I whispered in horror.

The room was silent as I sat and stared at this monster before me. Smoky was the first to speak, cautiously saying “radiation and taint, that’s what I got from the sheriff. Took a toll on his mind and turned him insane.” His voice was monotone, but I heard a hint of anger creep in towards the end.

“What did he do?” I asked, reading that the bounty for his head was five thousand caps. Whatever it was, I knew I wasn’t going to like the answer.

Smoky thought for a moment before speaking. “Theft, assault, murder, foalnapping, torture, and allegations of rape.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. I knew he had a mean streak, but murder and rape? That was too far for him, at least it was when I last saw him. There was nothing I could say, so I simply sat in silence with a thousand mile stare.

Orchid timidly took the poster back and hid it in her bags. “That must be a lot ta take in all at once. Why don’t we talk bout somethin else.” She suggested waving a hoof at Smoky.

“Let’s.” I said, slowly shaking my head to clear the thoughts from my mind. Now that nightmare had a lot worse meaning than before.

Smoky placed a few books on the ground between us. He placed an old beat up novel on the ground in front of himself, the binding had been broken and repaired with scraps of leather and cloth. No title could be read, but I had a hunch it was a Daring Do book.

In front of me he placed an atlas, one of the books I had seen him pick up from the floor earlier. Now I could get my bearings and plan out my next steps.

The book placed in front of Orchid confused me. It looked like a small picture book that you would give to a foal just learning to read. She had to know how to read, didn’t she? Orchid opened the book and began to silently mouth the words, a look of frustration on her face.

I opened my mouth to ask if Orchid could read, but then closed it and opened the atlas. Many of the pages were gone, but the ones that still remained contained a map of the local area, and one of Canterlot.

According to the map we were about twenty miles from my house, a good jaunt but one that could be easily made in a day. That is if we weren’t attacked or had to take a detour for any reason. “Ok, I think I have the lay of the land again. We’re not far from my hometown, we could easily get there in less than a day.”

Smoky looked up from his book and gestured for me to show him the map. He saw where I had marked on the map and frowned. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, lots of geckos in that area. We’re low on ammunition and I’ve learned my lesson about getting too close to those fire breathers.”

“Fire breathers?” I cocked my head to the right and stared at him. “Geckos that breath fire? You’re sure they’re not dragons?”

“Or spit acid, or the golden ones that are quick and ruthless. Area is covered in them, probably a few hundred in total. And I know they ain’t dragons, they’re geckos” Smoky said, returning to his book.

Orchid put a hoof on her book to mark her spot then looked at me. “Plus there’s a rumor of a gecka queen that has claimed the area as her territory. Big enough to swallow ya whole, if she doesn’t roast ya alive first.”

“Sounds more like a dragon to me, but I don’t know enough to be certain.” If the mantises were as big as they are now, certainly a gecko could grow to the size of a pony. Big enough to swallow me whole almost had to be a dragon. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard anymore about this creature?”

Orchid shook her head. “Just what I’ve told ya. Wish I knew more, I’ve always wanted ta see what was in there. Can’t risk it without some more serious firepower.” She then looked back down at the book and continued mouthing the words.

My home, overrun by geckos that breathe fire… That’s a sentence that I never thought I’d have to hear. Worse yet I can’t even get close due to a gecko large enough to eat me whole. Everyday things just get so much better don’t they?

I sighed and started taking off my armor. If I was lucky I could get it all cleaned up before sleep took me, and keep it clean from any more blood. The chest piece was the only part still covered in dried blood. The rest looked clean enough. With a wave of my horn the grime disappeared and my armor was once again clean.

Smoky closed his book with a small chuckle. “No matter how many times I read this book, the ending is always just as satisfying.”

I looked up from my armor. “What’s the name of the book?”

“I forget the name of it, it’s been so long since the cover was still intact. It’s about a treasure hunter named Daring Do and her adventures for a crystal skull. I’m keeping it around for Orchid to read once she’s ready. I read a few chapters to her and she got hooked.” He smiled happily about something.

So she is illiterate, maybe she just recognized a few of the words on my notepad. “Is that the only one you’ve read? There’s quite a few books in the series, all full of her adventures for different treasures. I actually owned most of the series, I think I didn’t have the last three.”

Smokey’s face lit up with excitement hearing that more books existed. I could see the gears turning in his head. “There’s more!? Oh I would love to get my hooves on more of these.” He stopped and sighed. “Unless you lived on the very edge of town it wouldn’t be worth it fer just the books, unfortunately.”

“I lived towards the eastern edge of town, not far off from the town center. So that’s a no go.” There was more in town, but I didn’t know if it would be worth going back for. “I know of some other spots in town that might have useful items, but I don’t know if it’s worth the risk.”

Orchid set her book into her bags once again looking frustrated. “Well tell us what’s there so we know what we’d be fightin fer. Guns, ammo, food or water?”

“If the geckos haven’t eaten it there should be some food that’s still good thanks to all the preservatives in it. We had a safe that we kept a gun and ammo as well as some bits in, and I wouldn’t be surprised if others did as well.” Looting the homes of my neighbors would be rough if this was any other circumstance. But considering geckos took the town over, I could live with it.

“Definitely keep it in mind for later, I’ve got an idea brewing that might make it possible.” Smoky scratched his chin as he spoke. “It’ll take me some time but I’ll come up with something. Gonna need some heavy duty gear for it, and maybe some help.”

Much as I wanted to rush in and retake my home, patience will pay dividends this time around. With just this armor and pistol I’ve got I wouldn’t stand a chance against more than a dozen geckos swarming. I wish Steel was here with that new prototype of his, sixty millimeter grenades would work wonders for killing geckos. Any explosives would do I suppose, but then we’d have to worry about structural damage.

“I’ll leave the planning to you, you’re the expert on these things.” A yawn escaped my mouth and I laid my head down. “For now I think it’s time to rest, we’ll have plenty of time to think and act tomorrow.”

“Agreed, I’ll take first watch. Smoky I’ll wake ya in a few hours, Crimson you’ll have last watch. With any luck we won’t be bothered tonight.” She stood and walked to one of the windows.

“With any luck.” I shut my eyes and thought of my old town center, the most serene place I could imagine without worrying. Sleep overtook me within minutes.

Chapter 5: A Tough Lesson

Another nightmare plagued me during my sleep. I was walking alongside Orchid and Smoky, heading into my home city. The ground was covered in fresh blood and gecko limbs, our guns empty and we were out of healing supplies.

The farther we walked the bloodier the city became, rivers of blood pouring down each side of the street. The fountain at the town center was stained red by the blood now flowing through it. A bouquet of gecko heads was perched atop the fountain, trickling new blood into the fountain.

I found my house in tatters. The roof ripped clear off, all the windows shattered, and where the front door should be was a hole eight feet wide. Whatever had caused this damage was massive, and the roar that shook the ground confirmed that it was definitely big enough to swallow me whole.

I spun around toward where I thought the noise originated from, only to be greeted by the same grotesque tentacled stallion as last night.

He was chuckling maddeningly, his face turned up in a twisted and cruel smile. A few razor sharp fangs protruded from his maw, covered in fresh blood. One of his tentacles slithered towards me and pushed up on my chin. “No dying now, you and I have a date to keep.”

I once again woke up in a cold sweat, but this time I didn’t jump to a standing position. My leg muscles were cramped from sleeping like I did, but that wasn’t going to be much of a problem.

Smoky was sitting next to a window, occasionally peeking outside to look for danger. He cast a glance over and saw that I was awake. “Morning, I was just about to wake you. Time for you to keep watch” he whispered as not to wake Orchid who was sleeping soundly under a pile of blankets.

I rose to my hooves and stretched my legs to relieve the cramps. I could barely see by the hazy blue light of the moon, but there was enough light for me to trot over to the window. “Alright, you get some more rest Smoky. I’ll wake you if something happens.”

He trotted over to his makeshift bed and laid down. “Thanks Crimson. Wake us in about three hours if the sun doesn’t wake us first.” With that he laid his head down and drifted back off to sleep.

The night was quiet except for the sound of a slight breeze whistling through the valley. I was never up early enough to sit and appreciate the quietness of the early morning, all the animals were up before me singing their songs and searching for food. Even though I was still tired, I could appreciate the serenity of this moment.

I levitated my armor over and got dressed while I watched for danger. I took the time to go over the stitch work and make notes of where I could improve the design, everywhere was the gist of those notes. Armoring it with metal would be my best bet for protection, but it would make the armor much heavier. A helmet of some form would be my next project, something to keep my ears safe from stray bullets. The armor along my legs was also thin to allow agile movements. I would address that concern with further reinforcement via my telescoping leg plating design.

My attention returned to outside as I saw a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. It took a second to reacquire what I had seen move as it had stopped. Standing about one hundred feet from the station was an adult female coyote followed by six coyote puppies. The mother coyote had stopped to dig at the ground. Must be something underground that they could eat. With how fast she was digging they must be hungry.

One of the pups lunged forward into the hole dug by its mother, maw agape and bloodlust in its eyes. It struggled for just a moment with only its rear legs sticking out of the ground, but when it came back out it did so with a dead rabbit clenched in its jaws. It set the rabbit down as it tore a chunk of meat from the neck.

The other coyote pups tore voraciously at the corpse, the mother stood guard over them watching for any form of danger. The rabbit was devoured in less than a minute, and the pack began moving again.

I watched as they continued to the north, the mother stopping to sniff the air on occasion. Another half an hour or so had passed by the time I had lost sight of them. I did hear them one last time as the mother howled off in the distance, but then all was quiet again.

Time creeped by at a snail's pace as I continued to watch for danger. This area was always quiet before, so I expected very little.

I began to doze back off as I leaned against the window sill. I shook my head and tried to wake myself back up, to little avail. I was still tired from my near death experience and less rest than I was accustomed to.

I popped the last sparkle cola out of my bags and slammed half of it back. The liquid was no longer cold, but it did the trick to wake my brain back up. I set the bottle down on the ground and scanned the valley again.

The remnants of the rabbit corpse had gone missing, I was sure there had still been bones. Now all that I saw was a large mound of dirt where it had been. “That’s odd, another predator get to it?” I asked almost silently.

Something under the ground began to dig more and the mound grew ever larger. By the time the digging stopped the mound was ten feet across and six feet tall. The mound then dropped down into the ground revealing a large hole underneath.

I watched at first curiously, but then in horror as a bright white hand the size of my chest crept out of the hole. Fresh blood dripped from the claws at the end of each finger. Each claw was easily as long as my forelegs. A mixture of fur and scales covered the hand of whatever beast this was. A second hand just as large appeared from the hole. The beast began to pull itself from the hole, and the sight became ever more terrifying as it pulled itself out.

When it was finally free from the hole I could appreciate how truly fucked I was if this thing wanted me dead. The beast before me was hunched over and was still twice my height. It stood to its fullest height and I quickly guessed it was twenty feet tall. Its legs were as big around as trees and looked like they could crush anything that got in its way. Scars covered the exposed skin that I could see, clearly somepony had tried to kill it many times before.

I nearly jumped as the beast turned its head towards me and stared at the train station. It sniffed the air and began walking towards us. I instinctively backed up, knocking the bottle of cola over as I did so. This stopped the beast for a second as its face contorted into a snarl.

‘Oh fuck, OH FUCK! Think. What could get this thing out of here?’

I looked around the station for something, anything, that could get me out of this fucked situation. My breaths were shallow and rapid, and my eyes darted everywhere looking for something to save me. Both senses landed on the same idea, the dead cockroaches. Those putrid little things might just have a use.

The wood of the platform cracked under the beast's weight as I reached out and grabbed one of the roaches and placed it in front of the window.

‘Celestia and Luna if you’re still watching over us please let this fucking work!’ I let the roach go and grabbed as many more of the husks as I could and placed them in front of this monster. Now all I could do was hope and pray that this would work.

The beast looked into one of the windows slowly sniffing at the air. it looked directly at me while it did so. It seemed to be blind. It was using its sense of smell to locate whatever was here. Its nose scrunched up as it passed over the roach carcasses and it pulled away from the windows with a snort. It reached a hand in and grabbed a carcass before tossing it into its maw. The teeth inside were pearly white and gleamed in what remained of the moonlight.

I watched holding my breath as the beast wandered away, apparently satisfied with its search. It dived back into the hole after a few more seconds, and I finally took a breath after it disappeared.

“Oh fuck, what the fuck was that thing?” I asked aloud while gasping for air. I sat breathing heavily for a few minutes before I could think straight again.

The sun had crept over the horizon by the time I rose to my hooves again. I shakily walked over and roused Smoky and Orchid from their slumber. No words were exchanged as I then went and laid back down throwing a blanket over my head. ‘Please, for the love of everything let this be a dream. Nothing that size should exist.’

The pair were silent for a while trying to figure out what had happened, and getting their equipment locked into place. Orchid finally shook me and pulled the blanket off of my head. “What’s wrong?”

I took a few deep breaths before trying to speak, but the first attempt was nothing but gibberish. The second attempt was clearer. “Nearly died of a heart attack, was a monster, a really, really big monster.”

“How big? What’d it look like? Where’d it go?” Orchid asked too many questions without giving me any time to think.

“Tall, around twenty feet tall when standing on its hind legs. It had white skin covered in fur and scales in most places, and claws longer than my foreleg. Teeth like knives, and weight to crack the deck outside. It went back into the ground after sniffing the building.” Hopefully that was enough to get me out of explaining anything else.

“Hellhound… that was a hellhound,” Smoky said, giving me a terrified look. He had trotted over to the window and was staring in awe outside. “The biggest I’ve ever heard of, tracks match what yer saying. We need to leave here and not come back.”

“I like that idea, I never want to see anything like that again.” I stood and started packing things haphazardly into my bags. The last thing in was the discarded bottle cap

“Did it not see ya?” Orchid asked, laying a wing on my shoulder. “Why’d it leave?”

“I put the roach carcasses on the window sill and it seemed repulsed by the smell, but it still ate the bug. I don’t think it could see, blind I think. Keen sense of smell has kept it alive.” The physical contact slowed my brain so I could think properly again. At least enough to not still be panicked. It wasn’t the loving embrace I wanted, but it would do for now.

“Well, sounds like we got lucky then.” Smoky shook his head and pushed one of the bugs outside. “We’ve got five minutes and we’re out of here. Grab anything you think might be of use that we can carry.” Back to being practical, maybe a stress response of his.

The station was all but empty and the wood scraps that would be easy to gather wouldn’t burn very well due to the rot. My eyes settled on the vending machine and I trotted over.

With the panel open on the back it would be easy enough to pull the wiring and electrical components out of it to use later. Not to mention a still working cooling unit had many practical uses for food storage.

I quickly pulled as many wires from the machine as I could and the small circuit board that was the brains of the machine. The last thing I grabbed was the cooling unit and the few screws that held it in place. It was heavier than the rest of the parts, but I could justify taking it.

With the parts in my saddlebag I did one last check around the station. Nothing else seemed worthwhile to take at the moment so I closed my saddlebags and trotted to the door. “I’m ready when you are.”

Smoky pulled the chair from under the handle and tossed it aside. “Then let’s get out of here. Same deal as last time, eyes peeled and be ready for anything.” He pushed the door open and started trotting.

Orchid and I were close behind and took our appropriate positions. I kept my eyes on the large hole in the ground until we had moved well clear of the station. If nothing else it would give us more time to start running for our lives.

It was already warm this morning, the clouds overhead were helping to keep it from already being a miserable day. Smoky had us on a course to the north, but he didn’t say where we were headed so I could only guess.

The closest town beyond mine was about forty miles to the northwest, or at least it was the closest town before I went to work. Appleloosa was a nice little town, even with the odd ponies who called it home. Must look a lot different now than what I remember. If it was still standing at all.

What else might not be standing now? If a war really did happen, and there was fighting on Equestrian soil what would have been destroyed. Canterlot seemed like the most likely target, a blow to the heart of Equestria would have been a huge hit to morale. However, it was likely the most well defended city we had. A strike there would have been a suicide mission, so I had little doubt it was still standing. Manehattan or Cloudsdale would be good targets. Population centers are vulnerable to all forms of attack and would cripple the fighting force we could have drawn from. Big cities were probably now ruins, how many died there? And what about smaller towns like Ponyville? That would be a strategic location to hold before a large-scale assault on Canterlot. But surely Twilight would have stepped in and saved her city.

I shook the thoughts from my head and brought myself back to the here and now. I’d learn what happened to my world as we traveled through what remained of it. For now we had a long walk ahead of us and after yesterday I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy one.

“Hey Smoky, where are we headed? Closest city I recall is Appleloosa, but the way we’re headed we’ll trot by it.” Maybe it had been attacked and destroyed. Or it could be infested by something like giant rats.

“You mean Old Appleloosa. We steer clear of that place, slaver city now.” He cast a glance toward Appleloosa, a sneer on his face. “Lost too many friends to the bastards that live there. Can't go in to deal with them either, not enough guns, ammo, and ponies.”

“Oh…” I trailed off not wanting to think too deeply about a slave trade happening. “Old Appleloosa? Does that mean a New Appleloosa was built?” Old implies a newer version after all.

“Yeah, they did. I’ve never been there, hear it’s not a bad place to live.” His gaze returned forward and he picked up the pace. “Let’s pick up the pace. I don’t want to be here any longer than I need to be.”

I sped up to keep pace, my chest still aching from where I had been shot. I ignored the pain and kept pace, I didn’t want to meet any slavers today. With any luck the pain would dissipate soon, unless the bullet fragments were still in there. Hopefully Orchid did a proper job and not just put a bandage on it.

I let my mind wander, dreaming up new ideas for my armor. If I had access to my lab equipment I could synthesize some polymers for a proper ballistic vest. Or maybe lightweight ceramic plates to eat a bullet or two. Oh the joys of advanced technology. If nothing else a thin sheet of steel would do the trick, then weight would be a concern. I was by no means the strongest stallion out there, so had to pay attention and minimize weight so I could still move.

We were a few miles away from the station when I looked back, and for a moment I thought I saw that hellhound trailing us. I blinked and whatever I saw was gone. “Just a mirage.”

Smoky gave me a quick glance as if to ask something. No words left his mouth and he went back to scanning the horizon.

We continued forward, our pace steady. The only sound was that of our hooves striking the dry sand below. It was steadily growing warmer as the sun continued to its peak in the sky. The hours and miles passed irritatingly slowly, traveling this far by hoof was a pain in the flank.

The sun had reached its peak above us when Smoky finally slowed his pace. “Slow up, we’re far enough away now.” He stopped and started drawing… something in the sand.

At first I thought he was drawing a circle, but then he kept adding details until the symbol was unrecognizable. I watched closely trying to figure out what it was supposed to mean.

Orchid flew down and landed in the center of the symbol. She flapped her wings a few times to cover the symbol in fresh sand. “I was wondering when ya’d ask. Just a smallun, and we’re almost outta matches.”

I finally understood what they were talking about as the pair began preparing a small fire to cook over. Such an intricate symbol to ask if she was hungry, all just wiped away by the wind under her wings.

Orchid pulled a small matchbook from her saddlebags and broke one off of the pack. Only four matches remained in the pack. She struck the match and lit a small bundle of kindling under the pile of sticks Smoky had stacked up.

I sat next to the fire, finally realizing how hungry I was as my stomach grumbled. It had been at least three days since I had last eaten.

I watched as Orchid pulled a few leather wraps out, inside each was a chunk of meat. The meat smelled awful unwrapped, but didn’t look rotten. Both looked to be roughly a pound of lean meat. My first thought was meat from those mantises we saw as Smoky did say they smelled awful.

“I know, yote meat never smells great. These ones were mangy, but if we cook ‘em long enough ‘twon’t matter.” Orchid speared each chunk of meat onto a stick and leaned both over the fire. “I’ve got some salt left if ya need it ta help with the taste.”

As the meat cooked the smell burned away and was replaced by the smell of smoke. A warm and much more pleasant smell than that of a coyote. “I might, I only ate meat rarely and none of it was coyote. Does all meat smell this bad before it’s cooked?”

“Most of it does, best you can do is cook it quickly and plug your nose. Makes eating grass seem a whole lot nicer.” Smoky had a bundle of grass that he had pulled out of his bags, it was brown and dead but still edible by the looks of it. He separated it into roughly two even piles and started chewing on one of them, the other he set on a plate.

Orchid passed me one of the sticks, the meat on the end was ever so slightly charred but smelled better than before. “Here, eat quick it helps ta ignore the taste.”

I grabbed the stick and cautiously took a bite of the meat. It tasted worse than it had initially smelled, but I managed to swallow the first bite. “Ech, yeah I see what you mean.” I ravenously tore into the rest of the meat, chewing it and swallowing it down as fast as possible. My stomach kindly let me know it hated every moment of this. I set the stick aside and focused on keeping the food down.

Smoky pushed the plate of grass towards Orchid and I. “Split it between yourselves, get that nasty shit off your tongues.”

I split the small pile in half with my magic and levitated half over to myself. The taste was infinitely better than that of the coyote, and soothed my stomach as I ate it.

Looked like it did the same for Orchid, but she didn’t seem too pleased about something. She was giving Smoky a worried look, but was slightly appeased by him shaking his head.

Smoky didn’t eat nearly as much as I thought he would have, not enough to keep up with how much energy his body was using. That must be what Orchid was worried about, she knew how much he needed to eat and that little bundle of grass wasn’t it. I didn’t say anything, this was something they were working out between themselves.

A minute passed in silence as we watched the fire burn down to embers. The quiet crackling of the fire was a calming noise, almost too calming as I felt myself start to doze off. “Where are we headed?” I asked to keep myself from falling asleep.

Smoky turned his attention to me. “A few more miles to the northwest of here is a small camp that we frequent. It’ll be a good place to sell our extra goods and buy some more supplies. Food and water first thing, but we’ll need more ammo. I’m down to twenty bullets, Orchid has about eighteen, and you can’t have more than twelve.”

I dropped the magazine out of my gun and checked it. Full, with an eight round capacity. The second mag I knew was partly empty, less than half. “One full mag and a partial second mag. Maybe ten rounds total. I don’t suppose those submachineguns you picked up use the same bullets do they?”

“Nope, they fire .22 caliber rounds. Yours is a .32, mine is a .357, and Orchid has a nine millimeter.” Good to know. “These’ll do in a pinch if we need to use them, only two full mags between the two of them and a few loose rounds.”

So no fighting anything if we can avoid it. “How much money do we have? I’ve only got the two caps, so I won’t be of much help buying supplies.”

“Only thirty nine between the three of us. But I can make that go a long way, plus we can sell some of the scraps we’ve gotten long the way” Orchid said, kicking sand onto the fire. “Should be enough to scrape by fer another few weeks.”

“And then what? Where do we head from there?” I asked, looking at the remains of the fire. There was a small bit of charcoal that could be useful uncovered by the sand. I levitated it over and set it into my leather saddlebag.

“Might stick around the area for a while to hunt some game. Trading pelts is quite profitable if you’ve already tanned ‘em” Smoky stood and motioned for us to do the same. “Coyotes are plentiful around here and their hides are easy to tan.”

I stood and stretched my legs. Stopping to eat, even if it was that nasty coyote meat, had made me feel better. Still felt a twinge of hunger in the pit of my stomach, but I could wait if it meant not eating more coyote meat. “I saw a few back near the train station. A mother and her six pups killed and ate a rabbit while I was on watch.”

“Yeah, not an uncommon sight for this area. I’ve had my eye on a big one roaming with a pack of twelve other adults. He’d fetch a good price if I could get my hooves on him.” Smoky began trotting again, not looking back to see if I was keeping up.

This pace was much more manageable. We’d take longer to reach our destination, but at least it wouldn’t be causing me pain. “That’s a lot of coyotes to hunt down at once. Sounds pretty dangerous to me.”

“It is, and that’s why I haven’t let ‘im go after that pack.” Orchid trotted alongside me for once, though she did flutter her wings while she did. “If we had some longer range weapons I’d feel better about it, but that big bastard is fast. He’d been on us ‘for we could deal with the rest of the pack. That’d surely be the end of us.”

I wouldn’t be much help there, I’m not fast enough nor accurate enough to kill off that many coyotes. Maybe we could find and trade for a gun at this camp we were headed to, a repeating rifle would be ideal. “We’ll figure something out. The less danger the better.”

“We’ll have more time to think once we settle down at camp for the night.” Smoky said, before adding “For now just worry about the essentials, our stocks are low and that’s our first concern. After that we’ll figure out what we’re doing next. The where, what, and how of it all.”

Orchid pointed to the northwest with a wing at a column of smoke rising over the horizon. “That’s the place right, Smoky? Seems closer ‘an usual, maybe they moved the camp this way?”

Smoky looked at the smoke column and was quiet for a moment. “That’s not right, something bad is happening.” He took off in a gallop. “Smoke column’s too large, their fire would still be small at this hour. Gun’s at the ready we might be heading into a fight! Orchid get us a birds eye view of the situation and report back.”

Orchid nodded and shouted back. “Be back soon, give Crimson one of those smg’s! We’ll need all the firepower we have at the ready if this is a fight!” She jumped into the air and shot off into the distance three times faster than we were galloping.

My chest stung as I galloped fast enough to keep up with Smoky, but as the adrenaline kicked in my body ignored the pain. “You really think there’s going to be a fight?” I asked as I finally got to Smoky’s side.

Smoky bit down on the clasp holding the submachinegun to his back, the gun slid loose and he whipped it towards me.“Yeah, that much smoke is a sure fire sign of something big burning. Maybe a caravan wagon, or worse one of their wooden buildings. Be ready to shoot and kill. I’ll pick targets, you help me finish them off.”

I grabbed the gun with my telekinesis and pulled the charging handle back to load a round. There was a satisfying cha-chunk as the bolt slammed back into position with a fresh round. “I’ll shoot at whatever you’re shooting at.” Not that I wanted to fight, but this was about my only option.

Smoky nodded and sped up even more, moving so fast that I could barely keep up with him while giving it my all. He drew his pistol with his tail and gripped the submachinegun in his mouth, going in ready for a war. He looked back at me and waggled his pistol at me.

I caught the message and drew my pistol, placing it in my teeth for ease of use. I made sure my machete was on top of my saddlebags and ready to be drawn at a moment's notice in case I ran out of ammo. I gave Smoky a nod back and turned my eyes forward.

As we drew closer I could hear faint gunfire from up ahead, so many shots in rapid succession it was hard to tell how many guns were firing or how large they were. The smell of smoke hung in the air and it had a putrid smell so strong I could taste it. The smell was nauseating and sweet, like the smell of rusted iron. Almost like the smell of… meat burning.

Orchid circled down and flew alongside us, malice covered her face as she shouted at us. “Raider attack, bastards burned down the store. Other buildin is still standin, looks like they are making a final stand inside. I counted fifteen more raiders still standin, what’s the call Smoky?”

Smoky let the gun slide from his mouth, the sling caught it before it dropped too far. “You operate the hit and run tactics, draw some attention away from us. Crimson and I will take care of the rest. You still got that apple stored away?”

“Course I do, haven't had a need fer it yet.” She pulled out a small silver apple like object that I recognized immediately. “I’ll drop it inta the biggest group I see as a diversion. You two be ready to kill off any that are still standin.” Without waiting for a response she took off ahead of us again, that single grenade ready to be dropped.

Smoky pulled the submachinegun back up into his mouth. His pace never slowed until we were less than one hundred yards from the camp. He waved a hoof up at Orchid who was circling just high enough above to be outside of gunfire range. His signal was received and she dived down towards the town.

The seconds felt like hours as we closed on the town center. I was watching and waiting for Orchid to reappear above the leather tents and circle away. It felt like an eternity passed before I saw her in the skies again. A large BOOM knocked several of the tents over and set sand and smoke into the air.

Orchid started to circle away, but was hit by several bullets as she did so. My heart sank as her wings gave out and she hurtled toward the ground away from the explosion.

I lost sight of her and looked over at Smoky, who had diverted course to go towards Orchid. He yelled something at me, but my ears were ringing from the explosion and the shock of seeing Orchid hit and I didn’t hear it.

A new emotion coursed through my veins as I picked up the pace and galloped to the center of town. I was beyond enraged and furious having seen my friend shot down, and there was only one thing in my mind I could think to do. Fight and kill whoever had hurt my friend!

The center of town was a bloody mess, pools of blood soaked the sands with ash mixing in creating a sickly sweet smell. The smell of burnt flesh was stronger than ever as several raiders were rolling on the ground to put out the fires that engulfed them. Limbs were scattered around from the grenade blast, and I could barely make out the sounds of screams as I crashed into the camp center.

I landed in front of one raider and reared up on my front hooves. Bone crunched and the raider fell prone as my rear hooves slammed into her jaw. Her blood splattered on my armor and covered my hooves. I quickly spun around and put one round between the bitch’s eyes before moving on to the next raider.

He was caught by surprise and had barely gotten his gun pointed at me before I let loose a short burst of rounds from my submachinegun into his face. The bloody pulp that remained slumped to the ground with a sickening squelching noise. More blood soaked into my hooves as I charged through the forming pool of blood.

The next two raiders were ready for me, weapons drawn and aimed as I closed the distance. Both fired their pistols at me multiple times landing hits to my torso. The third set of shots whizzed by my ears and by then I was upon them.

I lowered my head and speared my horn into the throat of the first one. Blood leaked from the open wound down my horn and onto my face. The blood partially obscured my vision. My submachinegun rattled off with another burst of rounds until it clicked with an empty mag. I shoved the raider off of me, receiving a shower of blood that covered my body and got in my mouth. The blood tasted sweet and further fueled my lust for the death of these bastards.

The other raider lay bleeding out from a dozen bullet wounds to the chest. He was gasping for air through blood filling his lungs, in which he would shortly drown. I worryingly took great pleasure in this fact, a thought for after I was sure Orchid was safe and all threats were dead.

I turned my vision to the raiders on the ground, several had been unable to quench the flames and had succumbed to their burn wounds. The two remaining ones that had extinguished the flames were barely hanging on to life, both had been badly injured by the grenade. Each missing one or both of their forelegs, looked up at me with fear in their eyes. They had watched what happened to their companions and knew it was coming for them.

My pistol clicked as I went to finish one off, the slide was locked partially open by a spent cartridge wafting the smell of burnt gunpowder into my nose. I tossed it aside and drew my machete. With a hefty swing I brought it down and buried it into the face of the first raider. The skull crunched and split open as I swung through, the brain split nearly down the middle and bloodied the blade as bits clung to it.

I turned to the last raider I had seen and slowly approached ready to deliver the killing blow. As I started swinging I was struck in the side and tossed to the ground by a set of hooves slamming into me.

I lost hold of the machete as the wind was knocked out of me. I had no time to react as the bastard was on top of me swinging a hoof towards my face. The strike barely missed and I couldn’t move fast enough to dodge the second one. My nose began to bleed profusely as the hoof found its mark. I threw my hoof into her stomach and pushed her off of me.

The mare before me had a light brown coat, and a rusted orange mane. She was covered in just as much blood as I was, several small bullet and shrapnel wounds scored her sides. She was much more durable than I would have given her credit for, with the energy to match.

I dodged the next punch she threw and circled to the right. We entered into a stare down as we both circled around each other, both looking for the right opportunity to strike. As we made our moves a gunshot rang out and her body fell limp as a bullet blew through her skull. She spasmed and bled on the ground as the last remnants of life left her.

I turned to see a smoking gun in Orchid’s mouth. She was using Smoky as a crutch to get closer to me. She had been hit several times in her wings and was bleeding pretty badly from the wounds. Smoky looked unscathed, no new scratches or holes in his armor. Though he was wearing a lot of fresh blood that dripped onto him from his sister. He looked concerned and called out to me. I cocked my head to the right, unable to hear a word he was saying to me. His lips moved too fast for me to read them either. The adrenaline was starting to wear off, I could only pray my armor had taken some of the punishment for me.

Orchid pushed off of Smoky and galloped over to me. Smoky was close behind her. Sounds slowly returned to my ears as she started talking “ya coulda died ya fucking idiot! Why didn’t ya listen to Smoky and change course?”

I blinked slowly, taking in the fact my friends were still alive, hurt but alive. Pain shot across my body as the nerves where I was wounded got signals through to my brain. “I didn’t hear him. Something came over me after I watched you get shot out of the sky and I just.” I looked around at the carnage on the ground around me. Twelve corpses in total lay on the ground within ten feet of me, seven of which I had made. My hoof moved around me to the corpses, pausing briefly over the ones I had killed. “I lost control and… and.” I trailed off as my body started to give out on me. “I killed them.”

Smoky caught me before I hit the ground and laid me gently down. “I can see that. Orchid get him a potion, he’s losing a lot of blood.” He gave her a glance before looking back down at me. “Next time don’t scare me like that, I thought ya were right behind me and then I heard ya shooting.”

I chuckled lightly causing searing pain to flare up from at least four gunshot wounds. Blood trickled down the back of my throat causing me to cough it up. “Sorry about that. I don’t know what came over me.” Just as I started to slip out of consciousness a bottle entered my mouth and a cherry flavored liquid rolled down my throat. The potion set to work sealing wounds and keeping me conscious.

“That’ll stabilize him fer now, we’ll do more once we’re safe.” The holes in Orchid’s wings were sealing up quickly, meaning she had drunk a healing potion as well. That knowledge eased my mind more than the potion working on my own wounds.

I pushed up hard and laid down with my legs tucked under me. My vision was blurry and I felt dizzy and nauseous, but I managed to stay in this position. “Are they all dead?”

Smoky put a hoof on my shoulder to keep me from moving any farther. “I think so, now don’t move any more right now. Gotta give the potion time to work its magic.”

I could hear the sound of water droplets hitting the ground behind me, it sounded like rain. The clouds above didn’t look like rain, unless I had misjudged. The smell of burning flesh slowly abated as the smoke around us cleared away. I could hear the beat of several sets of wings as things cleared up.

“Well pardner if ‘tweren’t fer you we’d all’ve kicked the bucket.” A stallion stood over me, all I could make out in the shadow he cast was a silver star pinned to his chest. “I’m sheriff roun these parts, an I wanna extend our thanks fer all yer help.”

My vision slowly came into focus as I blinked. The stallion was an earth pony with a coat the color of signet marigolds, and a mane of vibrant rose like crimson. He wore a simple leather vest and duster, complemented by an empty bandolier and holster in which a revolver sat. A friendly face for somepony who was supposed to uphold the law with an iron hoof. A few fresh scars covered his chest, but he seemed to not mind.

“You’re welcome Sheriff.” I brushed Smokey’s hoof off my shoulder and forced myself to my hooves. “I was just doing what I thought needed to be done.” I looked around to see several other ponies were dragging the corpses to the outskirts of this town.

Three piles formed on the outskirts, one of which was corpses I had made in the firefight. I guessed they were separated so I could take what equipment they had since I had killed them.

The second was a pile of fifteen or so ponies, these ones were searched and stripped of valuables before being stacked high. Raiders these ponies had killed before we arrived.

The third pile of corpses was less of a pile. The ten corpses laid out were laid out with purpose and respect. The bodies of those ponies who had given their lives in defense of their city. Honored dead that were no doubt going to receive a proper burial service when there was time.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t save them.” I said pointing to the respected dead. “Can I help you with any of their last respects?”

The sheriff was taken aback at the offer. “Son you done enuff fer us. I preciate the offer, but ya needn’t do nothing more.” A tear rolled down his face as he looked at the dead. “We’ll bury ‘em and read' em their last rites here soon. If’n ya want ya can atten their burial service.”

“If we’re still here in town I’ll see to it that I do.” The ten dead were covered in blankets and a crowd had gathered to begin mourning the dead. “Such a waste of life.” I slowly hobbled my way over to the crowd and stood among them in silence. The moment only lasted for a few minutes before the congregation went about their business.

Smoky and Orchid had followed but had gone to investigate the raiders I had killed. They were picking through the saddlebags and stripping what chunks of armor they could from the corpses. Orchid beckoned for me to come over.

“This isn’t normal is it?” I asked as I got close enough to look at the damage I had done. “All this violence and death wastes lives.”

“This is life out here, each pony or group out for themselves. It’s not an existence for the faint of heart.” Smoky turned to look at me. “You do what you have to when it comes down to it.” He held out a pistol towards me. “Haven’t found yours yet, saw you lost both guns in that scuffle.”

“Yeah, the submachinegun ran out of ammo and my pistol jammed so I tossed them aside in favor of my machete.” Said machete had been dragged over and set next to one of the corpses. “Lost track of where it all landed during the fight.” I reached out and grabbed the pistol from him. It fit well into my holster.

“It happens, I nearly lost mine after they shot holes in my wings.” Orchid said, pulling another pistol from the corpses. “Went tumbling to the ground and landed ten yards away from me in the sand. Smoky picked it up for me as he charged in to see if I was alright.”

I sat on the ground next to them and helped pick through the saddlebags the raiders were carrying. I took to separating out the different calibers of ammunition while Orchid and Smoky worked with the guns and armor respectively.

Once all was said and done there were two dozen .357 magnum rounds, around thirty .32 rounds, and fifteen 9mm rounds that were of current use to us.

A few assorted rounds were of no use with what I knew about the guns we had. Twenty 5.56mm, three .308 rounds, and a single .45 auto round. Odd rounds to be carrying around with no apparent use for them.

“What the hay is this thing?” Orchid was holding up an odd looking… rifle thing. “I never seen nothing like it before.” She aimed it into the sky and pulled the action open.

The weapon looked to be patched together from several different guns. The stock was definitely from a rifle made for a griffin, the barrel wasn’t much more than a pipe but was heavy duty enough for rifle rounds. Maybe chambered in 5.56 by the look of the receiver, which also looked easily interchangeable. I recognized a three pronged fire selector switch on the left side, meaning it had automatic capabilities. The magazine would only hold about ten rounds, but it too seemed interchangeable.

“Looks like some daft bastard threw a bunch of guns together and called it a day. Several parts look interchangeable, which might explain these miscellaneous rounds I found” I suggested pointing at a couple places on the gun.

Orchid hoofed it over to me with a shrug. “Maybe, I’m not sure it even works. This one had it on her.” She pointed to the raider that had punched me in the face. “Also had these scraps here in her bags. Might go with that bastard of a gun.” There were several receiver parts that she passed over.

“I never was a good gunsmith, but I think I can see how to change these parts out.” The receivers would be relatively easy to change out, but I only had the magazine for the current receiver. “Might make a good longer range option with these rifle rounds.”

With all of the raider equipment scavenged we sat and sorted out what we had earned from our kills. What armor was still salvageable would make for good patches, but most of it had to be thrown out due to burns and bullet holes. I knew around half of it would be used patching both my and Orchid’s armors. The remaining scraps could be used to further reinforce vital locations, I’d argue for Orchid to reinforce her wing coverings.

Of the guns we scavenged only three of them looked well maintained, but any gun is better than no gun in situations like this. Three revolvers all chambered in .357 magnum were the better quality weapons. Two of the other pistols were little more than a small pipe and ramshackle magazine, but they cycled well enough to take. The remaining gun was a double barreled shotgun, most of the barrel had been sawed off to shorten the gun to about a foot in length. We hadn’t found any shells for it, so for now it was just a fancy paperweight.

Smoky turned to Orchid and looked at the pile of guns. “How much you think we can get for all this? I’m thinking a few hundred caps plus the basic supplies we need for the next few weeks.”

Orchid separated the sawed off shotgun and one of the revolvers. “Two .357 revolvers and a pair of zip guns? The revolvers are in decent condition so we should be able to get some good caps from ‘em. The zip guns work surprisingly, two spare mags each…. Maybe a hundred fer the set. Plus the hides and scraps.” She thought for a minute tapping the ground every ten to fifteen seconds. “Seven hundred caps in total would be a good starting price. I might be able to charm that number up to a thousand caps. Definitely enough wiggle room to get us by fer a while.”

“That’d afford us a surplus of ammo on top of basic necessities.” Smoky picked up the shotgun and forced it open. Two shells sat in the now open breech. “Twelve gauge, we keeping it?”

“I figured we should, should do some real damage if we get inta trouble.” Orchid slid the revolver into her saddlebags and stood. “Plus we have found plenty of shells on raiders before. We use it sparingly and we can scavenge the ammo we need as we go.”

I didn’t know enough about how caps worked to know if that was a fair price or not. Probably was about half of what the true sell value of those items was worth. That raised the question of how much I could get for the scraps in my saddlebags, I figured only a hundred or so.

“How about you take Crimson along with you this time? The two of you should be able to carry everything we want to sell, and maybe get some sort of hero discount if we’re lucky” Smoky suggested undoing his saddlebags.

“Not a bad idea, ya stay here and help with the cleanup. See if ya can’t earn a few caps extra fer yer work.” Orchid tapped me on the flank with a wing as she passed. “Come on Crimson, we got work to do.” I stood and levitated Smoky’s bags over to me as I passed.

The saddlebags were much heavier than I was expecting, nearly too heavy for me to carry them. Smoky must have been an exceptionally strong stallion to toss these around like they were nothing. “I don’t know if I’ll be much help but I can certainly try.”

“Don’t worry I’ll do mosta the talking, I’ve got quite the talent fer it. You’ll be there ta help me carry what we buy, an maybe get me some leeway in negotiations since ya just saved the camp.” Great, reduced to a pack mule, still better than doing nothing. “Just relax, you’ll do great.”

I certainly didn’t feel like I would, but the way she said it made me feel like it would be easy. “I’ll do my best.” The way she trotted and talked filled me with confidence, and a few other feelings I needed to rid myself of.

I turned my thoughts to my wife and that lovely smile of hers. How would she be holding up without me there by her side? Would she have chosen cryogenic sleep to wait for me? Or would she have chosen to live the rest of her life never knowing if I was safe? If she lived her life was it ok to be having these thoughts about some mare I just met? She’d want me to go on and live my life, wouldn’t she?

I shook the thoughts from my head as we approached a building made in the old log cabin style. It wasn’t in the best shape with several new scorch marks, several bullet holes and all the windows shot out. The fact it was still standing meant somepony was a good carpenter, or just stupidly lucky.

Orchid swung the door inward and trotted inside. “Good afternoon Sir, I know today has been quite the shit show fer you lot but I was wonderin if you had the time to do some tradin with me.” She spoke in that same intonation that you’d speak to your parents in, respectful while still being right to business.

“Sure miss, ain’t sure we got much at the moment” the stallion said, turning around to face us. His mane was frazzled and unkempt, a dull gray in color. His coat was a few shades darker gray, he would have been right at home amongst the steel floors of my work. “We’ll see what more we have after we pick through the ruins.”

“Come up here Crimson. Let’s lay out our wares fer this good stallion to take a look at.” She beckoned me up to the counter without breaking eye contact with this stallion. If I didn’t know any better it would sound like she was trying to slyly seduce this stallion.

I walked up to the counter and started emptying out Smokey’s saddlebags onto it. He had a stack of animal hides about a foot tall hidden away, plus some odd looking animal eggs that smelled rotten. I emptied the bags minus a few bottles of water and some food. “That’s everything in this set. I’ve got some electrical components if you’ve got any interest in those.”

“Hmm, maybe. Lay ‘em out here and I’ll take a look at ‘em.” He broke eye contact with Orchid just briefly enough to respond.

I laid out the wires and circuit board first before hoisting the cooling unit out of my bag and onto the counter. The stallion did take interest in the cooling unit.

“I’ve got a few revolvers and these zip guns as well, all in great condition.” She laid the guns and spare magazines out on top of the hides. “Now what can this do for you?” She fluttered her eyes a few times at the stallion, and thus was the end of the subtle seduction attempts.

The stallion tried in vain to conceal a blush coming to his cheeks. “Well, let’s see. The pistols are in good condition, and you’ve got some spare mags for the auto pistols. We can do a lot of good with these hides, an they seem to be well taken care of, good clean kills. I’m not much fer those scrap electronics, but I’ll take the cooling unit there off your hooves.” He stopped to mentally calculate how much he was willing to pay. “I’ve only got two hundred caps at the moment, but I’m sure we can sell some other wares to make up the difference.”

Orchid pouted for just a moment. “Well I spose we could use some food, water, and ammunition. What do ya have in the way of those things?” She leaned on the counter and flicked her tail from side to side.

I was tempted to look at her flanks while she did so but decided to just look around the room. The room had obviously been quickly turned into a makeshift fortress during the previous battle. Wooden scraps scattered in piles and glass that glinted were scattered across the floor under window sills. Many shell casings lay discarded and crushed, the faint smell of gunpowder still hung in the air. Rifles and pistols alike had been used during the skirmish, the quantity of casings told a story of a final stand. Luckily we had arrived at the right time to lend a helping hoof, otherwise these ponies would have died.

I levitated a few of the undamaged casings up to me and turned them over a few times making sure to read what caliber they were. Those that I found useful I discreetly deposited into my bags, the rest I set down on one end of the counter. A fine little collection had accrued by the time I was finished.

“Thanks fer that. I was gonna clean that mess up at some point. Keep the ones you can make use of, I’ll give ‘em to ya fer cheap.” Apparently I hadn’t deposited them discreetly enough. “Now is there anything else I can do fer ya?”

I looked towards him apologetically before looking at what supplies Orchid had bartered for. She was already loading bottles of water and food supplies into Smoky’s bags. There were several small boxes of ammo sitting on the counter, none were labeled so I didn’t know what they were. A pile of bottle caps was sitting off to one side along with a box of bullets.

Orchid pointed to the small pile with a wing while she loaded supplies. “Those are yers, thirty rounds fer yer pistol and some caps to spend as ya see fit. That cooling unit ya scrapped was worth a fair bit.”

I trotted over to the counter and put the bullets into my bags before turning to the stallion. “What do you have in the way of ammunition and guns?” Rifle rounds would be a good thing to get my hooves on, cross off one piece of the puzzle to go see my home again.

“Mostly surplus stuff, fifty rounds of surplus 5.56, twenty three of .223, and about ten .308 rounds fer rifles at the moment. Pistol ammo is mostly .45 auto and .44 magnum after what yer friend bought. They’ll run ya, two to a cap for the 5.56 or .223 or two caps a pop for the .308, .45, and .44 magnum.” He looked at me expectantly waiting for my answer.

I counted out my caps and separated fifteen of them into a pile that I stuffed into my saddlebags. The rest I pushed over to the stallion. “I’ll take all of the rifle rounds, and there’s a few extra in there for the spent casings I think I can reuse.”

He pulled the cap pile over and put it under the counter before setting the ammunition onto the counter. “Pleasure doing business with ya. You two have a good rest of yer day now ya hear.”

I nodded and gave the stallion a smile. “Will do sir, and you as well.” The rounds clinked as they dropped into my saddlebags, and I walked away still smiling. Now I had bullets for a longer range option, this would help convince Smoky we could retake my home. Would need to fashion a second magazine for my new rifle, but that wouldn’t be too hard to do.

The smell of burning flesh once again hit my nose as I trotted back outside. A bonfire was roaring on the outskirts of town, the corpses of the raiders were being tossed on one by one. It would take a while to cremate the remains this way, but at least the bodies would be dealt with and not be vectors for disease. A deep black smoke column rose from the fire and ashes rained down around the town. Pegasi were ready with small clouds to put out any unwanted fires.

Smoky was standing next to the fire. He had taken part in building the blaze and ridding this place of corpses. He was watching the horizon with a pair of binoculars as he waited for us.

I trotted over and watched the fire burn. So many lives lost, but it was in defense of innocent ponies. The smell was almost too much to bear. “Any other threats on the horizon Smoky?” I asked, trying to follow his gaze.

“None for now, but this smoke is bound to draw in something.” He lowered the binoculars and looked over at us. “How’d the supply run go?”

I hefted his bags back over to him, just barely managing to swing them up onto his back. He didn’t even seem to mind the weight being dropped onto his back. “A good haul I think. Your bags are heavy with food and water. We also picked up some ammunition for most of our weapons. I got around eighty rifle rounds for that weird gun we found.”

Smoky shifted his shoulders to move the saddlebags back into place. “Feels like a good couple of weeks, we can stretch it out with what we find on the road. Water is the important one, and I hear enough sloshing to not be worried.” The gears were turning in his head as he looked at me. “Hey Orchid, how does a hunting trip sound in a few days? Crimson has that rifle and rounds for it, he could pick off a few of the coyotes before we go after the big one.”

Orchid looked between the two of us and hemmed and hawed. “Maybe, we can try an track ‘em down, see how big the pack is. If the pack has gotten much bigger we’re not going after ‘em. How accurate ya think ya can be with that rifle there Crimson?”

The iron sights of the rifle seemed well aligned as I aimed it at the dirt. “Only one way to know, going to have to shoot it at something. The sights look aligned, but I have my doubts with how shoddy it looks.” I popped the magazine out and loaded a few rounds into it.

“We’ll find something to use as target practice along the way. For now let’s stay here, help these ponies keep an eye out for more danger” Smoky said, turning to keep scanning the horizon. “We’ll sleep under the stars and be on our way in the morning.”

My eyes wandered up to the north of town, the ponies were dragging the corpses of their friends that way towards a set of headstones. I gave Smoky a nod and headed towards the graves. “I’ll keep an eye out up here. Maybe help out these ponies with their burial services.”

A makeshift graveyard had been made a hundred feet north of the town. Some of the stallions were already hard at work digging new graves, all wore the same sullen and somber expression. But there was work to be done and now was not the time to grieve for the loved ones lost. The sheriff was among the stallions digging. He gave me a look and a nod as I passed by to stand guard, but said nothing. The sound of shovels crunching into fresh sand and gravel filled the air, while the quiet sounds of cloth on sand joined in as the bodies of the dead were dragged to their ultimate end.

Every so often I would look over my shoulder to see how things were progressing. The process of digging a grave was slow, and the sun was just starting to set by the time the tenth and final hole had been dug. Those working gathered around the fresh graves and lowered the bodies in gently. Each pony passed by a grave and said their peace before moving to the next grave.

A soft melody entered my ears as one of the mares began to quietly sing. The dulcet tones calmed my mind as the song continued. More voices joined in as all those congregated sang to remember the lives of those who had died in defense of their home. The song was oddly sweet, such a morbid subject lightened by a soft melody. This singing continued until each grave had been filled in, and the ponies underneath could finally be at rest.

A cruel twist of fate, those below could rest peacefully for the rest of eternity. While those above had to live with the loss of those they loved, had to continue to fight on so they hadn’t died in vain. Such is life, we mourn those who we have loved and lost, and continue to fight so their memory lives on through us.

I looked over the graves and felt better having seen and heard such a display of kindness and respect. Maybe the world hadn’t gone nearly as mad as I thought it had. Thoughts of my wife gnawed at my mind. A hundred or more years had passed and I was beginning to doubt a reunion between the two of us, at least not in this life. No, I had to hold out hope she had made it and was still waiting for me.

The sheriff trotted up next to me and stopped to watch the night sky. “Thank ya fer watching over us, means lot to folk like us. Now ya go on and get yer rest. We’ll take it from here.” He patted my shoulder and trotted a ways further out.

“Of course, it’s the least I could do.” I turned and headed towards the center of town. A much smaller fire was burning, and the smell of freshly cooked pie floated through the air. Smoky and Orchid were sitting next to the flames having a discussion. I didn’t hear a word of it as I trotted over and laid down on one of the blankets that had been laid out.

“Hey Crimson.” Orchid looked over at me and smiled. “Everything alright? Ya were over there for a long while. I was bout ready ta send out a search party.”

“She means me,” Smoky said, chuckling.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Watched over the ponies here while they buried their dead. Was a serene moment, all things considered, if morbid.” I turned to watch the flames, the crackling kept my mind from wandering back to death. “Gave me a bit of hope that the world wasn’t all bad.”

“Ya get used to it” Orchid said, setting a hoof on one of mine. “Helps to have folk ya can depend on by yer side.” Her smile was infectious, and she was so beautiful in this light.

“I suppose you’re right. I owe you both a lot for everything you’ve done for me. Without your help I would be dead right now, if not from the gunshot wounds then definitely from dehydration or starvation.” I had a few useful tricks that I’d learned in my time, but nothing that would have prepared me for all of this.

“Just doing what we can to make sure nopony else dies if they don’t have to. I’m sure you’d have done the same for us.” Optimistic Smoky, but maybe I would have. “You can stick with us as long as ya need to. It’s nice to have another set of hooves around to shoulder some of the weight.”

“Thanks Smoky.” I appreciated the sentiment and having a couple good ponies to call my friends. “What’s the plan now? Our business here seems to be done for now.”

“We were just talking bout that. Smoky there’s got a plan fer us to go hunt some yotes. We’ll leave in the mornin, head back down south a ways and see what we see.” Orchid pulled a blanket over her rear half as she finished speaking, just enough to be decent while out of her armor.

Smoky smiled and laid his head down. “We’ll discuss more in the morning. For now it’s time we got a proper rest, give our bodies time to recover.” I could have sworn he was asleep as soon as his eyes closed.

I smiled and laid my head down. Tonight would be a peaceful night's rest, I just knew it.

Chapter 6: Hunting Trip

I dreamt of home again, back when it was quiet and peaceful. My wife was asleep next to me, quietly snoring. Today was a rare day off for both of us, we had decided to sleep in for a few extra hours and just be with each other. The moment was utter bliss, serene and beautiful.

She only stirred when the foal kicked and jolted her awake. She rolled over to me, her mane a mess but a beautiful smile on her face. I could have stared forever into those deep sapphire eyes of hers as she planted a kiss on my lips. We embraced and I could hear her snoring again, fallen right back asleep without a care in the world.

I kissed her forehead before pulling away and getting out of bed. The hardwood floor was cold on my hooves this morning. The sun was shining through a crack in the blinds giving the room a warm feel. I was truly blessed, I had everything I could have ever wanted. Yet this felt cold and wrong, like I never deserved any of it. The thought fell from my mind as I smelled fresh coffee from the kitchen.

The scent was enough for me to drag myself to the kitchen, I needed that caffeine to properly wake up. I turned the corner and found myself in my kitchen, the coffee maker was nowhere to be found. I blinked a few times and it had reappeared on the counter where it should have been.

I levitated two mugs out of the cupboard and the coffee pot over to me. The coffee smell was rich as I poured a mug for both of us. The first sip hit my lips and I couldn’t help but smile.

I levitated the other mug and began walking back to my bedroom to the best thing to ever happen to me. She was still asleep when I trotted back in so I set her mug down on her bedside table. The motion of me sitting down and the coffee smell finally roused her for the day.

I went to take another sip of my coffee and my vision faded to black. A few moments later I had awoken to the scent of a campfire and the sound of Orchid moaning. The sound stopped quickly as I shuffled around.

The sun wasn’t up quite yet and the only light to really see by was that of the embers of the campfire. I peaked over towards her with one eye and caught an eye full of her exposed nether region before closing my eye again. She had been… best not to think about it right now, but at least I hadn’t been caught ogling what I shouldn’t be.

I forced my eyes to stay closed until I could feel the heat of the sun beating down on me. Only then did I open my eyes and look around me.

Orchid was already up and dressed. She paced back and forth twenty feet from the fire, contemplating something… me perhaps? She waved at me after noticing I had woken up and then promptly returned to pacing.

Smoky was next to me chewing on a pile of grass, he gave me a simple nod and went back to eating in silence. He wore his armor when he slept, so he didn’t need to get dressed before we left.

The revolver he wore on his hip was laid out before him alongside a small cleaning kit. The gun shined almost like new, and I finally noticed a dozen tally marks on the grip. I decided it was best not to question what he was keeping track of.

I stretched my legs out as I stood, they weren’t nearly as cramped today. My bedroll was quick and easy to pack up, today I decided to sling it onto my back instead of making Orchid carry it.

Orchid seemed confused at first as I tied my blanket to my pack, but understood after a few seconds. Must have thought I was using it as a cape at first. She trotted back over and packed up the rest of our equipment in silence, a slight blush on her cheeks that she was hiding well.

“I spose this is goodbye fer now then?” The sheriff trotted over to us, a somber look on his face. He wore an old cowpony hat that I hadn’t seen him with yesterday. “We can’t thank y’all nuff fer what ya done. But if’n yer willin, I got somethin fer ya.”

I turned to face him and gave him a smile. “Just for a few days I think Sheriff, we’ll be back here soon if all goes according to plan.” Something for us? A gift of gratitude? “I think we’d be more than willing.”

“Ain’t no caps to go round, but I got this I can give ya.” He produced a large revolver from his saddlebags and held it out to me. “One the ole boys died ‘for we could save ‘im. But he saw ya figthin fer us. Last wish was fer ya ta take this with ya.” Sheriff was obviously deeply saddened by the death. Must have been a good friend of his.

“I wouldn’t want to go against somepony’s last wish, but are you sure you don’t want to keep it? Seems like he meant a lot to you, and this would be something you could remember him by.” I didn’t reach out to grab the gun, and wouldn’t until he had made a decision.

“Nope, all yers pardner. I gots other meementos to ‘member ‘im by.” He tapped the hat now atop his head with a hoof. “Now please, honor his dyin wish.”

I reached a hoof out and grabbed the revolver from him. “You have my thanks Sheriff. I look forward to when next we meet.” I made sure to set the revolver gently into my saddlebags as a sign of respect.

“Yep, safe travels now y’all. Til we meet again.” He tipped his hat to us and left.

“Let’s get a move on, we’ve got ground to cover.” Smoky took the lead as he always did, not ever glancing back to make sure we were keeping pace. “You feeling up to some long range target shooting today Crimson?”

I fell in line next to him, my chest hurt less keeping up with him today. Those bullet wounds were healing well, it was just taking time. “I think so, I’ve got plenty of rounds to play around with. Only have the one magazine so I’ll need to either fashion a new one or be quick to reload this one.”

“How long and what would you need to make a second mag for it? You’ll need one eventually.”

“Tools, some sheet steel, and a spring would allow me to make one.” The process was simple enough, just bend the steel into shape, put the spring inside and dent the sides for a magazine catch. At least that’s how easy Steel made it sound when he made one from scratch.

“I’ll keep my eyes out, scrap metal shouldn’t be too hard to come by. The spring on the other hoof will be. Would a couple of smaller springs from pistol mags work?”

“I suppose I could make that work. Just needs enough upward force to ensure the bolt catches the round as it cycles.” Another option would be to use gravity to my advantage, but I’d have to make specialty sights for that configuration.

“Ok.” A smile crossed his face as he no doubt dreamed up endless possibilities.

We started back down the trail we had followed getting here, I saw exactly where we had realized the town was in trouble. The hoof marks were unevenly spaced at first before we had hit a full gallop, more sand displaced under those steps as we moved at an increased speed. These tracks would be easy to follow even for an inexperienced tracker. Hopefully those ponies were ready in case another fight came their way. It would be a shame to lose more lives than they already had.

While we trotted along I took the time to inspect the revolver the Sheriff had given. It was a heavy gun, probably five or six pounds. The steel was shiny and looked like it had been recently polished. The barrel seemed longer than it should have been for a revolver of this size. I pressed the cylinder release forward and pushed on the cylinder, it rolled out of place to the left side. Six cartridges filled the cylinder. Another fully loaded weapon to keep at my side, I needed a second holster when I had time to fashion one. The rounds inside were marked as .44 magnum rounds, one of the largest pistol cartridges we put in revolvers. I placed the round back into the cylinder and closed the gun before aiming it to the sky. Sights were well made and well maintained, the stallion who owned it did well keeping this gun in good shape. It would serve me well if I could find more ammo for it.

I slipped the .44 back into my saddlebags and looked around. Orchid had disappeared silently from beside me at some point, looked like she was circling overhead watching for danger.

Smoky had moved a few feet in front of me and was currently scanning the horizon with interest. He pointed to a spot a mile or so from us. I followed the hoof to figure out what he was looking at.

I saw something small, or several small things moving around where he was pointing. The creatures were small whatever they were, my mind wandered back to those mantises or giant cockroaches we had seen before. The creatures were a dull pink in color as best as I could tell. Hard telling if they were quadrupedal or bipedal from this distance.

“What are they?” I asked, affirming that I did see the creatures ahead of us. I felt slightly proud of myself for how fast I had seen the creatures.

“Radrats, they’ll make good target practice before we get to hunting for hides.” He looked over to me and motioned to get my rifle ready. “Aim right behind the front shoulders, that’s the best spot to keep the kills clean. Shot to the head will do as well, but you’re less likely to hit the shot.”

I levitated the rifle from my pack and braced it against my right shoulder. Holding a weapon this way was slightly awkward but would hopefully prevent the need for magic. The trigger bit was slightly uncomfortable as I gripped it in my teeth, made for someone with a smaller mouth than mine. I kept the sights lined up as we closed distance.

Smoky held up a hoof to stop when we were around fifty yards from the radrats. “Go slowly now, we’re going to try and close in to less than one hundred feet before firing. They don’t have the best eyesight so slow movements may not spook them. Take your time and line up each shot before pulling the trigger.” He instructed as he slowly inched forward.

I stayed by his side and copied his motions until we had gotten close enough to fire. The radrats were still unaware we were here, shuffling about ever so slightly as they sniffed the air.

“Alright, fire when ready Crimson. Try and take down as many as you can before they tunnel away.” Smoky drew his pistol and waited for me to take action.

I took in a deep breath and closed one eye to aim down the sights. I put the green bead of the front side between the two dark steel rear posts and swiveled to be aimed just behind the shoulder of the first radrat. I slowly let out the breath and depressed the trigger with my tongue. BOOM, the round flew straight and true with the iron sights. The round found purchase close to where I had aimed. The rat dropped to the ground dead.

The rats began to scurry and dig at the ground, the shot had spooked them and I wouldn’t have long to follow up before they were gone. I hastened the process and fired another round down range. BOOM, another rat dropped to the ground and flailed wildly. The shot seemed to hit something vital, but didn’t kill instantly.

I pulled the trigger a third time as the rats started to disappear below the ground. BOOM, the shot was a little higher than intended but still found purchase. The rear legs stopped moving and the rat picked up its head. BOOM, the fourth round split the air and went through the skull spraying blood and brains out the other side.

“Good shooting Crimson.” Smoky patted me on the back. “Now let’s go dress those kills.” He trotted ahead and I followed.

I pressed the magazine catch and levitated the magazine out. I clicked four of the loose rounds into the magazine and clicked it back into place. The stock stayed in my shoulder and the trigger bit in my mouth, I wasn’t going to take any chances.

Three rats lay dead on the ground, and no heads peeked out of the holes in the ground. I kicked some dirt in the holes before I lowered my rifle and stashed it away in my saddlebags.

The first two shots had been clean and killed the animals quickly. Both shots looked to have hit the heart based on how much blood had pooled up and soaked into the sand. Rat number two had struggled briefly to cling to life and escape, but ultimately the attempts were in vain.

The third rat was not nearly as clean of a kill, I had sent a shot through the spine above the front shoulders. Lifting its head was all it could have done with the spinal column cut like it was. Just high enough for me to put it out of its misery. The meat was torn up around the spine where the bone had shattered and turned to shrapnel. The head had a clean hole through it in the side facing us. When Smoky rolled it over I could see a baseball sized exit hole.

“Not bad kills at all. This third one was a bit rushed, but nothing that couldn’t be patched on an actual hide.” Smoky drew a knife from his saddlebags. “Now how about you help me butcher these things. Front and back shoulders have good meat on them.” He sliced into the rat around the nether regions and cut from there to the neck.

Each incision made was done with precision that one could only gain from practice. Each shoulder had a small chunk of meat that he cut off the animal. The skin flayed open and used as a place to hold these cuts of meat. After all the big chunks of meat were cut free he wrapped the skin around them to seal them from the elements. “Think you can do that?”

“I’m not sure but I’ll give it my best shot.” I tried to recreate the steps I had just seen to the best of my ability. The outcome was not very pretty, plenty of meat was still clinging to the corpse and the skin hadn’t peeled away very well. I wrapped the meat as best I could and held it out to him.

“You’ll get better with practice. I’ve skinned hundreds of animals in my life, so don’t be too hard on yourself.” He took the package of meat and stuffed it into his saddlebags. “I'll give you a few pointers next time we go to skin something. Maybe find you a knife, machete is a clumsy tool for skinning.”

That was an attempt to make me feel better about my piss poor job. “Thanks Smoky, I’d appreciate that immensely.” I’d need some pretty intense instruction if I were to get better, just a knife wasn’t going to do it.

“Are you two about done havin a teachin moment?” Sarcastic and impatient today, must be… must be, my wife always got that way during heat. Orchid was hovering over us watching us skin these rats. “We’ve got ground ta cover before days end if we want ta catch them before they leave the area.”

Smoky nodded silently and pushed me forward. By the look he was giving me he must have known it was best to stay quiet and keep moving while Orchid was like this. He must have seen some serious shit from her before.

I made a mental note to not get on her bad side for a while and to just keep moving unless we needed to stop for something. Maybe I could help if I… no, no I won’t suggest it, probably get slapped for suggesting anything like that.

We trotted onward, not slowing our pace until the sun was well past its peak in the sky. On the horizon was that damn train station, we weren’t staying there again. I wasn’t going to sit there wondering when that hellhound was going to pop out of the ground and eat us. The air had grown stale and the temperature had grown to the point I wish my armor wasn’t so heavy.

Smoky tapped my shoulder with a bottle of water before shaking it at me. “Here, drink this.”

I took the bottle and spun the cap off. “Thanks.” The water was lukewarm but at least didn’t taste awful. I swallowed a third of the bottle before putting the cap back on. “What about her?” I asked, gesturing upwards.

“She took a bottle up with her. If she needs anything we’ll know.” He took a few sips of water before stuffing the bottle back into his saddlebags. “Don’t worry too much about her, she knows her limits” he said, with a hint of worry in his voice.

“If you say so, I’m still a little worried about her. She’s… off today.” I knew what I wanted to say, but saying that to her brother’s face was probably a bad idea. “That or I’m finally seeing her true colors.” I had seen more than I should have, that much was for certain.

“Nah, she gets like this every so often. Stress and the like you know?” Lying through his teeth, so he did know what was going on. He just didn’t want to say too much, that is respectable.

“Alright. I’ll still keep an eye out and have her back when she needs it.” Not wanting to push it any further I cleared my throat. “I’ll have both of your backs, you’ve had mine the entire time I’ve been out here after all.”

“I’m loyal to my family and those who trot alongside me. You’ve chosen to stick by us and not try to run off on your own. So I’ll have your back as long as you’re by my side.” He shrugged. “Just the way I am.”

That eased my soul, knowing somepony would have my back out here. I know I couldn’t go it on my own in the shattered remains of my world. I lacked vital knowledge about almost everything. I had woken up in a brand new world, and everything I had known was turned upside down and thrown out the window. Raiders, slavery, giant bugs, hellhounds, ponies killing each other for no reason, nothing made sense anymore.

I’d have to relearn everything I thought I ever knew before I’d stand a chance of lasting a day out here on my own. Where was it safe to get water? Where did the food grow? How would I fix and maintain the tools needed to survive? Was the whole world like this now, or just around here? Too many questions swirled in my mind, I felt sick just thinking about it all. Almost like we had been damned to Tartarus for the many sins we committed.

The train station was my primary focus as we trotted by, I couldn’t see in the greatest detail. I noticed a new large mound of dirt out front of the station. The terror rose again as I caught sight of the front of the station, a hole easily eight feet wide was where the front door should have been. That monster had come back and tore into the building. If we had stayed another night we wouldn’t be alive right now. But why did it come back? Did it come back to check if something it could eat was still there? What if there was?

The thoughts faded as the station fell to the horizon and eventually out of sight. I was relieved we were outside of what I was considering the danger zone around that building. We had at most a few more hours of daylight left, before the twilight of night overtook the land and bathed us in darkness.

Until then I was sure we would continue trotting along, searching for the next place we would lay our heads down. I hoped and prayed that this night would be peaceful, or that if it wasn’t I would wake up having died in my sleep. I’d say then I could be with my wife again, but I definitely wasn’t going to the afterlife she was. She was a sweet delicate angel, always trying to see the best in ponies and inspire them to live up to that greatness. I’m a bastard. I’ve committed crimes, both mundane and now quite serious, killing ponies doesn’t afford you a good afterlife. My wife could still be alive and I’m having thoughts about cheating on her with a mare probably ten years my younger. Who’d let me live any other way but in torment for that?

I let out a sigh and shook my head, luckily Smoky hadn’t seemed to notice. So at least I wouldn’t have to explain what I was just thinking, that could get awkward. Stepbrother nearly knocked me out when I told him his sister was pregnant, and that was before the world turned to shit. Though he did have a pretty troubled past, so that did make a modicum of sense. Smoky seemed better than that, but if I was wrong I could be facing down the wrong side of a 12 gauge.

For now that thought could wait, Orchid had dived down towards us and landed. “We’ve got some yotes up ahead, not the ones we’re after though. What’s the call?”

Smoky looked up at the sky and held a hoof out towards the sun. He moved his hoof a few times before nodding. “A few hours left before nightfall, we kill and skin the ones we can and then move on. We should be close enough to lone tree to bed down there for the night.”

I drew my rifle from my saddlebags and shoulder it as before. Now I knew the sights were true and was prepared for the recoil. “How many are there?” I asked as I clicked the safety off.

“Five that are worth killing fer their hide. Maybe a half dozen pups that should run when the shootin starts. And if they don’t,” she drew her gun. “We kill ‘em too.” Her tail swayed in a way that brought my mind back to what lay below it. “Extra meat if the pelts ain’t worth savin.”

Five primary targets, these ones bigger than the rats I had killed. Aim right behind the front shoulder and squeeze the trigger, if it’s still moving put another round in the same place. I can do that, it shouldn't be too hard. “Alright, let’s do this then.”

“That’s the spirit Crimson!” Smoky said as he passed by me drawing his gun. The way his teeth ground on it as he drew it still bothered me deeply. Like a fork on a chalkboard, but quieter thankfully.

I gave Orchid a glance to see if she was ready, the stare I got back filled my soul with dread. She was staring into my soul and I knew that look, it was that look you gave a foal for lying. I hadn’t been nearly as sneaky as I had thought this morning when I saw her exposed. That didn’t bode well for me, but she simply took off into the air after getting her point across. Now I’d have the consequences of that on my mind until it came to a head.

My focus returned to the task at hoof as I galloped forward to keep up with Smoky. His focus was solely on getting to these coyotes and putting them down. I levitated the gun so I could still speak. “Same plan as before?”

He shook his head and placed the revolver into its holster. “I want to make sure we get all of ‘em, so what I’m going to do is sneak up on them and get within shooting distance. That’s when you start firing, keep your focus on the big ones. Orchid and I will be there to pick off the stragglers.”

So now I had to worry about accidentally shooting one of them… fucking perfect. I pulled the trigger but into my mouth and took a few deep breaths. Everything was going to be fine, just had to stay focused.

We kept moving forward and I could finally see the coyotes in the distance. The pack looked to be eating the corpse of something much larger than they were, a distraction so we could get in close before shooting.

At about one hundred feet from the coyotes Smoky motioned for me to stop. He lowered himself towards the ground and started creeping forward. A minute passed before he stopped, he couldn’t be more than thirty feet from the coyotes. Now was the time to act, I steadied the rifle and cleared my mind.

Sights on the coyote closest to Smoky, I slowly squeezed the trigger and let a bullet fly. BOOM, a solid hit that got everything’s attention. This coyote dropped and was squirming on the ground trying to get back on its feet to fight. Ultimately it was in vain and the creature ceased movement as it bled to death.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. Three more in rapid succession before the situation really got going. Two more of the big coyotes dropped to the ground, the second of which started to get back up. The third shot put it back down for good.

Smoky stood and Orchid dived in to start their attacks. The sounds of both their pistols lit up the air as I acquired my next target. They had taken out another adult and a few pups before I got lined up.

CLICK, that sound seemed so much louder than the actual report of the rifle. “Oh fuck” I said, scrambling to find the problem and get the rifle working again. The bolt had tried to pull a new round into the chamber, but hadn’t extracted the old brass. The fucker had jammed at the worst possible time.

I pulled the charging handle back and let the new round roll out onto the ground. Without a second thought I unshouldered the gun and slammed the stock into the ground. The spent casing wiggled free and I let the bolt slam forward to chamber another round.

I aimed the rifle again and saw Smoky duck under the last adult coyote that was charging him. The animal jumped over him as he hit the dirt and gave me a clean shot on the animal.

The trigger came back harder than I was expecting and for good reason, the selector had changed from single fire to automatic. BOOM BOOM BOOM, three more rounds flew down range with only the middle round finding purchase in the coyote. I watched to see if it would pop back up, but it seemed I had landed a good hit.

Smoky stood and waved at me. The skirmish was over, we had killed or scared off all the coyotes. I breathed a sigh of relief as I looked at the ground. Seven spent casings and one unfired round lay scattered at my hooves. I levitated them up and into my saddlebags before starting towards my friends. I absentmindedly reloaded the mag just as I got to them, the pair was already hard at work skinning and butchering our kills.

In total five adults and six puppies had been killed. All but the puppies looked like clean kills, three of the puppies were little more than viscera from their gunshot wounds. Those must have been the ones Smoky shot, magnum rounds ripped through flesh after all.

I drew my machete and set to work on skinning the puppies, they were smaller and would be good to practice on instead of ruining the more valuable hides. The first three I went for were the damaged ones, what little I managed to cut off of them probably wouldn’t be worth saving. A few small strips of meat and scraps of hide the size of my hoof. Scraps not fit for larger meals or projects respectively, but not ruined.

The next puppies I skinned had a few pounds of meat between them, enough for a meal for Orchid and I. The hides I managed to get were in much better condition than the first few. I had still cut holes into the centers of them, but these holes would be relatively easy to patch. I was proud of my progress, but it had taken more time than it should have.

Orchid and Smoky had already skinned and butchered the five adults by the time I finished with the puppies. The hides except for one were laid across Smoky’s flanks, the final one was sticking out of his saddlebags wrapped like the radrats we had skinned.

Wordlessly, Orchid took back off into the air and began circling above us again. She seemed a little happier with the fresh kills bringing in meat and hide, but something was still bothering her.

The sun was low in the sky as we got moving again. The horizon was a beautiful yellow orange as the corona of the sun shimmered. The temperature was dropping to a much more tolerable level, but soon it would be cold. Desert nights are always the coldest, heat dissipates quickly after being baked by the sun all day.

Our course changed and we moved eastward towards lone tree. I vaguely recognized the area, but wasn’t sure with how different this desert looked from before work.

The large tree that we were headed towards was one I recognized without a second thought. A large wooden cabin had been built around this tree several years back, using this tree as both a support column and natural decor. I had visited a time or two for dinner and a few conferences with some coworkers, it used to be quite lovely.

The ruins of what I knew once again surprised me. Only the large tree remained, and even it looked like it would soon topple over. The beautiful shrubs, roses, and garden were all destroyed with no trace left behind. All of the walls had either been burned or cut down as they were gone. There was no trace that the cabin had ever even existed.

“What happened to this place?” I asked aloud, looking at the sight in horror. “It’s just all gone, you can’t tell it was ever here.”

“What was here?” Smoky asked slowing to a stop as he reached the base of the tree.

“A log cabin, a beautiful one. Friends of mine lived here, it cost them a fortune to build it. And now, it’s all gone…” I trailed off looking up at the now dead tree.

One thing still remained of the cabin, just faintly after years of being worn down by sand and the elements. We had all carved our initials into the tree as a way to commemorate our friendships and marriages. They were all faint but I could still make out all the initials. A small smile crossed my lips as I saw the little heart around Steel and Gloria’s initials. They were quiet about their love story, but this was a lasting reminder of it.

I circled to the northern side of the tree and saw another heart, a lump formed in my throat and a few tears escaped my eyes. The initials had worn down to nothing but I knew this was mine and Lavender’s initials. So little in this world remained untouched and sacred. I placed my hoof to the heart and hung my head.

My life as I knew it was gone, replaced by a nightmare that I couldn’t escape from. All I had left of my life were my memories and knowledge that amounted to nothing. Life wasn’t worth living like this… but I couldn’t give up. No, I had to go on. For all those I had lived for I had to keep living, then their memories could live on through me.

“I miss you.” I whispered before wiping the tears from my eyes. A few shaky deep breaths brought me back to reality and I turned to my new friends.

Smoky had been investigating the tree and gave me a knowing sorrowful look. No words needed to be exchanged, he knew the pain of loss just as well as I did. He undid his bedroll and laid it out motioning for me to do the same.

Orchid had laid hers out but was pacing around the tree watching for threats. She would take first watch tonight. Every so often I caught her glancing at me and wondered what she was thinking. I could guess, but I wanted to keep my mind off of that for now.

I laid my bedroll out and looked at the area, there was something else I remembered being here that I couldn’t see. There should have been a locked hatch in the ground that led down to an old wine cellar.

The cellar was on the east side of the tree. That I knew. Where exactly it had been dug was another question all together. I put my flanks against the tree and closed my eyes. I had drunkenly stumbled from the tree to the cellar enough times that I should be able to go by feel. I slowly stepped forward a few steps, then a few more. After about ten paces I stopped and started digging at the ground with a hoof. Right around here is where that cellar should be if it’s still here.

“What are you doing?” Orchid had trotted over to me and was staring at me in confusion. She had her head cocked to the right, her left eyebrow raised.

“I remember this place, there was a wine cellar right around here. I’m trying to find it.” I kept digging as I answered. A few more scrapes and I hit something made of wood. The wood wasn’t a root, that wine cellar was still here and I had found it. “I think this is it.”

Orchid motioned for Smoky to join us. She dug at the ground with her hooves close by trying to uncover more of the cellar. Smoky joined her in this pursuit and soon all three of us were digging.

With enough hooves working we cleared the three inches of sand on top of the hatch. The brilliant red wood had dulled over the many years to a dull dried blood color, but still seemed structurally stable as I stood atop it. A padlock kept it closed, the lock too seemed to have weathered the years well. No key to unlock it and picking locks not being one of my criminal tendencies, I had to think up a different way to open it.

The lock looked too tough to hack through with my machete and I didn’t want to risk shattering the blade. My next thought was to pull something I had seen out of an action movie and shoot the lock off. My pistol wouldn’t pack enough punch, the rifle would be too loud, and I didn’t want to use any of my magnum rounds since I only had six.

“Alright, a lock. I have an idea, Smoky I need your pistol for a minute.” I started gathering sand for a makeshift sound barrier.

“You gonna shoot the lock off?” He said drawing the revolver with his tail. The gun left his tail as I levitated it over to the lock.

“That’s my plan, plenty of ammunition for it and I can use this sand to muffle the noise enough to not draw attention. Other options won’t work too well knowing how good this lock is.” I put the barrel an inch from the lock and shoveled sand around it until I could just barely see the trigger.

The trigger was stiff but pulled back and let the hammer loose. POP, a much more muffled gunshot rang out, but it wouldn’t be heard from very far away. The gun slipped loose of the sand as I pulled on it, most of it slid off but several grains were stuck to it. “Might be a little dirty, sorry.”

Smoky took the gun back and dug the lock out. “It’s alright, needed to clean it anyways. Plus, we got through that lock. Good thinking.”

I pried up the hatch and it swung open kicking sand into the air. A dank foul smell rose out of the cellar, the smell of death was becoming very familiar to my nostrils. I drew my pistol and cautiously placed a hoof on the top stair. The stair held my weight, so I took another step into the darkness below. After a few more steps I channeled my energy and lit my horn up so I could see what was going on down here.

The cellar was a small one when compared to the mansion of a cabin that used to sit atop it, only measuring about two hundred square feet. Berry wines, absinthe, whiskey, you name it they had it down here. A fine bottle of Canterlot Brandy was the true prize if it still remained, that bottle alone was a few thousand bits back then. I could definitely use a stiff drink after the past couple of days, maybe they still had that merlot I liked.

The ground of the cellar was cold and damp, moisture that had been trapped down here for a few hundred years. Mold was growing on all four walls, some of it was glowing a dull green lighting up empty or broken bottles of liquor. Almost every bottle down here had been emptied out or shattered, a deeply saddening thought.

My eyes finally fell upon what was causing the smell of death, several of those dried up cockroach carcasses surrounded a pile of pony bones. The bone pile contained a rusty revolver and a small notebook. Both objects looked familiar to me, but I shook the thoughts of who this was from my mind.

I pushed the bugs aside and grabbed the revolver and book. The skull had a hole out the top out of it and one under the chin. He had committed suicide after getting locked down here, he didn’t deserve such a fate even if he was a dickhead. The gun wouldn’t be of any use without a few hours of cleaning it and probably a few replacement parts. The book was a journal, one of the few things I knew he took great care of. Goddesses only knew what was written in these pages, and they could keep that secret for now.

A few bottles of liquor still remained untouched near some glowing mold. I levitated them up and into my saddlebags before trotting back up the stairs. “Nothing much of value, just a few bottles of whiskey, this rusty gun, and a journal.” I popped the cork out of one of the whiskeys and sipped a little from the bottle. Two hundred years and it still tasted just as good. I offered it out to Smoky and Orchid to see if either would join me in drinking.

Smoky declined the bottle and turned to go to his bed. “The drink ain’t for me, I’ve had a few rough nights cause of the stuff.”

Orchid however was quick to grab the bottle with a wing and take a hefty swig from the bottle. “I’ll drink with you, at least a little.” Mare in heat with a bottle of whiskey… tonight is going to be interesting.

I levitated the bottle back to myself and took another drink. “Cheers then, to a successful hunt and surviving this nightmare we call life.” I didn’t plan on matching Orchid for drinks, never could drink much without ending up hating myself in the morning.

“Remember you’re on first watch Orchid, don’t get too crazy.” Smoky said as he laid down and closed his eyes. “You’re second Crimson, wake me in six hours and I’ll take the last watch.”

I was going to hate myself for the decision to keep drinking, but I needed it after everything I’d been through in the last few days. The bottle slipped from my grip as Orchid took it back from me.

We sat in silence passing the bottle back and forth until the whole bottle was gone. I got the last drink of whiskey and by that time I was feeling inebriated.

I fumbled the cork back into the bottle and stuffed it into my saddlebags, maybe it could be used for water later or to smash over somepony’s head in a brawl. I slid the saddlebags off my shoulders next to my bed and looked around for Orchid.

Orchid was stumbling in a clumsy perimeter around us. She was still trying her best to make sure we were safe, but it was easy to tell she had a little more than she could readily handle.

I stood up the world around me spinning and looked over to Smoky. He appeared to be fast asleep, his ears shifted as I moved so he wasn’t a very deep sleeper. Keeping this in mind I trotted as silently as I could over to intercept Orchid. “Hey, I think you had a lil too much. Why don’t we getchu to bed?” I had a little more than expected, oh joy.

“No, no I… I can’t. Gotta keep you.. safe,” she said, turning to look at me. I could hear her attempting to sound sober enough to keep watch. She slowly enunciated every syllable so it sounded right.

“You’re in no condition ta do so, you drank too much. Please, just go ta bed.” I reached out and put a hoof on her shoulder. The hoof was pushed off quickly by a wing.

“I’m not going to bed, I need to work some things out before I do.” Her rear legs were shaking and she was swaying back and forth.

I’m gonna regret asking this, “What do I have to do for you to go lay down?” Or was I? There were only a few options I could think up, and none seemed too terrible.

The next words out of her mouth didn’t stick in my mind, but the kiss she planted on my lips did. Tonight was going to be an interesting night.

Chapter 7: Tenuous Prospects

I woke up slumped against the tree, my blanket had been laid underneath me and my armor was propping my head up. My head hurt like a bitch and I felt physically exhausted. A water bottle was sitting by my side as well as an opened condom package… Oh… Oh shit!

I frantically looked around and found Orchid fast asleep on the ground next to me. She was smiling and I could hear some silent words escaping her mouth as she talked in her sleep. The dream seemed peaceful and happy, so that was a plus.

Smoky was faced the other way as he slept. One of his legs jerked and he rolled over. He was frowning about whatever he was dreaming about, but it didn’t wake him. He hadn’t heard anything that had happened between Orchid and I, miraculously.

I stood silently levitating my armor up so I could get dressed. The moon was still up in the sky, I probably had an hour to burn before I was supposed to wake Smoky for his watch. My armor slid on easily and I tossed my saddlebags onto my back. With a yawn I stepped away to watch for threats. I took a few sips from the water bottle to help ease the headache.

The night was quiet and cold, typical for the desert around this area. I wished we had started a small fire to sleep by, I was shivering badly. My blanket made for a good insulator to start warming me back up, but it was still going to take time.

In the distance I saw a small flickering light, too small and too little smoke to be a campfire. Almost like watching a candle flame flickering from a half mile or better, a small dot nearly invisible to the naked eye. Then the flame grew in size as it engulfed some quadrupedal creature I had never seen before.

Whatever I was watching was close by, maybe a quarter mile away at best. The way the flame shot out reminded me of a flamer, and the way the fire lasted… it surely could have been a flamer with napalm. The fire stayed burning but the animal had definitely died from the burn wounds.

I readied my gun as the source of this fire started to grow in size and get closer to me. The moonlight lit up what the small pilot flame did not and as he closed to less than one hundred feet I could finally make out details.

The stallion approaching me wore a dapper suit that was properly pressed some time recently. A top hat sat atop his head and a red bow tie around his neck to accentuate the all black suit. His weapon of choice was a small flamer on the left side of a battle saddle painted to look like part of the suit. On the right side was a much larger flamer that was not currently burning. Both weapons and the saddlebags were painted to fit a business formal sort of attire. This get up seemed far removed from the nightmarish world around him, and he seemed to fall right in line with the delusion of formality and grandeur. I couldn’t see a mane or tail exposed, both looked to be covered by his formal clothing. Only his face was exposed, revealing a well kept cyan coat.

I kept my gun at the ready but did not aim it at the stallion. “Stop right there, what do you think you’re doing here?”

“Good sir, I was simply attempting to inform you of your safety.” His accent was posh and reminded me of how Canterlot nobles spoke. Flowery and delicate prose to sound educated and above others. “I dealt with that troublesome beast that was attempting to accost you. Foul thing was preparing to bring you death via exsanguination and you were quite incapable of protecting yourself.”

He had me there, I had been unable to protect us after falling asleep. “Thank you for protecting us sir.”

“But of course my good stallion. A word of advice if I may be so bold. Perhaps next time you wish to fornicate you should do so behind closed doors. Ne’er dowels may take advantage of such a moment of tenderness between a couple.” He had been close enough to see all of that? Oh fuck, that wasn’t supposed to happen. “Now it is not my place to judge others, but you should be more aware that obscene perverts travel these lands. They may have interest in watching such acts as you and that fine mare partook in. Vile they are. We wouldn’t want such behavior to be awarded, would we?”

“No, uh.. No Sir.” I almost believed he was royalty with everything going on. “We most certainly would not want obscene perverts thinking their behavior is tolerable.” How did he make me feel like I was talking to Celestia all over again? This had to be a fever dream, no way I was talking to a stallion like this.

“Now are you quite capable of being the guardian of your comrades, or should I stay in the area a while longer?” He offered gesturing to my friends.

“I’m capable of keeping guard of my friends for now Sir. I however appreciate your offer and wish you well on your travels.” I gave my best bow to the stallion as a sign of respect. This was well received as he bowed in turn.

“Then I shall take my leave and make haste for my destination. Be well my good stallion, and may you lot live a prosperous life of virtue.” He turned with a flourish and trotted away, leaving me once again alone in a state of confusion.

I watched him trot back towards the carcass he had made. He stopped briefly to examine the corpse and ensure that it had died before disappearing into the darkness of night.

The moon was almost low enough in the sky to risk waking Smoky. I was finally warmed back up enough to shed my blanket as an extra coat, I laid it down with care before returning to guard duty.

Coyotes howled in the distance, splitting the quiet of the night with their shrill tones. They sounded far into the distance, but I was never a good judge of that. I counted four unique howls, one of which was much deeper than the others. The deep howl sounded more akin to a wolf than a coyote, deeper and more guttural. A howl befitting a leader of a pack, the alpha. Soon enough we’d be face to face, if that was the pack we were after. The howling ceased after a few minutes and all was quiet once again.

I yawned and blinked my eyes slowly, now felt like a good time to wake Smoky for his watch. My hooves crunched on the sand as I trotted to his side. I knelt and gently shook him, it took a few seconds but he woke from his slumber. “Your turn for watch. That pack of coyotes was just howling, not far off.”

Smoky rubbed the sleep from his eyes before standing. It still amazed me how he could go from seeming so small when he was sleeping to standing well taller than me. “Is that so? Maybe we’ll catch them while they sleep then.” He chuckled and trotted past me. “Get some rest, you’ll need it for the coming hunt.”

“Yeah. I’ll get what I can.” I laid down on my blanket and closed my eyes. Sleep took me in an instant, the night had been an interesting one.

This night was dreamless, I was far too tired to dream. Or if I did my brain chose not to remember what it had been about. I woke up when I was shaken awake. This time the shaking was rough and urgent, instead of calm and gentle.

“Come on Crimson, ya have ta get up.” It was Orchid’s voice that greeted me. She was distressed, something bad must have happened. “Smoky took off after those yotes without us. He’s not far ahead but he’ll be in trouble if ya don’t get yer ass up now!”

My friend was in trouble? I sprung up with enough force to launch myself three feet into the air. Before I had hit the ground I had my blanket on my back and my rifle at the ready. “Which way?” I chambered a fresh round in the rifle and readied myself to gallop.

“Follow me he went to the southwest.” She took to the air and shot off in front of me, faster than I would be able to keep up with. I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to try and keep up though.

I broke into a full gallop and went after her, falling behind very slowly. My blood pumped and the familiar feeling of adrenaline coursing through my veins amped me up. I felt damn near invincible as I charged forward. In the distance I could make out Smoky galloping forward, slowly I was catching up to him.

As I got closer to Smoky I looked farther out in front of him. The coyotes were still close to a mile in front of him when I finally found myself at his side. “What the fuck are you doing taking off like that without us?”

“Can’t let them get away, I’ve wanted to take this pack down fer a year now!” He was clearly intent on running them down. “Make sure the big one drops first, he’s worth the most!”

“Copy that, kill the big bastard first.” I pulled my rifle up to my shoulder and picked up the pace. I was putting this beast down and ending this chase before I collapsed from exhaustion.

The biggest of the coyotes had a charcoal gray coat, shiny and thick. He had eaten well and lived long enough to grow large. He stood at roughly four foot tall, a giant by coyote standards. His pack was fifteen members strong, all fierce looking beasts running like cowards.

I was pulling ahead of Smoky and gaining on the pack faster than I thought wise. Only about one hundred yards separated us when the coyotes decided they had enough of being chased. They turned and ran straight towards us.

I skidded to a stop just barely catching myself before slamming my face into the ground. I recovered and got my rifle aimed and ready, taking a deep breath to steady my aim.

The big bastard scrambled to the front of the pack and gave me a clear shot at him. BOOM, BOOM. I let two rounds fly and waited briefly to see the result. The first round slammed into his chest, but he kept moving undeterred. The second was off mark and struck one of the coyotes behind him in the face, the jaw hung limply and slammed into the ground hard enough to rip it off.

Seventy feet between us now, gotta make the next ones count. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. Three more with two on target and one flying wild. Both hits tore into the flesh of the big coyote, he was slowing down but still standing. Either not hitting anything vital or he was simply just that durable.

Next shot had to be the one to take him down, or I was in serious trouble. I flipped the selector switch and took a gamble. BOOM BOOM BOOM. I rattled off a focused burst and hit. every. last. round. For a moment I thought it wasn’t enough and that the leaping coyote was going to rip me to shreds for shooting him five times. The corpse barreled into me and forced me to the sand below, fresh blood soaked into my armor and coat but the claws and teeth didn’t tear into me. He had died but not without taking me out of the fight temporarily.

I rolled out from under him and found myself surrounded by gnashing teeth. I pulled the trigger and swept my rifle to the left. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM CLICK, the magazine ran dry and the rifle clicked. Two more coyotes lay dead and a third was barely able to stand, but managed to bite down hard into my front left leg.

I drew my .32 pistol and machete and went to work keeping myself alive. PEW, a bullet right between the eyes of the one biting me. I swung my machete into the neck of the next one. They both dropped to the ground bleeding profusely. I spun to find more but the remaining ones had started running away or had been gunned down by Orchid and Smoky.

Smoky held out a hoof to stop me from chasing the pack. “We got the one we wanted, no need to chase any further.”

Only five of the coyotes had gotten away from the fight, choosing cowardice over death. Smart, I was out for blood for being so rudely attacked. A few deep breaths later and I sat down, finally realizing how exhausted I really was.

“You ok there Crimson?” Smoky asked as he stepped towards his prize. “You look like shit, no offense.”

“Some taken. Long night and jumping up to a gallop after just waking up doesn’t really do me any favors” I said, panting to get my breath back. I’d leave out the finer details for now, but eventually I’d have to say something about what happened between Orchid and I.

Orchid stepped towards me with a bandage at the ready. “That was a nasty bite, I’ll get you patched up.”

I levitated the bandage out of her grasp and over to myself. “You take care of the skinning and butchering. These hides are important, I can take care of this.” The armor on my leg was easy enough to pull off to examine the wound.

Orchid nodded and went to help Smoky with the prize coyote. This left me alone to patch the bite wound.

Ten puncture holes lined my foreleg armor, most were small and had barely broken the skin. The primary canines had punched through much further and were bleeding more heavily. I started to wrap the wound, slowly covering the exposed flesh with a fresh white bandage. By the time I started the second layer the first had been soaked in my blood. I hastened my pace and finished another two layers before the bandage was fully applied. Blood was slowly soaking through to the outermost layer but it wasn’t anything to worry about for now. I slid the armor back over it and stood to go help my friends.

With both working together the prize coyote was almost fully skinned by the time I got to them. All that remained was the coat clinging to its face and tail, two of the more complicated places to skin. They worked quickly and efficiently, both had years of practice doing this and it showed. The hide was unmarked by cuts or scrapes, professionally skinned with extra care.

I started dragging other coyotes closer to them so they could easily move from one to the next. The farthest one out was the one missing its lower jaw, so I started with it. Sand and blood covered the coat, the neck of which was missing. An ugly wound that would probably lower how much we could get for it, but we could get something for it. The drag was slow, but I got it over before they had finished butchering their prize.

I grabbed hold of the next three with my telekinesis and moved them all at once. This much weight strained me more than I was used to, but I kept focused and got the coyotes to move with me. I laid them out so it would be easy to move from one to the next. The last three were close enough that I simply did some small adjustments to how they were laying to ease the process.

They had skinned a second coyote and were using the pelt to lay meat out onto. They had butchered the bigger coyote up slightly differently than they had done the smaller ones. Each leg had been separated from the body at the shoulder and the rib cage had been separated from the spine in halves. There was a lot of meat on the butchered carcass. Everything was coming with us it seemed, even the teeth of the big coyote had been taken. What remained was a pile of miscellaneous bones, organs, and sinew. Items of little to no use to us.

Orchid and Smoky were working on different coyotes, distracted by the task at hoof. I decided it was best for me to stay out of the business and to simply keep an eye out for any form of danger. I started slowly trotting a circle around the pile of carcasses, watching for any disturbances in the distance. All was quiet for now, no signs of raiders drawn in by gunfire or giant rats and bugs smelling fresh blood.

I pondered where that stallion in the suit had gotten off to. His suit was so pristine he must never get shot, highly skilled in the art of combat it would seem. I hoped to see him again, so many questions to ask that I couldn’t in the heat of that moment.

The past twenty four hours had been interesting, and profitable for us. Would have to use some to restock the ammunition I had burned through so far. How much had I shot? Felt like quite a lot. I thought back and slowly counted out the rounds I had used. Twelve just now, seven on that other group of coyotes, four at those rats. That’d make twenty three rounds used, meaning I should have sixty loose rounds and ten in my magazine. That sounded like a lot more than it really was. If I used as many everyday as I did today I only had a few more days before I ran out.

I did have my pistol as a good back up option, but that was only good at close range. Maybe I should be using it when I get into up close and personal situations instead of the rifle. Spread out the ammunition usage so I run out slower. That’s a good idea, still try to land hits in critical locations but do so with a weapon appropriate for the distance.

“These pelts will fetch us a good price, plus we can sell some of that extra meat alongside it.” Smoky was looking at the large pile of pelts laid across his flanks. The charcoal gray of the big coyote was stuffed away into the left bag of his saddlebags for safe keeping.

“I’ll sell ‘em up as best I can, you’ll need to be there this time Smoky. I doubt they have enough caps an ammo for our current guns to get the full value from all this” Orchid said, looking over the haul of hides. A few wrapped hides were poking out of her bags, there was a lot of meat we sliced off this many animals.

“You’re probably right, we’ll see what they’ve got for sale before we make any decisions.” Smoky was beaming, happy and proud for finally getting his prize coyote. I could hear the excitement in his voice, a dream a year in the making and it finally came true.

I felt happy about the accomplishment, but also melancholic. It was the death of innocent creatures just living their lives that we were celebrating. It felt wrong to celebrate the death of a creature, even if it meant we would eat and have money to spend. This was life now, celebrating the death of other creatures if I got to keep living. Depressing.

“Crimson there anything else interesting around this area before the war? We’ve got a little bit of time to explore before we have ta head back” Orchid said, as she tapped on my shoulder. I jumped a little when she did so.

“Not really, we were mostly isolated down here. There was a rose garden I used to trot through.” Onyx Flash was an odd stallion, loved roses. Was the center of his photography. Growing them in the desert was an odd choice, but it apparently made for incredible pictures. “I doubt it’s still around, but we could go check.”

“Oh you knew the stallion that owned that? We’ve heard stories, but never believed them. That area is dry as a bone, we checked.” Smoky said, looking off to the west. That was roughly the direction it should have been in.

“I kind of figured it wouldn’t be around anymore. It took constant work to maintain, but damn was it pretty.” I smiled remembering many walks I had taken through the field of roses. “Beyond that I don’t think anything interesting was down here. Maybe I just didn’t get out enough.” I surely didn’t, work and other obligations really tied me down. Should have traveled more, the world used to be beautiful.

“Oh well, we can head back then. Won’t be back by nightfall, have to camp out under the stars again.” Smoky sighed and turned back towards that town. I hated to upset him, but I just didn’t know of anything else down here. “Orchid would you get us a bird's eye view? That much shooting definitely should’ve drawn some attention.”

“I’ll see what I can see, and don’t ya pout. We’ll have ourselves some adventure soon ‘nough.” She flew up to one hundred feet above and hovered there. I could see a pair of binoculars in her hooves, another tool I lacked.

Now seemed as good a time as any to ask about other locations around Equestria. “Where else have you heard about Smoky? I’m curious about what happened out here, and what all is left intact.”

“I can tell you what I’ve heard. Haven’t been many places outside of the south here, so my knowledge is a bit limited” he said looking back at me, a smile still on his face.

“Have you heard anything about Canterlot? I used to frequent there for business trips and meetings with the princesses.” Surely he’d tell me it was still standing and a bastion of hope as it had always been.

“I’ve heard tales of what remains of it.” Remains? As in… destroyed? “Nasty place that nopony is crazy enough to visit. Megaspell detonation occurred and wiped the place clean of life. Never been up near there myself, so that could just be lies and tall tales.”

“I hope it is… Canterlot was a beautiful place.” No way it fell, that was the capital of Equestria. But, what if it wasn’t a lie? “I was saving up to buy a house up there once I retired. If I got to that is, I enjoyed my work too much.”

Smoky merely chuckled at the notion. “I bet it was a beautiful place, would have liked to see it for myself.”

A silence fell between us as we trotted along. I had more places to ask about, but was still stuck trying to process the idea that Canterlot may have been destroyed. If it had been, then nowhere was safe. Everything could have been destroyed if even Canterlot wasn’t safe.

“We’re clear as far as I can see.” Orchid tossed the binoculars down to Smoky. “Smooth sailing for most of the day if we want to head straight back. Otherwise we can stop back at lone tree and rest there for a while.” Extra rest would be nice, I didn’t get much with all the craziness last night.

“We’ll push on and get as far as we can today. I’d say we can get pretty close if we hoof it.” Smoky had that calculating look in his eye, a look I was coming to loathe seeing.

There was no point in trying to fight this decision, Smoky had that look in his eye. This was the plan he had settled on and we were going to follow it. Where he leads I’d follow, begrudgingly albeit. Not that I had much other choice, and my list of reasons to stay was growing.

Smoky took off ahead as he always did, but this time with a confident stride. Happiness came in weird forms out here, but I understood his excitement. We had fulfilled a dream of his and secured what would be a haul of supplies once we got back to town.

What would I buy with any caps I was given? Spare ammunition would be a good idea. The life we’re living uses a lot of it. Maybe a new gun if I had enough? Another range rifle in a different caliber for hunting larger game? How would I use it though? My telekinesis is relatively weak and wouldn’t be able to hold up a big rifle. I was barely able to control this smaller rifle while shouldering it, so that idea was out. If we could find one, a battle saddle might do the trick, something heavy duty enough wouldn’t be cheap. Maybe I’d buy something special to say thanks to my new friends. They had saved my life, and now were teaching me to survive in this foreign world. Smoky and Orchid deserved something nice for all of that.

Orchid trotted alongside me, letting her brother take the lead. She brushed her tail against mine and bumped me with her flank. She caught me off guard with a kiss as I turned to look at her. So I hadn’t dreamed up the events of last night.

I tried to give her a stern look but couldn’t with the blush rushing to my face. In the end I just gave up trying to look unimpressed and simply smiled. I enjoyed the affection, I had been sorely lacking it for so long. It felt good to be loved. I quickly pecked her lips and turned my gaze forward. Unnoticed, at least I hoped so. I wasn’t good at being unseen or unheard, and Smoky seemed to have very sensitive ears. I lightly intertwined my tail with hers and gave her a wink. The quietest way I could think to show my appreciation for the affection.

Now it was her turn to blush, but she was much better at hiding it than I was. Her blush was adorable when you could see it.

Life out here may be a nightmare, but with Smoky and Orchid by my side it felt like a nightmare I could live with. That gave me hope for the future. Hope that one day I could live peacefully once again, enjoy the new world I was coming to know. Where would we go and what would we see? We couldn’t subsist off of hunting like this forever, eventually we’d cause a species to go extinct. Maybe there was a town somewhere that we could settle down in, use our knowledge to help other ponies out.

But then what about my friends? Steel and Gloria were still trapped at work with that abhorrent thing. I couldn’t get in there without a keycard or a pipbuck and time. Leaving them there to wake up and be greeted by that monster wasn’t right. Then again, was waking them to live in this nightmare the right call? A troubling situation, neither option was a good one. I took a deep breath and cleared the thoughts from my mind. We’d deal with those problems later, hopefully at least.

The sun was getting high in the sky and I was starting to feel the effects of dehydration and hunger. I knew we could only carry so many supplies on our backs, but taking this much time between meals seemed excessive. I drank the last of my bottle of water to help stave off the dehydration. The effect was noticeable, my minor headache dissipated but was replaced by a feeling of nausea. My stride slowed as dull pain began to course down my spine.

This unnatural feeling was noticed by the lovely mare at my side who cast me a concerned look. She quickly detangled our tails before speaking. “Somethin wrong Crimson?” Orchid was the medically inclined one, so maybe she’d know what was going on.

“Yeah, sudden feelings of nausea and mildly irritating pain down my spine.” I hadn’t broken anything had I? No, I would have noticed damage to my spinal column long before now. What could have caused it though? I got bit, tackled by a leaping coyote, and the recoil of my rifle were all new experiences. Nothing there should have done it, and rabies had different symptoms.

“That’s not good, sounds like needle spine.” With a name like that I could only assume the worst. Hopefully Orchid’s prognosis got less worrying. “One of those yotes probably ate something else that was infected.”

“And passed it on to me.” Great, an infection and no hospital nearby to get medicine from. I’ve never heard of needle spine, but at least it wasn’t rabies. “How do we cure it?” I’d be able to deal with the pain for a while, but it would be a distraction if we had to fight again.

“With what caps we’ve got ya don’t. Unless you know how to cure it with magic.” Smoky looked back at me, a knowing look in his eye. “Doesn’t surprise me ya got it, I had it a few months before we met you. One of the many reasons we’re still behind on supplies.”

Even fucking better, a disease that we had no cure to, nor the caps to pay someone else to cure it. Smoky didn’t seem to be suffering from it anymore, so at least it wouldn’t last very long. Now just how long do I have to deal with this? “Then how long does it take the immune system to shake it?”

“One month give or take. That’s how long Smoky over there bellyached about it.” Orchid was giving her brother a shit eating grin. A taunt, in a friendly manner. “Herbal teas can help numb the pain, if ya can find the right herbs” she said, with not much hope in her voice. Things just kept getting worse.

“Pass your good saddlebags over, I can carry them for now” Smoky said, gesturing to my cloth saddlebags. “You keep the leather one to use as storage for your rifle and some water, the rest will just slow ya down due to the bone shards.”

With trepidation I passed over the good saddlebags. I kept a few bottles of water and my spare ammo in the old leather one. “Bone shards? What exactly does this disease do?”

“In short it flakes pieces of yer spine in such a way that carryin heavy loads on yer back hurts somethin fierce.” Orchid gave me a calming look and placed a wing on my back. “Nothin permanent, shards break down after a month an yer back ta normal.”

No carrying heavy loads for the next month, a troublesome condition for this way of living. Smoky could definitely handle carrying a lot of our equipment, but it shouldn’t all fall on his shoulders. “You sure I can’t carry more than this?”

“You want to hurt all day for the next month?” Smoky asked as he shuffled the bags into position on his back. “Ya can try and carry more, but I wouldn’t recommend it.” He looked back and added “if you’re worried about me, don’t be. I’ve carried far more than this on my back before.”

“If you say so… I just don’t want to put more burden on you than is absolutely necessary.” I sighed when I saw that stubborn look in Smoky’s eyes. “But clearly I can’t talk you out of this. I’ll relent for now, but as soon as I can I’m taking my bags off your haunches.”

“I appreciate it, Crimson. Now let’s get a move on, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover.” Smoky cast a glance back to make sure we were following before lengthening his stride. “Maybe one of the ponies at camp has some herbs to help ya out. Wouldn’t be the first time they saved our flanks.”

My ears perked up and I managed to ignore the new pain to keep pace. “Hopefully. I did see some alchemical supplies in the store during our last trip.” Knowing my luck they were the tools of a dead pony, probably one of those that died during that raider attack.

“Orchid if you wo…” Smoky started before being quickly hushed by Orchid.

“Bird’s eye view, I know.” Orchid patted me lightly on the back before taking off into the air. She began to slowly circle overhead, this time flying counterclockwise. Unusual as she usually circled the other way from what I’d seen.

Smoky sighed and shook his head. “No need fer that.” He muttered before looking back at me. “Something’s got her in a tizzy, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would ya?” He was watching me keenly, looking for something in particular.

I gulped silently while trying to think up what to say… “My first instinct would be what we already… hinted at… She did seem more nervous and out of it than usual.” That pat on the back did me no favors for this conversation.

“Ya know lying to me won’t work right? It’s written all over your face that ya know more than that.” His gaze returned up to his sister for a brief moment. “If ya just confess I won’t be mad at ya. If ya ain’t noticed, I don’t sleep particularly deeply.”

“Oh… that’s awkward then…” Should have seen this coming. I’m not nearly as sneaky as I thought I was. “Then I suppose you know what happened between Orchid and I last night. I got a little drunker than I was expecting and things just… happened.” Now here comes his punch to my face.

“Yeah, they sure did.” No punch to the face? “I don’t mind. Who she chooses to do that with ain’t up to me. But do ya think if it happens again you can try and be quieter? It’s awkward enough to know about it, I’d rather not have to listen to it as well.”

“I’d suggest earplugs, but I don’t think that’s such a good idea out here.” Made me miss my set at home. “If it happens again I’ll try to be quieter. I’m still not sure whether I’m ok with it or not. I’m not sure whether I’m still legally married or not. My wife could still be alive… and I’m not particularly fond of the idea that I may have cheated on her.”

Smoky was silent for a few moments. “Think it through then. Yer the introspective type, so I’m sure you’ll figure it out with time to think.”

“I will…” There was nothing more to gain from this conversation and I didn’t want to make things more awkward between us.

The world changed while I was at work. Over one hundred years had passed and most cities that I cared about were destroyed, or worse. Holding out hope that this was all a nightmare would be for naught. This is how ponies lived now. Fighting for their lives everyday, eating horrendous food, killing each other if it means surviving another day. This isn’t how I wanted my life to be, but I didn’t have a choice in that matter now. At least I have friends by my side to help me through the thick and thin.

It’s time to move on, Crimson. Life as you knew it isn’t coming back. The world you long for no longer exists, and no amount of hoping and praying will bring it back. They’re both gone, but they’d want you to carry on and live your life. So learn to survive out here and carry on their memory to honor them.

I hung my head for a moment and let a few tears escape my eyes. My family was gone, my world was gone. Now all I could do was keep fighting to survive.

Orchid had circled back down to us, her gun already drawn. “Only two of ‘em that I can see.” And fight I would have to. “I think they didn’t see me, but somethin ain’t right.”

“Ambush?” Smoky asked tentatively. “Wouldn’t be the first time they got smart. And you’re sure they’re raiders?” He asked, reflexively drawing his pistol.

“I wouldn’t suggest it otherwise, ya know that.” Orchid landed next to me and motioned for me to draw my rifle. “Crimson can take these two from range an we can cover ‘im just in case they got smart.”

I drew and shouldered my rifle. “How far away are they?” I tilted my rifle to the left and pulled the bolt back just far enough to confirm I had a live round chambered. “Anything more ponies could be hiding behind? Tactical cover, or camouflage maybe?”

“Couple a rocks an some thick grass, probly is an ambush. The extra supplies’d be nice, ammo an water hopefully.” Orchid nodded at Smoky. “Smoky thinks it’s worth the risk, the area is a good camp fer us.”

“Good cover and some good grass for kindling and food. Plus with you havin needle spine, it’d be a good spot to rest for the rest of the day.” Smoky drew his gun and motioned for us to follow him.

I followed slowly behind him, keeping low. Doing so when next to Smoky was easy, he practically had to be laying down to be shorter than me. Orchid was naturally a little shorter than me and didn’t have to try nearly as hard to sneak around.

We crested a small hill and stopped. Three hundred feet away stood a pair of raiders conversing about something. Based on what gestures I could make out it seemed to be about the area. Maybe they were planning to set up a permanent camp, or an ambush on somepony else.

As I raised my rifle to a ready position something caught my eye as it soared into the sky. An incandescent red light shot about fifty yards into the sky, leaving a trail of darkened smoke in its wake. The beacon of light was somewhat difficult for me to keep track of so I cast it from my mind and focused on the clearing.

This beacon of light was a signal to all the raiders lying in wait here. Dozens of them sprang out of the thick grass and from behind the few rocks in the clearing. Every one of them looked directly in our direction, weapons drawn and ready for a fight. Most were still far away, but a few were less than twenty yards.

Several rifle rounds whizzed by as the closest raiders began firing upon us. A second volley came a split second later. This batch was more well aimed. I felt the impact of three bullets before I was thrown backwards.

Smoky caught me mid air and pulled both of us into a sprint in the opposite direction of the ambush.

I barely got my hooves under me and kept up with him. I could feel several deep burning pains in my chest. Each step caused me immense pain. Even the adrenaline wasn’t doing enough for me to fully ignore it. My ears rang and as we ran my vision started to fade, until everything went dark.

When my vision returned I was greeted by the bright light of a campfire lighting up the dark night. I picked my head up and looked around to try and find my companions. The motion caused my new wounds to flare up. The pain was more mild now, but still enough for me to grind my teeth to drown it out.

Neither Smoky or Orchid were seated nearby. Nor were they in sight for that matter. Their bedrolls were laid out by the fire along with my equipment, so they had to be close by.

I forced myself to stand up through the pain, grinding my teeth to help distract myself. “Fuck that hurts,” I growled before stumbling over to my equipment.

My armor and saddlebags had been carefully laid out on their sides. The pile was a near perfect representation of me laying on my side. They weren’t planning on burying me were they? I hadn’t come that close to dying, had I?

I shook the thought from my head and started donning my armor. The process only took a minute or so. I felt much better with my armor and weapons back at my sides. As I checked them, I found my weapons were still fully loaded. I slid each weapon back into their places before scanning the area farther away from camp.

The clouds were obscuring the moon, but I guessed it was still early into the night. There was a breeze gently blowing through the valley, adding a slight chill to the already cool air. The campfire cut down the chill of the night, keeping me pleasantly warm. Beyond the crackle of burning wood the night was silent and still, worryingly so.

I couldn’t see far into the darkened wastes around me, but even so I should have been able to see my companions. I debated abandoning camp to search for them.

Without them I was an easy kill. My supplies would keep me for a few days, and then what? I’d waste away, dehydration would kill me if I didn’t get shot or eaten first. I’m doomed without them.

I began to rapidly scan the area and frantically trot in place. I had to do something. Anything. I needed to find my friends. I turned to the north and began my stride only to be tackled to the ground.

My horn lit up and I drew my pistol. I flicked the safety off. As I aimed at my attacker a kiss landed on my lips. Taken aback I took a second to identify who tackled me.

The suit of tattered leather armor, vibrant sapphire eyes, and tangerine coat would have been more than enough to figure it out. But the frantic cries of joy really made it clear. “I told ya! I told ya he was still breathin! Ya see Smoky! He’s alive!”

I lowered my pistol and flicked the safety back on. “Good to see you too,” I said, sliding the gun back into its holster. “Next time give me a warning. I about shot you thinking you were trying to kill me.”

There was a brief pause from Orchid before she kissed me again. “Sorry, I was just so happy that ya wernt dead. I thought we lost ya.” I watched tears escape her eyes as she stared into mine.

I was happy to see her, happy that my life meant so much to her. Happy to still be alive. I smiled and pressed my lips against hers. “I understand. I just don’t want to hurt you. I think Smoky would kick my ass if I did.”

Orchid stood up and moved to the side as her brother stepped into view.

“Damn right I would.” He extended a hoof out to me to help me up. “Glad yer still breathing Crimson. Got worried when ya passed out running from those raiders.” I accepted the hoof and he yanked me up to my own. “Even more worried when I stripped yer armor and saw the damage.”

I grimaced as I placed my weight on my own hooves again. The recent wounds were sore and mixed together with the sharp pain in my spine from being tackled. “Yeah, must not be pretty if how much they sting is anything to go on.” Really wished I had a dose of whatever medicine they gave me when we first met.

“Yer lucky ta be alive.” Orchid said, grabbing one of my hooves and dragging me to my bed. “Those bastards were damn good shots. Hit yer lungs twice, barely missed yer spine, an put one right through yer heart.” She pushed me onto my bed before trotting to her own bedroll.

I sat silently for a moment absorbing that information. I had nearly died in three separate ways from that volley of bullets. “Oh… fuck.” How many times was that now? Five? Six? A few too many times for my liking.

Orchid dragged her bedroll over to mine and laid down putting her right wing over me. “Ya had me worried sick there fer a spell. I’m so glad ya pulled through.” She tightened her wing grip on me and scooched closer. “I love ya,” she said in barely more than a whisper.

“I love you too.” Sitting here with her wing wrapped over me made me feel leagues better. Today was rough, but this loving embrace made everything that much better. This was something I had been missing… she isn’t my wife, but I can’t deny she’s more than just a friend.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, all of us watching the small campfire burn. I inadvertently was the first to break our silence. With a minute to rest my stomach decided to announce how underfed it was.

We hadn’t eaten a proper ‘meal’ quote unquote in a few days and I was feeling the effects of it. I looked across the fire to Smoky who was carrying most of our supplies.

Smoky began to dig through his packs but was interrupted by Orchid. “Here, I cooked extra fer ya. This batch tastes a mite better’n the last set.” She set a plate down in front of me.

Upon said plate was two steaks, I could only assume coyote meat from the size of them. The steaks looked delectable, the perfect seared color and smelling of applewood.

My mouth watered in anticipation as I levitated one of the steaks to my mouth. Biting into the steak was a moment of bliss. The meat had been cooked perfectly. Soft and tender, so full of flavor from the fire it had been cooked over, and lightly seasoned with spices. I greedily scarfed down the rest of the first steak before levitating the other one up.

Orchid chuckled lightly at the sight. “Glad ya like my cookin, but slow down. Ain’t neither of us gonna take it from ya.”

I took the light jab and took a much more controlled bite out of the second steak. It was a little more done than the first steak, but I wasn't going to complain about being fed. I slowly chewed the second steak, savoring the flavor of it. "Sorry, I was just so hungry. I don't know how you two can live eating as little as you do. Your way of living is physically exhausting, and you don't seem to have the caloric intake necessary to keep up with the demands of this life."

"Yer right, we don't." Smoky stared at me from across the fire. "Like I said, we've barely scraped by these past few months. Ain't got the caps to buy food and water when we're in town. Far as we're concerned, clean water is more important. Lucky fer us Orchid can eat the animals we hunt, helps our stocks last longer."

"And you need even more of everything with me tagging along." I'm pulling my own weight as best as I can, not freeloading by any means. "Anything we can do to remedy that? I know I shouldn't expect to live like I did before, but surely we can do better than eating once every two to three days."

“Once we get these hides sold off we’ll be better off for a few weeks” Smoky said, patting the pile of hides on his back. “Unless we settle in some town we’ll likely be eating every few days for the rest of our lives.”

A grim future, not one that I wanted to be a part of if I could help it. I know I couldn’t convince them to settle down if I tried, both are free spirited. Maybe I could secure enough food for all of us… “Well not that it’s much of an option, but if we could get back into my lab we’d have food for years. We kept the place stocked with preserved foods that could be easily cooked after waking up from long stints under.”

“An how would we get in? Ya ain’t got one them fancy things on yer forehoof.” Orchid looked up in anticipation. “Plus that vermint stole yer card, ain’t no other way.”

“There is one, at least more likely than not it’s still an option. But you’re not going to like what we’d need to do.” I needed to make a trip home. For closure, and to help my new family.

“No. Absolutely not. We’re low on ammo and supplies as is. Trying ta get in there is suicide” Smoky said matter of factly. “I’ve thought about every angle we could attack that place from, an none of ‘em end anyway but death. Just ain’t worth the risk without help.”

“Then we get some bigger guns and find somepony who can help us!” I finished my steak and looked over at Smoky. “We find ways to mitigate the risk and make attacking the town possible. What if we hit it from above? Have Orchid fly over and drop grenades on them.”

Smoky huffed at me. “Ya think I ain’t thought of that? We had the one grenade that we used saving those folk and we can’t afford to buy more.” He sighed and looked off into the distance. “Look, I know you want to retake your home, I get it. I want to explore that place just as much as you do, but we can’t swing it without more firepower than we could ever dream of affording. Unless you can pull ten thousand caps out of yer ass, then we’re stuck livin like this.” His face was full of despair and frustration, unhappy he couldn’t provide more for his sister.

I could pull that many, but it would be very unpleasant for me. “Alright. I’m sure we’ll figure something out.” I laid my head down next to Orchid’s and closed my eyes.

“I know we will, I just need some time to think on it.” Were the last words I heard from Smoky before drifting off to sleep.

Chapter 8: Payday

I was awoken not long later, the sun still hadn’t risen and the campfire had burned down to embers. It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the darkness of the world around me.

Orchid was still asleep right next to me, though she had retracted her wing sometime in the middle of the night. Her blanket had been brought up over her head, presumably by Smoky.

The stallion in question was standing at the edge of the camp pacing back and forth. I could vaguely hear him muttering to himself, his gaze always moving as he watched for any threats. He had been pacing for a while based on how much dirt he’d displaced from his path.

I sat up and yawned, cracking my back as I did so. Sleeping had done me good. My new gunshot wounds still ached, but it was at least tolerable now. Scared me how quickly I was getting used to recovering from getting shot. Another unfortunate side effect of my prescription to living like this. With a slight wince I forced myself to my hooves and stretched while walking over to Smoky.

The closer I got the better I could make out his mumbling. “On the one hoof that bounty could buy us out of a contract. On the other, Orchid can’t handle losing anypony else. What the fuck do I do? Caravan work ain’t our line of work, but it pays well enough an we could get what we need.”

I stopped twelve feet short of Smoky to process what he was saying. Caravan work? The thing they had run away from to live how they wished, that was an option now?

“And what about Crimson? Orchid can’t lose him…” he paused briefly before adding in a much more hushed tone “I can’t lose him. Fuck.”

So the soulless bastard actually does care about me. I knew it! I waited a few seconds before letting out a yawn and saying “morning Smoky. I think it’s morning anyway. You’ve been up for a while it seems.”

Smoky stopped dead in his tracks before turning to look at me. He then looked down at the path he’d been pacing. “Yeah I uh, couldn’t sleep. Figured I’d do some thinkin while I watched fer danger.” He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “How long you been awake for?”

“A minute, maybe two. Hard to tell without a clock. Must be getting close to time to move on right?” I asked steering the conversation away from his mumbling.

“Yeah, yeah. Sun should be rising anytime now. We’ll uh, get movin at dawn. Head back to town and see if we can sell these hides fer enough ta cover our trip.”

“And then some hopefully. I don’t know about you, but I think we deserve some hazard pay with what we went through.” I gave him a smile and trotted to his side.

Smoky chuckled in response. “Wouldn’t that be something. Orchid could probably swing it if she tried. Oh speaking of, you mind wakin her? I think she might respond better to you right now.”

“Sure, I’ll wake her. Don’t go pacing yourself further into the ground now.” I said before trotting away. A light chuckle filled my ears as I parted from his company.

Orchid hadn’t woken up by the time I returned to her side. I slowly pulled the blanket off of her head. Uncharacteristically she was still wearing her armor. Her breathing was slow and she seemed to be having a pleasant dream with a smile plastered on her face. I hated to have to interrupt her rest, but we needed to be on the move. I slowly shook her to wake her up.

It took a few moments but she did groggily pick her head up and yawn. “I’m awake. My turn fer watch already?” Orchid unfurled her right wing over where I had been sleeping and lightly flapped it. She looked over confused, having not found me to be sleeping next to her.

Panic almost overtook her, but I stopped her with a kiss. “I’m right here, no need to panic. Just got up early is all.”

Relief washed over her face and she stood up. “I’m glad yer still here. Trouble sleepin or what?” She asked stretching her wings out.

“Nope, just woke up early. Must be getting used to living like this. Circadian rhythm must have synchronized with yours.”

“Or Smoky’s more likely. He’s always wakin me up when it’s time to move on.” Orchid began packing up our bedrolls. “Not that I mind, I enjoy sleepin in. An I still pull my own weight, so he don’t mind lettin me.”

“I couldn’t agree more, extra sleep is always a wonderful experience.” Pretty selfless of him to let Orchid sleep in that much. I wish he would let me sleep in. “Where are we by the way? There’s a slight gap in my memory after I got shot… four times.”

“A little ways southwest of their stagin area, five miles or so. Runnin from raiders really puts some pep in yer step” she said before tossing her saddlebags onto her back. “Only stopped cause we had ta. Smoky was bout ta faint an I was worried bout ya. Seemed as good a spot as any ta rest fer the night.”

“Doesn’t seem like we had any other options really. Smoky couldn’t have carried me any farther and I was in no shape to be moving much.” Likely should still be resting, but that’s not an option.

“Yer right, just frustratin ta not make it the last lil stretch. Oh well, only a few hours ta go fer we can sell our haul.” She motioned for me to follow. “Come on, let’s get Smoky an get a move on.”

I happily fell in line behind her, it was a beautiful sight after all. “You think they’ll have those herbs to deal with my disease? I’d like to be doing more to help out.”

“Maybe.” Orchid cast a glance over her shoulder at me as if to say ‘you’re doing enough’ but didn’t voice such an opinion. “Then again maybe not. Fer yer sake I hope so, but I wouldn’t hold yer breath.”

“Right, ok.” I let out an exasperated sigh. She might think I’m doing enough, but I don’t. “How will you know if they have the right ones?”

Orchid was silent for an uncomfortably long moment. “Gut feelin, I know my plants well ‘nough. Why ya askin?”

“Well,” great natural curiosity gets you in trouble again dumbass. “I suppose I was wondering if we could find them while exploring. Like Smoky did for those potions we made after I first woke up.”

“We could, jus more luck involved thata way. Easier ta buy then find an it’s important that ya can carry yer own equipment.” I could not agree more with that statement.

“Agreed. Follow up question. Where’d you learn what plants release the chemicals I mentioned on my notepad?” That was less than common knowledge without an extensive background in scientific research.

“I learned a few tricks in my years. Had Smoky read me a journal we found few years back that mentioned some that stuff. Weren’t the best place ta start learnin ta read, but I made do.” She kept her gaze straight ahead, locked on to her brother.

And she still hasn’t mastered reading yet. Normally that’d spell my untimely end, but I can put my trust in her. “Journal huh? I wonder if it was written by one of my coworkers.” Gloria would be the prime suspect. She was incredible with plants and their scientific uses.

“Can’t tell ya, we had ta burn it durin winter ta stay alive.” Before I could say anything else we stopped next to Smoky.

“You two ready to move out? Ain’t far to go to town.” He looked over the both of us and simply nodded without waiting for our response. “Let’s get a move on then. They won’t be around here for much longer.”

We took off at a manageable pace. The various aches and pains in my body weren’t enough to slow me down, but I was wishing for some painkillers every hundred yards. The sun was cresting the horizon before long and the heat of the day slowly began to seep in.

Days like today usually weren’t too bad if you had even just a slight breeze and plenty of water. We had enough water, several gallons as I recalled. What we lacked was a breeze, the wind had died down in the middle of the night. Now we were left in a stifling desert, forced to trot onwards by the time constraint.

Luckily the encampment wasn’t far too far away and only a few hours had passed by the time we reached the outskirts of the makeshift graveyard.

I made sure my path gave each grave the proper breadth for respect. The dead deserved to rest and not have ponies trod upon their grave. My companions didn’t walk directly over the top of any grave, but were much closer than I felt was respectful.

The encampment before us was alive with activity. What few tents remained standing were being broken down and loaded into small rickety looking carts. Said carts looked to be constructed from the boards used in their general store, which explained the absence of said building. Many of these carts were loaded well beyond the usual limits.

One of the carts off to the side had several hides, tools, and weapons hanging from the side. Our destination if Orchid’s course was to be believed.

I waved to a few members of the camp as we passed, including the sheriff who seemed quite pleased to see us again.

“Good afternoon sir, we’ve got some wares fer ya to look at.” Orchid motioned to Smoky. “Some high quality hides an fresh meat that might peak yer interest.”

The pile of hides was more than two feet tall by the time all of them were unloaded on the rear of the wagon. The last one to be laid out was the prize hide of the alpha we had killed.

The stallion took clear and immediate interest in the alpha’s hide. “Well I’ll be, ya actually found him. I thought he was just a rumor you two had heard ‘bout. Must have been mighty hard to put him down, mean sumbitch that he musta been.”

“He was, took several bullets to the chest and still had enough life in him to pounce on me.” I said as I approached the cart looking for anything of interest. “I thought for sure I was done for.”

“It’s true, heart and lungs were riddled with holes. He was a mean sumbitch alright.” Smoky said running a hoof down the hide.

The stallion hummed. “Sounds like ya got a lotta attachment to it. It is a real perty hide, in good condition too. I ain’t got the caps ta buy all these hides and meat outright. Maybe we can make a deal.”

“I’m sure we can. How ‘bout we let these two boys pick out what they want an we can settle everythin all out after.” Orchid leaned on the cart and fluttered her eyelids.

“Can do miss. You two pick out what ya need. Now I’ll tell ya miss, we ain’t got much to trade fer after that attack.”

Smoky and I stepped forward to the cart and began searching through the contents for much needed supplies. The cart had everything we needed and then some. Ammunition, food, water, all in quantities far greater than we could ever dream to carry. I watched Smoky for a few moments to see what he was going to buy.

Smoky was most concerned with fresh water and pistol ammunition. Though he did stop to investigate a few different books, one of which he added to his growing pile of supplies.

I turned back to the cart and started sorting through the ammunition stockpile. There was plenty of ammo for all the guns I had, but not knowing how much we had I erred on the side of caution and only grabbed a few boxes of each type. I set them aside and dug through the cart looking for any books and herbs that could be found.

I found the books first and rifled through the first pages of most of the books. A few of them were novels I had already read, nothing of real interest to me. The first of two to catch my eye was a journal much like my own. Several alchemical recipes marked it’s pages, a book that Orchid would no doubt be able to make use of. The second was a shorter novel that Lavender had enjoyed, one she had been keeping to help our foal learn to read. Both books found their way into my pile and I finally shoved enough stuff aside to find the herbs.

“So what are we looking for here Orchid. I must admit I’m not exactly well versed in herbology.” I recognized several small bundles of lavender and ginseng, but the rest was well beyond me.

“Scooch, I’ll see if they got any. How ‘bout you an Smoky pay fer what ya bought.” She bumped me with her flank and searched through the pile of herbs.

“Ya find everythin ya needed?” The stallion said looking over our haul of goodies. “Looks like ya needed a lot.”

“I think we found everything we need, least fer now anyhow.” Smoky nodded satisfied. “How much can we get fer the hides and meat?”

“Enough to cover all this, an a hundred caps on top. Sounds like a fair price ta me.” He didn’t look too hard, was that good or bad?

“A hundred sounds about fair.” Smoky held his right hoof out to shake on it. “Orchid you got a hundred to get what ya need, I already got ammo and water.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, meet ya back at the pit.” She didn’t look up from the cart, a few choice herbs had been separated from the rest. Hopefully the ones I needed.

“Pleasure doin business with ya. Ifn ya need anythin you’ll have ta find us up north. Time we had our leave of this place.”

“We’ll make sure to do that. Come on Crimson.” Smoky gave a polite nod to the shopkeep before trotting towards the outskirts of camp.

I followed closely behind him with my new purchases stowed safely away. The journal found its way out of my bags and into the air in front of me. Now that I had the time to properly look it over I was interested to see what treasures these pages held. The first pages were recipes that I’d need Orchid’s expertise to decipher and make sense of. Skimming through I saw several more alchemical recipes before the contents changed to more destructive recipes. Alchemical recipes and explosive schematics, an interesting combination to have in the same journal. Fuck any recipe up in this book and it’ll blow up in your face.

My muzzle pressed up against the book as it and I ran face first into a now stationary Smoky. “Maybe wait until we’ve stopped to read there Crimson. Wouldn’t want to walk inta some raider trap or creature would ya?”

I took a step back and closed the book. “No, I most certainly wouldn’t want to do that. Just got distracted thinking about the contents of this book.” Or about who it reminded me of.

He gave me an understanding nod. “I know, just gotta make sure ya don’t walk off without Orchid. She’d have more than a few things to say if I did.” He gestured to the ground before sitting down himself. “What caught yer interest?”

I sat down and levitated the now open book over to him. “Some recipes that Orchid might have use of, and just then a couple of schematics for bombs of some sort. Musing about how this whole journal could blow up in your face.” I slowly flipped through a few of the pages to let him read. “I’m no expert, but I think I could put some of these together if I had the parts to work with.”

“Hmm, we’ll keep an eye out for anything we can use. If we can spare the parts I think it’d be a good idea to make a few.” He stopped to ponder. Perfect, that look of gears turning. One step closer to getting home.

“So where to next?” I asked sliding the journal back into my saddlebags. “We’ve got a good stock of food and water, the ammo to keep us alive. Seems like all we’re missing is a plan.”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about that…” he trailed off idly scratching at the ground with his left forehoof. “I was gonna run the idea by you and Orchid about maybe joining up with this lot for a while. They pay well and we ain’t exactly got a way to get into that stable of yours for our other prospect. Much as I hate to do that, might be our best option for now.”

“I’m in no real position to argue with your judgement. We don’t have the resources to retake my old home nor a pipbuck to crack security at the stable, so that’s out of the question for now. Sounds like everywhere else around here is full of raiders and slavers.” Not many options for us at all, but leaving the area for goddesses know how long isn’t an option for me.

“I know, I don’t want to force us back into somepony else’s terms. Unless we can think of something else, it’s what we’ll have to do.” The gears were still turning, but I could tell none of them were finding purchase on anything.

The slight rustle of wings and a light draft caught my attention. I spun my head fast enough to catch Orchid landing next to me. “Bout time ya catch me fore I land. Light a fire would ya? I got some tea ta make.” She kissed me and hoofed over a bundle of herbs. “These’ll do the trick fer ya. Should be able to make a few gallons, nough fer a few weeks.”

Not the whole month I needed them for, but it would help me for a while. “Perfect, thank you. I’ll be able to carry more if I drink this right?” I pulled four full water bottles from my pack and set them aside.

“It’ll numb the pain, but I’d still take it easy if I was you. Now just let these herbs boil fer a few minutes and then bottle it back up.” She sat down and watched the flames burn. “Where we headed Smoky?”

“Crimson and I were just discussing that. Not a whole lot left round here for us right now. Best I’ve got for now is ta head north, maybe travel with this lot for a while.” His expression was dour. Looked like a foal anticipating his parents yelling at him.

But no yelling came. “Ya know that ain’t us anymore. We left fer a reason, an I can’t see us takin it back up. Ya gotta remember tha reason. I ain’t got the heart fer it.” Orchid looked stubborn, but I could hear the melancholy in her voice. Who had she lost to be some vehemently against this idea?

“Neither do I, but what else can we do? We’ve hunted this area nearly dry, our bounty is locked up tight where we can’t get, an we ain’t got the means to take over Crimson’s town even if we wanted ta.” Frustration, but he was holding back the flood gates. “Unless you can think of something, our best bet is to join them for a while. Just long enough to get the supplies we need to pursue our target.”

Steam escaped the top of the kettle, the tea was done. I levitated it out of the flames and poured the contents into my glass bottles. The tea carried a dull orange hue instead of the green I expected out of these herbs, but it did smell delightful. I took a sip and was unpleasantly surprised by the incredibly earthy taste, like sipping on liquidized dirt.

“What bout headin south then? We know a few folk down there an there’s nough game there. Ain’t far we’d have ta go, an we’d be close fer when we do got the means.” Orchid was standing now, looking over the flames at her brother.

The air felt cold and dead, even with the small campfire blazing during the heat of the day. Neither could agree on what path to take because both had their merits. I guess it comes down to me to help make the decision. “Well, how about we stick around this area for a while longer? We can camp out at lone tree in the cellar, it’s safe and defensible. Plus I think with time we could gather some of the nails down there for use in some explosives.”

“That’s a very short term solution. We need to be thinking at least a month ahead to keep ourselves alive,” Smoky said, clearly annoyed at me for not taking his side. “While I think it’d be a good idea to stay there, what would we do about clean water? Or fresh food that isn’t meat? Our stocks will only carry us so far, and then what?”

“By then we’ll have what we need. With a little of your strategic planning we can make the area safe and take everything we can use. Plus we’ll have a good place to store what we can’t carry with us all the time.” Not my best plan, but it would be a good enough plan to keep us alive while we made a better one.

Smoky and Orchid shared a moment of silence staring at each other. Their faces conveyed an entire conversation, every small twitch and motion understood by both of them. Smoky was the first to break the silence. “Ok, we’ll make camp there and plan out our next steps. Hope you’re ready for a long walk, we’re not stopping until we’re there.”

Another long walk? At least I have this tea to ease the pain while we walk. “Lead on then. It’s quite a trip out to lone tree.”

Orchid quickly packed up the kettle and fell in line on my right side. “I hope you’ve got a plan brewin. Gotta keep Smoky happy if’n ya want ta stay here, an he’s none to happy bout this choice.”

“I’ve got something in the works, I just need some time to work out the finer details. Step one is simple. We get to lone tree and make use of what little remains there. Step two becomes more complicated, but I’m confident I can make a sufficient enough plan out of it.” The tea did wonders to numb the pain. Though I could still feel a minor ache where the bone shards were the worst.

“That’s what I was afraid of.” Orchid fell silent. The awkward silence was replaced by the feeling of our tails intertwining once again. A gesture I was growing increasingly fond of. With no more to discuss we made our way onwards, following closely behind Smoky.

The area was quiet today, unnaturally so. Not that I minded some peace and quiet after the awful week I had just barely lived through. No birds chirping, no ponies talking, no breeze blowing, and thankfully no gunshots ringing out. Today is as close to paradise as one can come out in this world anymore.

Then there’s the mare beside me. Under more normal circumstances I’d have distanced myself from her, but normal circumstances were completely gone. We had only shared a few passionate moments together so far, but I felt like I knew her inside and out. Under the circumstances I suppose proposing to her is out of the question. Not like I have a ring to give her anyway.

Before the fanciful thoughts of traditions long past could take root, my attention was brought back to the here and now. The sun was setting and only a few hundred yards away was the cellar in which we would make camp for the night. Our new home, for the time being.

“Orchid you mind flying ahead to make sure the coast is clear? And if it is maybe getting a small fire going. Clouds look like we might have a storm tonight, better get any cooking we need to do done before it hits.” Smoky fiddles with his revolver as we closed the distance. He loaded in a type of bullet I failed to recognize.

“Sure.” Orchid brushed her tail against me before she took off into the air. I hated having her leave my side to potentially be put in danger, but she has proved more than capable of defending herself.

“So what’s step two of your plan?” Smoky had slowed to trot alongside me. “Or have you thought that far ahead yet?”

“I haven’t got it completely thought through yet, but I’ve got enough of it sorted for us to take action tomorrow.” I suppose the whole idea could be step two. “We’re going back to the train station, we left some materials behind that we now have a use for.”

“The vending machines?” Smoky asked, casting me a cautious side eye. “You really think those pieces of shit are worth the danger of going back there? You do remember what you had a run in with right?”

“Hear me out here. Those machines are giant chunks of metal and plastic. If we can break them down that metal can be formed into the housing for some of these bombs. Or we can use it to reinforce our armor to help save our lives from anything attacking us.” I hope both, but without the proper tools that might be too much of a stretch. “Then all we need is some gunpowder, which is actually the more difficult part of this plan. I can make it from scratch, but we’d need to find some special ingredients to make it work.”

“Not as hard as you think. We can burn up a fair amount of those wooden boards in the basement right?” The look of doubt on Smoky’s face had been replaced by an inquisitive one. There was a hint of something more that I could only place as him knowing what I was thinking.

“I think so, but they might need some time to dry out first. I’m less worried about the charcoal and more worried about the sulfur and potassium nitrate.” Chemically pure amounts of either wouldn’t be an option. Luckily Steel’s mix didn’t require them to be.

“I hope you have some idea where to find what ya need, because you’ve got one week to convince me on your plan. If I ain’t convinced we’re heading north to find something concrete.” Smoky stopped at the top of the cellar and looked back at me.

One week to make all the preparations, less time than I wanted. “I’ve got an idea. Old mine tunnels near where I worked were shut down to let our operation in. That’d be the best place to start looking for what we need.” With any luck some of the explosives would still be there and stable.

“For all of our sake’s I hope you’re right Crimson.” He lifted the cellar door up and motioned for me to go through. “Go on ahead, I need to talk with Orchid for a few minutes. Oh and take this, might help keep those nails intact.” His tail swayed back and forth with a hammer weighing it down.

I levitated the hammer over to me and lit my horn up to help see in the darkness below. “I’ll get to work clearing out a place for us to sleep. Won’t be very comfortable, but it’ll be dry.” I stepped down into the darkness, horn lighting my way forward.

Cleaning out the whole cellar would take far too much of my limited time, so picking the best spot for the night was a priority. I picked the corner right of the bottom of the stairs. Most of the shelves had already collapsed making it the best short notice choice. Several boards were already piled on the ground with rusty nails exposed.

Using the hammer I quickly pried the rusty nails I could see from the boards and laid them out flat. If there was going to be rain tonight we’d want to be off the ground. The cellar door would keep most of the water out, but the extra insulating layer would keep us warm and dry.

The next shelf was only about half standing, the left side had collapsed some time ago leaving only the right side and shelf slats intact. I tipped the whole shelf onto the intact right side and started ripping nails out to separate the slats. The process was relatively quick, some of the boards were rotten making nail removal that much easier. The good boards were added to the growing sleeping area I had laid out. The rotten ones I laid out to help keep any good boards I didn’t need off the ground.

“One shelf down, only ninety nine to go. At least we’ll have a dry place to sleep tonight.” I tipped the next shelf over and started the process over again. My collection of nails had grown to about fifty by the time I had destroyed the second shelf, and the sleeping area was big enough for all three of us. Any boards from here on out could be burned for charcoal.

The smell of cooking meat began to waft down the stairs. The smell was infinitely better than the last time I had smelled meat cooking. I laid down and took out a bottle of tea, sipping on it while working to help numb the pain. A third shelf had been broken down and separated by the time the cellar door opened up.

“Sorry bout takin so long. Figured I’d get nough meat cooked ta hold us over fer a while.” Orchid made her way down into the cellar and looked around. “Seems ya were just as ‘fficient with yer time. How bout ya move over an let me get our beds set up?”

I stood up and moved off the wooden boards. “I can do that. Feeling a bit peckish, mind passing me one of those steaks?”

Orchid did so before laying out the first bedroll. “Smoky said ya got a plan fer us, seemed unsure bout it. Ya ain’t plannin somethin stupid are ya.”

“That depends on how you define stupid.” I took a bite out of the steak and chewed it, pondering my next words. “I think it’s a good idea. Gives us some extra firepower in the form of improvised explosives. I figure you can drop them on top of whatever we need to kill.”

“That’s not a bad idea. So what’d ya say ta make him antsy?” Orchid asked, dropping her saddlebags onto her bedroll.

I set my bedroll down on the floor and unrolled it, happily eating the rest of my steak as I did so. “I said we’d need to go back to the train station. That didn’t win me a whole lot of confidence from him.”

“An I see why he wasn’t excited, '' Orchid said with an exasperated sigh at the end. “But he went long with it, so I spose that’s where we’re headed. Anythin else I should know?”

“There’s some mines nearby we’ll also be going to looking for the raw materials to create gunpowder. Did he not tell you all this already?” I asked as I laid down on my bedroll next to her. “Seems like something he’d tell you.”

Orchid sighed and started stripping her armor off. “Nah. We had other business ta talk bout. Plans a what we’ll do if yer plan don’t line up. I’m really hopin ya know what yer doin. I love Smoky, but I can’t see eye ta eye with him with this plan of his.”

I sure hope I know what I’m doing. “I know all the pieces will fall into place, but it’s not going to be an easy plan to make work. What’s he doing up there by the way?”

“He’ll be down soon, just needed ta sit an think. Was watchin the clouds when I left an came down here.” She pushed the armor aside and stretched. “Long day tamarraw, hope he don’t stay up too long. Same goes fer you, prolly should get some shut eye.”

While I could stay up longer working, she was right. “You’re right. I suppose it is time to get some rest. Won’t be getting much in the coming days while enacting my plan. Goodnight Orchid.” The words fell on deaf ears as she was already asleep. I laid my head down and slowly drifted off to sleep without hearing the cellar door close.

Chapter 9: Even the Best Laid Plans

When I opened my eyes the world was bright with light, blindingly so. As my eyes adjusted to the light I saw I was in a blank white room. The room had no clear exit, no visible furniture or light fixtures, I was the only occupant of the room. A feeling of dread gnawed at the back of my mind. None of this was right, I was asleep in a dark cellar in the company of good friends and not in this abyss of white nothingness. I blinked a few times and took a deep breath to help clear my mind. This brought the world into focus and made something new appear in this room.

Standing squarely in the middle of the room was a reflective surface adorned with an intricately detailed cast iron frame with inlaid gemstones. Dazzling diamonds in each corner, deep blue sapphires mixed with sparkling emeralds and blazing rubies sprinkled throughout the frame. The mirror before me was lovingly made, a true masterpiece from somepony who had no doubt dedicated their life to their craft. I took a minute to study the intricate details of the mirror before gazing into the reflective surface.

Unsurprisingly the visage staring back at me was my own, but one stripped of the armor and armaments I had begun carrying with me. My musculature had shrunken due to the malnutrition and several small patches of my coat were missing where bullets had ripped through me. Where my coat remained was still a healthy champagne tan, though in places it was still caked in dirt and blood. My eyes were still as piercingly crimson as they had always been. My mane and tail were messes of tangled hairs, but their gentle and serene blue highlighted with strips of gold hadn’t changed.

This visage of myself wasn’t the one I remembered seeing the last time I looked into a mirror. Nor did it paint me in a particularly attractive manner. Nevertheless, even after everything I had been through I still recognized the reflection as myself. I didn’t take much longer to sit and stare at myself, it felt vain to stare for too long.

The room was still just as empty as I had left it, but further details were coming into focus the longer I focused. The walls were now lined with cushioned large white pads, and light fixtures had appeared in the ceiling. I had never been in a place like this, but the horror stories I had heard told me I was sitting in the walls of an insane asylum. All I was missing was a straight jacket to complete the experience.

The air began to vibrate and a pounding voice in my head compelled me to look back at the mirror. With no other options I did as it commanded and stared once again into my own reflection. This time it was different, so subtly at first that I almost didn’t notice the changes.

Deep crimson fluid began to seep from the reflection’s coat covering every inch of it. I stared in horror as my visage twisted and cracked into something demonic. The voice in my head pounded louder as the reflection broke free of the bonds of the mirror.

It lunged at me and I retreated. No escape in sight. We began circling each other. I had to escape this thing. I tried to sprint left, but it moved to block me. I kept trying. And it kept getting in my way. No matter the move it was there. I slowed my pace to think.

It took the opening and lunged again. I couldn’t dodge it. It threw me backwards to the ground and pinned me. Razor sharp teeth jutted from its mouth and it intended to make a meal of me. The jaw opened and it slammed the teeth into my neck.

I shot bolt upright, pistol drawn and ready for action. The world around me was dark. I was somewhere else. Once again I focused and calmed my mind. A blanket had been tossed over my head during my sleep. It wasn’t the only thing making it dark, the cellar door was closed. I slid the blanket off my head and holstered my pistol.

Orchid was still asleep at my side, though she had no blanket covering her. Smoky was fast asleep a few feet from me. His ears twitched at my heavy breathing, but he remained asleep. The soft pitter patter of rain resounded off the cellar door, a small trickle leaking in through a shrapnel hole.

I laid down once again letting out a sigh of relief. “It was just a bad dream.” Sleep wasn’t appealing anymore, but cuddling with Orchid sounded nice. I levitated the blanket on my back over both of us.

Orchid stirred after a few minutes, letting out a quiet yawn as she did so. “Mornin. Crimson you awake?” Her right wing stretched out and began to lightly shake me.

“Yeah been awake for about ten minutes, had another nightmare. I was trying to keep my mind off of it.” I was still tired, but what sleep I had gotten would have to do.

Orchid pulled me closer with her wing and planted a kiss on my left cheek. “Then let’s just sit and enjoy some time together before we have ta go out.”

“I’d like that.” Going out into the rain to scrap those machines was inevitable, but for now if we didn’t have to go we weren’t going to. I laid my head down next to Orchid’s and enjoyed the peaceful ambience.

The peaceful relaxation didn’t last long as Smoky awoke from his slumber. He stood letting his blanket slide off his back. “Rain, dammit. Wake up you two, we got work to do.” He went to shake us but stopped upon realizing we were already awake.

“And what a pleasant day to work through” I said as I pulled the blanket off and stood. “Pouring rain is going to make it quite a cold day.” At least eight hours of today will be spent with no shelter, hypothermia might be a concern. “Not like we have much other choice. For my plan to work we’ll need all the time we can get.”

“So we better get a move on then. Once you and Orchid are ready, meet me outside. I’m going to make sure nopony else has found this place yet.” Smoky turned and trotted up the stairs. A much heftier torrent of rain came in through the now open hatch. The cellar wouldn’t flood, but the less rain water in here the better.

I didn’t have to wait long for Orchid to don her armor and saddlebags. What little time she took was enough for me to drink the last few sips of tea from the first of eight bottles. “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be I spose.” She stood beside me for a brief moment before heading up the stairs. “Shouldn’t keep him waitin.”

I followed closely behind her dreading stepping out of the mostly comfortable cellar. The air outside was cool, but lucky there was no wind to really make life miserable. Cold rain pelted me as I closed the cellar door behind me. Worst of all there was no end in sight for this rain, storm clouds stretched across the sky as far as the eye could see.

Smoky stared into the distance towards our first objective. He stood waiting for me to take the lead. This wasn’t his plan after all, it was mine.

To not disappoint I took charge and trotted forward casting a glance backwards to make sure they were following. “Let’s not stand around too long. I’m already getting cold and would prefer to keep moving.” Faster we get there the faster we can get back into some proper shelter.

“I’ll keep a lookout. Ya never know if there’s any smart raiders out today.” With the rain coming down it was impossible to hear the flap of wings as Orchid took off. Almost as hard to see her circling above with the darkened clouds as the backdrop.

I lost Orchid in the clouds as she banked left to circle counterclockwise. “Has she always been that good at sneaking around? It’s quite scary how easily she can just appear next to me without a sound.”

Smoky chuckled lightly from behind me. “Lotsa practice. One of us has to be sneaky, and I ain’t exactly built for whisper work.” He surely was not built to skulk around. “She never lost at hide an seek when we used to play as foals.” A melancholy sigh exited his lips.

Smoky was at quite the disadvantage to win a game like that, but his eyes were good enough to level the playing field. “That must have been a hard game to play. Everything out here seems so damn desolate. Where would you even hide?”

“Under carts and behind hills. Anywhere I could find that wasn’t too far away from the caravan and wasn’t too obvious a spot. Orchid was always in a cart somewhere, usually curled up in a pile of blankets or hides. I’d swear she was in one cart and look, just to get a ball or something else to the back of my head. Those were the days.”

“Ahh the simpler days, back before everything was complicated.” Still a more complicated childhood than life before. “That would explain why she can essentially disappear when she wants to.” A silence grew between us, only the pounding rain and the soft squelch of hooves on wet sand remained.

Smoky was quiet for a few minutes time before he spoke again. “Yeah, lot more to keep track of now. Can’t just hope for everything to fall into place, or a life where we don’t have to work for everything.” A sentiment that seemed true, life out here was hard and dangerous.

“Well maybe not…” Settling down somewhere would be good for these two. “If we can get into my stable you wouldn’t have to worry about life out here. As long as the power stays we’d have enough clean water and food to wait this nightmare out.”

Smoky hemmed and hawed at the idea before stepping up next to me. “While I think it’s a good idea, Orchid wouldn’t want that. She’s far too free spirited to enjoy staying in a place like that for the rest of her life. I trust your judgment on how long supplies would last, but you don’t know Orchid like I do.”

But I do know her in ways you don’t. “It’s an option, maybe you take it and maybe you don’t. That all comes down to if we can retake my home or not.” A tenuous prospect with all the living, potentially fire breathing, things standing between us and that goal.

“We’ll see. If your idea can come through with enough grenades we might stand a chance. We might also have another ace up our sleeve.” He gave me some side eye before saying “I might have convinced some friends from that caravan to help us out. Should we have the supplies needed to take back your home, they’ll help. For the price of a fair few hides and meat. If not, they're gonna escort us back to the caravan.”

“That’s wonderful news. A few extra sets of hooves would make things easier.” If his intel on my town was good, we’d need all the help we could get. “That’d also explain the time limit, can’t be away from their jobs for too long.”

“Yep, so ya better not keep ‘em waiting.” Smoky began to slowly gallop ahead of me.

I took the not so subtle hint and broke into a gallop myself. There isn’t time to waste if I want to retake my home and save my friends. Plus getting out of this rain faster sounded like a damn fine plan to me.

A few hours passed as we galloped along before the rain began to slow. I hoped it would stop, but alas I was not that lucky. A slight drizzle was much more tolerable than the driving rain we had been dealing with, but the damage was already done. The ground was muddy and difficult to traverse without slipping and I was chilled to the bone.

Orchid circled down towards us. She looked mostly unbothered by the rain even though she was completely soaked. I heard her shout something, but couldn’t catch it over the rain. The shot that tore into her wing and sent her on a fast track for the ground, I did hear.

Smoky caught her and readied himself. Gun drawn he turned to face the attacker.

I drew my rifle and got low to the ground. I didn’t see anypony nearby. Nor did I hear follow up shots. The sky was clear, or so I thought. A grenade flew past my left cheek and exploded behind me, tossing me forward to the ground.

“Eyes up they’re in tha clouds!” Orchid pulled me to my hooves. She eyed me over and readied her pistol.

We both rolled out of the way as another grenade came soaring toward us. This time I caught where it was fired from. I let loose a burst of rounds, unsure if any would find their mark. Shots ripped the air from my right.

Smoky and Orchid engaged in close quarters combat with a half dozen jet black creatures. They were holding their attackers off, but wouldn’t last forever.

I stepped up to help but was interrupted by another of the pony-like creatures. It hissed and jittered its transparent cyan wings at me. This one had the grenade rifle and a battle saddle upon its back. After a second it’s visage flickered to my own.

I needed no further encouragement to fire. I unloaded the rest of my magazine into the creature. It took every bullet, but the creature fell. And the poor reflection of me with it. I charged forward to help Smoky, drawing the first gun I felt in my saddlebags.

The next creature in my way turned to fight, bearing sharp fangs. It intended to bite down into my neck, but wouldn’t get the chance.

BOOM, the report rattled my ears and nearly sent the gun flying. Very little remained of the thing’s head. All that I could see was a shower of blood and viscera.

I skidded to a stop staring down two of both Smoky and Orchid. The four looked at me and I froze. They were exact copies of each other, no way to tell who was who.

“Ta hell with this!” One of the Orchid’s said before firing at the other her. This was the real one of the two, as the one she shot hissed in pain.

All I could do was sit and watch the short exchange of gunfire. By the time all was said and done I had watched both sides take a dozen hits. The two left standing were bleeding heavily from their wounds. The two that lay dead exploded in a flash of bright light before returning to their regular disgusting forms.

I hobbled over to my friends as the pain from several shrapnel wounds burned through my left hind leg. “You two alright?”

Orchid held out a potion to me with her left wing. “Lil worse fer wear, but we’ll live. Drink this, ya got shot ta shit.”

I did as instructed and held the injured leg in the air while I waited for the pain to leave. “You’re telling me. Those explosions hurt. Honestly surprised I’m not dead.” I tentatively set my leg down before continuing “I was more worried about you two.”

“Appreciate it Crimson, but we’re tougher than you think” Smoky said looking around the impromptu battlefield. “Gather what you can carry, might come in handy. We’ll need it, for sure.” He looked mostly unfazed by the carnage around him, but not unsurprised or without pain. He was shot up worse than Orchid, almost two dozen entry wounds scored his chest. Yet he remained standing and his face betrayed only minor pain.

I nodded and trotted back to the first creature I had killed. Quickly I lifted the saddle onto my back and nestled both my rifle and the grenade rifle into the apparatus’ on the sides. What little was in the creature's saddlebags found home in my own before I stopped to examine the creature.

Numerous holes marked the fore and hind legs of this creature. All of which appeared to be made of a hardened material, not unlike chitin of scorpions or other invertebrates. The pupils were dark like the chitin, the wings bore the only color of the creature. What few teeth I could see were razor sharp fangs protruding from the maw in a grimace. It also had a horn in addition to its transparent cyan wings. No armor upon its back left everything in view.

It was vaguely like a pony, likely with a similar physiology, but enough differences precluded it from being a pony like me. This creature was a separate being, something close that would never be the same. I had never heard of such a creature existing and the faces of my friends told me they hadn’t either.

Whatever this thing was mattered less than what it had provided me. A new weapon and another useful tool to help reclaim my home. Plus the knowledge of how powerful that revolver the Sheriff had given was. Lessons and utilities I wouldn’t soon forget about. The extra weight did send jolts of pain down my spine, but nothing the tea couldn’t help to mitigate.

“No food or water,” Smoky grimaced looking at the meager supplies he had gathered. “But a boon none-the-less. Keep your eyes peeled for more, not impossible more lay in wait.” His revolver swayed from side to side, assumedly following his eyes as he scanned the horizon.

I reached over and clicked the magazine release for my rifle. If there was a chance for more I’d need the rifle ready. I clicked rounds into place until the magazine was full and slapped it back into the magazine well. I then opened the grenade rifle to see a fresh 25mm grenade in the chamber. It clicked closed as I started forward. “Let’s keep moving.”

Neither of my companions complained aboutt the idea. The quietness of the air between us was unnerving, usually they’d at least acknowledge me. Probably just in pain after getting shot to shit and trying to focus on something else. That made sense in my mind at least.

I pushed forward through my own pain, taking a sip of the tea as we went. After a few hundred yards I pulled the heavy revolver out and rolled the cylinder out the left side. Of the five chambers, four chambers held live cartridges and the last held the empty brass of the spent bullet. I quickly slipped the empty brass into my saddlebags and a fresh cartridge into place.

I’d need a new holster for this revolver, having such a powerful weapon at the ready could never be bad. And when we got the time, slotting my rifle into the battle saddle would be a good thing to do. All thoughts for later.

We’d be to the train station soon enough and that was where my focus needed to be. I could barely make it out on the horizon, but was glad we were close as the rain started to pick back up. The ground was slick but bore no new tracks and the large mound of dirt had been stomped back down flat.

Everything looked clear, but even still I drew my smaller pistol and got ready to use it. I crept up the steps and to the left of the main door. “You ready?” I asked, motioning to Smoky who had taken up position across from me.

He gave me a quick nod and reared up on his front hooves. The door shot inward with me right behind it. Scanning side to side, checking corners, and looking around yielded an empty building.

I lowered my pistol, satisfied that we were safe here. “Looks clear. Ow, the fuck!” I yelped in pain as something sharp pierced my hide on the underside of my tail. I spun around to see more of those creatures attacking Smoky. My pistol clattered to the ground as I found myself unable to move forward. I followed shortly behind it.

Unable to help as Smoky fell to multiple darts striking his neck. The last thing I saw was Orchid erupting in a bright light, another of the creatures in disguise.

I forced my eyes open some time later. Everything around me was dark and the familiar feeling of a wooden floor was beneath me. I was still unable to move. My body ached, particularly around my ass… oh no.

We’d been captured, and by a rapey bunch of… creatures. Ok Crimson, keep calm. You’ll find your way out of this, just have to get your limbs to cooperate. I struggled trying to force my limbs to move for a few minutes before sound filled my ears.

A conversation between two of the creatures. “So which one are you going to have fun with? I hear the bigger one is tighter.” Confirming my suspicions, bastards.

“Neither, I’m waiting to get my hooves on the mare that got away. I’ve got some payback to dish out. She’ll be fully awake for all of what she’s got coming.” Mare that got away? Orchid got away from these disgusting things! Now where is she?

“If you say so. Now go check the perimeter, make sure no one is sneaking around. We want to keep these all to ourselves for a while longer.” Two sets of hoofsteps became one as a flurry of wing beats filled the air. The remaining set was quickly approaching me.

I doubled my efforts to try and regain control over my body. My muscles were beginning to relax and I got my tail to move. All attempts stopped as I heard the door creak open.

“Oh look, tail already in the air ready for me. Good, because I’m definitely ready for another round.” The creature stepped closer, its breathing getting louder and louder as it approached.

I felt something warm and slimy brush against my tail and prepared myself for the worst. I was surprised as both myself and my would be assailant were tossed sideways against the wall with great force.

A familiar set of wing beats filled the air before a familiar squelching noise took its place. The noise repeated more than a dozen times as Orchid plunged a machete into the creature. A wild look filled her eyes as she turned to look at me.

I managed to nod my head at her. “Thanks for the save. Life was about to become very unpleasant.” An understatement of the highest order.

Orchid nodded and tossed the machete over at me. “I know. Now follow me, they got Smoky in the main room. Yer gear too, ya just got that fer now. Keep low an follow my lead.” She started towards the next room drawing her pistol and a short single barreled gun I had never seen before. The second was little more than a pipe and a trigger grip.

I gripped the machete in my teeth, unsure if we were going to do things quietly or not. Whatever we did had to be done fast, no telling what kind of trouble Smoky was in.

We reached the door and Orchid motioned for me to move forward. The room was dark, lit only by the moonlight seeping in through the windows. Through the crack I could see an immobilized Smoky and three more creatures. The three creatures were watching out windows occasionally casting a glance at their captive.

Smoky was positioned in a similar manner as I had been, tail moved aside and ass in the air. There were several fresh lacerations along his exposed left side that had been recently bleeding. Most of his coat was covered in a fluid of some sort, blood… or worse. He was still breathing, though it was shallow and rarely.

Orchid motioned to the closest guard and mouthed ‘get ‘em’, before slinking into the dark room herself. She crept slowly towards one of the farther guards keeping low to the ground.

I tried my best to copy her movements, edging closer to the creature with every step. My progress was slow, much slower than I wanted. Each step terrified me. Not knowing if I’d alert him. Unsure if I could close in for the kill.

I became certain very quickly as I dove forward. The machete found its mark piercing the skull. A quick twist of my body pried it free. The creature dropped, not silently enough. On reflex I levitated the machete and threw it.

Orchid lunged forward and fired the single barrel gun. A shotgun. Very little but viscera remained of that one’s skull. The machete flew through and struck the other in the chest. Orchid swiftly finished it off with two shots. She rushed to her brother to help him.

I took the opportunity to look for my gear. All of it sat piled at the main counter. I bolted over and grabbed my weapons, knowing there was still more to come. There was just enough time to shoulder my rifle and draw my revolver.

The front door of the station burst open and three more creatures charged in. Two more came in through windows.

I spun and pulled the triggers. The rifle clicked. The revolver fired, hitting a foreleg. I quickly chambered a rifle round and started to fire before being tackled.

The bastard on top of me was bleeding profusely from a half dozen hits. He hissed and gnashed his teeth at my neck, missing just barely. The attacks slowed after a second as blood loss took its toll.

More gunshots rang out as Orchid fought to protect Smoky. Three of the creatures were swarming her. A few needles pierced her hide and she began to slow.

I tossed the corpse off to the side and unloaded the rifle into the ones attacking Orchid. My shots were accurate enough to draw attention. Unfortunately my revolver had fallen from my grasp so I was defenseless.

I began backpedaling as the creatures charged me. Not fast enough. They were on top of me sticking me with needles before I got my gun. I reached out as a last ditch effort and got the gun. BOOM, the first fell pinning my hindlegs. BOOM, the second was now missing its lower jaw. BOOM, third shot took my last attacker down.

My gun crashed to the ground as my muscle locked up. I didn’t fall unconscious like last time. All I could do was watch as the remaining two creatures stood up. One headed for me, the other looked over Orchid.

The intention was clear, even with no words spoken. We were to live and feel whatever they wanted to do with us.

My eyes were fixed on Orchid. I could tell she was fighting whatever drug we had been injected with, but she was already frozen in place. I was forced to watch as the creature tore her armor off and positioned itself.

My eyes darted back to the figure now looming over me. My fate would be much the same. Unable to do anything to stop it. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see what happened next. And just as suddenly opened them. A loud CRASH followed by a gunshot brought me back.

The creature that was looking over me slumped to the ground. Dead from a gunshot to the back of the head. Orchid was alone where she lay, her eyes frantically trying to look behind her.

Five feet behind her was an enraged Smoky, currently pulverizing the creature that had been attacking Orchid. He had already collapsed the thing’s rib cage and was currently breaking every last bone the creature had. Each strike of his hooves caused cracking noises, mashing bits of the creature into gore. The last thing he did was stand over the corpse, rear onto his front hooves, and slam the rear ones into the skull. Nothing but a blood stain remained.

“Bastards. You don’t... touch my sister… like that.” Smoky’s breathing was heavy, exhausted, but he stood tall. “You two still with me?” He asked trotting to Orchid’s side. “You’re still here, good. It's gonna take some time for that poison to wear off, but at least you’re safe.”

It seemed that was the last of these creatures. That many gunshots would have already drawn in any remaining reinforcements.

Smoky sat down between us and began applying bandages to his many wounds. “Just try an rest for now. I’ll keep watch until you two are able to move again.”

I didn’t want to, but I had no choice. My eyes closed and the world was once again calm. I could take solace in Orchid having been saved from that awful fate.

Chapter 10: Old Friends

I woke up some time later. My body was still sore, but I was alive and breathing. A few minutes of stretching later and I was able to stand on my own hooves once again. I slid into my armor and made sure my weapons were where they should be.

Though it was still dark I could see most of the room. All the corpses had been cleared from the station and what equipment they had was piled next to Orchid who was now fast asleep on her bedroll. The vending machines had also been moved toward the center of the room, bits and pieces lay scattered at their bases. Smoky had been busy while Orchid and I were out. Though he was nowhere to be seen.

I trotted over to the center of the room and started examining the vending machines. The doors had been ripped off as had all the plastic. The interior was untouched and impeccable minus a few rancid bags of chips. Smoky had attempted to saw through the frame based on the scratch marks at each corner of each machine. I lacked the physical tools to approach these machines that way, but physical means were never my strong suit anyway.

I focused and channeled one of my favorite work spells. Pressing my horn against the right side of the first machine I slowly traced along the edges starting from the top left and ending at the bottom left. The now warm side panel popped free of the machine and clattered to the floor. Cutting metal was definitely easier with a proper cutting torch, but in a pinch magic would suffice. My cuts were sloppy, wasting a small amount of material that I hoped wouldn't matter. Each side panel looked big enough to make three pipe bomb housings. Hopefully that would be enough.

I was through the back panel of the machine when I noticed a bright light from outside. The delicious smell of meat began to fill the air and I got the inkling Smoky had started a fire. The front door was already open so I peaked my head outside.

Smoky was standing next to a pile of corpses, fanning a small flame to set them ablaze. He had broken down the deck of the station and interwoven the scraps and corpses.

Within thirty seconds the pile was engulfed in flame and a nauseating smell of cooking meat and intestines swirled through the air. I trotted to Smoky’s side, not that I wanted to. “Been busy I see.”

Smoky was halfway through drawing his gun by the time he faced me. He slowly lowered it back into the holster. “Yeah… had ta do somethin while I waited for you and Orchid to wake up. Figured gettin rid of these sacks of shit would keep me busy.”

“Yeah.” And to help ease the pain of what he’d been through. “Seems to have worked.” Watching the pile burn was cathartic. Even if I wasn’t awake for the act, knowing it had happened was more than I cared to know.

Smoky sighed and shook his head. “Let’s get back inside. Still got work to do before we can leave this Celestia forsaken place.” He turned and trotted back inside.

I hesitated for a moment and watched the fire burn. This wasn’t justice for all they’d done to us, but it was a step in the right direction. Now they wouldn’t be able to hurt anypony else and there would be naught but ash to remember them by.

When I returned inside I saw Smoky bending one of the side panels. He had bent it into an N shape by the time I was at his side. “Must know some fancy trick to cut metal huh? Mind slicing these up?”

“I can do that.” I traced my horn along the bent edges of the metal and cut more precisely through. “Learned it for prototyping armors. Doesn’t work for metal over a quarter inch thick, but thin sheets like this aren’t much trouble.” I finished speaking as he finished bending the next place.

Smoky motioned for me to cut through the next set as he started bending the smaller chunks. “That’s all we’ll need. Should have enough for a couple dozen bombs. A good start, but we’ll need more.”

“I figured as much with what you’ve told me about my home.” I moved to the last side of the machine and sliced into it. “I’d hope we wouldn’t need much more, we’ll need a lot of gunpowder to fill what we’ll make here.”

Smoky caught the panel and began the process over again. “Then we better get everything we need from here and get moving.”

“Agreed, anything to get out of here faster.” Hopefully the mine was unraided, or at least not fully mined out. “I know it’ll all be worth it for what we’ll find there.”

“I hope so Crimson… I sure fucking hope so.” With that he was silent, using only hoof motions to communicate as we worked through the rest of the vending machine panels. By the time we were done the sun had risen and the fire outside had burned down to embers.

Orchid had woken up some time ago and had been watching us work in silence. She had donned her armor and prepared something to eat while waiting for us. “You two should eat somethin an then we’ll get outta here.”

Smoky rose from his position on the floor and traipsed over to Orchid. He grabbed the bundle of grass prepared for him and gave her a hug before continuing out the door of the station.

Words must have been exchanged during the embrace as Orchid’s expression softened. “I made sure ya got a good steak this time. Ya been through hell in tha past coupla days.”

I accepted the steak being held out to me and voraciously tore into it. The events of yesterday and this morning had drained much more of my energy than expected. So I was elated to finally eat something. “Thank you.”

Orchid shyly nodded and mouthed a ‘yer welcome’. Her wings extended and pulled me into a warm embrace followed by a kiss on the cheek. Her expression betrayed pain of some sort. Likely caused by whatever words had been passed between her and Smoky.

I returned the kiss and pulled away from the embrace. As much as I enjoyed the affection, I hated this place more. Putting this place behind us would be good for everyone. I had one last thing to do to truly put it behind us. “Let’s get going, long way to go today.”

“I’ll follow yer lead.” The smile had returned to her face, though I doubted it was anything but a facade.

We made our way outside and off what remained of the train platform. Smoky sat staring away from the station, a contemplative look on his face. “You two ready?”

“In a second I will be. Got one last thing to do.” I levitated a bundle of embers into the air and towards the station. Those bastards had burned, and now too would their makeshift tomb. I set the ember down and let loose a burst of superheated magic akin to a ball of plasma.

The ember and blast erupted sending sparks and flame everywhere. Several patches of the station were rotten and resistant to the flames, but the station was nevertheless slowly engulfed in flame. Another step in the right direction, but recovery from this place would take much longer. For now this act would have to do, the journey ahead was long and we had no time to dawdle.

“Now I’m ready. Let’s leave this place.” I didn’t wait for their response, nor did I turn my head to see if they were following. I was in charge today and I wanted to forget this place had ever existed.

My friends followed close behind me, the sounds of our hoofsteps our only companions as we wandered into the wasteland. Our pace was slow but steady, today would be a test of endurance rather than a sprint to the finish. We had around thirty miles to go before we could set hoof into the mines. A stop at Lone Tree would not be on the cards if I had my way. We had lost ground to make up after the nightmare of last night.

The rain had dissipated over the night. Today would be a reprieve from the driving rains, though we’d still have to deal with their aftermath. The muddied ground slowed our pace sucking hooves in with every step. Luckily only the topmost two inches of soil were soaked. We’d slog our way through no matter how muddy the ground was.

By two or so I was beginning to worry we’d have to stop at Lone Tree for the night. We were just barely over halfway back, less than a fifth of the way through the journey. At this rate we’d need the rest of the week just for travel, an expense of time we couldn’t afford. And one that I couldn’t help mitigate.

“Heads up Crimson, we’ve got some movement on tha horizon.” Orchid held out a pair of binoculars to me with her right wing. “Take a look fer yerself.”

I levitated the binoculars up and scanned the horizon in front of us. There were a couple of vaguely pony shaped blobs moving away from us. They were too far away to make out the finer details but I could tell they were wearing metal armor. “Looks like they’re headed in the same direction. Freshly polished metal armor by the looks of it. Not power armor, but definitely heavy duty.” I hoofed the binoculars back to Orchid.

“We’ll wanna keep our distance then. Folk like that ain’t never pleasant ta deal with.” She looked worried, like she may have dealt with these ponies before.

“Definitely not Steel Rangers. That armor they’ve got is made of road signs.” Smoky had stopped to inspect the group. He was leaned forward as if that would help him see better. “Big bore rifles too. They’re well equipped, far more so than we’re capable of dealing with.” He stuffed the binoculars back into his bags. “Let’s keep moving and keep an eye on them.”

“Let’s. Orchid would you mind getting up high to keep better watch?” I asked, continuing my forward march. I’d feel much better with an eye in the sky, but was still worried about another aerial ambush.

“I’ll keep an eye on ‘em an circle down every so often.” Orchid took off into the air and began circling one hundred feet overhead.

“You think they’ll be any trouble?” I asked turning my head to address Smoky. “If we saw them then it’s likely they saw us right?”

“I don’t recognize ‘em, best we keep our distance for now. More than likely they know we’re on their tails and just don’t view us as a threat.” Smoky took the lead from me. “Just keep moving forward and keep a level head.”

That didn’t put my worries at ease, but him taking the lead did. Taking charge is nice, but I’m too unfamiliar with the world to lead us through. “I’ll follow your lead.”

Silence once again fell between us as we continued our travels. Every half hour Orchid circled down to report what she’d seen. We were slowly catching up to the ponies we had seen and adjusted our pace accordingly. The day progressed slowly until we were a mile from Lone Tree.

Orchid landed in front of us and held up a hoof. “We’ve got a problem, looks like our hideout got found.” She held out binoculars to me.

I took them and got a better look at the group. Everything Smoky said was true, heavily armored and equipped with terrifying looking rifles. I could further tell that two of the six gathered were older than me, living out their golden years in this shithole. Both of the older ponies stopped to inspect the tree, placing a hoof a few feet up the trunk in the same place. A gesture I recognized…

“No way, you two were still in your pods.” I whispered as I watched the group. “We’re going to talk to these ponies.” I levitated the binoculars back to Orchid and took forward in a gallop. “Let me do the talking, I know these ponies.”

Smoky and Orchid both began to protest but didn’t have the time to stop me. They trailed behind me a hundred feet for the last mile. Probably cursing me the whole time.

I slowed down when I was within two hundred yards. By then the group I was heading towards had turned to face me, guns trained and ready for action.

One of the younger members trotted out to meet me fifty yards from the group. “Who the fuck are you? And why the hell are you galloping at us?”

“I’m Crimson, a friend of the two older ponies in your group.” I took a moment to catch my breath. “They know me from before. And these two are my friends Orchid and Smoky.” I gestured towards where they were standing.

“Before? You mean before the war?” The stallion eyed me over for a minute before nodding. “That would make sense why you look out of place. Follow me nice and slow like, I’ll take you to them.” He turned and traipsed back towards his group.

I followed behind formulating what to say to my old friends. It’d been so long since I’d seen them and we had lots to discuss, but where to start? There wasn’t enough time to come up with much, and only just enough to confirm who these ponies were. “I can’t believe it’s really you. I thought you two were still at work when I stumbled out.”

Spark and Water Lily looked aghast with mouths wide open as they stared directly at me. Neither could believe the sight before their eyes, and their shocked looks continued as they turned to each other.

The stallion Spark broke the silence first. "Is... is it really you? You was still sleeping when I woke up and I couldn't get your pod open." He pulled his helmet off revealing a now much grayer mane and coat. The once vibrant and shiny charcoal and steel grays showed signs of aging over twenty years. "How long you been awake for?"

I stepped forward and hugged the old stallion, he was my dearest work friend and I had missed him greatly. "I'm so glad to see you Spark, and you too Lily. I've been out in this nightmare for about a week and a half, a whole lot less time than you've been out here apparently."

Lily half scoffed, half laughed. "Wonderful words to say to a mare you old so and so. You ain't looking the greatest yourself you know."

“I know. I was quite rudely introduced to what remains of our world. If Orchid and Smoky hadn’t found me when they did I would be dead.” I gestured to my friends to introduce them. “They’ve been teaching me about surviving ever since.”

“Pleasure ta make yer acquaintance. An it’s been two weeks now. You were out cold fer three days fer we could talk ta ya.” Orchid held out a hoof and was greeted by a firm shake.

Three days huh? I knew my injuries were bad, but didn’t realize they were that bad. “Sun is starting to set, why don’t we take refuge in the cellar for the night? Might have to knock down some more shelving to keep all of us off the floor, but there’s more than enough room.”

“So it was you that got it open?” Lily threw the hatch open and started down. “Saw the recent digging and was wondering who found it. Spark be a dear and get down here with that lantern. Frightful dark down here.”

"You four keep guard for a while, we'll get everything ready. Crimson you and your bunch follow me, you know what's down here already." Spark trotted down the stairs lighting an old oil lantern. "And the faster we get things ready the more time we'll have for catching up."

"They're good ponies, some of my best friends. You can relax." I said to Smoky and Orchid before heading towards the cellar. "We'll be safe here for the night and in the morning we'll keep going."

The cellar was dimly lit by the single lantern, but there was enough light to see everything down here. Spark had moved the skeleton to the back left corner and appeared to be praying. Lily had a hammer clenched in her teeth and was tearing down another set of shelves. Both hard at work making this place of death more like a home than a tomb.

I sidled up next to Lily and held up the boards so she could work more easily. "This place isn't much to look at, but it makes a good shelter from the elements and a good place to hide from raiders."

"I'll take your word on that. I'd much prefer my house, old or new, to this dreadful cellar, but it'll do for the night." She pried a few more nails free and the first board slowly found a home on the ground with my help.

"I'd prefer my house to anyplace I've stayed out here." I slid the next few boards to the ground as they came undone. "Life is a lot different now, lot more dangerous and a whole lot less pleasant. Sounds like even our homes are home to a different type of creature now, fire breathing geckos I've been told."

"All true I'm afraid. Spark and I wanted to go back for the first few years we were out here. Found out that we'd be killed if we tried, far too many of those damnable things. I'm not sure we could now, even with the weapons and those fine stallions we travel with." Lily set her hammer back into her saddlebags and scanned the cellar. The others had made quick work of the rest of the shelves and had already set up some elevated sleeping areas. Just enough for all of the ponies here.

I grimaced. If even a group of six well armed ponies couldn't handle retaking our home... then how would I ever stand a chance? "That's... unfortunate to hear. I've been planning to go there and take back what is rightfully mine and I'm nowhere near as well equipped as you are."

Lily pat me on the shoulder. "Chin up Crimson. You might have a chance yet. We're going to pass by our little town on the way back home. Maybe we could give you a helping hoof by shooting some of those critters for you. I'll speak with Spark in the morning and see what we can do."

"I appreciate it, Lily. We've still got some preparations to make ourselves. So it's not like we're going first thing tomorrow morning." I smiled, today hadn't been all bad. "For now I think we should take some time to catch up and rest. Been a long few days for us, and you've got some stories to tell me about out here."

Chapter 11: And the Stories They Tell

Not long later we had closed the cellar door and bunkered down for the night. Spark and Lily had taken the raised area closest to ours and had placed a feast of food between us. Mostly grass and hay, but there were a half dozen seared steaks covered in spices and filling the cellar with a delight cherry wood smell.

“Please eat. You three look like you ain’t had a proper meal in weeks.” Lily’s eyes still worked well, even when partially obscured by her helmet. “And don’t worry about us, we’ve got more than enough for our journey back home.”

“That’s very kind of you ma’am” Smoky said as he pulled over a plate of grass. “We appreciate your hospitality.” He nudged Orchid, who already had a steak in her mouth, earning a smile and a thank you through a mouthful of food.

I was the last to grab a plate. My new friends needed the food more than I did, but I wasn’t going to turn my nose up at a free meal. “Thank you both. We’ve been doing the best we can out here, but it’s a much tougher life I was expecting.”

Spark set a plate down in front of Lily before saying “us too. It took quite a while for us to get the hang of things out here. Shit, even twenty years on and I don’t think we’ve really got it all figured out.”

Twenty years? I’ve been out here two weeks and should have punched my ticket already. “Sweet Celestia that’s a long time. I can’t imagine what all you’ve seen and been through. With what I’ve seen in two weeks it can’t be good.”

Lily chuckled lightly. “It ain’t all bad, we’ve had each other and that’s kept us going through it all. And now we’ve got those fine stallions watching our backs, so it’s all the easier.” She began munching on a pile of hay, eyeing us all the while.

“The adjustment period was awful, having to come to terms with life as we knew it being no more. We couldn’t turn back though, left our badges in the stable and got locked out.” Spark looked over to me. “Same thing happened to you I’d assume.”

“Not entirely. I had it in the pocket of my lab coat, but it got stolen from me after I got shot.” I took another bite before adding “twice, and nearly got my skull caved in. Orchid and Smoky showed me a picture of the bastard, five thousand cap bounty on his head and I’m unlucky enough to walk right into his trap.”

“You ran into him? Wonder what he was doing going back there?” Spark seemed concerned. He knew exactly who I was talking about. “We’ve heard tell of him doing some pretty fucked up shit. Glad you two came along to save his ass when you did. I’d hate to have lost another friend to this world we live in.”

“I’m glad he pulled through, wasn’t sure he would. If it weren’t fer Smoky runnin ta get supplies, I ain’t sure he’d still be alive.” Orchid scooched closer to me. “Had me worried ‘til he woke up and started talking ta us. A few more times since then as well. I swear he’s got a bullseye painted on his back.”

“It’s true, I’ve been within an inch of death on a half dozen occasions. It’s all worked out so far, but there’s no telling when my luck is going to run out.” I’d been saved by dumb luck time and again, but luck always runs out.

“We’ve had our fair share of close calls. Wandered too close to a few places we probably shouldn’t have, and run into fights we shouldn’t have won. Like when we wandered back up towards Canterlot.” Spark shook his head a few times. “Ghouls up there nearly ripped us apart, them fuckers bite hard.”

“Ghouls?” I asked unsure of what they meant. Surely not the old fairytales come to life. “You’ll have to excuse me, I’ve dealt with coyotes and raiders. That’s the extent of what I know is different out here.”

“Right. Ghouls are ponies consumed by the radiation. Their skin exposed and often rotting off, they feed off of the radiation to live, and they almost always are brainless and feral. There’s a few good ones out here that haven’t gone feral yet.” Spark took his turn to eat and let Lily continue.

“Best to avoid areas with ‘em. They’re most dangerous in swarms. Getting overrun by more than a dozen is a death sentence.” Lily absentmindedly rubbed her left foreleg. “Most of Equestria is dangerous now, only a few settlements out there that house decent ponies. You get used to it after a while and find a place you can settle down and start a new life.”

“I’ll take your word on that. Settling down out here doesn’t sound like a dream come true” I scoffed “a nightmare more like it. I’m sure there are good ponies out there, I’ve met a few, but everything else wants to kill you. I’d prefer working in our stable for the rest of my days to worrying about dying everyday. At least in there I know what type of dangers I’d be facing and I think there is safety in that.”

“Well if it’s safety you want we’ve got a place for you. Our town needs another armorer, somepony who can make good armor out of whatever materials we’ve got on hoof. You’d have a safe place to live, work to pay for fresh food and water, and of course your friends to help you adjust.” Spark beamed at the idea. “I think you’d like it there, but it’s your call to make.”

I slowly chewed through the rest of my meal, thinking all the while. This gave everyone time to finish eating their own meals.

A safe place to settle down would be nice. Maybe get serious with Orchid, settle down and have a family. That would be as close to a return to normalcy as I would ever get out here. Then what about my other friends trapped in the stable? They’d be stuck there with that freak until they somehow got free… if they ever got free. Leaving them to whatever horrendous fate at his hooves wasn’t an option. I’d at least have to check and see if they could be saved, then maybe this offer wouldn’t be so bad.

I sighed and placed my plate off to the side. “I just might take you up on that. I’ve got business to attend to in the stable first, but once that’s done I think I’d like to join you.” That bastard needed to die and my friends needed to be set free, but his death would be enough if I couldn’t free them. “Might even have extra hooves to help you out. Depending on if I can figure out how to free everypony else.”

“You might try the safety override.” Lily said, looking over at Spark. “Looked like it was intact when we left. Would be the best place to start, but after that you’re on your own.” That gave me confidence in saving everypony else.

“We’ll take you up on that offer if you’ve got a place fer us.” Smoky sounded off from my left. “Orchid and I have a bounty to collect, but after that I think it’s time we found ourselves a home base to work from.”

Orchid nodded and said “we’re pretty good at tannin hides and cookin. An we can always work as guards need be. Bout time we had a real place ta call home.”

I was a little surprised to hear this. These two didn't seem like the type to ever settle down, but surely Smoky would haggle with Spark and Lily later. It would be the best way to protect Orchid out here. "I make no promises, but we'll see what happens. If I do manage to free them where would I be sending them?"

"You'd send them towards Bucklyn Cross, there's a little settlement that way called Arbu. Nice ponies just trying to live their lives, that's where we call home when we're not out on grand adventures to relive the past." Spark looked over to Smoky, giving him a knowing nod.

Smoky nodded in return. "I know about where you mean, never been that way myself though. I'll mark it in that map book of yours Crimson, that way you know where to send anypony you save, but for now I suggest we get some rest. We have a lot to do, even with all the extra help from Spark and Lily.”

“Thank you both, you might have just saved dozens of lives.” I smiled and laid my head down.

“You’d do the same for us. Least we can do is help you along your way and offer a place for you.”

Arbu sounds like a nice place, hopefully it’s as safe and peaceful as the stable.