Thunder and lightning.

It flashed all around me through the bars of the cage I found myself in. Rain flooded through the bars and made mud under the cell, causing me and the cage to sink slightly into the thick liquid dirt below. Small shocks zapped me every now and then from the old, rusted, car battery hooked up to this particular cage. Thankfully the slavers were stupid enough not to put something under the cage, so most of the voltage just went straight into the ground. I didn’t have any cushions or bedding, just a shitty, poorly welded-together cage out in the middle of Old Appleloosa in the pouring rain. FUCK! How the hell did that fucking griffon not find me in the three days I was scouting a safe path around this fucking place. I stopped for one day and took a small nap. Then I was gonna head back. That’s when he finds me, drugs me while I sleep, and drags my ass in here. I tell you what, if he caught me awake, I would’ve ripped his beak out and shoved it right up his... *BANG*

The loud gunshot in the distance suddenly interrupted my train of thought. You learn to distinguish gunshots from thunder when you’ve been out here in the wasteland long enough. It can save your ass sometimes, something these slavers never understood with their lack of brainpower. Or they were just too lazy to bother. As time went on, I could hear more gunshots ringing out. I started following them as they slowly moved through the camp. With how spaced out it was, it sounded like just one pony was trying to be stealthy and muffle their gunshots with the thunder and sneak through the camp. Their timing was god-awful, though.

As I followed the gunshots, keeping my eyes keen on any changes in the environment. As I scanned the area towards the gunfire, I saw a door open in a rinky dinky shack and a floating revolver poked out coated in magical green energy. Followed by a short and relatively tiny mare. I would have taken her for a filly if she wasn’t trying to be sneaky and crouched down. She darted her head left and right until I saw her gaze fall upon me and our eyes locked. The one cage in the center of old appaloosa, away from all the rest. No guards are to be seen nearby. She could probably tell something was fishy about me or this scenario I was in... Or both.

I then saw slaver above where she stood atop a guard post they used to make sure I was still ‘here.’ He wore a battle saddle with a lever action rifle and stared at me. I looked at him and back to the mare. I took my finger and pointed upward, not saying a word. Watching both the slaver and the mare look up was funny. The slaver looked up, all confused. The mare saw him as she looked up and lined up a shot. A second later, a lightning book streaked across the sky, and she fired. Timing the gunshot with the thunder perfectly for the first time I had heard all night. The shot struck the underside of the slaver’s chin, and he tumbled off the tower and hit the ground with a thud. She turned back to look at me and gave me a nod of thanks, and I waved her over. She was hesitant but slowly sneaked over, keeping an eye everywhere around her as she approached.

Once she was close enough to speak to, I asked, “So... You come here often?” and I gave a slight smirk.

She looked so confused I managed a chuckle. “What? No?! Im here to recuse ponies!”

“A more noble cause there is not,” I replied, getting to my feet, Sinking slightly in the mud. “Look, I got people I need to get back to, plus this place is crawling with murderers and slavers. Say you get me out of here, and I help you not die. Sound fair?”

She looked starstruck that anyone had even bothered to offer help. It seemed like she had actually come alone to this place which made me want to help her more because she was an idiot coming alone. But she was wasting time standing there staring at me.

“Come on now! We don’t have all night! It won’t take them long before they realize that poor bastard isn’t back yet,” I said urgently. Pointing to the dead pony over yonder.

She snapped out of her confusion and levitated out a screwdriver and bobby pin. Thank god she was a unicorn. Electricity is a bitch. And unlocked my cage in record time. Almost faster than the actual key did. As soon as the gate opened, I ran to the dead pony and stripped him of his lever action. I needed a gun, and this was the closest one. He also thankfully had something silent, a large bowie knife. He didn’t bring a whole lot of ammo, either. I mean, he was just checking on me like he usually would and never needed a lot anyway. I jerry-rigged a makeshift rifle strap out of the leather the saddle was made from, slung the rifle over my shoulder, and kept my knife at the ready. It was horribly unbalanced, too heavy in the blade but ill make do.

I regrouped with my savior as she sat around a corner of a building, and I slowly peaked around the corner, her doing the same. There were two ponies with battle saddles and lanterns trotting towards us. I noticed the mare lift her revolver to take aim, but I quickly pushed it away and whispered.

“Hey, I don’t want to bring every raider down on top of us. Let me take these two.” She looked at me like I was stupid. Which was fair, but it didn’t stop me. We needed to do this right, I have a promise to keep, and people need me.

I readied my poorly weighted knife holding it by the blade as I prepared to throw it. As soon as I saw the nose of one of the ponies, I hurled the knife into his face. Running as fast as I could behind the blade, tackling the other one to the ground. I didn’t even see the other one fall to the ground yet. I cupped my hand over the ponies mouth and wrestled him into a lock. Mud and rain flew into my face. Preventing his escape or making any noise as his muffled screams came through my hand. My elbow dug into the back of his neck as he lay on the ground, struggling to get free.

“The knife! Get me the knife!” I whisper-yelled as I felt his teeth dig into my hand. I grunted and pressed my elbow harder into his neck. I leaned into the pony stallion’s ear and whispered. “Keep biting me, and I won’t end you quickly. I’ll silt your throat and let you bleed out.” He stopped biting down as hard, But I could still feel the teeth.

I looked at my companion to see what was taking so long. Only to see the knife handle float toward me. I removed my elbow and gripped the handle, quickly thrusting it deep into the back of the Stallion’s neck before he could wiggle free. I felt his body go limp, and the muffled yelling from him ceased. I stood up and sheathed my knife. I grabbed one of the dead ponies by the hind legs and began dragging them down a dark alleyway nearby.

“What are you doing?” My companion asked me, surprised. Following me as I sat the body behind a ruined trashcan. I guess seeing me so unceremoniously handle a recently deceased was new to her.

“We are trying to sneak through a slaver settlement and not cause a massive firefight. Don’t you think of one of the other slavers here finding a dead body in the middle of a street to be kind of alarming?” she quickly understood my point and agreed to help me drag the second body into the alleyway. We continued through the narrow alleyways of Old Appaloosa. Avoiding slaver patrols as best we could. Silently killing those we couldn’t.

“Do you not feel bad killing these ponies?” The sudden question as we sneaked about caught me off guard. I didn’t take pride or joy in killing anything, as a matter of fact. I hated it. It went against a lot of my people’s values back in Valen. Killing others should be only out of self-defense if all other options have been exhausted. But in a world like this, we have to do things we never wanted to do and cross moral lines that we never needed to.

“Yes, and no,” I responded. “The wasteland is a rough and cruel place, We all half to do things we never thought we’d have to.”

She pondered that for a minute before responding. “But for you it seems almost, natural.”

“Look, ill be more than happy to talk to you about it after we get out of slaver territory, okay? Just know that the actual act of killing I don’t like. But the individuals that I do it to, most of the time do, in fact, deserve it.” After that, she didn’t say another word. She seemed deep in thought as we snuck around.

After some time, we made our way to a multistory barn where the slavers had made their base camp. They ate, slept, and did many untold foul things in there. I knew just from overhearing guards talking near my prison about some rather, unruly things.

“Wait, I thought you were helping me free the slaves?” My companion asked as we sneaked towards the giant barn. A piece of Beautiful music emanating from the inside with a fantastic female voice accompanying it.

“I am. I just don’t know where they are. So where else to figure that out than slaver HQ.” I replied, sneaking towards a balcony side entrance and boosting her up to the next story. “Plus, I wanna get my gear back. It has some rather sensitive data stored on a device that could really cause harm to a lot of ponies if it fell into the wrong hands.”

“That makes sense.” She responded, helping me up with her telekinesis. “What so important that could hurt so many?”

“Nonya”

She cocked her head, confused. “Whats Nonya?

“Nonya fuckin business. Now shush, we’re going in.” She scoffed and went in.

Once inside, we found ourselves overlooking the main interior of the barn. Tabled strung about in front of a well-lit mini stage. Slavers were gathered in groups of three-four, eating whatever slop was in the bowls. Most wore armor and their weapons on battle saddles, save for the few unicorns who had their guns lying against the table. On the stage sat a rather beautiful mare with a charcoal grey coat and white mane with stripes of gold and red. She was the source of the majestic music as she sang into the microphone that rose from the floor.

I knew her, sorta. She made sure I was alive in this hellhole. The raiders were leaving me in that cage to starve until I gave up the contents of my duffle bag. Which was enchanted not to allow anyone other than me to access it. Whenever she walked by my cage, she would always through a half-eaten muffin or some form of leftovers which kept me going. I didn’t know her name or that she could sing this well. All I knew was she was the resident medic and was nicer than most. My ally was entranced by the mare, like she recognized her. I’ll have to ask about that later.

I scanned the ponies in case any of them had any pieces of gear. Mainly my wristpad, which held the sensitive data I hoped stayed secret. My personal firearms were also on that list. My automatic rifle was one, and my sidearm, which was best described as a hand cannon, was my second. The rifle wasn’t as important to me as that hand cannon. It was a powerful eight-shot revolver that me and my father worked on together. It was more sentimental to me than most of my possessions.

A select few wore small segments of my armor, pieces of the main plating on the forelegs or the sides of their chests. It seems they divided the armor amongst themselves when they brought me in. Or fought for it. It angered me that such foul ponies should be wearing such armor that’s so strong and made of a very scarce resource such as Element Steel. But they honestly couldn’t do much with it without a proper forge.

I heard hoofsteps to my right. I panicked and jumped up to come face to face with a much larger stallion than the last. He opened his mouth to yell, but I quickly cupped my hand over his mouth and wrapped my arm around his neck in a headlock. He was much stronger and started bucking like a wild bronco as he thrashed me around. He slammed me against a nearby would with a loud smash that caused some of the ponies below to question what was going on. Muffled yells came from his muzzle as I held firm. Desperately trying to keep us from being caught. I tried to pull out my knife only to have it thrown from my grip as he wildly thrashed about.

“Go! Get out of here!” I grunted as quietly as I could as the Stallion bucked wildly, causing him to lose footing as we tumbled over the edge towards the ponies below.

We landed on a table a group of slavers were eating at, throwing their bowls of food back into their faces. The Stallion’s neck snapped upon impact in my grip, causing him to go limp as I landed on top of him. I was dazed after the impact. I slowly got to my senses and looked around me. The slavers at the table were covered in the slop that was in the bowls, their expressions of shock and anger as they stared at me. My heart sank into my stomach as I looked to see every set of eyes on me, including the mare on stage. She seemed to be the only one afraid, I didn’t know if she was scared for me or of me. The barn was dead quiet.

“So, what’s for lunch, fellas?” I snarked. I heard several guns cock as Slavers sat up and readied their guns. I saw one unicorn mare near me levitate my hand cannon out of a holster and point it at my face, pulling back the hammer with her magic.

I acted quickly and pushed the barrel away as it fired into the slaver behind me and took hold of a knife on the table and stabbed it deep into the mare’s eye. Causing a shriek of pain as she tumbled backward over her chair. I held firmly onto the Hand Cannon as I rolled over her, several more gunshots firing off. I kicked the table upwards as I landed on top of the dead mare, blocking several bullets. I removed the holster from the mare as quickly as I could, realizing it was the same holster I made for the gun in the first place. Plus, it had the ammo for the gun in eight-round cartridges in sleeves that rounded the belt. I saw two extra cartridges before I rolled under a table for cover. I strapped on the holster hastily before having the table flipped off of me as several slavers pointed their weapons at me.

I fanned the hammer of the gun as I fired several shots, dumping the last seven shots into the ponies in front of me. The bullets struck true, putting gaping holes in the slavers. One fell, firing off his automatic battle saddle wildly, striking more ponies that were encircling me. I scrambled to my feet and ran for the nearest cover I could see. Which was an overturned table. I dove behind the table as Multiple shots whizzed past me. One grazing my chest, shooting pain through me. At least these ponies were lousy shots, but their numbers were gonna do me in if I didn’t get out of this place.

I heard a metallic clank on wood as a dark green apple hit the wall in front of me and bounced between my legs. Good god, these slavers were fucking insane as well. I grabbed the grenade as quickly as possible and threw it wildly over my head back into the crowd of raiders. A loud boom went off shortly after it left my hand. I really hoped that one mare on stage fled the scene. I heard the screams of several ponies as shrapnel and fire were flung in every direction. The blast blew the table I was lying against and in turn, myself against the wall with an audible thud. The pain of the table smashing into me as I hit the wall hurt like a sledgehammer to the back. I hit the ground on my hands and knees. I desperately looked around for a door to get out of this horrid situation and spotted the same set of double doors that was the building’s main entrance. I climbed to my feet and ran as fast as I could toward them.

I slammed my shoulder against the doors as they swung open. I was back into the raging thunderstorm as several slavers ran up the main road. Fuck, now Im caught between a rock and a hard place. I got twelve shots left and over several dozen ponies behind and in front of me. I did have a lever action rifle which had about a dozen bullets as well, but it didn’t help much. Maybe I could ask nicely if they could line up and make it easier for me. Dammit, how was I gonna get out of this one? I looked down at the gun in my hand, then at the ponies both in front and behind me.

For the first time in a long time, I felt… Powerless. Nothing I could do right now could save me. I couldn’t fight without dying in the process. Although I could take a good bunch out with me. I couldn’t run. Ponies were always naturally faster than me. I couldn’t hide. They had already spotted me and if I tried to hide, they’d see me do it anyway.

“Well…” I sighed, loading a fresh cartridge of bullets into my gun. “Guess it’s finally that day, dad. The day I leave this world behind.” I spoke, looking up to the clouds, somehow believing my father was listening up there. Somewhere. I heard the shouts and swears of ponies as the stomping of hooves grew louder.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise, Twilight. But I have faith Romulus will see it through to the end.” I held my gun to the advancing ponies. I was always willing to die, But I had ties that kept me going. I promised to do so much but couldn’t keep it. I hated myself as I always did… I guess im not so special after all.

I was suddenly yanked from my spot in the open, coated in magical green energy. I flew through the air as bullets raced past me, One striking me deep in my left thigh, causing me to yell in pain. I flew through a doorway and was dropped on the floor with a thud. I heard gunshots outside the small room and screams of mass confusion. Someone said something about a ‘devil in the sky?’ I don’t know, and I couldn’t check as my second-time savior threw several filing cabinets in front of the door with magic. That and I had a bullet in my leg.

I gripped my thigh as the bullet hole oozed blood. Whenever my leg moved, the pain was unbearable with the bullet stuck inside, scraping against tendon and bone. I grabbed a nearby piece of leather barding and put it in my mouth. And with great restraint from my lizard brain, I dug my fingers into the bullet hole. I screamed through the leather as I bit down. Pushing deeper into the hole until I felt the hot metal of the bullet around my fingers. I gripped the bullet as best as I could and pulled, feeling it press against everything with pain and agony as I pulled it out. It was near the entrance when I yanked hard, trying to get it over as quick as possible. Tears streaked down my face from the pain. The bullet came loose with a large expanse of blood accompanying it. I needed to seal the wound before I bled to death.

I looked around desperately for something flammable. My watery vision made it hard to see. As the pain faded, I realized my companion was talking to me the whole time. I guess I never noticed through the pain.

“UH, I don’t know what to do! What do you need?!” She sounded scared and concerned.

“Something that can burn skin.” I groaned. Tearing off bits of my shirt and pressed into the wound to slow the bleeding. She looked confused but pulled up her leg to go into her inventory sorter on her pip-pug. Her expression shifted as she looked through every item she had. Like she just couldn’t find what I was looking for. I looked around the room while she searched her things. It was the town armory. On one wall was a massive reinforced metal wire cage. Inside was a small militia worth of firearms, weapons lockers, armor, and so on. Inside I also saw my duffle bag, safe and sound. My helmet hung off of one of the straps, and the two lenses resembling eyes were dark grey. Signifying a lack of power, Small tufts of black hair were near the bottom of the helmet. Like someone tried to force it on and left behind some stragglers.

“Im so sorry, I... I don’t have anything that can hold a flame other than matches.” My companion levitated out a pack of pre-war matches, sounding defeated.

“I can work with that.” I snatched the matches out of the air and plucked one of the packs with my teeth before grunting. “In the meantime, see if you can get that door open. I need the gear in that bag.” I gestured with my head towards the armory. She nodded and noticed a nearby terminal. Using her pip bug, she quickly got to work.

I spat the match into my hand and laid the pack down on the floor. I concentrated on the match and pictured a stable flame. If I was gonna make this work. I was gonna have to take a risk and use magic. I stared intently at the palm of my hand where the match lay. Slowly, a glowing orange rune appeared around the match. Small but stable. I looked back over at the mare see her entranced on the terminal. Oblivious to my actions. With a snap of my fingers, the match ignited into ash, and a steady flame floated slightly above my palm. The heat resonated on the skin of my palm. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the next part of this procedure. I quickly removed the blood-stained shirt bits and firmly pressed the flame against the wound. The burning pain that ensued was surprisingly less painful than digging out the bullet. I was just thankful that my ally threw together a makeshift barricade in front of the door made of ruined filing cabinets, old shelves, and a table. Allowing me to perform this crude medical operation. After a few moments, I could smell burning flesh and removed the flame from its position. What was left was a solid chared scab where the bullet wound used to be.

“At least it’s not bleeding anymore. I’ll have to have Romulus look at this later,” I mumbled to myself. I heard the click of a lock and turned my head to see the armory door slowly open. The grey mare smiled at me as she opened the door fully with her levitation.

“Damn, you’re almost as fast as Spyglass. Can you hand me that bag so I can finish this mess?” She did as I asked without hesitation. I quickly sifted through the pocked until I found a roll of bandages and a stimpack. I injected the stimpack into my leg to help dull the pain and tightly wrapped my wound in bandages. I lifted myself onto a nearby stool with the help of my friend. I sat there and rested. Listening to the sounds of ponies trying to buck down the door as the pain lessened with time.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your name?” The question was kinda out of nowhere, but understandable. This pony freed me, and I helped her all without an exchange of names or even a proper greeting. I wasn’t opposed to trusting her. But her hacking skill and a pipbug reminded me of someone I didn’t have a good history with. So suspicion was a given.

“Riley, you?”

“Littlepip, There were some logs on the terminal I wanted to look at. Are you gonna be okay here while I take a look?” Littlepip smiled.

“Go right ahead. Im just gonna put on what’s left of my gear and get situated. After that, we need to come up with a game plan.” She nodded in agreement and went back to the terminal. Putting in her earbloom and listening to the first log.

I, on the other hand, was putting on what little armor was left of my set. Which were the gloves, boots, and helmet. The helmet was simply powered down due to its lack of a wearer, so that was good. But my glaring lack of protection everywhere else on my body really bugged me. That’s when I noticed the two dead slavers on the floor. I had nearly tripped over one when they finally caught my attention. Was I really so used to dead bodies that I don’t acknowledge them anymore? They both had very nasty shotgun wounds on their heads that just oozed blood all over the floor. I looked to my ally and noticed her shotgun, among several other weapons on her back. She definitely was somepony worth keeping an eye on.

The dead slavers wore some basic and crude leather barding which could be put to a better purpose than protecting the dead. I stripped them of the leather barding, and with a little effort. I was able to make some basic armor out of the two combined bardings. “Better than nothing, I suppose.” I took some water and snacks out of my bag and caught up on my severe lack of eating over the past several days. Mainly old granola bars from before the war. But when you were as hungry as I was. Anything tasted like heaven.

Suddenly my companion turned away from the terminal in a rage-fueled stomping fit, gritting her teeth as she stomped around in a circle. She was grunting and mumbling swears under her breath that were quite foul. Whatever was on that terminal really upset her. I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong when the sounds of gunfire outside were deafened by a loud boom as the door exploded in fire and shrapnel. The shockwave from the blast knocked me off balance, and our makeshift barricade went airborne except for the table, which caught maybe an inch of air and skidded across the floor with violent screeches. Sweeping out my legs from under me and landing on my face and chest, causing my already wounded leg to scream in agony. Which was better than being where I was, as a filing cabinet flew right where I was standing before. The other cabinets slammed against the walls and landed back on the floor with loud thuds. One directly impacted the terminal, causing it to explode in sparks and a small flame on the inside of the monitor.

In my dazed state, I subconsciously drew my hand cannon and brought it around to face the smoldering doorway. My vision was blurred from my watery eyes, and I could only see a hazy outline of the doorway through the dust and smoke. I quickly took off my helmet and rubbed my eyes. Trying to clear them before any slavers came into the room. I finished and aimed my hand cannon once again. And I froze upon seeing a rust-colored pegasus stallion with a black cowboy hat fly stepping into the doorway.

“Calamity?” I grounded under my breath, unable to be heard. He quickly scanned the room and stopped on littlepip, who was stuck under a filing cabinet. Missing me entirely. He flew over without hesitation and helped her out of her predicament. Of course they were partners! No one was foolish enough to attack this place without backup. But a pegasus of all things? Calamity mentioned a few times that he wanted to wipe out these slavers. But we were in a high-danger area, and that was a discussion for later.

I stumbled to my feet. Which caused the pegasus to finally notice me. “Riley? What are ya doing here? And where’s the rest of ya special armor?” Calamity asked, handing littlepip a roll of bandages for a cut on her hind leg.

“Well, I WAS supposed to be scouting the upper ridgeline over to the northeast and got caught in an unfavorable situation involving a griffon. As for my armor, among other possessions, have been spilt amongst the slavers.” I responded, throwing my duffle bag over my shoulder.

“Well, I hope you don’t plan on leaving us just yet. Me and littlepip here are gonna rescue the slaves here and could sure use a helping hoof.” He asked.

“So I’ve been told. I’ll do what I can and clear the way from the shadows since Im lacking in the protection department. But I, unfortunately, don’t know where the rest of the slaves are kept. I will ask that you keep an eye out for the fancy wristpad I always wear. That thing is more important than you realize.” I asked, hobbling over to the doorway. Peaking outside to check for danger.

“Sure thing, but you sure you’re good? Ya got a pretty nasty limp there.” He asked with a hint of concern.

“I’ll manage,” I responded before ducking into a nearby alleyway.

Author's Note

Hi! you've made it this far! I hope you have some criticism whenever you get around to finishing what I got so far. Cause I really need it!