Looking all around, trucking on down, cuz I gotta get back to my shanty town!

***

I’ll be the first to admit, I wasn’t sure what to do next. I was lost, confused, in pain and to top it all off, I was terrified about what was about to happen. My mom and my sister were about to die, and it was all my fault. All I could do was go home and collect what I needed for the trip without alerting the rest of the family as to what happened. Maybe I could escape this whole situation and get mom and sis back before anyone else found out.

Oh, who the hell am I kidding? There was no way one young mare out of her depth would be able to pull this off.

Wobbling home with the drugs still clouding my senses, I managed to walk up the ramp leading to Wayward and stumble my way through the door of our home. Slowly, as to not wake my sleeping brothers, I took everything we had to prepare for the trip. Healing potions, saved caps, ammo, some cans of food and water to get me through.

Most of the water I left behind with a nice little note for Rough saying “Congrats, you’re a water merchant now. You’re welcome. Good luck today. Be back with more later.” I was relying on Rough to make caps today while I saved mom and Murky. Not that I’d allow him or Clear to find that out.

“Bullets, food, water, med-x, healing potions…now all I need…is a little help.” Because for once, I needed help. The choice wasn’t mine to make anymore, not after the thoughts of what will happen to my family if I don’t do what the trappers say. Plus, after watching some of the ponies from my hometown turn raider and rob me, I wasn’t about to return to the wasteland alone.

So that's what led me to where I am now, stumbling through the torch lit streets of Wayward with only a waypoint and a dream to guide me.

Well, maybe I wasn’t the only one. The small colt I tripped over was there too.

“Watch where you’re going! You're an actual circus clown, ya know that?” The young colt picked his chin up off the ground and turned to see his assailant, which was me. He was a small thing, no older than maybe eight or nine with a bobby pin and hammer crossed over one another for a cutie mark. His dirty blue coat and peach colored mane blended with the dark making him hard to see. It was also kind of hard to tell he was there given how dazed I still was, but that was neither here nor there.

I wrapped my hoof around his and yanked him back to his hooves. “Uh…sorry. Didn’t see ya there, kid.”

“Literally how? I…I don’t even care. I gotta get stuff done and open the shop.” Shop? As in a merchant's shop? Before He could leave, I stepped in his path. “Do you mind, or is there something you want? Talk to me when the shop opens, idiot.”

Instead of giving him a retort of my own, I began to ask “You’re a merchant? What do you sell?”

“No, I’m just on the merchant council because I happen to own a bottle cap making machine…I’m gonna assume you’re not very bright, so I’ll let you in on a secret. That was sarcasm.” Council? Like the same council that the mayor was a part of? That meant…

“You’re a freaking council member?! How old are you?” This colt was small, small enough to still be in the schoolhouse like I was when I was growing up. His eyes were filled with annoyance as he stared up at me, but eventually he relented.

With a sigh, he turned to a nearby shop covered by tarp and began to part the leather to make the counter visible for customers. “I’m eight years old. Names Bobby, but you should know that. I’ve seen you around town for as long as I can remember. Everypony knows who I am since I became a council member a couple of years ago.”

A leader of our community here in Point Wayward since he was six. It was a splash of cold water realizing I was so purposefully disconnected from Wayward I didn’t realize this information sooner.

“So, what is it you sell? Must have a pretty successful store to get in the council.” Yes, let's butter the colt up in the hopes he’ll not think I’m a loser. Maybe I can buy supplies from him before sunrise and head out sooner too!

“Bobby pins.” Huh?

My eyes drifted to the store name hovering above the counter. In bright red letters it read ‘Bobby Lobby’. “You sell…bobby pins? That’s enough to get you on the council?”

“And bobby pin accessories. Any would-be looter or scavenger worth their salt is going to buy my entire inventory if they get the chance. Whenever a ship passes through carrying outlanders, I sell out. I sell lock picking lessons too…when I’m freaking OPEN that is…” His little hoof pointed at the plaque that had the hours of operation, none of which are anytime soon. “You can bother me or one of the other two councilors during store hours. Now beat it.”

“W-wait, hold on a minute. I’m not interested in any of that or buying stuff. I need…information.” I put on my best puppy eyes and placed my hooves on the counter so he couldn’t block me out with the tarp. “Can you tell me how to get to a place called The Moore?”

I’d never seen a ponies eyes shrink so quickly, nor become fearful in the same manner. Bobby went from annoyed to afraid far too quickly and that was enough to concern me. “Y-y-you ain’t got any business asking questions like that. Do you even know what you’re saying ya stupid mare? The Moore…ain’t no pony got business with The Moore that still alive. What do you want with trappers?”

“Now that's no business of yours, is it Bobby?”

“Fine then. Ponies like you are bad omens anyway. You want information, it’ll cost ya.” He drove his point home by tapping the counter as he stood safely behind it. I wasn’t in the mood to argue or shake him down, so I placed a few caps on the table which he happily swept behind the counter. “Talk to a pony in the bar near the center of the market pass. He’s an old drunk named Longshore.”

“Alright then, next question. What is The Moore and what’s so special about it?” Of course, more questions came at a higher cost.

For my trouble, all I got was silence as Bobby pursed his lips and tapped the counter once more. I put a few more caps on the counter, but Bobby simply eyed me while tapping the counter again. All I could do was groan as I was extorted for more caps.

By the time I gave Bobby enough, he’d taken twenty caps from me. “The Moore is trapper central. Every trapper clan operates out of The Moore. You go there, you’re going into the lion's den. Everypony should already know that though. The fact you don’t says a lot about your brain.”

“Have a goodnight, Bobby. Thanks for selling me information, ya little goblin.” I walked away knowing full well that I just bought information I could have found out myself given enough time. A little over twenty-three caps gone and for what?

The little colt wasn’t going to let go without one last quip, however.

“You realize it’s five in the morning, right Waters? Yeah, I know your family. Tell your brother he owes the council money!”

***

The only bar/ hotel in Wayward was located right in the middle of town in a circular building called the Wheelhouse. It was a universal constant that every place of civilization needed a bar to keep the inhabitants nice and drunk so long as they had money to pay for it. Naturally the streets were empty at this time of day, but the many shops and scrap metal buildings were so close together the town still had a cramped feeling to it.

The door was illuminated with the interior lights of a still active establishment, the music lulled all who passed by to enter whether they wanted to or not, and the usual drunk was being thrown out violently. The aura was too perfect.

Speaking of drunks being thrown out, I was looking for one…but I may have neglected to ask what he even looked like. The most recent toss out looked like a young, handsome earth pony, stallion with an ivory white coat and olive-green mane. As he lay in a daze in front of me, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the poor bastard on the ground.

“Heh, well you wouldn’t happen to be a stallion named Longshore would you?” I leaned down to make sure he heard me. Sure enough, he looked up from his position on the ground and gave the sultriest smile I had ever seen in response.

With half laden eyes he spoke “I must have died from that hit, because I see paradise right in front of me. What’s your name, beautiful?”

…What?

I don’t think I’ve ever been stunned by what somepony had said before, or if I did, I can’t remember it. This was a huge first for me. I was struggling so hard on what to say that I failed to notice the active red dot entering my compass.

“Onyx Black, you limp dick bastard! So glad you haven’t changed one bit you silver tongued snake. Now that we’re out of that shithole for a bar, I can mop the street with your brains. Along with the new hussy you’ve picked up.” The sudden crack of a whip brought me back to reality.

A unicorn mare was exiting the bar clad in inky black armor with a red eye on the chest and shoulder pads. Her appearance was, in all honesty, breathtakingly beautiful and I wasn’t even gay. At least I don’t think I am.

A flowing mane of bright cherry red combined with a coat of steel gray. The blood red eye shadow she wore matched her blood red irises too, which honestly left me in awe at how well a pony could look. Oh, and she was the red contact on my compass too as she unfurled her whip and took a crack at the downed stallion before me.

While I was able to step out of the way, the stallion on the ground wasn’t fast enough to stand up before the whip tore a gash into his side with a sickening crack across his flesh. “Woah! Hey, watch the whip you lunatic!”

“Well next time I’ll aim for him and hit you instead. How’s that sound, hun?” Despite her being a unicorn, she didn’t use magic to control the whip. The way she flicked the entire thing back into a coil around her hoof with a simple twirl of her wrist meant she wasn’t just some crazy mare swinging a whip around for fun. She knew how to use it. “For a backwater town mare, you look like you could do some damage. You’ll make a good warmup now, then I’ll strip the cutie mark from that bastard's flank later.”

“Come and get me then, bitch.” We were at a standoff. The real fight began, and would end, with whoever got their weapon to strike first. Could I pull my revolver out before she was sending another slash my way? If she hit me with that, I doubt I’d be able to stand the pain. I had one chance, so I activated SATS to draw my weapon for me. Even with the spell active and my weapon firmly clenched between my teeth, I wasn’t fast enough to match her speed.

I didn’t even have time to fire as I watched in slow motion the whip already speeding towards me, inches away from my face as I dropped the spell in a panic. The tip of the whip wrapped around my revolver and yanked it from my mouth painfully. Before I knew it, she had my gun in her magical grasp and was pointing it at me.

“Don’t feel bad, hun. I’ve been putting down upstarts like you for years. At least you can say you died braver than most ponies I’ve buried. Heh…”

CLICK

The dooming sound of an empty gun was all she got for her efforts. A part of me was thankful I’d neglected to feed my weapon and yet I’d be dead in any other situation.

“Who the fuck walks around with an empty gun?! You worthless dung pony!” In a renewed sense of anger and aggression, the armored mare restarted her assault with the whip with a flurry of cracks. Each time she was halfway through a swing I activated SATS again to slow time and see which way she was attacking me from.

First slash was horizontal. As SATS went down again I ducked the strike completely and charged. Another strike, this time coming around from the opposite direction diagonally. Again, SATS slowed time, and I prepared myself to move out of the way. The whip was coming inches from my body, the air parting in a thunderous boom like lightning each time. As time slowed down for the third time, I could see the worry in her eyes grow as I advanced.

I almost felt sorry for her. To her it probably looked like I was some super pony with incredible reflexes. In reality I was just abusing Stable-Tec equipment in ways it probably shouldn’t have been used, but that wasn’t even the worst thing I was about to do with my Pipbuck.

The funny thing about using a whip was the closer I got the less she could get a good swing off. By the time I was actually about to use SATS to bash her head in with the Pipbuck, she was backpedaling rapidly and avoiding the blow. It didn’t matter to me because the cooldown timer for the Pipbucks spell didn’t activate so long as I didn’t actually use it. Meaning I could close the distance no matter how many times she retreated!

“Where is that big talk now? Not so tough when you’re turning tail” I taunted. It was a move I was going to be forced to regret as I watched her jump and twirl midair, her whip slashing around her in a deadly arc that I was far too close to avoid. The salt in the wound phrase didn’t have shit on a whip when it carved through flesh and cloth like a cleaver chops through meat.

The ground greeted me like an old friend as I dropped with a fresh wound to the place I’d just been shot in earlier. The pain, no the agony, brought my mind to a breaking point as I watched the mare draw closer with the most punchable smirk on her pretty face. Her eyes were full of a sinister anticipation as she readied the whip above my head. “Everypony is all talk until they feel the bite of my whip. It’s like you foals never learn.”

I was ready to take a beating right then and there, but help was just a few feet away in the form of a complete stranger tackling the mare before she could strike. The white coated stallion from before shoulder checked the whip wielder to the ground and jumped on top of her the second she tried to get off the ground.

It was a bit of a…compromising position.

“Hey Rose, remember the last time we were in this position? Sure felt nice, I'm su-AACK.”

Poor guy was finding himself short of breath now that the armored mare, who’s name was Rose, was wrapping her whip around his neck with magic. “I said it once and I’ll say it again. You’re coming home with me. In chains or in ropes, I’ll let you decide.” The stallion's eyes bulged as Rose strangled the life out of him. He was two steps from blacking out as he stumbled off the mare and desperately tried to claw at the whip with hooves.

As one might expect, he wasn’t very successful. I picked myself up with shaky hooves as the stallion fell unconscious. His movements all but ceased, yet his dot still appeared on the compass. That was about the only indication I had he was still alive.

But now it was my turn again and I was going to make an effort to remember his sacrifice as I charged once more. Poor Rose only had a moment of realization before I grew close enough to activate SATS once again, this time with a ninety five percent success chance to smash her head in. And boy let me tell you just how satisfying it was to watch a unicorn activate her magic far too late to stop me. Just as SATS was triggered, Rose threw my empty gun at me to no effect as I attacked and batted the firearm aside.

The Pipbuck struck true. The added weight of the device was more than sufficient to knock the armored mare around as I bashed it against her head with SATS. The slow motion allowed me to watch her face contort under the impact of Stable-Tec’s most prized hoof terminal. Her hooves tried to block my next swing, but my Pipbuck just blew straight through any defense she pitifully attempted. By the time I was done beating the hell out of the mare named Rose, her face was bruised and discolored with a few teeth missing. Finally, she was out cold.

My heart was threatening to burst from my ribs and my lungs screamed for fresh air, but I was victorious. I won. “Fucking…unicorns. You get…what you deserve.” My hoof touched the nasty cut across my chest. It came back with blood dripping down my hoof, but I was okay for the most part. At least it didn’t catch me in the face.

“Hey sweetheart, how about a healing potion? On the house.” The stallion from before caught me off guard suddenly. The last time I checked he was strangled unconscious or dead, but here he stood sneaking up behind with me a healing potion in his magical grasp. Wait, magic?

Wasn’t he an earth pony? “Come on, beautiful. Take it. Brought to you by Red Eye’s prettiest goon.” I was so confused that I took the floating potion without a word and gulped it down like a shot of rum. “Ol’ Black Rose here won’t need it. I’m sure she’ll manage assuming ya didn’t give her brain damage. Ha!”

“Um, thanks for the help back there. Kind of saved my bacon a bit.” Was I blushing? Luna, I sure hope I wasn’t. He was so nice for no apparent reason and it was making me feel things. It didn’t help that he was handsome. “Uh, what was your name again? A-and how are you even standing?! I just saw you get strangled unconscious!”

“Onyx. Onyx Black, at your service. No relation to the mare you just beat up.” I didn’t notice it when he first talked to me, but this stallion just oozed with charisma. Every word, regardless of what it was, felt sultry in nature. His fluttering eyes, the way he ran his hoof through his mane, everything about him was…well I couldn’t nail it down. But I was enjoying every second of it. Kind of weird his name was Onyx Black considering he didn’t have any black colors to him. “As for your second question, let's just say I have quite a bit of practice holding my breath and leave it at that, sweetheart.”

Nope, not gonna think about that. Just gonna forget I even asked. “What was that all about anyway? She seemed eager to get her hooves on you.”

“Oh, well I might have been a slave at one point back when I was barely an adult. So five or six years ago? Got out by…ahem, well seducing my way out of it. She didn’t take it very well. Didn’t help I never paid wasteland child support.” His little smile formed with such subtle eagerness, as if remembering some fond memory, that it left me dumbfounded that he could even smile at all right now.

“Seducing your way out of…slavery? I mean, sure. If it works, it works. Doesn’t seem to have stopped them from trying.” Then Black Rose was a slaver. One of Red Eye’s in fact! That would explain the red eyes on the armor she wore and her thirst for the suffering of another pony. Not even trappers are that sadistic and they’re cannibals. “Safe to say you’re a smooth talker then, outlander?”

Onyx rolled his eyes and chuckled as he lifted the knocked-out Rose onto his back and began to head back into the bar he’d been ejected from. “Well, the mares certainly don’t complain about my tongue work. Eh heh heh.”

Sweet Celestia, I could learn a thing or two from this one.

***

The bar wasn’t anything special. I can’t remember who ran it, or how many outlanders stayed here during their visits, but if you wanted something done you came to the bar to do business for it. A bounty board for various jobs was here and always had some sort of scavenge requests that needed filling. It was how I made my living, but Rough was always the one to bring them to me. I rarely came in here myself, so the place felt foreign to me despite me living in this town my entire life.

The odd feeling didn’t end there when I looked at the counter. At this time of day you’d rarely see anyone awake, or so I thought. There were two mares there sittin’ at the counter hunched over the bar with drinks in their hooves, a stallion passed out with a thick jacket covering him like a blanket in the corner, and a feline creature standing behind the bar cleaning the counter. I could only guess the creature was female since I’d never seen a cat person before. She had snow white fur and purple eyes that stared me down as Onyx and I trotted through the front door. Her hair was also tied back in a ponytail. Maybe I’d copy that at some point…

Then the feline spotted Onyx who I only just realized had picked up the KO’d slaver and brought her body inside. “Well well, you’re alive and only mildly bloody! Pay up, Brownie.” The tall feline smacked the table in front of the pony she was talking to, a chocolate brown unicorn mare with the same cherry red mane as the slaver I’d just beaten unconscious. Judging by the black clad armor she wore, she was probably a part of Red Eye’s slavers as well. “Come ooon, a bet is a bet.”

The softest of grumbles could be heard as the assumed slaver dumped a hoof-full of caps on the bar which the feline girl happily took. “No way that cock for brains managed it. Can’t be possible.” Soft, yet incredibly monotone was all I got from this stranger. When she turned to look at me I knew she had to be related to Rose. “Ah…that’s how. It couldn’t be that fuck up, so it must have been you, right?”

Shit, she was talking to me. “In my defense, I was going to walk on by. She totally started it.” Was I about to have to fight another slaver? I figured maybe the best time to return was later, perhaps escape was my best option. The longer we stared into each other’s eyes, the more nervous I became. The slaver mare before me didn’t have a shred of emotion in those dead eyes of hers, which made it worse.
“....I believe you” She said, devoid of any emotion. Then she turned around and continued her drink, refusing to acknowledge our presence any longer. It was a situation I was glad to let stay that way.

“Yep, lemme tell ya Brown. Your sister put up one hell of a fight, but my new gal pal….eh, whatever her name is, beat the crap of her! It was beautiful to behold.” Onyx was over the top with his description of things, but he got the message across. He had a theatrical air around him as he recanted the fight to the mare who seemed painfully uninterested. The only thing she cared about was getting her sister’s body back from the stallion, who twirled about aimlessly as he told the tale. He was so animated while the slaver mare kept following him around the bar in a futile attempt to retrieve her compatriot whenever he stood still longer than a couple of seconds.

The second mare at the bar just kept her head down and muttered “Oh my princesses above, someone make him shut the fuck up…” She was an earth pony with a lovely wheat yellow coat with a mane the color of fool's gold.

I sat down next to her and gently nudged her side. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know anypony named Longshore, would you?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah, he’s the bag of bones and spite sleeping on the pillows in the corner.” Her yellow eyes looked me up and down. “You’re the one who beat the crap out of Black Rose? Huh, you’re quite something for a younger mare. Don’t suppose you can beat up the horn dog carrying that shitty slaver around on his back, would ya?”

“Wh-why though? He seems like a nice stallion and he saved me out there. Not much of a point to pick a fight now…”

“Seems is the word of the day darlin’. That Onyx is a pump and dump chump. Why do you think we got Red Eye’s army in our town? It’s cuz of him!” The pony I sat beside growled like an angry animal. There was hate in those eyes, a personal hate reserved just for him.

She continued before I could speak “He’s a two-bit sex fiend from what Brown Rose has told me and frankly, I believe her…even if she and her sister are slavers. He’s flirted with me, the bartender, my mom…”

I was beyond overloaded with this mare by now. Her ranting was making me dizzy, and I was eager to put a stop to it. “Okay okay I got it! Look, I’m only here to talk to Longshore to help me get to a place called The Moore. I might even ask mister casanova over there for help.” Her reaction was immediate, as I expected when I brought up The Moore.

She paled at the word ‘Moore’ and grew disgusted after hearing I might be asking him of all ponies for help. “You can’t be serious. That’s insane. Plus, if he ends up going, then I have to follow him. I’d rather not visit trappers without something for them to eat other than me.” As her head slammed down against the bar I could hear her mutter under her breath but couldn’t make out what she said.

“Uh, you’re just a local and he’s an outlander. Why would you have to follow him?” I asked, confused as to what was going on between her and Onyx.

She looked up at me from behind her hooves and stuck her tongue out in disgust before sharing her story. “My family owes him for getting our debt settled with the magistrate. Stupid asshole fucked her brains out and it was good enough for her to settle the debt between us and the council. He’s been trying to get with me ever since.”

A clear picture was painted in my mind and for once I felt like I could understand another pony other than myself. Though, I wish I hadn’t. Onyx Black was a sneaky devil and I was falling for his trap, hook line and sinker. However, I was beginning to hatch some plans of my own as I looked down at the mare’s cutie mark. Not out of perversion, but curiosity. It looked like a bundle of some sort of wheat or barley and judging by the mare in question, she could be a ticket to solving another problem of mine.

“Say, what’s your name ma’am? I’m Muddy Waters and it’s a real pleasure to make your acquaintance.” I held out my hoof for her to shake, which she accepted with a smile as she rose to her full sitting height.

“Razorgrain, happy to be here, Miss Waters. Now, I can see the gears turning in your noggin there. Whatcha got cookin’?”

“How about this?” I had a plan coming together and I was quite happy to be able to form it on the fly like this. One step closer to get my mom and sister back and one step closer to getting the Stable in order. “You bring my brother, Rough, any extra grain and seeds you got and I’ll make sure you get fresh water sent your way. Do this, and I’ll get mister mating season over there off your back. Sounds like a plan, new friend?”

“You’re a clever filly, I’ll give ya that. You got yourself a deal, new friend.” Oh, I was feeling good after that. My first successful barter! Rough would be so proud if he knew what was going on. I must have been smiling ear to ear because Razorgrain pointed at me and laughed. “Well since you’re so happy about our deal, why don’t you go do your thing with that old hodgepodge Longshore over there and meet back with me in a day or two. I’ll have what you need by then, depending on how much water I get.”

“Tell him Muddy sent ya.”

I’d given her the details on where to find Rough’s shop and hoped for the best. If things work out, I may be able to get some food for my sister’s before they starve. Or worse, turned cannibal themselves.

***

The Rose sisters were gone thankfully and all that was left was me, two ponies I’d come to know and the cat lady behind the bar I’d never seen before. Longshore was out cold, snoring every so often with the occasional burp mixed in. He smelt like booze and shame.

A middle-aged earth pony stallion with a goatee of silver and a spiky mane to match. His coat was a darker shade of brown to my own, but nowhere near as rich as Brown Rose was. Patches of his hide were missing in the places I could see, and faded scars dotted his left cheek and mouth. He looked rough, but no one lived that long and made it to his age without a few bits of wear and tear to show for it. There was a custom in these parts to respect the elders of a community and beyond in a wasteland where most die young.

Even if they were sleeping on the floor of a bar and smelled like a carcass.

“To be clear, you want me to help you go to someplace called the Moore, and in return you’ll find me a place to hide from the consequences of my various sexual exploits across the wasteland?” I was regretting this. I really was, but Onyx had a way of talking to ponies I hadn’t seen before. Assuming he doesn’t have a mare in the Moore with a foal waiting to gut him upon his return, he might be able to help me talk to this Broadsides pony I was supposed to meet.

I sighed “Yes, but this is a separate deal from the one with Razorgrain. I want you to back off her. Considering you owe me for saving your ass, it’s only fair you do me this favor. We’ll be even.”

He smirked and rubbed his hoof back through his mane to flatten it backwards as he turned to me. “Yeah? That why you’re offering me sanctuary? Heh heh, no offense gorgeous, but I doubt your little hovel here is going to suffice for that. If slavers can find me out here then the bounty hunters and other bottom feeders won’t be too far behind.”

“It’s a Stable. Ponies don’t just waltz into this place without getting eaten. They gotta take the river to get here safely or fight their way through the bayous and bullshit out there. Stable is inland, well-hidden and guarded. Outlanders will be the last ponies to find it.” I was gonna leave out the part where a drugged-up zebra was the one who guided me to it in the first place. Onyx didn’t need to know that bit. No one did…

The stallion remained quiet for a moment before sticking his hoof out which I accepted in a lovely hoof shake. “You gotta deal. Hey barkeep, a couple rounds for the new business partners over here! Place it on my tab, beautiful.”

A hearty laugh was the response he got which she made known as she walked on two legs to us with two shot glasses carefully balanced on a tray. “Aaaahahahahaa! Yeah right, you fucking outlander! Ha ha haaaa, you really think I’m dumb enough to fall for that? Up front, or you can pay with your tongue…” When she extended a sharpened claw underneath his lips, I began to think she didn’t mean a kiss, but something more literal.

Onyx, in all his wisdom, quickly agreed and floated a dozen caps for the two drinks with his green magic. “Tough crowd tonight. Ya know it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve bought something with some tongue-in-cheek actions, eh heh.”

I stood by and watched Onyx pay for that remark as the feline woman knelt down and licked the side of his face. His cheek rose against its owners will like it was somehow attached to her tongue. All he could do was try not to cry out in pain, which he seemed like he really wanted to do. But the seductive stallion stood his ground and only cried a moment.

“Yeeeeep! Yep yep yep, that only hurt a lot. Okay, point proven” he said as he struggled to hold back his tears. The feline woman just stuck her tongue and quietly laughed as she turned to walk back behind the bar. I didn’t know cat tongues had so many spikey look things on them. “Alright, let me show you how it’s done. The first of many escapades we’ll have together, I’m sure.” One of the shot glasses floated in front of me, which I took in my teeth and gulped it down quickly.

The burn of alcohol was unfamiliar to me. I nearly coughed it up from how rancid it tasted and felt going down. If I wanted to drink piss I’d visit the latrine outside of town. Gross! Onyx didn’t drink his but held it underneath Longshore’s nose and cooed gently as the old stallion began to stir.

“Good morning grandpa, I got you your medicine. It’s time to get up, gramps.” The smell of alcohol slowly roused the earth pony from his drunken slumber and sure enough, the stallion gulped the shot down without even opening his eyes as if he was locked in a booze fueled trance. “How's the headache grandpa? Feeling the years fade away with that shot?”

“Sunny, it’s gunna take a helluva lot more booze to get me off this comfortable floor. Beat it kid” Longshore grumbled as he stirred on the floor, unmoving.

Onyx kept going. “I got a young and pretty mare here with a bottle of rum going to the first pony to take her on a boat ride.” That was enough to get Longshore to rise almost instantly. At first, he wobbled, but he steadied himself and donned his captain's cap in a flash.

“Keep your mares, leave the rum…wait, boat ride you say? Well damn, if I gotta…just so you’re not caught unaware, this trip is a one-way trip. You wanna come home, I’m gonna need payment, booze, or chores done.” His terms were clear, yet acceptable. I could provide any of those things, but I wasn’t keen on losing more caps than I already had.

Oh, he was looking at me with a growing annoyance. Guess it was time to pay up or get lost. “How much for a trip to The Moore? I’ll buy you as much rum as you need, I just need to get there before nightfall.” Damn you Onyx for forcing me to buy alcohol. What would Clear think if he saw me buy bottles of this crap?

For once, I didn’t get the doom and gloom reaction that most ponies gave me when I brought up our local cannibal raiders. The one I did get was hard as steel as Longshore’s eyes narrowed and his lip stiffened. “Young daughter, they’re already dead. No use in feeding the monsters upriver.”

W-what? “Hey! I-I didn’t…even say what I was going there to do…I just…” Longshore interrupted me with a harsh bark and stomp of his hoof.

“No! There’re only two reasons to go walking into that pit of vipers and it’s either to get someone taken by them or join them. Kid, if you got folk taken by them you oughta give up. They’re already stew by now. If you’re looking to join 'em’ then we don’t have any business to discuss.”

No, no it couldn’t end like this! My family was still alive and if I didn’t follow that trapper mare’s instructions, I could bet my kidneys they’d be butchered by sunrise. Longshore just shook his head, muttered something about being sorry for my loss and turned away to leave. I was about to stop him and force him to help me even if I had to pull a gun on another innocent soul. He wouldn’t stand in my way to save my mom and sister, but before I could react…

…Onyx was stepping in the way and gently placing a hoof on Longshore’s shoulder. “My good stallion, my friend here has lived here her entire life in this place. Surely, she knows the attempt to save somepony would be futile unless she had good reason to think otherwise. And just look at her face. Does this little mare look like somepony who could rape and murder something?”

The old stallion paused to think. I could see his eyes dart between Onyx and myself as his thoughts raced. Finally, he blew a breath he’d been holding through his nose and waved a hoof to follow him. “You both owe me a bottle of rum and my usual travel fee for going to The Moore. And they don’t rape ponies, they eat ‘em. Soils the meat they say.”

Educational as it was, I still found it morbid to think about. Another thing trappers did right for the wrong reason. I experienced their revulsion to poaching first hoof, but only because I was about to be murdered by a non-trapper which was something they were quick to rectify. At least Onyx was proving a worthwhile investment already. “Gladly. Say, Onyx…how did you…” He stopped me before I could finish.

“It’s all over your face. You got the look of worry and desperation written on ya so I assumed it must be family you’re after.”

He was right, but he wore such a proud aura that I couldn’t let him have the satisfaction in its entirety. “Y-yeah. Trappers took my sister and mom. Demanded I travel upriver if I wanted to see them alive.” The words ‘ain’t gotta choice’ echoed in my mind. The trapper mare was haunting my thoughts just as much as Jellybean was and I killed him dozens of times.

“That doesn’t make sense though.” Longshore interjected quickly “Trappers don’t take prisoners very often. Hell, I thought twas just some rumors of weird trapper behavior since I’d never seen any cases myself.”

I whispered quietly “Rumors?”

Longshore nodded gravely and lowered his voice in kind. “Before I go on, open your mouth. There’s something I need to see.” His steel gaze went without falter as I felt my resolve begin to waver. What was going on here?

Wordlessly, I obliged. For a moment, Longshore just stared into my mouth without saying anything. Then he hit me with another question, but this one I wasn’t prepared for. “Which one of your parents is it?”

“I said my mom was taken, didn't I? Don’t tell me you’re hard of hearing.”

He growled in response “I don’t mean which of your parents got taken, I heard ya the first time. What I mean is, which one of your parents is a fucking trapper.” A steel gaze turned into one of annoyance, bordering on anger. What the heck did he see that gave him that idea?!

This was bad. Longshore must know something, some trick, to be able to sniff that information out so easily. Now that he was on the right track, he took a step forward as I began to take a step back. “Hey! You got something to say, old man? You got some nerve saying that kind of bullshit!” If he thought I was trying to act tough then he was eager to call my bluff.

“You got the teeth of a trapper. I’ve been alive long enough to know the maw of a trapper and what it looks like right before they try to bite your damn head off. Now, I’m gonna assume what your friend here said is true and that you have indeed lived here your entire life. So, I’ll ask again…which of your parents is a trapper?”

I looked away, defeated. “It’s my mom…she was a trapper a long time ago.”

“That’s what I thought. Then the rumors are true.” He spoke with a grim expression as a new realization donned on him. “Trappers don’t take kindly to runaways. They either get pressed back into one of the clans or killed. If they wanted more than I can only assume they want you as well.”

There wasn’t anything to go on that pointed to that conclusion, or at least that I could see. Longshore was old though, so I didn’t ask questions. I just accepted his words and left it at that. It still pissed me off knowing I was being exposed so brazenly. “I’ll do anything to get my family back. Anything…but keep your little discovery to yourself, Longshore. Don’t spout that crap, got it?!”

Longshore grumbled, but nodded. The feline woman behind the bar coughed to make herself known too, probably because she heard what the old stallion had said about me. “I don’t get many trappers in my bar. Kinda wanna know how you can tell just by looking at her pearly whites, Longshore. Enlighten us!” She slid a shot glass across the table even though we weren’t anywhere near the bar. As it slid to the edge, Longshore appeared in a flash to catch it between his teeth and knock it back without hesitation.

That stallion just cleared the bar in only a second despite being in his forties. Holy cow…

“Trappers been eaten meat for over a century. They’re the longest lasting band of raiders I’ve ever come across, and it shows with their teeth. They got defined sharp teeth in the corners like an omnivore despite ponies being herbivores and their jaw line is stretched just enough to accommodate wisdom teeth.” For a washed-up sea stallion, Longshore knew his stuff and for that he had my respect. He knew things about me I didn’t even know myself.

Satisfied with the answer, the feline appeared at my side and wrapped a comforting paw around me. She had this mischievous look at her face which he made no effort to hide. “My my, I wasn’t aware we lived among pony eaters. Let’s hope the brahmin and fish appease the appetite of our little friend here. Eh hue hue” she giggled playfully at my expense.

“And you are?” I asked.

“Names Catrina, pumpkin. I’m the new owner of this bar and happy to make your patronage once you get a little older…and richer.” She twirled her arm up high before suddenly dipping in bow befitting a noble. It reminded me of what I saw in plays the local towns-ponies would sometimes put on, so I returned the gesture in kind. Maybe I was just being a little silly, but a display of random theatrics was always something I could get behind.

Maybe Catrina wasn’t that annoying after all.

“Muddy Waters. Happy to meet a cat like you.” Our eyes met for a few more moments before she let out a small chuckle and purred happily before wistfully returning to her place behind the bar.

The old stallion let loose a loud ‘ahem’ before waving us out the door. The time to move was now and delays would no longer be tolerated. I found myself rushing alongside Onyx as we made our way out the door and to the lower levels of town towards the docks. It was now, or never.

***

If the upper level of Point Wayward stunk of fish, the lower level was rancid with it. Barrels of freshly caught, and only slightly irradiated, fish were scattered all along the makeshift scaffolds that were the lowest level. Down below there were a few vessels tied to the shore on these concrete pillars with horns keeping the ropes in place. One of these ships belonged to Longshore I assume. Sure enough, our captain ushered us onto a platform that slowly descended to the flowing water below and next to one such vessel. A pre-war ship with a large paddle wheel on the back with a proud ‘Devil Fish’ emblazoned on the front sides.

It had two decks with the top sporting the captain's wheel and some additional sails. The bottom held a few pews that looked like they were looted straight out of some church. In the back were some rooms for us to take shelter in for now. The fatigue of the previous days was beginning to catch up to me as I spotted a nice bed to lay in for the time being. Perhaps being drugged into unconsciousness overnight didn’t count as rest like I had hoped.

Longshore came to greet us along with two other stallions. Both of them looked equally tired and sported bandanas over their heads. “Alright you louts, listen up. We sail upriver during the dawn. If we’re awake you can damn well bet that trappers and other manners of creatures are too. I want all hooves on deck for this trip and that goes double for leech duty. Eyes to the horizon and the shore.”

Exhaustion wracked my body, but there was still work to do. I could only wonder how my sisters back in the Stable were holding up without me. I still had a duty to return with supplies, otherwise they’d starve. Hopefully they’d be taken care of in the hooves of Helix Twist. It didn’t take long before I began to wonder about Murky and mom. They were in a bad way before being taken and Murky herself took a nasty blow to the chest from that unicorn trapper.

I prayed to Luna and Celestia that they’d bring some form of protection to them as I got up and walked towards the front of the ship as we departed from home and took to the main river. The spray of river water greeted us with a crash against the ancient hull of our vessel. A wake-up call for the weary like a splash of cold, irradiated water to the face

Eventually hours passed as the sun rose over the polluted wasteland we called home once more. The glow of a covered sun cut through the hanging moss of the swamp trees, bathing us in an eerie light as we passed close to the shore. The river was wide, but the reach of the forest was sometimes even wider. I hoped the swamps out west weren’t slowly becoming a part of the infamous Everfree forest, if such a thing was possible. Then again, that forest corrupted the laws of nature like it corrupted the earth beneath its roots.

“Eyes up, deckhoof” one of the crew members blurted, rousing me from my thoughts as he held up a metal stick with a glowing tip. A metal barrel with a fire at the bottom was alight with a couple more prodding sticks jutting from it. “Rivers a nasty place to be caught off guard. Gotta make sure them damn leeches don’t crawl aboard. If anything else latches on to the sides, grab one of us. We’ll handle em’.” Swamplurks or gulpers came to mind. A heated poker would probably just piss those things off.

This was one of the many chores Longshore probably had in store for me assuming I wasn’t going to pay in caps. Which I wasn’t, so as the sailor offered me a poking stick I happily accepted and leaned over the edge to spot my prey. Occasionally my compass would pop up with red marks and I’d lean over to deliver a burning jab towards any black demons that tried to worm their way over the side. It was a fairly self-explanatory job which I took pride in. Every time a filly sized leech appeared I’d give it a nasty, sizzling poke from the heated end of the prod. Their rubbery skin burned and cooked with each stab I delivered.

I smiled each time they shrieked in pain too. I’d almost consider this therapeutic had the sailors not been watching me constantly.

Wait, somepony was talking on the deck above me. No, it was two ponies and one of them was Longshore. “So, a mare in every port huh?” His usually drunken demeanor was gone, replaced with a voice of thinly veiled annoyance.

“Uh, can’t say I follow, friend. Could you elaborate on that?” The second voice belonged to Onyx Black.

“You know what I mean. I heard just about everything back in that bar. That’s the kind of stallion you are. You’re just a wanderer who picks up and puts down a mare wherever he goes. Ain’t that right?” Longshore didn’t sound very happy about things when he spoke. More like very disappointed now.

Onyx replied “You have good ears for a stallion passed out on the floor. I won’t hide it, I’m not a commitment kind of stallion. Besides, Black Rose was a slaver from Red Eye’s thugs. Who cares what happens to a slaver?” He sounded so sure of himself, so smug. It’s like he didn’t care about the kid he left behind. Well, it’d be a safer bet to assume it was more than just one given his disposition.

Longshore, for his part, snorted in disgust. “Actions have consequences, son. Actions have consequences…I should know.”

“Right. I’ll worry about that when the consequences learn to catch up to me. Heh.” Onyx ended the conversation there dismissively with a sly chuckle.

Arrogance. Such blatant stupidity from a stallion I’d offered sanctuary too. The next leech I jabbed had a little more anger behind it as it screeched and felt back into the river water with a hiss. I was wondering if I’d made the right choice in recruiting him for this, but it was too late to have regrets. Maybe a sudden and swift betrayal was in order. If he didn’t care for other ponies maybe no one would care that an outlander met his maker out here in the boonies.

The trees thinned out eventually as we continued north. Further down the river began to turn east, then back north east again. I’d never been this far up the river, never this far from home. At some point in my musings I failed to notice a leech make it on the deck. When I did realize it, I noticed the leech wasn’t even alive, but dead and being pecked apart by a hungry vulture.

Vulture? Aren’t those scavengers? Damn bird must have gotten it after I stabbed it.

I looked up. There they were, a dozen or so vultures circling above us in a perfect circle as we sailed up the river. Funny, I thought seagulls were the birds to follow ships.

“Muddy. I need you to stay calm and whatever you do…” Longshore was at my side with a hoof on my shoulder, keeping me in place and facing forward. “...do not look behind this boat. We picked up a shadow, maybe two.”

What? This wasn’t making any sense to me. “What are you talking about, captain? What do you mean by shadow” I asked, puzzled.

“Kid, thems vultures. Vultures only circle like that when somethings dead…” he gulped, a look of worry in his eye as he turned slowly towards me. “...or somethin’ is about to die.” In his hoof was the broken remains of a mirror that once belonged to one of those mechanical carts pre-war ponies used to drive. Longshore was using it to view the back of the boat as he leaned over the side ever so gently. In the glimpse of the mirror, I spotted a familiar sight.

The picture of an aluminum line-boat being pulled by mutated dolphins.

Trappers were on the prowl.

***

Level up: level 5

Perk added: Intense Training

-You gain +1 to a S.P.E.C.I.A.L stat of your choice. You chose Charisma.

Companion Perk added: Lady Killer

-As long as Onyx Black is your companion, you deal 15% extra damage to the same gender, but take 15% extra damage from the opposite gender.

Author's Note

This chapter is what you'd consider filler me thinks, but you're going to love what comes next. A teaser for you. Chapter 6: The Maw
Also, huge shoutout to Fallout 76. Thank you for letting us milk the brahmin. It was very interesting to learn brahmin milk works like a poor man's rad-away.