Fallout Equestria: Finding Hope

Chapter 2: Watching

“So, do you come here often?”

Silence and Darkness.

The first two things I had ever experienced upon leaving the simulation. My home, my Dad, and Aera. Everything from that life was gone. When I open my eyes who knows what, or who I could see, but what I do know, is that it will be real. Whatever is out there could either be the most beautiful thing in the world or my worst nightmare and such a simple task took all the strength I had in me to complete.

…

Grey. The first thing I saw was grey. Well, it’s what I could see through a thick glass dome. Looking around, I find myself in some kind of glass pod. Wires with little suction cups are sticking all over my head and neck. In a rush of panic I yank them all off as fast as I can. I place my back hooves on the glass dome above me and begin pushing, but I realize it won't budge.

Anxiety and panic start rising, causing pitch fluctuations within my voice, “Watcher! Anyone! Help me get out of here!” As soon as I finish the last word the dome starts moving up, hissing as a sign of a tight seal. Now sitting up fully, taking a good look around the room. I count fourteen individual strange looking pods that are evenly spaced around a center column made up of wires and metal. From what I can see the other pods were all empty. At the bottom of the pillar of wires are fourteen terminals, lining up perfectly with each of the strange devices.

Hesitating for a second, I stepped out of the machine, nearly collapsing to the floor. Why do I feel so weak? Looking down at my hooves to see I’m wearing a blue shirt with a yellow stripe going down the center. A yellow eight decorates the collar and back with convenient open slits for my wings to fit through. In the process of hopping out of the pod my mane fell straight down across my face. Almost triple the length it was in the simulation. I guess I really need that haircut now. I push it to the side while slowly trying to stand up. My legs feel like they’re about to turn into goop!

I hobble over to the terminal in front of my pod and activate it. The screen lights up with a faint green glow. A thick layer of dust rests on the keyboard. Within seconds of looking at the screen I notice my name. Midnight Note.

Days in Stasis: 364

Species: Pegasus

Known diseases or sicknesses: None

Injuries: Third degree burn on left flank

Splines: Reticulated

Eye Color: Green

Mane/Tail: #FFFFFF, #00B8EA

I quickly glance back at my flank just to see bandages stained red with dried blood. How did I not notice this before? I gently pull them off to see a lightning cloud branded where a moon and a music note should have been. I check the other side and notice that my usual mark is still there. I slowly stumble away from the terminal.

There must be some kind of exit to whatever this place is. I start to walk past the pod I was in when I trip over something, nearly falling on my face. I look back to see a burlap sack tied shut. I grab it in my hooves and try to untie it with my mouth. (Has anypony ever mentioned how difficult it is untying something without magic?) Add that to the unicorn perk list.

After a couple of minutes of trying I got frustrated and tore it open. The contents spill out onto the floor in front of me. Moldy brown food (Apples, maybe?), some packaged snack bars, a couple water bottles, and a piece of paper. I put the snack bars and water bottles off to the side and grab the paper. The writing on it is clearly rushed.

Midnight Note, I know you’re going to be too stubborn to listen to anypony else about this so I packed you some supplies. I’ve heard how hard it can be to survive down there so it should get you by for a couple days. I need you to promise me you’ll stay safe down there. I’ll be rootin’ for ya.

Your Friend,
Buckshot

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.. Wait, Buckshot is real?! AND, he’s apparently my friend! But he was an asshole!” Looking up I let out a groan. “What the hell is going on!”

A familiar voice seems to come from everywhere at once,”Hey Midnight are you awake in there? I’ve managed to hack into the intercom system.”

Oh thank Celestia, a familiar voice. “Yea Watcher, I made it out. What is this place, and more importantly...,” Taking a glance around the room, searching for an exit, “How the hell do I get out of here?”

“You’re in what is called a Stable. Basically, it’s a really fancy bomb shelter. I know that that makes little to no sense to you right now, but I can explain it better once I get you out of there. You need to find a giant door that looks like a giant gear. Finding that is your only way out.” The voice cuts out with a static click.

“Alrighty then. Find the giant door means finding my way out of here,” I mumble to myself while glancing around the room only to see a metal door on the other side. I grab the water bottles and snack bars and tuck them under my wing. I’m going to need to find some kind of bag to carry this crap in. Too bad stupid me tore open the only one I had. I start walking over to the doorway, making sure there’s nothing else past me left for present me in the room.

I walk up to the metal door and push on it with one of my hooves. It doesn’t budge. I scan the entire door for a handle of some kind, but nothing. Who the hell designs doors without handles? I begin to push on it again and notice something off to the side. “Is that what I think it is?” Still leaning on the door I stretch out one of my hooves to push it. The door quickly slides up causing me to fall on my side through the doorway, crushing a water bottle under my wing.

Ouch. I stand up and look at the now broken open bottle, the spilled water runs back into the simulation room. Guess I’m not drinking that after all. Hopefully Watcher didn’t hack into the camera system too. If there even is one in here.

The other side of the door is a long straight hallway which leads to another metal sliding door at the end. Yellow arrows point me forward. The first step into the room triggers the proud voice of a mare, “We here at Stable-Tec have hoped you enjoyed your stay in our state of the art Visualization pods. Take this hallway to get your very own personal terminal or Pipbuck, complimentary from one of our honored scientists. Then once you’ve gotten your Stable-Tec issued Pipbuck, enjoy your stay in the new, and safe, world!” The robotic voice cuts off, followed by pure silence.

Okay then, a creepy announcer voice comes out of nowhere and welcomes me. Just going to ignore all of that and maybe get one of these PipBuck things. Hopefully I can meet the scientists who are supposed to be welcoming me to a “new world”.

The door at the end of the hallway opens into a wide room with multiple tables, stacked with boxes, lining the walls. The yellow arrows lead to each table. I walk up and open one. Of course it’s empty. I toss it to the side and go through the rest, which are not surprisingly empty also. Guess I’m not getting one of those PipBuck things. I give up on the welcoming committee room and follow the yellow arrows until I find the door Watcher was talking about.

Watcher wasn’t lying. The giant door does really look like a giant gear. The Stable door has eight giant teeth that keep it in place, in the center is another yellow eight like the one on my clothes. “Watcher expects me to open the giant door and I couldn’t even open the small sliding door with an obvious button,” I say under my breath. In front of the door is something that could be a control panel though. I walk over and look at the array of lights embedded into it. In the center is a switch surrounded by a small glass case. Lifting up on said case does absolutely nothing. “Great! Now how the hell am I supposed to get out now?” I look around the room to see one final door. Next to it is a small glass window. On the other side of the window is the shape of a pony sitting down at a desk.

I squint my eyes and look closer. Is that another pony sitting in front of a terminal? Watcher said he’s outside of the Stable so it can’t possibly be him. “Hey! Who’s in there?” I yell while waving a hoof. I quickly run over, open the sliding door and peek my head in, ”Are you going to answer me or…. Oh.” A unicorn skeleton of a mare wearing a lab coat sits at the desk. Another mystery that’s left up to me to solve. I trot over to give it a thorough look over. In her coat I find three bobby pins and a name card. “Dr. Simulacra, head scientist and technician of Stable Eight.” I read aloud, putting the bobby pins in a pocket of my barding.

“Well Dr. Simulacra I’m going to need this terminal if you don’t mind.” As gently as I can I pick her skeleton up in my forelegs. As I do something falls with a heavy clunk to the metal floor. I really hope that wasn't one of her legs. I set her skeleton down on the ground and look behind me. On the floor is a tiny, black, hoof sized… well, thing. I pick it up in my hooves. Half of it dangles down on tiny hinges. One side, of what appears to be a strange terminal, is decorated with a small screen, three tiny buttons, a switch, and some kind of counter in the top left. On the left side, just below the counter, ‘PipBuck 3000’ is etched into it in silver.

So this is a PipBuck, eh? How does it work? I push a couple of buttons and nothing happens. Huh. You must have to wear it maybe? I drape it over my right hoof and latch it closed. It fits almost like it was made for me.

In my vision, a big wall of jumbled blue text flies past. At this point I’m not even going to question what’s happening anymore. It finally stops with what I could only guess is the Stable-Tec logo and a tiny bar moving right slowly. The message above says ‘Calibrating Eyes Forward Sparkle.’ Once the bar finishes moving right, at the top of my vision appears a tiny little compass with all the cardinal directions. A small marker points east toward something on the desk. A small rusty key. Okay now if that’s the key
for the giant door i’m going to be kinda freaked out.

I hold the Pipbuck in front of my face and look at the small screen. It has a very light blue tint to it compared to the green glow of the terminals that I’ve seen. To my surprise, my name is at the bottom of the screen, above it is a tiny simplified picture of a pegasus mare, of who I could only guess was supposed to be me. I hit the two other buttons at the bottom and go through all the options. This thing has a map, an inventory manager, apparently can help repair weapons, a radio, and even a section to read through notes. I click on the notes section only to see that there is a single audio file in the list. It must be from Dr. Simulacra. Guess I should probably listen to that. Maybe it can help me get out of here.

As soon as I click I hear the voice of a mare fill the small room, “This thing is on, right?” The mare let out a long sigh, “Well, I really hope that it is. My name is Doctor Simulacra and this whole Stable business is a complete failure. All these years of preparation and studying have been all for not. I am leaving this message for anypony who somehow survives. This is NOT a place of shelter from the bombs. There is no food, water, or any other basic necessities. This place is just another one of Stable-Tecs so called “experiments”. I left everything behind for this fucking Stable and I regret all of it.” Simulacra goes quiet all except for a small sniffle. “If you’re somehow hearing this my love… I’m sorry. I should have been so much better to you… Cut the recording J” The audio file cuts off right after.

“What the fuck…” I look back up at the skeleton, “I’m so sorry Simulacra… I wish I could’ve helped…”

Too distracted with my thoughts to mess with my PipBuck anymore, I take the key in my mouth only to find a taste of rust coating my tongue. Trotting over to the Stable doors control, I insert the key in the slot and turn it, the glass case around the lever pops open with a satisfying click. I take a deep breath while resting my hoof on the lever. This one switch unlocks a whole new world, a new life. I slowly pull it down towards me. Watcher better be waiting for me.

*Click*

All around me yellow lights start to shine and an annoyingly loud siren begins to wail. Machines in the walls around start whirring and klanking until a giant drill arm of some kind stretches out of the ceiling and places itself slowly into the massive gear door. With loud grinding noises, louder than Bulk Biceps yelling, the door slides back into a set of grooves on the floor. The drill then pulls the massive door out of the way to the right to reveal the exit.

Behind the door is more of the world I’ve learned to dread. Pure darkness. I step out of Stable Eight’s grey interior and into a pitch black cave. My PipBuck lets off a faint blue glow. The only other light is at the bottom crack of a door at the end of the cave. I slowly walk to the end and take a deep breath. Readying myself mentally and physically for what could be behind the door.

“Midnight Note are you in there? I heard the Stable door open,” Watcher! I never thought I would be so happy to hear somepony else’s voice. I quickly open the door and run out of it, straight into the metal frame of a Spritebot. “Oh my gosh, Midnight! I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” I sit back up and rub my forehead. “You really are as clumsy in real life as the simulation.”

I open my eyes to see Watcher floating in front of me. But I couldn’t help but pay all of my attention to what was behind him. Only lit up with the faint glow of the moon is the remnants of Equestria. A brown nothingness seeming to go on for miles in every direction I could see. I stand up and walk around him. “Where’s all the green at...” I ask, getting down on my stomach to look at a brown, dead patch of grass.

“I knew this would be a problem... Welcome to the Equestrian Wasteland, Midnight...” The metal voice says grimly behind me.

“Watcher, what’s going on? I know you have answers.” I look up at the rising moon. Is this even real at this point?

“Alright, Midnight, it’s the least I can do for you.... Two centuries ago a war was waged between Zebras and Ponykind. For a while Celestia was still the Princess of Equestria. Then due to one of the biggest tragedies during the war, Celestia resigned from the throne, thinking it was all her fault. Luna took over and from there she created the Ministries, each with their own purpose. The Ministry of Arcane Sciences, Peace, Technology, Morale, Image, and Awesome. Each Ministry was assigned to the old heroes of Equestria. Those ministries and the war were the true downfall of the world, bringing the once prosperous Equestria to a savage wasteland...” I stood there staring up at the Spritebot. “That’s the short version at least,” he says flatly.

“That’s a lot to take in, Watcher. A lot more than I thought it was going to be...” I still had more questions though, “What destroyed the world and made it into this place?”

“That would be the Megaspells. Originally meant to help ponies, they were converted by Ponies and Zebrakind to cause mass destruction to whatever they pleased. Leading to what you see now.” The metallic voice goes silent.

“Alright, Watcher. I have one final question... Who are you?” He obviously isn’t a robot. There’s no way this could actually be him. He knows too much.

“My name is Watcher. That’s all you need to know about me for now.” Alright, that’s one way to be blunt about it. “There are a couple things I want you to know before you go out and get yourself killed though. Now this is the third time I’ve explained this to Stable Ponies today so you better listen. I don’t want to have to do this again.” Third time to Stable Ponies? I’m not the only one?

“Wait there’s more than one Stable pony here?” I asked while raising an eyebrow. If there’s more than me, maybe they can help me.

I swear my ears heard him laugh, “Not here no. They’re both pretty far from you.” Great, the only other ponies I know of and they’re both in different parts of Equestria. “Which reminds me… I have to go check on Blackjack and Littlepip once I’m done here,” I hear him say quietly to himself. “Anyways, you need three things out here in the wasteland. Number one: Get yourself a weapon. Any weapon will do. In the wasteland there’s always other nasty, crazy ponies that will try to kill you in a numerous amount of ways. Number two: Any kind of protective armor. Your Stable outfit isn’t going to do much against a hellhound claw or a bullet from a raider’s rifle. Gonna add in a two point five just for you, also. I noticed you don’t have any saddlebags. Trust me. You’ll need a pair. And finally, the most important one of them all, get yourself some friends.” Alright, that's a lot of stuff. Gonna have to write this down someplace.

“Okay so a weapon, armor, saddlebags, and some friends. Where the hell am I supposed to find those things? In the simulation I only ever had a single friend my whole life. I’m not good at this whole ’friend’ thing.“ I give him a little shrug.

“Trust me, Midnight, you’ll find friends where you’d never expect them to be. Just gotta look hard enough.” I look down at my PipBuck to check the time. Still an hour till midnight, but I’m not tired yet. I guess taking a nap for a year probably didn’t help.

“Alright since you seem to know everything about this place.. Where do I start? I have a whole world to find these things.” I turn around with my legs wide. As soon as I say that another marker appears northeast. “Okay so I guess I’ll head to…” Trumpet filled music begins to play behind me, ”Watcher?” I turn around to see the Spritebot flying away into the darkness, trumpet music slowly fading away along with it.

“Okay then…?” I look down at my PipBuck. “A weapon, armor, saddlebags, and friends. You can do this, Midnight.”

…

About an hour of walking my legs felt like they were going to collapse under me. Being in the simulation for so long had made whatever muscles I had turn into mush. It probably also didn’t help that I walked a couple miles to add on top of that. And thanks to my newly acquired E.F.S. from my PipBuck, I could ignore anything that would try to kill me, whatever kind of beast is lurking in the darkness that is.

In front of me now is a lonely little pre-war house with a rotted, leafless tree sitting out in front. I checked in the mailbox to find a variety of letters and an issue of some kind of magazine called Guns and Bullets issued to somepony named Fleetfoot. I tucked the magazine under my wing along with my other stuff. I approach the front door and almost on instinct I go to knock until I realize that nopony would obviously be home. I quietly open the door. A very strong smell of rot hits my nose immediately. I cover it with my free wing.

To my right is a small hallway too dark to see down. A small couch and chair sit in the center of the room, next to it a shelf. I walk over to the small shelf and hold up my PipBuck to a picture frame. (This thing has everything but a flashlight.) A light blue pegasus with an icy mane sits with another mare posing for a picture. The other mare has an awesome pair of shades and a yellow and orange mane. Both of them looked happy to be together. I move my PipBuck over to the next picture to see the same icy blue mare wearing some kind of combat armor with a black, scoped rifle on her back. In the bottom right corner ‘First Day!’ is written. I’m going to guess that it's Fleetfoot. I walk away from the pictures down a small hallway. Knowing that she’s probably dead is just going to make me just as depressed as seeing Simulacra.

I slowly open the door at the end and almost throw up. Whatever the smell is, it’s coming from here. I peek my head in, still coving my nose with my free wing. Yea, that would definitely explain the smell. Resting her head on the window sill is the rotting form of a pegasus. “Oh Fleetfoot, what happened to you…” I slowly walk over to the corpse. Fleetfoot’s flesh appears almost cooked. This must be what the Megaspells do to ponies... I look around the room for something to move her with so I don’t have to get all gross. I grab a blanket off of her old bed and wrap her in it. Being careful not to drop her, I move her out in the living room on the old couch. Maybe I can bury her outside or something. It’s the least I could do for her.

In the corner next to Fleetfoot’s bed is a desk with a terminal on top. I hit the power switch. The terminal fills the corner of the room with a bright green glow. A file is already open.

I got news on the radio that Cloudsdale was hit by the Megaspells. Apparently nopony has reportedly survived so far. The damn Zebras actually did it, I didn’t think they had it in them. This is probably going to be the final entry in this stupid thing. The therapist said that I should try and write more, but it hasn’t helped. I’m just going to clear out the rest of these stupid entries anyways. Nopony is going to be interested in what I ate yesterday morning. So if anypony else is reading this for some reason. Just know that this whole war was a giant waste of everything. And being in it was one of the worst things to ever happen to me. It was all my fault anyways.

Fleetfoot, out.

That last sentence echoed in my head. What did she mean it was all her fault? Watcher never fully said what caused the war but there’s no way it could possibly be hers. I wonder how long she was a soldier before she quit. Based on the picture in the living room she actually used to be happy. I bet it couldn’t be the easiest thing you could do though. Losing family, friends, hell even losing somepony you barely knew would destroy you.

I sit up and walk over to Fleetfoot’s bed. Hopefully she won’t mind if I rest in her bed for the rest of the night. I pull out the Guns and Bullets magazine and skim through it before I pass out.

…

I wake up to a crashing noise coming from the living room. I quickly run over to the hallway door and peek under it. All I can make out is the faint outline of hooves stumbling around. I look around the room for some kind of weapon. Desk chair? No, too heavy. Can’t use a shelf. If there was a war going on how could she not have a single weapon?! Even a knife at least. I look over at the bed and get and idea. “Sorry about this Fleetfoot.” I whisper to myself. I wrapped my hooves around a wooden piece of the bed frame and start pulling as hard as I can. With a loud, splintery crack, the wood frame piece breaks free. It’s not ideal but it will have to do.

I walk over to the door, wood frame in mouth, and open it. I slowly walk down the hallway. Listening closely to the hoofsteps in the living room. I check my E.F.S to see that they are just around the corner. I brace myself against the wall, ready to attack.

*CRACK*

The wooden piece shatters against the head of… Fleetfoot? “No no no no you were dead! That’s not how any of this works,” I scream at the living corpse. I look down at the bleeding body of Fleetfoot. “How in the fuck are you alive!? I moved your dead body?!” Fleetfoot lets out a low growl. I slowly start to back up. “There’s no way… That’s not possible.”

With unimaginable speed from a moving corpse, Fleetfoot lunges at me. I quickly try to fly in the air, but in the process hit my head on the ceiling and fall behind her. I quickly scramble to my hooves as fast as I can and run into a different room with her right behind. Luckily for me the other room is a kitchen. I scramble over to open the drawers of a cabinet. “Spoon, fork, whisk. This is all fucking useless!” I yell. I open the final drawer. Oh thank Celestia. Inside is a very rusty kitchen knife. I grab in in my mouth and turn around. As I do Fleetfoot slams into me, sending me flying through a kitchen table and landing with a crack against a wall that doesn’t sound too good. I hobble to my hooves, still clutching the knife in my mouth. She begins to charge again. But this time I’m ready. I quickly step to the side and stab the knife straight into the side of her head. Dark ichor splatters all over me and the knife.

I fall back against the floor cabinets and let out a sigh. First day actually in the wasteland and I kill somepony, sorta. Well I’m not sure she can be considered a pony at this point. A strange coppery taste begins to fill my mouth. I spit out a decently big glob of blood to the side. As I slowly stand up I can’t help but notice a couple little cuts now on my body.

I turn around and look outside a window. This is the first time I’m seeing real sunlight. All I can do is sigh though. I never expected the real world to be like this. But of course it couldn’t be all sunshine and ladybugs. I turn back around to Fleetfoot’s body. As angrily confused as I am at her, I still feel like I should bury her.

It’s just the right thing to do.

…

According to my PipBuck it took me about two hours to bury Fleetfoot with a tiny shovel I found out back. I buried her right out front and made her a makeshift gravestone out of a cabinet door. Guiltily, I also searched the rest of the house, but other than empty bottles for something called Sparkle Cola there wasn’t anything noteworthy of taking other than the kitchen knife.

I guess it’s time to actually continue walking to the marker. I start walking northeast, Fleetfoot’s old home behind me. My PipBuck map lets me know that it’s a couple miles till I get to Watcher’s marker. What a wonderful first morning of being real.

…

Okay I didn’t think it could get any worse. But hot damn did it. What I thought could only be a nice, safe, town. Is actually home to a giant group of murderers. (Thanks Watcher.) From the outskirts on top of a ruined shack I can see most of what the small group of murderers calls home. A large church with everything but the giant windows sits in the middle with small makeshift sheet metal shacks littering the base of it. Surrounding it is a makeshift wall of rubble and random assortments of scrap metal.

And now, why do I call them all murderers? Well, scattered around the camp is the miscellaneous gore of ponies and random creatures. Unicorns wearing scrap armor are cutting into the carcasses of other ponies and putting the meat into organized piles away from the bones and organs. Heads of random creatures and ponies on rebar spikes. Graffiti made in blood and what I can only guess is other bodily fluids. Random fights breaking out between each other that end in a bloody massacre. No others pay attention though. It’s like it’s just a normal thing for them.

“Somepony help! They’re going to kill us!” Somepony yells from the town. Just outside the church runs a skinny earth pony mare. None of the savages bother chasing her though.

*BAM*

In an instant her head is blown into small, meaty chunks that scatter across the ground. I cover my eyes with my hooves, trying not to throw up my snack bars. Okay Midnight, you gotta help these ponies. You can’t leave them here alone to die. I take a couple deep breaths and hop down from the roof. I’m not sure how well a rusty kitchen knife is going to do but it’s the best I got. I quietly fly over the makeshift wall and duck behind even the rubble.

“So how about those two new mare’s huh? Bet we can have a hell of a time with them later.” I hear one of them say.

“Can’t wait to rut the living shit out of that unicorn tonight. Our last batch was only fillies. And my dick don’t touch that shit.” That’s the last thing I wanted to hear today. But that gives me all the more reason to save those ponies.

“Gotta go take a piss. Be right back,” One of the ponies says. Hoofsteps begin to approach near my hiding spot.

“Okay Spleen.” A pony with more of a dopey voice says. What the fuck kind of name is Spleen? “Gonna go grab a bite. Ah hear Sawtooth got a radstag today. Don’t wanna miss out on that.” I hear one make a weird grunting noise and the other trot off. Less than ten feet away from me the savage turns his back to me and starts doing his business. I duck down and start slowly going behind him with my knife ready.

“Hey Spleen! Heard you like mares,” I say right behind him.

“Who the hell just fucking said that,” as he turns around I thrust the pointy end of the knife into his throat. It stabs clean through his neck and blood starts pouring from his mouth and wound. He collapses onto the ground into a puddle of his own piss and blood.

I begin trying to reassure myself, “Alright Midnight, you just killed your first pony. Not a dead zombie pony. Real flesh and blood pony. But he was bad so you had a reason.” I quickly look over his body and find a makeshift pistol with only a couple rounds and a dull combat knife. I decide to leave his makeshift armor behind.

Now that I have an actual weapon I can cross that off of my list. I look down at the pistol in my hooves, not really sure how it works.The magazine said that the bullet comes out of the hole so that must mean aim that end at the target. Not the real question is how I *BAM*. A bullet whizzes right by my head.

Celestia damn it what’s wrong with me. “Hey Spleen you okay back there? I got you a piece of radstag from Cook Cook and I heard a gunshot.”

I put on my deepest most asshole sounding voice,”Yea I’m fine cock dick.” Cock dick? “Just thought I fuckin saw something back here.”

“Oh… alright Spleen. Well you better come get your food before it gets cold. You know how good it is fresh off Cook Cook’s grill.” Seriously! Who names these ponies?

This voice is killing my throat,”Uhh yea. Be right out in a minute. Gotta fucking flush and all that shit.” Wait.

“Spleen, how are you going to flush if there isn’t a working toilet in all of Equestria?” Luna, why would I say that.

You know what? Fuck it. Not gonna continue this stupid ass conversation. Back to my normal voice,”Hey random murder pony! I’m getting tired of doing this stupid voice so why don’t you just come back here so I can kill you already!”

“Who the fuck are you! Hey everypony! Intruder in the camp!” Okay that may have been a terrible idea! “What did you do to Spleen!” I put the gun bit in my mouth and aim around the corner. I line the sight up with the chest of the pony and pull the trigger with my tongue. In a couple of shots he was dead.

“Okay shooting a gun isn’t that hard actually. Just aim and pull the trigger.” I quickly walk over and grab whatever I can off of his body. Another pistol of the same kind and a couple more rounds. And a... metal apple?

“She’s over here! Get Her!” Fucking hell they’re quick. Down the path I can see a group of at least six fully armed unicorns and earth ponies. Shots from various different guns start whizzing by me. I start running along the side of the wall. Luckily none of them hit me. I hear another yell,”Go around the other way assholes! We can surround her!”

Oh yeah! I have wings! “Can’t surround a pegasus motherfuckers! Haha,” I yell and take off straight up into the air. From below me more shots ring out but most aren’t anywhere near hitting me. Then, out of nowhere, a shot louder than every other gun rings out from the top of the church’s tower.

Now in the simulation I broke my leg once and it was the worst pain I’ve ever felt. But getting shot in the hind leg, surprisingly didn’t hurt that bad. But don’t get me wrong, it still hurt like bitch. I let out a scream and started to fall to the ground. I take back control and began to fly towards the sniper in the church. The sniper’s shots standing out among the bullet fire from below me as I fly straight at them. I quickly dive into the window of the church tower. Somehow slamming into the sniper in the process, sending him to the tower floor.

I put my knife into my teeth and quickly jumped on top of her and thrust the knife into her chest and side at least five times. I leave the knife in her chest and stand up. Then remember the bullet in my back leg. I sit down on my haunches and look back at it. There’s no exit wound. That means it’s still inside. Oh fuck me this is going to suck. I pull out the combat knife from the sniper’s chest and begin digging into the wound for the bullet. Trying not to scream is literally impossible. A moment later I gave up. I’ll have to dig it out later.

From below me I start to hear the others charge into the church. A quick glance at my E.F.S confirms that. I grab the sniper rifle and sling it around my neck and search the mare's body. A couple rounds for the sniper and that’s it. All of a sudden one of those metal apples flings through the windows and clinks next to me.

“Whoever you are up there you need to move! Now!” I hear somepony yell below. As fast as I can I fall through a trapdoor and end up falling at least twenty feet to the floor below me. Above me something explodes and sends wooden shrapnel and the sniper mares body down next to me.

“Alright that should have got her boys. Good job with that grenade Ratstick. One of you, go see if she has anything on her then bring her body to Cook Cook’s if she’s actually dead. Gut Rot will pay handsomely if we bring him a live pegasus,'' One of the ponies below me says. If they think I’m dead then now’s my chance to get them all. I reach down and pull out the metal apple I got from Spleen. I think this is the thing that almost blew me to chunks. I look it over and decide I should pull the little pin when ready. I walk over to the railing above the main room. The huge group of them are still below celebrating their false victory.

Okay motherfuckers, I’ve had enough of this. I pull the pin with my mouth and toss it down in between all of them. “Oh shit, grenade!” one of them yells before being blown to meaty chunks along with the rest.

“She’s still fucking alive?! You stupid fucks outnumber her eight to one!,” I hear somepony yell outside. “Guess I’ll have to go do it myself.” Loud, clanking hoofsteps approach from the entrance of the church below me. I look down to see a fully metal unicorn pony with a variety of bloody spikes sticking off of him and two metal tanks on his side. Levitating next to him is a strange nozzle looking thing connected to said tanks with a long hose.

“Got you now shithead!” I turn around only to be bucked in the face through the wooden railing onto the ground below. “She’s all yours now Cook Cook!” The pony yells above me. I stand up to see Cook Cook slowly turning around.

“I’ve never had pegasus before, I hear that it's a delicacy,” Really? Your going to fucking eat me!? I grab the sniper rifle and aim at his head. One move and he’s gone.

“What the fuck is wrong with you ponies!? Why all of this innocent slaughtering and kidnapping!?” I’m giving him five seconds before I just say fuck it and blow his head off.

Cook Cook just lets out a crazy sounding laugh, ”Survival you dumb broad. If you ain’t on the top then you are nothing in this world.”

“You tell her Cook Cook,” The pony above me yells.

“There’s different ways to be on the top then murdering and kidnapping! How fucking stupid are all of you!” My sights stay trained on Cook Cook’s head.

“I don’t even know why I’m trying to talk to you. Prepare to be cooked bitch!” From the strange weapon on his side shoots out a long stream of flame.

“A fucking flamethrower! Are you kidding me right now!” I spread my wings. jump into the air and aim my rifle at him and fire. The bullet barely dent’s his armor. “How strong is your armor!?”

“You can’t get through Cook Cook’s armor with just normal guns. He made that armor himself for stupid ponies like you,” The stallion behind me yells above the roaring fires below. This stallion better keep his Luna damn mouth shut.

Well if weapons aren’t going to cut it then I’m going to need something else. Below me all the pews are starting to catch fire. That’s it! If I can’t shoot him, I’ll just cook him. I fly over to a giant wooden cross in the front of the church and land, ”Hey Cook Cook! Come get me asshat!” Cook Cook instantly turns around, the giant stream of flame doesn’t turn off and blankets the rest of the pews. That’s exactly what I wanted.

The temperature in the church began to rise to levels I can barely handle. My lungs are burning from all the black fumes of the burning wood. With the cross on fire and most of the pews I’m not sure how Cook Cook isn’t suffocating to death in that armor. I look over to the pony on the wooden ledge. He’s back up to the window, almost to the point of falling out. If all this fire isn’t going to be enough to kill him then I’m going to need something else. I fly around scanning the floor of the church. Mostly
everything is covered in flames, but in the fire I can make out the remains of one of the ponies I blew up with the metal apple. From where I am I can see a whole belt of the things on what I can only guess is Ratstick’s body. As fast as I can I swoop in and pull the belt off of his corpse. I hear Cook Cook yell something but I can’t hear him over the roaring flames.

I quickly fly above Cook Cook and start pulling the pins on the grenade belt, dropping them down on top of him. I notice one of them lands in between his fuel tanks and his armor. It sends him into a panic and he sprints straight forward as fast as he can, but it does nothing. In a giant mess of fire, metal shrapnel, and flesh, he explodes in front of the giant cross. The cross falls at incredible speeds to the ground and shakes the whole church. I turn around and start flying towards the exit, rubble begins to fall from the ceiling. The pony on the wooden ledge screams out for me but I ignore him. He can burn with the rest of the church.

I land in the dirt outside of the church, sliding at least ten feet in the dirt. I look back to see pieces of the church falling down into it. I barely stand to my hooves, burns and cuts covering my whole body. My back leg aching from the gunshot. I let out a sigh and lie back down in the dirt. “Thank Luna and Celestia both that it’s over.”

“Hey maybe you should help us before you go and take a dirt nap!” I look to my left to see a cage of ponies. A thinner brown mare is standing by the cage door.

“Oh yea. Sorry about that. I kinda forgot about all of you.” I say as I stand back up.

“I mean good job killing Cook Cook and all kid but it’s kinda cramped in here.” The mare says. I walk over and pull on the door.

“Well I could get you out of here, but I kinda don’t have a key... Any idea where it is?” The mare lets out a sigh.

“Damn Stable ponies. Cook Cook had the key you idiot!” She hits her face with a hoof. There’s no need to yell, lady.

“Well I’m not getting that key anytime soon,” I look back at the church. Half of it has collapsed now. “So how am I gonna get you guys out?”

“Well you're gonna have to lockpick it then kid.” Alright, how the hell am I supposed to do that! I don’t even know where I am. She must have seen the confused look on my face, “Alright kid, I’ll walk you through this. You're going to want a screwdriver, preferably flathead, and some bobby pins. Get those and I’ll walk you through the rest.”

Behind her a dirty stallion stands up,”Here, I have a screwdriver.” He pulls a screwdriver out of his mane. Not gonna question how he kept that there without anypony noticing.

The brown mare passes it to me through the cage. I grab it in my hooves and a bobby pin from my stable clothes. I kneel down in front of the key hole and stick them both in. The brown mare begins to start explaining it. Something about rotating it till the tumblers align but I just ignored her. In the middle of her long explanation the cage door opens with a satisfying click.

“Wha… How did you do that? I thought you didn’t know how!” I look up to see her wide eyed.

“I really can’t tell you, but I feel like it just came naturally, like I already knew how.” I’m actually not lying. Everything just seemed to line up perfectly.

“You Stable ponies are weird. Not to mention you killed a whole town of raiders by yourself. Unarmored even. The ponies back at Haytham are never going to believe this.” She holds out a hoof, “The names Turnpike. I live over at Haytham.”

I hold out my hoof and shake hers, ”My name is Midnight Note, and I guess I don’t live anywhere.” She just gives me a weird look. “What? I really don’t. I woke up in that Stable a couple miles that way yesterday and here I am.” She just keeps staring blankly.

“So you're telling me you don’t know where you are,” I nod, “ Do you even know who you are?” I shake my head. “Alright kid, we got some talking to do.”

…

An hour later and one mummification of at least half of my body with bandages and I learned I’m in the outskirts of a city named Alpony, in Cook Cook’s territory. Apparently she got kidnapped a couple of days ago from a settlement to the east called Haytham. She and a couple of the others were going to be sold as slaves by the raider leader named Gut Rot. (Another glorious name I must add.) I also explained to her what happened with the simulation and how I escaped with Watcher’s help. She’s never heard of the name before. (Of course.) So that adds to the list of never ending things I have to figure out.

Turnpike passes me a bottle of red liquid. “What’s this?,” I ask

“It’s a healing potion. Drink it and that gunshot wound will heal almost instantly. If you're going to run around and get as many cuts, burns, and gunshots as you have today then I would recommend keeping a good amount of them with you,” I pop the tab off of the top and slurp it down. Doesn’t taste bad. Kind of a fruity taste to it. Most of the pain in my back leg begins to go down to a dull tingling sensation. I toss the bottle to the side. “So hero,” I don’t like how she said that, “What’s your next move? Gonna go off on your own? Come back to Haytham with me and the rest?”

I lean back in my chair. I never really thought of that honestly. I just followed the marker until I got here. I mean I have a weapon now, and can find some armor on the dead raiders I killed if I need to, but I didn’t really find real friends here. I doubt Turnpike would want to travel with me to figure out who I am. But Watcher did say this was only a good place to start. “I never really had a plan honestly. Just kinda came here and ended up in this mess.” Maybe I could find friends at Haytham.

“Well whatever you do I owe you one. Hell, we all do kid. Killing that many raiders and one of Gut Rot’s top dogs is really impressive, especially for somepony who’s never held a gun before.” My eyes go wide, ”Uh, kid, you alright?”

“I know what I’m going to do next.” I stand up and start gathering all my stuff together.

“Wait, where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m going to go kill Gut Rot.”

_____________________________________________________________________
Footnote: Level up! Sanity:97%

Rapid Reload- Reloading is 25% faster! 20% while flying!