Fallout Equestria: Finding Hope

Chapter 4: The Midnight Marauder

“So you’re the Marauder huh? I expected something… better.”

I had done what I thought I could never do. I killed Gut Rot. The colt who thought he was the king of all Alpony. I did it without any hesitation. And I didn’t feel bad about it either. He was a bad pony. A raping, killing, waste of a pony life. It was only a matter of time till somepony ended his tyranny as the slave king. Who ever thought it would be me of all ponies though…

…

It was in Gut Rot’s throne room that I held my ground against the waves of raiders. Hundreds of rounds fired off until the sun started peeking over the horizon. I lost count of how many of them I killed, and how many of them managed to actually hit me. But when the final one went down I laid on the ground for at least ten minutes, chugging my last healing potions, letting its magic do wonders on my aching body.
My first line of business was making sure Stardust was okay. She is still lying down fast asleep in the closet. I made sure to cover her up with my Stable barding, she seemed a little cold. My second line of business was getting into Gut Rot’s supply room. The slaves could wait until I got some more healing potions or at least something to dull the pain. I casually pull the key from Gut Rot’s still corpse, he won’t be needing it anymore. I try to make my mind focus away from the dozens of corpses littering the room.
A quick walk down a hallway and I end up at the storeroom. It’s a lot bigger than I was expecting for a storeroom, nearly twice the size of Gut Rot’s throne room. Not to mention I think it was his bedroom. On one side is a giant king sized bed with colorful blankets and pillows. Above it is crudely drawn pictures of him standing above slaves, one of him sitting on top of a pile of dead ponies, and one of him doing some pretty terrible stuff to a unicorn mare. Below all of them is a picture of me and Stardust cooking a giant pot of stew. Of all the things to draw and hang up, you draw us. Across the bed on the other side of the room is all the supplies I could ever need. Ammo crates, medicine crates, gun cabinets, basically enough supplies to fully stock a small army. I walk over and start stacking everything inside them into organized piles.
In total I got about twenty healing potions (Twenty-four but I drank four) and a couple boxes of unopened bandages. Along with various types of drugs that I don’t recognise. My PipBuck labeled them as Med-X, Buck, and Dash. I injected a dose of Med-X which worked wonders for the pain. My PipBuck said it’s a painkiller, which I could use a hundred more doses of right now. Also plenty of rounds for my sniper rifle, pistol, and some calibers I don’t even recognise. I put them in my bags regardless. A large cabinet held a brand new sniper rifle and a pistol that wasn’t made of scrapped junk. It even takes a slightly larger round than the one I’ve seen almost all the slavers use. I put them in my bags along with my other weapons. There’s even a couple of holsters for everything. I buckle one on my front left leg for my pistol and toss the rifle sling across my back. Each is a perfect fit for my new guns.
I walk out of Gut Rot’s room with saddlebags full of stuff. And I haven’t even searched the rest of the bodies yet. I walk back into the throne room to see a pleasant surprise. Stardust, awake and perfectly fine. She’s slowly walking around the room staring at the bodies with a worried expression. She looks up to see me looking at her. I give her a soft smile. I’m glad she’s alright.
She quickly sprints at me and gives me a tight hug, “Midnight… I’m so sorry…” Wait, sorry?
“Stardust you have nothing to be sorry about.” She holds me tighter.
“I left you here all alone. And you did this by yourself. Midnight… you just killed at least thirty ponies.” She lets go of me and looks down at my bloodstained body, “You got shot to hell and it’s all because I overdid myself. And you killed Gut Rot…”
“Stardust, I’m fine. I promise. A little tired, but fine.” I look around to see the bodies of the snipers and the bodies of the others we fed yesterday.
“No Midnight you’re not fine. This is your second day in the wasteland and you’ve managed to kill a whole raider base by yourself. No help. Just persevering through the pain. And it’s all my fault you did any of this.” She takes a glance at Gut Rot’s body. “I never tried to stop you when you wanted to come here. I just agreed because why not. You seemed capable of stopping him. But I didn’t think you could take literally all of them by yourself.” She hugs me again.
“Stardust…”
“I can understand if you don’t want to travel with me anymore. All I’m going to do is get you into more trouble... I can make it to the library by myself and get my stuff. And you’ll be perfectly fine without me. You’re clearly capable…” I’m not sure what to say so I just hug her tighter while thinking. She’s the first and only friend I’ve made out here so far. And now she feels like this is all her fault.
“I’m not your responsibility Stardust, none of this was because of you. I had my mind set to coming here and doing this. Sure I didn’t think there would be this many… but I still managed.” She lets go and looks into my eyes. “You’re my first real friend Stardust, and I plan on traveling with you as long as I can. So yes, I want to travel with you. And with the state of this world, this may or may not be a recurring thing. But as long as I know you’ll still be my friend in the end of it all, I’ll be happy.”
“Thank you Midnight…” She wipes tears off of her face, then points at mine, “You have some blood on your cheek.” I wipe my left cheek with my hoof. “No, no I got it.” She licks her hoof and wipes it. “There, all good.” She gives me a smile and stands up to her hooves. “Let’s stop being all sappy and go help those slaves. I bet they’re extremely tired of waiting at this point.” She holds out her hoof and helps me up.
We walk out of Gut Rot’s building to see the slaves all gathering at one side of the pool. “Bout time ya’ll finish up in there. It’s been hours.”
“Sorry about that. Killing that many ponies by yourself takes a while.” The mare's eyes go wide. “Yes I killed them all by myself.” She points a hoof at Stardust.
“Teleportation is hard, okay!” Stardust looks away as she yells. I give a small laugh and she pushes me to the side. “Here give me the key.” I hold it out in my hooves and she levitates it down into the keyhole. She pulls the cage door open with a rusty scratching noise easily with her magic. All the slaves slowly walk out all at once. A couple of them are carried by their friends. I count at least fifteen total, eighteen if we’re counting the dead ponies still in the pool.
“So where are you going to go? I mean you could stay here… but I couldn’t imagine doing that.” I ask them.
One of them looks at me and then back at the rest, “We really don’t know. Our homes were destroyed by the slavers…”
A great idea pops in my head, “You guys could come to Haythem with us! Turnpike wanted to talk to me anyways. You could at least get some help there while you figure out what you’re going to do next.” Hopefully Turnpike won’t mind me bringing them all along.
“That sounds great! How can I… we, ever repay you.” A stallion says in the back of the group. I kinda have all the supplies I’ll need for a while.
I just shake my head, “There’s no need to give me anything. All of you are the reason I’m here anyways.”
“Well, could we at least know your name?” A mare says.
My name? “Uhhh sure. I’m Midnight Note, and this is Stardust.” I see Stardust wave a hoof.
“Well, thank you Midnight Note. We’ll be sure to tell everypony what you’ve done.” I open my mouth to give Stardust credit but she silences me with a hoof.
She leans over and whispers, “You did all of this, I don’t deserve anything.” I go to say something but she silences me again.
I move her hoof from my mouth and check my PipBuck’s map, “Well my Pipbuck says that Haytham is about two miles southwest. A lot shorter than I thought it would be.” Stardust pokes my side.
“Before we leave you should put on your Stable clothes.Your coat is matted with blood and that raider armor is falling apart. I’ve heard of ponies being shot by being mistaken for raiders. You don’t want that happening.” I look down to see just how caked in blood my coat really is. Even the darker color doesn’t hide it very well. She levitates my barding out of her saddlebags and passes them to me. “And uh… thank you for covering me up with them.” She gives me a faint smile.
I give her a smile. I nearly forgot I did that. I slip into the blue clothing and realize how comfortable it is compared to what the raiders wear. Not to mention it isn’t caked in blood and other gore.
“There, now you look less of a savage and back to your normal innocent self… other than the blood still left on your coat, and your mane is nearly red at this point.” Is it bad that I keep forgetting about all the blood? “We just need to get you a bath actually.”
“Well we can do it at Haytham. Right now we gotta get these ponies somewhere safe. And away from this hellhole.”

…

Traveling to Haytham went surprisingly well. Other than the random mutant wildlife we made it in peace. Who knew there were so many giant cockroaches and nonmetal spritebots around the wasteland. Stardust told me they're called Radroaches and Bloatsprites. And other than the mutants the only other problem was from one of the slaves collapsing. Another volunteered to carry them the rest of the way. I tried to offer but they said I had done enough for them.

Finally at the gate to Haythem and we can’t get in. The town appears to be an old military checkpoint. Small half circle buildings lining the town in rows. In the center is a bigger stone building but I can’t tell what exactly it is.

There are two unicorn stallions aiming rifles straight at our heads. “C’mon guys, I just got done killing at least thirty ponies to free these ponies, and now you aren’t even going to let us in? Are you fucking kidding me.” I just want to sleep. That’s all.
The stallion on the left side of the wall begins to talk, “How am I supposed to believe that you two killed Gut Rot all on your own.” Fucking. Celestia. Please.
“I was there when she did it. We all were. Sure we didn't actually see it, but we sure as hell saw all the bodies.” A stallion says behind me. I don’t know if I should be proud or if I should be ashamed of myself.
“Who the hell is out there Beans? I’m tired of all this Celestia damned yelling!” A familiar voice says from behind the gate.
“W-well these two mares walked up with a giant group and they say that they killed Gut Rot and cleared out his camp. But tha-” Beans instantly gets interrupted by the mare.
“Wait, is it a pegasus mare with em?” Beans just nods. “Well what the hell have you been doin. This is the kid that saved me.” Beans steps down and the gate slowly opens. Turnpike’s eyes go wide when she sees me. “Well hot damn it is you kid! And I see you actually did it!”
“It’s good to see you too Turnpike.” I point over at Stardust, “This is my friend Stardust. She helped me clear them out.”
Turnpike walks over and shakes Stardust’s hoof, “It’s nice ta meet ya. I’m Turnpike, mayor of this fine settlement.” Whoa what!?
My eyes go wide, “You’re the mayor here!? I thought you just lived here!?” Maybe she can get me a bed or something. I’m so tired.
She gives me a nod. “Yes ma’am, been the mayor here for a couple years now. Been gone for a couple days because of Cook Cook. But thanks to you kid, I’m back and hopefully here for good,” She looks over at Beans, “Could ya bring the ex slaves to the guest building and get them some food and water? Midnight and Stardust come with me. I got ya somethin.”
Got us something? I really hope it’s a bed! Sweet, sweet sleep, that’s all I want. Stardust breaks me out of my sleepy daydream by waving a hoof in my face, “You okay Midnight?”
Nope, “Yea, just a little tired. That’s all.” We follow Turnpike down the street to the bigger building in the center of all the metal buildings, “What are those called Stardust?” I point over to the metal half circle buildings.
“Those are called Nissen huts. Mostly used for old military checkpoints like this one.” I wonder if they have comfy beds in them. “And the stone building in the center is a command center of some kind. Each one uses about the same floor plan as the others. They are easy to build and were commonly used later in the war. For how quickly they can be built they are some of the sturdiest buildings still left in the wastes. So, if we ever come across another that’s why it’ll look almost the exact same.”

Turnpike walks up to a terminal next to the door of the building. She hits a couple keys and the door unlocks with a loud clunking noise. Turnpike gestures for us to walk in first. I let Stardust go ahead of me. The main room is nothing like the outside. There’s a desk with a terminal, a very regal blue rug in the center, and everything else is fully furnished. Turnpike walks over to a picture of the military checkpoint, clearly pre-war, and lifts it off of the wall.

Resting neatly in the wall behind the picture frame is a safe. Turnpike grabs a key from her desk and opens it. Inside is a stack of papers and a bag full of something. Turnpike reaches in and grabs the bag. As she does, I catch a glimpse of something light blue sitting behind it.

She tosses the bag onto her desk, “Here’s your reward kid, a thousand caps for Cook Cook, and five thousand for clearing out Gut Rot’s, I threw in an extra five hundred for bringing back the slaves.”

“Sixty five hundred caps!” Stardust’s eyes are extremely wide, “Midnight do you know how much that is?”

“I don’t know if I can accept that Turnpike. I killed those to help the ponies. And taking that many caps from you guys would put a serious hole in your financing. Right?” Maybe I could get a really nice bed with those caps though.

Turnpike facehoofs, “Kid, I don’t know how dumb you must be to not take these caps. You killed two of the most dangerous ponies out here in the wasteland all by yourself. No matter what you say, I’m making you take these caps.” I go to say something but she interrupts me, “Kid! I’m giving you money, take it and go get yourself some food, a drink maybe, anything you want! Just take the Luna damned caps!”

Stardust levitates them into my saddlebags, “I’ll make sure she keeps them,“ She looks over at me, “You need to get yourself some kind of armor anyways. And probably some more ammo if you’re going to be killing a whole town of slavers again.”

“Guess I don’t have a choice do I?” Simultaneously they both shake their heads no. “I do have a question though Turnpike,” Her ears perk up, “What is that blue thing in your safe?”

“That old thing?” She reaches in her safe and pulls out a small statuette of a rainbow maned pony, “It was in this safe originally, not really sure what it is though… You want it?”

“Uhh, sure.” She passes it over to me. Almost instantly I feel a burst of energy pulse through me. For a moment I no longer felt tired. I just have the urge to fly as far and fast as I possibly can. I look down at the (very cute) rainbow maned pony in my hooves. At the bottom it says ‘Be Awesome’.

Stardust levitates the statue of the pony and says,“That’s a figure of one of the Ministry Mares. Rainbow Dash I believe her name was.” I’m glad Stardust knows this stuff. She levitates it back into my hooves.

“Watcher told me a little about the Ministries. Which one was Rainbow Dash in charge of?” I don’t even remember all the names of the Ministries. All I know is that there’s six of them.

“She was in charge of the Ministry of Awesome. They really didn’t do much during the war in all honesty. Or at least from what I’ve been able to find.” Ministry of Awesome? That sounds pretty… well awesome honestly. I slip the tiny Rainbow Dash into my bag.

“Okay one final question for you Turnpike,” She raises an eyebrow, “Do you have a bed?”

…

I wake up to something hitting my chest, “Goood afternooon Midnight Note, time to wake up and smell the afternoon dust!” Stardust yells next to me.
I open my eyes to see a neatly folded set of clothes sitting on my stomach, “What is this?” I hold my PipBuck up to my face, twelve in the afternoon, great.
“It’s armor. You know, the stuff that helps you when you get shot. And I know how much you like that Stable barding, so that should at least fit over it. Kind of like an armored jacket.” I look over to see Stardust counting the bag of caps.
“That’s going to take you forever you know that right?” I stand (more like fall) off of the bed. “Here give them to me,” She gives me a look before sighing and levitating them into my hooves. I look down at my PipBuck, “Five thousand, seven hundred and eight.”

Her eyes went wide, “How did you do that?”

“My PipBuck can automatically count them, not sure how but it did it with the hundred I got from Cook Cooks.” I pass them back to her.
“I heard that PipBucks were great, but I didn’t know they could do that.” We should find her one. She’d probably find more use in it than I would.
“It’s great and all, but the only thing it doesn’t have is a flashlight. The thing’s harder than a rock though,” I hit it on the bed frame next to me twice and the screen turns an insanely bright blue and lights up our whole side of the hut. I hit one of the buttons twice and it turns off. Stardust lets out a snicker.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now!? You’ve been a flashlight this whole time!?” I keep hitting it against the bed frame. The frame begins to slowly dent from the impacts.
“Midnight stop before you break something,” Stardust barely yells through her laughing.
I let out a deep breath and stopped hitting the now dented bed, “So what else did you buy with the caps?” Stardust proceeds to lift out clips of ammo for my new pistol and rifle, Sparkle-Colas, some boxes of pre war food, and a book. I grab a box of food at random, “Flim Flam Mac and Cheese, is it any good?” I ask. Stardust just gives me a little shrug. A closer look at the ruined box reveals two very similar red and yellow colored ponies wearing similar hats, the only difference being their hairstyle and one has a nice moustache. I tear open the box and look at the tiny plastic dish of the Mac and Cheese. On the top is a thin layer of film. I try to pick it off with my mouth to no avail. Luckily I have Stardust. (Unicorns: 5000, Pegasi: Two)
“So how is it?” Stardust asks.
I lift my face up from the plastic bowl, “This. Is. Amazing.” I quickly gulp down the rest of it. “Why wasn’t there anything like this in the simulation? Almost all that we ate was stupid apples from the surface. I mean don’t get me wrong, apples aren’t bad, but after a while they get kinda boring.” Stardust gets a thinky look on her face, “What?”
“I’ve never had a fresh apple before.” She holds up a box of preserved apples, “Only ever had these.” Is fresh fruit really that hard to get? I mean I could understand, literally everything was destroyed and all but damn.
“I bet we can find you one somewhere. I mean somepony has to know a way to get fresh fruit.” Right? “We can probably find you one some day.”
“Midnight the chance of us actually finding a fresh apple is like us somehow discovering Celestia and Luna are still alive.” Well that’s a depressing way to put it. I pull out a Sparkle-Cola from my bag and pop off the cap. Stardust levitates it into our cap sack.
I take a long swig off the bottle. Warm, flat, and delicious. I stand off of the bed and begin to change into my armor. “The merchant called it ‘mercenary troublemaker armor’ or something.” Doesn’t really seem all that troublesome. “I thought it would suit you perfectly since it appears trouble follows you around wherever you go.” I stick my tongue out at her.
Surprisingly the armor fits almost perfectly. My saddlebags fit comfortably over it also. Stardust was right about it fitting over my Stable Barding. “So how do I look?” I do a quick turn around.
“Well I can definitely see the troublemaker in you now.” I stick my tongue out even longer at her. “But seriously, I think it fits you perfectly. If you want to look at yourself, I believe there’s a mirror in the bathroom over there. Also wash all that blood off of you. You’re still caked in it.” She points to the end of the bunkhouse. “Once you're done there, Turnpike wants to talk to us about something. Sounds like she needs a favor.”
“Alright, shouldn’t be that much of a problem. After we help her we can go to the library and get your stuff.” She packs up the rest of our stuff and walks out of the hut.
The rest of the bunkhouse is completely empty of course. I imagine that nobody has time to be sleeping at twelve in the afternoon. Not to mention I’m glad nopony saw me beat my PipBuck against the bed.
That reminds me of something. I look down at my PipBuck and turn on the radio. Why not listen to music while I freshen myself up. The first channel that comes in is one titled ‘Dj-Pon3’. I click on it and the end to a very jazzy song finishes playing. Then a stallion with a very smooth, but deep voice comes on, “Goood afternooon children! It’s your friendly neighborhood disk jockey here and you know what time it is. It’s time, for the news! And this time it’s from up north just outside of Alpony. Now I know you’ve heard all about these two little Stable dwellers in completely different sides of Equestria, but get this, we got another one. And hot damn she is just as good as the others (maybe even better).” Wait… is he talking about me? “This time we got ourselves a pegasus mare fresh from one of them Stables. And this one seems like she’s on the hunt for blood! Straight away she just walked into the notorious Cook Cook’s camp and put an end to him and his lackeys, also freeing all of his slaves in the process. Good job kid! But get this though, she decided that she wasn’t done there yet! She took the armor off the slavers and snuck her way into the Alpony slave king’s stronghold! She waited until the clock struck midnight. And she finished all of them off herself. She saw to Gut Rot personally, making sure that he could never harm anypony else in the wasteland. Our very own Midnight Marauder seems to be taking down all the slavers, and raiders, in that side of Alpony. You guys may want to pick a different career at this point because I guarantee that she will not hesitate to come and put a stop to whatever you plan on doing next. Thank you Stable Dwellers! And and an even bigger thanks to the Midnight Marauder! Now we can get back to our regularly scheduled program. This is Sweetie Belle singing on how the sun don’t shine how it used to.”
I don’t know what to say… once I noticed that it was really me I couldn’t move. I don’t deserve any of that praise, I was just doing the right thing… It’s what anypony would do right? Also Littlepip and Blackjack must be doing good as well if he’s mentioning other Stable Dwellers. Good for them. Maybe we can team up and clear the wasteland of everything bad… Actually, it’s probably better if we stayed apart, we each get a section of Equestria to ourselves and we could probably have it cleared out in a couple months. I can imagine the posters now, ‘Stable Dwellers: Clearing the wasteland, one raider camp, at a time!’
I let the music play while I wash myself. Sadly no running water of course so I just dampened a rag with some water in my bag and washed off what I could. Some of my white mane stained with the red tint of the blood which made it very hard to get off. I’ll need an actual bath for the tiny bit of red tint to go away. Once I’m done scrubbing I step back and take a look at the new armor. It’s a dark grey leather jacket with ammo belts crossing over the chest. It’s obviously been worn before, but not enough to be falling apart. I put my guns in their holsters and head on out to Turnpikes.

…

“There’s the Midnight Marauder now,” Stardust says as I walk into Turnpikes.
I give her a glare, ”So you heard Dj-Pon3. Great, now I’m going to be hearing that all day.” At least it has a catchy ring to it I guess. “And why didn’t he mention you? You played as big of a part as I did.”
“Kid, from what Stardust told me, you somehow went and killed every single one by yourself. No offense to Stardust but you did all of it.” Ugh. Why do I even try?
“So what is it that you wanted Turnpike?” I had to change the subject. I’m definitely not going to win two to one. She walks over and pulls out a piece of paper from her desk. She puts it on the table and gestures for me to look at it. It’s a list of names of other settlements, to the right of each one is lists of supplies. “Is this some kind of trade list? I’m guessing it’s with other settlements.”
“Good job kid, that’s exactly what it is. Now find something weird about it.” I quickly skim through it again. She must have seen the confused look on my face, “There isn’t a single trade made with Green Blossom in the last week. They’re normally our best trade for fresh food, but they haven’t sent a caravan in the last week. I would have checked on it sooner, but we can blame Cook Cook for that.”
“And that’s where we come in, right?” Stardust says next to me. “Go and see if everything is alright.”
Turnpike gives her a nod, “I would normally send someone else to do it, but almost everyone is helping the ex-slaves, and that leaves you two. I can understand if you don’t want to, it’s not the direction you were planning on heading.”
“Of course we’ll help, it shouldn’t be that much of a detour.” I look over to Stardust, “You up for it.” She gives me a nod. “So where is Green Blossom at?”

“If you head north about five miles you should run into it. It has a large glass building so you shouldn’t miss it.” A marker appears on my E.F.S. I still don’t understand how it knows. “And I don’t have much to offer ya this time, I’ll look around to see if there’s anything I can pay ya with.”

I wave a hoof at her, “No need, you already gave us enough caps as it is. Just consider this a favor.”

“Kid if you keep not taking my money you’re going to be the pony losing in the situation.” She just facehoofs. “Luna damn it kid.”

…

“So how does it feel to be back on the road again?” I ask Stardust. “Must be a thousand times better than traveling with slavers.” We had been walking for about an hour on the destroyed road heading towards Green Blossom. Stardust ended up selling all of the extra weapons we had to the merchant back in Haytham. I couldn’t imagine lugging that many guns around constantly.
“Walking with you is about as good as walking with Slavers, except I can actually have a conversation with somepony.” I push her with one of my wings and she lets out a chuckle, “Really though, it’s nice having somepony to travel with. My time in the wasteland has been pretty lonely honestly. I also never expected to be traveling with the one and only Midnight Marauder.”
Oh Celestia please not this again, “I’m going to have to talk to Dj-Pon3 about that. And how does he know what happened anyways? It literally happened today.”
“Dj-Pon3 just kinda knows everything. He’s always reporting the latest news, sometimes almost within an hour of it happening. Nopony has actually seen him before, so good luck talking to him. He just sits at the top of Tenpony tower all day reporting the news. And I hear that not even the ponies who live at Tenpony know who he is.” I’m going to add that to my list of things I need to do. I’m sure my PipBuck already did.
“Where’s Tenpony Tower anyways?” Maybe we can go after we get Stardust’s stuff back.
Stardust just gives me a surprised look, “You’re not planning to try and meet him are you?” How did she know!? “Well good luck if you do because he’s all the way in Manehattan.” Manehattan! Wait, how far is Manehattan? I stop and check my PipBuck. I don’t zoom out far enough to actually see Manehattan and I give up. Cross off meeting Dj-Pon3 I guess. Or at least add it to the very bottom of said list.
“Well there goes that dream. Maybe someday we can head out there” Midnight’s journey to Manehattan, watch as she gets shot even more than she does now.
“We?” Stardust gives me a surprised look.
“Well yea. I was just thinki-”
Stardust interrupts me, “I think it would be fun to travel to Manehattan. And why not have my best friend there too,” She gave me a small smile.
Those two words echo in my head over and over. Stardust is my best friend. “I-I don’t kn-”
Something metal presses against the back of my head. “Alright you two, you’re going to give me everything in your saddlebags right now, or I’m blowing your pretty head off,” a stallion’s voice says behind me.
I sigh and slowly turn around, “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Four more come out from behind wrecked skywagons.
I look at the shotgun pointed directly in my face. A unicorn stallion stands levitating it in front of me. “No I’m not fucking kidding you, drop your saddlebags on the ground, now!” I just sigh again.
“Midnight c’mon, don’t do anything stupid!” Stardust slowly starts taking off her saddlebags.
“Okay, first of all Mr.Shotgun, I’m not afraid of getting shot. In the… twoish days I’ve been in the wasteland I’ve probably gotten shot more than you have in your whole life.” He puts the gun against my forehead, “And secondly, I am the pony who killed every single one of Gut Rot’s men. You’re probably thinking, ‘no way she is the one who killed him’ well that sucks because I am.” I spread out my wings. I see him wince a little bit but not move, “Now third, and finally…” My voice goes down to a small whisper, “Your safety is on.”
I quickly grab the barrel of the shotgun out of his telekinetic grasp with my mouth and smack it against his head. He falls to the ground with a loud thump. Stardust begins firing rounds from her pistol and runs over behind a skywagon. I draw my pistol and fly into the air. Most of them look up and start firing after me. Stardust takes them out with ease. Now there’s only one left.
“Fuck this shit, y'all are fucking insane.” I pause mid flight and draw out my sniper rifle. I line the sights perfectly with his head and pull the trigger with my tongue. The recoil pushes me back a little bit but the shot flies true. The bandit’s brains and skull splatter on the cracked pavement.
I fly back to the ground next to Stardust. “How the hell did you know the safety was on?” She asks surprised.
“I checked it while I was distracting him.” I walk over and pick up his shotgun. He lets out a little groan. I open the barrel, with some difficulty, and notice a crucial part of the gun is missing. Ammo. “Are you serious dude? First you try to rob me with the safety still on, and there’s not even any ammo. Luna damn you’re stupid!” I toss the gun to the side, it’s not going to be useful if there’s no ammo. “Now sir, since I feel like I’ve done way too much killing in the last two days. I’m going to let you go. But, you have to promise that you’ll make an honest living for yourself, no more robbing ponies on the side of the road, no more killing unless necessary. Okay?” He lets out an accepting groan. “Good! Now I’m going to continue walking with my Best Friend here, and hopefully I never see you again. Have a nice day.”
I turn around to see Stardust’s eyes wide, “Are you sure Midnight? I mean, he did try to rob us.”
“Hey I got a second chance at my life, so why can’t he?” I look back at the still lying down bandit, he is holding his head in his hooves. “And he should know that if I learn he’s out there banditing around I’ll find him. Ain’t that right sir!” He lets out another pained groan.

…

“You know, I probably hit him too hard with that shotgun.” We’re approaching Green Blossom now. The bandits were surprisingly our only problem getting here. Other than that slight interruption to our walk, it was good to be on the road again.
Green Blossom consisted of two big glass structures and a couple shacks on the edge of the small settlement. But I don’t even know if you could consider the whole thing a settlement though. It’s tiny compared to everywhere else I’ve seen.

“Well I do think you cracked the stock of the shotgun. You’re kinda scary when you get into a fight Midnight. Not going to lie.” Hey, gotta do what you gotta do. That’s the first real thing I’ve learned here in the wasteland.

“Well maybe they shouldn’t be trying to kill us now should they.” We walk into the center of the whole settlement and not a single sound is heard. “Anypony home!?” I yell as loud as I can but the silence continues. “Check that shack and I’ll check this one.” Stardust gives me a nod.

I walk over and slowly open the metal shack door. Not a single pony inside. But the whole thing seems trashed. Crushed food boxes, once fresh food crushed into a fine mush on the floor. What the hell happened here? I leave the building and start walking over to the greenhouse. Stardust is still in the other shack.

I open the door and walk in. Almost instantly every part of my body inside and out begins to burn. A thick pink cloud covers the whole room to the point where I can’t see a hoof in front of my face. Every breath I take starts a fire in my lungs. I quickly jump back out of the greenhouse. The pink slowly trails out of the doorway behind me. I start coughing and hacking violently to the point where I spit up blood.

Stardust comes sprinting out of the shack, “Midnight are you okay!?” She pauses and looks over at the pink seeping out of the greenhouse, “No way… How? Midnight drink a healing potion! Now!”

I reach in my bag and pull one out. “What the hell is that stuff Stardust?” I greedily chug the healing potion.

“How could it be here, we’re miles away from Canterlot!” She looks over at me, “It’s called the Pink Cloud. It’s what destroyed Canterlot…”

“Whoa whoa whoa, what!? That’s what destroyed Canterlot? How?” Stardust walks over and helps me to my hooves.

“I’ll tell you while the cloud clears out of there. I want to see what’s causing it.” We walk over to an old bench and take a seat. I coughed a little bit more, but the healing potion put an end to the pain. “So when the bombs dropped they weren’t all like the ones that caused most of the Equestria Wasteland to be what it is now. Those are called Balefire Bombs, they were the most common type of megaspell utilized by the Zebras. But when it came to destroying the princesses, who they saw were the strongest beings in Equestria, they needed something better, something that could kill literal goddesses. They started the attack by shooting hundreds of smaller missiles at Canterlot. The whole city was protected from the missiles by a shield the princesses put around the whole city. But little did they know a megaspell of the worst kind was being planted inside by the Zebras.”

“It was the pink cloud wasn’t it?” How could they have gotten it into the city at a time like that?

Stardust nods her head, “Yes, and since the shield was up it kept the pink cloud trapped in the city, but if they were to release the shield the city would be completely destroyed by the incoming missiles. They had no choice.”

“The princesses sacrificed their lives to try and save their city, but it was useless in the end because of the Pink Cloud. It would kill anything it touched.” Stardust nods.

“Now thanks to the Pink Cloud, Canterlot is one of, or maybe the most dangerous place in the whole Equestrian wasteland. You’ve seen what a ghoul is, the pink cloud made ghouls of a different variety. They are completely immune to guns and whatever other things you do to them. They will keep attacking you relentlessly, healing whatever damage you do to them almost instantly. The only possible way to kill them is to cut off their head.” And I was beginning to think it couldn’t get worse.

“What doesn’t make sense about the Canterlot is the fact that the Pink Cloud is still there. Shouldn’t it have moved up into the atmosphere at this point?”

“That would be my guess. But from what I’ve been told, the cloud seeps into the stone and pools in certain spots all over Canterlot. Few ponies come out of the city alive and almost all who do live come out with permanent damage to themselves”

I don’t think I ever want to go to Canterlot. And I couldn’t imagine anyone doing something as terrible as that. Especially to a city that big… Poor Celestia and Luna. I let out a long sigh, “This whole story is making me depressed, is the pink settled down enough?” We stand up and walk over to the greenhouse (Pinkhouse?).
“Looks like most of it is gone, but we can’t be in there for too long.” Stardust leads us in. I feel a slight burning in my chest, but nothing like the concentrated pool did before.
What I see next is the most haunting thing I’ve seen yet. In the corner are the bodies of several different ponies all hugging each other, but one. Their skin has completely melted off and began dripping onto the ground into thick puddles of fleshy pink liquid. The only pony not in the group is lying on the ground in front of the others, completely melted to the ground. Stardust instantly gags and runs out of the greenhouse. I stayed there, unable to move from shock. How could anypony do something like this, especially to innocent ponies like them? They were just farmers trying to make it in this hellhole of a world! I hear Stardust throwing up outside, but I try my best to ignore it. I turn around and looked at all the crops they were growing. Some of the vegetables were ripe for picking, but now they have a light pink hue to them. I need to leave. I begin to walk out of the greenhouse, but not before looking back one more time, “I’m sorry this happened to you… I’d bury you like I did Fleetfoot if I could…”
“Midnight?” Stardust yells from outside.
“I-I’m coming…” I walk out of the greenhouse and close the door behind me. Who- Whatever did this I’m going to kill, make it so that they can never do anything like this again. The wasteland is just getting worse and worse…

…

“So they were melted to the ground! What the hell did I send you into kid!” Turnpike said that she expected the worst, but for it to physically be the worst thing was unexpected. “How the hell did the pink cloud even get here! Its source is in Canterlot!”
“I have no clue Turnpike, but all I know is that’s my next goal. Find the pink cloud source.” I don’t think I could deal with another group of innocent ponies dying like that. I look over at Stardust, “We’ll go and get your stuff, then we need to find ponies who would know anything about the killer. Somepony has to know something.”
Stardust gives me a nod, “Since we’re going into the city we should stop at Riverdale. They may know something about the killers. Hopefully anyways…”
“Any help we can get is useful.” I let out a sigh, “But the fact that we don’t have any leads is the thing that’s going to be holding us down.”
“The wasteland seems to be changing rapidly. Red Eye is coming in full force, kidnapping ponies all around the Manehattan area, not to mention he’s already took over Fillydelphia. And you come out of nowhere and kill Hooflyn’s biggest slaver and his best lackey by yourself. Not to mention the other Stable Dwellers. Something big is happening kid, and it seems you’re slowly wrapping yourself in the center of it.” Wait there’s an even bigger slave lord than Gut Rot? Ugh, why does this fucking place hate me.
“I feel like I just have a lot of stuff I need to look in… to…” I just realized something.
“Are you okay Midnight?” Stardust must have seen my blank expression.
“It’s just, I’ve been so busy dealing with these problems that I forgot about learning who I was… It never even crossed my mind.” I forgot that I forgot who I was
“Oh, Midnight.” Stardust puts a hoof around my neck, “You’ve been worrying about everypony else, but you haven’t thought about yourself.” She pauses for a moment, “You know what Midnight, I’m going to make you a promise. No matter what happens to me, or what happens to you, I’m going to find out who you were. Even if you somehow die, which is always a possibility out here and I don’t even want to think about it, I will find out who you are.”
I don’t know what to say, “Thank you Stardust… I’m glad you’re here for me.” She gives me a smile. I don’t deserve to be with her out here. She’s too good to me..
“Kids there’s one more thing I wanted to talk to you ‘bout before you two head out. Gut Rot’s lackeys are pissed at you two, specifically Midnight of course. I got word they tried to raid a couple towns in Alpony for anything about the white maned pegasus. They fortunately weren’t able to do much but there were still casualties. So watch yourself out there.” Turnpike turns around and opens a drawer on her desk and begins digging in it. “Also before you kids go I got one more thing for ya. Just gotta find it.” She continues digging, papers and other various nick knacks fly out, “Ah ha! Found the sucker!” She pulls out a long square wooden box and holds it out for me, “I noticed you still have that knife from Cook Cook’s camp still. And since you kids broke me of my caps. All I got is this.”
I grab the box and open the top. A long curved knife sits perfectly on red velvet lining the box. The blade is completely free of rust and is etched with strange runes. The blade is perfectly set into a carved bone handle.
“It’s called a kukri I think. It was here in this safe when we first moved in here.” I pull the knife out of the box. The balance between the blade and handle feels perfect. “Apparently it’s made by the Zebras or something.” I go to grab it with my hooves and I nick the end of my hoof with the blade. The cut instantly starts to bleed. “Yea, be careful kid, It’s crazy sharp for just being a steel knife. Wait, I may have something to help with that.” Turnpike starts digging in her mess of a desk again. After throwing out even more stuff she finally finds what she was looking for. “I knew that thing had a sheath somewhere.”
Stardust levitates the knife from my hooves and into the sheath. I take off my knife sheath around my leg and replace it with the Zebra kukri. “Thanks Turnpike, but once again you didn’t have to give me anything. I told you I’d do it for free.”
“Celestia damn it kid! Just get out of here before I decide I want to keep the cool knife.” She gets a smirk on her face and walks into a different room
“She’s a strange pony.” Stardust says next to me.
“Yeah, but she’s a good pony though.”

…

As we head farther east towards Alpony, I realize how big the city actually is. Giant stone and glass pillars rise up from the ground nearly reaching into the sky, on the outskirts smaller buildings rest. In the very center of the whole city is a giant, pure white, spiraling tower reaching straight up to the cloud cover above. I wonder what it’s like being at the very top. Probably no different than being in Cloudsdale and looking straight down.

…

“Good idea playing music, it makes the walk a lot more entertaining. Not to mention we can hear what’s going on in other parts of the wastes.” Stardust had suggested turning on the radio. A low sad song rings out from my Pipbuck.
“I’m still trying to get over the fact that three Stable ponies come out of nowhere in the wasteland, all in the same day, and become heroes almost instantly.” This has been on her mind since we started listening to Dj-Pon3.
“Well technically I wasn’t always in the Stable, I have the Dashite brand still on me.” Unless somehow someone branded me while I was asleep, the meanest joke ever.
“That’s a good point, but unless we figure out who you were, you’re technically still a Stable pony.” I guess that’s true too.
A fast paced swing song begins coming out of my PipBuck. A saxophone and trumpet leading a deep bass and fast piano. I couldn’t help myself. I started singing to the beat.

This mare is here to stay!
So you best not be running!
Because she’s flying into the fray!
And she’s coming gunning!

The Midnight Marauder
Oh she will never falter!
You’ll hear her wings a beatin!
So you better be retreatin!

She ain’t got no home!
And she ain’t got nothing!
But she’ll make you match!
So you better watch your back!

The song begins to slowly fade. The saxophone trailing off into the distance in a groovy trance. I look over to see Stardust isn’t next to me. I turned around to see her mouth wide open, her eyes mimicking her mouth. “Uhh Stardust? You okay there?”

“T-t-hat was amazing Midnight! I-I didn’t know you could sing!” She thought that was good? I just made that up as the song was going…

“I didn’t think it was anything special. I just got the urge to sing along so I did.” The swingy beat just got to me and all that just came out.

“I’m just blown away right now. Your voice was amazing, the lyrics were a perfect match with the song. How did you do that?” Her eyes are still wide from amazement.

I don’t really have a good explanation, “It just felt right, like everything just went together perfectly in my head so I just sang it out loud…” I don’t really understand how it was that good.

“Maybe… just maybe I know how you did that… But in the meantime you should sing some more! Your voice is actually very nice.” What!? I’ve never been told by anyone my voice is nice, granted I never sung around anypony in Cloudsdale… I always kept to myself. But out here I just feel free to do what I want without any judgement.

“Now that you point it out it makes me not want to sing aloud. It’s embarrassing…” Nopony needs to know that I’m a singing killing machine, just a killing machine will do. You know actually I don’t know if I want to be known as a killing machine, ”Maybe just for you… but you can’t tell anypony... Okay?”

“I won’t tell anypony, but sooner or later you should tell someone else.” But… “Ooh, what if we brought you to Dj-Pon3? I bet he would love to hear you sing!” Stardust is slowly and slowly getting more excited about it.

“Stardust I don’t even want you to hear me sing! I can’t handle the whole entire wasteland hearing my voice!” I’m already getting too much attention on the radio. I only used my new nickname in my song because it fit well…

“I’ll convince you one of these days…” She lets out a laugh and gives me a little shove with her hoof. “The Midnight Marauder, a hero of the wastes, and singer. I can see it now.” I just let out a loud groan.

…

About three songs later and we finally made it into the actual city. It’s even more intimidating actually being in the city, from the outskirts I could at least not feel like everything was going to fall on me. All around us gunshots echo from random buildings, alleyways and every other possible place around us. Normally after the gunshots loud yelling is heard, or other times it’s just silence. Stardust told me not to worry about any of it unless it’s super close to us. That’s just the sounds of a big city in the wasteland.

We’re walking down a ruined street with buildings surrounding us in every direction, random skeletons litter the streets from when the megaspells hit. Some seem to be heading to work, even a couple are the size of fillies or colts. Probably heading to or from school, or just trying to have fun on a nice day. But then the megaspells hit and ruined everything…

“So what were you doing at the library here anyways?” Stardust pointed out the library as we approached it. It’s a fairly large building that was probably more impressive before the megaspells dropped. Columns of stone surround the edges of the building. In the front is a very large set of stairs leading straight up to the main door.

“Information! That was my main goal in life ever since I was a filly. I just wanted to learn about pre-war Equestria, or just learn anything in general. I had heard rumors there were still books in good condition so I came here to see if I could find them, but due to Gut Rot’s slavers I got kidnapped and met you.” From the way she said that it’s almost like she is done learning.

“I mean we can multitask, you learn about anything you want, and I’ll find out who this monster of a killer is.” Also find out who I am, but that’s slowly going to the bottom of my list of things to do.

“And sing, don’t forget about your singing.” I give her an annoyed look, “What? Why would you not practice your special talent?” Stardust points down to my cutie mark, “A crescent moon with a music note in it. If that doesn’t add to the ‘you’re a singer’ thing then I don’t know what your cutie mark means”

“Wait, you think my special talent was singing?” Was I a singer before? There’s no way!

“That’s all that I can think of, you’re too good to just be an amateur.” She gives me a smirk. She knows she’s right.

“I guess we’ll figure it out sooner or later… For now let's just go get your stuff back.” We start walking up the giant set of stairs. As we get to the top I notice giant tapestries dangling from the ceiling behind some of the pillars. On the left is one of Celestia raising the sun, on the other Luna raising the moon. But due to years of being open to the elements, they are fading and torn all over. I could barely make out what they were.

Stardust levitates one of the double doors open and gestures for me to walk in. “Holy shit… This place is huge.” A large, half circle desk with multiple terminals greets us. A skeleton of a unicorn sits at one of them. Behind the desk are towering shelves of old ruined books. Most of them seem to not be in readable or scavengeable condition, or they’re just scattered on the ground. And on the outer edge of the giant room sits a wooden walkway with even more bookshelves fitted into the walls.

“It’s amazing isn’t it. Too bad everything is destroyed… But I believe that somewhere in here there’s at least a couple books still in great condition.” This place could have been amazing before the war. Full of ponies sitting around reading to get away from any troubles they had. Stardust points over to one of the corners, “I hid my stuff over there, you can take a look around if you want. I should only be a second.”

I decided to check out the unicorn skeleton. It’s sitting on a torn up leather swivel chair. Its head is lying down at the desk, a pair of reading glasses rests next to it. The terminal the pony was working at is smashed to pieces. I glance over at the other. It’s been dealt the same fate. I look down at the shelves underneath to see a key holder. At least twenty keys were supposed to fit on here at one point, but now all of them are gone. I turn around and feel something jab into my hoof. I let out a little ‘ow’ and looked down. A tiny rusty key is on the ground. “I guess not all of them aren’t gone.” I say to myself. I pick it up in my mouth and slip it into a pocket of my troublemaker armor. (Pockets are nice by the way) I also regret picking it up in my mouth. Two hundred year old keys don’t taste that good.

I take a quick glance around, above each section is a sign labeling what type of book goes where. Science, history, fiction, nonfiction. This place seemed to have it all. I start heading through the maze of shelves to where Stardust’s blue tick is on my E.F.S.

I walk over to see her checking through her bags. “Is everything still there?” I ask her.

She turns around and nods, “I think so, you never realize how much stuff you have until you leave it for a week.” She levitates the bags onto her back and buckles them. I notice that her cutie mark decorates the front of each side. “Just let me grab my gun real quick…” She kneels down in front of a bottom shelf and her horn starts glowing. From the shelf comes the most beautifully decorated rifle I’ve ever seen. The stock is a darker color and carved into it is a picture of Stardust’s cutie mark. Attached to it are three feathers dangling off the back for decoration.The barrel is painted pure white, the same as Stardust’s mane.

“Stardust… that gun is beautiful! Where did you get it?” I look the gun over once again and realize that I don’t know how you would shoot it unless you're a unicorn. There’s no mouthpiece.

“...This is the only thing I have left of my dad… He had it specially made for me.” I notice the grim look she gets on her face, “I was hoping it was still here… I don’t know what I would do if I lost this…”

“Oh Stardust… I’m so sorry…” I wish I could help her in some way.

I can tell by her look that she is holding back tears, ”I-I try to forget what happened, but… I just can’t…”
“There isn’t much I can do for you Stardust… But I’m here for you…” Maybe... I could sing for her? She likes my singing a lot for some reason. Lyrics begin going through my head but I can’t catch a good rhythm. I’m never going to be able to do this…
She lets out a little sniffle and wipes her face with her hooves, “I’ll be fine Midnight… It just gets to me sometimes…” She levites up her gun. “It’s actually made for griffons. With their claws they can crank this lever after every shot to load the next round, but since I’m a unicorn I can use my levitation to fire it. I believe they called it a lever-action rifle.” She sniffles again and puts her gun across her back.
“Want to finish exploring? I found a key up by the front desk. Not sure what it opens though.” Maybe it leads to some secret treasure hidden deep underground. That’d be awesome.
“Here let me see the key.” I grab it out of my pocket and she levitates it out of my mouth. (Still tastes like rust) “I think I know where this goes… Here, follow me.” She leads me to the farthest edge of the giant room to a single door labeled ‘custodian office’ She puts the key in and begins to turn it. In an instant the key snaps in half and falls to the floor. “Great, now how are we go-”
“Spread out and find it! The goddess put us in charge of finding it and we will not disappoint!” The loud, booming voice of a mare echoes throughout the library.
Me and Stardust quickly duck behind an overturned bookshelf. “Son of a bitch, who the hell is here!” I whisper to Stardust. And why do they come now?
I hear crashing from across the room, “I don’t know, but we need to get that door open now!” Stardust whispers next to me.
“I got it! I’ll just lockpick it.” Well I think I do anyway. I quickly walk over to the door and pull out my screwdriver and bobby pins. I take a glance behind me to see who’s here.
Straight down the aisle sits the one pony I never thought I would see in my lifetime, one who just earlier I was told died in Canterlot. Luna herself. Her tall, majestic form staring straight at me. At that moment time seemed to freeze. It was Luna, I know it is… But she seems, different. Not in the way I’ve seen her before. Her flowy, star filled mane is instead long and black with blue stripes. This can’t be her. When I blink she seemed to disappear into thin air. I shake my head and start working on lockpicking the door again.
Rotate the screwdriver a little to the left and… done! The door opens with a satisfying click. “Stardust lets go!” She looks over and follows me into the room. Stardust quickly closes it and locks it behind us.
“How do you know how to lockpick? Not even I can and I’m a unicorn!” Stardust says next to me.
“Honestly I have no idea, but the real question is. Why in the fuck is Luna out there!? You said she’s dead!” If that’s the real Luna than this we stand no fucking chance.
Stardust lets out a little sigh, “No Midnight that’s not Luna… I don’t know what they are but I’ve been hearing more and more rumors about them coming into Alpony. This is the first time I’ve seen them.”
“Fucking great! Now we have alicorns that are probably going to kill us. How much shit is the wasteland going to throw at us!” Aagh. This fucking place I swear!
“I was ho-” I see something above Stardust begin to glow.
“Stardust get down!” Above her appears the blue alicorn. As fast as I can move, I leap at the alicorn with my knife drawn. The alicorn’s horn glows and it disappears in front of my eyes. I land flat on the ground with my knife still in my mouth. “Where did it go!” I stand up and look around the room. It’s a small office with even more bookshelves lining the walls. Surprisingly there isn’t a single ruined or good book in sight.
Stardust stares directly in front of her with her rifle levitated next to her. “Midnight, I have an idea. Get ready.” I ready my knife and look straight ahead. I have no idea what she’s planning. Stardust’s horn begins to glow and so do the bookshelves lining the walls. “Now!’ Stardust yells and all the shelves in the room slam into the center of the room. The alicorn lets out a scream and appears in between two of the bookshelves. I quickly jump over and sink my knife into the side of her head.

The alicorn’s head thrashes violently for a second before it goes completely still and stares blankly at me. “Okay that was unsurprisingly difficult.” I step down from the bookshelves, “That was a good idea though.” I guess add another point to the unicorns.

“Midnight why didn’t this bookshelf move?” I look over to see Stardust staring at the only bookshelf she didn’t tear from the wall. I walk over and pull on it with my hooves. It doesn’t move an inch. “Here, let me try.” The bookshelf gets a purple glow around it and wiggles slightly. “Hmm, try pushing the side of it maybe?” I walk over to the side of it and push. With a loud grinding noise the bookshelf slides over on a rail.

“So it’s a secret room huh, smart. But also, why?” Behind it is a staircase leading down into pitch darkness.

“I don’t know, but it’s either a creepy staircase or more alicorns.” Stardust says behind me. I definitely don’t want more of whatever the fuck those things are.

I turn on my PipBuck’s flashlight and we begin to walk down the dark staircase. With her magic Stardust closes the bookshelf behind us. Hopefully the alicorns can’t follow us. We walk down the dark stairs until we reach a flat wooden wall. A thin line of light peeks through underneath. “Is this another bookshelf?” I look over at Stardust. She shrugs and her horn starts glowing. With a loud screeching noise the bookshelf slides to the left.

Sliding the bookshelf reveals a room almost double the size of the tiny office we were in before. This time a terminal rests on a desk. And most of the books here seem to be in good condition. I look over to see Stardust’s eyes go wide. She quickly runs over to the shelves and starts looking through them.

“Advanced Spells and Alchemy, Equestrian Economics, Pony Sut-, I mean Pony Anatomy! Midnight, this place has everything.” I slide the bookshelf back into place behind us.
I look back over to see Stardust filling her bags with books. I let out a giggle, “You’re a huge nerd, you know that right?” She gives me a death glare and sticks her tongue out at me. Then goes back to collecting books.
I walk over to the desk and power on the terminal. Amazingly it still has power, It was left open on a journal entry.

Entry #3
I successfully did what Ministry Mare Rarity wanted. I got as many books as I possibly could hidden away for transport to Tenpony Tower in Manehattan. Currently there’s only a total of three ponies who know this tunnel exists. Me, Rarity, and the newspress pony across the street. He knows only because he’s the transport to Manehattan. But once we get this shipment sent Mistress Rarity will probably ask if we can do more. But unfortunately I don’t think we can. The employees are getting very angry at the fact that half of our books have disappeared to ponies who don’t even exist on any of the records. But if that means the books will survive then we must do what we have to do.

Why were these books being sent all the way to Manehattan? Specifically to Tenpony Tower… I look over at Stardust, “Hey Stardust?” She looks over from her book hoarding and gives me a little hmm. “Why would these books be sent over to Tenpony? Apparently they were going to get destroyed or something.”
“Well I believe that during the war ponies were destroying books, but Twilight Sparkle was completely against anything harming any kind of knowledge. And Tenpony was Twilight’s main hub, so she probably was going to put these in her personal collection to stop them from being destroyed.” So Twilight is also a big nerd. Understandable.
“Okay you may now continue your book searching. I’m gonna finish reading the other entries.” I leave that entry and go into the very first one. It’s dated almost a year before the others.

Entry #1
Today we were visited by the head of the Ministry of Image, Rarity. She brought in a strange black book and was asking if we knew anything about it. It was filled with strange zebra runes that nopony around here can actually read. She also said that she tried multiple ways of completely destroying it but couldn’t. I told her that there’s nothing that can’t be destroyed, but I instantly changed my mind when she set it on fire right in front of my eyes. But before I could talk to her about anything else she left. I’ll have to check around for more info on this ‘Black Book’

Entry #2
It’s been about a year since I’ve met with Mistress Rarity, or even seen her for that fact. But yesterday she showed up asking if we can talk privately. I agreed and we stepped into my public office. She told me that ponies have been going around destroying books and that she thinks they are going to come here soon so she would like them out of here. But this isn’t a Ministry problem, she said. It’s just a favor from one mare to the other. I agreed because watching a place as wonderful as this get destroyed would be terrible. She then says that if I need it she can get me a job working for her Ministry. I told her I would think about it. Sure the pay would be a million times better but I just love this place too much to ever leave it.

So it was really that bad huh. I knew that the war affected literally everything, but actually destroying books for no apparent reason is terrible. I know that Stardust wouldn’t have let anypony touch her books, or the library’s books.
I look back at the terminal to see a final entry “Unlock desk”. I click on it and the desk pops open with a soft click. I look down at the now open drawer. Inside is another one of those glass balls. It’s the exact same as the one I found in Cook Cook’s. I slip it in my bag. Maybe Stardust will know what these things are.
“Hey Stardust, are you ready to go?” She lets out a groan and turns around.
“But, books…”
“You have how many now?” She looks into her saddlebags.
“Thirteen…”
“Yea, you have enough. And we can always come back when it’s safer. We need to get going, I don’t really trust those alicorns.”
Stardust lets out a sad sigh, “Fine…”
Behind the desk is another tunnel. This time not hidden behind a bookshelf. We follow the tunnel up to a hatch in the ceiling. Like before, a small beam of light comes through the cracks. I push up on it and it opens up into a small broom closet. A couple of cleaning products falI to the floor. I boost Stardust with my back and hop up. Before we leave the closet I check my E.F.S for any red or blue ticks.
“It seems clear. Open the door.” Stardust’s horn fills the closet with its purple light and the door slowly opens up to reveal a large printing room. The floor is littered with molding newspapers and spilled jars of printing ink. Lining the walls are around five or six different printing presses. One of them still has a half printed newspaper sticking out of it. No others in the room seem to match it. Not to mention it’s only a single article taking up the paper. Not even any kind of picture to match it either.

This is Featherweight bringing you the latest, and seemingly final, print of The Alpony Times. Today I only bring a single news story, and that is to say goodbye. Just minutes ago I got news of Megaspell strikes in Western Alpony, Central Manehattan, Hoofington, Las Pegasus and more than I can even count. Cloudsdale has been completely wiped off of the map and the pegasi have completely closed off the sky. And now it turns out a stray megaspell has collided with the Alpony Dam. I don’t know much else but I do know that I don’t have much time left. The radiation is sweeping across the whole city more rapidly than any of us expcted. I can feel it weakenignsmybody.. If you readinths I just waanteverrryonetto be saaf

The paper ends there. I look to the right of the paper to see a small skeleton of a stallion wearing an ink stained visor. “I’m sorry you had to die like this Featherweight. Hopefully the goddesses have somewhere nice for you in the afterlife.” I walk over to next to Stardust. She’s looking at some of the more legible newspapers on the ground. “We better head out. Those alicorns have to be looking for us by now.” She gives me a little nod and we head out the entrance of the small news building. I glance behind me at the building. A sign that says ‘Alpony Times’ still hangs above the entrance proudly, as it should.

…

Riverdale seemed like a pretty decent little town from a distance. The most notable feature of the town is the tall building on the northern edge. The walls of the town surround almost a whole city block near the side of a small river. Leading to the main gate of the town is a bridge that stretches across the water. On top of it are multiple barriers made up of old wagons and stone rubble.

The alicorns must not have cared about us because we made it to the Riverdale Bridge without seeing any sight of them. But once again more trouble seems to be brewing because the wasteland hates me and will take every chance it gets to try and kill me.
A group of maybe ten or twelve slavers is grouping up on our side of the bridge leading to Riverdale. Me and Stardust took cover behind an old skywagon before they could see us. A pair of guards from Riverdale are slowly making their way across the bridge to see what the commotion is all about.
“What do you think the guards plan to do? They stand no chance two to twelve.” I grab my sniper rifle and rest it in one of the broken windows of the skywagon we had taken refuge in.
“I have no clue but we may have to intervene in a second. Get ready just in case.” I double check to see if I have a full clip and aim at the group of slavers. They seem to be yelling something to the guards but from this distance I can’t hear anything. The guards finally reach this side of the bridge and one of them begins to talk. One of the slavers looks back and gestures to one of the slavers. A smaller unicorn walks up to the front levitating a piece of paper in its magic. I notice that the unicorn’s cutie mark is a pencil with an eyeball sticking off of it. What kind of fucked up thing is that?
Stardust nudges my side, “Let me see real quick.” I let go of the rifle and let her levitate it to her eye. “Midnight… There’s a picture of you on the paper.”
“No way… “ I grab the rifle and look at the piece of paper. It’s a decently well drawn picture of my face. They even got the number of my Stable Barding right. I move the scope to aim at the guards. They both shake their heads and say something. The slaver who appears to be their leader gets a grim look on his face and nods. Then waves a hoof at the guard and yells something to his slavers. All at once the slavers draw their guns and aim straight at the guards. Both of them instantly run back and try to find cover.
“I gotta help them! Cover me!” Stardust says something but I’m already flying over the skywagon with my sniper rifle in my mouth. I hold the rifle in my hooves and yell towards the slavers. “Leave them alone! I’m the one you want!” All at once they all face me and stop firing.
The leader walks out in front of them, “You’re a lot smaller than I thought you’d be!” He looks behind him at his raiders. “Remember! Boiling Point wants her alive!” I aim down the scope of my rifle at the leader and fire. Too bad for him I don’t need him alive.
The shot strikes true and he collapses onto the ground. One of the guards on the bridge peeks out and begins firing an automatic gun out into the crowd. I quickly fly over to the bridge next to the guard. “Where’s your friend? Did he make it?” I look back at where I left Stardust. She’s aiming down the sight of her rifle. Picking off a couple all by herself.
The guard drops to his back and leans against our cover to reload. “I’m not sure. I was barely able to make it myself.” He shoves a clip into his gun and begins firing again. I join him and take aim with my sniper rifle at the farthest target. It’s the small unicorn with the picture of me. He’s cowering behind everypony else trying to stay out of the gunfire.

“Sorry kid, but you picked the wrong crowd.” I whisper to myself and pull the trigger. The shot blows half of his face off and he falls to the ground in a pile of his own blood and gore. I aim at another and fire twice. Both of them connect in the Earth Ponies chest and he collapses. That leaves one more panicked slaver mare. She tries running to cover behind a pile of rubble but fails when one of my rifle shots blast through the side of her flank and she falls to the ground screaming in pain. I take one final shot to put her out of her misery.
“Six for six. You’re a pretty damn good shot girl. No wonder they were looking for you.” I stand up and gesture for Stardust to come over. “But why were they looking for you anyways?” Before I can answer, a group of at least five guards come running from Riverdale’s gate. The guard next to me turns and begins to yell, “You lazy fucks are too late! This mare had to come and save the day.” He points a hoof at me and the guards get a nervous look on their face. “Get back to your shifts before I tell the mayor you were sleeping on the job!” He looks over at me and shakes his head. “Fucking assholes... Now where were my manors.” He holds out a green colored hoof. “Names Stalk. I run the guard around here.”
I grab his hoof in mine, “Midnight Note.” Stardust comes walking up and stands next to me, “And this is Stardust.”
Stalk grabs her hoof and introduces himself, “Well Midnight and Stardust. I owe ya my life.” He takes a look around and pauses. He points to a skywagon and sighs, “Looks like Callow didn’t make it.” I look over to see the dead body of the other guard pony. It looks like a shot pierced his side and he bled out.
“Sorry about that. I tried to get over here before anything happened to either of you.” I guess you can’t save everypony in the wasteland.
“We heard that they’ve attacked a couple other towns nearby. Is this the first time they’ve been here?” Stardust asks him.
“I’ve heard of them attacking the smaller towns nearby as well but I never thought they would come here. We’re quite a bit bigger than the others. But if it wasn’t for you two there would have been way more casualties. Half the guards here never get off their asses.” He walks over to Callow’s body and lifts him onto his back, “We better head into town before it gets dark. All that gunfire could have brought some unwanted attention.”

We walk over to the entrance of Riverdale and push open the scrap gates. We are instantly greeted by one of the guards who came out earlier. Stalk walks up to him before she can even say anything. “I need you to bury Callow's body. Then get word to his mother that he’s dead.” The guard goes to say something but Stalk just raises a hoof, “Don’t fucking argue. He wouldn’t have died if you assholes were actually doing your job.” The mare nods her head quickly and takes Callow’s body onto her back.

“How old was he?” Stardust asks.

“Sixteen… He’s wanted to work for the town guard ever since he got his cutie mark. I figured it was about time for him to learn a couple things so I took him under my wing.” Stalk lets out a sigh and gestures for us to follow. “The mayor will probably want to talk to you two.”

…

“So this is the Midnight Marauder I’ve heard so much about huh?” The Mayor of Riverdale was not who, mostly what, I expected. A ghoul. And he must be a newer one too. His dark silver mane isn’t almost completely gone like Fleetfoots. And he’s not a rabid, cannibalistic pony either. “The names Silver Thread. And I doubt your name is actually Midnight Marauder I’m guessing?”

“It’s Midnight Note actually.” This whole Midnight Marauder thing is going to be really annoying sooner or later.

Silver Thread gives a little nod of his head, ”And you are?” He looks over at Stardust.
“Stardust. Midnight’s friend.” Silver thread just nods and looks back over at me.
“So what do I owe the pleasure of having you here Midnight? We’ve never had a celebrity here in Riverdale” Out of the corner of my eye I catch Stardust giving him a dirty look.
“We came looking for information about a killer out east. Figured somepony here would have heard something about it.” Behind me I hear a door latch shut. I glance behind me to see Stalk standing there.
“Sorry, ah don’t want anyone getting worried about some crazy killer on the loose. We have enough problems as it is.” Stalk walks up and stands next to Silver Thread. “So what kind of killer are we dealing with here?”
“Well all we know right now is that they used Pink Cloud. The whole population of Green Blossom fell victim to it.” Stardust lets out a sigh, “Who knows who’s next...”
Silver Thread gives me a smirk, “I’ll tell you what Marauder. If you help with this little problem our town has been having.” Bribery, are you fucking kidding me! I’ve been in the wasteland for three whole fucking days and now I’m getting bribed to help people. I’m beginning to think I would've been happier back in the simulation.
Luckily Stalk decided to speak up before I could do something I wouldn’t regret, “Thread are fucking kidding me, bribery. They saved the whole town from a slaver attack and now you’re acting like this. You're lucky she’s a good pony or I’m pretty sure she would take you down here and now.” Stalk I’m gonna say that you're officially the nicest stallion I’ve met in the wasteland.
Thread walks behind his desk and sits down, “Yes I realize that. She did single hoofedly take down Gut Rot on her own. But you see it’s her fault that the slavers were here in the first place. If she would have just left things be then the slaver attack wouldn’t have happened. Because if what you told me is correct then they were looking for you. Correct.” He leans back and puts his hooves behind his head.
I look over at Stardust and back at Thread. “Fine. What… What do you want.”
His stupid smirk appears back onto his face, “About two days ago I sent a stallion to the old Robronco building east of here. It's only a ten minute trot from here, and he hasn’t returned. I want you to do his job because I know that you won’t fail like he did.”

Stardust speaks up first, “So what exactly do you need us to do? Grab some scrap electronics? It’s probably all cleaned out by now from scavengers.” I can hear the annoyance in Stardust’s voice. But I really can’t blame her at this point.
“No I need you two to get what we are lacking. Defense. Robronco was a robotics factory. They have to have some sort of robot that’s still in some sort of working condition we can reprogram for protection.” He tosses a small bag onto the table that jingles slightly when it lands. “Do this and I’ll tell you what you want to know, and you’ll get the previous reward that was forfeited.”
I grab the bag of caps in my hooves and check my PipBuck, two-thousand caps and a stick of bubblegum. I toss it back down on the table, “Fine, We’ll take care of it tomorrow. For now we need somewhere we can rest. It’s getting too dark to travel.”
Thread's stupid smirk returns, “Glad we can come to an agreement.” He looks over at Stalk and gestures to the door, “Show them to the inn. Tell Pin they can stay for free.”
Me and Stardust follow Stalk out of the room. All three of us don’t say a single word until we are out of the building. But right as the door outside closed behind us you bet we let everything out.
“How in the fuck do you work for that guy Stalk!” I try not to yell but fail miserably.
“One more moment and I would’ve used all my magic to teleport him to the fucking moon!” Stardust couldn’t help from yelling either.
“Seriously, who the hell bribes somepony when they're only trying to help. I would have helped out either way!” I let out a sigh and rub my face with a hoof.
Stalk lets out a long sigh, “The only reason I stay is because nopony else can protect themselves around here. And the people who do call themselves guards are worthless pieces who can’t even shoot a target a foot away from them. Callow was the only other pony to actually try and make a difference, now he’s gone…”
“I’m sorry about Callow and I’ll help in any way I can. But if I’m going to do that then you're gonna have to deal with the problem of your mayor. Nopony like that should be leading anypony. Especially the whole town.” I’d probably kill him myself if he gave me a good enough reason to. But I don’t think I could just murder him in cold blood.
Stalk begins walking down the street, I’m guessing towards the motel. The streets are surprisingly devoid of ponies despite the decent size of the town. Me and Stardust quickly follow behind. “He may be trying to help the town’s defenses but with the amount he’s offering for a couple robots he could just hire a dozen mercs and be done with it.” Stardust says next to me.
“You two don’t worry about it. I don’t want you two getting in any kind of trouble.” Stalk then gestures in front of him, “Inns right over here. I’ll pop in for a second and talk to Pin then I gotta get back to work. I gotta pick up those slaver bodies.”
The RIverdale’s inn from the outside isn’t that impressive. It’s a tall, four story building that I believe used to be an apartment building before the war. Above the door is a neon red sign that says ‘River Heights’. It is one of the biggest buildings in this small sectioned off part of Alpony though. Almost towering three stories above the mayor's office.
Stalk opens one of the double doors leading into the building, “Pin wake up, we got two mares who need a room.” A small blue and green unicorn mare sitting behind a counter shakes awake, the book she was reading falls to the floor.

Pin looks at both me and Stardust with tired eyes, “Welcome to…” She begins yawning mid sentence, “...River Heights.”

Stalk walks up and throws a sac of caps onto the table, “Give them your nicest room, I’m paying.” I look over at Stardust and raise an eyebrow.

Pin grabs the bag of caps in her hooves and shakes it, “This is only half for our nicest room.” She lets out another yawn and places the bag of caps back on the table.

“I know, Thread said they could stay here for free tonight. I figured you’d let them sleep in the nicest room you got for a little extra.”

Pin picks back up the caps and puts them behind her desk. A small key enveloped in magic levitates onto the table, “Whatever. As long as I get to go back to sleep. Room is on the top floor. Farthest to the right.” She levitates her book from the ground and places it back on her face. I guess it’s not for reading.

Stalk looks back over at us and gives us a nod. “Goodnight you two. And thanks again.”

At the same time me and Stardust both thank him. We look at each other then back at Stalk. He gives us a little chuckle and walks out of the hotel. I look over at Stardust, “I don’t know about you, but this ‘best room’ thing sounds pretty great right about now.”

_____________________________________________________________________
Footnote: Level up! Sanity:90%

Fly ‘n Gun- Halves spread with ranged weapons when flying!

Statuette - +1 AGL