Fallout: Equestria - Echoes of War

by Trashponi

Rating: mature
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Death, Alternate Universe, Kirins, Sad, Other, Original Character, My Little Pony: A New Generation, Adventure, Mane 5, Violence, Crossover, Sex, Fallout, Main 6, Gore
Length: 63594

Pony leaves stable looking for revenge. Pain, suffering, and hijinks ensue.

Two hundred years after the balefire bombs fell, Winter leaves the stable where she, along with her family, had spent the last two centuries Cryogenicly frozen.
Now she must travel through the ruined world she'd once known, searching for her niece and seeking revenge on the Unicorn with rotting cutiemarks stitched to her hide who foal-napped her niece and murdered her twin sister, carving the cutiemark from her corpse.
Her path of revenge will thrust her into a wasteland plagued by many dangers along with emerging factions vying for control over the city of Delamare and its surrounding lands.

.....

Author's Note: On hiatus, I'm waiting for a new cover and I want to write most of the story before posting new chapters as I revise/rewrite them. Also, I plan to rewrite the posted chapters; I'm unsatisfied with them.

Published 2024-01-15 02:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2024-04-17 15:30:39 UTC

Chapter 1: The Last Day (Awaiting re-write)

“And I think to myself: What a wonderful world.”

The cries of my newborn niece woke me from my dreamless sleep. A headache greeted me immediately, I rolled to check the clock and I let out a sigh. It was noon; I wasn’t exactly sure when I passed out, the last time I looked at the clock it was six thirty. I’d had trouble falling asleep every night since returning from the war a couple of days ago. I hadn’t planned on returning, even though I had the time off, but my mother insisted that I use the time to go home and meet my niece, Dewdrop.

I shared this house with my twin sister, Twister. Our home was in the middle of a street called Harmony Lane that ended in a culdesac. The houses here were nicer than my sister or I could afford. Fortunately for us, I was offered this house along with a spot for my family and me in a stable that was being built nearby for my service in the war. A Stable-tec representative came to me with the offer when I was in Hoofington just before I had a cybernetic installed where my front right leg used to be.

The incident that took my leg also took my father and older brother. It was three years ago now; It still haunted me. I did my best not to think about it.

They were the reason that I’d joined the war. Twister begged me not to go back, but I had to. I’d learned that once your hooves were used to kill it would stick with you. I spent my recovery with Twister in our new house, and when I was ready I returned to the war.

“Can someone check on Dewdrop?” Twister asked, “I just got out of the shower.”

I rolled off the bed. “I got her,” I called then stretched. I left my room and turned down the hall. My mom had arrived yesterday; I could hear her watching the news as I trotted to my niece's room. “What’s got my silly filly so upset,” I said after opening the door. Yes, I said it in baby talk, something that I’d only done when I was alone with the newborn. I made my way to the side of the pink crib and looked down at Dewdrop. She was an earth pony like the rest of our family, save for Twister who was, somehow, a unicorn. I smiled down at the little Cyan foal with a silver mane. She looked up at me with wide eyes before smiling. A warmness that I hadn’t felt in a while filled my heart.

I could tell that she wanted to be picked up, I reached in for her but froze. My eyes were locked on the hoof at the end of my cybernetic leg. The hoof concealed a blade that I could release at a moment's notice. Sometimes the blade would shoot out when I was first getting used to the new leg. Thankfully, no pony got hurt and I was able to learn how to control it after some time. However, I was still worried that the blade would shoot out while I was holding Dewdrop. I still hadn’t held my niece.

“You won't hurt her,” Twister said bringing me out of my thoughts. I turned to see her trotting up to me.

“I–I know, but what if…”

“You won't.” She cut me off, “You’ve had that thing for long enough that I’m confident that you won’t hurt her.” She nudged me, “Give it a try.”

I reached in again and wrapped my flesh and blood leg around the foal, I froze again when I brought the mechanical one closer to her.

“I can't,” I said, ears drooping.

“Here, let me help.” Twisters hoarn glowed followed by a glow forming around Dewdrop. I left the foal from the crib and held her, thankful for Twister’s support.

After holding my niece for a time I began to smell something fierce. “I think she has a present for you, sis,” I said, smiling.

Twister floated Dewdrop over to the changing table. “I’ll take care of her, Can you go and ask Mom if she wants to go out for hamburgers soon? I’m starving.” My stomach growled it’s agreement. I found my mom sitting on the couch as she watched the news. She looked tired, I was surprised that she was able to get the time off work to come here. Cloudy Sky was one of Pinkie Pie's personal assistants, I figured she’d be too busy, she’d buried herself in her work when my father and brother were killed. Twister and I were both surprised when she told us she was on her way.

“Morning, Mom,” I said, She turned toward me and smiled. Cloudy Sky had a gray coat with a very curly Yellow mane.

“Good to see that you’re finally awake.” She laughed, “I almost thought you were going to sleep the day away.”

“Sorry about that. It’s been nice getting to sleep in my own bed, but I’ve been having a hard time falling asleep. It’s just a bit too comfortable after sleeping on a cot for so long. I’m sure I’ll get used to it in a couple of days.”

“Get all the rest you can, sweetie. You’ve more than earned it.”

“Twister wanted to know if you wanted to go out for hamburgers here in a little while,” I said, before yawning and heading straight for the coffee maker.

“I’d love to,” Mom replied.

As I stood there waiting for the coffee pot to do its thing I noticed that My bottle of Wild Pegasus was empty. I sighed, I’d have to pick up some more while we were out. I normally didn’t go through whiskey this fast, but it had been a while since I’d last had some so I indulged myself a little, probably too much, judging by the headache that I’d woken up with. I poured myself a cup of coffee as Twister carried Dewdrop into the living room, she set the foal down on the floor and then sat next to her.

It was nice getting to spend time with the family that I had left. I looked forward to getting to spend more time with them once this war was finally over.

“How are things going at work, Mom?” Twister asked, “Anything exciting you can tell us about?”

“Well, there is, but I’m not supposed to tell anypony about it.”

“C’mon, mom. I’m sure Pinkie wouldn’t mind if you told your daughters.”

“I guess you’ll hear about it later on today anyway, I guess I'll let you in on what’s about to happen.” Twister and my full attention were now on our mom, we stared at her, waiting. “There's going to be a Raid on The Four Stars HQ in Manhattan.” She said, “Pinkie believes that there are a lot of zebra sympathizers there and that they need to be taken into custody before they can do further harm.”

My eyes widened at the news while Twister gasped, covering her mouth with a hoof. “Do you know what time the raid is going to happen?” I asked, taking a sip of my black coffee.

Mom looked at the clock on the wall behind the television then said: “It should be happening very soon if it hasn’t started already.”

“Hopefully no innocent ponies get hurt.” Twister said, “There’s probably plenty of ponies that work for Four Stars that aren’t Zebra Sympathizers. What’ll happen to them?’

“They’ll be taken in for questioning, if they are ignorant of any wrongdoings then they’ll be released. The ponies that Pinkie sent are highly trained. It’s unlikely that anypony that’s innocent will be hurt by MOM officers.”

“Ok,” Twister said, clearly worried.

“Don’t worry, Dear. I’m sure that we’ll hear about it on the news soon. There's no reason to worry about it too much. Let's just enjoy the time we have together before Winterbreeze and I have to go back to our jobs.

“It’s Winterstorm now, Mom.” I reminded her. I hadn’t gone by my birth name in years. Before I lost my leg, I went by Winterstorm when I was at war and Winterbreeze when I was at home. Ever since I’d received my reward for serving my country I’d been unable to go by anything other than Winterstorm. I was still the same Ice blue mare with matching eyes and a white mane, but I couldn’t be Winterbreeze, not with the hole in my right ear, scar across my eye, and cybernetic leg. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to go by that name again.

My mom didn’t understand, but she nodded her apology.

“Oh,” Mom said, hopping off the couch, “I need to use you’re terminal for a moment. I promised Pinkie that I’d speak with her after I got here.”

“It’s in the office,” Twister said, “Just be careful not to delete the novel I’m working on. I’m almost finished with it.”

“I will, dear, thank you.” Cloudy Sky briskly trotted away. I took my coffee and relocated to the couch. I took another sip before sitting in on the nearby table. I didn’t pay attention to the TV, instead, I looked out the window. It was a beautiful day, the sun shone brightly in the sky and there wasn’t that many clouds in the sky. I enjoyed days like this, it made me want to go out for a walk through the forest out back and enjoy nature. It had been way too long since I’d trotted through nature without fear of being shot by Zebra snipers.

Everypony in the military agreed that it was weird how they held their riffles, I did as well, but I also spent time trying to learn how to do the same. If I wanted to, I could now rear up on my hind legs and hold a rifle in my front hooves. I hadn’t had the chance to do so in battle, though.

I shook my head. I was home, not on the battlefield. There was no reason to be dwelling on battle right now. Dewdropped let out a happy coo and I looked at her. There were more important things that should be on my mind right now. I smiled as my sister tickled her daughter. It was a shame that Dewdrop’s father didn’t want to be a part of this. He was missing out on the cutest little filly that I’d ever seen.

What a piece of shit, If I ever saw him again, id make sure he got an up-close look at the back of my hoof.

After a while, Mom returned and sat back down on the couch. What was left of our family sat there as we watched Twister help Dewdrop learn how to stand on four hooves. The filly was enveloped by her mother's magic to help support her, It would still be some time before she could do it on her own. I couldn’t help but smile, maybe I should leave the war behind me, I’d already earned a pension to support me for the rest of my life and lost so much to it in the the process. Watching the news member of my family standing with a proud smile and so much life ahead of her I realized that I wanted to be there for as much of it as I could. I’d have to return, but when my tour came to an end I planned to return home and be with my family.

The sounds of sirens evicted me from my joyous fantasies.

“What’s going on?” Twister asked.

“It’s just a drill,” Mom said.

The stallion on the tv went silent I noticed. I shushed them and pointed at the TV. The news pony stood there for a moment, listening to a pony that was off-screen. After a moment he started to stammer before taking a breath and saying: “It would seem that… that Cloudsdale was hit by a mega spell just moments ago.” The stallion gave an audible gulp before continuing. “After that, it seems another Megaspell went off from within Manhattan. It… this is it, every pony.” The stallion stared at the camera for a moment, “Sweet Celestia.” before burying his face in his hooves. The signal cut off after that, being replaced with a screen that had an image of a buffalo above the words:

PLEASE STAND BY

I wasted no time, Leaping off the couch I said: “We need to head to the Stable!”

“Shouldn’t we back a–a bag or something?” Twister asked as she swaddled Dewdrop in a blanket before lifting her in her magic.

“No,” I answered as I galloped around the couch to the door.” The representative I spoke to told me our needs would be provided for inside the stable. All we need to do is get there as soon as we can.”

My family moved to stand behind me, afterward, I opened the door and found chaos. Ponies were galloping off in every direction. About half of the ponies living on Harmony land had a place in the statable, but not all of them. Some had been wealthy enough to purchase one of these nice houses. I was sure that they thought they could buy their way into the stable if anything happened. Well, it was happening now and I was certain that no amount of bits would save anypony now if they didn’t have a spot within the confines of a stable.

The world was ending and it was taking the value assigned to bits along with it. They were doomed.

I galloped through the door, my heart beating as rapidly as it had when I’d first experienced combat. I reached the sidewalk then turned right and followed it down the road. As I galloped for my life I made sure to glance behind me to make sure my family was still with me.
A vertibuck flew above us, when I looked up at it I saw that clouds were moving across the sky, probably to make it harder for the Zebras to target. It didn’t take long for us to reach a dirt path that led to the right as the road turned to the right. I waited for Mom and Dewdrop to catch up before following the dirt path, it led us into the forest before leading us up a hill. At the top of the hill was a crowd of ponies that waited before a gate where a unicorn mare stood levitating a clipboard and pencil in front of her. On either side of her was a pony in power armor, each of them equipped with a minigun.

We stood at the back of the line, there were three groups of ponies ahead of us. It didn’t take long for our turn to arrive, but as we trotted forward a group of ponies pushed their way in front of us.

“Get back,” I told Mom and Twister as the mare at the head of the group started to yell at the pony with the clipboard.

“Let us in!” She barked frantically. “You can’t just leave us out here to die.”

“I’m sorry,” The Stable-tec mare began, “if–if you’re not on the list then you can’t enter the Stable.”

“Bull shit! You have plenty of room for us in there. My brother helped build that stable, he said you could hold all of us if you wanted to. Let! Us! IN!”

I watched as one of the power-armored ponies stepped forward, their minigun spinning.

“Step back!” She ordered. I could tell that there was a mare within that armor, even if her voice was deeper than normal. “If you do not comply you will be moved. You don’t want that. This will be your only warning.”

The crowd didn’t back down, instead, their demands increased. Their shouts grew as I ushered my family to keep backing up. This was going to end badly, I didn’t want a stray bullet to hit anypony that I cared about. I thought I saw one of the ponies pull a gun. Before I had a chance to make sure the power-armored pony opened fire on the crowd. Most of them scattered while those at the front were shredded by the on-coming bullets.

After a too short moment, the gunfire ceased along with the shouting. The path ahead was now clear, only we’d have to step over the bloody remains of the ponies that had just been mowed down. “Close you’re eyes and follow the sound of my voice,” I said. I carefully lead my family over the corpses of equestrian citizens to the mare with the clipboard.

“N–name?” She asked, shakily.

“Winterstorm,” I answered. “My family and I have spots in the stable, for my service in the Equestrian military.”

The mare scanned the Clipboard for a moment. “Here you are,” she said then stepped aside. “Follow Spring Showers,” she gestured to the mare waiting not too far behind her. “She’ll take you to where you need to go.”

She stepped aside and we galloped past. Spring Showers waved for us to follow her. We did so, she led us quickly as we ascendant the rest of the way of the hill. She took us to a large hole in the ground where a group of ponies stood.

“Wait here for just a moment, if you please.” she gestured to the hole in the ground. “There will be a platform that will rise, just stand on it and it will lower you down to the vault. Once you are down there you’ll go through processing into the Stable.”

“Thank you!” we said in unison. Spring Showers nodded at us before galloping back down toward the gate. I hoped that she’d be ok.

It wasn’t long before the metal plating opened up, a few precious moments later the platform was there, ready to lower a new batch of ponies. We joined the group of ponies as we moved to stand on the platform. A Stream of panicked ponies galloped up the hill and joined us on the platform. The inflow was halted by some ponies wearing vault barding each of them had a pistol holstered on one of their front legs.

“I need to go with my kids,” Cried a mare that was being held back by two stallions, “Please, just let me go down with them.”

“You’ll have to wait here for a moment, ma’am.” Said one of the stallions. “The platform will return for the next batch after it takes this group down. You’ll only be away from them for a couple of minutes.”

“There’s room for one more!” somepony yelled from the platform after that a buzzer went off followed by the sounds of metal moving beneath us as the platform began to slightly shake.

“It can only support a certain amount of weight safely, and we’ve been going over that limit every time we send ponies down. I’m sorry but you’ll have to wait and go down with the next batch.”

She continued to try to push past the stallions holding her back, but she’d lost the fervor she’d started with. She looked at three little ponies that still hadn’t received their cutiemarks, tears leaking from her eyes. “It’ll be ok,” She told them, “Mommy will be right behind you, wait for me by the door and I’ll find you when I get down there.”

The platform began its descent into the ground, I could hear the children crying and calling out for their mother. Surely they could have let one more pony onto the platform, it wouldn’t have hurt anything. When the plat from had sunken low enough the hole the metal covering closed, taking the sunlight and leaving us with the artificial lights that were built into the walls.

It wasn’t long after the metal covering had closed before the world was shaken. A balefire bomb had fallen. That mother wouldn’t be able to join her children in the stable.

More earthquakes continued to hit us as we descended into the depths of Equis, and more megaspells must have been hitting the area, but I didn’t know why the Zebras would send that much power this way. I figured they’d send that kind of ordinance at Canterlot to take out the princesses. It didn’t matter though, in the long run, all it would take to devastate any part of Equestria was just one mega spell. I stopped counting the earthquakes after three. Every pony was silent as we continued to descend, save for the sounds of children crying.

A stable pony waited at the bottom to greet us when the platform came to a stop. We waited as the fence ahead of us began to roll, automatically, out of the way. We started to leave the platform in a single file line as instructed by the mare. I was sixth in the row, Mom, Twister, and Dewdrop were right behind me. We followed the line as the pony in front led us up a set of stairs through the open stable door. We stopped when we reached the end of another line of ponies that was at the end of the catwalk past the stable door.

The stable ponies performed their jobs well, no doubt they spent much time rehearsing this process in preparation for an apocalyptic scenario. There were surely ponies that thought such training would go unused, unfortunately, those ponies were wrong. The world had ended and now these stable ponies had to shepherd us panicked ponies to safety in every stable built across Equestria.

I found my seat at the front of the line after a short wait, I was handed a stable uniform and instructed to put it on, along with. One was also provided to my Mother and Sister. Once we were dressed a gray mare with a forest green mane wearing a lab coat came up to us, asking us to follow her into the stable.

“You’re first stop will be our state-of-the-art decontamination pods. Once you are through with that you’ll be taken to our atrium where you will wait for orientation.” It was odd to hear how cheerful the mare sounded, I wouldn’t expect to find a cheerful pony anywhere in the world this soon after the apocalypse. She’s probably faking it, I thought to myself as we followed the mare, The cheerfulness is probably an act to help reassure ponies that they were safe and everything would be alright now that they were safe within the stable. The act didn’t do much for me, but I was sure it had a positive influence on other ponies.

“How are you doing?” I asked Twister, slowing my pace slightly so I could walk behind her and Dewdrop.

She stammered slightly, “Rattled,” She took a breath, “I just can’t believe it happened. Anything could have been better than… this.”

“I know, all of this should have never happened,” I said, trying and failing to reassure her.

“Equestria went a whole millennium without war, I just don’t know why it all had to happen in the first place. Why couldn’t peace talks have happened when this all first started, this could have all been avoided.”

“I know, Twister, I know. I wish things could have been different too, but we’re still alive. Dewdrop still has a chance to grow up and live her life.”

“Yeah, but… but I’d rather she would have gotten a chance to grow up playing in beneath the warmth of the sunlight.”

It saddened me to think that so many foals would spend the rest of their lives inside of these stables; I wasn’t sure when they would open up and allow the ponies they protected back out into the world, but I figured the next couple of generations would live their life without feeling the warmth of the sun. As we followed the mare I wondered what life would look like down here. It would take most of us time to adjust to it while ponies born into this way of life would have an easier time living here. After a time I was sure they’d get tired of hearing us talk about life outside the stable, life back in our day. That was the way it always went, the young wouldn’t be interested in what life was like for their ancestors, even if it was a life spent primarily outside the stable. Only a curious few, captivated by tales of the world outside the stable, would lobby for the opening of the Stable the moment it became safe to do so. I hadn’t the slightest idea what they would find out there when they eventually left the stable; I was certain, however, that the Equestria they found wouldn’t be the same that was now destroyed.

“Here we are,” The mare said, taking me out of my thoughts. “If you’ll please step inside. One of the doctors will give you a quick check-up before moving on to decontamination. After that, you’ll be taken to the Atrium where you’ll await orientation.”

We thanked the mare before entering the medical room that she’d taken us to. The three of us stood there for a moment before one of the doctors gestured toward three newly vacant seats. The doctor waited as we each took a seat, Dewdrop was, somehow, asleep. My family sat there as the doctors quickly fussed about us, checking our vitals and asking questions about any health issues that our ancestors had. It was a fairly brisk process, once we were cleared a new stable pony came to escort us to decontamination. Before we left a Dark gray mare with a black mane that had maroon tips galloped up to me.

“You’ll want to take this before you go ahead,” She levitated a cup that held an orange liquid.

“What is it?” I asked, “Why am I the only one who has to take it?”

“It’s because you have a cybernetic,” She answered, “It could cause issues with the pods, even if you removed it before entering,”

I could take it off, but since that wouldn’t change anything I took the cup and drank it. It tasted like expired milk, it took considerable effort to get it down. Once that was over we followed the stable pony as he led us deeper into the stable to a room with a sign that read: DECONTAMINATION ROOM 4.

“This way, please.” The stallion said and we followed into a room where two rows of pods lined the walls on either side of the room. There was no color in this room, only the dull gray of metal. He led us to three pods at the end of the room, there was an audible hiss coming from tubes that were connected at the top of the pods, the tubes led into the roof of the room. I notice Twister begin to shiver, the room was colder than the rest of the Stable had been so far. At the end of the room was another stallion in a lab coat with thick-rimmed glasses. He smiled at the tree of us before thanking then dismissing the pony that led us here. As the pony galloped away and saw that more ponies were being led into the room. The pony at the head of the next group being led in was grey with a purple straight mane. She stared blankly ahead, she must be in shock. I hoped that there were ponies here that could treat a pony suffering from shock. The earth pony's blue eyes fixed on me, unblinking and void of any visible emotion. a shiver went down my spine and I turned away. She’d need a lot of help, I hoped she’d be able to get it here.

“Hello there,” The stallion said once a pony was standing before each of the pods in the room. “Now, I know that you’ve all been through a considerable amount of turmoil, but I assure you that you are all safe now, there’s no further need for concern for your safety. All that’s left now is you’re decontamination, after that’s completed you’ll go through orientation and be welcomed further into the Stable.” He pointed at the pods, “If you’d step into these pods and stand on you’re hind legs, as best you can, we’ll get the decontamination started. It will only be a moment and then you’ll be on your way.

All of us did as he asked. I turned and stepped into the pod at the end of the row to my left, Twister and Dewdrop took the one across from me, and Mom entered the one next to hers. Once where were all in the pods as the stallion had instructed the doors above the pods lowered and hissed as they sealed us inside. I looked ahead at Twister, she held her daughter in her front legs, and Dewdrop was still asleep. I waited in the pod for a couple of moments before a cool breeze started to be pumped into the pod, blowing my mane and sending a chill through me. The cool air continued to blow as an automated voice began to speak. “Decontamination complete.” I let out a breath that I didn’t know I was holding.

The door didn’t open, colder air began to flow into the pod. The automatic voice continued, “In three… two… one…” Things got even colder, it became hard to move. I tried to move one of my legs, but it remained still. I looked through the window in the door at my sister. Her eyes were closed, she looked like she was deep in sleep. My eyelids started to feel heavy, I tried to keep them open but, they closed and I was in darkness…

…

“Manual ovaries, activated.” Said the Automatic voice. I slowly felt a sensation return to me. It took some effort to open my eyes, but when I did I saw Twiste, still holding Dewdrop, and my mother in the two pods across from me. My entire body felt stiff, I couldn’t move my flesh and blood front hoof very much, but the cybernetic responded to my commands. I used it to try pushing the door open, but it wouldn’t budge. Across from me, I saw Twister and Mom begin to stir in their pods. I wasn’t sure what had happened, all I wanted now was to be out of this thing and to be warm.

Two ponies came into view suddenly, one wore a white, full body, enviro-suit. The other was a grotesque unicorn, she had cutiemarks stitched all over her hide, like some sort of quilt. A Few looked fresh, most looked slightly decayed and a few looked like they’d rot away before too long. They stood in front of Twister’s pod.

“That’s the one,” The pony in the enviro-suit said, pointing at my sister’s pod.

“Better crack it open, then.” The patchwork unicorn said, almost cheerful.

A moment later there was a loud hiss followed by the door to Twister’s pod opening. As the door opened I listened as Twister began to cough. “Wh–what happened?” she asked.

“Everything’s going to be alright,” said the suited pony, “Just, hand the foal over to me for a moment.” The pony reached for Dewdrop, who had started to stir.

“No,” Twister said as the pony set her hooves on the foal, “I’ve got her.”

“Let go of the filly, I won’t ask again.” The patchwork unicorn floated out a knife. I began to pound on the door to my pound with my cybernetic leg.

“I’m not letting you take Dewdrop!” Twister said, trying her best to keep ahold of her daughter. Less than a second later the knife the unicorn was levitating shot forward and buried itself in Twister’s right eye with an audible squelch. Her head thumped against the back of her pod, and her legs fell, lifelessly, to her side as the pony took hold of Dewdrop. I continued to pound on the glass with my cybernetic leg, in vain.

The pony took Dewdrop away, I watched as they left then fixed a hateful glare at the patchwork unicorn. The unicorn’s magic enveloped the knife before removing it from my sister's eye. It then moved to her cutiemark and began to carve. I looked away as she carved Twister’s cutimark from her hide.

“Put ‘em back on ice,” She said, “We don’t need ‘em.”

Cold air washed over me, I opened my eyes and resumed trying to kick the door open, but it wouldn’t even crack. The patchwork unicorn looked at me for a moment then smiled. “Nighty night,” she said before trotting away.

A moment later my eyes closed and I was in darkness once again.

…

Sensation returned to me once again. I faintly heard the automatic voice, but I couldn’t make it out from the hiss of air that escaped from my pod. My eyes slowly opened as the door opened. I looked about, mine was the only one opening. I tried to lower myself onto my front hooves, I held myself for a moment before collapsing to the ground, rolling away from my pod, and coming to lay at the bottom of Twisters. I tried to get up, I needed to make sure that She was alright, even though I knew that she was dead. That knife had burrowed deep into her eye socket, there was no surviving that. Yet, there was an instinctual drive to get to her, to hold her in my hooves.

I couldn’t get up, the only part of me that would do what I wanted was the one part of me that was artificial. My head hurt tremendously, it felt like I’d spent a whole night drinking the strongest liquors that were at hoof. Exhaustion washed over me, I struggled to keep my eyes open. I didn’t want to pass out, not after getting out of that pod. My mom was still in her pod, I needed to get her out, I needed to get to Twister, I needed to figure out where Dewdrop had been taken, and I nee–needed… to…

…

My eyes opened, and I found myself standing in darkness with what looked to be stars all around me. Looking down at the floor I found nothing, only more stars. I was dead, there was no other explanation. I’d escaped that pod only to get a couple of feet from it before dying. I wanted to cry. Tears began to fill my eyes, but before they fell I heard the sound of somepony else crying. They sounded… familiar. Turning toward the sob I decided to find the pony; I wasn’t sure why, I just felt like the right thing for me to do. What else was there for me, now that I was dead and gone?

The cries grew louder as I trotted toward the. They really did sound familiar, but I wasn’t able to figure out who the sobs might belong to. It wasn’t like I invested time memorizing the sounds of anypony’s crying, though, I was sure, I’d feel like an idiot when I found the pony that was producing these sounds. And I was right, I felt like one of the biggest idiots in all of Equestria. The pony I’d heard crying was Twister.

She lay on the ground before me, face buried in her front hooves, crying. Tears returned to my eyes as I looked down at my twin sister.

“Twister?” I asked, slowly stepping forward. “It’s me, Twister. Winter.” She looked up from where she was crying.

“Winter? Is that you?” She scrambled to her hooves before galloping up to me, giving me the tight hug I thought I’d ever been given. I hugged her back, she felt cold.

“It’s me, Sis,” I assured her, rubbing my front right hoof through her mane, only the hoof wasn’t the metallic one that I’d grown used to. It was organic, the hoof I’d been born with, the hoof I’d lost, along with two other members of my, now shrinking, family.

“What are you doing here, Winter?” Twister asked, not releasing me from her embrace. “You feel so… warm”

“Twiter, you feel cold. Ice cold.” She released me, “Where are we?”

“The Ever After, I think.”

“How? I haven’t died yet, have I?” I wasn’t sure if I was being honest with myself. “I only just now got out of the pod and passed out.”

“I don’t know, The last thing I remember was… seeing that knife fly at me. After that, things got… weird.” She took a breath and stared at me for a moment. “Look, Winter. If you’re not dead then you can rescue Dewdrop from those ponies.”

I looked at my sister, looked at the anguish in her eyes.

“Please, Winter.” She said, eyes watering, “You must find Dewdrop. Who knows what those ponies are doing with her? You’re the only family she has.”

“That’s not true,” I said, remembering that Mom was still in her pod when I’d blacked out. “There’s still Mom, she’s still in her pod. I’ll get her out, if I wake up, that is.”

“You will, Winter. I felt how warm you were when we hugged, you’re still alive, I promise.”

“OK, Twister. I promise that I’ll rescue her, I won’t stop until I do. You have my word.”

Twister smiled at me, “Thank you, Winterbreeze.” She used my birth name, but I didn’t correct her. “I love you, please, be careful out there it looks pretty–”

“What is this?” Bellowed a voice from behind me, it seemed to echo around us. Twister’s eyes widened as she crouched down. I turned to see where the voice had originated.

Behind me stood the skeleton of an alicorn. The small white pin-prick flames that floated in the hollows where her eyes should be peered down at me, with contempt. She was tall, taller than even Celestia herself. Her bony wings were outstretched. An ancient cloak of unknowable age was draped over her; a hood of sorts rested on her head concealing her mane, if she had one. I’d of lost control of my bowls, if I’d come face to face with the Alicorn of Death in the real world. I couldn’t say a thing as the Alicorn seemed to glare at me, it felt like she was staring into my soul.

I began to step back only to stop when I didn’t bump into Twister, I turned to look behind me and found that my twin was gone. When I returned my sight to the alicorn I found her closer, leaning down and looking me in the eye. She was cold, even colder than Twister had been. I could feel it without touching her. “Wh–what do you want?” I asked in fear.

“You do not belong here.” She said, “You. Must. Leave!”

I stammered, but nothing came out. I fell to the ground, covering my eyes in my hooves and wishing that I’d wake up. Hoofsteps echoed as the Alicorn walked toward me. All I could do was beg that I’d wake up. The hoofsteps echoed around me as I prayed…

…

My eyes shot open, and I found myself back in the stable. It had only been a nightmare, one scary enough for me to wake up in a cold sweat. The alicorn was gone. My heart pounded in my ears as I lay on the ground, breathing heavily. It took me a moment to get my breathing and heart rate under control. Now that I felt, somewhat, calm I stood up. I looked around the room, just to make sure that the creature wasn’t hiding somewhere. It was just a dream! I told my shelf, shaking my head. Something did catch my eye, however. There was another pod open. Somepony else had woken up.

All the other pods remained closed. It looked like none of the pods had a way to open them. Looking around for a way to open them I saw an active terminal at the end of the room. I galloped up to it. There were a couple of menus to choose from, I selected the prompt that read: CRYO-POD CONTROL. The terminal loaded for a moment before displaying a list of numbered pods. I turned to check the number on Mom’s pod before selecting pod three. It asked me if I wanted to open the pod and then gave me a prompt: Y/N. I hit Y and a warning message flashed on the screen, It read:

Warning! Attempting to open this pod prematurely could result in the death of the current occupant. Would you like to continue?

Y/N

My hoof hovered over the Y key. My pod opened without killing me, but would it do the same for her? I stood there for a long time, thinking. A tear rolled down my cheek as I pressed the N key. I turned off the terminal after that. I walked to my mother’s pod and stood up to look at her through the window. I placed a hoof on it and said: “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll find Dewdrop and I’ll get you out of there. I won’t be long, I promise.”

I left the Cryopod room, leaving droplets of tears behind me.

The door shut behind me as I stood in the hallway. No pony seemed to be around, it looked like the Stable was deserted. The only being the buzz from the lights above.

“Hello?” I called, my voice echoing through the hall, “Is any pony here?” There was no response. Where is everypony? I asked myself as I walked down the hall that we’d been led down. I found the med bay where we’d received our check-up. I could still taste the drink that unicorn had me drink. It was one of the nastiest things I think I’d ever had in my mouth. Silence greeted me as the door to the med bay slid open before me. Really, where was every pony? Surely I’d have come across somepony by now. I walked through the med room and stopped when I saw the skeleton of a pony that was out of sight when I’d first entered. The pones were still wearing the Stable suit and lab coat that I’d seen them where when I’d come through, only, the labcoat was now stained with blood.

Something bad had happened while We were in those pods. By the looks of it, it happened a long time ago. I could only hope that whatever happened to these ponies didn’t occur at the same time that Dewdrop was taken. It was a lot to hope for. But something could have happened to these ponies long before Dewdrop was taken. I wanted to find out for sure. An Overmare ran every stable, I remembered from a pamphlet that the Stable-Tec representative had given me. I’d exhausted the Hostpital’s Daring Doo collection so the Pamphlet was the last thing that I read before being discharged. The Overmare’s terminal should have some answers to what had happened here. Besides, I’d need to find a way to open the Stable door and the Overmare’s office was the best place to find a way to do so.

There were more pony skeletons as I made my way through the stable. Fortunately, it didn’t take me too long to find the Overmare’s office. I’d found the Atrium that the stable ponies had promised. It was no longer as nice as they’d said it was. The trees and the grass were long dead along with the corpses scattered around. A stairway at the end of the atrium led up to an upper balcony where I found another set of stairs past a door that was labeled: Overmare’s Office.

Inside, the office was still nice, save for the skeleton of the Overmare hunched over the desk at the other end of the room. There were posters with the Stable Buck giving a salute, his blond mane, seemingly, blowing in the wind behind him. I trotted over to the desk, The bones crumbled to the floor as I tried to reach for the terminal, I hadn’t wanted to disturb them out of respect for the dead. Even if they’d stuck my family and me in those pods without our consent. The terminal was off, luckily it turned on when I pressed the, ON, button at the base of the screen. I don’t know what I would have done if it had been broken. The terminal took a while to warm up, I sat in the Overmare’s chair as random green text flashed across the black background.

Finally, it stopped warming up and I started to explore its contents. Not long after I came across a message from Stable-Tec for the Overmare’s ears only. My mane bristled, nothing was more exciting than learning something that was supposed to be secret. Every pony in a stable that wasn’t in a Cryo Pod was, clearly, dead. I guessed that made me Overmare since I was the only living thing moving around in this metal tomb. I selected the message and an Audio recording began to play.

“Hello! My name is Scootalloo, there's a good chance you’ve heard of me from some of my performances, or as the founder of Red Racer.

“That hardly matters now though. If you’re hearing this then I’m afraid the worst has happened. Uhh.”

There was a short pause in the recording, I did know who Scootaloo was before the war. She wasn’t the best flyer out there, but she would always give an awesome performance whenever she was a part of an event. When I was younger, around the time that I got my cutiemark, I’d watch her and wish that I was a pegasus, wish that I could be as awesome as her, or Rainbow Dash. I was an earthpony, and eventually, I’d have to accept that I wouldn’t be able to fly like them; that hasn’t happened quite yet, however.

“Sorry, I’ve recorded so many of these things that I’ve lost count. There may be three of us vice presidents at Stable Tech, but I seem to be the only one who’s able to record these messages. That’s not important though, what is important is the mission of your stable. I’m sure you have questions about why your stable is Stable 0 when there is already a Stable 0 here at the Stable tech HQ. Well, there are actually multiple Stable 0’s all across Equestria; The closest to you is one to the northeast of where you are now.

“There’s a very, very good reason for this. Your stable will be housing ponies that will be placed in cryogenic stasis. I’d bet the first thing you think of when you hear Cryogenic Stasis is Luna and Celestia, well they should be… safely… tucked away in Stable 1. Now, as to why there are multiple Stable 0s. The simple truth is that the Zebras will expect the princesses to be in it, inside one of the cryogenic pods. You and I know that they are, more or less, immortal so, there would be no reason to freeze them. However, the ponies that you do have inside the pods are ponies that we here at Stable-Tec deem to be suitable to guide the reconstruction of Equestria!

“You have politicians that are selfless, or, selfless enough to show genuine concealer for the ‘small folk,’ as the aristoponies would say. Alongside them are some of the best doctors and military ponies that we thought would be essential in rebuilding Equestria.”

“Now, it’s your job to monitor their pods, to make sure that they all remain stable throughout the years to come. I’m afraid… afraid that we don’t know how long it will take for things outside the stable to get to a point where you can, more or less, leave the Stable safely. It could take some time before your sensors inform you that conditions outside are safe enough to wake the ponies from their long slumber.

“You’ve been chosen as the first Overstallion of this stable for your loyalty to Stable-tec and Equestria itself. There’s a very strong chance that you’re stable house the future of Equestria, I trust that you’ll be able to protect them until the time comes that they are needed.”

“On behalf of every pony in Equestria, I want to thank you. You are doing us, all of us, a great service. May you find harmony in your future…”

I sat there for a moment, processing what I’d just heard. I was a somepony who chose to help rebuild Equestria. I couldn’t believe it. There were a few ponies that had spent time in the military and deserved to be here more than I did. Most of the ponies that came to mind were the surviving members of, ‘Mackintosh’s marauders,’ One of them would have been better suited for a pod here than I. They had years more experience than I did. All I amounted to was another Grunt that had acquired a small amount of fame within my hometown. There must have been some mistake made along the chain of command at Stable-Tec. It was too late to correct it now though.

After processing that information, or trying to at least, I started to navigate the menus on the Overmare’s terminal until I found her personal logs; most of them were corrupt. I was able to read the final one, through the date on it was corrupt so, I wasn’t sure how old it was. Judging by the skeletons I’d come across, it was old enough.

I can’t believe it, but there is a group of ponies trying to break into the Stable! I’ve stationed guards at the stable door, they should be well equipped enough to handle anypony if they (though I think it impossible) can open the Stable Door.

Aside from this disturbance, everything is running normally; I expect that these would-be invaders will depart when they find that they are unable to open the door without the proper clearance. All we have to do is wait.

These ponies have provided me wist an opportunity to assess our Guard ponies' threat response. So far, they haven’t disappointed. I’m sure our gerd would be able to handle the outsiders if they were to, somehow, break into the stable. Again, an occurrence such as that is extremely unlikely so there is nothing to…

They got it! Sweet Celestia, they got in! I don’t know how, I just received word that the Stable door was opened. They’d need a pip-buck with the correct authorizations to be able to open the stable door from the outside. I’m making this report before I go to join the defense. We should be able to rebuff these attackers before they do too much damage.

It was clear that they were unable to stop the invaders from making their way into the Stable. I probed the Overmare’s terminal further until I found the door controls. Selecting it, I found that the door was still unlocked. At the bottom of the page was a prompt labeled: Stable Door Operation Records. I selected it and found that it had only been opened twice since it was sealed. Again, the exact dates were corrupt, but it did tell me how long it had been since each of the openings. The first happened about sixty years ago, probably when the Overmare’s final log had been typed. The second was only a year ago, That must have been when the patchwork unicorn came in. So, I’d spent another year in the pod After Dewdrop was foalnapped. I promised my sister that I’d find her, nothing would stop me save for death.

There was nothing more I needed from the Terminal. The door was still unlocked so I should be able to open it when got there. Backing away from the desk I stumbled over something that wasn’t the Overmare’s skeleton. I looked down and found one of those Pip-buck things the stable ponies who were ushering us in were wearing. I stared at it for a moment before picking it up. It slipped off the foreleg of the skeleton with ease, its clasp was undone. She won’t be needing it anymore, I thong, placing it on my left foreleg.

A wall of text flashed across my vision as soon as I sealed the clasp. I fell back on my haunches as the text continued to flow. After a moment it stopped, before saying: Eyes Forward Sparkle is now active. I could now see a small compas with a few red dots on it, they moved as I looked around the room. This would come in handy, anything could be waiting for me outside this Stable, It will be very helpful to know when a threat was close by and what direction they might be in.

This device did more than just that, there were a few dials and buttons; I’d have to spend some time playing with it when I got a chance. I thought about exploring it now but decided against it. There’d be time to tinker with the pip-buck while I was searching for my niece.

I was about to leave when I thought it might be a good idea to check the Overmare’s desk. There was a pretty good chance that she had a weapon in there, probably a pistol, but I’d take whatever I could get. A weapon was better than no weapon. True, I had my hoof blade, but it was a surprise I saved to finish off opponents or a last line of defense. Luck was with me though. In the top drawer, I found a 9MM pistol with a box of ammo. I took the pistol and ammo box out of the drawer and set it on the desk before searching the other drawers.

Nothing else.

Surly the Overmare had some saddle bags around here somewhere, a holster at the least. Looking around my eyes landed on a door to the left of where I was standing. The door led me to the Overmare’s bedroom. The room was, surprisingly, small for what you’d expect an Overmare to have. There was a bed that was, somehow, still neatly made. A closet that only held Stable uniforms. There was a small trunk at the end of the bed. Inside I found just what I was hoping for: saddle bags and a holster for the 9MM. There was also a well-used notebook. Looking at it I guessed it was her own private diary.

I grabbed it as well. The mare was long dead, she wouldn’t mind if I read it, though, I wasn’t sure when I’d get around to doing that.

After raiding the bedroom, I put the pistol in the holster that was strapped to my left foreleg before stuffing the box of ammo in my new saddlebags. Before I left the office I took one last look at the skeleton of the Stable 0’s final overmare. Sadness washed over me as I thought about how she’d be forgotten in history, the same as the other stable ponies that had died during that first attack.

The red bars moved around as I left the Overmare’s office. They didn’t belong to a pony, they moved around too sporadically for that. No, they belonged to something else. Possibly some creatures that had made their way inside after the stable’s initial breach. I wasn’t worried, though. The 9mm would be able to take care of most things I came across, but not all. There was always a bigger threat out there.

Not long after leaving the office, I came across one of the creatures that these read bars belonged to. I smiled, it was only a roach. A big roach, bigger than any bug I’d ever seen, but still a roach. There was no need to waste ammo on it, my hoof blade would be enough to take care of it. The roach froze in place before turning towards me as I galloped at it. It let screeched before scuttling toward me. Unsheathed my hoof-blade at the last moment then slammed it down on the roach. It let out a final dying scree before falling limp, my blade piercing its back, pinning it to the ground.

Huzzah, I’ve now successfully killed a bug. Every pony might as well surrender to me now!

Three more of the big roaches fell victim to my mighty hoof-blade before I found myself I found the Stable Door.

It was closed, the catwalk that I’d crossed when I’d entered now retracted. A few skeletons were laying on the floor around me, each of them lying next to a pistol. I took the time to remove the magazines and place them in my saddle bag before walking up to the stable door controls. There was an in-input on it that matched a cable on my pip-buck

Raising my foreleg, I bit down on the cable. It extended from my pip-buck as I pulled it away; I plugged it into the controls. More text flashed across my vision before I was met with a prompt

Open the Stable Door

Y/N

I hit Y. There was an earsplitting screech of metal as a mechanism lowered from the sealing. Sirens went off as the mechanism extended an arm that moved to take hold of a nub on the Stable door. Air hissed as the door was pulled free from the wall, afterward it rolled to the right on a track as a catwalk extended from where I stood. The screeching stopped leaving the sound of air hissing from the mechanism.

I unhooked the cable and let it retract into my pip-buck before trotting across the catwalk. The air grew colder as I peered down at the large, gear-shaped, platform that had taken my family and me down here. My breath was visible.

All I had to do now was stand on the platform and let it take me back to the outside world.

What would I find out there? Ponies, of course. There was no doubt that some ponies survived the blasts without being safely tucked away in the bowls of a stable. After all, a group of them had attacked this stable and managed to kill everypony inside. I started to wonder why they didn’t just those of us that were inside the pods, but I figured we were dead as far as they were concerned; we couldn’t interfere with their invasion of the Stable. There are more than just pony survivors out there. I’d already come across gigantic roaches. Other creatures out there must have undergone significant changes since the megaspells fell. Anything could be out there, waiting for any unsuspecting pony to leave their stable just to become prey.

Well, becoming food for some mutated monstrosity wasn’t part of my agenda. No, my niece was out there, somewhere. I intended to find her, to rescue her. There was also my sister’s killer, the grotesque mare, covered in stolen cutie-marks. She’d suffer, I’d make sure of that.

Thoughts of revenge flooded my mind as I made my way down the stairs and onto the platform. It seemed to sense that somepony was standing on it, the gate behind me closed followed by more screeching metal. The platform began to rise, slowly. I waited, my goals were set in stone. I’d find Dewdrop and I’d make the patchwork unicorn suffer for killing my sister. There were only two ponies on Equiss that I cared for now. Metal groaned above me as the platform rose. I looked up, bright light hit my eyes.

I’d rescue Dewdrop and find a way to get my Mom out of her pod, safely. The only other option for me was to die trying…

Chapter 2: (Awaiting re-write)

“Sunshine and Rainbows!!”

It took some time for my eyes to adjust to the brightness of the outside world. I’d covered my eyes just before the platform reached its apex. Now that it was stationary, I opened my eyes, slowly. A moment passed before my eyes were able to adjust, and when they did, my breath was taken away…

The sky was covered by clouds. The sun was up, I knew that much, but I couldn’t tell if it was still ascending or if it was descending. Clouds covered the sky as far as I could see. All around me were leafless trees that moved in the wind. There was a billboard ahead of me. The Stable Buck was on it, blond mane waving in the wind, he had his familiar grin. There were words on the billboard, but they were unreadable. I’d never paid it much attention before the bombs fell, so I had no idea what it had said. I suppose it doesn’t matter now.

Standing at the top of this hill, I was able to get a decent view of the land around me. Below, was Harmony Lane, or what was left of it. Every house looked to have sustained some damage from the blasts. Most of them looked to still be usable, from where I stood. A few looked completely ruined, however. The forest around here appeared to be dead, but the cold wind I felt buffeting my coat told me that it was either the end of Fall or the beginning of Spring. It didn’t matter. Either way, the trees were without leaves.

Farther north, I could see the outline of Delamare. It was the closest city that I knew of. I knew that Hoofington was somewhere to the southeast of here. Canterlot was to the west. I’d never been to the capital, though, only hoofington. It was an amazing city, it had been rebuilt after a devastating zebra attack. Only a brief portion of my time had been spent there when I’d received cybernetic, most of my recovery had happened at home, where I could be comfortable. Only, it wasn’t as comfortable as it could–should have been…

I shook my head, dwelling on old pains would be a waste of my time now. There’d be time for all of that later. I took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then exhaled. Though it was a dream or nightmare, I’d promised my sister that I’d find Dewdrop. After that, who knows? There would be more things for me to do. Dewdrop and I would need a safe place to live, we’d need food and water. I’d probably spend the rest of my life as a farmer of sorts after rescuing her.

That was something I could figure out later after I found Dewdrop and brought her safely back to Harmony Lane.

There wasn’t much of use to be found around the platform, only more skeletons. There were quite a few around the platform. My thoughts went back to the mare that had been separated from her children. It was impossible to know which of the deceased had been her. As far as she knew, her foals had been saved and were able to live full, happy lives inside the stable. I wished that were true.

On my way down the hill, I noticed that no corpses were wearing Power armor. So, they’d managed to survive. Where could they have gone after the bombs fell? When I was in the army I was lucky enough to spend some time inside one of those suits of armor, though I wasn’t very good inside it. They were a bit too bulky for my liking. But that was war, I’d give my three remaining hooves to have a suit of power armor right now. That would’ve given me a huge advantage over most of the wasteland. Hopefully, these wasteland ponies didn’t have power armor at their disposal. That would, sure as shit, complicate things.

I let out a sight, they probably had power armor. I was sure that I’d have to face plenty of ponies with the armor.

Things were looking better and better.

Banishing the thought from my mind, I continued down the slope, following the bath that would take me back to Harmony Lane. The houses didn’t look to be in too bad a shape from where I’d stood atop the hill. However, all I could really see of the home was their roofs, the rest had been blacked behind the branches of dead trees. Not one of them had a single leafe left to them.

My expectations didn’t disappoint when I left the trail and stood on the cracked sidewalk. Where I stood seemed to be the most intact spot on the street that wasn’t one of the houses. The road was cracked in so many places that it was almost overwhelming, various plant life had started to grow out of the cracks lines across the road and sidewalk. Surveying the houses that I could see where I stood, most seemed to have withstood the initial blast of the bombs, followed by years of standing without any form of upkeep. There were a few that had caved in becoming nothing more than a useless pile of debris where a family of ponies had once lived.

Everything was destroyed here and I surmised that as I searched for Dewdrop, things would look worse. There wasn’t much I expected to have weathered the blast save for some of the buildings in and closer to Delemare. A lot of bits had been spent building the city, that is before the focus had been diverted to rebuilding Hoofington. From what I heard, that city was one of the most advanced cities in Equestria, at least before the end had come. I was sure it was nothing more than a husk of its former self now.

Hoofington, along with most of Equestria, was the furthest thing from my mind. Dewdrop was out there and she needed me. Finding her was the top on my priority list, after that… well… I supposed that I’d bring her back here unless I came across somewhere else better to live. That was unlikely, The only thing I knew was that Harmony Lane was safe. At least it would be after I searched it for anything that could be useful to me. This would be a good time to clear the place of threats and make sure that it was a safe place that I could count on while I was away, at least I hoped I could. Something could stumble along and take up residence here, sure, But I’d be able to take care of anything that decided to move in when I returned.

I turned on my hoofs and followed the sidewalk to my left; along the way, I checked each house that wasn’t a total ruin for anything that would prove useful. I hopped for cans of food since they’d been packing them with enough preservatives to outlive Celestia. If food wasn’t to be found then ammo and Weapons were next on my wish list.

So far luck wasn’t on my side as I checked the houses. I’d only found two cans of cram and no ammo or weapons of any kind. What were these ponies doing, surely they’d have prepared for a disaster. I laughed at myself, I knew my house wouldn’t have too much for me to use, either. I was a veteran, I should have known better. But I’d been lazy and now my house would be as useless as the ones I’d come across so far.

Turning I found myself standing before the ruined frame of my house. Somehow, it remained standing. Coolwind blew through my wind as I gawked at it, it felt like I’d just been inside a few hours ago, watching the news with the last ponies on Equiss that I’d had left to care about and who cared about me. Now, years later, I stood in front of my home.

Cold and alone.

Slowly I trotted along the walkway connecting the sidewalk to the front door. It was still open, just as we left it. The first thing that caught my eye inside the house was the sofa, the memory of the moments just before the sirens flooded my mind. It was the last happy memory of my twin sister that I’d ever made—watching her sit on the floor with their daughter, happier than I’d seen here in some time.

I turned away, trotting into the kitchen and checking the cabinets, empty save. Somepony had come through here, in the time that I was gone. Twister had made a trip to the grocery store when I’d first gotten home, she left Dewdrop with me.

All the food had been scavenged, likely any medicine that was in the cabinet behind the mirror would be gone as well. A standard issue Ministry of Peace first aid box in the bathroom was locked. It was worth checking at least since I knew that the key was kept in the laundry room across from it. The box clicked open with a twist of the key; inside were two healing potions. Back in the day, I wondered why these boxes would be locked, but now I was glad that it was.

There was something else that I wanted to grab that I’d stashed in a drawer in my room, A bottle of Wild Pegasus. Not my favorite whiskey, sure, but it was a close second. On the way to my room, I stopped, looking into Twister’s and Dewdrop's room. A tear rolled down my face as I stood there.

I gently closed the door.

My ear twitched as the sound of music grew louder and louder. What is that? I asked myself while quickly stuffing the bottle into my saddle bag. Whatever was producing the music was headed this way. I raced through the house and stopped on the doorstep, listening. Is that… Ponatra’s My Way?

After listening for a bit I found my guess to be correct. But, who would be going around playing Ponatra this loud? Sure it was a good song and all, one of his best. He was no Sweetie Bell though.

A sprite-bot came around the side of a house across the street, I watched as it started following the sidewalk away from me before it froze. The music played for a moment before being cut off. Silently, it turned toward me then floated toward me. I took a step back, reading myself for an attack.

“Hello.” Said a stallion, his voice heavily muffled by static.

“Um… hi?” I took another step back.

“Don’t worry, I don’t mean you any harm.” The sprite-bot bobbed in the air silently for a moment before he continued. “I’m sorry if I scarred you, I just happened to notice you here and I figure that you might need some help, or to be pointed in the right direction at the very least.”

“What makes you think I need help? I can take care of myself.”

“I’m sure you can, but checking doesn’t hurt.” He chuckled softly, “Recently I’ve found two other stable mares that did need help. I saw you’re uniform and figured I’d check.”

Two stable mares? I’d only seen the one other pod open, maybe another pony escaped Stable 0 with them.

“Did you see where they went?” I asked quickly,

“Yes, but they're not anywhere near here. The first one I found in the Ponyville ruins, the second one was down in Hoofington.”

“Oh,” I responded before a thought came to mind, “ you wouldn’t have seen a unicorn with cutiemarks stitched all over her hide recently?”

“Her? I’ve definitely seen that vile excuse for a pony a few times. I don’t have many of these bots in your area, I’ve come across her more times than I needed to.”

I took a couple of steps toward the sprite-bot and asked: “Have you seen here recently? Can you tell me where to find her?”

“I’m afraid not, The last time I saw here was a year ago, I think.” He paused for a moment, “Why are you looking for a pony like that anyway?”

“She killed my sister, carved her cutiemark off her flank, and stole my niece!” I took a breath to calm myself, “I’m trying to find here before my niece, Dewdrop, gets hurt.”

“Oh… I’m… I’m so sorry to hear that. I wish I could tell you where she is now.”

I sighed, “When I left the stable I knew that Finding Dewdrop wouldn’t be easy. I may have been a soldier during the war with the zebras, but that experience hasn’t prepared me for… all this.”

“Things have changed a lot in the last two hundred years, But that experience will help you defend yourself out here.”

Two hundred years, is that how long I was in that pod?

“I think I have a suggestion.” he said, breaking my chain of thought, “There’s a small group of ponies down Maneford, maybe one of them knows something about that unicorn. If not, then you might make some friends.”

“I don’t need friends,” I said coldly, they’d only slow me down, “Manefored right? I know where that is. I think I’ll pay them a visit.”

“Great, hopefully, they can help you.” He said I was about to ask something before he cut me off. “You might want to reconsider your stance on friends. They could prove useful out here.

“Sure,” I said, ignoring his advice to find friends, “What's your name anyway? I’m Winter Storm.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Winter Storm. You can call me Watcher.”

Static sounded from the Sprite-bots speaker followed by music. I watched as the Sprite-bot floated away following the sidewalk. That was weird, but I was glad to be given a location to head to.

Maneford wasn’t too far from Harmony Lane. I’d be able to get there and back before nightfall If I was quick about it. There was an itch to search through some of the other houses for supplies, but I decided to head out. Maneford was a little town that should have some useful stuff to find. Maybe these ponies would be willing to share some of their food; I doubted it, but a pony could dream.

…

Gunshots rang out as I approached Maneford. There wasn’t a lot, there must have been two small groups fighting. No doubt one of them was the ponies that Watcher had sent me here to meet. It was my first day out and I’d soon be in combat. If I was being honest needing to kill another was something I’d expected to do before now. Naturally, I wouldn’t have emerged from that tomb looking to kill, Just that I doubted finding many ponies in the wasteland that was friendly. You can’t blame a mare for being cautious, especially when her niece was on the line.

The shots seemed to slow, ponies were dying. I just hoped it was these unknown attackers and not the ponies I’d come to meet.

As I stalked along the sidewalk shouts became audible, though it was difficult for me to make out what they were yelling. I continued to follow the cracked sidewalk, long blades of grass brushed my belly as I crouched down. The sidewalk turned down Maneford’s main road, Peaking around the corner I saw a group of ponies wearing ragged barding shooting up at a chocolate-coated mare that was firing back with some laser rifle that I didn’t immediately recognize. Each of the attacker's weapons looked to be made of pipes and wood. It was a surprise that their weapons worked. At the front of the door were two bodies wearing the same uniform as the mare on the balcony. It was obvious that she was part of the group that Watcher had sent me to find.

The pistol slid from its holster as I pulled it free. Holding it ready in my mouth I continued on, prepared for a fight. I’d be able to take care of one or two of these attackers before they knew I was here, maybe three or even four if I was quick enough. There was an old auto-carriage ahead of me, its red paint giving way to rust. If I could reach it then it could be used as cover.

“Hey?” Called the mare on the top balcony, “Can you give us a hoof? We’ve got children inside. Please!”

There goes my element of surprise! Before I was spotted I ducked down, cursing under my breath. There was little reason to blame her for blowing my cover by asking for help, she was in a bad situation and wouldn’t let a chance at receiving help pass her by. There was no way for her to know that I was here to help her and had made my job much more difficult by alerting the attachers to my presence.

One of the attackers turned toward me, quickly aimed at him, and blew the left side of his face away. He crumbled to the ground.

“Shit!” a mare yelled. The ponies scrambled for cover that would protect them from behind as well as ahead.

My best estimate was three ponies stood between me and the building. More of them must be inside, In most situations I tried to expect the worst while hoping for the best. That line of thought probably wouldn’t serve me well in the wasteland.

I doubted I’d find hope in abundance out here in these blasted ruins, the best I could hope for was the worst while hoping to withstand it.

Shots rang overhead, I needed to rethink my plan of attack now that they knew I was there. Taking out three wasteland ponies shouldn’t be too much trouble for me. The mare on the balcony would hopefully get a clear shot and take one out herself. I didn’t plan on it, I just hoped that it would happen. She looked like she could handle herself, after all.

Shots continued to ring out while I started to back away until I came to an alleyway between two buildings that were completely boarded up. There was a momentary pause in the gunfire, I took the opportunity to dash down the ally. With any luck, it would lead me into a position to take out the pony that was hiding inside what looked to be a hardware store. Plant life flourished here, vines had begun to grow along the walls of the buildings. The scents from the grass and the few flowers here filled my nose as I passed them. Following the ally led me to the back door of the hardware store. Thankfully it was unlocked.

I slowly pushed the door open, I let out a sigh of relief when the door’s hinges didn’t squeak. Various tools were lying on the floor ahead of me which I carefully stalked around. All it would take for me to be discovered was the slightest of sounds when no gunshots were being fired. Wood creaked beneath my cybernetic hoof, causing me to freeze. I could see the pony, his attention was still locked on the mare on the balcony, he hadn’t noticed me yet. Continuing, I made sure to put as little weight as possible on my cybernetic, it was heavy enough and I doubted another creaking floorboard would go unnoticed.

Weaving my way through the hardware store wasn’t too difficult after leaving the narrow hall leading to the back door. The stallion ahead of me was shooting up at the mare oblivious to my presence. I was close enough to strick. Unsheathing the blade, I waited. He fired a few more shots before his pipe pistol clicked empty. He ducked down to reload. Terror flashed in his eyes as he saw me. He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing but a whimper came from him, I struck, burying the blade in his throat. Blood flowed from the wound when the blade was removed. He gurgled, bringing both his hooves to his throat. The stallion fell to the ground, life left his eyes as he lay in an expanding pool of his own blood.

When the light had left his eyes I checked his pockets and found some ammo that I’d be able to use along with some Sparkle-cola bottle caps. Tossing them to the side I moved to the window. Peaking out there were still two ponies in the building opposite from me. The mare on the balcony shot at them, catching one in the shoulder. She let out an agonized cry as the coat where the beam had hit blackened.

The other mare quickly shot back at the chocolate-coated mare. My pistol was still ready in my mouth. Firing, the bullet flew out the barrel of my pistol, flying through the mare’s ears. Her corpse fell in a heap before she knew what happened. A shriek sounded from the mare beside her.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck!” she said.

Silence fell around us. Slowly, the last attacker raised her head to look through where a window would have been years ago. Her green eyes widened when they fell on me before a bullet blew her final thought out the back of her skull.

“That should be the last of the ones outside.” The mare called down.

“Do you know how many are left inside?” I asked, walking out of the hardware store.

“Not exactly, but it can't be more than four or five. These ponies have been following us for a while now.”

“Why?” I asked, genuinely confused. “Do you have something that they’re after? If so, why not just give it up? It can’t be worth your lives.”

“These ponies are part of a gang called The Hunters. All of them are cannibals, so they are only after us.”

“Cannibals?” I asked in shock. This is the wasteland, I reminded myself. Sure, every pony out here must endure a lot to survive, but that wasn’t an excuse for cannibalism.

“Shit! They’re banging on the door again. Listen. That mare by the door in an outfit matching mine had a semi-auto laser rifle and some ammo. Use it to take out the ponies trying to get in here. Please, there are two foals in here.”

“Don’t worry,” I said, galloping toward the corpse and picking up the riffle, “I’ll take care of them. You just make sure they can’t get before I do.”

She smiled down at me before turning to head back inside.

The laser rifle had a strap so I strapped it to my back. My hoofblade and Pistol should be more useful inside this office building. I couldn’t foresee a scenario where I’d be in anything greater than midrange combat. But, it was good to be prepared for any scenario. That’s how you survived battles; when you stopped planning for the unexpected you often got hurt, whether physical or emotional you’d be hurt, almost without fail.

Approaching the door to the office I saw a simple that I recognized, This was an office belonging to the Ministry of Image. What is one of these doing out here? I wondered, gazing at the symbol. That didn’t matter now, though. They were all dead, along with the rest of everypony else from them.

I suddenly felt alone. The thought hit me; every pony I’d once known, save for my mother and Dewdrop, was now dead. Even if they’d somehow survived the initial blast from the Mega-Sells, they’d died long ago. Faces of ponies I’d once known flashed in my mind’s eye, and a shake of my head cleared my thoughts. Only two ponies I cared about were alive now, nothing would stop me from protecting them. Though, I wished that there was a way, any way, that I could have prevented all this…

Entering the office, I found myself standing in a ruined lobby. Ahead of me was a pile of debris where the second floor had caved in. Looking up, I saw ponies moving between desks. Luckily, they didn’t see me; they were focused on breaking into the room the other ponies were hiding in. They’d get in eventually so they needed to be dealt with as quickly and efficiently. It should be a piece of cake, but when was combat ever a piece of cake?

Four rooms were connected to the lobby. I checked each of them, and the first I found was a waiting room covered with layers of dust, and a few skeletons sitting in the chairs. Room number two was blocked along with the which was across the lobby. There was no telling what the third room was, it was destroyed. That didn’t matter though, the wall on the other side of the door had collapsed and now led into a hallway. Two voices echoed out of the opening so I walked towards it; trying to avoid bringing attention to myself.

The hallway led deeper into the M.O.I. office. Most of the doors to my right were locked, though some were open, nothing inside looked interesting to me. There’d be time to explore later if, I got the itch to do a little exploring. Two stallions stood over the corpse of a mare wearing the same get-up as the Chocolate-coated mare. Both were staring down at her, one licking his lips

“C’mon,” one, unicorn, said, “The others can handle those ponies up there. I think we’ve earned a little… reward.” A shiver ran along my spine as he said that.

“I don’t know, Mag.” the earthpony said, “Cook-Cook said that we aren’t supposed to do that with the product.” He gulped, “I don’t want to be on his bad side, he’s crazier than shit.”

“Quit being a bitch! He wants all the good flank to himself. There's no harm in getting a little somethin’ from her. Can’t let a good mare go to waste when her body is still warm enough for a good flank spank.”

Is he really suggesting doing… that with the corpse? I asked myself in absolute shock. I was beside myself, what in the actual fuck was wrong with him? He had to die, there was no doubt about that. A pony vile enough to suggest… that deserved to die, more so than his cannibal friends, and that was saying a lot since they were already stains on pony-kind.

Slowly, I crept toward them, keeping my body close to the ground; trying to make as little sound as possible. The unicorn’s magic enveloped the mare’s body; he moved it until it lay with her flank up. Vomit flew into my mouth, but I managed to hold it before swallowing it back down causing my throat to burn a little.

“Are you sure you don’t want any?” The abomination of a unicorn asked his friend.

“N-no, you… you go ahead I’ll just, wait up ahead for you to… uh… finish.” He trotted through a hole in the wall leading to a room with stairs.

“Suit yourself, kid.” The unicorn said, moving to stand behind the corps. “Just you and me now, miss.” He said then let out a soft chuckle. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you… anymore that is.”

He positioned himself to desecrate the corpse, I darted forward, extending my hoof blade. Before he had a chance to… do what he was going to do, my blade buried itself in the back of his head. He twitched for a moment before going limp; Quietly, I rested his corpse on the floor. I spit on his face before turning toward the dead mare. I couldn’t leave her like she was; she didn’t deserve to be left in such a position so I, respectfully, repositioned her corps so that she lay gracefully on her side. Looking down at the mare I said: “I promise that you’ll get a proper burial, you gave you’re life to protect those ponies and you deserved to be honored for it.”

“Hey!” Called the other stallion, “Are you done yet? That may be a dead body and all, but you can’t still be going at it. You don’t look the type to last longer than a minute.” There was silence for a moment, “Cleaver?”

Darting to the door I unsheathed my blade, it still had the other stallion’s blood on it. A few moments passed before the stallion poked his head through the hole in the wall. “This isn’t funny, Cleaver. We–we should get back to the others.” He took a couple of steps into the room, “Where are y…”

He was cut off by my blade piercing the side of his neck, causing him to let out a gurgled cry that shouldn’t be loud enough to alert the Hunters upstairs. He turned his yellow eyes toward me, he stared at me as I watched the life flee from his eyes. I freed my blade, letting his body fall to the floor, a ring of dust flew away from it as it hit the ground. As the dust settled I whipped the blood on his stitched-together barding.

That’s two down, three or four more to go.

Three ponies shouldn’t prove much trouble for me as long as they were ignorant of my presence. With luck, I‘d be able to take the rest of them out one by one; Looking down at my cybernetic leg, I dismissed the thought. Luck wasn’t normally on my side. For me, luck was something that I should expect to work against me more often than not. Why couldn’t I be one of the lucky ponies?

A set of stairs were still intact in the next room. Wooden debris clogged the two doors connected to this room. Various shouts and some gunfire came down from the floor above; I needed to hurry, the Hunters could blast their way through whatever door was holding them back at any moment. Only one pony inside was capable of defending herself, as far as I knew, the others would find themselves at the mercy of these psychopaths if the Chocolate-coated mare were killed. There was little time to waste.

Each hoofstep up the stairs was placed carefully to avoid stepping on a step that would creak and possibly give away my approach. So far, none had. That was surprising, given the age of this building. At the top of the stairs opposite where I now stood was a wall with a hole, it was big enough to let me see through it. On the other side were three hunters, two stood behind desks; the third stood by a door trying to buck it open. I had to hurry.

Moving from room to room eventually led me to where the three hunters were. It looked to be where most of what went on here happened. Each desk still upright had a terminal on it, those that now rested on their sides lay next to terminals with broken screens. Along the walls were various posters for four of the five ministries, the only ones absent among them were The Ministry of Image and the Ministry of Awesome. I wasn’t surprised that Rainbow Dash’s ministry lacked a poster; they didn’t do much of anything aside from setting up those towers.

My eyes locked onto a poster with Pinkie Pie on it. It read: Pinkie is always watching. A shiver ran down my spine, her eyes had a way of following you around any room that had a poster with her on it. Creepy.

Ignoring the accusing glare of a long-dead pink pony, I turned my attention to the Hunters. The earthpony bucking the door needed to be taken care of first and I’d be able to do so with the laser rifle. After she was dead a shootout with the other two would follow. That shouldn’t be too much of an issue, especially if the other mare came out to assist. I didn’t count on it but hoped for it nonetheless.

Pulling the rifle around, I reared up on my hind hoofs. I’d seen the zebras do this plenty of times during my time in the war. I’d spent some time practicing the stance; eventually, I found myself to become, somewhat, comfortable in the positions. However, I still preferred to use a battle saddle for rifles and shotguns. All that couldn’t make up for the lack of a horn. But us earth ponies made do with what we have, there wasn’t anything that could hold us back.

Carefully, I aimed the laser rifle between the mare’s eyes swaying slightly as I stood there. After she bucked the door I pulled the trigger. The bolt of red energy flew from the rifle with minimal recoil that I barely noticed. Her head jerked back as the bolt flew true, impacting right where I’d aimed, a moment later her body began to glow red hot before collapsing into a pile of ash that retained a faint glow.

“What the fuck?” One of the hunters, a stallion, said. Both turned toward where I stood in the door frame.

“You bitch!” The unicorn mare yelled before shooting at me with a double-barreled shotgun; I managed to slink behind the wall just before my body was shredded.

“You’re finished now!” the stallion said, shots from a makeshift pistol followed.

Bullets flew through the wall where they thought I’d be waiting. There was little chance I’d get to shoot at them again from here so I went back to the room with the stairs and peeked through one of the holes in the wall that let me see into the room the two remaining hunters were. None of the holes were large enough to let me see through while shooting, I stuck the barrel of my pistol through a hole and then angeled it in the direction that pointed at one of the ponies. Three shots rang out, I retracted the pistol and crouched down.

“What the fuck?” The stallion said, “Shit, she’s on the move!”

Though none of them were hit, they were confused about my position, this should let me take out at least one of them from the door again, maybe both if I shot quickly. Returning to the door, I listened.

“Where do you think she is?” The mare asked,

“I don’t know, just keep your eyes open.”

“The others must be dead, how else could’ve gotten here.”

“If they’re dead then they don’t matter now. Just worry about taking her out then we can collect the meat. If we take that mare along with any of us that she’s killed we’ll get a bigger payday than we’d planned for.

“We can’t just sell one of our own,” The mare shrieked.

“Oh, and why not?”

Taking this opportunity, I leaned so I could see the ponies, both of them weren’t looking in my direction. I shot at the stallion, the bullet blew out the front of his throat. His eyes widened before he fell behind the desk. The mare shrieked while ducking down. One more to go.

“P–please don’t kill me,” The mare called out, voice shaking. Was–was she crying? Shouldn’t a pony willing to cannibalize other ponies be tougher than this? “I… don’t want to die.”

Listening to the fear in her voice made me start to consider letting her go. “Why should I? You and your friends came here to kill these ponies. Why should you be allowed to live when you weren't about to extend the same courtesy to them? Huh!?”

The mare stammered, frantically trying to find the right words to talk her way out of her current situation. “I didn’t want to come here.” She began in a hurry, it was hard to understand her with how fast she spoke. “I never wanted to be one of the Hunters. A couple of months ago they gave me a choice: Join, or become food. They’d told me they had enough… meat… to last them a while, I was lucky to be given the choice.”

“What’s your name?”

“S–sunflower. My name is Sunflower. Please can I just go?”

What to do? “Toss away your weapon and the stallions.”

“Are you gonna let me go?”

“If you do as I ask; don’t try anything stupid.”

The sounds of three weapons echoed from the room.

“That’s all of them.”

Entering the office, pistol at the ready, I said: “Come on out.”

Slowly the Sunflower began to stand up. Her blond mane was a mess, there were more than a few scars visible within her Green coat. Her eyes widened when she looked at the pistol pointed at her. Tears began to well up in her eyes. “Please don’t shoot me,” She begged pitifully.

I glared at her, “Get out of here,”

“T–thank you!” She said, then galloped around the table and then to the door where she froze. “Listen… there are more Hunters that will come when nopony comes to give them a report on the situation here.”

“How many?”

“Not a lot, there are five. I’m steering clear of them. The last thing I want to do is to be stuck with them again after getting a second chance at freedom.”

I nodded my thanks and she left. That was great, five more ponies that needed killing.

“Hey, Stanger!” called the chocolate-coated mare from behind the door that was muffling her voice. “Are you alive out there? Things have gotten quiet.”

“Everything’s taken care of, it’s safe now,” I answered, walking up to the door. There was a nameplate on the door that was still legible, it read: Coco Pommel

“What are you wearing?” The mare asked.

“What?” I asked, more than a little startled. Did she think now was, honestly, the best time to flirt? “Listen, I’m all for flirting, but I prefer to do that when not in a dangerous situation.”

“No! Im not… I just want to make sure that it’s you. I don’t know your voice, but I remember what you wore when I saw you below.”

“Oh,” I said, flushing. Clearing my through, “I’m in one of these stable uniforms, with a zero on the back.

The lock on the door clicked before it was opened.

The mare let out a sigh of relief, she gestured for me to enter. Inside there were three other ponies and two foals. An orange and green mare sat watching over the foals; a stallion with a brown mane and Gray coat sat in the corner, staring blankly ahead. There was a disfigured mare resting in a chair. The chocolate-coated mare noticed me staring at her.

“Aint you ever seen a Ghoul before?”

“A what?” I asked.

“I guess you haven’t; I thought you looked too clean to have spent more than a few days outside of your stable.” She said, giving me an inquisitive look. “A ghoul is a pony that’s soaked up a whole lot of rads and lived to tell about it.” There are two types out there, ones are just like everypony else–on the inside, at least. And ones that have lost the pony that they used to be and went feral; mindlessly attacking anypony who isn’t a ghoul they see.”

My eyes darted to the ghoul then back to the mare. “Don’t worry about her, Grandmare is one of the nicest ponies I’ve had the pleasure of meeting since joining the Minutemares, heck, even before that, I reckon.”

“Minutemares?”

“Sorry, I already forgot that you’re new to the wasteland. The Minutemares are… where a group of ponies that would come to the aid of ponies in need. When a call came, we’d be ready to head out in a minute's notice, hence the name.” The mare sighed, “As of now, I’m the last active Minutemare. The rest are dead, though some who retired might still be alive.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said, “sounds like your group was something that still desperately needed out there. What happened to them?”

She sighed, “It’s a long story; I’ll tell it to you once we’re safe if you’re still interested. I’m Whitehooves, by the way.”

“Winter Storm,” I said with a nod, “There are more Hunters out there, one of the ponies back there warned me about them. She said they’d come if they hadn’t heard from the group we just killed.”

“Damnit, I’d hoped that would be the last of them. What are we going to do now? There's only the two of us that can handle combat.”

“Well, we can try to run before they arrive–if they aren't already close. Other than that, we can try to fight them off. We were able to handle the last group well enough; now we don’t have to worry about them trying to break into this office, they’ll all be outside.”

“That’s right! We can take them out the same as last time.”

“The Hunters are back!” Yelled a small lime-green colt standing by a window.

“Get away from there before they see you!” his mother scolded, wrapping a hoof around then ushered him back. “What if they’d shot at you? You need to be more careful out here, Donut.”

“I’m sorry momma.” The colt said, staring down at his hooves.

We didn’t get much time to rest before they came, I guess it had already been a while since they’d last spoken to a pony from their other group, or they got impatient and decided to hurry things along. Either way, they’re here now and needed killing. That was something I never enjoyed doing, killing was always a sad affair, and life–especially nowadays–was a terrible thing to waste. However, the Hunters are bad ponies; there was only one way for us to get out of this with our lives.

“I’ll head down and see if I can find another way out of the building,” I began, “Once I’m outside I'll sneak around them and try to pick off as many of them as possible before I’m discovered.”

“Sounds like a plan, I’ll do my best to keep anypony from getting inside.”

On my way to the door, I turned with a wry grin, “Oh, please don’t blow my cover this time, if you don't mind.”

“Sorry about that,” Whitehooves rubbed the back of her head, “I didn’t want to risk letting you slip by.”

Something on the desk caught my eye. Walking over to it I saw a little statuette of Rarity; gazing at the gorgeous mare I could swear the thing had a faint glow around it.

“Does this belong to any of you?” I asked, everypony shook their head.

“It was here when we came in, Whitehooves said. The last owner is long dead by now.”

Picking up the statuette sent a slight jolt throughout my body, causing me to jump slightly. I carefully put it into my saddle bag. I nodded to whitehooves and then left the office.

Quickly retracing the path that brought me up here, I found myself back on the main floor. After a bit of searching a set of signs pointed me to an exit on the side of the building opposite the main entrance. The door was stiff, but it opened after a bit of effort. My breath was barely visible as I stood trying to decide what direction to go. Remembering the Hardware store I galloped over to then around the building across the street from it. Laser fire rang out followed by a few shouts then return gunfire. I needed to hurry, Whitehooves can’t keep them at bay forever.

Peaking through the ally at the Hunters showed that none of the six were looking in my direction. Carefully I crept across the street, keeping myself low and stepping as lightly as possible. A sigh of relief escaped my mouth as I entered the Hardware store from its back door. Thankfully, there were no Hunters inside.

More gunfire and shouts.

Looking out at the Hunters I began to plan the best route I’d need to take to eliminate as many as possible. It didn’t take long for me to find one, they were spaced out enough that it wouldn’t be too difficult to sneak up on one before killing them and moving on to the next. That should allow me to get three of them, at least. One pony, presumably their leader, hid behind a rusted taxi in the middle of the road a couple of paces from the door. He could dash for the door and get inside, with little damage if he was a risk taker. The stallion continued hiding behind the taxi. After a moment he shot up at Whitehoove’s balcony shouting: “You’re making me work up an appetite here, lady.” When the bullets stopped, Whitehooves popped up, taking a couple of shots at him before bowing out of sight. Bullets impacted the wall behind where her head was moments ago.

Some of the Hunters changed positions, and most were still spread apart, but two had relocated and were now hiding behind the same vehicle closer to the door. When I slowly inched my way through the door I noticed one of the Hunters using a streetlight as cover. Do they really think that’s enough cover? I asked myself then shrugged, Maybe they’re stupid or something.

Slinking down the sidewalk I crept onto the road and behind a pony hiding behind a large public mailbox. A small click sounded when the blade extended from my metal hoof. The mare must have heard it, she started to turn. The blade slid into her neck while I covered her mouth with my other hoof so she couldn’t scream. She thrashed in my grip before going limp, eyes glazing over. I lowered her to the ground, making sure that her corpse would be hidden behind the mailbox. I wouldn’t want one of her friends to see her and spoil my cover.

My next target wasn’t far from the mailbox. I crept over on three hooves, keeping the blade extended. I hadn’t cleaned it off yet; I preferred not getting blood in my leg, it was always a hassle to clean it out and I didn’t expect to have time to clean it soon.

Gunfinre stopped for a moment followed by Whitehooves’ laser rifle. After a couple of blasts, the stallion I was approaching took the opportunity to shoot at the mare. A red beam flew into his face before he got a shot off. His body then glowed red the heat washing over me before disintegrating into a pile of ash that was carried away in the wind. Whitehooves was a good shot, I was glad to be on her side.

One Hunter remained that could be taken out without alerting the others. After he was done, it shouldn’t be too much trouble for Whitehooves and me to finish off the remaining Hunters.

Peaking over the car the stallion had been hiding behind I saw that the pony hiding behind the light post was moved and was now crouched behind an overturned bench facing Whitehooves’ direction. I could sneak up on him, but I decided to hurry this along. Sheathing my blade, I unslung the laser rifle and aimed it at the back of the pony’s head. Two shots hit him, one in the flank and one in the back of the neck. He let out a cry when the first bolt hit, then fell in a heap on the ground at the second’s impact. He didn’t disintegrate, but he didn’t move either.

“Shit, someponys behind us.” The leader yelled, turning and shooting at me—bullets whizzed by overhead. I dashed to the side when the shots ceased. I knew it was a bad move as soon as I was in the open, a bullet biting into my hide just below my snowflake cutie mark confirmed that thought. Cursing under my breath I dove through the broken window of the building ahead of me. Now I had room to maneuver, all it cost me was a shot in the flank. I held off on drinking a healing potion, until after the battle, just in case I got hurt some more before this was over.

Beam fire and gunfire erupted outside. Bullets could be heard slamming into the wall behind me.

A pained shriek hit my ears followed by gunfire, none of which were heading in my direction. Damn, I wished I could know if the enemies had moved around or if that shriek had signaled another dead hunter instead of one just sustaining an injury and still being in the fight.

I raised my pip-buck and started messing with it a bit hoping that this thing had an E.F.S. That I remembered from my short time training with power armor.

E.F.S. - ACTIVATED

There we go! Why the Tartarus would something as useful as an E.F.S. be deactivated? I shrugged, I guess it wasn’t something that the previous owner didn’t use much.

When it was activated, things popped up in my vision; red pips that told me there were still three hunters out there and that they’d changed positions, again. Judging by the red pips, none of them were side by side now. Redying my pistol I poked my head through the door, finding one of the hunters shooting at Whitehooves’ perch. Perfect. Shooting, the bullet raced from the barrel of my pistol, flying into the pony’s ear facing me before flying out the other, followed by a spray of blood, bone, and brain. They fell to the ground, the red pip marking them vanishing.

Another pony decided that was a good time to show his face, allowing me to blow a couple of holes in it. The leader was all that remained now.

“Shit, shit, shit!” He said from where he was hiding, judging by the lone red pip, he was in the hardware store. It was a big mistake for him, I knew just how to get in there. I galloped out of the building I was in, down the alley I’d taken before to get to the hardware store’s back door. Inside I found the Hunter leader cowering down, shaking. His eyes widened when he saw me enter the room, he urinated himself. The stallion darted and I put a bullet in his head, his body fell, and a pool of blood spread out around where his head lay.

Trotting outside I called up to Whitehooves: “That’s the last of them, I think we’re good now.”

“That’s a relief, I’m running low on cells.” Whitehooves came into view and looked down at me. “We really appreciate you helping us. There’s no way we’d have made it through this if you hadn’t come by.”

“I’m glad to help,” I said, blushing a little.

“I’ll tell the other that it’s safe to come down, we’ll meet you in the lobby… if you feel like sticking around for a bit, that is.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there,” I responded, my mission burned in the back of my mind, but I wanted to speak with these ponies and learn more about what I’m likely to face on my path to Dewdrop.

Waiting in the lobby it didn’t take too long for Whitehooves to lead her group to me. They all looked like they were exhausted. The stallion had a faraway look in his eyes like he wasn’t present, I wondered what made him this way.

“Can we stop for a moment,” Grandmare asked, “I’d like to speak with our new friend,” The old ghoul turned her ancient gaze on me. Her coat was gone, there were a few strands of pink where her tail and mane should have been.

“Of course, Grandmare. We’re safe, for the time being.” Whitehooves helped Grandmare take a seat in a waiting chair that was clear of debris. “We can’t stay here too long, we’ll have to get moving soon.”

“There’s no cause for us to rush, now.” Grandmare said with a knowing smile, “She’ll lead us to the place I’ve seen, our new home.”

I tilted my head to the side. “Me? I’ve only been awake for a day, I don’t know of any safe places around here.”

“Oh, but you do, child.” The mare's eyes, though sightless, burned into me. “You are the mare that I’ve foreseen, you’ll lead us to a home where we’ll be safe. We can start to live in harmony once again.”

Harmony? I didn’t know what to make of the ghoul. Was she talking about Harmony Hills? That’s the only place that I’ve been, save for the stable, and I wouldn’t consider that place safe, not anymore…

“I–I think I can help you,” I began, slowly, “There’s a community, south of here. That’s where my sister and I lived… before the bombs fell….”

“Before the…” a white mare with a light brown mane began, looking at me, “are you sayin’ that you were there when the Balefire bombs fell?”

I nodded, “My family and I had a place in Stable 0, because of my service in the Equestrian military.” I told the ponies everything that happened between the sirens going off and speaking to Watcher. A thought hit me: Watcher must have known that these ponies needed help that’s why he suggested that I head here first. Sure, it was the first place I was likely to head–it was the closest location that I was familiar with–but I didn’t like him sending me into a violent situation without any warning. He could have just told me what was going on here in Maneford and I’d have come to help, maybe I could have gotten here in time to save the two dead minutemares that I’d found.

If he ever contacted me again, I’d have some words for him…

“Equestrian Military, huh?” Whitehooves smiled at me, “Guess that explains how you were able to handle yourself during the fight. I’ve met Stable Ponies before, and they are usually pretty helpless. Though, I guess there are exceptions.”

“Can you take us to the community you spoke of?” Grandmare asked before the conversation could derail further from the subject matter she clearly cared about.

“Sure, I can take you ponies to Harmony Hills. Though I am in a hurry, so… I’d like to do it quickly.”

“I think I might be able to help you with that, child,” Grandmare said, looking past me. “If you have since chems, preferably Party-time Mentals, then I can use them to get a vision of where you should go to continue your quest.

“A vision, how’s a vision going to help me find Dewdrop and that unicorn?”

“Oh, It’ll help.” The white mare said, “Name’s Coconut, by the way.” She trotted closer to us. “Grandmare here is something special.” she said, putting a hoof on the ghoul’s shoulder, “She’s had visions that have proven to be very useful. I’ve known her almost my whole life, she rarely has visions that don’t turn out the way she sees.”

“Really?” I asked, trusting what Coconut had said. “I’d be infinitely grateful for any help you can provide, Grandmare.”

“I still don’t buy it.” Said the mare standing behind her two foals. “As far as I know, she's just a junkie and we’ve been following her chem-field guidance all the way south. Losing a lot of ponies… a lot of friends along the way.”

“Settle down, Rain Cloud.” Coconut said sternly, “You haven’t known her as long as I have. I’ll admit, sometimes her visions don’t come true, but it’s rare for that to happen.” Coconut turned to me, “I promise, if you can get her some PTMs, Grandmare will be able to help you.”

“I don’t have any on me, I’m afraid.” Where could I find some PTMs? I remembered I’d passed a pharmacy on my way into town, they might have some there. “I think I might know where to find some. On the way to Harmony Hills, I want to make a quick stop to see if I can't find any Party-time Mentals.”

“We should just head straight to Harmony Hills without stopping.” Rain Cloud said, coming toward us. She did not look happy. “What if more of them show up while we're out in the open?”

“Don’t worry,” Grandmare said calmly, “I’ve not foreseen any dangers after meeting winter.”

“You never mentioned her in your vision before, how do we know you’re not bull-shitting us?”

“I’ve told you what you needed to know. Up until now, all you needed to know was that we needed to head south, to Maneford. We’re here now and you need to know the rest now that we’ve met the mare and you are frightened of being attacked. Don’t worry, Rain Cloud. Your children are safe now.”

“It’ll be alright,” Whitehooves added, “If we do find trouble Winter and I should be able to handle it. We’re almost done with our journey, you’ll be at your new home before the sun sets.”

Rain Cloud looked from Grandmare to Whitehooves. “Alright, but let’s not take too long.”

“I’ll be as quick as possible, " I told the worried mother. She nodded before turning and returning to where her children sat. Surveying the group I noticed a pony was missing. “Where’s Coconut?”

“Right here” The mare called. She was standing at the front door holding it open with a hoof. “I stashed some pretty sweet gear while we were being chased in here. I was worried one of the Hunters would make off with it, but when I checked it was in the cart, right where I left it inside the church next door. I’m ready to move out when y’all are.”

“Ok, everypony,” I said, turning to the others, “let's get going.”

The group followed me out of the building and through Maneford until I found the local Pharmacy. We stopped for a moment so I could search for PTMs; I managed to find another health potion before I stumbled upon a tin of party time mentals that was partially buried under ash. I searched for a little longer after that before leaving and returning to the ponies who waited for me outside.

I led them along the round south, there wasn’t much conversation. After a while, we reached the bridge that led into Harmony Hills. After reading the sign with the name on it, the two kids galloped past me, their mother calling after them, begging them to stay close. I couldn’t blame Rain Cloud for being worried; I knew this place was safe, but it was unknown territory as far as she was concerned, anything could be lurking here.

We continued along the road, Whitehooves and I at the front. I made sure that we didn’t move too fast, Grandmare was old and Coconut was hauling a cart; both of them could easily be left behind. There was still some time before we reached our destination and there were still a few things that I wanted to ask Whitehooves about. Now was the perfect time.

“You said you’re the last of the Minutemares,” I began, “How’d that come to be? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“No, I don’t mind. It’s a long story, but…” she took a deep breath, “I suppose now is a good time to tell it…. After the balefire bombs fell there was a lot of chaos that followed. Anypony that lived through that had one thing on their mind: Survival. It didn’t take long for ponies who wanted to help the survivors to come together. Those ponies became the Responders.

“At first, the Responders were made up of EMTs, Police, Firefighters, and other emergency response teams. After getting together they did their best to help anypony in need, no matter what. Life improved around Delamare, as much as it could that is.

“Things in the Responders didn’t last. The passing of the first lead along with some emerging plague created a rift among the ponies. One group wanted to continue helping those in need. The other thought things would get better if every settlement was controlled by a single group. After much arguing the Responder split into two groups: The Minutemares and The Regulators.”

“What happened after the split?” I asked.

“The Minutmares went on helping any settlement that requested aid, spreading their numbers thin. Meanwhile, The Regulators conquered some of the larger settlements that had been some of the first to be founded. It didn’t take long for settlements to ask the Minutmares for help against the Regulators. A small-scale war broke out after that, it lasted decades.”

“How’d you come to be the last Minutemare? Are there any Regulators left?”

Whitehooves was silent for a moment, “both our numbers dwindled as we battled over settlements. In the long run, we knew we’d be victorious even if we were wiped out; The
Regulators' numbers were dwindling as fast as ours was; settlement began to cast out any of the Regulators that were there.

“Eventually, there were fourteen of us after losing our headquarters. All of us were willing to give our lives to protect innocent settlements along with putting an end to The Regulators.”

“Are they still around?”

“No.” Whitehooves looked down at her hooves as we followed the road. She remained quiet for a time, deep in thought. After some time had passed she turned her gaze to me. “The minutemares were called to Prancey,” she nodded to the ponies behind us, “Where they lived. Grandmare had a vision that they were going to be attacked and Coconut sent for our aid after that. The last of the Minutemares responded to the call where we prepared for the attack from the regulators, it came after two days.

“After trying our best to defend the town, we had to flee, but not before I put a bullet between the last Regulators eyes. There were five Minutemares left when Grandmare had a vision, one without the aid of PTMs. We followed her guidance all the way to Maneford. You know the rest after that.”

“Are you the Regulators are gone?” I asked.

“No–not really. All the Regulators that were at the battle of Prancey are dead, their numbers were less than ours at that time, but I suppose there could have been some hold-outs or a few new recruits out there… I hope not. If they're out there, there’s little to stop them from rebuilding and conquering settlements unless there's another group willing to do something about them. I doubt it.”

We walked in silence for a moment, “It’s a shame that the minutemares are gone. If the regulators are gone, like I hope they are, we could help the settlements out there grow. The only way Equestria will be able to recover from the devastation is if we work together to make things better.”

I could feel her sadness. Being out here, seeing what my home was reduced to was tough, If I hadn’t already had a goal to keep me going I might have been lost in the melancholy of it all…

“Well… I guess we’re going to have to rebuild the Minutemares.” I said without thinking.

Whitehooves stopped, staring at me wide-eyed. “What?”

“We’re going to rebuild the Minutemares,” I repeated, smiling.

“You–you’re serious?” I nodded and her face lit up; I think it was the first time I’d seen the mare smile. “I… don’t know what to say. What about finding your niece?”

“That will be my primary focus, but I’ll travel around as I search for Dewdrop… and her foalnapper. I might as well act as a recruiter along the way if I can.”

“This is great! With your experience in the equestrian military, I think you’d be great as the Minutemares' new General?”

“General? Me?” I shook my head, “I don’t know about that. Shouldn’t you be the General? You’re the last Minutemare after all.”

“Well that would make me general, yes; but I have no interest in taking the position, which I lack the skills to do. You, on the other hoof, do.”

“How can you know that, we’ve only just met recently. Just because I was able to help you with the Hunters doesn’t mean I’d be good as your new General.”

“Well… you’re right, but I just have a good feeling about you. Something in my gut tells me that you’re the best mare for the job.”

It was clear her mind was set, it’d be a waste of breath to continue to resist; but as I was going to accept, a thought came to mind. “Let’s hold off on making me General, there might be a pony out there better suited for it than me. If nopony hasn’t been found before I’ve found Dewdrop, I’ll accept the position. Does that sound good to you?”

“Sounds good… future General.”

Whitehooves laughed, and I rolled my eyes.

Not long after our conversation ended we turned down a bend in the road and the bridge to Harmony Hills came into view. I lead the ponies over it then along the road, stopping in front of my old house.

“Well, this is it.” I said, gesturing at the surrounding area, “The house behind me was mine. I plan to come back and live in it when I return; I’d ask that nopony move in there while I’m away.”

“Don’t worry, miss.” Coconut said, she unhooked herself from the cart, “It’ll be here waiting for you when you return. I’ll clean it for you if you like, it’s the least I can do after you saved our tails back there.”

“Thank you,” I began, “You can if you want to, but it’s not necessary. Focus on making this place you’re home. I’ll have time to take care of the mess when I get back. Thank you, though.”

“C’mon, the at least let me make some improvements to your stable uniform. You’re gonna need some proper protection if you plan to head north. I promise that It’ll only take an hour or two.”

“OK,” I said then slipped out of the stable uniform. “Thank you,” I said, hoofing it to Coconut

“No thanks necessary, I’ll have this ready for you in a jiffy!”

Coconut turned and galloped toward her cart then began digging through it’s contetns, the other ponies started looking around, save for Whitehooves and Grandmare. The old ghoul smiled at me. “Are you ready for one of my visions? It’s no rush if you’re not.” she gave me a kind smile, “Just bring me some Party-time Mentals when you are ready.”

“There’s no reason for me to wait,” I said then dug the PTMs out of my saddle bag then gave it to her. “How many do you need for a vision?”

“Only a few, sometimes more, but that's rare.” Grandmare took a couple of PTMs and popped them into her mouth then swallowed. She stood there for a moment then her already pink eyes somehow got pinker. She sat then got far off look, it felt like she was looking through me.

“Is she ok?” I asked.

“Yes,” Whitehooves answered, “It’s scary to watch, but this is how she looks when she’s experiencing a vision. It should only last a couple of minutes more, then she’ll come out of it.” The Minutemares look became concerned. “I do worry that one day she’ll have a vision that will kill her. She’s over two hundred years old at this point; she may be a ghoul, but that doesn't mean her body can handle inducing these visions. She might have to slow down, maybe give them up altogether.”

I nodded, “You’re supposed to be safe here in Harmony Hills. There shouldn’t be much need for here to have these visions after this.”

Grandmare gasped loudly as her pupils returned to normal, her eyes returning to their normal hue of pink. She sat there trying to regain her breath while staring at me.

“Grandmare!” Whitehooves rushed toward her, “Are you alright? Do you need some water?”

The ghoul waved her away. “I’ll be… fine.” more panting, “I just need to catch my breath, is all.” Whitehoves gave her some space, still looking concealed for the ghoul.

“Did you see anything, Grandmare?” I asked after her breathing became more controlled.

“I did, Winter Breeze.” She took a couple more breaths, “There was a lot, though it was hard to make out. so much flashed before me; I’ve never had a vision like it.”

“W–what did you see?”

“Destroyer City,” she said, “I saw Destroyer City, that’s where you need to go.” she paused for a moment, eyes rolling around before returning to me. “When you get there, look for somepony named: Flask. He’ll help you. I’m not sure what after that, there was so much.” Grandmare raised a hoof to her head, swaying a little.

Whitehooves rushed to the ghoul’s side. “Let me help you find a place to lie down,” She helped Grandmare stabilize herself.

“There’s still a bed in my house she can use. My house is pretty much clear of large debris, it should be too difficult to get her to my bed.”

“Thank you, deer.” Grand mare said. “It’s rare for a ghoul to receive this much kindness these days.”

I moved to help support Grandmare on the opposite side of Whitehooves. Together we helped her through my house and onto my old bead. The springs squeaked in protest as she rested on it. 11555

Destroyer city? I felt like I knew where that might be; back in the day, the Destroyers were a hoofball team that had a stadium in Delamare City. Though I was certain of this, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask. “Grandmare, Is Destroyer City in the stadium in the city?”

“It is, don’t let the name troupble you, though. It might soundlike a den where slavers, gangers and other like that would be, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Destroyer City is a welcoming place to all, save ghouls.” She lay there fro a moment then opened her mouth to continue. “The new mayor had any ghoul living there removed not long after he was elected. I used to live there for a time, but I’d left years before Sprout came into office.”

“I really appreciate this, Grandmare. I don’t know where I would’ve begun my search If I hadn’t met you.”

“I’m sure you’d of found your way, my little pony.” She gave me a motherly smile.

As soon as Coconut finishes with my barding I’ll be on my way.” I turned to Whitehooves. “Will you be able to handle thing here?”

“Sure, we shouldn’t run into much trouble. The first thing I want to have set up are defenses. Hopefully Harmony Hills will be fitted with some decent defenses by the time you return.”

“Wait!’ Grandmare said as I turned to the door. “Theres one more thing you need to know.” I returned my attention to the ancient ghoul, nodding for her to continue. “When you come across a crossroads with an abandoned school bus, take the left road. You’ll thank me later.”

I nodded my understanding of the warning. “Thankyou for telling me what I need to do.

Grandmare laughed, “I can’t tell you what to do, All I can do is point you in the right direction; it’s up to you after that.”

Chapter 3: Dogma (Awaiting re-write)

“It’s useful that you happened by…”

“Here you go,” Coconut said, setting my modified stable barding on the ground before me, “Some stable barding that will protect you until you can get your hooves on something better. It’s not the best, but it should get you to Destroyer Stadium. You’ll be able to find sompony selling better armor there.”

“Thank you, Coconut,” I said with a smile.

The mare shook her head, “No thanks needed, it's the least I can do for you. We owe you our lives; I wish there were more that I could do.”

“Listen, you may feel like you owe me for saving your tails back there, but you don’t. I just did what any decent pony should have done. Now, if there's anything I can do for you, just say the word.”

She looked at me for a moment, thinking. “Well… there is one thing that you can do. Put on your barding then meet me by my wagon, I’ve got something you might be able to help me with.”

She left and I put on the barding. It felt tighter, but not too tight. I didn’t notice much of a difference with the weight. I did feel protected wearing this; luckily I wasn’t shot somewhere serious while battling the Hunters. That would’ve spelled a quick end to my rescue attempt. Coconut watched me as I walked up to her.

“How’s it feel?” She asked, eyeing my barding.

“Pretty good,” I said, stopping beside the wagon. The contents were hidden beneath a beige blanket that looked desperate to be cleaned. “What do you need help with?”

Coconut bit down on a part of the blanket. “Wif Thith.” She said around the cloth, she pulled on it and the fabric moved easily; what it covered was an old-looking set of power armor.

“Where’d you find that?” I gasped.

“Here and there, I’ve been collecting parts and jerry-rigging this for a couple of years now. All the parts are accounted for, according to a manual I found. The only issue now is the spellmatrix. The manual doesn’t say how to get it going and I didn’t get a chance to look into it before we were chased out of Prancey.” She looked me in the eye for the briefest moment before looking away. “It’d mean a lot if you found a way to get its spell matrix going. You can use it when it’s ready if you want. I don’t plan to travel much; it’ll be wasted if I keep it to myself.”

I smiled, “Sure, I’ll see what I can find out. Maybe somepony in Destroyer Stadium will know.”

“Forget it, if it becomes too much trouble, but thank you. Are you heading out now?” I nodded, “Then I hope you have a safe journey. I’ll listen for news of you on the radio.”

I tilted my head to the side, “Why would you do that?”

“Oh, I guess you haven’t tuned into the radio, being new to the wasteland and all. DJ Pon3 reports on what’s going on across the Equestrian Wasteland; whether it’s good news or bad; I’m not sure how he gets her information, but he’d recently mentioned another stable mare that freed raider prisoners over in Ponyville. If I were a betting mare, I’d say you’ll end up on the radio, at least once.”

“I doubt it. I don’t think he’ll consider anything I’m doing to be newsworthy.”

“Oh? What about saving a group of strangers from a ruthless gang of cannibals? That's pretty newsworthy if you ask me.”

“Point taken,” I said with a smile. There was no way that DJ Pon3 would report on anything I was doing. How would he know? Watcher came to mind, he’d talked to me through a sprite-bot; maybe the DJ had a similar way of gathering information to report on. Maybe Watcher was DJ Pon3; I’d ask him if we ever spoke again.

Shit! I thought. Being on the radio was the last thing I needed right now. There was a chance the patchwork unicorn would hear about me and be alerted to my newfound freedom from the ice-box she’d left me in. She’d have time to prepare, time to run, and time to hide. The last thing I need is for her to know I’m coming. That would make getting revenge more difficult than I wanted it to be.

I thanked Coconut again for the barding before leaving her and heading down the road.

“Winter!” Somepony called behind me. Turning I saw Whitehooves galloping at me.

“What?” I asked, worried that something had happened. “Is everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine.” She said between breaths. “Grandmare had another small vision that she thought you should know about.

“How I thought the mentals had run their course.”

“They have, but she occasionally has visions that come to her naturally. While you were with Coconut she had one. She said that it was important that I tell you what it was.”

“Ok, what did she see?”

“She said that you need to find shelter before dusk. You must. She didn’t say anything else; she passed out after that and I wasn’t able to wake her.”

“Hmm, I'll keep that in mind.” I looked up at the clouds wishing I could see where the sun was in the sky. “I don’t know how much time that will give me, but I’ll be sure to heed her warning. Thanks for relaying the warning, Whitehooves.”

“It’s no problem, friend.” She looked at me as silence filled the air, “I wish you’d accept the Position as General. We could have a huge impact on the lives of innocent ponies all across the wasteland if we had the right leader; I honestly feel that you are the pony for the job. Please just.”

“I’m not comfortable being in a leadership position!” I blurted out, interrupting her. Her eyes widened as she took a step back.

“I–I’m sorry,” she said, hears folding back, “I just… I don’t want to make you do something you’re not comfortable doing.”

“Hey,” I trotted to her side then put my hoof on her shoulder, hopefully assuming the mare that everything was ok. “I understand that you want the Minutmares to succeed, I want the same thing. In the end, I might be the best candidate to be the new General, but we need to be sure that there isn’t somepony out there that’s a better fit. I promise that, no matter what, the Minutemares will rebuild and aid the ponies out there that just want to survive. Ok?”

Whitehooves nodded. “Please hurry. I’m sorry for trying to force you to take the position; I just have a bad feeling and I guess I’m panicking.”

“There's no need to panic; this will take some time, but the minutemares will be back in business before you know it. For now, just focus on helping these ponies turn this place into a new home. I’ll send ponies here that need a new home on my travels.”

“Ok, but I don’t doubt my gut feeling about you, but I guess we’ll see what happens.” She smiled.

“That’s all I ask, Whitehooves.” we shared a smile, “If nopony better than me shows up then I’ll, hopefully, have been given enough time to prepare myself to take on a leadership role… again.” an uneasy chuckle slipped out before I had a chance to stifle it.

“Thank you, Winter. I won’t hold you up any longer. You need to get going if you’re going to find some shelter before dusk. Be careful out there.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can. When I return we can focus on rebuilding the minutemares. I’ll be back before you know it!”

The last of the Minuremares nodded her thanks, I turned and trotted down along the road, I stopped when I reached the bridge, and turning I saw Whitehooves still watching. She waved at me; I waved back. She believed in me, I prayed to whoever was listening that I wouldn’t let her down.

…

I shivered as a cold wind blew on me from the north. Though I knew I’d been frozen for around two hundred years, I wasn’t certain what time of year it was exactly; my best guess was that it was the middle of fall, winter coming sooner rather than later. In old Equestria, I’d be excited by Winter being around the corner. The heat was something that I wasn’t much of a fan of, I’d spent many summers before going to war indoors, reading. That was all lost to me now. Winter would be difficult to live through without the amenities I’d grown accustomed to. For the first time in my life, I wished that it was still summer.

I followed the road north, keeping in mind that I needed to find shelter before the sun went down. A thought pierced my mind: What happened to the princesses? Surely they were powerful enough to survive the blast from the balefire bombs. Why couldn’t the thought have come to mind while I was talking to Whitehooves? She’d have been able to tell me if I’d remembered to ask—honestly, I have the memory of a goldfish; I’d forget the most important things if I weren’t actively thinking about them—about something as important as the fates of the princesses. A notebook was something that I needed to consider keeping on me, lest I forget something extremely important. It was too late to turn back now, night would fall before I reached Harmony Hills; I’d have to ask the next friendly pony I met what happened to the princesses. That being said, I also wondered what happened to the Crystal Empire. Cadence had tried her best to keep her kingdom out of the war, but the war eventually came to her doorstep when the zebras struck a deal with the Yaks in Yakyakistan.

All this worrying gave me a headache. I wish that I’d find Dewdrop in the next hour and save here so I could bring her home before getting some normal rest. Waking up from that cryo-pod made me feel as exhausted as I normally was while deployed. Some good old-fashioned rest sounded really nice right about now. All I had to do was rescue my niece from a grotesque unicorn with cutiemarks stitched to her hide then get her safely back to Harmony Hills. It sounds easy as pie, I know.

In reality, I expected considerable effort to be required to find Dewdrop. I had no idea what was to be found out in the wasteland; the survival guide that Whitehooves had given me would give me tell me what to expect, but I didn’t expect it to tell me about every horror that waited for me out here.

The constant clouds above bothered me. Where were the pegasi? Shouldn’t they be doing their best to clear the sky of these clouds? Where is there any Pegasi left? I shook my head, thinking that one of the three pony races being extinct was the last thing I wanted to think about right now. Unicorns and Earth-ponies made up all the ponies I’d met so far, it would be absurd for there to be no pegasi out here, but looking up at the oppressing layer of clouds made me wonder…

I trotted along the road for what felt like an hour and a half. I passed vehicles occupied by skeletons that had rusted over the years. The road beneath my hooves had large cracks that ran through it. The trees were leafless, either from the season or from being dead, I wasn’t able to tell. A cold wind blew past me as I traveled, ruffling my mane and making me shiver; I’d need to find something warmer to wear before it got colder. The only sounds I heard came from my hoofs and the rustling from the foliage that danced in the wind. Other noises came infrequently, the sounds of some animal off in the distance a distant gunshot, and the occasional breaking of a twig; they were not as infrequent as the other sounds, it made me feel like I was being followed.

Was I followed by what? I asked myself, stopping to scan my surroundings. All I found was a street light, trees, and the mangled corpse of some animal I couldn’t recognize. Shrugging I continued on, only for another snapped branch to make me freeze. Something was following me. What was it? The first thought that came to mind was one of the many creatures that were said to inhabit the forest around the outskirts of Delamare. The most famous of them being: The Mothmare. Ridiculous right? Back in the day, I’d laugh if somepony told me they believed in their existence. It didn’t feel ridiculous now though, out here in the wasteland, alone. Anything could be out there, who knows what had happened to the wildlife of Equestria. “Get a hold of yourself!” I said allowed, then gave my head a little shake before venturing onward.

There were no more sounds that worried me. Either the past snapping branches had been a coincidence, or whatever was following me was putting more effort into not being detected. I chose to believe in the latter.

A gunshot brought me out of my thoughts about cryptids. It came from up ahead, along the road that led north. Maybe somepony were in trouble. I waited for a second shot to ring out. When it remained silent I trotted on, curious what lay ahead. One shot either meant that somepony had to defend themselves against something and only needed one bullet to do so; the other option that comes to mind is that somepony wanted attention on them, using the gunfire to do so. A diner came into view in a clearing ahead of me, I could just make out two unicorns standing in front of it, each of them floating what looked like Pipe-pistols from where I stood.

I left the road and trekked along until I reached some bushes close enough for me to listen to what one of the unicorns was shouting at whoever was in the diner. I crouched low, making sure not to rustle the bush and give away my presence.

“Listen, lady,” The taller of the two—a brown stallion with a very dark yellow mane—shouted pointing his weapon at one of the windows. Looking at the dinner, I didn’t see anypony, but that wasn’t much of a surprise; any pony without a death wish would be hiding if they were caught in a situation like this. The stallion continued, “Your son owes Wolfgang a lotta caps. Now, you’d best be handing over the caps or your boy.” the other unicorn chuckled, “I reckon things will get… nasty if you don't. Understand?”

They waited for a response, but they didn’t get one. “I’mma give you till the count o’ three, bitch.” the other stallion said, he was considerably smaller than his partner in crime, though he looked to be about the same age. “Afta that we’re gonna start blastin'!”

“Please!” called a mare from within the dinner, “Don’t take my son; he’s the only family I have left. Just give us some more time, we’ll get Wolfgang the caps, w-with interest!”

“He’s already been given enough time to pay off his debt.” The smaller stallion said, “If you don’t have tha caps then we’re taking him.”

“This is your last chance,” The larger stallion added, “We ain't gonna ask again.”

The stallions waited for a response; more silence from the ponies in the dinner. The small Unicorn began to count down, slowly.

Crouching down, I kept out from the bush that concealed me, making my way around so I could approach the two unicorns from behind. I didn’t know what the situation was, but I knew that these two were bad ponies; something needed to be done about them, the wasteland would be better with their absence, I was sure about that.

“Two!” the pint-sized stallion called out with no response came from the dinner. They hadn’t noticed me as I wound my way behind them. All that was left was to reach them and take one out—the big one first—before the little guy reached zero “One and a half!” He was enjoying this; he probably thought the ponies in the dinner were sweating bullets and at his mercy. They may be at his mercy, but he had no idea that he was at mine, and I can be a lot scarier than he thought he was…

He opened his mouth to continue the countdown but froze when I lunged at the bigger stallion. I unsheathed my blade and drove it into the back of his skull; the magic surrounding the pistol evaporated the moment my blade introduced itself to his brain. The little unicorn turned to me, eyes widening in fear as I let my first kill fall to the ground. He brought his gun around as I galloped at him, I swatted it away with my cybernetic then leaped forward, grabbing his head in my front hooves. He urinated as I twisted his head to the left until there was a crack. His gun fell to the ground alongside his corpse, lying in the yellow puddle of his own creation.

Hoovesteps sounded as somepony galloped away, I turned and saw a third pony—who’d been hiding— galloping away from the dinner. I thought of shooting them, but I let it pass. She’d already gotten out of my comfortable range and besides, I wasn’t a ruthless killer. She’d decided not to fight me, so I let her go with her life.

“It’s safe to come out now!” I called out when the mare had galloped out of sight. “These two won’t bother you anymore.”

The sound of a bottle being kicked, followed by some cursing came from the dinner; a moment later an older mare slowly came into view behind one of the windows. “Are they gone?” I nodded. “T–thank you. They’ve been harassing us for days now.” Her eyes fell on me, “Come inside, dear. I should have something here to repay you.”

“Sorry,” I said, “I really need to be going.”

“Oh, come now. At least let me give you some food or ammo. You saved my son’s life, I can't let you go without giving you something to repay your kindness.”

My stomach growled at the mention of food. I realized I hadn’t eaten since the morning that I’d entered Stable Zero. Two hundred years was a long time to go without a hayburger or something. It wouldn’t hurt to stay long enough to eat, it’d give me time to figure out what her son had gotten into and maybe find out if she’d seen the patchwork unicorn.

“Ok, It has been a while since I ate, Thank you.”

“When did you last eat?” she asked as I approached.

“Oh… about two hundred years ago.” The mare stammered as I passed. She stood there for a moment before entering the dinner. She didn’t ask for clarification so I didn’t explain my situation to her. Not having to explain what had happened to me was nice; I expected that it was something that I’d have to recant to most ponies that I came across.

“So… what are you craving after, umm, two hundred years.”

“I’m not too picky, whatever you have will be good.” Truthfully, I’d kill for a hayburger. It’d already been too long since I had one before the bombs fell; adding two hundred years to the wait made it something I’d beg to have. There was no chance she’d had one, but maybe I’d find one somewhere in the wasteland. A mare can dream, can’t she?

“We’ll most of what I have is Iguana on a stick. Is that all right for you? I can see if I can rustle up something else.”

I wasn’t sure what an Iguana was, they must have been some new creature created by the magical radiation that was in abundance. Meat was something that I’d never tried before, but I decided to give it a try. “That will be fine,” I answered with a smile, taking a seat at one of the stools in front of the counter the cash register sat on. “What is an Iguana anyway? They didn’t exist back then.”

She eyed me for a moment, probably wondering If I really was a mare that lived before the war or was just some nut that had arrived in the nick of time to save them. “I’ve never seen one. This is something that traders employed by the Gourmare sell. I don’t know what animal an Iguana is, but I do know that the meat is tasty. You’ll like it.” She smiled before turning and trotting through a door that led to a kitchen.

The dinner was a mess, old leaves had blown in through the the frames where windows used to be, covering the tables and most of the cracked black and white tile floor. Empty cobwebs festones the ceiling in spots and there were undisturbed layers of dust on tables that were mostly free of leaves. In two of the booths were the skeletons of ponies, who had been waiting for their meal for over two centuries now. A red buck with an unkempt brown mane and tail sat on the floor at the opposite end of the dinner from the counter. He sat there, body shaking while he licked his lips and his eyes darted around. It was clear how he came to be in debt to this Wolfgang character. He looked like he still had hard times ahead of him before he started feeling better.

“Here you go hun,” Turning away from the buck I saw the food the old mare had placed before me. It was five chunks of meat pierced by a stick. The scent of the warm food flooded my nose, causing my mouth to water and my stomach to grumble in anticipation. I leaned down and took a small bite then chewed. It was delicious. I quickly finished off the rest of the meat.

“That was pretty good,” I said, the old mare smiled.

“I have more if you’d like another plate.

I waved my hoof. “I’ll be good for now, but I’ll take some to-go if you have enough to spare.”

“Sure thing, Hun.”

She went to the back room and returned a couple of moments later with a paper bag, she placed it on the table in front of me.

“So, who is Wolfgang?”

“You haven’t heard of him before?”

“No, I come from the south. I’m afraid that I don’t know much about what going on north of here. I was given a survival guide earlier today, but I haven't had a chance to sit down and read it.”

“I’ve heard about those, Ponies who’ve read them say they’re very informative. Why haven’t you read it yet?”

“I’m in a hurry, but I’ll read it tonight when I find somewhere to settle in for the night.”

“I know a place that you can stay,” The mare said with a smile, “If you follow the road north you’ll find some signs pointing to a settlement called: The Hub. It’s a small settlement mainly used by traders and caravaners. You should reach it just before Nightfall, there should be some open rooms there. I’d offer you a place here, but we’ve only just moved in and the dinner is still very dirty, as you can see.”

“I’ll check it out, thanks for telling me about it, miss…”

“Berry Punch and that's my son, Red Wind over there.”

“You can call me Winter Storm, now. You were going to tell me about Wolfgang before we go off subject.”

“Oh, right.” she took a breath, “Wolfgang is the leader of a gang that's based in Goodneigh; They sell chems and loan caps to ponies looking to gamble while they’re there. You’d be wise to avoid that place altogether; you’ll only find gangers, chem addicts, and ponies down on their luck. Not a very safe place to be, trust me.”

I did trust her; judging by the condition Red Wind was in, but something had to be done about Wolfgang. I couldn’t have him threatening ponies that I sent to Harmony Hills. “Well, I can’t do something about Wolfgang without stepping hoof into Goodneigh, so I’ll just have to be careful.”

Berry Punch’s eyes widened. “You don’t need to go after Wolfgang on our behalf. He’s a very dangerous pony, most of the ponies at Goodneigh are bought and paid for by him. It’d be suicide to go after him. Please, I don’t want anypony to get hurt trying to help us. We’ll find a way to manage.”

“Don’t sweat it, I’ve been hurt plenty of times now. I’m not afraid of him. Once I finish my current quest I’ll see what I can do about him. That reminds me; have you by chance seen a Unicorn with cutiemarks stitched to her hide?”

Berry Punch shook her head, “Sorry, can’t say that I have.”

“That’s all right, I’ll find her eventually.” I sat there for a moment, “Oh before I forget, do you know what happened to Celestian and Luna when the bombs fell?”

She nodded. “I don’t know all the details, but I know that they were killed in Canterlot.”

“How?” I asked.

“I’ve heard stories about some kind of poison that Canterlot is filled with. The princesses haven’t been seen since the Mega-spells. Everypony agrees that they are dead, if they survived then they are in hiding.”

“Wow, they held so much power; It’s hard to believe they’re gone. What about—”

“I’m c-c-cold, mama.” Red Wind interrupted before I could ask about Cadance and Flurry Heart. Maybe they survived.

“I’m coming, sweetie.” She called to her son, “Sorry, I hate to cut the conversation short, but I’d better see to my son. Red Wind’s gone a couple of days without Dash; hopefully, he pulls through soon.”

“Before I leave, there's a new settlement to the south of here. A group just got there earlier today and has started building it up. You and your son are welcome to live there if you want to. There’s a Minutemare there that will protect you if any more of Wolfgang’s goons show up.”

“We’d love to go, but I thought the minutemares were gone.”

“They hit a rough patch, but they’re rebuilding. I’m seeing to that. You’ll be safe there I promise. Just follow the road south to Maneford then follow the road signs to Harmony Hills. When you get there ask for Whitehooves; tell her that Winter sent you.”

“Ok, yeah.” Berry Punch said, glancing at her son, “We’ll head there, first thing tomorrow. My son needs to rest; the journey might be too much for him right now.”

I tucked the bag into my saddle bags before thanking Berry Punch and leaving the diner. I looked at the two corpses in front of the dinner and decided to see what they had on them. They wouldn’t need it anymore.

Searching their bodies I found tow pipe-pistols along with a couple of rounds of ammo for them. There was also a Healing potion and a dash inhaler. I took everything useful that I came across, even the dash inhaler. If Red Wind happened to see it when they left the dinner tomorrow morning he’d relapse. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, I’ll probably end up throwing it away later on.

…

Dusk was setting in as I approached Niptin. Smoke rose from behind witing the town, It smelt like they were having some kind of bonfire and were cooking up some meat. Shadows from the decrepit buildings stretched toward me as the sun fell behind them. Again, I wondered how the sun and the moon moved without Celestia and Luna to guide them. Did new alicorns take up the mantle of raising and lowering them? If so, why haven't ponies powerful enough to move the sun and the moon started rebuilding Equestria? Maybe the sun and moon moved on their own, after all, ponies lived long before Celestia and Luna were born. Are Cadence and Flurry Heart the ones moving the sun and moon? They’re both alicorns, surely their magic would be strong enough to get the job done.

Galloping hooves brought me out of my train of thought. A hunter was galloping toward me, a massive grin on his face. That didn’t look good. It only took a moment for me to get my pistol and put a bullet between the Hunter’s eyes. His head snapped back from the impact before falling face-first to the ground. His corpse rolled a couple of times before coming to a stop on the side of the road. I returned the pistol to its holster before continuing toward Niptin. The thought of checking him for anything valuable crossed my mind, but it would be dark soon and Grandmare had warned me that I needed to find shelter before nightfall.

Thunder rumbled off in the distance followed by strong gusts of wind that blew my mane around. It was a good thing that Niptin was close, it looked like a storm was coming.

The smell of meat flooded my nose as I trotted into town. I didn’t see anypony around, everypony must be at the bonfire, though there should be some ponies standing guard. It must be an important celebration going on if no guards were posted. I looked up at the smoke rising toward the overcast sky. The bonfire looked to be toward the center of the town. Niptin didn’t look that big of a settlement. I’d passed many piles of debris that were once buildings. The structures that were left overlooked are hanging on by a thread, they’d probably collapse in the next couple of years if somepony didn’t see to repairing them.

Making my way through the town I began to hear the fire, not much farther now. Ahead of me was a sign that read: MAIN STREET. Chatter from ponies told me that the bonfire and residents were just around the corner. I yawned before following the sidewalk onto Main Street.

Ahead of me at the end of Main Street was the bonfire, a group of ponies in robes standing around it, chanting something I couldn’t make out. It blazed brightly in front of what used to be a city hall, along the street crosses lined the road on either side. I looked on in horror at the squirming ponies nailed to them.

I took a step back, eyes wide, mouth open. What had happened here?

“Hold it!” a mare said behind me, followed by the click of a revolver. I started to turn my head. “Eyes forward!” My head whipped back around. “Walk.” I did what I was told.

As I walked toward the bonfire at the end of the street some of the ponies on the crosses begged for help, others begged to be let down. Most begged for death. All of them were stallions. Each of the ponies dripped blood from where the nail had been driven into their leg, through the bone; skin and muscle wouldn’t be enough to support their weight on the cross long before it ripped and they fell. Vomit rose in my mouth, holding and then swallowing it was tough, but I didn’t want to test the patience of the pony pointing a revolver at me.

I was close enough now to see what the bonfire was made of. A pile of ponies had been set ablaze. There were mares along with colts and fillies. The smell hit my nose and caused me to hold in more vomit. Eyes watering, I forced it back down.

Looking away from the roasting corpses six unicorn ghouls stood around the fire, chanting.

“Bale. We burn these ponies so that you might ward off the Burnt Mare.” They said in unison, “Hear our plea, let this fire keep her at bay.”

A tall pony was standing behind the chanting ghouls, watching them.

“Dogma,” The mare behind me said, The tall pony turned toward us. He wasn’t a ghoul, He was bone white with a long black mane. On his head were three horns, one in the middle was long, almost as long as that of an alicorn. The two smaller horns sat side-by-side behind the longer one.

“What have we here?” He asked, his amber eyes burrowing into me. A shiver ran through my spine, and my organic legs began to shake, hopefully not to a noticeable degree.

“Found her at the end of the road. I was gonna shoot her and then throw her on the pile, but I figured you might have something in mind for her.”

“Hmm, let me see…” His eyes seemed to glow as he stared at me, he came closer unblinking. I meet his gaze, trying to show I wasn’t afraid.

I looked away.

“It would seem that Bale wants this one alive, strange. He’s never asked that a non-believer be spared before.” Dogma’s voice was slow, oily, and confident if somewhat nasally. He knelt to look me in the eyes. This time I couldn’t bring myself to look away. “You must be part of Bale’s grand design. Why else would he ask that you be spared.” He smiled. “What is your name, mare?” I stammered, unable to respond. “Speak when I ask you a question, mare!”

“W–winter,” I said, fear washing over me. Never before had I felt fear like this, I couldn’t understand it. He cut right through the persona that was Winter Storm and reached to my innermost self; the pony that I’d created the persona to protect when I was at war. The fear he gave me reached down to Winter Breeze, the version I hadn’t allowed myself to be since I’d lost my leg. Something about Dogma made me want to find a safe place to hide so I could curl up on the floor and cry.

“Ah yes, Winter. It’s your lucky day, Winter. Bale himself has deemed you worthy of being spared. Though I do not understand his reasoning, I’m not one to question the word of God; I must obey his wishes. Never before has this happened, I doubt it will ever occur again. You will be allowed to leave.

“However, there is one condition that I shall add to your freedom. Tell others what you witnessed here. Let them know what happens to those who choose to oppose the Children of Bale. And, should you seek enlightenment, head north; search for the holy land where Bale’s fire spread to cleanse this cursed land that once was Equestria. There, you will become more than just a simple mare. Do you understand?”

I nodded.
“Will you spread the word of the Judgment bestowed upon Niptin?”
I nodded again.

Dogma gestured for the mare behind me to join the others in their chant. “You may depart, Winter.” He turned to the fire.

I stood there, sweating, my heart felt close to beating through my chest.

Dogma had his back to me, and all his ponies—I hoped—were in front of him. I could shoot him now before, there was no pony around watching me. Trembling lowered my mouth to my pistol, keeping my eyes on the tall stallion.

I froze for a moment, then turned and galloped away. Tears fell from my eyes; I failed to kill the Tricorn responsible for the atrocities I’d just witnessed. How could I protect Dewdrop if I was too weak to kill a monster like Dogma?

I ran, as fast as my hooves could carry me.

With all my might, I ran. Galloping fastener than at any time in my recent memory. I didn’t look back. I didn’t stop. I just galloped; hoping that Dogma didn’t change his mind about letting me go and deciding to chase me down himself. My eyes were closed most of the time, trying to push the image of the chard foals within the blaze. Though my eyes were closed I could still see the blacked little bodies that lay within the bonfire. Taken from this world while they were young; too innocent to ever earn such a fate. Again, I admonished myself for not killing that vile piece of shit while his back was turned. When I was in the military I vowed I’d protect the citizens of Equestria. Even if Equestria was no more, I felt obligated to protect the innocent ponies who lived in the land that it once was. More tears fell, I failed to uphold my vow; there would be more ponies that would suffer at the hooves of Dogma, I could have prevented that if I wasn’t so weak at my core.

Something metallic hit me in the head as I galloped—eyes still tightly closed—down the road. It knocked me on my haunches, Opening my eyes I saw what I ran into. It was another Sprite-bot, playing some patriotic music that I couldn’t recognize. The music cut off abruptly, followed by a moment of static. “Winter?” Watcher asked. I recognized his voice, “Are you okay? What happened?”

“What the fuck, Watcher?” It was a bit of a struggle for me to get back on my hooves with three legs still trembling, “Did you know the ponies you sent me to meet were in trouble? After talking to them it sounded like they’d been pinned there for a couple of hours before I found them; long enough for a Sprite-bot to get from Manefore to Harmony Hills.”

“Winter, I’m sorry, but those ponies were in a tough spot.” he responded, his voice sounding metallic coming from the Sprite-bot’s speaker, “I had to point you in that direction; I hoped that you’d give them a chance to make it out of there, alive.”

“What made you think that? All you knew was that I was a stable pony looking for her niece?”

Watcher didn’t respond, the Sprite-bot bobbed in the air. I scowled at it, waiting for whatever excuse he decided to throw at me.

“I recognized you,” He said. My scowl slowly vanished, that was something I hadn’t expected him to say, “You’re a veteran of the war with the zebras. I’d have recognized you, even if you didn’t tell me about being frozen in Stable Zero. I recognized you and thought that you’d be able to help those ponies in Maneford. I’m sorry for leading you into danger, for what it’s worth.”

Staring at the sprite-bot as it bobbed in the air, waiting for my response, something in the back of my mind—a voice I didn’t recognize—told me he was trustworthy; that I needed to be unwavering. “Fine,” I sighed. “I’ll believe you, for now.”

The sprite-bot was silent for a moment before Watcher spoke through it again. “So, what happened that's got you this upset?”

Goosebumps formed as his question brought me back to what I’d seen in Niptin. The horrors had fled my mind while I was upset with him; his question brought it all back to me. “A–a lot. There were ponies nailed to crosses, foals burning in a fire, and… a pony with three horns!”

“Sweet Celestia!” Watcher said, “You saw foals burning in a fire?”

I nodded, “It… it was a lot, for anypony to seen first hoof. I can still see them, every time my eyes close, I see them; It’ll stick with me, for the rest of my life—and the smell, the smell…” Shaking, tears started to build up before falling from my eyes. Some of those foals looked so young; so innocent.

“Wow, just… wow. I don’t know what to say.” He paused, probably trying to think of what to say; but what could you say to somepony that lived through what I’d just witnessed? A strong gust of wind hit me from the north followed by thunder that didn’t sound quite right. I didn’t pay it much mind; the only thing on my mind was the foals still burning at the front step of Niption’s town hall. Dogma had to die and I needed to be the mare to kill him. Rescuing Dewdrop was my main goal, but making up for my mistake; for letting that sorry excuse for a pony live was now my second goal. He had to pay for what he had done; Dogma and all the ponies that helped him would pay for what they’ve done; I’d make sure of that, even if it cost me my life. I wouldn’t let Dewdrop live in a world where Dogoma still had power; he would die and I’d make sure that he did, or die trying.

“Listen, Winter.” Watcher said, “I know you’ve been through a lot; believe me, I’ve also been through a lot; I’ve lost so much... Now I have to live with the consequences of my friend's mistakes; I've done so; for many years now”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, annoyed. My mind raced as I was consumed by panic. “You know about me, but I don’t know a Tartarus damned thing about you, I’m still not sure if I should trust you!”

“Look, Winter, I’m sorry about sending you into danger, and I’m sorry about what you just went through, but you need to be strong; All that doesn’t matter now; you can’t let the wasteland break you. My advice to you is to go out and find some friends.”

Friends? That was the last thing that I needed right now. I was tired of listening to Watcher; I had my own problems to deal with, and at this point, he was just slowing me down. “I don’t want’ friends!” I spat, “I just want to find my niece then put Dogma six feet below the dirt. Having friends would just slow me down!” I ran around the sprite-bot, ignoring him as he called to me, pleading for me to stop, begging me to find shelter immediately. I heard what he was saying, but I ignored it. Watcher had used me, even if it was for the benefit of innocent ponies, I hated being used. Anything he said to me as I galloped on went through one ear and out the other. It wasn’t long before I couldn’t hear him anymore.

The burning sight of the burring foals rushed to the forefront of my mind, again; I closed my eyes, once more galloping on blindly. Tears, so many tears leaked from my eyes, following easily down my cheeks. I’d seen a lot of horrors during my time at war; most of all being the death of my father and brother, killed by a bad decision that I’d made, the same decision that also cost me my leg.

I ran blindly, trying to open my eyes, but closing them when I found my sight blurred by the build-up of tears. My hooves hit the dirt as I galloped off the road, it barely registered to me, my only thought at this moment was to get as far away from Nipton, as far away from Dogma as my hooves would carry me before they gave out.

The strange thundering grew louder; the rumbling came from all around me. A weird feeling overtook me as a clicking sounded from my pip-buck. I opened my eyes, green fog surrounded me. Thunder continued to hammer against my eardrums, but there was no rain. Only the greenish-blue fog that surrounded me. I stood there, lost. Franticling searching my surroundings, I galloped forward from where I’d stopped, hoping I’d come across a building I could shelter in, or a road I could follow. Anything was better than standing here, listening to the clicking from my pip-buck while getting sick. Bile climbed up my throat as my hide started to tingle, but I forced it back down.

Something caught my front hoof—the one that was still flesh and blood—causing me to fall onto my side. The wind rushed from my lungs as I hit the ground, hard. The moment that my hoof was caught an energy rushed through me. Laying on the ground I could only move two of my legs—The front organic one and the cybernetic one—my hindlegs flailed on their own accord. The arguing of two ponies that sounded like me filled my hearing. I lay there; scared, even more so than I had been before being caught.

Squirming on the ground I noticed that control of my head was still mine, looking around, vines rose from the dirt wrapping around me. My heartbeat sped up as my breathing increased, and my lungs burned with every intake. A gunshot joined the rumbling of thunder. Red eyes shone through the fog in the direction of the shot. I screamed.

Before, if you’d asked me if I believed in the Mothmare I’d have laughed Equestria had many strange and magical creatures, but some creatures were nothing more than a myth, stories to frighten foals around a campfire. Mothmare, Big Hoof, Windigos, Aliens, Grogar, and lizard ponies were all things I gave less credence to while growing up. As those glowing red eyes approached I believed that Mothmare was real.

Voices continued arguing in my head as darkness surrounded my vision. I tried to fight, to free myself from the vines wrapping tighter around me so I could run away from the monster that would devour me if I lost consciousness now. The darkness continued to close in before fully engulfing the world around me. 7435-200

Chapter 4: Breeze, Storm, and Frost (Awaiting re-write)

Once again I was in the void. I wasn’t sure if I was dead yet. Between the illness, losing control of my body, the voices, or the creature with the red eyes surely I should be dead. It didn’t feel like it now, but I assumed that would change in a matter of time; I still had a heartbeat as I stood in this void. Stars came slightly into view. Will Twister come to me again? Will she come to tell me how I’d never be able to save her daughter as pathetic as I was? I sat there and waited for a moment. The stars moved about on their own, for a time they seemed to orbit around her position. I knew I’d never be able to reach them, they were an impossible distance from where I sat. My confirmation that I was still alive came when my heart began to race, I didn’t like being this alone.

Then I noticed it; one of the stars grew as it approached me. I couldn’t get to them, but they could come to me. I wondered how fast the star was moving to make the distance where it started to me. It stopped growing as it reached me, I wasn’t sure this light was a star anymore. It was barely twice the size of the other stars or lights; it was close enough that I could reach out and touch it with my hoof. When I went to do so I noticed that my cybernetic wasn’t there, in its place was the leg I’d lost in the war. I paused and looked at it for a moment, wishing I could remember how exactly I’d lost it. I only remembered a little bit from the incident, mainly those that didn’t survive like I had.

I touched the light and there was a flash. There was a voice, it was muffled at first but eventually, I could hear her clearly.

“... Is it you, could it be you? I’ve been trying to find you for so long.” Princess Luna asked.

“Princess Luna?”

“Oh, you’re not… I’m sorry to bother you.” Luna lowered her head, I could see a tear begin to fall from her eye as she turned to leave.

“Princess Luna, wait!” I said I didn’t want her to leave me. “I don’t want to be alone here, please don’t go.” She turned to face me again, studying me.

“I shall not abandon you, my little pony.” The princess said, giving me a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “How are you here? You’re still alive; you shouldn’t be here yet. Are you some sort of Necromancer? I’ve heard such ponies existed once, but I’ve never encountered any in all my years.”

“So this is the Ever After,” I said, Looking at the countless amount of lights in all directions. “I’m not a Necromancer and I’m not exactly sure why I’m here while still being alive. Right now I’m unconscious and should have died by now. I wonder what's going on.”

“That is interesting. I’ve not heard of any creature that wasn’t a Necromancer being able to commune with those of us who have passed. If Twilight were here she’d have at least a million questions to ask of you. I guess that’s why Tia took her on as her student.”

“Were you looking for Celestia when you came to me?”

“No, I was searching for somepony else. I’ve been searching for somepony special since my death and haven’t found him. I haven't found Celestia either. I’ve come across plenty of ponies that I knew in life, but some seem to elude me.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Princess…”

Luna cut me off with a raise of her hoof. “There’s no need to call me Princess, not here.”

“I’m sorry, P– Luna. I wish I could help you, but I doubt I can, being alive and all.”

“Maybe you can be helpful. Though I’m not exactly sure how just yet. I’ll have to think on that for a time.”

“I’d be happy to help, but what happens If I never see you again here? I’m not even sure that I’ll come here next time I fall asleep or get knocked out. I’d hate to get your hopes up.”

“I’m able to find ponies here easily after finding them for the first time. I had a pulling feeling some time ago and when it happened again just now I made sure to investigate. I guess since you are currently asleep then this counts as a dream, and I’m very experienced when It comes to dreams. I expect I’ll feel you whenever you return.” Luna paused for a moment, thinking about something. “Oddly enough to me, it feels like Rarity is here with us. I’ve never seen her here, but I’ve felt her presence. I often wonder why that’s the case. I worry for her, maybe her soul is not at rest or something else has happened to prevent her from fully entering the Ever After.”

“This is all very hard for me to wrap my head around, but I guess I’ll trust you. You’ve only been here for two hundred years. I’m sure you’ve learned much about being here in that time.” Luna blinked.

“Two hundred years? It's been that long? I’m surprised you’re still alive, only an alicorn could live to be Two hundred and twenty-five years old. How did you come to live this long, Snowcone?”

“I’m sorry, Luna, but you might have me mixed up with a different pony. You got my age right, but my name isn’t Snowcone, it's Winterbreeze.”

“Are you not the same pony that played with Flurryheart as a foal?”

I stammered for a while before falling silent, trying to think back. I couldn’t remember much of my childhood, but my memory was also bad and I assumed most ponies don’t remember a lot of their childhood. However, I’d remember If I’d played with an Alicorn; that’s not something most ponies would forger. I looked at the dark alicorn, I was not too surprised to be mixed up with another pony, she must have met many of them in her long life.

“I’m sorry Luna, I’m afraid you might be mistaken. I’d remember playing with an alicorn foal.”

“Interesting. I rarely mix up ponies, but it does happen from time to time. I’m sorry to have ma…”

Luna’s voice became muffled as everything seemed to darken around me. The former princess had a concerned look on her face as she said something else to me, but I didn't hear it. After a couple of moments, everything was black once again.

…

There was a taste of citrus in my mouth as I began to stir. The too-bright lights washed over my eyes as I slowly opened them, it took a moment for them to adjust to the brightness. I groaned as I rolled onto my side and saw an orange mare with a purple mane smiling at me.

“Oh good, you’re awake!” I blinked at the mare before I made a feeble attempt to sit up. “Careful now, take it easy. You’ve been out for a while there, friend.”

“Where am I?” I said slowly sitting up. There were more than a few pops in my joints, “How’d I get here and who are you?”

“Well, you're at Greenhouse, Somepony dragged you here during the last radstorm, and my name is Sunny Starscout. What’s your name?”

“Winter…” I pause before finishing my name. I could feel two other ponies in my mind saying their names simultaneously.

“Winterstorm.” A confident voice said.

“Winterfrost.” Said a voice that was almost completely devoid of emotion.

“Are you alright?” Sunny asked, a look of concern washing over her. “That pony said they’d found you in a Killing Joke patch. Did it scramble your memory?”

“No,” I said quickly. “I think it split me into three ponies,” I said then realizing what I just said must make me look completely mad.

“I’ve never seen or heard that one before. Killing Joke can do a lot to a pony, but every case I’ve seen has been physical, not mental.” Sunny put a hoof on my shoulder, “What’s the name of the pony I’m currently speaking to?”

“I’m… my name is Winterbreeze,” I said softly.

“Do the others have a name?” I nodded before sharing the names. “Good thing all three of your names start with ‘Winter’ I’ll just call you that until I get to know you enough to know which of the personalities I’m speaking to.” She smiled at me, “You’re gonna be alright, Winter.”

“Thank you,” I said. We sat there for a moment before I recalled how I got to Greenhouse. “Where’s the pony that brought me here? I’d like to thank them before they left.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, but. The pony left as soon as they got you inside. They didn’t say much, only mentioning the Killing Joke before leaving.”

“I see, what did they look like? I’ll keep an eye out for them when I leave. They saved my life and I want to thank them.”

“Well, The pony was wearing full body armor. Some sort of very light power armor that I’d never seen before. They never took it off but the eyes of the armor had a red glow to them.”

Sunny raised an eyebrow after I let out a sigh of relief.

“Sorry,” I laughed, “I ran into that pony in the radstorm. I thought he was the mothmare so I ran away and ended up in the killing joke. I’m just glad that the mothmare isn’t a real thing”

“Mothmare is an absolutely real creature, I’m afraid,” Sunny said.

“Great, I said.” Ears flattening. “How long was I out?”

“All night and most of today, It’ll be nightfall soon. you must have been exhausted. When you were brought to us all you really needed was some radaway. Though we didn’t have enough to completely flush you’re a system of radiation. It also looks like it’s weakening your limbs.”

“I should go,” I said, hopping off the bed. I stood there for a moment before my three organic legs gave out; my cybernetic leg was the only leg that didn’t give out, I must have looked ridiculous. As my body hit the floor I heard Winterstorm say,

“Settle down there, Breeze. I know you want to find Dewdrop, but you need to take things slow.”

“Were you not paying attention when the mare said the radiation was attacking your limbs? Are you stupid or something?” Winterfrost said.

I’m sorry, I thought to the voices.

“Here,” Sunny said, rushing to my side. “You can lead on me. I must insist you stay the night here so your body can recover. You’re welcome to leave if you need to, We’re not holding you hostage here.”

“Thank you, Sunny.” I breathed, using her support to get back on all four hooves.”

“C’mon, I’ll give you a tour of Greenhoof.” Sunny helped me out of the room we were in, through the hall, and out of the house. I looked at the small town once we were outside. It was small, very small. Almost like Appleloose when it was first built. The biggest standing building I saw was the saloon, I could also see what looked to be a general store and a few buildings that were most likely houses. The house that Sunny and I were at was at the top of a small hill that lowered gradually into the rest of the town. It was a nice little town; before the war, it was probably just a small neighborhood with a few shops, now it was a town where ponies lived their lives. I was still on the outskirts of Delamare, I hadn’t yet reached the city limits. I wondered how many communities had formed in the city in the years since the bombs.

The strength gradually returned to my limbs as we made our way through the town. I was able to walk on my own volition before the tour finished. It was a nice little settlement.

“It is nice,” Winterfrost said in the back of my mind, “these ponies better hope those Arcane Legion freaks don’t stumble across this town. I’d bet they’d give Greenhoof the same treatment that Niptin got.”

I hated that she was right. I had to warn these ponies about what I saw in Niptin. I didn’t know how far I was away from those ruins, but I doubted Greenhoof was far enough to be safe. Nowhere in the Delamare or its outskirts were safe from this Arcane Legion, if they were as bad as I thought. I Had no idea where the Glowing Sea was, but I assumed it wasn’t anywhere nearby. Anyplace known for would be able to be seen from far away; I’d yet to see anyplace that had any glow to it. I knew that north of Delamera was the border between Equestria and the Crystal Empire.

“Listen, Sunny,” I said as we reached the edge of Greehoof. “Have you heard anything about what happened in Niptin?”

“No, we haven't traded in a while. Why, is there some news that we need to know about?”

“I guess you can say something like that…” I trailed off, searching for the best way to inform her of the fate that had befallen Niptin. “Niptin is gone.” I eventually said.

“Gone? How could it be gone?”

“It was… whipped out, by a group calling themselves the Arcane Legion. Have you heard of them before?”

“Arcane Legion?” She asked, rubbing her chin. “I think I have, I think DJ Pon3 mentioned them once, but I can’t remember for sure.

“DJ Pon3 is still alive?” I said shocked.

“Well yeah,” Sunny said, tilting her head. “The DJ has been on the radio longer than I’ve been alive. Most ponies think he’s a ghoul, others think he’s a robot. I don’t think anypony knows for sure.”

“Before the bombs fell DJ Pon3 was a mare, I guess at some point she became a stallion?”

“Before the bombs?”

“I’ve been frozen for about Two hundred years now. I woke up yesterday.”

“Goddess, you’re serious?” I nodded. “So y–you’ve seen the goddesses before? With your own Eyes?”

“Goddess, are you talking about Princesses Celestia and Luna?”

“Y–yes,” Sunny whispered.

“I’ve seen them, I fought in their army and they would give speeches to us before a battle every once in a while. I don’t remember seeing Princess Cadance or Flurryheart. They spent most of their time in the Crystal Empire after Littlehorn.”

“What were they like?”

“Well, I always thought they came off as confident, but that could have just been for a show for us soldiers. I didn’t know them personally.” I thought about mentioning communicating with Luna in The Ever After, but I decided to keep that information to myself.

“Wow!” Sunny said, trotting with glee. “I can’t believe you saw the goddesses with your own eyes!”

“Listen, Sunny. The princesses aren’t the point here. You need to prepare for a visit from these lunatics. They didn’t feel like that type of ponies to stop after destroying one settlement. As far as I know, Greenhoof is the closest and they could be planning to head here next.”

“You’re right, sorry. I think we’re the closest settlement to Niptin, but I’ve traveled that far into the wasteland. Thanks for the heads Up, I’ll see about getting us ready for a visit from them.”

“Hi!” Called a mare as Sunny and I talked. We both turned to look at the unicorn trotting toward us.

She was Purple with a blue mane, and she smiled as she came our way.

“She’s wearing the same barding that the Arcane Legion ponies saw were wearing,” I whispered to Sunny. She nodded.

“Hi,” Sunny said. Storm and Frost both signed in the back of my mind. “My name’s Sunny Starscout. What's your name?”

“Ooom My name’s Izzy. It's really nice to meet you,” the strange mare said as she took Sunny’s hoove and shook it vigorously.

“You’re dressed like an Arcane Legion pony.” I interrupted, “Aren’t you one of them?”

“Nope,” the mare said with a smile. “Well, I was, but not by choice.”

“What do you mean?” Sunny asked.

“Well, These Arcane ponies like to absorb any settlement or tribe into their collective. After a group has been brought into the fold the Stallions become soldiers and Mares become slaves.”

“Oh, my,” Sunny said. “That's horrible.”

“What are you doing here if you’re a slave to the Arcane legion?” Storm asked. I wanted to apologize for coming off brash, but I was no longer in control of my body, Storm was.

“Wow,” Izzy said, looking at me with wide eyes.”

“What?” Storm asked.

“You’re eye color.” Izzy said, “It shifted from a light blue to purple just now. Also, you have three sparkles! You’re the first pony I’ve seen to have more than one; It’s super amazing!”

“I’m not sure what she means by a sparkle, but you’re cutiemark just changed too.” Sunny said.” Since you woke up one of the three snowflakes on your flank matched the color of your eyes. Now that one is white and a different one is Purple.”

“Three?” Storm asked, turning to look at my cutiemarek, there were indeed three there, and one of them was purple. “I’ve only ever had one and it was always just one big white snowflake on my flank.”

“Well, now you’ve got three snowflakes on your flank,” Sunny said. “I Wonder what color the third one will be.”

“I guess we’ll find that out later,” Storm said, “Right now I want to know what an Arcane Legion slave is doing here?”

“I just slipped away when no pony was looking,” Izzy said as she ducked down. “I can be pretty sneak when I have to. I was lucky enough to find a bobby pin and a screwdriver and was just waiting until I had enough time to pick the lock on my hoofcufs and then give those nasty ponies the slip.” She smiled, clearly proud of her daring escape.

“What did they make you do while you were one of their slaves?” Sunny asked.

“I was one of the lucky ones. I just carried stuff for those ponies. Other mares are forced to do… other things. I’m glad that I was chosen as a laborer, otherwise I might not have found a way to escape.”

“Where did you live before you were taken as a slave,” Storm asked.

“We didn’t really have a name. We just lived in the forest and tried to mind our own business until the Arcane Legion discovered us.”

“Aren’t you worried that they’ll come look for you,” Sunny asked. “I’ve never heard of a slave owner that would willingly let one of their slaves go free.”

“Well, know that you asked I wouldn’t be surprised if they sent somepony out to find me and bring me back.” Izzy paused for a moment then asked, “You won’t let them take me again, right? I-I don’t want to go back. Please don’t let them take me.”

“Don’t worry, Izzy.” Storm said, standing confidently, “I won’t let them take you without giving them a fight first.

It was weird to be a passenger in my own body while somepony else was in control, even if the pony in control was a version of me. I made a mental note to see if there was a way to cure the effects caused by the Killing Joke. With my luck, there’d be none, but I decided to hope for the best. Surly somepony had discovered some kind of treatment in the last two hundred years. Then again, how much time would a pony dedicate to studying Killing joke out here in the wasteland?

“That’s a huge relief,” Izzy said. “But you must know that they will send somepony to recapture me. I don’t want ponies to get hurt on my behalf.”

“Nonsense,” Sunny said moving to stand on Izzy’s side. “We’d be happy to help you retain your freedom. Slavers are amongst the most hated ponies after all. It’d be harder to convince ponies here to give you up without a fight.”

“Thank you.” Izzy said giving Sunny a tight hug, “Thank you so much. I’ll never forget this.”

“C’mon,” Sunny said, “I think it’s about time I showed the both of you the saloon.”

Storm followed as Sunny led Izzy and me to the saloon. I had a craving for a drink, but I couldn’t remember any drinks or cocktails that I had in the past. As I tried to pin down what I was craving I realized that there were now holes in my memory, holes that I could’ve sworn weren't there before I ran into the Killing Joke. It really was weird to be a passenger in my own body. I was aware of Storm while she was in control; I still wasn’t sure when or how she’d taken over. I was more aware of the third version of me that was also a passenger. Frost had said very little to us, I could feel her in a way. The feelings I got from here were… unnerving.

Inside the saloon only had a few ponies and one dog that padded up to us. The dog sniffed at Izzy and me before deciding that we were ok then left us. We followed Sunny to the bar and the three of us took a seat with Izzy and me sitting on either side of the friendly earth pony.

“What’ll you have?” Asked the older stallion bartender.

“What’s the strongest thing you’ve got?” Storm asked, placing both hooves on the bar.

“We’ve got Evermare.” The bartender said, giving me, or us. A flat stare. “Bottle says it’s 95% alcohol. I reckon that means that the other 5% is the bottle can only be the air between the liquid and the cap.”

“I’ll take a shot of that!” Storm said.

“I’ll just have a glass of Wild Pegasus,” Sunny said.

“Water, please,” Izzy said.

The bartender nodded and turned to fetch our drinks.

“How long do you think we have before the Arcane Legion sends sompony after you?” Sunny asked.

“I’m not sure. They’ve probably sent someponoy to find me by now. I’m afraid they’ll probably turn up soon.”

“Don’t worry your pretty little mane,” Storm said, “I’ll scare them off if they show up.”

“You seem, different,” Sunny said, turning to look at us.

“Well duh, I’m not the same pony that you were talking to before, my name’s Winterstorm.”

“I guess you’re one of the three ponies that Winterbreeze said she was split into?”

“I guess that's the long and short of it, friend.”

“Well then, Winterstorm. I’d like to avoid any violence if it’s possible. I’m the closest thing to a Sherif that Greenhoof has and I’d like to keep this place as peaceful as possible.”

“So that makes you Sherif Sunny then,” Storm said.

“It does, though I don’t refer to myself as sheriff.”

“Wait a second, she was split into three ponies?” Izzy asked, looking at me with eyes filled with wonder.

“She had a run-in with Killing Joke last night,” Sunny answered before Storm had a chance to say anything. “You know what that stuff does, right?”

“Oh yeah. I’ve heard of it doing all sorts of crazy things to anypony that touches it. I thought it was rare. I’ve only heard about it being in the Everfree forest and maybe some pockets down south in Hoofington.”

“It’s here too, it seems to crop up in random locations. The last pony to come into contact with it that I heard about found it growing through the floor of a building that he’d stayed the night in. It turned him into a bat pony.”

“Wow, a bat pony. I’ve always wanted to meet one. Where is he now?”

“He died. As soon as he learned how to fly he decided he’d see what was on the other side of the cloud cover and was zapped by some energy weapon just as he reached the clouds.”

“Ohh,” Izzy’s ears lay flat.

“What’s going on with those clouds anyway?” Storm asked. I was glad that she thought to ask the question that I’d forgotten to ask other ponies up to now.

“The pegasi covered the sky after one of their cities was destroyed by a balefire bomb. Ever since the clouds have been there. It’s extremely rare for there to be a brake small enough to let a ray of sunshine through. Now they call themselves the Enclave and Have very limited contact with us down here.”

The bartender returned with our drinks as Sunny finished her sentence. She took a sip of her whiskey. Izzy gulped down her water and Storm looked at the shot glass before her.

“This just looks like water.” She said to the bartender.

“It may look like water, miss. But that’s definitely Evermare. Good luck with your shot.” He said before walking away.

Storm glared at him for a moment before taking the shot glass in her hooves and downing the contents. The liquid burned on contact as she swallowed. Our nose cleared as tears filled our eyes.

“Sweet Celestia!” Storm said. The bartender laughed.

“It’s not every day I get to witness somepony take a shot of Evermare.” The bartender filled a glass with Crystal Tequila. “Here, you’ve earned yourself some of my rare stock after taking that shot better than anypony else I’ve seen in all my years as a bartender.”

“Thanks,” Storm rasped, “how many ponies have you given that too?”

“Any pony foolish enough to ask for my strongest drink which is more than I care to count at this point.” Laughed the bartender.

Storm gave a fake chuckle before taking a sip of the tequila. It was way better than the Evermare.

“You’re a fucking idiot, Storm!” Frost scolded while I remained silent. It was good that she’d taken such a painful shot. It showed me that I’d feel everything that happened to my–our body even if I wasn’t the one in control.

The buzz was already hitting as Storm smiled and asked: “What d–do we do when these legion freaks come here looking for their lost slave.”

“That's a really good question since we have no plan,” Sunny said, taking another sip of her whiskey. “I’m really hoping they don’t show up here. If they do then I’ll do my best to stop them. I’m the only pony here with any real combat experience. This has been a relatively peaceful spot in the wasteland for as long as I’ve lived here.”

“If they come before I leave I’ll help you fend them off.” Storm offered.

“I’ll help too!” Izzy said, “Only, I’ve never shot a gun before. I don’t want anypony here to get hurt on my behalf. I can leave town now and you can't tell them that I passed by for a short time.”

“None sense.” Sunny said, “I can teach you how to shoot stuff if you haven't before. I did teach my friend Hitch how to shoot and he’s now a real sheriff over in Destroyer Stadium!” Sunny wrapped a leg around Izzy’s shoulder. “I’ll teach you everything I know and we’ll stand up to these ponies together. Right Winter?”

“Absolutely!” Storm said, she raised our mechanical leg and unsheathed the blade within the hoof. “They don’t stand a chance against us!”

“Don’t worry Izzy. We’ll show these ponies what happens when they mess with one of our friends!”

“Thank you both so much!” Izzy said, giving Sunny a big hug.

Storm went back to Sunny’s home to retrieve my things while she took the unicorn to the back of the saloon to practice her shooting. Storn, Frost, and I all agreed that it was only a matter of time before Legion would turn up looking for Izzy. Frost wanted us to leave, she reasoned that we had to find Dewdrop and that the affairs of ponies we’d only just met didn’t matter as much as rescuing her. Storm and I both wanted to stay and help so she was outvoted. Storm was still in control anyway and I doubted she’d leave the town if Frost and I agreed about leaving Greenhoof. I was glad that I shared my body with at least one pony that so far seemed to care about other ponies. I just hoped that we wouldn’t have to spend too long here waiting for the Arcane Legion to arrive. Frost was right, Dewdrop was out there and we needed to find her.

“They’ll probably be here before the day is out.” Storm thought.

‘I think so too.’ I said, sheepishly. I didn’t remember being this timid before the split, yet here I was, afraid to really speak out against two other versions of myself.

‘Well, we’d better make sure that we’re ready for them.’ Frost thought, ‘I doubt they’ll be expecting us to be ready to fight for some slave. I’ll bet they only send a small patrol of their non-essential ponies after her. I’d be surprised if that Prophet character shows his horns around here. What I wouldn’t give to shatter each of those horns on his noggin!’
‘Yes. all three of us hate him, but I doubt we’ll ever get close to him again.’ Storm responded.

Seeing Prophet again was the last thing I wanted to do. The other two wanted to kick his flank for what he did in Niptin, but I wanted to stay as far from the tricorn as possible. I doubted the other two would allow that.

After gearing up Storm left Sunny’s and made her way toward the rear of the saloon where she could hear a few riffle shots sporadically going off. As she crossed the cracked street she noticed a pony walking up from the corner of her eye. She turned and scowled at the Arcane Legion ghoul walking toward us.

“Gah!” Storm said in mock surprise when she turned toward the ghoul, “What the fuck are you?”

The ghoul stopped and looked at Storm for a moment. “I’m one of the ponies that were blessed with a higher existence when Bale’s fire cleansed Equestria. Non-believers would refer to us blessed as ghouls.”

“I’d refer to you as an ugly fuck myself.” Snickered Storm, “Tell me, Does this Bale you refer to have a thing for ugly mares or is he just stupid?”

“You dare mock the holy Bale!” The ghoul pony said, taking a battle stance.

“No, I’m just trying to figure out what their type is so I can do my best to stay clear of it.”

“Silence, lesser! I do not come to speak with lowly ponies. I’m in search of a Purple unicorn with a long blue mane. The sooner I find it the sooner I can be gone from this dump.”

“Oh, well why didn’t you say so then? Yeah, she’s here, but I'll tell you now that she won’t be going anywhere with you lunatics.”

“The unicorn will return with us, she is the property of Bale!”

“If she’s the property of some higher power then why was she able to escape? What, is your precious Bale too weak to keep one little pony from escaping? How embarrassing.”

“You incolent curr. You mock the one who cleansed the vast majority of filth from the land with his holy flame. You will return the property that I seek or you will come to regret your mockery!”

“You’d better get to work on living up to your threat, then,” Storm said, sitting on the ground and crossing our forelegs. “I’m starting to grow tired of talking to a pony with an imaginary friend.”

“This isn’t over, swine!” The ghoul said, “I’ll return, and when I do you and the disillusioned ponies that live here will pay for you’re insulting of Bale.”

“Ooooo,” Storm said, waiving our forelegs at the ghoul as she turned to leave, “I’m so scared.” Storm burst out laughing as the ghoul galloped away.

After she was finished laughing, Storm got back our hooves and continued toward the rear of the saloon.

“Nice shot, Izzy!” Sunny cheered as Storm came around the corner. Sunny stood off to the side of Izzy while the unicorn floored an old rifle and was shooting at empty bottles of sparkle cola that were lined up on a wooden fence. We watched as Izzy shot the remaining bottles rather quickly, only missing once.

“Impressive,” Storm said. “I’ve seen soldiers with more time in the military shoot worse than that. You’re gonna do fine when those Ponies come back.”

“Thank you,” Izzy said.

“Hold on, you said when they come back?”

“I ran into one on my way here, told them we wouldn’t be giving up a mare this beautiful and the ghoul threatened us with the wrath of some being they call Bale.” Izzy flushed and looked away at the compliment.

“Right, we should let the rest of the town know what’s about to go down. Hopefully, some of them will help us fend off the legion.”

“They don’t have much of a choice there, Sunny. It’s either Fight, Flee, or die.”

“I know, but I’m not going to force anypony to stay and fight if they don’t want to. They’re welcome to hide or leave the town until the battle is over and I won’t think any less of them if that’s what they decide to do.”

“I see why you’re more or less the Sherrif here. You’re a natural-born leader, If we had more like you before the bombs then maybe Equestria would’ve won the war before the first megaspell was developed.”

“I–I don’t know about all that. I’m just doing what somepony needs to do.”

“That’s what makes you a good leader Sunny. Most ponies try to be a leader for their gain or the power that comes with it. You are a leader because you see that one is needed here and you step up to fill that role so you can keep others safe.”

Sunny didn’t respond. She gave a short nod before looking away.

“I don’t want anypony to get hurt for me,” Izzy said after a moment of silence. “I can still run away.”

“Nonsense,” Sunny said, looking at the unicorn. “You are one of us!”

“We’ve already been over this Izzy, we’ve got your back. Don’t worry about us.”

“C’mon, Izzy. Let's inform the rest of the town what’s about to go down. They’ll be happy to meet you.” Sunny led us back to the front of the saloon before she stopped and turned to Storm. “Winter, could you speak to Dirty Rich about the attack? He runs the general store over there.” She pointed a hoof at a building that looked like it was held up by hopes and dreams

“Sure thing.” Storm said, “I’ll see if I can’t convince Dirty Rich to provide us with some supplies for the battle.

“Thank you, Winter. Izzy and I will meet you back here at the front of the saloon when we’re done speaking with the other ponies.”

Storm nodded and turned toward the General Store. ‘Shouldn’t take me too long to convince this, Dirty Rich, to help the cause.’ Storm thought.

‘Are you serious?’ Frost asked. ‘What about the name Dirty Rich makes you think he’d be willing to give the town supplies to fend off the legion without seeing any bottlecaps in return.’
‘Trust me, Frost, I’ll get him to help.’

I doubted Storm, but I hope for the best. I was sure that crazier things had happened than a merchant donating some of their product. I hoped that this pony had enough sense to know that it was in his best interest to help us out. I assumed that Storm would make the same argument that I would, but then again I wondered if I was hoping for too much from her. I was starting to question how intelligent this version of me was; Storm was definitely a confident personality, but that didn’t mean she had any smarts about her. If I were in control during the talk with the Arcane Legion pony I wouldn’t have antagonized here at all, just refused to give them Izzy. Storm on the other hand delighted in pissing off the ghoul and they would no doubt be trying their hardest to take us out when the Legion attacked.

The hinges on the door to the General Store protested loudly when Storm walked through it; There was no need for a bell with a squeak that loud. Inside there were shelves with various items and Junk that I thought were more or less useless, but I was also new to the wasteland and some of this junk might have value to a pony that had spent their whole life out here. Storm’s eyes moved across the various junk as she made her way to the earthpony stallion standing behind a counter on the opposite side of the room. He didn’t welcome us or anything when the door opened. He just looked up from the magazine that he’d been reading and watched us as Storm approached.

“Can I help you?” He asked when Storm reached the counter.

“As a matter of fact, you can, friend.”

“I’m not your friend, stranger. Buy something or get the hell out.”

‘I see why Sunny asked us to talk to Dirty Rich.’ Storm thought. I wasn’t surprised to find this pony was rough around the edges, his name was Dirty Rich after all, thought nothing about the brown-coated pony told me that he was particularly wealthy. Storm studied the pony for a moment, His eyes were green and he had a rust-colored mane, one his flank was what looked to a larger pile of bottle caps.

“Listen, We’re gonna need your help,” Storm said, placing our forehooves on the counter. Dirty Rich took an inquisitive look at our cybernetic leg for a moment.

“Really, and what kind of help do you think I’d be willing to provide?”

“Greenhoof will be attacked soon, Sunny wanted me to come here and inform you about it. I was hoping you’d be nice enough to give us ponies that plan to defend this settlement some supplies.”

“Sorry, filly. Shit cost money and I ain’t looking to give stuff away.”

Storm gave Dirty Rich a flat look. I thought that was the end of the conversation, but it was obvious Storm thought otherwise.

“Listen, Dirty.”

“Dirty Rich.” He corrected.

“Whatever. You’re going to want to give us stuff free and you’re gonna be happy about it.”

Dirty Rich laughed. I hadn’t heard a pony laugh that hard since before the war.

“Really?” he asked, wiping tears from his eyes. “Care to explain why I’d do all that?”

“It’s simple really, Dirty. If the Legion take over this town what do you think they’ll do to you and this fine shop you’ve been running?”

“I assume they’d see what I have to offer and buy what they need.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, friend. I know that the Arcane Legion takes ponies they capture as slaves.” Dirty Rich paled as Storm stared him in the eyes. “I ask you again: what do you honestly think a group of ponies with no problem making captured ponies their slaves will do to you if they take over Greenhoof? I’ll give you a moment to think about that question carefully. Just in case you’re not bright enough to see the obvious.” Storm folded our hooves on the counter and rested our head on them.

Dirty Rich stood there stunned. His jaw moved like he had a counter to what he’d just been told, but nothing came out. After some time passed he stomped a hoof and then kicked something behind the counter. “Fine, Celestia damn it. Tell our beloved sheriff to give me a list of shit she needs and I’ll help her how I can.”

Storm left the General Storm and returned to the front of the Saloon. Sunny and Izzy hadn’t returned yet so she sat on a bench by the door. I managed to convince her to poke around our pip buck while we waited for the ponies to return. We found that the device had a map feature and had been keeping track of some of the locations that we’d visited since leaving Stable 0. We also learned that the Pip-buck kept track of the inventory that was in our saddlebags along with being able to pick up some radio signals. Storm decided to tune into the only radio signal that worked. We caught the end of a news report that DJ Pon3 had given, something about another vault pony in a different part of Equestria before playing some pre-apocalypse songs. We spent the rest of our time waiting listening to songs sung by ponies that were now long dead. As we waited there listening to the music I noticed that I was once again in control of my body. I know it might be a bit confusing when I use words like ‘we,’ and, ‘our,’ but trust me, this is confusing for me too and I’m trying my best to tell you this story.

It wasn’t long after I regained control that I saw Sunny and Izzy galloping toward the saloon. I told the earthpony how the conversation went in the General Store as soon as they arrived.

“I can’t believe you got Dirty Rich to help us!” Sunny exclaimed at the news. “How in Tartars did you convince that stingy pony to help us like that?”

“Don’t worry about it, Sunny. I just helped him get a full picture of the situation that we’ve found ourselves in.”

“This is a game changer, Winter…”

“Winterbreeze, I’m in control again.” I sighed, “I guess I’ll have to get used to sharing my body with two other versions of myself. There’s no telling how long it will be before I find somepony that knows how to treat the effects of Killing Joke.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter too much which one of you is in control as long as you’re not causing more harm to the ponies of the wasteland. Either way, I’m glad that Dirty Rich was convinced to help us. Izzy and I managed to convince most of the other ponies here to stand up to the Legion when they attacked. We should have a good chance of having this battle turn out in our favor.”

…

Everypony that had offered to help defend Greenhoof took their defensive positions as we waited for the Arcane Legion to attack. None of us were sure what direction they’d attack from, but most expected they’d attack from the road that led into town. They’d probably underestimate the town and not spend much time discussing any strategy for their attack. After all the only pony they spoke to was Storm and she didn’t exactly give off a vibe that she was intelligent. The Arcane Legion probably expected most ponies here to be as brash as she was and most likely expected to attack and enslave the town with minimal effort. I knew they’d be very disappointed when they did attack.

‘Let me have control of our body,’ Frost said while we hid behind a box on the porch of the saloon. ‘I’ll be able to take care of these Legion ponies with ease. You and Storm will hesitate or give some of them the chance to leave.’

I wanted to deny her request and tell her that Storm or I would be able to handle the battle, but I was unable to convince myself that she wasn’t the best pony to be in control at this time. To make matters worse Storm agreed that Frost should be the one in control of this battle. I was outvoted, but I felt that it was still my decision to relinquish to Frost, but I couldn’t bring my left to argue against them.

I let Frost take control.

Forest stood up from where we hid and trotted out into the middle of the street.

“What are you doing?” Sunny asked.

“Don’t worry about what I’m doing.” Frost barked, “Worry about keeping you and you’re ponies safe.

“You must be frost,” I heard Sunny say from where she and Izzy hid. Frost didn’t respond. She just stood in the street. Waiting, no, praying for the Arcane Legion to show. I could feel the desire for violence seeping from Frost. It’s hard to describe much of what’s going on while being a passenger, but the bloodlust I felt from Frost was very clear. Frost stood there like a stone wall, so calm, so focused. This version of me was counting the seconds before she had a chance to punish anypony for challenging her. I could feel that Storm was unnerved by her, I was afraid of her. I didn’t want her to be in control. I got the feeling that Frost would destroy anything that opposed her, even if they surrendered.

Winterfrost craved a chance to kill.

We stood there in the middle of the street. More eyes were on us than on where the Arcane Legion would most likely be attacking. I Expected most of the ponies looking at us wondering If we were stupid or not. The others knew that the mare standing on the road wanted to be in the middle of the bloodshed. They’d be smart to stay out of it as much as possible. As we all waited I grew increasingly worried about what Frost would do in the heat of the battle. All I could do was hope that no innocent pony would be caught in between frost and the legion. I knew better though. My memories of life before the Killing Joke had holes in them now, but I did remember instances of ponies jumping into a heated battle hoping to attain glory. Most of those ponies were killed before too long. There were only a hoof-full of ponies that earned enough glory to be more or less famous in Equestria. I was one, Big Mac was another, though his era was before my time in the war. Apple Snack was another that I knew about. After I enlisted I stopped keeping track of famous war heroes and started avoiding becoming one myself, I failed. All stories of war heroes ended the same: Their Death.

The wait was not long. After some time there was a shot that hit the road just ahead of where Frost had us positioned. She looked down at the impact and then up at the Legion pony standing to the side of the rock. No pony on either side had fired a shot since the warning shot.

“This is your last chance!” Called the pony, “Return our property and you will be spared… for a time.”

“I hope you realize you’ve just made the biggest mistake of your life,” Frost said, her voice was calm, smooth.

“Oh? What mistake might you be referring to?”

Winterfrost laughed the said: “You had an opportunity to kill me just and you wasted it on a warning shot.”

The Arcane Legion didn’t have time to respond. Frost pulled out the pistol and fired. The bullet caught the pony between the eyes. The corpses fell to the ground as the shooting started and Frost weaved her way to a nearby rock laughing with the pistol in her mouth.

Gunfire sounded off all around, but that didn’t seem to phase her. While my thoughts were on the ponies fighting to defend Greenhoof I could tell Frost wasn’t concerned about them. Frost ducked out of cover, Legion ponies were rushing up to the town from where they hid. She fired at two ponies that were charging together and dropped both before ducking behind cover. Frost looked over when she heard a stallion cry out, on the Greenhoof defender’s head had a chunk blown out of it. Frost didn’t give him a second look. She ducked out again and fired at a ghoul mare that was trying to gallop over to the side of the saloon. Frost shot here in both her hocks. The mare went down with a cry, she writhed in pain on the ground for a moment before using her front hooves to start dragging herself to safety. I’ll play with her later. Frost thought before pointing the pistol at another ghoul and blowing a hole in the side of his head. Frost could see some of his brain splash onto a tree next to him.

She smiled at the gore-spattered tree before aiming at another Legion pony, a moment later they were dead from a bullet through the throat. Frost ducked behind the cover again and reloaded the pistol before popping back out and dispatching three more ponies. The least they could do is give me a challenge, Frost thought. I prayed that the battle would be over soon. I didn’t want to see any more waste of life.
“Settle down there Frost,” Storm thought. Frost ignored her as she aimed at another pony.

It wasn’t much longer before the battle was over and we were victorious. The Arcane Legion must have expected us to give up or not put up as much of a fight as we did, they only sent a small group of ponies in the attack, there were only two other ghouls along with the leader the rest were normal. I wasn’t sure how many of the Greenhoof ponies died during the battle. I only saw the one while Frost was in control. I knew he wouldn’t be the only one, the butcher’s bill was never pretty.

The bodies of the attackers were gathered and burnt outside of town while any Greenhoof ponies that perished were taken to a nearby graveyard where ponies began to prepare each of them a resting place. I noticed that that I was once again in control of my body, I wasn’t sure when the switch had happened, but I was thankful for it. I stretched a bit before trotting off to make sure Sunny and Izzy were ok. I assumed they’d both be in the saloon. Along the way, I remembered the pony that Frost let crawl away around the side of the saloon. The ghoul mare was probably still alive so I decided to check and see what condition she was in. If I was lucky I’d be able to glean some information from her either before she died or before I had to resume my quest to rescue Dewdrop, which was not going well so far since I almost died yesterday.

There was a small trail of blood that led me to where the ghoul lay behind some crates. Her breathing was heavy as she lay in a pool of her own blood; she didn’t have much time left before she left this world for the Ever After, Tartarus was more likely to receive this pony after her death.

“Come to finish the job, nonbeliever?” The ghoul rasped. I shook my head.

“I just came to talk, it looks like you won’t last much longer anyway even if you get help from somepony with medical training.

“I’ve got nothing to say to you,” The mare hissed before a fit of coughing took over. I leaned back to avoid the blood flying from her mouth.

“You might, I want to know more about the Arcane Legion. Your prophet told me to seek enlightenment somewhere called Craterside. I just want to know a little bit more about you before I head there.”

“Y–you were told to make the pilgrimage by Dogma?”

“Is that the name of the three-horned pony? I thought his name was Prophet.”

“He is Dogma, Prophet is the title bestowed upon him by the Starmother. It’s prophesied that he will bring about another cleansing of Bale’s Fire.”

“Can you tell me what this prophecy says?” The Ghoul shook her head.

“Only the priests know the Prophecy by heart and can recite it upon request. I’ve not been blessed to hear any of it myself.”

“I see,” I said.

Ask about the Starmother!” Storm said to me.

“What can you tell me about this Starmother? You’re a ghoul and I know your kind are important to the legion. Have you seen her?”

“I’ve seen here, She is an ancient ghoul that was spared during Bale’s cleansing of Equestria.”

A pony form before the bombs? I thought I wonder if I’ve heard of her before.

“Did she have a name before the… before Bale’s cleansing?” The ghoul either didn’t notice or didn’t care that I’d corrected myself mid-sentence.

“Yes… Yes…” Her eyes began to close slowly. “Her name…” and that was it, the ghoul was dead.

I sighed before walking back to the front of the saloon. I couldn’t help but let my thoughts go back to my interaction with this Prophet Dogma and how I’d given up a chance to make him pay for killing those foals. I wouldn’t make that mistake again, at least I hoped not. It was more likely that Storm or Frost would take control and they’d be able to do what I failed to. Until then any pony that suffered from his actions had me to blame for allowing him to continue living.

I found the ponies I was looking for in the salon near the bar. I saw that Sunny was comforting a shaken Izzy.

“Is she all right?” I asked.

“Yes,” Izzy said, her voice shook and she stared at the floor, “It’s hard to watch a pony’s sparkle vanish.”

“Sparkle? What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know how to explain it, not to a pony that can’t see them. Every pony I've come across has… a sparkle and each one is different. They are almost all beautiful, even if they belong to a bad pony. There has only been a hoof full of ponies with a sparkle that were… frightening I guess is the best way to describe the feeling. When a pony dies the sparkle vanishes. It’s hard for me to watch them go.”

“What does mine look like?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“It’s bright, both of you have a sparkle that’s brighter than anypony else.” She said, looking from Me to Sunny. “I’m sure that it has a deeper meaning, but I’m not the pony to interpret stuff like that. I wasn’t a fortune teller or anything like that before I was captured.”

“What were you?”

“Oh, I was an artist,” Izzy said, smiling brightly. “Best one anywhere around Delamare, though I’m probably the only pony in the wasteland that bothers with art.” Her ears drooped.

“Don’t be sad, Izzy,” I said, moving to put a hoof on her shoulder. “A lot must have been lost when the bombs fell, It will take somepony with some serious passion to bring art back to the wasteland and I think you’re that pony. Art inspires art and I’ll bet you’ll inspire ponies to craft their art in time. Just keep it up”

“Thank, Winterbreeze. It’ll be kinda hard for me to create something for a little while, though.”

“Why is that?” Sunny asked.

“I’ve got plenty of supplies everywhere I go. Anything can be turned into art after all.” She gestured to various items around the saloon. “The reason why it will be hard for me is that I normally wear glasses and I don’t work on anything without them. The pair I was wearing was broken when I was taken by the legion. I’ll need to find a new pair before I feel like I can create something.”

“Oh!” Sunny exclaimed, trotting in place. “My dad wore a pair of glasses. Maybe they will be the right kind for you! I kept them when he passed if you want to give them a try!”

“I’d love to, are you sure thought? I don’t want to break them or anything.”

“You can use them until you find another pair that you can use. I’d love to see you use some of this stuff to create something wonderful! I’ll go get them now, I’ll be right back!”

I took a seat at the bar and asked for a glass of water, I took a large gulp when he brought it to me. “Do you know if the Legion destroyed any of your art when you were taken?” I asked.

“I don’t think so. I was out of town looking for some material that spoke to me to use in a piece that I was working on. I didn’t hear anything about them attacking Ponoyo so I’d like to think that every pony there is safe, along with my creations.”

We talked for a bit longer about some of the things that she’d created. A lot of what she used as materials was nothing more than junk, but I wasn’t able to see the things that she’d made with the junk so they could be mind-blowing for all I knew. I assumed that most of what she was making back at her home was good and I told her as much. She told me where I could find Ponoyo and then my pip-buck made a noise. I looked at it in and pressed some of the buttons until I discovered its map feature. I zoomed out and saw that It covered Delamare and the land surrounding it. It didn’t show all of Equestria, but I didn’t need a map of it right now anyway. I noticed that it had marked the locations where I had been since I acquired the device. Stable 0, Harmony Lane, Maneford, Nipton, and Greenhoof were all marked. I was surprised to see an indicator labeled Ponoyo, I wondered how it knew where a town that was formed after the war was.

Izzy returned after some time with her father’s glasses, she was also now wearing a Pip-buck. She gave the glasses to Izzy, she smiled when she tried them on.

“When that mysterious pony first brought you to me I thought that thing on your foreleg looked familiar.” She raised her foreleg to show the pip-buck she wore. “I’d forgotten that my dad also wore one of these. He also had one of the same suit that you wore in his closet.”

“What made you put it on?” I asked.

“Well, I’ve heard about how useful these things are to ponies that travel the wasteland. I figured that’ll be needing it when we leave Greenhoof.”

“We?” I asked in confusion, “What do you mean we?”

“I mean that I’m coming with you, and I suspect that Izzy will also join us.” We both looked over to the unicorn, she smiled brightly and nodded.

“But… Why?”

“You mentioned that you’re headed for Destroyer Stadium. I’d like to head there myself and I figured it’d be best if we traveled there together. Wound’ you agreed?”

“I guess so,” I said,

Watchere had mentioned finding friends twice to me already, but I didn’t want any; at least any that were willing to follow me into dangerous situations. I’d been in a leadership position before and had gotten a group of ponies that I’d cared deeply about killed. I didn’t want ponies I liked following me, but I guess the wasteland had other plans for me.

Level Up:

New Perk:
Big Leagues: You are adept with the blade hidden in your cybernetic hoof. Melee weapons now do 20% more damage.

Chapter 5: Stable 24 (Awaiting re-write)

We’d decided to stay the night at Greenhoof and leave in the morning. Sunny had enough rooms for each of us to stay in at her house, so we stayed. Sunny began making us something to eat shortly after we arrived; she also invited Izzy to craft something if she was inspired to while we waited. While I wanted to get going, I was glad to get some time to play with the pip-buck and read through the Wasteland Survival Guide that Whitehoof had given me. I’d honestly forgotten about it until I came across It in my saddle bags. Izzy wandered around the living room looking at things, seemingly at random.

“Is there anything sentimental in here?” Izzy asked, levitating a hat off a counter, “I’d hate to use something that looks normal, only to find out that it’s important to you.”

“It’s fine, Izzy. Anything like that I keep in a safe in my room, so work on some art to your heart's content.”

Izzy continued looking around the living room, oooing, and awing at things. I gave a soft laugh before turning my attention to the survival guide. I read through the main part of the guide, learning about some of the things that could be found throughout most of the wasteland. I flipped through the pages until I found the Delamare section and began to read. On the first page I read about the Glacial Ponies which were ponies that were afflicted with some sort of plague that originated in the glowing sea and that everyone had to be careful when coming into contact with them, the guide said there wasn’t a cure or treatment and the best way to avoid contracting the plague was to minimize contact with Glacial Ponies. I didn’t know how long ago Ditzy Doo had been up here to write this guide so I hoped that somepony had discovered a way to treat or prevent catching the plague, the last thing I needed was to have to find a way to prevent it myself, I already had a goal that I needed to accomplish and It’s already taking longer than I liked.

There was a paragraph on something called a Synth, but the author suspected that it was a rumor along with something called the Institute. Apparently, this group of ponies had never been seen and were creating ponies that would replace ponies and they were used to guide the wasteland in a direction that benefitted them; sounded like something paranoid ponies would come up with to explain the unexplainable, though I was glad that they were included. I figured it would be good to be in the know of things that were nothing more than legend or rumor, like the Mothmare, which Sunny swears to have seen when she was a filly. Mothmare was a legend from my time along with some other creatures like Big Hoof, Skinwalkers the Shadow Pony, Aliens, Grogar, and the Pondigo among others that I couldn’t remember. I could remember stories I’d heard around the campfire about Skinwalkers taking over Equestria from the inside out. I barely believed in Tirec as it was so I dismissed those stories. The day I ran into a Pondigo would be the day that I ate dirt.

I knew that this guide was old when I read about how Destroyer Stadium was a newer settlement and had replaced someplace known as The Hub as the center for trade and commerce around Delamare. I was surprised to read about Craterside, however. The Arcane Legion ponies seem like a new addition to the Delamare wasteland. When the Guide was written they were only a small cult that worshiped an undetonated bale fire bome in the center of Craterside. I wasn’t surprised to see that the Star Mother was mentioned since I suspected she was a ghoul. When this was written the Prophet was a pony known as The Glowing One; aside from them there was a pony named Grahmcracker was named a young warrior everypony must avoid, lest they craved a brutal demise. There was no mention of Dogma, I guessed he must have been a more recent part of the Legion.

“Ta-da!” Izzy called out. The cute unicorn had been working diligently on something while I had my muzzle buried in a book. I looked up from the guide to see her standing next to a… something. It definitely was art; I wouldn’t argue against that, but I wasn’t the kind of pony that spent much time looking at art. I appreciated the cultural significance that art carried, but most of my life had been spent worrying about the war with the Zebras. Sometimes I wondered what my life might have been if there had been no war; I banished those thoughts, however. This wasteland was the result of the world that I’d initially been born into; it was foolish of me to fantasize about what could have been.

“Wow!” Sunny said, leaving the kitchen. “Is that a Sparkle-cola bottle?”

“Yes!” Izzy said, prancing, “It is!”

I looked at the sculpture made out of random things. It was in the shape of a Sparkle-cola bottle and was made out of various pieces of junk the unicorn had been hoarding for an occasion such as this. I didn’t have an eye for art, but I wasn’t one to ruin something other ponies enjoyed.

“That’s art?” Storm asked.
“Can we burn it? That's about all this thing is good for,” Frost said.

Shut up, both of you! I thought to them, She may not be able to hear you, but I can and I'd rather not; keep your opinions of her… art to yourselves!
“Sheesh!” Storm said.
“Fine,” Frost sighed, “but if I’m in control next time she makes something, I’ll tell her what I think!”

I sighed, rubbing my hooves over my eyes. It was going to take a lot to get used to these versions of myself. The sooner I got rid of them the better; I just had to figure out how to do that. I was already getting tired of… myself. Which was a wild thing to think about. Something had to be done about the other two ponies that shared my body.

Sunny brought out the food that she’d been making after she’d finished admiring Izzy’s sculpture thing. It couldn’t help but smile when I said what she’d prepared, It’d been about two hundred years since I’d had a hayburger. It wasn’t as good as the prewar ones I’d had, but it was somehow better; I told Sunny as much and she smiled.

“They were my Dad’s favorites! I made them for him many times so I must have perfected the recipe or something.”

“Whatever you did, they’re amazing!” I said before taking the last bite, “Got any more.”

“No, but I can make some. I guess we should use some of the stuff I have here since I’m not sure when I’ll be back here.”

I wasn’t sure what she planned to do after meeting up with her friend in Destroyer Stadium, but that wasn’t my business. When we got there I’d be busy trying to find Flask and then trying to get them to help me find my niece. I didn’t think Sunny would tag along after meeting her friend; unfortunately for me, I expected Izzy would stick with Sunny when we went our separate ways.

The rest of the evening was spent eating hamburgers and listening to Sunny and Izzy talk about their lives growing up. I wasn’t able to tell them much when they asked about my childhood, It’d been hard for me to remember stuff after being split. I guessed that my memories had been split between the three of us, but I wasn’t sure. Storm and Frost didn’t chime in while I tried to remember events from my past. All I could confidently remember was the days leading up to the apocalypse. It was unsettling to think that a lot of my life was lost to me, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to remember it.

I fiddled with my pip-buck as I lay on the bead in one of the rooms. Sunny had taken the bed in what used to be her father’s room while Izzy slept in Sunny’s room. I’d learned some things about the device, though I was sure there was more that I still needed to learn. I discovered the Radio feature and listened to a pony claiming to be DJ Pon3 play before noticing the device picked up other signals. I flipped through them and only received static until I found one that had a somewhat clear signal. This station was hosted by somepony named Rose and was meant for raiders, bandits, and others of that sort. When I tuned in I caught the last of her news broadcast warning to steer clear of the new settlement that was Harmony Lane.

“All you ponies out there lookin’ for a quick score of loot and caps best steer clear of the mare with a metal leg.” She’d said. “I’ve got word that she was able to take out a group of Hunters all by herself. Yeah, I know it sounds absurd, but the ponies that brought the news t’ me swore on their mothers that it was true. So here I am Infrmoing Y’all to be careful of this mare. Who knows if she’s actually real or not, but I guess it’s best to be on the safe side until more evidence of this: ‘Iron Hoof,’ I’ll call her is real. I’ll be sure to let y’all know if I receive word of another group getting whupped by her. Until then… raid on.”

Storm was excited to be mentioned on the radio while I was embarrassed; Frost remained silent.

“Look at that, We’re famous!” Storm thought.

“I–I don’t want to be famous, I just want to live as quiet a life as I can with Dewdrop,” I responded.

“Oh, we’ll have time to do that. Let’s enjoy the notoriety we’ve gained with these raider ponies.”
“I don’t think we…”
“Both of you shut up!” Frost shouted mentally. I flinced in the bed. “Don’t you Storm? Rose has just painted a massive target on our flank! Every raider that heard that broadcast will be out to kill us so they can claim to be the one that killed Iron Hoof. It’ll only get worse the more she talks about us. We should try to keep some sort of low profile, otherwise, we’ll have every gang in the wasteland with something to prove after us!”

“We can take ‘em, right Breeze?”

“Oh, Um… I don’t know about me, but you two probably can.”

“I’m not saying we won’t be able to take them on. I’m the only one of us who can get the job done after all. What I’m trying to tell you, Storm, is that we’ll have an easier time finding Dewdrop if we don’t have to worry about getting attacked by ponies around every corner. How many ponies in the wasteland do you think have a metal leg like us? We’ll be pretty easy to spot with this thing!”

Storm and Frost continued to argue, but I tried my best to ignore both of them. After all, this was my body and I didn’t want to share it with either of them

I continued to navigate the blue and black menus. I discovered that the pip-buck kept track of what was in my saddlebag and that it would help me find something inside of it if I was wearing it. S.A.T.S. was another thing I discovered. I was intrigued to see what all the Stable-tec Assisted Targeting System would be able to do, but all it did right now was slow down time; I didn’t know if it actually slowed time or increased my mental processing to make it appear that time had slowed. I probably wouldn’t ever know for sure, but I expected S.A.T.S. would be helpful for Storm and Frost next time we had to defend ourselves against other ponies.

Frost and Strom continued arguing as I stopped messing with the pip-buck and laid down to sleep.

…

I didn’t dream of dead ponies as I slept, which was a relief. When I awoke I hoped all that was behind me. Dreaming of dead ponies definitely wasn’t healthy, I was thankful that whatever my dreams were, I didn’t remember them. The last thing I needed on top of everything that’s happened to me since waking up in Stable 0 was to be able to converse with the dead while I slept. Having my conscience split in three was already more that I could deal with. I didn’t need to deal with the regrets of the dead. Even if it was one of the princesses, I had one goal; I couldn’t afford to put my efforts elsewhere.

I couldn’t remember what I actually dreamed about. When I tried to remember all I got was various things that I wasn’t able to fit into one coherent dream. Most like Strom, Frost, and myself, each had our own dream and they combined into one indecipherable amalgam. I decided it was probably for the best; I didn’t really want to know what somepony like Frost would dream about. Judging from the blood thirst I got from her just before the battle I expected the dreams wouldn’t be pretty.

Storm on the other hand was very different. Some of the dreams were of alcohol, chems, and… a mare. I flushed when a snippet of the dream became clear and I recognized the mare from Storm’s dream. I wouldn’t be able to look Izzy in the eye for the rest of the day while I was in control. Storm, however, would have her sights elsewhere…

…

“Harmony Lane is in that direction,” I told Dirty Rich, pointing in the direction that my pip-buck said Harmony Lane was in, “the ponies there would be happy to trade. Just tell them that I sent you and that you’ve decided to become part of the minute mares.”

“Now hold on. I didn’t say anything about joining them. Last I heard they’d all been wiped out along with them Regulators.”

“I’m rebuilding them. The wasteland will need a group like the Minutemares if we want things to get better. I’d appreciate it if you joined us, we’ll need a great merchant such as yourself to gather a steady inflow of caps.” I looked Dirty Rich in the eye and fluttered my eyes before giving a soft sultry chuckle. He grinned at the compliment and then said: “I’d be happy to help.”

Before the war, I’d found that a little bit of flirting could go a long way when you needed something from a stallion. Dirty Rich didn’t know that I wasn’t interested in stallions and he’d probably move on to another mare before that became an issue.

Izzy and I waited while Sunny said her goodbyes to the ponies of Greenhoof. I overheard her name a pony called Simms as the stand-in sheriff until she returned. We set out once she was finished. I noticed she was crying as we trotted away from the home that she’d grown up in. The only home she’d ever known.

“You don’t have to leave if you don’t want to,” I told Sunny.

“I know, but I’ve been meaning to make a trip to Destroyer Stadium and I figured tagging along with you would be the best time to do so. I saw how Frost handles those Arcane Legon ponies, I’ll bet we get to the stadium with little to no problems. Besides, I wasn’t to help Izzy get back home.”

“You’re going to help her get all the way back to Ponoyo? That looks pretty far north on my pip-buck. Are you sure you’re both ready for the journey? I’m still not sure what all is out there, but I’ve seen enough in the last two days to be worried about both of you traveling that far.”

“I think we’ll be able to make it. I’m friends with Hitch, the sheriff of Destroyer Stadium and he owes me a favor, I plan to cash that in for his help getting her north.”

“Ok, I’ll trust you, but I’m still going to worry about you both until I hear that you’re safe.”

“Don’t worry about it, Winter,” Izzy chimed in, with a large smile, “With a sparkle as big as Sunny’s I’m sure she’ll have a lot more important stuff to do besides getting me home.”

“Thanks.” Sunny said, ears flattening, “Not as that comes with a whole lot of pressure or anything else that comes along with this large sparkle you talk about for that matter.” Izzy giggled.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about. Your sparkle leads me to believe you’re going to affect a lot of ponies!” Izzy giggled some more before looking at me and adding: “You too, Winterbreeze!”

“Aren’t you worried about getting back home, Izzy? I know you said Sunny and I have large… sparkles, but how does that affect you?”

“Me?” Izzy said, pointing a hoof at herself, she stopped and sat a moment. She ran her hoof through her majestic mane while she thought. “Oh, I don’t think I’ll see my home again, or any time soon at least.”

“Are you sure you’re not a fortune teller or something?” Sunny asked.

“Yeah, I met a pony that had some sort of visions of the future when taking Party-time Mentals.”

“No, I just don’t feel like I’ll see Ponyo anytime soon. I’ve been wrong about these feelings before though. I’ve never been wrong about what I see in a somepony’s sparkle though. You’re both going to be special!” She reared up and flung her forelegs too wide with a grin. Sunny and I looked at each other for a moment before laughing.

We continued our way down the cracked road north, I’d occasionally check my pipbuck to ensure we were headed in the right direction. Foliage grew out of the cracks in the road, some of the abandoned vehicles were even covered in vines. Looking at this made me wonder how long it would take nature to cover the ruins of the world that I’d been forced to leave behind. As we trotted on I made sure to keep my eye out for the crossroad with a bus that Grandmare had warned me about; I did wonder what that warning meant if there turned out to be multiple crossroads with busses that I could come across. Was I supposed to take the Right path every time?

Eventually, we stumbled across one such intersection. I stopped, Izzy and Sunny both stopped and looked at me.

“What's up?” Sunny asked.

“We should head right,” I said, pointing to the road leading down the right side of the dilapidated bus. All of its windows had been shattered and large chunks of paint had rusted away. I could see the skeletal remains of the ponies that had been riding it when the balefire bombs fell.

“You read my mind, Winter!” Izzy announced. “You see that there?” Izzy pointed at a creature I hadn’t noticed lying in the road leading to the bus's left.

“I see it,” Sunny said, voice flat.

“Yeah, but what is it? New to the wasteland here.”

“It’s a Breezador! They’re super dangerous.”

“Almost as dangerous as a hellhound. It’s best to avoid them as much as possible. I’ve heard they’re faster than a pony.”

“Good thing we’re heading that way,” I said, pointing my hoof toward the right of the bus.

“We should still be careful,” Izzy said, ducking low. “If one’s here then there probably more. We should try to be as sneaky as possible for a while. Just to be safe.”

It saddened me to see that the Breezies hadn’t escaped the consequences of the war. Now there where a monstrosity that I’d expect to attack a pony on sight. I didn’t see them in the survival guide, but I also didn’t finish reading the Delamare section. I wondered what became of the other creatures that lived in and around Equestria; with any luck, I wouldn’t find out, but then again luck wasn’t something I was used to having.

Izzy harvested some poison glands from the Breezador before we continued off. I guess the things needed to have poison along with being big and scary as it was. The thing had grotesque yellow wings and four eyes instead of the two a normal Breezies had. The eyes were a very dark shade of crimson. The Breezador was also twice the size of its pre-war counterpart. Yep! I thought to myself… along with Frost and Storm. It definitely needed to be poisonous on top of all that.

We continued down the cracked road passing unusable vehicles. I would have looked into getting on to work, I didn’t know much about them, but I’d seen a hotwireing a few times, but I figured anything that worked would have been taken in the past two hundred years. I thought about that for a moment. Why hadn’t any settlement grown larger than a small town here? Ponies certainly could have done so in the time since the bombs, but yet there was nothing so far; just small towns. Destroyer Stadium sounded like it would be a larger, if not the largest settlement in the area, but that was still smaller than I expected ponies would have been able to build in two centuries. Maybe I was expecting too much from ponies, Judging from what I read in the guide ponies had a lot to deal with so that could be a reason why settlements are the size they are currently. Hopefully, the Minutemares could help in the forming of a civilization; that is if I can get enough ponies to join up.

There was a chime from my Pip-buck after we’d traveled for some time. I stopped to check it. There was a small indicator next to the radio tab. I switched to it and found that the device picked up some distress signal. Static was all I heard when I tuned to it, but I was able to make out a mare’s voice, I got a warning that the signal was weak and was only picking up about 10% of the broadcast. I stuck out my foreleg and pointed it around until I saw the percentage go up by 2%. I began to trot in that direction, Izzy and Sunny following. We were trotting into the trees as I watched the percentage continue to rise. After some time I was able to hear the distress signal in full.

“This is Willow Spark, I’m a part of maintenance in Stable 24. If any stable-tec or any stable ponies are hearing thins we’re under attack. A group of ponies has broken Into my stable and is ransacking the place. I’m not sure what they’re after, I have myself locked in the stable door control room. If anypony is listening to this, please send us help as soon as you can!”

“Message Repeats.” Said another voice before Willow Spark’s plea for help started again.

There was a new indicator by the map tag, I found the location of stable 24 was marked on the world map when I tabbed over to it.

“We don’t have time to play here!” Frost barked. “We need to find Dewdrop, we’ve already wasted enough time in Greenhoof!”

“Hold on a moment, I think we should help these ponies.” Storm countered, “For all we know that cutiemark bitch is there right now attacking another stable, kidnapping more foals!”

She’s right, I added, Stable 0 can’t be the only stable that mare has attacked. I’ll bet she’s there.

“I doubt it, but I’m not helping in the fight. You two want to go? Fine! But, I’m not going to help, it’s up to you two while we’re there. I’ll just watch and take over when you realize the mistake you’re making.”

“That’s fine! Breeze and I can handle this without help from a psychopath. Right Breeze?”

I–I think so…

“Good, let’s do this!”

Just like that, Storm was in control. She galloped off, and Sunny called out after us before Izzy and she followed. I didn’t want to lead them into a dangerous situation, but they’d heard the distress signal, they knew the trouble that I was galloping toward and they followed anyway. They were good ponies, it was a shame they didn’t get to live in a world where ponies could live happily. They didn’t deserve to spend their lives in a wasteland; the ponies of my time had failed them; I failed them.

I wouldn’t fail the ponies of Stable 24!

We galloped on, weaving through the trees and leaping over bushes. We passed by a lake that had ice forming close to the shore. It was colder today than it had the past two days. I could see our breath as we panted. At some point, it would get cold enough to snow, if it hadn’t already. My ice-blue coat wouldn’t be enough to keep me warm when that happened, which was somewhat Ironic; the mare with an ice-blue coat and white mane and was named after the winter could freeze to death. I needed to get some cold-weather clothes sooner rather than later.

We came to a clearing with a large hill, there was an opening that looked to lead to a cave where the stable entrance would be found. A few ponies were wearing armor that had seen better days. There were only three of them and they looked to be spaced out enough that Storm could be able to sneak up on each of them and take them out without alerting the others. Storm crouched, and Sunny and Izzy did the same.

“I’ll take care of them, you two wait here.” Storm said, “Oh, and look away Izzy.”

The unicorn nodded before turning to face her left. Storm crept forward slowly, the grass brushed against our belly as we remanded low. We moved around the edge of a now ancient fence. We could hear one of the raider ponies trot closer. Storm looked up and saw a blue stallion looking out at the tree line; if he looked down he’d see us. Storm ejected the blade from her hoof and slammed it into the bottom of his jaw. There was a soft grunt as the blade bit into him. Storm heaved his body over the fence before his body could go completely limp. The stallion's glazed eyes stared blankly at the sky as she pulled out the blade, she whipped the blood off his coat before retracting the blade.

She glanced over the fence to see if the other two ponies had noticed his disappearance. The two mares sat where they were, oblivious to the death of their comrade. Storm crept along, following the fence as it led her around to where a mare sat before a fire cooking something that actually smelt good. Storm carefully climbed over the fence, placing her hoofs so they wouldn’t break a twig and alert the mare of her impending doom. Storm crept slowly toward the mare before burying her hoofblade deep into the back of her head. She caught the mare after she spasmed before her body hit the ground and gently set her down so the last mare wouldn’t hear. If she looked over here, she’d think this mare had fallen asleep on the job.

There was one pony left now. The mare stood guard at the cave entrance. Storm hopped back over the fence and crept toward the hill; she climbed it and then positioned herself above the mare. Let’s have a little fun with this one. Storm thought, she kicked a rock and it rolled down and bounced off the mare's head. She turned and looked up at where we were. Her eyes widened as Storm lept off the hill, hoofblade ready. Storm buried the blade in the mare’s left eye, she gave a slight squeak after the blade made contact; she twitched for a moment before going limp. Storm pulled the blade free before cleaning it and then retracting it.

She looked over to where Sunny and Izzy hid and waved for them to come out. Storm waited for them before she made her way closer to the entrance, glancing around for anypony that might she might have missed. We passed a few fire pits that were no longer lit. The attackers must have camped out here for some time while they tried to break into the stable.

“Looks like the rest are in the stable,” Storm said to Sunny after she galloped to our side.

“I see that, but what are three ponies going to do against a group of raiders?”

“Better make that two.” Izzy chimed in. “I’d like to avoid killing anypony if I can, It hurts too much to watch their sparkle vanis and…” She breathed, “and I don’t want to be the one that causes that if I can avoid it.”

“That’s ok,” Storm said soothingly, “A pretty unicorn such as yourself should not have to worry about such barbarities.” Out of the corner of our eye, I noticed Sunny glare at us, I wasn’t sure if Storm noticed, she was focused on Izzy. I doubted Frost saw, she didn’t care about what was going on, I couldn’t feel her presence like I normally could.

“C’mon, Storm. We’ve got to help these ponies. Keep yourself in check or I’m taking control again.

Oh Yeay! I suppose you’re ready to face off against however many raiders are in that stable.

I didn’t respond.

“I’ll have your back though.” Izzy said, “I–I think I can do it if It’s in defense of me or my friends. I just don’t think I can attack anypony.” Izzy’s ears flattened as she looked down at her hooves, “I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful.”

Storm opened her mouth to say something, but Sunny spoke first.

“It’s alright Izzy, Just do what you feel comfortable doing. Nopony is going to force you to do something you don’t want to do. Do you know how to perform a healing spell?”

Izzy nodded, “I can heal a little bit, I’m not sure what I won’t be able to heal is though.”

“See, there are more ways to be helpful that don’t involve violence.”

Izzy smiled, “Thank you, Sunny, I’ll do my best to heal you both as best I can if you get hurt.”

“Come on, Winterstorm. Let’s go save these ponies!”

The three of us galloped through the cave entrance, we made our way through a narrow passageway, and our hoof falls echoed as we slowed to a trot. After a moment the passageway opened up and we found ourselves standing on a catwalk, there was a terminal that was similar to the one that I used to open my vault, it didn’t look like it was broken. One of the raiders was wearing a pip-buck, the lead was the most likely candidate to have such a useful device. Storm was convinced that it wouldn’t help them much, but I disagreed; they probably knew way more about it than we did and would be enable to use it effectively.

That won’t matter in the end, Breeze. I’ll take care of her before she knows what hit her.

I hoped Storm was right, S.A.T.S. would be useful in a fight and we hadn’t had a chance to use it in such a scenario yet. The raider boss on the other hoof could have had their pip-buck her whole life and be adept in using it. I urged Storm to be careful anyway, she just ignored me and trotted past the terminal toward the stable entrance.

There were bodies on the floor as soon as we entered the vault. They looked like they were there to greet their new visitors. They’d been gunned down. Storm stopped and looked at them, they weren’t what any of us were expecting to find living in the stable. They weren’t ponies, they were kirin.

I’d heard of Kirin before, but I hadn’t seen one; I’d only seen pictures taken of them shortly after Applejack and Fluttershy had visited them and helped them regain their ability to speak, that was around the time that I was born. I’d heard of a couple joining the Equestrian military when the war broke out, but I didn’t see any during my service. Storm looked at the dead Kirin stallion, lying just in front of his foal. He must have lept in front of her as soon as they were fired upon, Storm thought, why did they bring foals to greet strangers?

Storm looked up from the corpse and over to the stable door control room. There she saw a kirin mare, she had a flowing blue mane and a green coat; her scales matched her mane and she had a crimson horn. She wore a stable uniform like mine, only it had the number twenty-four on the collar instead of a zero like mine. The mare took one look at us wearing our stable barding before waving us to the door. Sunny and Izzy followed as I trotted over. The mare unlocked the door, and she closed and locked it again after the three of us were inside

I wouldn’t be able to look away from the mare If I was in control of my body, shit, I could feel that Frost's presence had returned as well.

“Y-you… must be…” I stammered. Not sure when I regained control of my body

“You’re Willow Spark, the one that made the distress call?” Sunny said.

“Yes,” The Kirin said, her voice was soft, even with the current event.

“We… heard your distress a little while ago and thought we’d see if there was any way we could provide some assistance,” I said

“That’s wonderful. I wasn’t sure if Stable-tec would be listening when I put out the distress call, but I hoped for the best. I’m so glad you three have come.” She tilted her head to the side and then asked: “Is anypony else coming?”

“It’s just me and these two goofballs.” Izzy said, smiling, “But, these two should be able to help you with your pest problem.”

“Oh, well I guess you three are better than no one I guess. Are you three the only ones that Stable-tec sent?”

“As far as I know Stable-tec no longer exists.” Storm said, “I left my stable two days ago and haven't heard a thing from anypony there. My best guess is that they were all killed by the balefire bombs.”

“Oh… I see.” Willow Spark said. “So… what’s it like out there? We weren’t allowed to leave until Stable-tec opened the vault.”

“Let’s deal with the invaders first.” Storm said, “Then we can answer any questions you have about the outside world. Do you happen to have a weapon? It’d be helpful if there were four of us instead of three.”

“Oh!” Willow Spark said she floated out a revolver that was still in good condition, “I’ve got this. I’ve had some practice with it; I should be able to help you ponies take out the invaders.”

“That’ll be perfect,” Storm said, “There’s nopony left outside so we won't have to worry about an attack from behind. That’ll make our job a whole lot easier!”

“It’ll also be helpful to have somepony around that knows their way around the stable,” Sunny added.

“We’ve got this, We’ll have these invaders taken care of in no time!” Storm said.

“I’m so glad you three came, I didn’t know what I was gonna do. I thought I was going to end up dead or… or worse.”

“Don’t worry, Willow Spark.” Storm said, “We won’t let anything happen to you.” It was obvious to me that she was referring to herself, frost, and me, not Izzy and Sunny.

Izzy checked the box bearing the Ministry of Peacy logo and found some healing potions while Sunny, Willow Spark, and Storm prepared for the battle ahead.

“A large number of ponies left a while before you three arrived,” Willow Spark said, “I’m not sure why, but they made up a little more than half the number of ponies that were present when the invasion started.

“We’ll that’ll make it easier for us,” Storm said. “How many security ponies are there in the stable?”

“I’m not sure to be honest. We’ve never had much of a need for them so the amount is probably minimal. This is the first time the Stable has been opened so none of us have any combat experience. Most of the ponies that were up here to greet our visitors fled as soon as they saw the weapons.”

“Why didn’t you flee with them?” Sunny asked.

“I thought I’d be able to close the stable door again before too many of them could get in.” Willow Spark sighed, “There were still firing when I got in here, I’d have been able to close the door, but something was overriding my commands. All I could do was watch as the invaders came in. Some of them stared at me as they galloped by, I was surprised they didn’t try to get to me, but then I guessed they would when they finished in the stable; I thought I was a goner when about half of the group left, but they left me alone. I was at least able to send out the distress signal, so it was still good that I ran in here. I expect it’s the only one that’s been sent out. I guess the Overmare could have sent something to Stable-tec HQ, but that’s all the way in Fillydelphia and you said they’re most likely all gone so nopony would be around the receive the distress signal.”

“What can you tell us about the group that left? Was there a unicorn mare with cutiemarks stitched to her hide?”

“Yes. She was the first one in after the welcome party had been killed, she led the group out while before you got here, I’m surprised you didn’t see any of them. They had fancy energy weapons and better armor, I think I counted about fifteen of them.”

“Damn it!” Frost said, I flinched slightly and everypony looked at me.

“You ok, Winterbreeze?” Sunny asked.

“Yeah.” I replied, rubbing the back of my head, “Frost isn’t happy.”

“Can you hear the other versions of yourself? Can you talk to them? What's it like sharing your mind with two other versions of yourself anyway?” Izzy asked, eyes wide.

“Yes, I can hear them and communicate with them; I can see and feel everything that happens to my body when I’m not in control so I assume it works the same for them. It’s… weird to say the least, I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“Hang on,” Willow Spark said, “you share your body with… two other versions of yourself? How is something like that even possible?”

“Killing joke did this to me and there isn't a cure as far as I know.”

“Killing joke?”

“It’s a plant that can have a wide variety of effects when touched,” Sunny answered.

“Enough about me, let's see what we can do about your unwelcome guests. Does this stable have an armory?”

“Yes, It’s not labeled so there might be a chance that it’s gone undiscovered by the attackers. They’d need to know the password to get in, but I doubt it’d stop them since they were able to open the stable door.”

“Good, let's head there first and get some security barding for you three along with some ammo.”

Willow Spark opened the door; Sunny and I were the first out of the security office, Izzy and Willow Spark followed as we galloped through the door and into the hallways of the stable. The lights buzzed overhead as we slowed to a trot. We stopped when the hall came to a fork. I peeked down one way while Sunny peaked down the other. I could see the bodies of kirin lying on the ground, blood painted the walls. Willow Spark pointed us down the hallway that Sunny had checked. We followed her guidance until we came to a closed door. The kirin entered the password and the door opened revealing two raiders inside. They took one look at us and then started shooting.

We hid on either side of the door. I shook as I tried to ready myself to attack while Sunny fired into the room, I heard a grunt from one of the raiders, but it didn’t sound like they’d been taken out of the fight.

“Let me handle this, Breeze,” Frost said.

I thought you weren’t going to help us save the stable.

“Well, I changed my mind. Now let me handle this before you get us killed!”

I relinquished control to Frost. She looked at our pip-buck before looking into the armory and activating S.A.T.S. Time slowed as each of the raiders was given a gray border around their bodies, a percentage hovering above them. Frost lined up two shots on the raider with the higher percentage; time resumed its normal pace as two shots were fired at the pony. The first caught him in the chest and the second flew into his throat. He went down in a gurgling heap as Sunny finished off the other raider with a shot to the head.

“Hopefully the others will think all this noise was just other raiders having fun,” Sunny said. “The longer we can go without them knowing we’re here the easier it’ll be to take them out.” Frost nodded her agreement.

We found just enough barding for Sunny, Izzy, and Willow Spark before stocking up on ammo. Willow Spark used her magic to pick up a combat shotgun that hung on the wall. She holstered the revolver. Izzy didn’t take any new weapons; she raided the three medical boxes by the door finding four healing potions and two syringes of Med-x. When it looked like we were all ready Frost poked her head through the door and checked both ends of the hallway to see if any raiders had come to join in on the fun. She stepped through the door when she was satisfied that nopony was coming.

As soon as the four of us were out and had started down the hallway a raider came around a corner just ahead of them. The pony had fresh blood that flowed down her muzzle and dripped. Her eyes widened when she noticed us; Sunny and Frost were both caught off guard while Willow Spark pointed her new shotgun at the mare and blew a large chunk of the pony’s head away.

“Oh, my,” she said, dropping the shotgun.

“What’s wrong?” Frost asked. That was the last thing I’d expect Frost to ask another pony.

“Nothing, it’s just.” the kirin took a deep breath, held it for a bit then released, “That’s the first time I’ve ever had to kill anypony before.”

I’d felt the same way when I’d first killed a zebra; I froze up and stared at their lifeless body on the battlefield, blood leaking from a hold in their chest. I wanted to tell Willow Spark what I was told shortly after: That it needed to be done, it was them or me, that it would get easier in time, and that I should never relish the chance to take a life. I was also told that I should be a different pony when I was on the battlefield than when I was back home leading me to go by Winterstorm when deployed. That last bit of advice wouldn’t help the kirin much; she didn’t have the luxury of being able to leave the carnage behind to go home; the Stable may have been such a place, but I doubted it would be the same after it was saved. I wanted to say something to help Willow Spark, but Frost was the one in control, and I doubted she’d say anything.

“It was either him or us,” Frost said, obviously trying to add more emotion than she probably felt to her voice. “Sometimes you have to do things you’d rather not to protect the ones you care about.” Something must have been wrong with Frost, I’ve only shared this body with her for a day, but it was obvious that she was acting odd.

“Y–you’re right.” Willow Spark said, her horn glowing as she levitated the shotgun, “I have to protect everypony I care about.”

We continued our way through the stable checking each room for raiders as we passed them. We came across some rooms that some of the residents had locked themselves in; the rest of the rooms we checked were empty. The rest of the raiders were most likely together in groups or possibly one large group in a part of the stable that was large enough for them all. A scream followed by a gunshot echoed through the halls, followed by the faint sound of laughter.

“That sounded like it came from the Atrium!” Willow Spark said, “It’s not too far from here, I’ll bet the rest of the raiders are there.”

“Sunny and I will head for the Atrium.” Frost said, “You two check the rooms nearby, the last thing we need is for a couple of raiders to catch us from behind while we deal with the ones in the Atrium.” The three mares nodded before we split up.

I could hear Izzy’s and Willow Spark’s hoof steps as they went down a different hallway. Sunny and I followed the signs that pointed us in the direction of the Atrium. The smell of blood steadily grew as we trotted on, we tried our best to make as little sound as possible; even though Frost thought that the last thing the raiders were worried about was being attacked. They’ve successfully taken over this stable and are now executing prisoners. They all think they’ve won and I’ll come along and prove them wrong.

I lacked her confidence, We were outnumbered. Winning the battle would be difficult and I was worried that Sunny and the others would get hurt before the battles ended. The smell of smoke and cooking meat hit us suddenly making Frost and Sunny both cringe at the smell. Even though I wasn’t in control of the body I too could smell it. I’d never forget that smell as long as I lived. It was the smell of a pony on fire. Frost realized this too, but didn’t say anything to Sunny right away.

“What is that?” Sunny asked.

“They are cooking somepony in there.” Frost narrowed our eyes, her thought going back to the same group of ponies I was thinking about, “If I’m not mistaken, these raiders belong to a gang of cannibals called The Hunters. I’ve run into them before.”

Sunny paled, “You mean. They e–eat ponies?”

“Yes, and I’ll bet they were just dying to see what kirin tasted like. We need to get in there before they kill and cook anypony else.”

Sunny nodded and we both galloped down the hall. The smell of fire and cooked kirin grew as we followed the signs. We slowed to a trot when the open door to the atrium came into view. The smell was very strong now and we could hear ponies yelling and laughing. We silently took positions on either side of the door before we slowly glanced in to get a look at what was going on.

The atrium looked to be the heart of the stable. I didn’t remember there being one in stable 0, but I also didn’t explore it much. Some appletrees were growing from a large patch of dirt. There was a second story with a handrail that some of the hunters were leaning on. There was a small group of kirin that huddled together in a corner with a stallion pointing a gun at them. In the center of the Atrium was a large cookfire, above the cookfire was a dead kirin mare stuck on a makeshift spit that a unicorn was turning. Sunny moved down the wall away from the door before vomiting. I guess I was lucky that Frost was in control, otherwise, I’d have done the same. The smell of her flesh brought me back to the bonfire of the foal at Nipton; back to the foalkiller that I let get away.

There were eight Hunters in total. If the hunters had attacked on their own without the group led by that unicorn then they’d have lost. Even if the security kirin here hadn’t seen proper battle they’d have the numbers to withstand such an invasion. Judging from the pile of guns and barding there was nopony left in security, the kirin in the stable outnumbered the Hunters, but they had no way of knowing that the other group had left and that there was only these eight with the possibility of a few more somewhere in the stable. Hopefully, Izzy and Willow Spark could root them out and deal with them while Sunny and I handled the rest.

On the other side of the atrium from where Sunny and I were was a large oval window. I could see some kirin looking through it in fear. I noticed that one of them was bigger than the others, they looked like they were almost the same size that Princess Celestia was. She must not be as powerful otherwise the attackers wouldn’t have made it far into the stable before being stopped by her. I wondered if kirin magic was as strong as unicorn magic. They both had horns that glowed when casting magic, that was the only similarity between them that I noticed with my limited knowledge of magic. Willow Spark was the first kirin I met; so far, the only magic I’ve seen her do was levitation, which every unicorn could do. I’d have to ask about it if we survived.

Sunny returned after a moment and asked: “is there a plan?”

Frost smiled then said: “Make them beg for Celestia’s mercy.”

The earth pony was about to say something when Frost lept out of cover, activating S.A.T.S. She lined up two headshots on ponies that had a decent hit percentage. Two shots were fired when she released it; one missed, and the other blew the muzzle off a unicorn that had been licking her lips just moments ago. The muzzleless mare looked over at us in shock before collapsing on the floor. The other eight ponies began to fire on our position. Frost chuckled to herself. Sunny gave us a concerned look. Frost and Sunny shot into the Atrium when the firing had died down a bit. Frost missed her target, but Sunny was able to hit one that was on the second floor in the flank. He yelled when the bullet bit into him and accidentally staggered over the railing and landed with an audible crunch on the ground. He was dragging himself towards a doorway, leaving a small trail of his blood in his wake. Frost was going to put him out of his misery, but stopped and fired at another pony that ducked behind cover, just in time to avoid the bullet that would have ended her.

Frost peaked in again when a moment presented itself; she fired at a pony that was hiding behind the trunk of the tree the hunters had cut down to use to cook their meal. Three shots were fired, two of them missed but one struck home, tearing into the hunter's chest. The stallion stood up, he managed to fire back at Frost with his pipe-rifle thing; a bullet pinged off the metal a few inches from her head. Now this is exciting! Frost thought after the near miss. Frost and Sunny were taking cover when a metal apple bounced through the door and landed between them. Frost looked at it and froze as memories rushed back, memories that we didn’t remember, memories that we shared. We were brought out of the memory when Sunny tackled us.

“Move!” she barked, I was in control again. I did as she asked and galloped into the nearby room. Sunny closed the door just before the little metal apple exploded. “Are you all right?” She asked.

“Yeah,” I said, climbing to my hooves. I looked at Sunny and saw that a bullet had hit her just below the hock on her left hind leg.

“Sunny you’ve been shot!” I said before looking around the room to see if there was a medical kit on the walls. When I didn’t see one I began to scroll through inventory on my pip-buck.

“I’m fine, Winterbreeze.” Sunny said, “It’s good to have you back, though I’m surprised to see that Frost has given control back to you.”

“I am too, I can feel her and Storm, but they’re faint. I haven’t heard from Storm since we met Willow Spark. I don’t know what's going on inside my head anymore.” I eventually found what I was looking for in my inventory. “Got it, I’ve got two healing potions on me. We’ll have to make do with that until we meet up with Izzy and Willow again. That unicorn’s probably loaded with healing potions by now.” I took out one of the positions and hoofed it to Sunny.

“I hope they’re all right,” She said, before drinking the potion. “We’d better get back out there before they start to think we’re dead and leave the atrium.”

“You… you’re right.” I stammered, for once wishing that Frost or Storm were here to take control. They both had a better chance at surviving when in combat.” I shook as I followed Sunny out of the room. The floor in front of the Atrium where the grenade landed was scorched. I followed the orange mare as she crept toward the door, she kept her pistol ready in her mouth. Somepony stook their head through the door and was rewarded with a bullet between the eyes. He hit the ground with a thud, other ponies could be heard scuffling around just behind him. Three down, six to go. I thought to myself. I can do this, I can DO this!

I couldn’t do this. Sunny and I had retaken our positioning and were firing at the remaining Hunters. She had taken out another pony while the most I contributed was ruining somepony’s hair. There were five of them left now, it would almost be an even fight if Izzy and Willow were here with us. I worried about them. Surely they’d have come to us by now. I feared that they’d run into a group of Hunters and were not able to take them out. I prayed to whoever would listen, Celestial, Luna, even Tirec (if he existed) that they were safe.

I peeked into the atrium and activated S.A.T.S. I picked the pony with the highest hit percentage and set all shots that I could at their head. All missed, save for the second to last. The bullet caught the mare in the shoulder; she fell behind the log of a tree with a shriek. I ducked back, I couldn’t believe that I’d actually hit somepony, though they were still alive and would be shooting at us again, but I was proud that I’d been able to hit one of them. I was starting to believe that I actually COULD do this. I popped out again ready to finish off the mare that I’d injured. I shrieked when a bullet hit me about the fet lock on my organic leg. I collapsed behind cover, holding the limb to my chest. Sunny looked at me in concern, but I waved her to stay where she was with my cybernetic. As long as I had that I’d be able to fight.

It took me a bit before I could get back on my hooves. The pain in my leg throbbed so I used my cybernetic to get myself back into position.

“There’s about four of them left,” Sunny reported. I assumed the one I’d hit was either dead or one of the four survivors. I nodded at her just as I noticed that S.A.T.S. had replenished itself. That meant there was a good chance I could turn the four remaining Hunters into three, maybe two if I was lucky enough. I needed to keep in mind that Frost had decided to let the pony that had fallen over the balcony survive; probably so he’d suffer longer, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be able to shoot one of us when our guard was down.

Sunny and I peaked into the Atrium at the same time; I noticed that there was a group of kirin watching the battle as it raged on. The kirin at the front of the group had a green mane with a blue coat, opposite of Willow Spark’s coloring, however, I could no longer see the larger Kirin. They probably thought we wouldn’t be able to take out the Hunters, If Frost or Storm were here we could. With me in control I wasn’t so sure we’d survive, I’d have to rely on Sunny to take out most of the ponies. The remaining Hunters were hiding behind cover; I kept myself ready, at any moment one of them would pop out when they thought they were safe to do so and fire at us. Eventually one of them did; I activated S.A.T.S. immediately. It wasn’t fully charged, but there was enough for one shot, which I set on the pony’s head. I released it and the next moment their head became a spray of gore on the wall behind him.

Shouting came from around the corner down the hall behind where Sunny and I were followed by the sound of ponies galloping. I ducked behind the wall and fixed my gaze in the direction of the sound.

“What’s going on?” I heard Storm ask.

We’re in the middle of a battle and it sounds like reinforcements are heading this way from behind us. I thought back, glad that she’d finally returned, Where the Tartarus did you go?

“I’m not sure, the last thing I remember was seeing that fine piece of flank.”

Is sex the only thing you think about, Storm?

“No! I think about lots of stuff, ya know. For example, I think about stuff like… like that bottle of Evermare the bartender gave us and that Chem that Grandmare took. Oh, and mares, of course.”

Great. I mentally sighed, Look, Can you think about combat long enough to keep us alive?

“Sure thing! But It has been ages since we’ve bedded a mare. We need to do something about that.”

I flushed, the last thing I needed was a version of myself reminding me about my nonexistent sex life before the bombs fell.

Just deal with these ponies, that’s all you need to worry about right now.

“Sure thing, Breezy!”

Don’t call me that! I thought to the infuriating version of myself. Between Frost’s blood lust and Storm’s desire for pleasure, I was sure that I’d be dead before saving Dewdrop.

I relinquished control of my body to her.

Storm stretched our muscles as soon as we were in control. When she was ready she looked over to Sunny and said: “Hold out here, I’ll see what I can do about the ponies heading this way.”

Sunny nodded then said: “Just make sure they are enemies before you attack them, Storm. We split up a while ago, there's a good chance that Izzy and Willow Spark are being chased this way.”

“I wouldn’t dream of bringing harm to mares as gorgeous as them.”

“Just kill the enemy.” Sunny deadpaned before returning her attention to the Hunters in the Atrium.
What’s her problem? Storm asked as she stalked toward the corner where the hallway turned to the right, making sure to keep out of view of anypony in the atrium.

“Maybe she’d also tired of you lusting after mares. Can’t keep yourself under control?
There’ll be plenty of time for control when we're dead! Storm laughed

“The point is for us not to die, Storm.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just because we share this body doesn’t mean we share all the same goals. All three of us want to save Dewdrop, but as far as I can tell that’s the only common goal we have. Frost and You have different desires than I beyond that.

“I guess we’ll have to figure all that out late. For now, we need to get out of this stable alive.”

Storm stopped at the corner, pressing herself against the wall, We could hear the galloping growing louder, behind us the gunfight raged on. Storm slowly peaked around the corner and saw that two Hunters were heading for us, one of them had a sizable lead on the other while they were being chased by Sunny and Izzy; neither one of the Hunters had a gun on them. Strom grinned as she backed away, she continued to hold the pistol in her mouth as she ejected the blade from our cybernetic then positioned herself as she waited for the first pony to round the corner. When he did Storm stuck out her hoof and the blade sank deep into his throat as he galloped. His eyes widened just before Storm heaved him forward, yanking the blade from his throat. He writhed on the ground as the second Hunter came around. He stopped and stared at his friend laying in a growing pool of blood. The stallion glanced around for a way to run as Storm aimed the pistol and ended the hunter.

A moment later Izzy and Willow Spark came around the corner, panting.

“Those… were the… only two… that we found,” Willow Spark said in between breaths.

“They didn’t have any… weapons.” Izzy said, “They ran… as soon as they… saw us.”

“Good, that means there’s a good chance we’ve got the rest of the invaders locked down inside the atrium behind me.” Storm nodded in the direction of the door that led into the Atrium. “Sunny and I should be able to take out the rest. You to rest up for a bit. I’ll let you know when it’s safe to head in.” Both mares nodded before Storm turned and galloped toward the spot we had opposite Sunny.

Storm peeked into the room after and saw that there were about five Hunters left. Storm made eye contact with Sunny before nodding and charging into the Atrium dashing for cover behind an overturned table.

“What the Tartarus are you doing?” The orange mare called out as Storm ran. There were three ponies on the bottom floor and two on the top. One must have moved up there while Storm was away.

“Focus on the two up top!” Storm shouted around the pistol in her mouth.

“All right,” Sunny replied from the opposite side of the wall, I’ll leave the other three to you!”

Storm could get herself close to two of the three ponies that were on the first floor of the atrium, The closest pony to Storm hid behind a tree that was close enough for Storm to close the distance and take her out with the blade, after that she should have a chance to reach the second mare, also hiding behind an apple tree behind and to the right of the first; That is, if she didn’t reposition her self in the meantime. The Stallion towards the back of the atrium would be a different story. He was also using an overturned table as cover and there wasn’t anything close to him that Storm could hide behind and wait for an opening to rush him. I’ll worry about him after these too, I guess.

“You should worry about him now!” I urged, “He could pick you off at any moment if he gets a clear shot.”

There’s no fun in worrying about stuff like that, Breeze. You gotta live in the moment!

“I’d settle for getting to live another day, thank you!”

Storm shook her head as she waited for a pause in the enemy’s gunfire. When it came she leaped over the table and galloped to the tree the mare was hiding behind, the Hunter peaked around the tree and gasped when she saw Storm coming at her. Storm took advantage of this, ejecting the blade and sticking it in the mare's mouth, causing the mare to twitch. Storm pulled her to the ground, pulling the blade free. The mare's head hit the ground, blood flowing from her mouth and from the back of her head. Storm pulled back and slammed her blade into the side of her head, piercing the brain. The pony squeaked at the moment of impact then fell limp.

Storm pressed herself against the tree as the remaining Hunters fired on her position. She watched as Sunny looked out and shot up at the ponies on the second floor. One of them shrieked followed by a body hitting the ground. Storm glanced around the tree, the second mare hadn’t repositioned; the stallion was hiding behind cover. On the ground was the corpse of the Hunter that Sunny had just shot. Only three left, Storm thought, easy-peasy!

Storm stalked from tree to tree at every time she felt safe to do so. It didn’t take long to get close to her second target. Storm glanced around the tree and saw that the mare had moved to a different tree, a little farther away. Storm was disappointed until she noticed that the Stallion had his attention away from her as he fired at where Sunny was. Gotcha! Storm thought, leaning out, pistol still in our mouth. She activated S.A.T.S. and lined up all shots on the stallion's head. There was only a 25% chance to hit, but Storm felt good about her chances. She released the spell and all shots but one missed; it only took the one to drop him. There were only two Hunters left now, one up top and one down here with Storm. It wouldn’t be long until there was only one left.

“Oh, shit!” The mare said she must have noticed that she was alone down here with Storm. The mare made a break for the table that the stallion had used for cover. Storm saw her and knew that she could catch her before she reached it.

“Cover me!” She shouted back at Sunny, “I’m about to do something dumb!” Storm left her cover and galloped for the fleeing mare. She screamed when she turned to look behind her.

“Please! I don’t wanna die!” The mare said moments before Storm reached her. She gave a little jump with the blade at the ready, she slammed it home in the back of the Hunter's skull. The mare collapsed while Storm was able to land on three hooves, she wiped the blood that was on the blade off on the mare’s barding before retracting it. Looking up, Storm saw the last hunter aiming down at her. A shot rang out one moment and the Hunters head was gone the next.

All the Hunters were dead.

“It’s safe to come out now!” Storm shouted back at Sunny. She sat on her haunches and took a deep breath. What a workout! Sunny, Izzy, and Willow Spark began trotting over to where Storm sat when a sharp pain bit her in the back. Storm turned to her left and found the Hunter that Frost left alive, barely able to hold the pistol in her mouth. I’d forgotten about her. Before Storm had a chance to move the mare fired a second shot that hit us in the back. The pain flashed through our body as Storm fell. Sunny began to gallop for cover.

“Fuck me,” Storm breathed as Sunny fired a shot that buried itself into the hunter’s chest. Willow Spark and Izzy rushed toward us. “They came… out of… nowhere.

The pain in our back was unbearable, Storm was somehow able to withstand the pain, but I wasn’t. I didn’t know where Frost was or if she was feeling the pain, but I didn’t care at that moment. It was too much for me and I wanted it to stop. Suddenly I felt the pain begin to dull as everything started to grow dark. I wasn’t dying, Storm was saying something to Izzy as she took out a healing potion she’d stashed in her saddlebags. She held it to Storm's mouth as she drank; for me, things continued to darken before all I saw was black.

…

I was in the Ever After again, at least that's what it felt like anyway. I found it hard to believe that the Ever After was a black void covered with stars. I’d hoped it would be more of a paradise, not this lonely place. Being here made me afraid to see what Tartars might be like. I was still sure that the past two conversations with Twister and Princess Luna had been nothing more than Dreams that were conjured up from stress. That's what I hoped anyway, the last thing I needed was the ability to converse with the dead when I slept. I just wanted to have normal dreams when I went to sleep; I wanted to wake up feeling somewhat well-rested without being troubled by what dead ponies had asked of me.

Yet, here I was in the Void again, only this time I decided to sit down and wait for myself to wake up. I didn’t want to speak with anypony. The stars seemed to watch me as I sat there, waiting for me to call out to somepony. Would somepony show up if I said their name? I wanted to try, but I also didn’t want to feed into this illusion that I could speak with the dead. It did get me going when Twister asked me to go out and save Dewdrop, but that was something that I would have done anyway; I didn’t need a dream to ask me to. The stars seemed to all stare at me like I was intruding on them.

Hoofsteps began to echo around me, soft at first but grew louder. Judging by the pace of the hoofsteps the pony wasn’t in a hurry, they just calmly made their way to me. I got up and scanned the void for anypony, but there was nothing. The hoofsteps continued to grow louder as they sounded around me. The pony should be close enough for me to see them, but I was still alone. My heart began to race as I continued searching for the pony. I turned around and found the Skeletal alicorn I’d dreamed of when I left my pod; The first time I saw her she appeared to me as nothing more than a walking alicorn skeleton, there was more to her now. The tiny purple flames in her eye sockets burrowed into me as she approached, she wore an ancient-looking black coat that was frayed and had various holes and rips. Her mane flowed the same way that Celestia and Luna’s would. The dead alicorn’s mane was black with patches of purple and red that washed through it. She was noticeably taller than what I remembered Celestia being.

“You do not belong here, mortal.” The alicorn said, “Why do you continue to tread where you’re not supposed to be?”

I shrank away from the alicorn; I didn’t bother running away, I knew catching me would be easy for her. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I–I…”

“Speak up!” the alicorn barked, spreading her skeletal wings.

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could the alicorn along with the stars vanished.

…

My sight came back to me as I returned to my body. Storm was following Willow Spark as she led us somewhere, Izzy and Sunny were following as well.

Welcome back, Storm thought, were did you go? You disappeared after I was shot.

“I’m not sure, I was having some nightmare and just came out of it. Is Frost back yet?”

“I’m here.”

Look at that The gang’s all here!

“Where are we going?” I asked.

Willow Spark is taking us to see the overmare. She told us she wanted to meet and thank us for saving them.

“Let me take over then.”

But I wanna do the talking

“You’ll want to do more than talking, Storm.” Frost said, “Let Breeze handle this; we don’t need you making us look like a fool.”

Fine. Storm sighed, before stopping. I felt myself gain control of my body again, I let out a soft sigh of relief.

We continued silently as Willow Spark led us to the Overmare. There was an audible click when we reached the door to the Overmare’s office before it slid open. All the kirin stared at us as we all entered, we stood there as the Overmare approached us. She wore the same stable suit that the other kirin wore, it didn’t have any markings on it, the only difference was it was larger than the other suits. The kirin had a maroon coat with a lime-green mane that matched, her horn was long with a soft curve. The large Kirin stopped before us and looked at each of us before bowing her head.

“Thank you all for assisting us with the invaders.”

Willow Spark bowed her head, and the rest of us mimicked her.

“We’re just sorry we couldn’t get here sooner,” I said.

“It is most fortunate that you three came when you did. I’m curious, about how you found us.

“We picked up a distress signal that Willow Spark put out on my pip-buck, after that we came to see if we could help.”

The Overmare looked at Willow Spark and said: “If it weren’t for you then the stable would have been lost.”

Willow Spark flushed, she must not have been used to receiving praise. I heard a chuckle from one of the kirin in the office, but It seemed like I was the only one who heard it. I scanned the kirin in the office looking for whomever thought something was funny. When I didn’t find them I returned my attention to the Overmare who was still talking to Willow Spark.

“Your father would be very proud of you.” I heard the chuckle again but didn’t search them out a second time. I was sure that the kirin would turn up eventually.

“Thank you, Mother.” Willow Spark, bowing her head in respect.

I was surprised to find out that the Overmare was Willow Spark’s mother. When I looked at the tall kirin I was reminded of Celestia and Luna, neither of them had ever taken a mate; Cadence was the only alicorn that formed a family. But the overmare wasn’t either of the princesses, I wasn’t sure why she was taller than the rest either. Her body was the same as the other Kirin, only taller. I wondered if just being the leader was enough for her body to grow into this. I’d have to ask Willow Spark when I had a chance. I knew pretty much nothing about the kirin and I was anxious to learn more about them now that I’ve met one.

The Overmare finished her conversation with Willow Spark and returned her attention to Sunny, Izzy, and myself. She looked at the three of us for a moment before asking: “What are your names?” We each game her our names in turn, “It’s a pleasure to meet you three, My name is Spring Rain.” Spring Rain turned toward the other kirin in her office. “Rowan Light, will you and the rest of security make your way through the stable and let the others know that it’s safe to come out?”

“As you wish,” Said one of the kirin, I’d seen him before, he was the one with the blue coat and green mane, opposite of Willow’s colors. If I were a betting mare I’d say they were siblings. I was sure I’d find out the answer to the soon enough. Rowan Light made his way for the exit and the Security kirin filed in behind him.

“A large group of the invaders left before we arrived,” I said, Spring Rain looked at me.

“Why would they leave, they had us where they wanted us.”

“I think that group was here for something and left after getting it. I’d ask your security Kirin to check and see if anything vital is missing.” Spring Rain nodded her agreement before asking them to keep their eyes open for anything missing. Rowan Light nodded before leaving the Overmare’s office.

“You three are welcome to stay here as long as you like, I’m afraid there are now some rooms that will be vacant for some time. You’ve saved us and I want you three to know that you’ll always have a home here amongst the kirin.” The Overmare smiled down at us, before turning away and coughing. After the fit subsided she looked at us again. “I apologize for that, I’ve come down with something in the past few days. Is there anything else that you’d like to discuss, If not I’m sure Willow Spark would like to give you a proper tour of the stable.”

“There’s just one thing, I’d like to ask, If you don’t mind,” Sunny said; Spring Rain nodded for her to ask her question, “Why did you send a greeting party to meet those ponies when they opened the stable door?”

“We thought it was Stable-tec. Stable 24 was to remain closed until Stable-tec gave us the ‘all-clear’ signal. I thought that it was them coming to inform us that it was safe to leave the stable. Some of my kirin wanted to greet them and I let the first eight who volunteered to go. I fear these events will haunt us for some time. Half the kirin in the stable didn’t want the stable to be opened, I fear that after today more of my kirin will come to think that.”

“It’ll be ok, mother. The outside can’t be all bad, we were saved by outsiders, I’m sure the other kirin will see that and be willing to interact with the outside world.”

“I hope that is true, we’ve been able to make it through these past two centuries with no incidents coming from the outside.”

“It’s not the best out there,” I said not wanting to like Spring Rain and Willow, “But there are good ponies out there building settlements. I know of one settlement that’s just starting up, but I think it could grow to be something wonderful for the wasteland. I can give you the location and maybe you can start trading with them. I’m with a group called the Minutemares, we’re rebuilding our numbers and it would mean a lot of you and you’re kirin joined up. We won’t be able to rebuild unless we do it together.”

“That sounds Interesting,” Spring Rain said.

“That’s a pretty good slogan for the Minutemares you’ve got there,” Izzy said with a warm smile. “We can’t rebuild unless we do it together!” She giggled and I flushed.

Willow Spark was getting ready to give us a tour of the Stable when Rowan Light galloped through the door.

“Mother!” He said, coming to a stop before the Overmare.

“What is it, my son?”

“The water talisman, It’s gone!”

“They took the water talisman?” Spring Rain asked, her eyes wide as they burrowed into her son.

“Y–yes, it’s gone.” Rowan Light said, looking down at his hooves, “The ponies that left took it with them.”

“Winterbreeze,” Spring Rain said, now looking at me. She looked somewhat calm, but I could see the fear in her eyes. I’d seen that look in the eyes of ponies and zebra on the battlefield. “I assume the modified stable barding on you is yours, so you’re also a stable dweller. Do you know if you’re stable has any spare water talismans? That talisman those ponies took was the only one we were given.”

“I doubt that my stable still has it,” I said, somberly, “Those ponies attacked my stable some time ago, they killed my sister and foalnapped my niece while we were in cryo-pods. The rest of the stable ponies were killed so I’d assume they took the water talisman as well.”

“Damn it!” Spring Rain shouted, stomping a hoof on the floor. “ we need a new water talisman.”

“How long do we have before we run out of water?” Willow Spark asked in a shaky voice.

“I’m not sure, I’ll have to ask somekirin in maintenance to see how long the water we have will last us.”

“Why not use this as an opportunity to get some of your kirin to leave the stable?” Sunny asked. “There are plenty of settlements that will trade water for various things.”

“We’ve lived in this stable for two centuries now. Overmares in the past have refused any and all requests to allow the kirin to leave the stable. I’m more open to the thought, but I won’t force my kirin to do something against their wishes. Both of my children fall on either side of the debate. Rowan Light is adamant that we remain isolated; Willow Spark wanted us to open up and explore the land. I’m afraid that any kirin that wanted to open and leave the stable might of had a change of heart after the invasion. For now, we need to have a water talisman. Maybe my kirin will come around to leaving the stable in time, but for now, I think it’s best if we find a new water talisman or a unicorn that’s capable of creating one.”

Springrain began to pace around her office, deep in thought. The rest of us watched, I didn’t know what we could do to help besides trying to get the kirin to open up trade with nearby settlements.

“Do you know where one might be found?” I asked.

“Only stables, I’m not sure if there are other places that one might be found. Besides, we need one that’s strong enough to provide water to an entire stable. I fear that I might have to send one somekirin out to search for a solution.” Spring Rain continued to pace, “I don’t want to have to force one of the kirin to leave the stable.”

“You won’t have to.” Willow said, stepping toward her mother, “I’ll go, my opinion on opening the stable hasn’t changed. I’ll find a new water talisman and bring it back, hopefully, the other kirin will come around to opening the stable.”

Spring Rain looked over to her daughter, eyes wide. “You can’t, It’s too dangerous!”

“I have to, none of the others will want to go unless forced. I’m the only Kirin in the stable that’s willing to step hoof out there. I’m the only one that will be able to find the talisman.”

I noticed Rowan Light looking at his sister with surprise.

“I– I don’t… Willow, it’s still dangerous out there.”

“I know, but I’ll be fine.” Willow looked over to me, she smiled then returned her attention to her mother, “I’ll be fine, Mother. I’ll be with Winterbreeze and her friends. I’ll bring back a water talisman before you know it.”

Level Up:

New Perk:
Toughness - Look at that, you’ve finally been shot. Good thing it was nothing more than a flesh wound to Storm. Gain 10% damage resistance.

New companion:
Willow Spark
Special:
Strength: 4
Perception: 9
Endurance: 5
Charisma: 4
Intelligence: 6
Agility: 6
Luck: 5

Chapter 6: Destroyer Stadium (Awaiting re-write)

We left the overmares office as she began to speak with somepony through the intercom on her desk. We were permitted to take what supplies we needed when we left. Spring Rain had told us that she’d speak to find out how much water they had left and would have something to tell us by the time we finished. Willow took us back to the armory to get more ammo, After that, we went to medical to get more healing potions and some med-x. Lastly, we went to the kitchen to get a bite to eat and take some food for the road. As we made our way around the stable I couldn’t help but notice a lot of sprinklers around, It was like Stable-tec designed to withstand multiple large fires.

We were on our way back to the Overmare’s office when Rowan Light stopped just before we reached the atrium. I noticed that Willow shrank away from her brother's gaze. I could tell that he was somepony that I would hate, he stood there with a look on his face that told me he thought he was the most important kirin in the stable, that everypony he met was beneath him. It was ponies like him that helped plunge the world into chaos. I could tell that Storm and Frost wanted to do the same thing that I did; I wanted to buck this smug asshole through a wall.

“So, you think you’re ready to head out into the wasteland?”

“Yes.” She said meekly, not looking him in the eyes.

“I guess it's for the best, honestly. I think it's good that you’re the one who has to leave to find a new water talisman. You’re the only one foolish enough to think that opening our home to that wasteland is a good idea. For a time, it will be good for the kirin to be free from your poisonous opinions.”

“We c–can’t stay in the stable forever, Rowan,” Willow said with mock confidence in her voice, “The kirin need to–”

“The kirin need to stay inside the stable where we are safe. What they don’t need is a filly fooler like you trying to persuade them to leave the stable so they can go die out in the wasteland. Honestly, your leaving can only end well. Either you return with the Talisman, or you die and we send a more capable kirin to find one. So go ahead, go out into the wasteland and die like you’d have the rest of us do!”

Willow opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to find a good response for her brother; when none came she turned and ran away sobbing. Rowan Light giggled as he watched her sister flee. I couldn’t believe that these two were siblings, Twister and I would fight on occasion, but I’d never wish for her death, even if she was the exact opposite of me in every way. Twister was my sister. I’d expect that most ponies would do the same as I if they were in Rowan’s hooves. We’d wish our sister the best and tell her we hoped for her swift return. This kirin was a piece of shit; he was a bad kirin, through and through.

“Rowan light!” Frost said, wrenching control of my body away from me. This took Storm and me by surprise, so far we’d traded control willingly, for the most part. None of us have ever taken control away from the other outright. The kirin looked at us, grinning.

“What is it, outsider.”

“Oh nothing, really,” Frost said, batting her eyes at the kirin, I noticed that he flushed a little. “I just wanted to let you know that if you ever make her cry again I will turn your face into a mangled pile of meat.” Frost smiled before turning and galloping after Willow, Frost returned control to me and I continued after the kirin. I turned down a hallway that I’d seen Willow take, she was faster than I was. When I didn’t see her I slowed to a trot, I could hear her sniffling as I passed a custodial closet. I gently knocked on the door. “Willow, it’s Winterbreeze. Do you mind if I come in?”

There was no response, I went to knock again when the door slid open. The kirin sat on the floor, tears flowing down her cheeks. She whipped them away as I slowly entered, the door closing behind me. Fresh tears broke free from her eyes leaving fresh streaks down her cheeks as I sat across from her. I didn’t say anything right away, we sat there for a moment; I wanted to give her time to collect herself. She wiped the new tears away again, her sobs turning to heavy breaths that slowed with each breath.

“I’m sorry, Winterbreeze.” She said.

“Sorry for what?” I asked.

“For joining up with you in your friends without asking you first. I don’t know what I was thinking, you three wouldn’t want a weak link like me tagging along out there.”

“Hey, don’t talk about yourself like that,” I said, standing up. “You’re not a weak link. Without you, we wouldn’t have been able to save you’re stable from the Hunters. ”

“I am weak!” She said, her voice shook as it threatened more crying. “When those ponies attacked my stable, I first locked myself in the security office and hoped they wouldn’t come in to get me. I didn’t know there was any way to send out a distress signal. If I hadn’t found that radio you three would have never come here and we’d still be at the mercy of the invaders.”

“But you did find the radion and you brought us here. Not only that, you joined us after we arrived, you could have remained in the security office and waited for us to clear out the stable. You were as much a part of the liberation of your home as Sunny, Izzy, and me. You are not weak.” The kirin mare didn’t respond. Willow didn’t meet my gaze, she looked down at my hooves, at my cybernetic in particular. “Rowan also called you a filly fooler, I take it that's something that’s frowned upon in the stable?”

“Y–yes…”

“Thought so. Listen, Willow Spark, That’s nothing to be ashamed of. There were ponies like that before the bombs fell, but there weren’t many of them. Anypony that had a problem with mares that liked mares, stallions that liked stallions, or what have you were in the minority. Sure they made themselves known by throwing around insults like ‘filly fooler,’ but in truth, most ponies thought all that was perfectly normal. It may be frowned upon to be into mares in the stable, but I’d expect that it wouldn’t be an issue to ponies out in the wasteland. There may be ponies that think the same way as Rowan does, but one of the perks of being in the wasteland is that you can just shoot them and equestria would be better for it. Don’t let your brother get you down, honestly, I’m surprised he’s able to dress himself every day. Don’t let an idiot like him get to you.”

Willow looked up at me and gave a little smile. “Thanks for coming after me,” She said, wiping away the last of her tears, “when I was a filly I’d come in here and cry when he was mean to me. No kirin ever in to comfort me. I wish I were as brave as you.”

“Me, brave?” I asked, “I’m scared all the time. I guess that I’m lucky I share my body with two versions of myself that don’t seem to be afraid of anything.” I thought for a moment then added: “Except grenades, I guess.”

Willow looked at me like I was crazy; she was probably right If I was being honest with myself.

“You share your body with… two other yous?”

“Yeah,” I said, rubbing a hoof on the back of my head, “It’s a funny story. C’mon, I’ll tell you on our way to the atrium. Oh, before I forget. Don’t worry about joining me without asking first, Sunny and Izzy did the same thing, we’ll probably go our separate ways when we get to our destination. If you’re lucky we’ll find somepony there that can help you with the water talisman.”

Willow Spark nodded, she followed me out of the closet as I began to tell her about my encounter with the killing joke.

Sunny and Izzy were waiting for us by the atrium entrance. I’d told Willow all that I remembered about my tumble in the killing joke; I left the pile of burning foals out of the story. I figured she’d be better off not knowing about that part, it already haunted me enough, especially because I was too scared to stand against dogma, instead, I ran. Next time I saw him I wouldn’t make the same mistake, I’d break each of his horns before setting him on fire; or Frost would at least, I was sure she or Storm would have the stomach to do that. I doubted that I could.

“Everything all right?” Sunny asked.

“It’s fine,” I said, “are you ready, Willow?”

“I am,” she said, buffing her chest out, in mock confidence once again.

I didn’t blame her for being nervous about leaving her home, I would be too if I were her. I’d only spent three days in the wasteland and it’s already had a massive effect on me. I’d have to ensure the wasteland didn’t hit her too hard while she was traveling with me. I didn’t know what she’d do after we split up. If I had time to I'd help her on her mission, but time is what I didn’t have. I’d already spent too much time away from my own goal and I wanted to avoid taking any other debtors if I could.

The bodies of the hunters had been cleared out of the atrium while we were away. It looked almost normal save for the blood stains along with the scorched grass where they’d been roasting a kirin. I could almost smell the roasting flesh when I saw the blacked grass and rocks, thankfully the poor kirin had been taken away; I wasn’t sure what the inhabitants of stable 24 normally did with their dead, but I was sure that the deceased Hunters didn’t get the same treatment. I wished I’d remembered to tell Storm about the pony that Frost had let crawl away; while Frost probably thought of nothing more than extending the pony's suffering, I would have liked to question them. Maybe I could have convinced them to tell me who their leader was in exchange for medical treatment.

Spring Rain greeted us as we entered the overmare’s office. She was the only kirin inside, the rest had cleared out.

“It looks like you’re ready for your journey, Willow Spark.” Spring Rain said, her daughter nodded. “Are you sure that you want to do this? I can always ask the stable for a volunteer, you don’t have to be the one that has to brave what's out there.”

“My mind’s made up, mother. I’ll leave the stable and I’ll return with a water talisman before you know it.” Willow smiled up at her mother.

“All right then. I’ll pray for your swift return.” The Overmare looked at her daughter momentarily, lost in thought and worry. “Listen, Willow. I know that you and you’re brother have equal claim to the overmare position. I do not doubt that he’ll be hoping that you never return, or at the least, you decided to live out there. If I were Stable-tec, I’d have the overmare position be something that’s decided upon by a vote, not lineage.” Spring rain moved from behind her desk to stand in front of her daughter. “Please,” she said, raising her hoof and placing it on Willow’s cheek, “promise me that you’ll return. Rowan Light would make a good overstalion in years past, but I expect a kirin like you will be what the stable needs once I’m gone.”

I watched as a small tear rolled down the overmare’s cheek as she looked into her daughter’s eyes. Willow began to cry as well.

“I’ll return, mother. I swear on Rain Shine that I’ll return with a water talisman.”

“The kirin will eagerly await your return, I’m sure that the others will see that you’re worthy of being the next overmare of Stable 24 after this act of heroism.”

Spring Rain pulled Willow Spark into an embrace. The two kirin hugged for a long moment before they released each other.

“How long will the water that we have last?” Willow asked.

“About a month, maybe two if we start rationing it out. I hope you return before we have to resort to that though.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to be here before that becomes an issue.”

“Please return soon, even if you don’t find it. I don’t want you to die out there, I don’t think I’d be able to handle the loss of one of my foals.” Spring Rain leaned down and kissed Willow Spark on the cheek. “Promise that you’ll return after two months, even if you haven't completed your mission.”

“I promise!” Willow said, this time, her confidence was genuine.

…

Willow Spark’s eyes widened in amazement as she made her first hoof steps into the outside world. She galloped ahead of us as we left the stable, we found her in the clearing marveling at her surroundings. I couldn’t help but smile as she spun around, soaking in everything that caught her eye. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched her as she admired every detail of the outside world, I’d probably do the same if I’d spent the majority of my life within the confines of a stable. I just wished that she could have seen how beautiful nature was before the apocalypse. I thought back to the bird song that could be heard even as winter approached; now there was nothing save for the sound of the leaves being rustled by the wind. I hadn’t heard a single tweet from a bird after leaving the stable.

“What are your thoughts on your first hoofsteps outside of the stable?” I asked after trotting up to stand by the amazed kirin.

“It’s wonderful!” She said, “It’s not as nice as I’ve read about, but it’s still wonderful!”

I smiled at her. I wish I had an ounce of her optimism.

“I haven’t read about those clouds though. Is it normally this cloudy?”

“I’m afraid it is,” Sunny said, “the pegasi covered the sky in clouds shortly after the bombs fell. Those of us that live down here have never seen the sun, I’m afraid.” Sunny sighed, her eyes flattening. “My father named me Sunny, hoping that I’d get a chance to see the sun in my lifetime.”

If I could I’d buck those traitors out of the clouds,” I said, then flushed when everypony looked at me. “I.. uh… just need to get up there, and preferably learn how to walk on clouds beforehand.”

“It’s not right that the Pegesi get to keep the sun to themselves.” Willow said, “Everypony deserves a chance to feel its warmth.”

“You're right about that, friend!” Izzy said, “I’ve made sculptures of the sun, but they don't make up for the real thing.”

“We should probably worry about the pegasi later,” I said, ears drooping, “there’s not much two earth ponies, a kirin, and a unicorn can do about it right now.” The rest nodded their agreement.

I checked the map on my pip buck to see what direction we needed to go from here. Willow frolicked in the patches of snow while Sunny and Izzy sat talking amongst themselves. They all followed me after I had our heading, we still had enough time to move before we’d need to find somewhere to spend the night. It had grown noticeably cooler during our time in the stable. Our breath was visible, I could also hear Willow’s teeth chattering. She’ll have to adjust to the cold of the outside after spending her life in the stable where the temperature was always kept at a comfortable level.

It didn’t take us long to return to the road. Two fresh corpses were lying on the ground as we approached it from the woods. It looked like these two killed each other after running into each other. One looked like most other wasteland ponies I’d seen, only her lifeblood flowed from a bullet hole in her throat. The other wore tattered leather barding with spikes that were soan on haphazardly. Her eyes were yellow and it looked like she’d spent some time gnawing at her lips, her face was fixed with a permanent grin, even in death. As I looked at the raider I noticed that she didn’t have a gun on her. I looked back at the wasteland lying in the expanding pool of her blood, she had a combat shotgun. If the raider had taken a hit from the shotgun there’d be a bigger mess than there was. There were three bullets holed along the raider’s side.

“Get down,” I hissed just loud enough for the others to hear me and hopefully nopony else.

“What’s wrong?” Sunny asked.

“Somepony else killed these two, they might still be in the area.”

I readyed my pistol as I slowly made my way past the bodies keeping low to the ground. No read bars popped up on my E.F.S. as checked around some of the nearby vehicles. I stood back up, I wasn’t sure what the range was on the EFS, but it didn’t pick up any threats. I’d keep a close eye on it just in case the pony that did this thinks they can sneak up on us.

“Look at this,” Willow said.

“Did you find another pony?” I asked. I trotted over to where Willow stood looking at some ice on the ground.

“Ice?” Sunny asked.

“It looks weird,” Willow said nudging one with her hoof. “Isn’t it weird that there's these little bits of ice out here in the middle of the road?”

“You’re right,” I said nudging another piece with my cybernetic, “It doesn’t look like any ice I’ve ever seen.” It was cloudy and blue, it looked like it had broken off of something and refused to melt as it lay on the road. I tried to break one of the little chunks with my cybernetic, it took more effort than it should have before it broke. “It’s strong too.”

“Oh no!” Izzy gasped.

“What?” Sunny asked as we looked at the unicorn. Her eyes were wide, pupils shrinking as she stared at the ice, she slowly backed away from it.

“They shouldn’t be here.” Izzy said, shaking her head, “I’ve never heard of them traveling this far south of the Glowing Sea.”

“Who’s they?” Willow asked.

“Glacial Ponies”

“Glacial… ponies?” Willow tilted her head to the side. Izzy nodded. “Also what’s the Glowing Sea?”

“Here,” I said digging using my pipbuck’s inventory management to find the Wasteland Survival Guide and giving it to Willow, “Read this when you get a chance, it’s got some useful information. The section covering the Delamare and the area around it is out of date so keep that in mind.”

“How far south do they normally travel?” Sunny asked.

“Not far pasted the Glowing Sea.” Izzy said, shaking, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of evidence that they’ve been this far south. We need to be careful if we come across them.”

“Why?” Willow asked, “We held our own against those Hunters that invaded my home, I’m sure we can take on any of these Glacial Ponies.”

“Fighting them won’t be the only thing about them that we have to worry about.” Izzy said, “They carry a plague that can turn you into one of them. There have been a few ponies from my home that have come into contact with them and later became on themselves. We need to be careful if we come across them.”

“Thanks for the warning,” I said, looking at the ice. “Is there any treatment for the plague?”

“No, once you catch it you become one of them. There’s no stopping it once the symptoms have started.”

“Izzy, can you think of a reason why these ponies are coming this far south? If they don’t normally do this then there must be a reason that they’re doing it now.”

Izzy rubbed her hoof under her muzzle for a moment, pondering the question, after a couple of moments she answered: “I’m not sure. From the stories that I was told when I was a Foal, they normally look for violence. Maybe they came down here looking for ponies to fight and spread the plague too.”

“We’re bound to run into them soon,” I said, “If they’ve been here recently then I don’t doubt that we’ll find some of them before we reach Destroyer City.” I looked at the three ponies that had decided it was best to follow me, “We need to keep our distance when we do find them. I don’t know how the plague is transmitted, but being close to one of them is a start. We’ll have to take them out from a distance or run.”

We reached the edge of the city just as it started to get dark. The city was a lot quieter than I was expecting, I didn’t hear any signs of life, only the sound of the wind blowing, our hoofsteps, and the squeak of doors, signs, and anything else metal that was moved by the wind. The once bustling city that I hated going to because of the crowds of ponies was now a ghost town. I hadn’t spent much time dwelling on how many were killed when the bombs fell. Looking at the husk of what was once the city of Delamare brought the thought to my mind. I stood there for a moment taking in the silence, my followers all stopped and looked at me each sharing the same look of concern.

“Winter?” Willow Spark asked, trotting to my side. I blinked away the tears that were building up, “Is… is everything all right?”

“It’s fine, Willow.” I answered, “It’s just now hitting me how many ponies were killed when the world ended. I’d been so focused on finding Dewdrop that I hadn’t stopped to really think about it. Seeing this city empty just… made me think.” I sighed, “I’ll be fine. Let's keep moving.”

Willow nodded, the worry didn’t leave her eyes.

We didn’t come across any further evidence of glacial ponies after the first sign of them. I hoped that they’d gone in a different direction than we did. As we traveled Izzy told us about how her parents had each contracted the plague after they were attacked by a couple of Glacial Ponies. At first, they were fine, but after a week symptoms started to show and they would have become one of them not long after that.

“I was just a filly at the time,” she’d said, “I didn’t really understand what was going on. I thought they’d caught the flu or something. One day they were gone and I was told they went to see a doctor far south. I learned later that they’d taken their own lives. They’d told my aunt that they wanted to go out on their own terms before they could hurt somepony they cared about.”

It was hard to listen to her story, who knows what the world would have been if the war had never happened. All races could have lived together in harmony, unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. War had broke out and after about two decades the bombs fell, pressing the reset button on civilization, plunging the world into an unforgiving darkness. It’ll take everypony coming together to rebuild the world to a shell of what it once was. I didn’t think it would ever reach what it was before the war; Radiation, taint, and something called innervation would torment ponies for many years to come.

We walked through the ruins of the city, many of the buildings had their doors and windows boarded shut, and others had caved in with rubble bursting through any way out. Some looked like they were safe enough to investigate, I wanted to check them and see if there was anything inside that might be useful, but I resisted. I had been sidetracked enough on my quest. I wanted to get to Destroyer City as soon as I could and speak with Flask. I was thankful for grandmare’s vision, even if I was on the fence about its authenticity. Either way, it was better than wandering the wasteland blind.

Gunshots suddenly rang out as we turned down a street that wasn’t covered in the ruins of nearby buildings. They were close, very close. We could gallop there in five minutes by my guest. It didn’t sound like there were along of ponies over there.

“We have to check and see if they need help,” Sunny said turning in the direction of the shots.

“It’s not our problem?” Frost said, turning to look at the orange mare. It was a surprise to me when she took over.

Honestly, Frost thought, what pony goes galloping off toward gunshots in a place like this? For all I knew the sounds could be coming from two gangs of raiders having a turf war.

“A good pony,” I answered

“An inebriated pony,” Storm added.

“It may not be our problem, but we should at least check and see what the situation is. Innocent ponies could be dying over there, Frost! If they need our help then we need to be there to give it!”

Frost glared at the mare, “I’ve already been sidetracked enough. I don’t want to waste my time getting in the middle of raiders having a shootout.”

“We can at least take a small detour,” Willow said, “just to check and make sure. If it's a raider shootout, like you expect, then we can move along. However, if we find ponies that need help then I agree with Sunny, we should help them.”

Izzy nodded her agreement to what Willow had said, and I agreed as well. Frost looked at the three ponies as they waited for her response. Frost’s gaze fell on Willow before releasing a frustrated sigh. “Fine, let's get on with it then.” Willow smiled before trotting up to Frost and hugging her. Frost stood there for a moment, tense before giving Willow a hug with our good leg. Willow released us after a moment.

“Not much of a hugger, um… Frost?”

“I don’t often let anypony get close enough to hug me.” She responded. “Storm is the one that is a… hugger. But Breeze and I would not recommend it.

“I hate you,” Storm said. “One hug wouldn’t be all that bad.”

“Storm, you can’t be trusted to give any mare a hug.”

“Listen, Breeze. It’s been ages since we last rolled around with somepony. At this point, we probably have cobwebs down there.”

I would have flushed if I was in control of my body.

Frost led the group, galloping through the long-abandoned vehicles that littered some of the roads. It’d be nice to get one of them up and running again, but I wasn’t sure what we’d do for fuel. If it weren’t for the constant cloud cover I’d try and find a Highwaymare, It was solar solar-powered vehicle created by Sunsetcorp. A few test models had been released not long before the bombs fell. I could remember seeing a few the last time I had to come to the city to fetch some things Twister needed for Dewdrop.

Gunfire grew louder as we came up to one of the larger Red Racer gas stations. Two ponies in dirty uniforms stood outside and were firing at what must be the feral ghouls that I’d read about. They looked much closer to being a zombie than the other ghouls I’d seen. I could see their ribs as they bushed against their hides. They growled as they mindlessly charged at the two ponies. One ghoul was reduced to a pile of ash after it took a good hit from one of the beam rifles that the guards had. Another ghoul came out of the rubble to take its place. These were clearly trained and had the means to defend themselves, but as more ghouls popped up it became clear that they’d be overrun in the end. They’d need our help and Frost knew it.

She sighed as she pulled the pistol from its holster. “Let's get it done.” She said around the gun before shooting at a cluster of three ghouls to our left. Sunny and Willow began to fire at other ghouls. I was surprised when I saw Izzy join the fight. Frost looked at her raising an eyebrow. The unicorn gave a somber look in return.

“They… don’t have a sparkle…”

One of the ponies at the gas station waved for us to join their position when there was a clear path to them. We did as they asked, Frost waited for the other three to gallop for the gas station before following. She shot at any ghoul that looked like they were getting too close to the ponies in front of her. There was a sharp pain in our back leg just below the hock, Frost turned and found that one of the ghouls had managed to sink its teeth in just below the hock, blood flowing seeping out. Frost bucked it with our other leg, the ghoul released the leg and Frost got back to galloping now with a slight limp.

“What are you ponies doing here?” asked an ivory-colored mare with a purple and blue striped mane.

“You guys looked like you needed a hoof dealing with these ghouls,” Sunny answered.

“Is that so?” The pony studied us for a brief moment before firing at some ferals that were getting too close. New ghouls had stopped coming to replace the ones that were killed, but we were still outnumbered. “If that’s true then you ponies are the first break we’ve gotten since coming to this part of the wasteland.”

Izzy handed Frost a healing potion, she drank it and felt the wound on our back leg begin to heal. Frost nodded her thanks and Izzy gave a smile.

Shadows cast by the buildings of the ruined city covered us as Willow killed the last ghoul. We stood there for a moment catching our breaths, waiting for more to show. We relaxed after everything was quiet for a time.

“Looks like that’s the last of them, Swift.” Said a lime green stallion with a buzzed maroon mane.

“Keep on guard, this city may have more surprises to throw at us when we think we’re safe.” The stallion nodded.

“Earlier you said that you came to this part of the wasteland.” Sunny asked, “Where are you ponies from?”

“We came from the west,” Swift said

“What all’s out west?” Willow asked with genuine curiosity.

“More wasteland.”

“Oh, um… My name’s Willow Spark,” she said, “These are my friends, Winter, Sunny, and Izzy.” she pointed as she named us.

“I’m Swift Hooves, but you can just call me Swift,” She nodded in the direction of the stallion, “That’s Tango.”

“Is it just the two of you out here?” Sunny asked.

“We have two injured ponies in the gas station, there were more of us, but they're dead now.” Swift’s drifted to the side, Frost followed her eyes and saw a pile of dog tags on top of an ammo box.

“Who are you ponies?” Frost asked, “I wouldn’t expect wasteland ponies to wear dog tags.”

“We’re with the Steel Rangers,” Swift answered, puffing out her chest. I remembered reading a little bit about them in the Wasteland Survival guide. It said that they wore power armor. I assumed that not everypony in their team wore power armor and that any that did had their dog tag in that pile. The wasteland must have done a number on them, ponies in power armor could take some serious damage before being killed.

“What are the Steel Rangers doing this far east?” Sunny asked, “I haven't heard anything about you ponies being here before.”

“That’s classified,” Swift responded.

“Aww, c’mon.” Izzy said, flattening her ears, “Can’t you tell us a little bit? We did help you.” Swift didn’t say anything, Izzy stuck out her bottom lip and gave the mare the best puppy eyes that I think I’d seen on a fully-grown pony.

Swift sighed, “We received some readings that indicated some serious tech being used out here. My team was dispatched to look into it.”

“I suppose whatever you’ve found so far is classified?” Frost asked, Swift nodded. “Great, I guess we’ll be off then.”

“Hold on, Frost,” Izzy said. “Do you need any medical supplies for your injured friends?”

“If you have some to spare they will be greatly appreciated, we ran out a day ago and haven’t come across anymore. It would also be a great help if you knew a healing spell.”

“I have plenty to share with you.” Izzy used her magic to pull out four healing potions from her saddlebags and floated them over to the ammo box with the dog tags, she gently set them on the ground. “I do know a healing spell, but I’m not very good with it, i wouldn’t feel comfortable using it on anything too serious until I can get some more practice in.”

“Don’t worry about it, you’ve already done enough for us.” Swift looked at each of us for a moment. “It’s nice to see there are still good ponies, and kirin, out in the wasteland. I won’t forget your kindness.” Swift watched as we started to head out, “Hang on,” She said before I reached the corpse of the ghoul that got the closest to the gas stations, we turned to the mare. “I want to help you since you’ve helped us.” She began, her voice was much more casual than it was before, “You’re welcome to stay here with us for the night. You’re also welcome to take any ammo that you need, we have way more than the four of us will need.” I noticed Tango give Swift a disapproving glance before looking away.

I wanted to stay, but I also thought we could go much further before we had to bed down. If we galloped the rest of the way we could reach Destroyer Stadium and then figure out the sleeping situation. But I didn’t think that Willow or Izzy would be able to gallop for that long before getting too tired to continue. Sunny looked like she could, but she’d be sore in the morning. If I was being truthful I would be as well. I’d done plenty of endurance training in my time with the military, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t feel it the next morning. I urged Frost to accept the offer.

“We’ll take you up on your offer, Swift.”

We started to trot back to the gas station when I heard a growl come from behind us, Frost spun around and found that the ghoul that was lying at our hooves a moment ago was merely playing dead, it was now rearing on its hind legs and it looked like it was going to go for our throat. Frost wouldn’t be able to get the pistol before the Ghoul had a chance to seak its teeth into our hide.

There was a loud shot from a sniper rifle followed by the Ghoul's black, sludge-like, blood splattering across our face. Frost blinked at the Ghoul that was now missing the not of its head, it fell with a thud. Frost whipped her head in the direction the shot had come. There on top of the roof of an antique store stood the pony that had saved me the night I’d run into the killing joke while having a panic attack. Frost looked at the pony in its red glowing eyes, the pony looked back. They wore a mask that looked like it had a built-in rebreather, The top of the mask ended in a helmet. An old brown duster was draped over what looked to be full-body barding. It was like looking at the lite version of power armor. The pony turned away and disappeared from direct sight. Frost raced across the street to the antique store.

She burst through the door and didn’t slow down as she ran through the first floor until she found the stairs that took her to the third floor. Dusty shelves were knocked over as she searched for a way to access the roof. Our barding was coated in dust and cobwebs were stuck to our mane when she found a small set of stairs that led to the roof. The door slammed open as Frost charged through. She stood there on the roof for a moment, looking around for the pony. When she saw that there was nopony to be found she galloped along the edge. The only other way off this roof was to jump off, but Frost didn’t see them.

The pony was gone.

…

I’d regained control of my body after Frost failed to catch the pony that had rescued us for the second time. She said she was too pissed off to walk back. I was as disappointed as she was that the mysterious pony had eluded us. I wanted to thank them for their help, I also wanted to know why they were following me. The first time she rescued us could be chalked up to coincidence, which I didn’t believe most of the time, but these things happen on occasion. Now it was more than a coincidence, they were watching me, protecting me.

I heard Tango and Swift Hooves begin to argue when they thought we were asleep. I wasn’t trying to spy on them or anything, I was just scared to go to bed, I didn’t want to dream about the Ever After, didn’t want to see that alicorn. The stallion was upset that she was helping, “Uncivilized Tribals,” as he put it. It was weird to be referred to as uncivilized, from my perspective I was the most civilized, having grown up in old equestria. To him, I must have looked like just another wasteland savage who happened to have a fancy prosthetic. It didn’t matter too much to me, let him think what he wanted, Swift appreciated the help we gave them and that was enough for me.

“Did you not see how advanced that earth ponies leg was? I’ve never seen something like that on any pony, not with the Steel Rangers. There’s more to her and I’d like to know what that is. Besides, we’d be spending the night in the bellies of those ferals if they hadn’t shown up when they did.”

“Fine,” Tango said, “there is your responsibility while they're here. I’ll have nothing to do with them; I’ll also be mentioning thin when I give my report to Elder Sour Apple.”

“Go ahead, I’ll be mentioning them as well. I’ll also mention how you’re insubordination nearly led to Cherry Cake and Lollipop being killed.” I listened as tango stammered before Swift added: “They’re both lucky to be alive, no thanks to you. I suggest you go to sleep for the night and learn to worry about working as a team instead of trying to save your own hide.”

I lay there in the silence, I hadn’t spoken with Swift much since returning to the gas station. She’d been busy administering the health potions to the two injured mares that were in the back office. She didn’t leave their side until after the rest of us had laid down for the night. I was sure I’d wake up to questions that I’d have to answer before we left. I didn’t mind, I didn’t have much to hide, anything I did was over two centuries old and had no significance to anypony alive today beyond myself.

Luckily I didn’t dream as I slept, or remember the dream at least. That was good. I stood up and stretched before checking to charge on my Prosthetic. It still had plenty of energy, but I needed to start keeping my eye out for some gems before the power got low. I wasn’t the first pony to wake up, one of the mares that had been in the back office was up. She had a white coat with a light pink mane that ended in a swirl. If I were a betting mare I'd say this was the Cherry Cake that I’d heard Swift mention during my unintentional eavesdropping. The mare looked at me and smiled. I heard Storm whistle in the back of my mind. I mentally smacked Storm before returning a smile. As I stood there looking at the mare I had to agree with Storm, she was very attractive. My gaze drifted to her flank for a moment before I realized that the mare was still looking at me. I snapped my gaze back to her, I flushed as she giggled.

“You don’t have a bad flank yourself,” Cherry Cake said, she winked before trotting away.
I picked my jaw up off the floor, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been complimented on my appearance. Before I got the cybernetic I assumed that I was around the middle on the scale from ugly to beautiful. Now I thought I was a little closer to the ugly on the scale. I couldn’t help but gawk at her as she left. She turned and caught me checking her out again, she smiled and nodded her head for me to follow.

“Holly shit!” Storm said, “Don’t fuck this up, Breeze!”
Settle down, I told the overly horny version of myself, She probably wants to talk.
“That look implies more than just talking.”
“Ok, you might be right, but I don’t think it’ll go farther than making out. Don’t get your hopes up.”

I trotted after the mare, trying not to give off the appearance of a mare that hadn’t been laid in over two centuries now. She led me through a door that brought us to a small garage. My hoof brushed against one of the many tools that were scattered across the floor.

“I hear that I have you to thank for being alive right now,” Cherry Cake said in a soft breathy voice. It didn’t sound like she was trying to make her voice sound more attractive, it sounded natural. I felt a tingle run along my spine. “What's your name?” she asked.

I gulped, “Winterbreze.” I said, with more shake to my voice than I intended. “It was nothing, it’s what anypony would do.”

She smiled at me, “There aren’t a lot of ponies out here that will go chagrin toward gunfire, or help strangers fend off an attack of ferals, or give up healing potions.”

“I didn’t do it alone,” I responded as she got closer. She smelt sweet for a pony that was on death's door just yesterday. Those Healing potions must have been pretty strong.

“I know, but they didn’t catch my eye like you do.”

“Isn’t there some rule you ponies have against fraternizing with uncivilized ponies?”

“Yes, but after almost dying I realized that Life is short and better without so many rules.”

I opened my mouth to say something else and she silenced me with a kiss.

I was right not to expect too much out of this interaction. We made out for a while before other ponies started waking up. Storm was very disappointed, and honestly, so was I. I did catch Cherry Cake stealing glances at my flank as my followers and I prepared to leave. It was just my luck, I came across a mare that was checking me out and we went our separate ways. If I were lucky I’d see her again after I’d found my niece and dealt with the patchwork unicorn, but I doubted it. Luck and I didn’t agree with each other.

Swift did end up questioning me about my history and I told her what I’d told everypony else. Being in the military had caught her interest, she’d asked me about some of my experiences fighting the zebras, and I told her some of the stories that came to mind that I felt like sharing. Eventually, I was asked how I lost my leg I just told her that I didn’t remember anything from the event, it was a lie and I suspected that she knew that; I was thankful that she didn’t press me further on it. It was ancient history and was best left that way.

Willow was the first out the door, she’d been unusually quiet this morning. I guessed that her first day in the wasteland had taken a toll on her. Walking through the door, she stumbled, she stepped to the side to see what had almost sent her on a tumble. There on the ground was more of the ice that we’d seen on the road. At some point during the night, one of those Glacial Ponies had come up to the door.

“What is it?” I heard Swift call from behind us, she trotted past and stared down at the ice, “Ice?”

“It would seem that you were right about the wasteland through another surprise at us.” I said, “Luckily these Glacial Ponies as they’re known didn’t decide to come in after us.”

“That’s fucking great.” Swift said, “I’m getting sick of Delamare.”

“I think you ponies should leave the Gas station sooner rather than later.” Izzy said, “The village I grew up in had to suffer attacks from these diseased ponies. If I had to guess one or two came up to the door and decided to leave after peaking through the window and found that they were outnumbered. They’ll be back in greater numbers.”

“I’ll take your word for it, Izzy.” Swift said, “We’ll pack up after I get a send a message back to the Rangers. Thank you for the warning.”

We said our goodbyes to the rangers that weren’t dicks. Afterward, we left the gas station and continued on our journey to Destroyer Stadium. It shouldn’t take us too long to get there, we were pretty close by now. The only thing that could slow us down was another distraction. I planned to do my best to steer clear of those, at least until after speaking to Flask.

I wondered who he was and how he was going to help me find Dewdrop. My best guess was that he was somepony that would gather and sell valuable information. If that were the case then he’d be my best bet to figure out who the patchwork unicorn was and where she might have taken my niece. Hopefully, Flask wouldn’t charge too much for the info on her, I wasn’t sure what the value of these caps was, hopefully, I’d have enough for him.

Signs pointing us to the Stadium began to pop on painted on the sides of ruined buildings or on the side of busses. Each sign had an arrow that pointed us in the direction we wanted to go. I let out a small sigh of relief, I expected that these signs were set up to show travelers like us the safest way to the stadium. My worries about running into another distraction began to fade.

That is until we heard more gunshots.

We continued warry along the directed path and eventually came to a spot where a group of raiders were having a shoot-out with some Arcane Legion ponies. I searched the legion ponies for any sight of Dogma, with my luck he’d be there. Fortunately, he wasn’t with this group. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to correct my mistake from our first meeting. I looked at my followers and nodded for us to move on, this fight wasn’t any of our business. I wasn’t in a hurry to help either group.

We began to scurry past the gunfight, trying our best to not bring any attention to ourselves. At one point a bullet flew into the asphalt by Willow, she squeaked at the impact. We ducked behind a car before more of them shot at us; when no other bullets followed we continued onward. The bullet must have come from a missed shot, no other shots were fired at us as we left the battle behind us. After we were out of sight we began to gallop, sneaking past them wouldn’t mean much if the winners discovered us after the battle. The way that battle was going the Arcane Legion would be the ponies that would come out on top. They may have been outnumbered, but they had a better position, shooting from the second story of a building that was more rubble than building.

It didn’t take us long before we came upon a barricade made from sheets of rusted metal and wood. Two unicorns in hoofball armor stood guard in front of a double door. We stopped as when we saw the ponies, they looked at us, probably judging if we looked like we would be a problem or not. We stood there for a moment.

“State your business here.” One of the guards asked a stallion.

“I’m here to meet with Hitch, he’s a friend of mine,” Sunny said.

“I’m here to see Flask.” I said, “The other two are tagging along with us.”

The guards looked at each other for a moment, I couldn’t tell if they were saying anything to each other, they wore helmets that obscured their muzzles. Finally, the stallion spoke again. “Ok, you four may enter but keep your weapons holstered. If you draw the guards inside the Stadium will see you as a threat and take you down, non-leathaly at first, but if you resist then that will change.”

The door opened the four of us nodded that we understood the warning. The door led us to a small courtyard where ponies back in the day would wait in lines to enter the stadium. Two other barricades blocked the roads. The place was definitely secure, I wondered how many attackers would have to die before they managed to make their way in. I assumed it would be a lot. There were three entrances to the stadium that were side-by-side, two of which were sealed up with walls made from scrap, the center entrance was the only one that was clear.

Walking through the opening led us into the lobby of the stadium. It was a mess, Piles blocked most of the hallways and stairways that were connected to the lobby. There were piles of scrap that sat in three of the corners, in the fourth corner was what used to be the concession stand; now it was being used as an office for the guards that were stationed outside of the stadium itself Two Guards stood behind the counter, one was reading a magazine while the other had their head down, drooling on the counter as they slept.

Standing in the lobby brought me back to the one time I’d been to come here to watch a hoofball game. I’d take my mare friend here on a date once. I didn’t care much for sports myself, but she came from a family that did and I thought it’d make her smile to surprise her with a pair of tickets for hearts and hoofs day. We’d come here to watch the Delamare Destroyers take on the Hoofington Reapers. I don’t remember who won, I wasn’t invested in the match's outcome. It's a shame that our relationship ended the way it did, maybe she’d be here in the wasteland with me if we’d still been together when the bombs fell.

Across from the lobby was a set of stairs that was clear, I knew the stairs would lead us up into the stands of the stadium. I led the way to the stairs, the guard that was reading never looked up as we crossed the lobby. After climbing the stairs we found ourselves in the stands overlooking the city that had been built on the field. Most of the buildings here were on the field, but it looked like they’d started working on building things up on the stands; it wouldn’t be long before they outgrew this stadium and would have to start claiming and building in the areas around the stadium. It was a good start to rebuilding Equestria.

Carefully, we made our way down the creaking ramp that led us down to the field. Here we found ponies that went about minding their own business as they went about their day, only a few of them gave us nervous glances, and they looked away when one of us looked in their general direction. The four of us stood there, in the way of the ponies that lived there. A few of them muttered that for us to get out of the way, they were too scared of us to want to tell us to move out of the way.

“Sunny!” called a stallion, I turned and found a stallion galloping in our direction with a big smile.

“Hitch!” Sunny said, giving the stallion a hug when he reached us.

“The guards told me that an orange and purple pony was here to see me,” he said after they released each other, “I thought it might be you, but I didn’t believe it until I saw you. What brings you all the way out here?”

“Well, that’s a bit of a long story,” Sunny told the stallion everything that had happened since I’d woken up in Greenhoof.

“Wow,” he said when she finished the story, “That’s a lot. I’m glad everyone back home is safe. You ponies did a good protecting them.” Hitch turned to me, “I’m sorry about your losses, I can’t even begin to imagine what it’d be like to wake up to all this after living your whole life in old Equestria.”

“You get used to it after a while, or so I tell myself.” I figured it would be good to ask the mayor of a settlement as big as this for information on the patchwork pony.

“I’m sorry, I wish I could help you, but I’m only responsible for what goes on inside the stadium. I’ll keep you and her in mind and if I come across something I’ll let you know.” He rubbed a hoof through his mane and then continued, “I have heard about a pony with patchwork cutmarks sewn to her hide, she's talked about like sheets Bighoof and Mothmare.”

“I’m here looking for somepony called Flask, I was told that he should be able to help me with my search.”

Hitch gave me a dumbfounded look. “Flask? Well… I don’t know how much help he’ll be, but you can find him at the Dirty Wastelander. It’s a bar, you’ll find it if you head down that way. It’ll be the fourth building on your left.” He pointed between two rows of buildings, wooden planks were placed in the ground as a makeshift pathway. I nodded my thanks to the mayor.

“I guess this is where we part ways then,” Sunny said, Izzy moved to stand beside her.

“I guess it is,” I never wanted anypony to travel the wasteland with me, but now I was a little sad that our time with Sunny and Izzy was coming to an end. “Stay safe out here, I’ll stop by for a visit after I find Dewdrop.”

Sunny, Izzy, and Hitch said their goodbyes before turning and leaving. Now it was just Willow Spark and myself, Frost and Storm too I guess, but I wished they’d leave as well.

“What about you?” I asked the Kirin, “You should probably search the city for a water talisman, or somepony that knows how to make one.”

“I think I’ll stay with you?” She said, “We’ll come across something sooner or later, I’d like to continue traveling with you.” She flushed, “If that's all right with you.”

“I’d prefer to travel alone,” Willow frowned and looked down at the ground, I hurriedly continued, “but I suppose It’d be rude of me to abandon you here when.”

Willow smiled.

We headed in the direction that Hitch Directed me, I was not sure what most of the buildings were, but the second building on my left had a sign that informed me it was a doctor's office. I made a note of it, I was sure that I’d need to visit it at some point in the future. Eventually, we came to the Dirty Wastelander. It had a sign above the door that borrowed words from various places. The letters were in a rainbow of colors; some were uppercase, others were lowercase. I thought it was fitting for a bar.

There were a lot of ponies inside the bare, but it was also pretty early in the day. As headed for the pony that stood behind the counter I noticed there were three other ponies in the bar. Two sat in the corner playing some card game I wasn’t familiar with, the third pony was a mustard yellow pony with a brown mane who was passed out on the ground close to the corner of the bar, and bottles of whiskey were scattered around him. I thought he was dead at first, but eventually, I noticed his sides move as he breathed.

Willow and I each took a seat on a bar stool in front of the bartender.

“What’ll you have?” He asked.

Willow looked at me, she’d probably have whatever I ordered, “We’ll take two Buckwisers if you have any.”

The bartender nodded before leaving, after a moment he returned with two bottles of ice-cold beer. I paid him the amount of caps he asked for.

“Do you know where I can find somepony called Flask?” I asked the stallion before he left us, “I was told that I’d find him here.”

“Are you a debt collector or something?” He asked. I shook my head. “Why do you want to see him?”

“Somepony told me that he’d be able to help me with something,” I didn’t feel like explaining the situation to this pony unless he turned out to be Flask.”

He studied us for a moment, “You’ve found him,” My guess was correct, the bartender was Flask. “He’s right over there,” The bartender pointed at the pony that was passed out on the ground. I looked over at the unconscious pony. He rolled and I saw the Flask cutiemark on his flank

Fuck me!

Level Up:

New Perk:
Marekiller - 10% bonus damage to mares and unique dialogue options with certain characters.