Leaving the dilapidated ranch had been a surprisingly difficult task. Realistically there was nothing for us there, as any food that could have been stored inside had long since faded to dust. There were a multitude of farming tools stowed away in a chest at the back of the house which were surprisingly well-preserved.

Pot did find lots of high quality pots and pans in the kitchen, but had eventually decided against taking them with us. He didn’t really need anything other than his cooking pot, taking anything else with us would just be dead weight. What he did grab, however, was a pair of metal plates. The cupboard that he took them from had twelve plates total, but we only really needed two.

We had tried to use the beds in the ranch to sleep, but neither the double sized one nor the smaller one next to it were able to support our weight, with whatever filling had been in the mattresses had completely disappeared.

The real boon, however, other than my headache being nearly gone, was the well that hid behind the ranch. When we found it the following morning, Pot was almost certain that there wouldn’t be any water down there to begin with. We found a metal bucket inside the ranch, but the rope next to it crumbled to nothing the moment I tried to grab it with my magic.

Fortunately we had some rope of our own, which I tied to the bucket and then passed through the well’s winch following Pot’s instructions. While I worked I saw the remains of a collapsed windmill which had once been attached to the well that was half sunken into the dry dirt. I removed the rusted cover that had been put over the opening and slowly lowered the bucket into the darkness.

I turned the crank round and round to the point where I nearly used up the entire length of rope. Thankfully I eventually heard the sound of water far below.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Pot mumbled, surprised. “I doubt it’ll be safe to drink… but we should still check,” He added.

“Yeah,” I replied, focusing on the winch again and turning it in the opposite direction.

The bucket came back up filled with water that looked surprisingly clear. Curiously, I brought my PipBuck up to the side of the bucket, keeping my eye focused on the magical radiation sensor. It didn’t budge at all, which could only mean that the water was clean.

“Huh…” I muttered. “Oh! I know! Give me an empty waterskin,” I told Pot.

The stallion raised an eyebrow, but eventually he reached into his saddlebags and pulled out one of the saddlebags that we had taken off the traders. I took it in my magic, unscrewed the cap, and unceremoniously dumped the water that was inside it. There wasn’t much, barely a few sips, but Pot still grunted in protest when he saw me empty it.

Without missing a beat, I sank the waterskin into the bucket, filling it as much as I could before pulling it out, screwing the cap back on, and then stuffing it in my own saddlebags.

“What are you…?” Pot started, but I silenced him with a forehoof.

“Trust me,” I said, lifting my right forehoof to bring my PipBuck screen up.

I switched to my inventory management screen and scrolled down through all the stuff in my saddlebags until I reached the waterskin. Several of the items were illegible gibberish just like they had been yesterday, but the skin I had just dumped into my bags was clearly labeled.

“Clean water,” I announced, smiling.

The stallion raised an eyebrow and took a long look at my PipBuck before speaking.

“That little box is full of surprises,”

A loud sound came from somewhere behind us, making me and Pot whip around quickly to see Narrative Lampshade getting closer. He had been looking around the ranch for anything useful, but he hadn’t found much judging by his empty claws.

“Does the well work?” He asked.

“Yeah,” Pot replied, looking at Narrative’s large saddlebags. “We should fill up everything we can before heading out, even if we don’t drink it we can still use it for trade,”

I nodded in agreement, walking up to Narrative and firing up my horn again.

We set out a while later, much to my disappointment. It was pretty interesting how cozy the small ranch had felt despite us finding a literal dead body sitting in it. I glanced back wistfully at the hut as we walked away.

Huh… what’s that? I wondered when I spotted something on the ranch’s porch.

It was a figure, vaguely pony-shaped, that seemed to be made out of a thin smoke. I watched as it raised one of its forehooves and waved at me before a soft breeze blew it away into nothingness.

“Did you see that?” I asked aloud.

“See what?” Pot replied.

I shook my head, realizing that it was probably just a trick of the light.

“Nothing, I just thought I saw something,”

We walked out into the wasteland, just as we had done the day before, following my compass. It was a rather boring trip, with the wasteland seeming to stretch out indefinitely like a brown sea.

“And that’s when you crossed over to Baltimare?” Narrative droned, he had been talking with Pot for a while now.

“Aye, right before I got here I met up with uhh… some not-so-great ponies,” The blue stallion said, lowering his head slightly.

My own head lowered in kind, remembering my failure. I spoke slowly, trying to be respectful.

“Double Cross and the others?”

“Double Cross? That sounds like a trustworthy name,” Narrative Lampshade interjected.

Pot let out a short laugh.

“Yeah I guess I probably should’ve seen that one coming. But yeah, met up with him and his little friend… Burning,” The stallion explained.

“What about the others?” I wondered.

“We picked them up when we first got to Baltimare, Cross thought they’d be good to have around as extra muscle,” Pot answered.

I listened carefully to what the blue earth pony said, trying to chart out the course he had taken from Fillydelphia to Baltimare. Based on what he himself had said, Fillydelphia had gotten taken over by Redeye at some point. If that were the case then it made sense for him to flee into Baltimare… but then there was one question that stuck out in my mind:

“What do you mean not-so-great ponies?”

Pot shook his head slightly, shooting me a concerned glance for a split second before focusing back on the horizon ahead. He quickly turned back to look at me and blurted out his reply.

“I mean that we uh- W- we weren’t doing so great! Having run away from our homes… and all…”

“Oh! Yeah, that makes sense,” I answered, smiling at the earth pony.

Pot let out a relieved sigh and kept walking, taking a moment to think before speaking again.

“After that, we spent our days moving around the eastern ruins. Ran into lots of bad ponies out here…”

“I cannot imagine the horrors you’ve been through,” Narrative droned. “I’m still finding it hard to believe that Equestria has fallen so terribly,”

“Hey,” I said, jumping in front of Narrative and putting my forehooves on either side of his brain jar. I focused on his sensor talisman, trying to impart some calm into him. “Don’t worry, Narrative, I know everything might look bad right now, but that’s what my stable is for! Me and the other graduates are working hard every day to make this wasteland a better place…”

I looked off to the west, towards the city proper, and trailed off slightly. But I quickly gathered myself and shook my head. I couldn’t have any doubt in me if I wanted him to trust my words.

“I know it may not look like it, but I’m sure that every single pony from Stable 75 has made this wasteland a better place, just like I’m doing,” I added with a smile.

“Sadness. A professor I once knew said that if you have nothing nice to say then you should say nothing at all,” Narrative started. “I always thought he was full of baloney, so I won’t lie. If you really are trying to make things better, then I really hope the other ponies from your stable are at least slightly smarter than you,”

I chuckled and gave the robot a sly wink before replying.

“Fat chance! But hey, the whole point of Stable 75 is making us better and better,”

The machine remained quiet for a moment, as if deep in thought.

“Come on, let’s keep going,” Pot said, staring at us with a furrowed brow.

“This isn’t the first time you talk about your stable, yet the way you talk about it makes it sound less like a balefire bomb shelter and more like some kind of boot camp,” Narrative droned as we started our march forward once again. “From what I recall of the sales pitches they weren’t really meant to do more than keep ponies safe inside,”

I chuckled softly at the robot’s words, skipping around on the ground as I marched forward.

“My stable makes heroes,” I announced. “We are safe in there, but out duty is to make the surface safe as well,”

“That is an admirable goal, I guess,” The robot replied.

I smirked and turned my head to look at the horizon again.

“How long until we reach the town, Pot?” I asked.

The stallion let out a deep sigh before replying.

“We won’t be there until tomorrow… and we have to pass through Rosewood first…”

“Fear. Is that a bad thing?” Narrative asked.

“Shouldn’t be as long as we steer clear of the town, the entire place is crawling with ghouls,” Answered the blue earth pony. “I’m actually surprised we haven’t found any yet… but we’re still far from the town,”

“How far?” I wondered.

Pot stopped in place and sat on his haunches, raising his good forehoof to point at the horizon. I followed the hoof and focused as hard as I could. I could just barely make out something in the distance, but it was nowhere near defined enough to make out any details.

“About two hours, but we’ll go off to the right a little,” The stallion added, standing back up.

Just as he did, however, he immediately sat back down with a loud grunt, clutching at his shoulder. I dashed to his side, putting a forehoof on his back and helping him hold himself up.

“Are you okay?” I asked, but the answer was pretty obvious.

“Yeah I just… I need a second,” Pot replied through gritted teeth. He furrowed his brow, however, and got back up. “No… no, we need to get past that town before nighttime,” He stated.

“You sure you can-” I started, but the stallion cut me off.

“Yes, Black Light, I can,” He grunted, pushing me off. “Now shut up and keep walking, we’re wasting daylight,”

I wanted to insist on taking a break, but the stallion seemed to have made up his mind. Respecting his choice, I remained quiet as we walked, staring at the town in the horizon as we got closer.

About an hour later we started to see something other than bare dirt. A small hut was stationed next to a long cracked road, its wooden walls completely bleached by the sun. As we drew closer to it I realized that the wall that faced directly away from the road was missing. The wall that faced towards the road had a large window in the middle which, naturally, had been broken long ago.

“What’s this place?” I wondered.

“I have no idea,” Narrative started, “But it’s on the road, so it was probably some vendor stand,” He added.

The little stand didn’t really look like anything could be sold out of it, given how it didn’t seem to have enough space to display or store stuff.

“Those are all over the roads,” Pot explained.

The stallion stopped in place and stared at the small hut for a moment, muttering to himself.

“You know… sometimes scavengers leave things hidden in spots like these, do you want to take a look?” He stated, turning his head to look at me.

I cocked my head to the side at the stallion’s strange request. He had quite literally shot down the idea of resting just a moment ago. Not just that, but he had also said that he didn’t want to get sidetracked again after the Golden Stable incident. What could have changed?

Maybe he’s found good stuff hidden somewhere like this before. I reasoned, walking up to the building.

The sun bleached wood was about as bare up close as it had been from a distance. The only part of the structure that I could see feasibly hiding anything was the wall that faced towards the road. It was a double wall, about two hooves wide, but it didn’t appear to have any sort of door or cover that could be used to stash stuff.

I sat on my haunches and stared at the wooden boards. There was clearly nothing here, but something about the structure didn’t sit well with me. I just had to check if there was something in there.

Well… I guess there’s only one way to open it…

I stood back up and turned around, raising a rear hoof to take aim at the weak planks. My hoof shot backward, slamming into the lowest plank and sending a shockwave up my spine. The hit was so strong that it made my head start hurting again, stabbing at me painfully with every beat of my heart. Shaking my head to try and make the pain simmer down, I took aim again and kicked the plank twice.

On the third kick, my hoof went straight through the plank, shattering into a shower of splinters. I looked back triumphantly at my friends and noticed that they had pulled back quite some distance. The pair were talking to each other just far away for me to not be able to make out what was being said.

Huh… I wonder what they’re doing over there. I shrugged, turing to look at the hole I had kicked into the wood instead. They probably walked away in case there was a bomb here or something, that’s probably it.

Curiosity got the better of me as I pulled the planks open, but my hopes were quickly dashed when I peeked inside and saw nothing other than dirt and ancient cobwebs. Just in case I had missed anything, I flipped my PipBuck light on and poked the device into the hole to light up the inside of the small space. A small glint caught my eye, and a quick scratch of the dirt revealed one singular golden bit.

“Nice!” I chirped, taking the coin and turning it over on my forehoof.

My magic wrapped around it and bright it up to my eyes so I could see it better. A bust of Princess Celestia was engraved in the middle of it, with the letters ‘one bit’ printed around the edge. I flipped the coin around and looked at the backside, which was dominated by Celestia’s cutie mark and the words ‘Canterlot mint’.

I chuckled softly at the joke. This was clearly not a mint, it was a gold coin… unless…

The coin floated up to my mouth. I chomped on it as hard as I could, sending a shot of pain through my jaw.

“Owwwww…” I whined, rubbing my cheek.

Yeah… definitely not a mint. The coin floated into my saddlebags as I turned around to look at my friends.

Pot and Narrative were still sitting some distance away, with Put busy digging through the saddlebags that were draped over the machine’s back. I walked over to them, watching as the stallion pulled out the MedX syringe he had used before and dropping it into Narrative’s outstretched claw.

“I know this stuff is no good for me… but Celestia be damned, it’s effective,” The stallion grunted when Narrative stabbed the syringe into his shoulder.

“Look at you two!” I chirped, smiling widely. “I’m glad you’re becoming friends!”

Pot rubbed the spot where Narrative had injected the medicine into his shoulder, looking at Narrative with a stern expression before speaking again.

“Yeah… friends…”

Still smiling at my companion’s friendship, I produced the coin from my saddlebag and proudly displayed it to them.

“Check out what I found!” I said happily.

“One bit?” Narrative asked, despite the monotone of his voice, I could’ve sworn that he sounded completely incredulous.

“Those are pretty much useless…” Pot muttered. “Other than for some vending machines, that is,” He added.

My smile widened. I had read about those from pre-war books, and they sounded like a dream come true. A wonderful machine that you could put coins into to get food on the spot. No waiting for a cook, no asking an adult for permission, just pop a coin in and watch the food come out.

“There’s working vending machines out here? I’ve always wanted to use one of those!” I squeaked, bouncing in place.

“There’s at least one,” Pot explained. After a moment of silence his face brightened slightly and he continued talking with a smile. “In fact… it’s in the town that we’re going to,”

I basically started vibrating at the stallion’s words, my grin spreading so widely that I could almost feel it touching my ears. Pot was apparently excited for it too, as his own smile grew wider. He kept speaking, his voice sounding more cheerful as he did.

“So, if we don’t get sidetracked exploring any deadly corner we come across, you’ll get to use the vending machine! Got it?”

I nodded happily.

“Fantastic! Now let’s keep moving before this damn MedX wears off,” The stallion stated.

With renewed vigor, we set off towards the southeast. We wouldn’t make it to the fort until tomorrow morning, according to Pot, that is. I quickly took the lead and started to set the pace, all but making the stallion trot behind me to try and keep up. It wouldn’t cause him any pain since he had gotten some MedX, so there shouldn’t be any problem with picking up the pace!

Something interesting happened as we marched, however. A strange sound coming from the direction of the town made my ears twitch. I couldn’t quite put my hoof on what it was, but it felt eerily familiar. A strange warmth spread through my legs when the sound rang out again.

“Do you hear that?” I asked, slowing down slightly.

“Hahh.. Hear what? Huff…” Pot whimpered, extremely winded.

The sound echoed through the wasteland again, this time, however, I felt as if I had been shocked with a stun gun. I knew exactly what that sound was.

“Are those…?” Pot started, but I cut him off before he could finish talking.

“Gunshots!” I exclaimed, jumping in jubilation. “Oh I’ve been itching for a good gunfight!” I added, whipping out my rifle and smirking in the direction of the town.

“Oh no, absolutely not!” Pot boomed, stomping on the ground. “We just talked about this, no more getting sidetracked!”

I looked at the stallion, then at the town.

“Oh come on, Pot, what if somepony needs my help?” I pouted.

“In bloody Rosewood? Only ponies shooting there will be idiots that ran into ghouls!” The stallion exclaimed.

I could feel my blood boiling inside my veins as more gunshots filled the air. There was no way Pot could be serious, especially if he knew that the only thing those ponies could be shooting at were mindless ghouls!

“I will not leave ponies to die!” I shouted, making the stallion cower slightly. “I know you’re a good stallion, Pot, come with me and help!”

That odd stabbing sensation reappeared at the base of my tongue, but I ignored it in favor of keeping my gaze focused on the blue earth pony in front of me. He couldn’t keep my gaze, his eyes glazing over slightly as his head hung limp for a moment. Clearly he was realizing that I was correct, I just knew that he knew what the right choice was.

“Okay, I’ll help you,” The stallion mumbled, shaking his head.

“Thanks, Pot,” I said, smiling.

My gaze switched to Narrative as the machine drew closer and began to speak.

“Anger. What is wrong with you, Pot? We need to keep moving, like you said,” He droned.

The earth pony sat on his haunches and lifted his good forehoof to clutch his temple, grunting loudly. Could he have a headache? No, it couldn’t be, he had taken some MedX! But then why was he groaning like that?

“Narrative… is… right…” Pot slurred, his brow furrowed and eyes screwed shut. “We need to keep… going!” He added, almost forcing the words out of his throat.

I glared daggers at Narrative, which almost felt literal when the machine rolled some distance away from me. Pot also seemed to get shocked, getting up and pulling away.

“Oh no, we are not splitting up!” I stated, stomping the ground. “You two are going to come with me and help!”

The stabbing sensation returned. Pot staggered back onto his haunches, screwing his eyes shut again. Narrative’s sensor talisman started to open and close repeatedly, like the shutter of a camera.

“Very well,” The robot droned.

“Yes… Black Light…” Pot added, dragging out his words.

Could the MedX be messing with his head? It made too much sense now that I thought about it. Pot had said that he didn’t want to overuse it, could he have known that it would have this effect? Regardless, I was happy to see that my friends had come to their senses.

“Come on, there’s no time to lose!” I exclaimed, turning around to face the town again.

I started to run towards the gunfire, watching as the town’s building slowly grew larger. Despite wanting nothing more than to rush into danger, I forcefully held myself back to make sure I didn’t leave Pot and Narrative behind. My heart was not happy with this, as it was beating several times harder than it needed to. My head had started to hurt again, but given how it throbbed alongside my thundering heart, I assumed it was simply my body protesting about being held back for no good reason.

Come on, Black Light, you don’t want to die of a heart attack before you even get there! I chastised myself. You need to concentrate and-

My tail was suddenly and violently yanked back, bringing me to a stop. I tumbled to the ground, dragging whoever had grabbed my tail along for the ride.

“Hey! What gives?” I demanded, whipping my head around to see that Pot had my tail firmly held in his mouth.

The earth pony spat my tail out before flopping onto his side, panting for breath too heavily to form a coherent sentence. After a couple moments he seemed to forgo explanations entirely and instead pointed forward with a shaky forehoof.

“Trying to… huff- stop…” He whimpered between pants.

Narrative caught up with us, as he had been lagging behind slightly.

“What happened?” The robot asked.

“I’m not sure,” I replied, looking out in the direction that Pot had pointed in. “He said that he wanted to stop- oh!” I continued, cutting myself off when I spotted what the stallion was pointing at.

Three figures were moving towards us in a triangle formation. They were heading out from the town, perhaps they had managed to escape the ghouls!

Wait a minute… I thought as my eyes strained to try and see the approaching figures a little better. Are those…?

A cold chill ran up my spine when I noticed that all three of them were cloaked in blue.

“Virtues!” I grumbled.

“Virtues? What are they doing all the way out here?” Pot said, incredulous. “Are you sure?” He asked, squinting to try and see the approaching ponies better.

“Do they all wear those weird blue robes?” I asked.

“Yeah…” Pot muttered.

“Who are you talking about?” Narrative asked.

I turned around to look at the robot, trying to think of a good way of explaining who these ponies were.

“They’re a bad pony group, I’ve run into them before,” I explained. “I don’t know what they’re doing here, but they’re probably up to no good!”

“Virtues is a rather poor name for an evil organization,” Narrative commented, rotating in place slowly until he focused ominously on Pot. “How do you know they are evil, Black Light?”

I took a moment to think, but there wasn’t really much thinking to be done.

“I rescued Pot and his friends from a group of virtues, I overheard their leader talking about enslaving them. A few days later they opened fire on us even after we said that we were merchants,” I explained, whirling around to stare down Narrative. “So yeah, I’m pretty sure they’re as evil as they come, no matter what they call themselves!”

I stared at the approaching ponies again, then at the surrounding wasteland. There wasn’t much in the way of cover, or even a place to hide and wait in ambush. No, our best shot was for me to make the most out of my rifle and take them out from a distance.

Of course, that would open us up for return fire if any of the three ponies had a decent gun of their own. This would be a lot less dangerous if we had any sort of protection, a wall of some sort or-

“Hey Narrative?” I started, grinning at the machine.

“Fear. What?” He replied.

“You’re pretty much bulletproof, right?” I asked.

“Fear. No, I am not. A well placed shot can still damage my life support systems,” The robot retorted.

I rolled my eyes.

“Fine, mostly bulletproof,” I muttered before pointing at a spot in front of me. “I need you to move here,”

My tongue contorted inside my mouth as the pain spike struck its base, but I was getting used to ignoring it by now. Narrative didn’t offer even a single word of protest, he simply rolled away and placed himself between me and the approaching virtues.

I took position, poking my head from around Narrative’s chassis and bringing the rifle up to bear next to my eye. It may not have had a scope, but I was sure that I could at least hit center of mass from this distance.

Remembering what I had been taught in the stable, I took a moment to feel the wind, smiling when I realized that there wasn’t even the slightest breeze blowing. It was a huge relief considering how I had never really practiced long distance shooting down in the stable.

Focus, Black Light! I told myself, steeling my nerves and pouring a little more force into my magic to keep the gun stable. As soon as the sights lined up, I squeezed the trigger.

Bang!

The first bullet ripped through the wasteland’s skies, headed directly towards the figure at the front of the group. It struck true, as the cloaked shape collapsed onto the ground. It looked almost as if they had melted into a puddle, going from vaguely pony-shaped to an amorphous blue blob.

One of the other two immediately whirled on the central figure, crouching next to them. The third, however, started to charge at us.

Dumbass… I thought as I adjusted my aim.

Bang!

The rifle sang again, sending that exquisite kick into my telekinesis. I almost considered grabbing the rifle with my forelegs so I could feel that recoil directly, but I knew that my aim would be much better if I was using my magic instead. I raised an eyebrow, however, when the charging figure didn’t slow down.

I probably didn't hit anything important… I reasoned as I took aim.

Bang!

This time I knew I had shot true. The figure was close enough for me to see the blood splattering behind them. I’d hit them square in the neck, yet the cloaked pony marched on. I realized that I could make out the glint of a gun poking out from under their hood, it was only a matter of time before-

A bullet whizzed past me, missing, but not by much. Another shot flew past, and a third hit the back of Narrative’s chassis. Pot hid behind the robot, but I poked my head out again and brought the rifle up to bear, clenching my teeth so hard that my lower jaw started hurting.

Bang! Bang!

Both shots struck true, making the pony’s cloak ripple with the impacts. The first shot was completely ignored, much like the first two, but the second one seemed to have hit a little lower and injured their leg. Even with four shots, the pony seemed to be unbothered save for a small limp.

”How are they alive?” I exclaimed in frustration as I reloaded the rifle.

More gunshots ricocheted off Narrative’s back, but our attacker seemed to have realized that they were shooting metal and stopped.

”Fear. Just shoot the bastard,” Narrative said, somehow managing to communicate urgency despite the monotone voice.

”I’m trying!” I shouted back, poking out and shooting at the cloaked pony.

Pot joined me this time around, firing at the figure with his rickety pistol thrice before it jammed. I saw as every bullet tore into the pony, same as all three shots from my rifle. For a moment I was thinking that they might have been wearing armor, but the black blood flying out of them was no mistake. My last shot managed to rip the hood off their bald head, at least.

”It’s a ghoul!” Pot shouted.

I fired my last two shots. The first one bit into the ghoul’s chest, but didn’t seem to bother it too much. The second shot hit them square in the face, blowing their right cheek apart in a shower of blackish-red chunks.

My shot may not have killed the creature, but it threw its aim off just enough for them to send a bullet flying through my mane instead of through my head. The gun fell out of the ghoul’s mouth, but they didn’t stop to pick it back up. Instead, the half-rotten carcass charged us with renewed vigor.

Thinking quickly, I ditched the rifle and pulled my combat knife out of my saddlebags. It proved to be the right choice when the ghoul vaulted over Narrative’s chassis with staggering speed.

“Fuck!” Shouted Pot, but I was already on it.

I poured every last bit of power I could muster into the telekinesis that held the knife, launching it upwards into the ghoul’s torso. The blade sank into it with disturbing ease, but the base of the knife was caught by the ghoul’s ribs, giving me the leverage I needed to push the entire monster into the air.

The ghoul had been trying to jump on me, but my stab had made it overshoot by a good bit.

”Fear. I need to leave,” Narrative stated before turning in place and rushing away, leaving a dust cloud in his wake.

I squited to try and keep my eyes on te ghoul through the cloud, and what I saw was nothing short of nightmaish.

Even without taking into account the disfigured face, the rest of the creature was not faring any better. It looked remarkably similar to the dessecated corpse of the stallion that we had found at the ranch,only this one was impossibly animate. Spotty paches of a gray coat clung onto the pony’s horrifically scarred skin. Its hooves were cracked, and burnt black as coal. What little teeth had survived its encounter with my rifle were dark yellow at best.

Black coagulated blood oozed from the many wounds that covered its chest, neck and face.I noticed that while the cloak was not the only piece of clothing that the ghoul was wearing, the simple jacket that it was wearing below looked as if it had been messily fused to the pony’s flesh with a blowtorch.

The only part of this abomination that was anything even remotely resembling a normal pony was the eyes. Something that I found incredibly disturbing. Not only did those two lilac eyes look almost untouched save for some slight reddishness around the edged, but they also held an undisputable intelligenece. It may have blindly charged at us like some kind of beast, but those eyes were proof that there was still a pony in there.

With a roar, the monster threw itself at me, swinging its forehooves at my head. I backstepped to avoid the attack, but the ghoul simply used the momentum of its swing to turn around and strike at my neck with a mighty buck.

”Woah!” I exclaimed as I thre myself to the ground. I felt the ghoul’s cracked rear hooves clear my horn with barely a hair’s width to spare.

This pony was clearly far from feral. Pot had told me about this. Ghouls that hadn’t gone completely insane. He’d said that they could almost pass for a normal pony were it not for heir horrifically burnt and scarred coats… and were it not for their nature as a ticking time bomb. According to the earth pony it was only a matter of time before a ghoul went insane. I could see it clear as day, those eyes might have held some level of intelligence, but they had still decided to join the virtues.

I could’ve used my horn to attack the ghoul, but somethign stopped me before I let the arcane power course through me. I felt alive, my heart beat in frenzied jubilation as a deep burning flooded every last bit of my legs and chest.

Planting both my forehooves on the ground, I spun the rest of my body around to kick the ghoul’s legs out from under it.

I had either misjudged how much force I had poured into my sweep, or the ghoul’s bones were just that fragile. Whichever was the case, the result was the same, The ghoul let out a loud roar as both it’s front legs bent in half, shattered by my kick.

The front half of the ghoul collapsed onto the ground in a heap of scarred flesh and blue fabirc. It tried to lift its head to look at me, but it was swiftly rammed into the ground by Pot’s prosthetic leg. The stallion had rushed past me and whipped his shoulder around to bring the metal bar down on the creature’s temple.

Making the most out of the window Pot had bought me, I focused on my horn and felt the magic surge within it. A beam of crimson energy shot out of the tip and struck the ghoul in the face, making it let out a horrible gurgling noise.

The magic’s glow faded, and I found myself staring directly into the Ghoul’s half-molten eyes. Its face was a burnt mess after my spell. For a split second I thought it was dead, but the monster moved one of its broken forelegs closer to me in a desperate attack attempt.

It hadn’t even started moving before my horn surged again, however, and this time I kept the beam up until I felt my magic start to falter. Once the beam was broken, the ghoul remained where it had been, unmoving. It’s face had become a charred mass that looked more like coal than any sort of skull.

I spring up to my hooves in an instant. Pot, who had been covering his eyes with his good forehoof to avoid getting blinded by my magic, jumped back in surprise. I didn’t pay him much mind, however, because the burning in my body remained unsatiated.

There’s at least one bastard left!!

I scanned the horizon like a hawk, spotting Narrative some distance off to my left and Pot standing nearby on my right. I turned my gaze towards the town, where I spotted the other two cloaked figures. The one I had shot originally was back on their hooves, and both were scrambling eastward. I tried to trace their path, they were trying to reach a pile of rocks that jutted out of the wasteland’s cracked soil.

While that did explain why they hadn't started shooting at us, it was far from a good development. If they managed to get behind cover while we were still out in the open then I would have a hard time taking them out.

“Pot! Shoot at them!” I ordered

“I’m not gonna hit shite from ‘ere!” The stallion shouted as he yanked on his pistol. The weapon let out a horrible screeching sound before a single bullet fell out of the bottom of the magazine, bent in half. “Got it!” Pot shouted, putting the gun back in his mouth.

“Shoot them anyway! I need to get closer!” I shouted back before I dashed off towards Narrative.

Revolver or shotgun… I thought as I approached the robot. I didn’t trust that shotgun completely, but the less time the other virtues had to take cover, the better. Thinking quickly, I pulled Temperance’s revolver out of my holster as I got closer to the robot.

”Nightmare. Guns. Nightmare,” Narrative droned as I approached. There would be time to deal with that later, however, for now I had to get my weapons and run.

Without missing a beat, I dumped Temperance’s revolver in one of the saddlebags and pulled out the other revolver we had found, placing it in my leg holster. As I passed the robot I pulled the shotgun off its back as well, keeping it held in front of me as I ran.

Pot’s dainty pistol fired from somewhere to my right as I approached the two cloaked figures. At the range he was firing at, it would’ve been a miracle if that gun hit anything. But it didn’t matter, because the bullets hitting the wasteland around the stone that the virtue ponies had hid behind was enough to stop them from poking their heads out and shooting at me.

My hooves kicked up a dust cloud as I barreled through the wastes towards the stone, ready to throw myself to the side at any sign of movement from behind the stone.

For a moment I considered ditching the shotgun and using the revolver instead, since I didn’ exactly trust it to fire properly. My thinking was interrupted when I saw something blue poke out from behind the stone.

My horn acted before I could finish registering what it was, whipping the shogun towards the rock and firing. The gun worked properly, kicking back against my magic as it blasted a chunk of the stone off. Whoever had been trying to poke out hid behind the rock once more.

A pistol flew out from the cover, wrapped in a thin, weak magical glow. Whoever was holding it had very evidently never held a gun before, as I saw the entire magical field constrict down around the weapon in a vain attempt to make it fire.

It got lucky, maganing to squeeze the trigger just right. Not that it was much use, as the inexperienced magical grasp had pulled the weapon off center. A single gunshot rang out, slamming directly into the ground below. The gun itself went flying into the air, its recoil having clearly overpowered the unicorn’s arcane grip.

I had no time to waste. Jumping into the air, I soared past the rock and landed on the other side, where I got a clear view of the two hiding ponies.

My gaze was met by that of a ghoul unicorn. One of its eyes was missing, but the other one went wide with fear. The other pony was slumped against the rock, clutching at their right shoulder. They had a battle saddle that held a rifle onto their side. That was good news for me, since it would take them a couple of seconds before they would be able to take aim at me.

The ghoul’s horn lit up, but I was faster. The shotgun roared and bucked, sending its deadly payload into the creature. The thin magic that had barely started to form around its horn imploded as the ghoul collapsed onto the ground.

“No!” The earth pony virtue shouted as they tried to aim their battle saddle at me.

I threw myself to the side, taking advantage of how inconvenient battle saddles were to buy me some vital seconds. I dropped the shotgun onto the ground and drew the revolver instead.

Bang! Bang!

One shot through the chest, one through the head.

The pony straightened out and flopped onto their side, still carried by the momentum that they had picked up while trying to turn and aim. The rifle on their side fired once into the dry soil when the pony’s jaw clenched around the mouth-trigger.

Something made my right ear twitch. I dropped down into my fighting stance, keeping the revolver at the ready as I tried to listen closer. Despite the roaring of my heart in my ears, I could still make out some raspy, wheezing breaths.

The ghoul!

I whipped the revolver around and took aim at the fallen monster’s head. It wasn’t moving at all save for the very slow rise and fall of its chest, but I just knew it was probably waiting for me to let my guard down!

”Nopony tricks Black Light!” I shouted before pulling the trigger.

Two shots flew straight into the back of the Ghoul’s skull, with a third one following suit for good measure. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly disappointed by the revolver.

Temperance’s revolver would’ve turned that ghoul’s skull into paste!

No matter, I had to-

“Ough…” I mumbled before my head exploded.

The dry dirt beneath me rose up to hit my face as I flopped forwards. My forehooves reached up to clutch the sides of my head in a desperate attempt to pry the vice that was clamped down on it off.

My heart, which had been beating like a war drum, now beat out of rhythm, sending odd bursts if blood into my throbbing head. The warmth in my limbs had gone from soothing to searing, tearing through me like fiery tendrils that wrapped around my bones.

I tried to lift my chest off the ground, but the exhertion was too much for me. Before I had even managed to lift my head fully, my stomach lurched violently and sprayed my breakfast all over the ground.

Ew… I thought weakly, using what little strenght I could muster to flop onto my side, clearing the puddle of vomit.

Six bars appeared on my EFS… or were they three? Maybe five? I wasn’t sure, it was too blurry and glitchy to make out anything in particular. I really hoped that it was Pot and Narrative, because I could not get up for the life of me. The little pony in my head was staggring around like they had been hit in the head and were goving their last woozy steps before passing out completely.

Another spike of pain rammed into my head, making me squirm backwards and groan. I could really use some MedX.

“Black Light?” Pot’s voice called from somewhere on my right.

“Joy. Do you think they got her?” Narrative’s voice added.

I raised a forehoof weakly, waving it from side to side to draw my friends’ attention. I flopped onto my back, keeping one forehoof pressed against my forehead and the other stretched upward.

The clouds above were the same as they had been since I had taken the first step out of my stable, dull gray, barely moving. I hadn’t seen them break even a single time. Granted, I hadn’t exactly been looking at the sky all the time, but it was still impressive that jt was always a single solid mass above.

I wonder what the pegasi are up to up there…

They had to be there, there was no way those clouds were being kept in place by the whims of nature. There was something evidently artificial about them.

My view was suddenly filled with Pot’s face. He looked concerned, and I could’ve sworn that he was looking noticeably older than he had when I first met him.

“Are you hurt?” He asked.

“No… just my head…” I replied weakly.

“She should definitely not be running around after a head injury like that,” Narrative stated, rolling up to the edge of my peripheral vision.

“I’m… fine! I just n- need some MedX…” I mumbled, my tongue seemed to be fighting against any intention of me using it to speak properly.

Pot furrowed his brow, giving Narrative a weird look.

“Absolutely not,” The robot replied. “The last thing she needs is MedX,”

“She’s in pain,” Pot said, furrowing his brow more.

“Too bad, she is not stable enough to deal with MedX,” Narrative said, crossing his claws in front of him. “The last thing we need is her going on a rampage,”

The earth pony looked down at me, then back up at the machine. He let out a defeated sigh and looked at me again.

“He’s kinda right, lass,” He muttered.

He looked legitimately disappointed at not being able to get me the MedX. He knew how bad I needed it.

No, Black Light! He’s supposed to see you as his guardian! I chided myself internally. Suck it up and get your hooves under you!

Clenching my jaw as hard as I possibly could, I flipped onto my side and got my hooves on the ground. The earth pony reached out to touch my shoulder with his good forehoof, but I brushed him off softly.

Grunting with effort, I climbed up to my hooves. I gave Pot a smile, trying my best to keep my face relaxed. My eyes were wide open, but the sun seemed to poir into then like a stream of broken glass. I wanted to slam them shut and go back to clutching my head on the floor, but I knew that I couldn’t falter.

“I’m fine,” I grunted.

“Are you sure you-“ Pot started, but I had no time for his nonsense.

“I am fine,” I repeated, shaking my head slightly when base of my tongue sent a shot of pain into my head.

Pot’s eyes glazed over for a secon or two before he looked at me and nodded.

“Okay, fair enough, let’s keep moving,” He said.

I raised a forehoof to point at the two virtue soldiers I had taken out a moment ago.

“We should… Hnngh… see if they had anything useful,” I said, trying to bite back my pained winces.

As I looked at the fallen ponies, however, my left ear twitched and swiveled towards the town.

More gunshots… I realized. Could there be more virtue soldiers out here?

The mere suggestion of there being more foes to fight seemed to inject power directly into my heart. It beat once, then twice, and by the third beat it had flushed every last bit of pain out of me. My vision sharpened to a razor’s edge again, just as it always had whenever I trained.

I looked at the town again, I could make out the buildings in the distance, but there wasn’t any movement that I could see from here. That was odd, I would have imagined that the ghouls would be visible from here.

“There’s more gunshots, I bet there’s some virtue soldiers in the town,” I said.

“You can’t be serious,” Pot said, staring at me with wide eyes.

I turned to look at the earth pony stallion and nodded.

“I am, we can’t let a single one get away!”

“Ya were just writhin’ on the floor ya daft bastard!” The stallion boomed.

I picked the revolver up from where I had dropped it earlier and walked up to Narrative,

“Fear. Please, no more shootings,” The robot pleaded.

”I’m sorry, buddy, but I have to go check,” I said, lowering my gaze slightly.

”Check what? You’re going to get yourself, and us, killed!” Pot exclaimed.

“For starters, we don’t even know if the ponies shooting are virtues! What if they’re some wastelanders that these bastards left there to die?”

Pot furrowed his brow and stared at me with a confused expression.

“Why wouldn’t they have just killed them, then?” He asked.

“Well uhh… to preserve ammunition!” I replied. “Besides it’s not like they could hit the broad side of a barn anyway,” I added, looking at the dead ghoul and remembering how hard they had struggled with their gun.

“Black Light…” Pot started, his voice taking on a rather alarming edge. “We are not getting sidetracked again, let’s move,” He finished, giving me a strained smile.

I looked into the stallion’s green eyes, then back at the town. More gunshots rang out. This time, however, they brought with them a realization. If it was a group of surface dwellers being swarmed by ghouls, then why did the shooting stop? Either they’d take out all the ghouls and flee or they’d get overrun.

“Can’t we at least take a peek? Something isn’t right…” I said.

“Absolutely not, we need to get bloody movin’ right now!” Pot bellowed.

“Aw come on! What’s the worst that could happen? You can stay away if you want but at least let me go check!” I pouted, stomping the floor.

The strange stabbing sensation under my tongue returned as I watched Pot consider my words. He groaned softly before shaking his head and focusing on me.

“Fine, but give me the rifle,” The stallion stated.

I cocked my head to the side, confused about his request.

“What? Why?” I asked.

“So I can help you from a reasonable distance,” He explained, furrowing his brow. “And because if you get torn to shreds by the ghouls then I’ll at least have a nice gun,”

His logic did make sense, and while I didn’t exactly feel like parting with the rifle, the shotgun and the revolver should be more than enough for a couple ghouls. I nodded and floated the rifle over to the stallion along with the second magazine. Before I started to approach the town, however, Narrative rolled forward and placed himself in front of me.

“Anger. I refuse to go. He can choose to stay back, but I cannot,” The robot droned, gesturing towards Pot.

I rolled my eyes. I was starting to get pretty annoyed at how much my friends were delaying me, why couldn’t they just let me do my thing?

“You can stay as far away as you can,” I stated, crouching slightly and furrowing my brow.

“Anger. That is still not far enough,” Narrative replied.

“Ponies need my help, Narrative, move,” I growled back, biting onto my tongue when I felt the stab again.

The machine let out some odd whirring noises before slowly reversing out of my way. I didn’t want to waste another second, and I launched forward the second I could. My heart started to beat harder, vaporizing what little wisps of my headache still remained.

The little pony in my head was running alongside me, a determined grin on her face. A grin parted my own face when I heard gunshots coming from the town. I wasn’t too late yet! I did find it slightly odd that I had heard what I could’ve sworn was an explosion before the shooting started. Why would they wait until now to use explosives? I wondered, no matter, I had to help them!

As I approached, I realized why I hadn’t been able to see any movement from far away. The town was almost completely walled off with fences and carriage wrecks. It was almost reminiscent of Junkyard, which was not giving me good vibes at all. Unlike Junkyard, however, the fence here was much more refined, the metal plating on the bottom was carefully organized to form a solid barrier, and the top was lined with barbed wire.

Can it, Black Light, focus! I told myself, forcing my legs to run faster.

I pulled my revolver out and slowed down a little when I got to the edge of town, realizing that rushing in would probably not be a good idea. My EFS was littered with blue bars in all directions, many were spread out, but some were grouped together in small clusters. Could one of the clusters be the ponies that were doing the shooting?

My ears swiveled as I neared the edge of one of the houses, trying to stay alert for ambushes. What I heard instead was rather intriguing… voices. It sounded like a whole crowd of ponies was idly chattering inside the town. I drew closer to the fence that formed the outer perimeter, poking my head out slightly and staring into the town.

Oh no…

Virtues, at least a dozen of them. They were all walking around the town like they owned the place. I noticed several tents and gazebos had been set up on the street I was looking down, which had several large metal boxes laid out underneath them. I noticed how the clusters were pointing towards some larger tents, probably filled with even more virtues.

The rest of the town told a different story, however. Multiple lines of sandbag walls had been set up as protection facing away from the camp and towards the other streets. Most of the virtues were gathered there, aiming their weapons out at something I couldn’t see. The only other thing that drew my attention was the large pile of charred corpses that had been set out in an empty lot.

What are they doing… I wondered, poking my head out more to try and see what the soldiers were aiming at.

Another cloaked earth pony walks out from one of the tents. A mare, I realized, she hadn’t put her hood up yet. Some kind of metal device was hanging from her chest, attached by a strap. I couldn’t make out what it was, but it appeared to be covered in buttons.

The mare walked forward and approached one of the sandbag barriers, which had a metal box set up behind it seemingly at random. She jumped onto it and cleared her throat, puffing out her chest before she started to shout.

“Citizens of Rosewood! We are the Followers of Virtue,” The mare announced, I realized that she had been the one who I had heard screaming before. “We have come to offer you our Kindness. If you can understand these words, then please, lie down and cover your head with your forelegs. You will not be harmed, and we will accept you regardless of what you look like,”

What is she talking about…

As I watched, the mare looked down at the device around her neck and lifted it up to her face. She stared at it for a moment before reaching up and pressing one of the buttons.

One of the houses shook violently as an explosion echoed out from inside. Dust and rubble flew out of the house as all the virtue soldiers that were nearby kept their guns trained on the door. The dust slowly settled, but nothing seemed to happen.

The mare on the box lowered the device around her neck and whipped her head around to look at one of the many virtue soldiers around her.

“Straps, go make some noise!” She yelled.

One of the cloaked ponies walked forwards towards the house, hitting the doorframe with the barrel of the rifle attached to his battle saddle before jumping back. The other soldiers tensed up, keeping their guns trained on the door.

A loud roar came from inside the ruined house, followed quickly by the ghastly visage of a ghoul lunging out of the darkness. It had once been a pegasus, as evidenced by the skeletal wings that were limply attached to its back, but that time had long since passed.

It didn’t get far, of course, as at least five separate soldiers opened fire on it, nearly cutting it in half under the sheer volume of fire. Once it had fallen motionless to the ground, a soldier walked up and dragged the body away, carrying it towards the pile I had seen earlier.

“Candle, you’re up!” The mare barked.

“On me!” A stallion said off to her left before removing their hood.

A long black mane spilled from underneath the hood, interrupted by a long orange horn. The horn flashed for a moment before a brilliant sphere of light condensed on its tip, floating up a short distance above the pony’s head. Even in the daylight it was still strong enough to bathe the area around the pony in more warm light.

Three other virtue soldiers formed up behind him as he marched into the house, keeping a shotgun up and ready. All four ponies disappeared from my sight the moment they passed through the door, and after a few moments, they disappeared from my EFS compass as well.

They went underground… I reasoned, but I couldn’t figure out why.

After a couple minutes, one of the soldiers walked out and stepped to the side to let a small figure through the door. It was a ghoul, very similar to the ones I had fought before. The tattered remains of a dress still clung to her flaking coat, her milky, bloodshot eyes squinted in the sun, and she raised a cracked forehoof to cover her face.

“Guns down,” The mare on the box ordered, jumping forward and walking towards the ghoul, gesturing for one of the soldiers around to do… something.

The pony had clearly understood the gesture, however, and they walked up to one of the gazebos to pick up a roll of blue cloth. They trotted back to the mare’s side, who had placed a forehoof on the ghoul’s shoulder.

I was too far away to hear what she was saying, but the ghoul seemed to relax. The pony that the lead mare had called for offered the cloth to the ghoul, who wrapped it around herself. It was a cloak, same as the ones all the virtues wore. The hood was drawn over the ghoul’s head, possibly to protect her eyes from the sun.

The soldier that had brought her the cloak helped the ghoul make their way towards one of the tents on the sides while the mare at the lead jumped back onto her box. I noticed how the other two soldiers that had gone into the house walked out and took their positions again.

“Okay ponies, we have a lot of basements left!” The mare shouted. “Let’s get a move on,”

My ear twitched as I picked up the sound of Narrative’s treads approaching. I winced at how loud it was, whipping around and spotting the robot as it approached.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded, trying my best to whisper.

“Anger. I have no choice, you imbecile,” The machine droned back.

My ears flattened against the sides of my head at Narrative’s unbelievably loud voice. He seemed to notice too, given how his claws darted out to press against the underside of his brain jar as if he were trying to cover his mouth.

“You say somethin’?” A stallion’s voice said from the roof of the house I was hiding behind.

“No?” A second voice said.

I heard the sound of rustling, as if a pony had been laying down on a bedroll. My heart was beating like a war drum as my eyes scanned the lip of the house’s roof. This could go bad very fast, but I just had to be faster.

There!

The revolver in my magical grasp flipped around and fired at the first sign of movement. It wasn’t the best choice, as whoever had been on the roof had placed their hoof on the edge instead of poking their head out. Blood and hoof fragments rained down on me as the stallion screamed bloody murder.

“Raiders!” The second voice shouted.

“Straps! Get the ghouls out of here!” The mare who had been on the box shouted.

I pressed myself against the corner of the house, poking my head out again to try and see just how many enemies I was up against. Almost as soon as I did, a cloaked ghoul that was standing near the fence spotted me and raised a forehoof to point in my direction.

“Over here!” He rasped.

I just barely managed to tuck my head back behind the wall before the general area started to get riddled with bullets. The house’s bricks spewed orange dust, and the scrap metal plates that had been pressed against the fence next to it let out metallic sounds as bullets bounced and punched through it.

A gunshot echoed out from the distance, and I nearly jumped in shock when a body landed behind me. I whirled around and tried to make sense of what had happened. A dead stallion was lying on the ground, his head a bloody mess. What could have-

“Sniper!” A virtue soldier shouted.

Pot! I realized, turning back in the direction I had come from and spotting a small figure lying flat against the ground.

My eyes darted down to my EFS, which made my heart drop. That was way too many of them…

“Fear. We are dead,” Narrative said.

“No! Shut up, I’ll think of something!” I shouted back.

The gunfire had died down, but the bars on my compass were relentless. I watched as small groups formed and started to spread out towards the edges. Gunshots rang out from above, but they weren’t aiming at me. Pot returned fire from off in the distance, but he clearly missed given how the bullets hit the edge of the roof.

I tried to think of a way to help him, but I was about to have much bigger fish to fry. One of the EFS bar groups was about to round the edge of the town to meet me. Turning around revealed that both groups were about to catch me in a pincer attack.

“You wouldn’t happen to be able to shoot, right?” I asked narrative, trying and failing to keep the panic out of my voice.

“Anger. No,” The machine responded.

Well, shit. Think, Black Light! I yelled internally as I tried my damndest to split my focus.

My horn throbbed painfully at the strain, but I still managed to float up my shotgun alongside the revolver and aim each gun in a different direction. But I had to admit, ‘aim’ was relative, since the weakened magic and split focus made the weapons shake vigorously.

No, this wouldn’t work… but I had a different idea!

Dropping the shotgun to the floor so it would be easy to pick up later, I focused solely on my revolver and tried to trigger SATS. The spell failed to cast, making a faint popping sound instead. Yes, this would work much better.

I tried to trigger it again, nothing. Then a third time, still nothing. On the fourth attempt, my head was whipped to the right by arcane force as I felt the spell take hold. The outline of a foreleg and part of a chest stuck out from behind the corner of a building. A pistol was floating out as well, wrapped in magic. Knowing that SATS would aim for the center of mass, I simply let the spell fade and aimed at the pony’s chest myself.

Bang!

Direct hit. The stallion stumbled forward onto the ground, his telekinesis spell collapsing around the pistol. I had no time to enjoy the victory, however. SATS took hold again, whipping my entire body in the opposite direction and highlighting an earth pony who had jumped out from behind a wrecked carriage. Judging by their determined expression and how far out of cover he had jumped, he had clearly assumed that I would be facing the other way to attack the ponies on that side. The strategy would have worked too had it not been for SATS’s time perception acceleration.

Bang!

The stallion’s forehead split apart as my revolver sang.

No time for recharge! I thought as I whipped myself around and fired blindly at the corner where the first stallion had jumped out from. My hunch was proven correct when a pony staggered back. I hadn’t hit them, but they had been to jump out and shoot me.

Another echoey gunshot rang out through the wasteland, only this time it struck true. A mare cried out from one of the rooftops above me and no return shot was fired. Pot fired again, and the bar disappearing from my EFS showed that he had been aiming for the cluster where the earth pony with the battle saddle had jumped out from. If he had that side covered, then maybe I could take out the other group…

There were still too many bars on my compass. We probably didn’t even have enough ammunition to take them all out, even if they lined up and let us execute them. A cold tendril of fear started to wrap around my heart, biting harder into it with every beat. But I couldn’t afford to freeze up, there had to be a way out of this.

I triggered SATS again, whipping around to the corner I had blindly fired at before. I could barely make out the very tip of one of the pony’s forehooves. That wasn’t helped at all by Narrative blocking most of my view. If only this useless tin can could use a weapon! Another gun might just give us the edge we need-

That’s it! I thought as an idea sparked in my mind. I might not be able to get more guns on my side, but the memory of the feral ghoul lunging at the soldiers earlier made me realize that I might still be able to turn the tide.

“Stay put!” I shouted at Narrative, intent on using his reinforced body to buy me some vital seconds before shooting blindly at the corner again.

One shot left… I noted as my revolver cycled to the last round.

I poked my head out from behind the house, looking into the settlement again and spotting multiple virtue soldiers. I slipped into SATS, but I knew that I didn’t have much time. I spotted the mare who had been on the box before hiding behind a small pile of boxes. Feeling the milliseconds before I got shot slip by, I aimed for the first thing I could: her leg.

Before the spell had even started to fade I was already yanking my neck back to try and get my head out of the way. I was successful, but only barely. A hailstorm of gunfire flew at me, with one grazing my right eyebrow.

The mare I was aiming at, however, wasn’t so lucky. I heard the distinctive noise of a pony falling to the ground as well as a metallic thump when the device around her neck fell as well.

No time for celebration, however. I dropped the revolver and kicked the shotgun into the air with a forehoof, grabbing it in my telekinesis just as another soldier rounded the corner and opened fire. The cloaked pony’s pistol fired thrice, with the first shot missing and the other two ricocheting off Narrative’s rear plating. The machine started ranting nonsense, as if I needed another distraction.

I did not intend to let her fire a fourth.

Bang!

The shotgun ripped into the pony’s shoulder, sending them to the ground while clutching it. Their pistol fell out of their mouth as they screamed, leaving me with one less enemy to deal with.

Before another soldier decided to try their luck, I moved my attention upwards and started phase two of my crazy plan.

I sat on my haunches and dropped the shotgun into my forehooves, just in case I had to shoot it again, and then wrapped the barbed wire on the top of the fence in my magic. With a grunt, I ripped a segment of it off its posts and up into the air. Closing my eyes to try and visualize the place where the mare had fallen inside the town. Using the wire like a whip, I struck at the general area where she must have fallen.

Like a fishermare with her line, I yanked the barbed wire towards me, feeling it catch on something. More magic surged through my horn, yanking what I hoped was the mare towards me. The yanking eventually stopped when something thudded against the fence.

I cracked my eyes open again, or at least my left one, as the wound on my eyebrow was bleeding profusely down my face and stopping me from opening the other eye. The mare I had shot was writhing against the fence, clutching at her cloak’s collar. The wire had tangled itself on her cloak, dragging her right up to me.

“Gotcha!” I shouted before moving my magical grasp to the device around the mare’s neck.

Here goes nothing! I thought before pressing every single button on it.

The entire town beyond the fence suddenly roared to life. Dozens of explosives went off at once, sending plumes of smoke and rubble sky high. The sheer volume of explosives made my ears start ringing as I threw myself onto the ground to avoid any debris.

For a single, impossibly long second, nothing happened. None of the bars on my compass even dared to flicker, as if everypony in the area had frozen solid… and then it began.

“Look out!” A stallion shouted before the air filled with grunts and groans.

Bar after bar appeared on my compass, ten, twenty, thirty… too many to count. Gunfire started to cut through the grunts, mixed in with the screams of any soldiers that had been standing at unfortunate spots.

I whipped my head around to the sides, seeing that the clusters were rushing back into the town. The mare I had fished with the barbed wire had managed to unclasp her hood, but her attention was fixed on the swarming ghouls.

“Get- cough! The grenades!” She shouted.

I considered shooting her in the back, but given the sheer number of ghouls I was seeing on my compass, it would be a massive waste of ammo. The mare turned around and locked eyes with me for a split second, her gaze that of pure fear, before running away from the fence screaming.

“Narrative! Are you okay?” I shouted at the robot, trying to be heard over the screaming and gunfire.

The machine didn’t reply, but I didn’t need him to. Shoving the revolver into my holster and slinging the shotgun across my back, I lit up my horn and wrapped around one of his claws as I pulled him away from the town. He was mostly unresponsive, but his treads at least seemed to cooperate with me. I looked back and watched as the mass of bars twisted and turned on my compass, smirking at how effective the plan had been.

Once we were far away enough, Pot met back up with us. The stallion appeared to be unharmed, but he was angry.

“What the fuck was that?” He demanded.

“Virtues! Lots of em,” I answered.

“No shit, I fired half this thing’s bullets trying to stop them from swarming you,” The stallion grumbled. “I’m talking about you blowing the entire place up,”

I sat on my haunches and chuckled softly before replying.

“Yeah! They had explosives set up to open basements, I just blasted them all open at once!”

Pot stared at me in confusion before staring at the town.

“Why would they even do that?” Pot wondered.

“They were trying to separate the feral ghouls from the normal ones… I think,” I said as I reloaded my revolver. My brow furrowed. “Bastards, they made any ghouls that could still think join them, talk about easy recruits…” I added, remembering the ghoul mare.

Of course, I could’ve saved her, but was she really innocent if she had joined up with the clear bad guys that easily? The one that had attacked us earlier had joined up with them too. If I had to guess, I’d say that their minds are too far gone to understand right and wrong, even if they aren’t just mindlessly violent.

“You could’ve gotten killed, Black Light,” Pot stated.

“But I didn’t! No harm no foul,” I chirped back, smiling.

“And all it cost us was most of our ammo… not to mention all the time we wasted here,” The stallion snapped at me.

I swiveled an ear at the town, a smug grin appearing on my face.

“Well… I don’t hear any shooting…” I started, slowly gesturing towards the town with my head.

“No,” Pot immediately interjected. “You barely got out of there the first time, why in the name of Celestia would you want to go back there?”

“Okay, wait, listen to me,” I started.

The stallion opened his mouth to protest, but I silenced him by raising a forehoof.

“No, I mean it. I looked at their guns… they have the good stuff,” I continued. “And they stopped shooting, which either means that the ghouls are all dead and there’s a lot less of them, or they’re all dead and we’ll just need to kill a couple ghouls,”

Pot stared at me with a concerned expression.

“I really hate how much sense you’re making…” He muttered. “If there’s one thing the virtues are good at, it's setting up settlements. Would be a waste to leave all that stuff lying around for somepony else to find.”

“Exactly!” I agreed, nodding.

“We’ll just have to be careful,” Pot started before gesturing towards Narrative. “What about him?”

“I think he’s out cold, like back at the Golden Stable,” I theorized.

“Will he follow us?” Pot asked.

I started on my way back towards the town, taking a few steps forward before replying.

“let’s find out, c’mon,”

As it turned out, Narrative’s limp body did follow me around. He didn’t move as fast as he did while conscious, but he still managed to keep up as we made our way back to the town.

The first thing we came across was two ghouls, busy at work ripping into a dead virtue soldier. I floated out my revolver and took aim at one of the ghouls.

“Don’t waste ammo on them,” I told Pot when I noticed that he was sitting on his haunches and bringing the rifle up to bear.

Bang!

The first ghoul flopped onto their back, black blood splattering into the air. I watched as the second one whipped their head around in confusion, walking up to the fallen ghoul and prodding them with a forehoof. It looked… Scared? Maybe sad?

Bang!

No matter, it was dead.

We got to the town proper, where we were met by a rather awful scene. Ghoul and virtue soldiers lied strewn all over the place, showing a clear contrast between the two groups. Virtue soldiers could only be told apart from the ghouls by the tattered remains of their cloaks and the distinctly red color of their blood. The ghouls had been relentless, disemboweling and clobbering them to death.

The ghouls, on the other hoof, were much luckier. Most had been put down with a quick shot to the head, others had simply been gunned down. At least it was quick, I couldn’t imagine how the virtue soldiers felt when they-

“Get down!” Pot shouted, slamming into me and forcing me to the ground.

Two gunshots rang out, both missing us thanks to Pot’s quick thinking. My revolver spun around and fired thrice in the general direction of the gunfire. The destruction had made me lower my guard, and I was not going to let that happen again.

My eyes darted to my EFS compass, where I spotted six bars. One of them was where the bullets had come from.

There!

One of the ruined buildings had a stallion hiding behind a metal box. He had taken cover from my shooting, but the box was way too small to protect him. I took aim and fired, hitting the stallion’s exposed rear leg.

A blood curdling scream filled the town as the stallion writhed on the ceiling. Before I could take him out, however, my attention was drawn to the side when a ghoul lunged at me and Pot.

Bang!

One shot, straight through the head.

The gun whipped around to aim at the stallion again, lining up with his head.

Bang!

Pot’s own pistol rang out, firing five bullets into another ghoul that started to drag themselves towards us. Its legs appeared to be crushed, but it still dragged itself along on its forelegs and lanky wings.

I tried to look around for the other bars, where I spotted a ghoul that was slowly dragging itself into one of the ruined houses. For a moment, I considered letting it go, but I changed my mind just as quickly. The last thing we needed was for it to decide to attack us while we were distracted.

“Go finish that one off,” I said, pointing at the ghoul.

“Hmmph,” Pot replied around his pistol’s mouth-grip.

The stallion walked over to the ghoul and shot it twice in the back of the head.

I scanned the battlefield again, spotting one other bar near me. It looked like somepony was hiding behind a pile of metal boxes. Keeping my revolver trained on the edge of the box to anticipate an ambush, I walked up to the box.

Raspy wheezing sounds reached my ears. Could it be a ghoul? No… A perfectly healthy light green ear poked out from behind the box. Keeping the revolver up, I turned the corner and looked at the rest of the pony.

A light green earth pony was lying against the box, holding a dark blue bag against their stomach. He turned his head to look at me with bloodshot eyes, but they didn’t make a single movement.

I looked more carefully at the bag, where I realized that it was no bag at all, it was the soldier’s blue cloak. He had been disemboweled, and was holding his spilled guts in his own cloak.

My gun floated up, aiming for the pony’s head.

“N… n- no!” They whimpered.

Bang!

He might have been evil, but nopony deserved that pain.

“Does that little terminal on your leg see anypony else?” Pot asked, making his way towards me.

I turned to face the last two bars, which were pointing at one of the larger tents. As I watched, one of the bars disappeared.

“Huh… Stay here…” I told Pot, knowing that he’d just get in the way if I had to fight off a ghoul in a cramped space.

I walked up to the tent, pushing the entrance flap out of the way. My eyes were met by some sort of control center, with multiple metal tables set up with terminals and radio equipment. There was a trail of blood on the floor that led to a feral ghoul. I took aim at it, but that’s when I noticed the combat knife sticking out of its head.

The ghoul’s mouth was very bloody, but it wasn’t its own blood. A trail could be seen leading from it to behind one of the desks, and that was the same direction of the final blue bar on my compass.

I heard a dull thumping sound, followed by another. My eyes scanned the scene until I spotted the source: A bloodied hoof was feeling around on one of the tables. It eventually came to a stop when it found a small device attached to a wire, which it pulled down.

“C- come in…” A voice said. I recognized that voice, it was the mare that had been holding the detonator. “Dish… pick up- cough!”

They didn’t seem to have noticed me, so I remained quiet hoping that I could get some information out of her.

“Kindness? What happened?” A scratchy voice asked from the speakers on the desk.

“Raiders… The ghouls got out of hand…” Answered the mare.

“Redeye?” The voice in the radio asked.

“No… One of them was- cough!” The mare blurted out before being taken over by a coughing fit.

“Come on, Kindness, tell me who did this and we’ll end them,” The radio stated, trying to bolster the mare.

If she didn’t recognize me, then that means they don’t know what I look like yet! I realized. While listening in some more could be useful, I would get much more use out of the element of surprise.

“She was a ze-” The mare started again, but I cut her off with my revolver. Three shots went into the radio, making the speakers pop.

“Nuh uh,” I singsang as I walked around the table.

The mare was lying on her side, covered in blood. Multiple bite marks dotted her hindlegs, with multiple chunks missing from her right thigh, as if another pony had bitten into it. Her right forehoof was a bloodied mess from when I had shot her earlier, and her other hoof was clutching the radio’s microphone for dear life.

“N- no!” The mare pleaded, throwing the microphone to the side and using her only good hoof to drag herself back.

I took a step forward and placed a forehoof on one of her hindlegs, keeping her pinned in place. It was clearly painful, judging by the mare’s wince when I put more of my weight on her leg.

“Where do you think you’re going, evildoer?” I asked, letting my voice get more bombastic.

“F- fuck!” The mare whimpered as she dragged herself away. “Please!”

“Should’ve picked your team better, no evil shall take root while Black Light is here!” I announced.

Bang!

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

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Biographical Registry System v.147

Full name: Dented Tumbler

Classification: Male earth pony – 61 years of age – C989E71-M83A297-E34B355

Cutie Mark: A metal tumbler with a dent in the middle

Dented Tumbler was an old mercenary who used to roam around the Rambling Rock Ridge area, picking up small gigs as a caravan guard or gun-for-hire. Despite being an earth pony, his prowess with a rifle was almost as legendary as his skills with the guitar. Nopony could ever get him to tell where he had come from, nor could they know where he'd go next after completing his contracts. The one thing they knew was that he was not a stallion to be trifled with.

Many ponies tried to end him, all of them failed. But alas, nothing lasts forever. And much like the legend attached to his name, so too did Tumbler fade. Gray streaks lined his mane as the years started to weigh heavy on his bones. His eyesight, once as sharp as a hawk's, became blunted and cloudy. The only thing he retained from his younger years was the apetite for good booze and the stuming of guitar strings.

He would finally be felled, not by any skilled opponent, but by chance. Old Tumbler had been hired by Kindness, the virtue leader. On the fateful day when the Rosewood reclamation project failed due to the Witch of Baltimare's efforts, he would be torn to shreds by a pack of feral ghouls, too slow and old to escape.

Author's Note

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