“Do we really need to carry all of this stuff?” Pot demanded as I tried to retie the straps holding the boxes onto Narrative’s sides.

“Wh-? Of course we do!” I pouted, furrowing my brow as I tried my best to pass the rope under the box nearest to me. “We couldn’t just leave it back there for them to just grab again!”

The earth pony rolled his eyes at me in annoyance before he replied.

“We also didn’t have to try and bring their entire base along with us,”

The stallion was oh so terribly wrong, but was there really any point in explaining tactics to a surface dweller? Regardless, he might have had a point. Narrative’s chassis was now adorned by four of the metal boxes that the virtues had had lying around their camp. We had filled two of them with the best weapons we had found.

I made extra sure to see if any of the virtues had been carrying Ironshod firearms, and to my immense delight, many were. While I hadn’t gotten the time to check if they all worked, I was sure that it would take a little more than getting knocked around by rotten ghoul hooves to break such fine weaponry.

The other two boxes held supplies and ammo respectively. They were rather disorganized, mainly because in the rush of trying to loot everything and run away, we had resorted to just throwing entire saddlebags and bandoliers into the crates. Some weren’t even useful anymore since I was forced to cut the straps to take them off the dead virtues.

Other than that, I had also picked up a small metal lighter off one of the ghouls. It didn’t have any lighter fluid in it or anything, but the shiny exterior caught my eye while carrying the supplies around.

Much to Pot’s dismay, I had taken special care to drag every gun we couldn’t carry with us and anything else that looked even remotely useful outside the town where I buried it. Granted, the suspiciously box-shaped mounds sitting a short distance outside the town wouldn’t fool anypony paying attention, but if they did, they would keep all those things out of the virtues’ hooves. Just for good measure, I had also thrown a couple of grenades into the communications tent they had set up.

“Trust me, you’ll be glad that we took the time to sabotage them like that later,” I replied, feeling proud of the mighty blow I had dealt to those blue-cloaked ne’er-do-wells.

“Whatever, but if those damn ropes cut again we’re leaving some of the stuff here,” Pot stated, stomping the ground.

I nodded energetically before looking out into the horizon.

“How much further until we get there?” I asked.

Pot sighed deeply and sat on his haunches, raising his good forehoof up to measure the position of the sun.

“A couple hours, maybe three,” The earth pony said, “But we should really pick up the pace, I do not want to sleep out here again,” He added.

“Aww come on, it wasn’t that bad!” I pouted, remembering our camp from the previous night.

“For you, maybe. I don’t appreciate sleeping in the open,” The stallion replied.

I rolled my eyes and chuckled at how dramatic he was being. Sure, sleeping in the middle of nowhere was a little unnerving, but the night was so completely and utterly dark that the only way a pony could be spotted other than them having a light on would be to just so happen to run directly into them.

Regardless, we started on our way again. I kept my eyes focused on the horizon for a while, but after some time I realized that we would be much safer if I just kept my eyes glued to my EFS at all times. Just in case somepony were to sneak up on us, I would occasionally spin in place to make sure no extra bars popped up.

The hours of silence sent me into a trance, at least until a burst of static from Narrative made me jump in place.

“Fear. Where am I?” The machine demanded.

“Wakey wakey, sleepy head!” I said, playfully patting his brain jar.

“Fear. What happened? There were monsters,” He insisted.

“That was yesterday, dummy, we’re on our way to mare…?” I trailed off, shooting Pot a look to get some help.

“Marepoint Fort,” The stallion harrumphed.

Narrative’s claws raised up as if to cover his brain jar while he continued ranting.

“Fear. Where are the monsters?”

I walked up to the front of the robot and sat on my haunches, lifting my own forehooves to lower his claws.

“They’re dead, you’re safe,” I said plainly.

He fell silent for a moment, as if to gather himself. A smile parted my face when he lowered his claws, managing to look relaxed despite being so clearly artificial.

“Sadness. This body is a curse,” Narrative stated. “There’s an excessive weight warning in my sensor array, what did you do?”

Pot slowly turned his head to look at me with a deadpan expression.

“I don’t know, what did you do, Black Light?” The stallion asked.

“I uhh… I might have gone a little overboard with the looting…” I mumbled under my breath.

Pot let out a long, defeated sigh.

Little else happened as we continued pressing forward. Much like before when we were nearing Rosewood, the open bare wasteland was slowly replaced with ruined suburbs. Small houses surrounded by the sun bleached ruins began dotting the landscape as the ground beneath my hooves got rougher, shifting from dry earth to cracked pavement. This road led directly into the denser part of the ruins, but it still remained fairly intact save the occasional cracks and the flaking paint. I guessed it made sense, it had been many, many years since anything heavier than a pack brahmin had used it.

“Wait… why are we on the road?” I asked, turning to look at Pot.

The stallion was looking significantly worse for wear. Sweat poured from his brow in thick droplets, and he leaned to rest on his good forehoof almost as soon as we came to a halt.

“This place is full of traps, the only way in or out of the town is through the main road,” He explained, panting heavily.

“That makes sense I gue-“ I started, but my mouth slammed shut as my head exploded.

I collapsed onto the road and twisted on my back clutching my temples with as much strength as I could muster in a vain attempt to squeeze the pain out of my skull. My hindlegs kicked wildly at the sky, sending more jolts of pain through me with every jerking motion as my saddlebags slid off my flanks, spilling their contents all over the road. I wasn’t in the best state of mind to worry about that now.

I heard Pot shout something but couldn’t make out the words as a claw wrapped around one of my hindlegs, trying to hold it down against the cracked pavement. Something in the back of my mind reacted before I even got the chance to think, spinning my body around and kicking with my other rear leg.

Crunch!

My right rear hoof sent a line of white-hot agony burning all the way up to my head as it collided against solid metal. The injured hoof was swiftly immobilized by a second claw, holding it against the road.

My teary eyes cracked open and stared upwards at the clouds. Swirls and strange symbols flooded my view as an odd feeling of panic gripped my heart. I turned my head to the side and watched as my EFS flooded with red bars and swirls.

“Mngh… there!” I shouted, gritting my teeth as I thrashed on the ground.

I was still being held down, but I had to do something. My horn powered up and pulled out my revolver, firing once at the mass of swirling symbols before my magic imploded on itself. The backfiring spell slammed me flat on my back, where I could do nothing but listen to the sound of the gun falling to the ground. Dazed, I curled up into a ball as best I could and screwed my eyes shut.

I don’t know how long I spent there. All I know is that after a while my rear legs were let go and I was carefully dragged somewhere a little darker than the road we had been on.

The headache slowly started to fade at the back of my head. The relief moved forward slowly, terribly so, but it was moving. It felt as if barbed wire were slowly being reeled out of my skull through my horn. Pulling the pain out but hurting as much as possible as it did.

Half my head was clear now, leaving me with an unpleasant hot sensation. I considered opening my eyes, getting up, maybe asking Pot for help, but something told me that moving would just make things worse.

Focus, Black Light, you’ve been hurt before…

I stabilized my breathing as best I could and immediately felt the relief grow faster, only the very front of my head hurt now. I was almost there, just had to hold on a little longer…

“Ough…” I groaned when I felt the last of the pain slide out of my horn.

My head still felt extremely hot and like it was filled with cotton, but it was a far cry from how bad it had been hurting earlier. I tentatively cracked an eye open, where I saw that I had been dragged into one of the houses on the side of the road. I had been set down just barely past the front door and faced outwards. Pot or Narrative were nowhere to be seen, but I could hear noises coming from behind me. Noises and… something else. Something all but dispelling whatever discomfort had clung to my head.

Something smelled good.

Spurred by my nose, I crawled up to my hooves and stumbled deeper into the house. My right rear hoof was hurting horribly, as if it were trying to sprout another ankle down the middle, but none of my bones agreed. I bit it back and kept moving, intent on finding out what the smell was.

“Did you hear that?” Narrative’s voice droned from inside one of the rooms ahead.

“Yeah… Think she got up?” Pot asked.

I tripped over my own hooves and was forced to lean against the wall for support. My ear twitched as it picked up the sound of approaching hooves. Gritting my teeth, I pushed off the wall and stood as straight as I could.

Come on, be strong. I told myself.

Pot poked his head out from inside the room and let out a relieved sigh. His face quickly morphed into concern, however, as he limped out of the room and pressed his good forehoof against my forehead.

“You’re burning up, come in, I’m making lunch,” He said, gesturing towards the room with his head.

“Anger. Well look who’s up,” Narrative droned as soon as I walked inside.

I furrowed my brow, looking at the robot with confusion. Why was he angry?

“She’s not feeling well, Lamp,” Pot warned as he walked past me and sat down next to his cooking supplies.

The stallion had set up his cooking pot over a fire made from wooden scraps. Curious, I peeked into the pot and saw that whatever was being cooked inside it was bubbling softly.

“What happened?” I asked, dragging myself a little closer to the cornucopia of delectable scents that were coming out of the pot.

“You tell me,” The earth pony replied. “You started screaming and shooting into the air… I’m actually surprised we haven’t had any visitors yet,”

I rubbed the back of my head with a forehoof, feeling how matted with sweat my coat was. I looked down at my rear leg and noticed that the hoof was cracked slightly, with noticeable swelling at the base.

“Anger. I tried to help by holding you down, but you just broke one of my claws,” Narrative stated, holding up his right claw for me to see.

The mechanical appendage had been locked into a half-open state by the plating around the base of the wrist, which had been bent badly out of shape by my panicked kick.

“I- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” I whimpered.

“Sadness. I know you didn’t,” Narrative said after a short pause. “How’s your head?” He added.

“It’s-“ I started, but I cut myself off.

I had to be strong for them, just like a true hero of the surface should! With the most confident smile I could muster, I looked at the brain bot and spoke.

“Much better! I’m really sorry about earlier, I think I wasn’t healed from the little bonk on the head I took,”

Pot raised an eyebrow at me, but remained focused on the pot in front of him.

”I am fairly certain you have a massive concussion,” Narrative droned.

”A massive what?” Pot asked, whipping his head around to look at the robot.

”Nothing, nevermind,” The brain bot replied.

”Well… anyway!” I squeaked, trying to change the subject. “What are you cooking?” I asked, smiling at Pot.

“Well, I realized that we still had a lot of fresh stuff from the golden stable ponies, so I decided to use as much as I could for this stew before it goes bad,”He explained, a proud smile split the stallion’s face as he spoke. “It’s got meat, eggs, and a lot of cheese,”

My mouth had been watering harder with every single word he had spoken, and the smell coming from the stew was simply beyond description.

Pot offered me one of the tin cups that we had taken from the virtue encampment. My horn fired up a telekinesis spell, but almost as soon as it did I felt an odd sensation around it, as if I had stabbed my horn into something tough like leather.

Weirded out by the sensation, I decided to lean forward and take the cup in my forehooves instead. Pot gave me an odd look, shooting a quick glance at my horn as well, but remained quiet.

I dipped the cup into the cheesy mixture in the pot, finding it to be incredibly thick and stretchy. It was very hot as well, nearly burning my hooves with how close they were to the edges of the pot while dipping the cup into it.

”Can you get mine?” Pot asked, passing me a second cup.

”Take this one,” I replied in turn, offering him the cup I had just filled.

The stallion nodded and let me place the cup on his outstretched forehoof. He lifted it up to his face and licked the bits that were dripping off the side. I grabbed the new cup excitedly and immediately brought it up to my muzzle. It burnt my lips a little bit, but the thick cheese and beef was way too good to concern myself with things as meaningless as thermodynamics.

I slurped up the entire cup, half-drinking and half-chewing as the sharp-tasting cheese filled my chest with warmth. I looked pleadingly at Pot once my cup was empty, but I didn’t even need to open my mouth before the stallion nodded and gestured to the cooking pot.

”You can have the rest, one cup is more than enough for me,”. He said.

Halfway through his reply I had already lept to action, scraping the crust that had stuck to the bottom of the pot with my little tin cup.

While I worked on wolfing down the rest of the food, Pot sheepishly finished the rest of his cup and lied back slowly to rest, staring at the roof.

”You know…” He started, “I think all the guns we grabbed might be really useful when we get to the fort,”

I yanked my muzzle out of my cup, feeling as several strings of molten cheese still connected them.

”Hmmp hmmm?” I asked.

”Uhhh… what?” Pot replied, cocking his head to the side.

I swallowed loudly before repeating myself.

”Useful how?”

“Trade goods,” The earth pony said, “They’re a lot more valuable than plain caps, especially Ironshod,”

He seemed to notice my pouty expression, because he lifted his good forehoof and kept explaining.

”No, not all of them. We can keep some good ones and their ammo, but we can’t keep going around lugging enough guns to arm a small army,”

I guess that makes sense. I realized. While I wasn’t fond of the idea of parting with the guns, it was an acceptable sacrifice if it meant I could find ponies who could help me.

“Maybe, but we should make sure we keep all the good ones!” I huffed, pointing my cup at his face aggressively.

”Sure, sure” Pot offered, raising his forehoof in mock surrender.

”Good!” I exclaimed before shoving my head into the cooking pot to continue eating.

Once we were done, we took a short time to organize our haul properly. My horn was still feeling odd, so I mostly used my muzzle and hooves to help Pot. It was remarkably hard, and I was moving a lot slower than him despite him being one hoof short. I just chalked that up to practice and earth pony shenanigans.

The ruined saddlebags were discarded onto the crackling fire and the rest were tucked away in one of the boxes alongside all our food and ‘chems’.

Wait a minute… I thought as I turned over a jar of pills in my forehooves. Why am I stressing about my horn? I realized as I bent around to open my own saddlebags and pulled out my jar of Bounceback.

”Now we’re talking!” I exclaimed, carefully unscrewing the cap and popping one of the pills into my mouth.

“What are you doing?” Pot shouted, making me jump so hard that I almost sent the jar flying.

“I’m just taking some medicine!” I squeaked back.

“You can’t just take random pills! What even is that stuff?” The earth pony demanded.

I closed the jar and gave him a sheepish smile.

“Don’t worry, these are from my stable!” I said, smiling. “It’s for my horn, it’s feeling strange,”

The stallion looked at me, and then at the pill jar before giving me a nod.

“Aye, fair enough,” He commented. “Just… don’t take any of the others, last thing we need is you going on a rampage,”

Yeah, as if a simple pill could make me lose my cool. I never lose my cool! I thought, huffing aloud.

Once we had finished organizing the stuff into our boxes, we set out on the final stretch. Leaving the piles of ruined saddlebags off to the side along with one of the boxes. I sheepishly looked down when I realized that I had grabbed an entire excess one, but Pot was too relieved with us leaving it behind to be angry at me.

We made sure the three remaining boxes were properly strapped onto Narrative, we made our way to the door and walked back out into the main street. I walked out first and did a full spin around to make absolutely sure there was nopony lying in ambush.

The ruined houses around us started to shift. Where once had stood simple piles of rubble now stood actual buildings. Sure, they were still damaged almost beyond repair, but the construction quality had increased as we got deeper into the town.

“So…” I started, trying to break the monotony. “Before you said that there were traps around here. What kind of traps did you mean?”

“Bombs, mostly,” The stallion replied. “Landmines and tripwires,”

“Ohhh… think we could nab some to sell?” I asked, smirking.

“How in Celestia’s name do you expect to nab a landmine?” Narrative interjected.

“By… disabling it before it explodes?” I offered.

“Anger. That’s not how a landmine works, if you walked over one it would immediately blow you to bits,” The machine stated.

I cocked my head in confusion.

“Don’t they start beeping and explode after a few seconds?” I asked.

“I thought they made a little clicking sound and then blew up when you lifted your hoof,” Pot added.

Narrative slapped the front of his brain jar with a claw in frustration.

“Anger. No, no, no. An actual landmine explodes as soon as you step on it,” He droned before turning to face me directly, “What you described is a proximity mine, and a terrible one at that if it beeps loudly before exploding,”

“How do you know so much about landmines?” Pot asked, turning his head to look at the robot as well.

“I used to be a literary critic, do you have the faintest idea how many times I had to deal with poorly written landmines?” Narrative replied.

“A literal what?” Pot asked, confused.

Narrative remained silent for a moment before he decided to speak again.

“Sadness. Nevermind, it’s not important anymore,”

Pot and I exchanged a quick look, but I just shrugged and stared forward again.

Almost as soon as I did, however, I froze in place. My EFS showed… something off to our right. I couldn’t make out what exactly the symbol was, but it looked like a bar. The edges warped and wobbled however, giving it a more abstract shape than the hard bars I was used to seeing.

“What is it?” Pot asked cautiously as he unstrapped his pistol.

“I’m not sure…” I mumbled back, looking up from my compass and at the building that it was pointing at. “Li… y…?” I read aloud from the sign that still clung to the top of the door.

“Library,” Narrative clarified, “Pinecone library,”

“Shh!” I hissed at the brain bot before turning around to look at the building, silently praying that the bar hadn’t heard us.

The building itself had been made to look like a log cabin with a porch out front. Coffee tables were set out for its patrons, with one even having a small light green cup still standing on it. I noticed that the bases of the pillars holding up were carved into pinecones.

Something else caught my eye off to the side, however. There was another cup like the one on the table resting amongst a pile of bones and tattered clothes. Judging by the two skulls, there had been two separate skeletons at some point that had been carelessly discarded off to the side. It… irked me. I couldn’t exactly put my hoof on it, but I didn’t appreciate seeing bodies of good ponies desecrated like that.

Nonetheless, the strange bar was inside the library. And if the skeletons had been thrown off to the side, then that could only mean that there had been ponies here at some point.

My revolver floated out of its holster and up to my side, but the magic felt off. It wasn’t concerning enough to opt for grabbing it with my mouth, but the telekinetic field still warped ominously at the edges.

At least the Bounceback is working… I thought as I carefully approached the door.

The bar hadn’t moved since I had first spotted it, which reassured me slightly. If they hadn’t moved then they probably hadn’t heard us.

I reached the front door and placed one of my forehooves against it. The door easily slid open… too easily…

Turning around, I gestured to the other two to stand further back, just in case this was another grenade bouquet moment. Once I was sure they were out of harm’s way, I stepped up to the side of the door.

Using my revolver instead of my hoof, I pushed the door open slowly until-

Bang!

A shower of splinters flew out from the edge of the door as a shotgun blasted it apart. The sound alone felt like an injection of electricity straight into my very soul. My entire coat puffed out as a deep shiver ran all over me.

My legs felt strong, and my senses sharpened to a razor’s edge. The wobbly telekinesis around my revolver took on a deeper crimson color and gripped the weapon with confidence.

I fired twice into the door, a wide smiling parting my face as I did. Whoever was inside had clearly tried to get the better of me, something only a baaad pony would do!. but it seemed like the hunter had just become the hunter-ed.

With a heroic shout, I threw myself at the ruined door and crashed straight through it. My revolver spun around wildly as I tried to spot the evildoer who had just shot at us.

Multiple empty tables were spread around the middle of the library, with bookshelves lining the walls around them. I scanned the room repeatedly, my revolver following my eyes with pinpoint accuracy,

Nothing.

It was then that I thought to glance at the floor, and noticed the snapped piece of wire that had ran in front of the door.

“Tripwire,” I said, looking back to see Pot, who was slowly making his way into the building.

“Aye, hooked up to that,” The stallion replied, lifting a forehoof to point at a shotgun that was hidden among a pile of ruined books on one of the tables.

Only the barrel was visible, but the wire that ran from the door into the side of the gun made it abundantly clear that it was the culprit. There was one thing that was still off though.

If this was a booby trap… then where’s the bar?

I glanced at my EFS and raised an eyebrow when I realized that it was still there. A quick glance around the library revealed that there were no stairs or attic hatches, this was a one-storey building.

“Black Light we need to-“ Pot started, but I raised a forehoof to silence him.

“The bastard is still in here…” I muttered, not really bothering with stealth since I was pretty sure whoever was in here had already heard us.

With an uneasy heart, I started to walk around the room while keeping my eyes trained on the strange bar. It didn’t move from the center of the room, not even for an instant. The only issue was that I could very clearly see that there was nothing there.

Underground maybe? I wondered. But it couldn’t be, the floor looked like solid stone, and I knew for a fact that my EFS couldn’t track stuff underground that well. Narrative made their way into the library as well, only he didn’t seem all too preoccupied with the strange signal.

Tentatively, I walked towards the center of the library, keeping my revolver trained on the center. My heart was thumping in my chest like a thunderstorm, every beat sending jolts of fire through my veins.

Where are you… I thought as I drew closer to the center.

“Black Light there’s nopony here,” Pot offered.

“Shut up,” I retorted, gritting my teeth.

Another step, and then one more. Nothing moved or changed… or at least nothing I could see. My EFS remained steadfast in showing a bar dead ahead, but there was nothing there.

Once my forehoof set down in the very middle of the room, however, the bar disappeared. I spun around in place, confused, but I couldn’t spot it again no matter what I did.

I took a few steps away from the center and looked back at it, seeing that the bar had completely disappeared.

That’s not right… I thought, trying my best to tune out whatever Pot was saying.

My mind raced to try and come up with an answer as to what was going on. Could it have been a glitch? No, it had to have been something else… it had to be! There was no way it would be that precise unless something had been there. Maybe it was invisible? Or maybe-

“Rah!” I bellowed when I felt somepony breathing against the back of my neck.

My revolver flew out of my holster in the blink of an eye. I rotated myself backwards with a roundhouse kick to try and catch the invisible attacker in the head for a quick revolver finish… and hit nothing…

When the flurry of movement ended, all I could see was Pot, pressed completely flat against the far wall and deathly pale. His eyes had shrunken to pinpricks that were focused on my gun, which I had just noticed was pointed directly at his head.

I threw the gun to the side immediately, hearing it clatter onto one of the tables.

“P- Pot I’m-“ I stuttered, lifting my forehooves to hold my head. “I d- didn’t meant to…”

The earth pony was hyperventilating. He slid down the wall, clutching his chest so hard that I almost thought I had actually shot him. He took in a couple of deep breaths as sweat started to pour from his brow. He looked absolutely horrified, and kept his gaze fixed on my gun despite me discarding it.

“Y- you-“ I started, taking a step towards him.

“No! Stay there!” The stallion shouted. “J- just stay put,”

“Fear. She is clearly unstable,” Narrative droned.

I turned around to look at the robot, feeling my eyes start to well up with tears.

“N- no I’m not! I’m just a little jumpy a- and my EFS glitched out!” I whimpered.

The bottom of my mouth started to hurt as I fought to hold back my tears. It wouldn’t do me any good to start crying in front of adults.

Come on, Black Light, stay still like he said. I chided myself internally, sitting on my haunches and offering Pot an uneasy smile.

“It’s okay… it’s okay… I’m sorry…” I said as calmly as I could.

The stallion closed his eyes and took another hooffull of deep breaths. He seemed to calm down somewhat when he focused on the gun I had dropped, as if the knowledge of me being unarmed were reassuring to him.

That realization stabbed through my heart like the horn of a raging bull. This was all wrong… I was the hero of the surface! The surface dwellers’ reactions should be the exact opposite of Pot’s. If I was armed then they had no reason to be worried.

“Why…?” I asked, unable to keep holding my tears back.

Pot looked up at me with concern.

“W- why won’t you let me do what I was trained for?” I asked, feeling tears pour down my cheeks. “Years and years of training… I was the best, you know?”

“Black Light-“ The earth pony started, but I wasn’t done yet.

“No! Shut up!” I roared, wincing when that stabbing pain at the base of my tongue reared its ugly head again. “You don’t know anything! You’re just a dumb surface dweller that doesn’t know what’s good for him!”

Pot’s brow furrowed, and after a strong head shake he opened his mouth to speak. The strain on his face was noticeable, as if his jaws were trying their damndest to stay shut.

“Oh fuck you,” The stallion shouted. “Ah know of one thing that’s not good-“

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” I warned, feeling the stab again.

“Y- You- Hmph !” Pot grumbled, apparently at a loss for words, before slamming his mouth shut.

I shot a glare at Narrative as well, who rolled back slightly. I swear that if machines could shake in fear, he would’ve been doing so.

“What about you? Got anything to add?” I spat.

“Fear. No,” The robot replied.

“That’s what I thought,” I said, furrowing my brow and spinning around to look at Pot.

The stallion looked… defeated. His head was cast low, ears droopy. By all means it looked as if I had just given him a beating.

My gaze softened. It wasn’t his fault, he just didn’t know any better. I probably would’ve ended up the same way if I had been born out here on the surface.

“Now listen to me,” I said, ignoring the jab of pain in my tongue. “We are going to take a short break here until we all calm down, and then we’re going to get to the town, got it?”

Pot nodded, not lifting his gaze to meet mine.

“And then we’re going to get to the other side of the bay, I’m going to find a nice safe spot to drop you two off,” I continued, whipping my head around to stare at Narrative as well. “Until then, you two would do well to remember how lucky you are to have a hero of my caliber watching your backs, and let me do my job!” I added, stomping on the floor for emphasis.

Pot gave me another weak nod, Narrative remained silent.

“Good! Now let’s uhh… let’s relax, yeah!” I blurted out.

Neither of my companions looked too relaxed, although it was fairly difficult to tell with Narrative.

My eyes darted around the library, trying to search for anything at all that could distract them from the chat we had just had. Something caught my eye half-buried under a pile of ruined books. It looked like a Ministry of Peace medical box.

“W-we could loot! Yeah!” I chirped nervously as I pulled the box out of the pile, where I noticed that it had a rather large lock holding it closed. “Don’t you wanna know what’s inside this bad boy?”

Pot stared at me with hurt eyes, but he didn’t move a single muscle from the spot where he had sat down. I stuffed the box into my saddlebags and got up, shaking my head softly.

Come on, think! I roared at myself. What did the research team do when we were feeling down? A heroid speech? No… that wouldn’t work on Pot, he wasn’t a hero like me.

He isn’t a colt either… I reasoned. What did the research team do when they were feeling down, then? Drink coffee…?

I stared at the stallion with a concerned expression, trying to figure something out. Maybe I just needed a more personalized approach.

“Come on! Cheer up!” I said, walking closer to Pot. “Wipe that frown off your face and think about how nice it’s gonna be when we get to the town and get ourselves a nice relaxing ferry trip. I can’t drag you off to anything dangerous out on the water, can I?” I offered with a smile.

My grin was soured by the quick jolt of pain that came from my tongue, but a much more comfortable smile replaced it when I saw Pot look up into my eyes and smile back.

“I guess you have a point there,” The stallion said, chuckling.

“Fear. I agree, we should go,” Narrative droned from behind us.

I smiled at the robot too.

“Awesome! Glad you two could see that you were wrong,” I said happily. “Off we go!” I announced before turning in place and heading out the door.

The walk was rather uneventful, not helped in the slightest by the complete silence that had taken root after leaving the library. It didn’t last forever, of course, as when bars started to show up on my EFS, Pot turned to speak to me.

“There’s gonna be a lot of ponies with guns here, do not pull yours out unless you want to start a firefight… And I doubt even you could fight your way out of this place,”

Fat chance. I thought, internally chuckling at the thought of some surface dwellers being able to stand a chance against me. I guessed they could get really lucky if there were enough of them, but it would still be a hard fight.

As we walked, the houses around us suddenly became much more maintained. There was no rubble in the streets, and some ponies could be seen peeking at us from behind windows or from the rooftops. I wasn’t fond of being watched like this, but none of them looked particularly aggressive.

“You there!” A stallion shouted from atop one of the rooftops. “What’s yer business ‘ere?”

I cleared my throat to reply, but Pot slineced me with a forehoof.

“The fuck do you care?” He shouted back, drawing a hearty chuckle from the pony on the roof.

Almost as soon as the exchange finished, the town came to life around us, as if some sort of veil had been lifted. Ponies barged out of their homes and started to walk up and down the streets.

“Keep your head down, Black Light,” Pot suggested. “And try not to limp so much…”

I nodded and tried my best to walk forward, ignoring the jolts of pain going up my leg. Pot was right, it would do me no good to show weakness, let alone in a place like this.

I noticed that these ponies seemed… grimier than the ones I had seen before. Bandoliers full of ammunition, guns hanging from slings, holsters, and battle saddles. And many even seemed to be wearing armor. It was a far cry from the medical center or even Junkyard. Most bore scars, some even sported eyepatches and the occasional peg leg.

I also couldn’t help but notice that many of them were sizing us up. Furtive glances at my revolver, confused stares at my PipBuck and face, and odd looks at my flanks. They’re probably looking at my saddlebags.

We turned a corner and suddenly found ourselves in a market area. Most of the houses here had had their fronts torn down and opened to turn them into storefronts. Dozens of scrap metal signs touting food, ammo, guns, and dozens of other things.

The street was bustling with activity, ponies of all sorts made their way between the shops. My nose immediately perked up when it caught the scent of food.

Three stores on my right had food on offer. Two of them had lines of ponies waiting, but the one closest to me was completely clear. It was strange, considering how much cheaper the prices seemed to be.

Iguana meat… interesting…

I walked up to the stand and was greeted by an incredibly twitchy stallion.

“You- you- you… want?” They asked, shuddering deeply with every stutter.

I took a better look at the various pieces of meat set out on trays. It was all chopped into small squares, stabbed through with wooden spikes and cooked on an open fire that was set up behind the counter.

“So you sell iguana meat?” I asked, curious.

“It’s Igu- Iguana meat, yes, yes, iguana for the n- nice zebra lady,” The twitchy stallion replied.

Zebra? Guess his eyesight isn’t the best. I thought with a chuckle.

“Why’s the line here so short?” I wondered aloud.

“The- the- the ponies h- here… they no like ig- iguana,” The stallion replied before pulling back and scratching at his right ear with a rear hoof as if he were a dog.

I stared at the two signs hanging from the top of the store. One read ‘clean: 6 caps’, and the other read ‘mistry: 3 caps’

Wonder what a mistry is… probably some kind of animal.

“Black Light, what are you doing?” Pot asked, pushing his way through the crowd to get to me.

“Oh I was just thinking about buying some of this,” I said, smiling. “Do you want one too? They’re pretty cheap,”

“Oh- oh, oh! You- you’re-“ The stallion stuttered, pointing at Pot with a shaky forehoof.

“Can it, Munch,” Pot said. “And we’re not buying… that,” He added, giving me a warning glance.

“Maybe another time!” I told the salespony.

The twitchy stallion mumbled something in response, but I was already walking away and couldn’t hear him.

“I take it that this is some sort of outlaw town, but is it truly necessary for them to dress like that?” Narrative droned, gesturing towards a group of stallions wearing dusters and touting an assortment of guns. “They look like extras from a bad western,”

Outlaws, oh please! I thought, laughing internally. This was just what surface dwellers looked like!

Pot turned around to glare daggers at the robot before turning back around to look at the stallions he had pointed at.

“Just… be quiet,” He said.

“Where are we-?” I started to ask, but Pot cut me off halfway through.

“Don’t ask so many questions, the last thing you want to do here is act like you don’t know what you’re doing,” He warned. “You and midter tin can are drawing enough attention as it is,”

I guessed the stallion probably knew more about this town than I did, especially considering how he was leading me and Narrative around. I couldn’t help but wonder about why he knew this place, but I guessed it could be a question for later.

My attention was suddenly drawn forward when a salty breeze blew through my mane. I looked up and saw that the town ended just two blocks away from where we were, leading into a beach and then to the sea.

“Woah…” I gasped.

“Keep moving, this way,” Pot said, keeping his head low.

As we rounded a corner, I caught a small glimpse of a wooden port where a large boat was pulling in. I wanted to stick around and watch, but Pot glanced back at me and gestured forward with his head.

What’s got him so stressed? I wondered as I watched the stallion shoot glances all around us.

The side street was a lot less lively, but it still had some houses with open walls facing into it. The closest one to us was Two Hooks’ bait and tackle, which had a wide array of what I assumed to be fishing gear on offer. An old earth pony sat out front on a rickety chair, dressed in full fishing gear. Judging by the two hooks on his cutie mark, I assumed he was the owner of the store.

On the other side there was a strange looking restaurant with several stools set up out front. Two ponies sat outside taking sips from colored glasses. I didn’t see any food between them, so I assumed that they had already finished it. Behind the counter stood a unicorn, surrounded by bottles of multiple shapes and colors. A sign hung above the door that read ‘The spiked cocktail, bar and inn’

“Here we are…” Pot stated, stopping right in front of the door. “Let me do the talking… and please keep your gun holstered, no matter what,”

I nodded, which seemed to make Pot relax.

The earth pony took a deep breath before pushing the door open. Boisterous laughter boomed out of the building as we stepped inside. Two ponies were talking behind a counter, and a third huge earth pony stallion stood closer to the door.

One of the two ponies bore a wide-brimmed hat and some kind of strange harness. They looked at me directly and raised an eyebrow before looking at Pot. His eyes went wide at the sight of him.

“Well well well, if it ain’t ol’ Potty boy!” The stallion said, walking out from behind the counter.

I noticed that the stallion gave the large earth pony a quick wink. The hairs on the back of my neck stood upright when I saw the earth pony kick their battle saddle trigger up to their mouth.

Don’t draw your gun, let Pot do the talking. I repeated internally. They clearly knew each other so there was nothing to worry about… right? But then why had he ordered his guard to get his weapon ready?

“Muddler, long time no see,” Pot grumbled.

“What happened to ya?” The stallion asked when he spotted the prosthetic leg. “And just who in Celestia’s name are these two?” He added, looking at me and Narrative.

“I’m Bla-“ I started, but Pot cut me off.

“None of your business,” The earth pony stated.

Muddler stared at Pot with an unamused expression.

“A zebra, a robot, and a stallion with a missin’ leg walk into mah bar… sounds like the start of a bad joke, eh?” He said.

The taller stallion walked up to Pot as he let out a painfully forced laugh. Once he got just barely too close for comfort, his face became serious again as he spoke.

“And Ah’m pretty sure it is mah business. And last time Ah let you lot in here Ah got into hot water with Beardie… Speaking of, where’s Cross and Burnin’?”

“They’re both dead,” Pot said with a grave tone.

Muddler gave Pot a couple pats on the shoulder before taking off his hat and holding it up to his chest.

“Mah condolences,” He said. “Hey Ginny! Get our guests some drinks!” He added, turning to face the unicorn mare that he had been standing behind the counter outside.

I noticed that the counter continued inside the building, forming an L shape so they could give food for ponies inside and outside. The mare nodded and stared at Pot intently. She was a relatively short unicorn with a cropped crimson mane, her coat was a soft cream color, and her upper eyelids were painted with some kind of shiny red paint that matched her lips. Her eyelashes also looked thicker and larger than normal, completing her rather odd appearance.

Wonder what’s up with her…

“Give me a shot of Whiskey,” Pot said before looking at me with a concerned expression. “And get her some apple juice… or something, no booze,”

The mare behind the bar raised an eyebrow at me, but then she shrugged and got to work on pouring our drinks. Pot got a small glass filled with a yellowish clear liquid, while I got a tall glass full of golden apple juice. She levitated the smaller one directly to Pot, where I noticed that her magic shared the same aquamarine color of her large eyes.

I raised an eyebrow at her when I noticed that she hadn’t given me my glass, but the mare just gave me a wink and kept working on the drink. She added a colorful straw that twisted into a spiral, a small umbrella, and even an apple slice to the edge of the cup. I stared in silent amazement as the drink was prepared, barely containing the urge to drool.

“Here you go, beautiful,” The mare said with another wink.

“Thank you, miss!” I chirped as I took the glass in my forehooves. And jumped onto one of the bar’s stools.

My hind hoof welcomed the relief, and the pain slowly dulled. While I happily sipped my drink, Muddler walked around the counter and sat down in front of Pot, pouring himself a glass of the same drink he had ordered.

Narrative, for his part, had decided to wander around the bar, stopping to look at the many decorations that hung from the walls. Most seemed to be little more than funny-looking pieces of scrap metal and nahtical knicknacks, but the one that had drawn the robot’s attention was a brainbot claw.

“So, Potty boy…” He started. “Or is it Mister Pot? Ah’m guessin’ you’re the leader now?”

“Just Pot is fine,” The earth pony replied.

Muddler raised his forehooves in mock surrender and chuckled before speaking.

“Fine, Pot. What can Ah get for ya?”

“I need a ferry to the other side of the bay, the sooner the better,” Pot explained, swirling his drink around on a forehoof. “Independent, of course,”

Muddler let out a loud chuckle before downing his glass in a single go.

“Potty, Potty, Potty, you should know better by now than t’ask for stuff ya can’t pay back,” The hatted stallion started. “Didn’t work out too well for your friends, now did it?”

“We’ve got a lot of caps,” Pot replied, gesturing towards Narrative with his head.

I took another long sip of my apple juice, enjoying the sweetness. I noticed that the bar mare was looking at me curiously, but when I lifted my gaze to stare at her she suddenly became very interested in one of the cups on the table in front of her.

“Ah don’t care if all three of them boxes are filled with caps, Bluebeard would probably pay double to have Cross and Burnin’s heads on his table,” Muddler said, bringing my attention back to him. “And Ah’m guessin’ yours might just fit the bill too…”

Who is this Bluebeard pony? I wondered. I remembered Burnin’ talking about them all those days ago before we got to Junkyard.

“I’m not finished,” Pot said, smiling at the other stallion. “We’ve got guns and ammo, enough to outfit your entire crew. Lots of chems too,”

Judging by Muddler’s expression, Pot’s words had piqued his interest. The stallion cleared his throat and spoke again.

“What kind of guns are we talking about?”

“The good kind,” Pot reassured him. “You can check if you want.

“Well of course Ah do!” Muddler exclaimed.

Pot smirked and turned around to face the bar.

“Narrative! Come here!” He called, and the robot rolled closer.

“Fear. What is it?” He asked, but Pot was quick to dispel his concerns.

“Just stay there for a bit so my friend here can check the weapons,”

Muddler did exactly that, walking around the bar and heading directly for the metal box that Pot had opened. Due to the box being tied fairly high on Narrative’s back, the stallion was forced to rear up on his hindlegs to stare into it.

I played around with my drink’s little umbrella while I waited for them to finish. My brow furrowed slightly when I realized that Pot was going to be trading off those beautiful guns. I couldn’t bear to watch.

The mare behind the bar walked up to me again, gesturing towards the glass.

“Can I have a sip?” She asked, batting her eyelids at me.

“Huh? Oh! Sure!” I said, sliding it towards her with a forehoof.

She took a quick sip from the straw before passing the glass back to me.

“I just wanted to make sure I had given you the best juice!” She said with a soft chuckle. “I love that huge bracelet you’ve got,” She added, gesturing at my right foreleg.

“My PipBuck?” I asked, lifting my foreleg and setting it down on the table to show off the device.

“Never seen anything like it,” The mare continued.

I smiled and turned the screen on, which immediately flashed to life with my status. The little zebra pony thing in the middle was limping slightly with some bandages around her right rear hoof. The bartender mare’s face turned from bewilderment to pure wonder as she watched me navigate the menus.

“It can do anything I need!” I said happily, selecting the inventory management function and scrolling to the aid segment. “For example…”

I selected one of the healing potions that I had taken from the chem stash before and felt as the inventory management spell took charge of my horn and expertly plucked the vial from the saddlebags.

I have to use that more often… I thought.

I popped the cap on the potion and drank it before flipping back to the status screen and showing that the little pony in the middle was walking along happily now. My leg became warm in kind as the abused joint carefully set back into place.

“That’s an impressive piece of gear, where’d you get it?” The bartender asked.

“Oh, it’s from my stable!” I replied with a smile.

“I’m guessing that’s where you come from…” She started before looking at the underside of my PipBuck and noticing the complex locking mechanism. “How do you take it off?”

I opened my mouth to reply, but then closed it and stared at my PipBuck.

“I… don’t?” I offered, giving the unicorn mare an uneasy grin. “I don’t know how to, actually,”

The unicorn mare leaned over the counter slowly, batting her eyelids at me.

“I can help you find a way to take it off if you want~” She said, her voice suddenly becoming husky.

I really doubted this mare had access to a PipBuck key out here on the surface, but I felt that it would be rude to just go out and say it.

“I’ll keep it in mind!” I said with a smile. “You can drink the rest of this,” I added as I passed my glass back to her, thinking that maybe the juice could soothe her throat.

The mare pursed her lips strangely and then softly brought the straw up to her mouth, where she took a long, drawn-out sip from it. Since she had barely pressed her lips against the end of the straw, small droplets of juice remained on them, but they were quickly mopped up by the mare’s tongue.

“Name’s Gin, by the way, Dry Gin,” She said. I smiled when I noticed that her voice sounded less hoarse already.

“Mine’s Black Light!” I answered.

An earth pony stallion drew both of our attentions to him when he slammed his hoof on the part of the bar that faced the street. He bore an eyepatch and a strange frilly scarf. His gray mane and sideburns made his head look much wider than it probably was, capped off by a pipe.

“Get me a drink, barmare!” The stallion boomed.

Gin rolled her eyes and gave me another smile before walking off to tend to the new customer.

What a nice mare. I thought with another smile before turning around to focus back on the negotiation.

The inner area of the building had been closed off at some point while I had been talking with Gin. The massive stallion with the battle saddle had moved to completely block the door. Muddler, the other pony he had been talking to when we walked into the bar, and Pot were all gathered around a table where a veritable arsenal of guns had been laid out.

My horn flashed softly as I nabbed the apple slice from my glass and put it in my mouth before walking up to the group. I noticed that Narrative was once again checking out the decorations, only now he didn’t have any of the boxes on his back.

“Ah gotta give it to ya, Pot, Ah’m shocked,” Muddler said. “Ah’m almost tempted to say that this is some kinda sting operation… but this stuff is worth more than mah entire store,”

“So how’s that for a ferry?” Pot asked. “I know there’s gotta be some independent captains here,”

Muddler stared at the guns, then at Pot. He stopped to think for a moment before looking up at the massive pony at the door, then to me, and then to the other stallion standing next to him, his gaze was… dangerous-looking.

I followed his gaze as well. The huge earth pony was wearing a battle saddle with a shotgun attached to his right side. On one hoof, that meant that it would take him a little while longer to be able to shoot at me, on the other, that just meant that he could choose to shot Pot first. His clothes also concerned me, a bulky-looking leather overcoat that could easily be concealing armor underneath. I would need to hit him in the head.

The other stallion was rather odd, no armor on his chest or head, but he had a thick cape covering his back. I could see the twin rifle barrels that hung at his sides, but the mouth-trigger was nowhere to be seen.

That should buy me a few seconds if worse comes ro worse…

The hairs on the back of my neck started to stand up. My horn itched with the need to draw my revolver. I hadn’t undone the security strap, a blunder that could cost me valuable milliseconds should I need to draw the gun.

Big guy first, straight through the head, the one next to Muddler second, before he can get the trigger up…

What about Muddler himself? The harness on his chest held a single pistol, single-shot by the looks of it. Not that it would be much help, one shot was all it took, after all. I could see that he had a safety strap holding it in the holster, however, so he would be slow to draw.

And then… I thought, turning around to look at Dry Gin.

The mare was leaning over the counter to pass the stallion outside their drink. She wasn’t wearing any sort of holster or battle saddle, all she had on was a strange piece of clothing that squeezed down on her waist and what I could only describe as a fishing net wrapped around her legs. I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when I noticed a minuscule pistol that was tangled in the net on her left hindleg.

Change of plans, then. Big stallion first, Gin second… then whichever one of those draws first… I listed off, eyeing each pony in turn.

“Well… This is a lot of stuff… more than enough for me tah want t’take the risk with Bluebeard,” Muddler started. “But the way Ah see it, there’s nothin’ stopping us from gettin’ this and Bluebeard’s caps,”

I did not like the implication. I looked at Pot as my heart started to beat faster. Much to my surprise, he didn’t look stressed at all. The stallion simply glanced at me and shook his head softy.

“See the saddlebags on his back?” Pot told Muddler, pointing at Narrative with his good forehoof.

“A Brahmin pack?” Muddler wondered aloud.

“Indeed, and the traders we got them from knew where we were headed and what trade goods we had,” Pot continued.

The lie sat oddly with me, why had he said that those wretched bandits were traders? And why did he lie about them knowing where we were going? Not to mention that even if they had known, there was no way for them to tell anypony about it given how they were dead.

That’s when the realization dawned upon me.

Muddler doesn’t know any of that.

Pot wasn’t lying, he was just misdirecting. A proud smile parted my face when I realized that he had learned something from me. Perhaps surface ponies could learn.

“You some kinda trader now?” Muddler asked.

“Yep, and if you don’t want the trades with the fort to stop, you better make good on your word,” Pot stated. “And if you don’t… well I really doubt the other businesses here would appreciate it…”

Muddler sat on his haunches, deep in thought.

“Well Ah’ll be damned,” He said at last. “Ya got yourself a deal, Pot,”

“Fantastic!” The blue earth pony exclaimed. “So when do we leave?”

Muddler chuckled softly and turned to look at the stallion next to him.

“Well, Chart? When’s the next ferry passing through?” He asked.

“I gotta check t’be sure, boss, but I think it gets here in the mornin’” The stallion stated, scratching the back of his head nervously.

Muddler whipped his head around to smile at Pot.

“Well, how’s that? Guess you’re gettin’ a free room for the night too!” Muddler said.

“Yeah right, free,” Pot said, rolling his eyes. “For this much stuff I should get your room,”

Both stallions shared a laugh. I let out a deep sigh as the tension dissipated. Muddler gave Pot a playful hit on the shoulder.

“Y’all can have room three, Ah swear no harm will come to ya while you’re under mah roof,” The stallion said, spreading his forelegs to gesture at the ceiling. “And now that that’s all sorted, we can finally catch up,”

“I can show you to your room, if you want~” Gin said from behind me, drawing my attention. “The beds are super comfortable,”

“Aww, that’s so nice of you!” I replied with a smile.

“Absolutely not, you’re staying behind that bar until midnight at least,” Muddler shouted, pointing a forehoof at the unicorn.

“Sure thing, boss,” Gin replied, rolling her eyes.

STABLE-TEC UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM

COPYRIGHT 1624 - 1626 STABLE-TEC

Biographical Registry System v.147

Full name: Sand Sifter

Classification: Earth Pony Stallion – 76 years of age – C-F5DEB3 M-8B0000 E-76f7bf

Cutie mark: a metal detector

Sand Sifter is the oldest living inhabitant of Marepoint Fort, as well as one of its seven first inhabitants of the post-war era. Him and his small group of wanderers discovered the ruined coastal area and the multiple relatively intact sailboats housed within its huts. It didn’t take long for them to set up a quick ferry business to transport passengers and goods from one tip of Horseshoe bay to the other. Sand Sifter was one of these captains, and loved his boat almost as much as he loved his daughter, Dry Gin.

Once Bluebeard’s pirate faction started to gain traction, the mounting pressure forced Marepoint Fort to establish a trade agreement, where any ships not affiliated with Bluebeard would have to pay exorbitant fees. Refusing to take on an outlaw lifestyle, Sand Sifter opted to sink his own ship “by accident” and willingly exile himself from the town, setting up shop at an abandoned lifeguard hut a little further off.

Ever since that day he has spent his days collecting stuff that washes up on the shore, wandering endlessly up and down the beach.

Author's Note

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