Overture - A Fallout: Equestria Story

Chapters

Prologue: Silver's Situation
Chapter One: Wake Up Call
Chapter Two: Interloper
Chapter Three: Time Damage
Chapter Four: Work Experience
Chapter Five: The Big Payback
Chapter Six: Playing Fetch
Chapter Seven: Drop In
Chapter Eight: Search And Rescue
Chapter Nine: Tourist Trap

Prologue: Silver's Situation

Prologue: Silver's Situation

"When tomorrow hits, it'll hit you hard."

I was sat alone in a very clean, very bland office, perched on what had to be one of the most uncomfortable chairs I'd ever had the misfortune of using. Honestly, what ever happened to a cushion on the floor? I sighed and glanced around the room for the nth time, there wasn't much else to do. A clock rhythmically ticked away on the far wall, and the terminal on the desk quietly whirled away. I internally groaned at the fact I'd ended up waiting in the dullest room of all time. It didn't even have a window for Celestia's sake!

There was a decorative poster on the wall, if you could call propaganda decorative. It was no different from the dozens of others I had to pass on my trip here: Celestia and Luna smiting hoards of Zebra soldiers with their magical might. 'Better wiped than striped!' No doubt I'd see it another dozen times on my journey home.

With little else to keep my attention, I settled for watching the few motes of dust I could see drifting lazily under the ceiling light. If I pretended they were actually pegasi floating about it was almost entertaining. I idly played with my guest ID lanyard. The 'receptionist' had given it to me so I wouldn't set off the security systems. I didn't really like interacting with robots, they always felt sort of off to me, for lack of a better word. Artificial, I suppose.

Eventually the owner of the office, Dr. Healing Touch, returned and broke the still tedium I'd been trapped in, hurrying to his seat with a ream of papers following in his magical grasp. "Sorry about the wait." He smiled apologeticly, setting down the sizable stack of documents on the desk top in front of me. "An admin issue, all sorted now. You know how printers can be." He chuckled, sliding the papers towards me.

"Now then Ms. Sterling, all we need is for you to fill out these forms and we'll proceed from there." He levitated a pen and about half of the documents into my hooves before turning his attention to the terminal, the mechanical clacking of the keyboard breaking the quiet. I sighed again and flicked through the books-worth of forms I'd been given. I hated paperwork. Who didn't, right? At least from the brief glances I'd taken it didn't seem like anything too viscious or mind numbing, just some medical type forms, disclaimers, bank details, yadda yadda yadda.

Name? Race? Sex? Age, weight, medical history, so on, so forth, right down to the 'By signing this document you acknowledge...' at the end. Pretty painless as far as playing pencil pusher goes. The next few pages was a bit more of a cause for concern, though, consisting mostly of blocks of waivers, disclaimers and legal notices for me to sign, which wasn't foreboding in the slightest. I knew logically it was probably a kind of all-encompassing boilerplate document, but the sheer number of mentions of 'accidents', 'incidents', 'unintended side effects', 'health implications', et cetera, was not very reassuring. Each one wanted a signature.

Once I was sure I had no absolutley recourse I turned to the next section. It was a much more welcome sight. Money talk. The real reason I was here.

That's not to say I didn't care about the programme, not at all! Anything that could save lives and help our troops had to be a good thing, it's just...

Let me paint the picture a little bit. My name is Silver Sterling, and to the surprise of probably nopony I'm a silversmith. Earned my cutie mark making jewellery (it runs in the family) and I love it, I have my little shop and I make my little trinkets and live my little life. The only problem is that times were pretty tough at the moment, with the war and everything, and silver was not exactly a necessity. It can't be magically charged like gemstones can and it's not as valuable as gold or platinum, so it's mostly just for decoration and accessories. Which is fine, everypony needs a little sparkle now and then! It's just that decoration is all it is, and as far as decoration goes it can be pretty pricy. As things got more uneasy demand had plummeted, which was obviously very bad news for me.

I was struggling to make ends meet, I needed money fast. Luckily for me, it just so happened that the Ministry of Arcane Science were trialing some new magical gadget and were paying for test subjects. Paying a lot of money. Danger money. Usually I shy away from risky business like this, but the bits were too good to say no to. I applied and got accepted, and that's how I ended up here in this office, signing paperwork.

Finishing up on a big fat confidentially clause, I looked over everything to make sure it was all correct and silently bid farewell to my personal information. Satisfied, I cleared my throat to get the Doctor's attention.

"All finished?" He asked, looking up from the screen. I smiled and nodded, pointing the stack towards him. "Excellent! Let me just give these a quick once over."

He took the forms in his magic, alternating between scrutinising them and typing, humming quietly to himself as he did. I sat quietly. He wad young-ish but professional looking, certainly not a chore to look at, but maybe a little plain. I settled on watching the way his purple aura glittered and danced around the paper before turning back to the dust motes.

The sudden thump of a stamp broke me out of my boredom. Healing Touch plopped the papers down on the desk, now adorned with a big green 'Approved' sign across the top. "Well Ms. Sterling, I'd say you're good to go!" He announced, getting up from his seat and opening the door. "If you'd like to follow me, I'll get you up to speed with the finer points of the trial."

"Now, as you're aware, Project 1013 is a sort of test run for a new kind of preservation spell we've developed in conjunction with the Ministry Of Peace. After this we're hoping to be able to roll it out for use by military medics, and eventually civilian hospitals and paramedics too." Dr. Touch explained as we navigated the frankly cavernous building. "I'm sure you know the trial is a week long, but the time frame might be a bit more literal than you're thinking."

He led me into a small elevator, pressing the button for 'Sub Level 3' and sending us slowly down underground.

"So, what do you know about Cockatrice?" He asked, almost casually.

I stared at him for a moment, the only sound around us was the gentle drone and clanks of the elevator. I did not like where this was going. “Cockatrice, as in the incredibly dangerous magical creature Cockatrice?”

Healing Touch chuckled.

“Ms. Sterling, I can promise that whatever you’re thinking right now is far worse than what we’re actually doing here.” He paused as the elevator stopped and the door opened, leading me once more. “But since you’re familiar with Cockatrice the explanation should be easier.”

That didnt put me any more at ease.

The doors slid open revealing a large industrial atrium. The place was far bigger than it appeared from the outside. According to the elevator we were five floors underground now, and this level looked like a maze compared to the offices above, corridors and tunnels spidering off in all directions. We broke off from the main hallway into a corridor lined with labs, windows allowing me to peep inside.

Everywhere I looked there was something happening, ponies in labcoats running from room to room, great big sheets of data being printed and moved, formulas being written on chalkboards, chemical vats being pulled along on trolleys. This place really was a proper working laboratory.

The path took us past several labs and data banks before Dr. Touch directed me into a small room. “Now, this is going to be something of a briefing, so if you take a seat I’ll begin explaining the process.” He said, closing the door behind him. I was pleasantly surprised to be presented with a cushion on the floor this time.

“So,” Dr. Touch started, trotting in a slow circle at the front of the room. “You seem to have some knowledge of Cockatrice, do you know what they’re capable of?”

I nodded sagely, to cross paths with a Cockatrice was a cruel fate.

“Did you know” He said, slowly settling down in front of me. “That the Cockatrice’s ‘curse’ can be undone?”

I blinked in surprise, this was certainly news to me. “No, I had no idea."

Healing Touch smirked. “That’s right, the whole petrification process is totally reversible. Fluttershy actually discovered this years ago.”

“That’s amazing!”

“It is,” He continued. “But unfortunately it’s not that simple. The spell can only be broken by the same Cockatrice that casted it, and the chances of that happening in the wild are… infinitesimal.”

Okay, maybe not so amazing. But. “If the chances of it happening are so low, how did Fluttershy find out about it?”

“Fluttershy has a way with animals,” He explained. “From what I understand a Cockatrice had actually petrified Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy essentially berated it into reversing the spell.”

Huh. That didn't sound plausible to me, but I wasn't the expert here.

“Now this is where Project 1013 comes into play. Our Ministry was tasked with finding a method to halt grievous injuries until such time that proper medical treatment became available. Let me ask you, can you imagine a more perfect method than petrification?”

“Wait, what?!” I blurted out. This was crazy, they wanted to turn casualties into stone?

“Think about it!” He continued. “Any bleeding would be stopped instantaneously, the symptoms of diseases and infections would be paused, and it would allow medical staff more time to work, with incoming patients effectively frozen in time!”

Stars above, these ponies were insane!

"There will likely be one or two issues until all the kinks are worked out, but the theory itself is sound.” He finished, turning to me again. “That’s where you come in.”

I was really starting to have second thoughts now.

“After careful experimentation our mages have managed to replicate the Cockatrice’s petrification spell, with some modifications to make the whole experience, shall we say, more pleasant. For instance, during earlier testing we found that the recovery phase of the spell induced a rather unpleasant bout of amnesia and dizziness, so we've worked on removing that aspect, as well as speeding the whole process up, making a more comfortable transition for the patient." He paused, taking a breath. "What we’ve managed to do is work the spell into an arcane device, one that anypony could use. What we need you for, Ms. Sterling, is to make sure everything works safely.” He said with a smile.

‘Week-long medical trial’ my plot, they were going to turn me into a statue! This is nothing like how it was described in the application, and I’d already signed away all my rights upstairs! This was entrapment pure and simple, and I had half a mind to storm out right there and then.

But...

I really did need the money, desperately. If I didnt get some income going soon I'd have to sell my shop, my home. I was already late on payments. As much as I really didn't want to carry on with this, I didn't really have a choice. I clenched my jaw and resigned myself to the fact that if I wanted a place to live, I was going to need to do this whether I liked it or not. And he did mention some earlier testing they done, so it's not like I'd be the first pony ever having this casted on them, they knew how it all went.

Right?

“Y-you’re going to petrify me?” I asked, very much hoping I’d somehow gotten the wrong end of the stick.

“That’s correct.” He answered. I mentally cursed. So much for a miscommunication, this was actually real.

“So, tell me what’s going to happen.” I said with great trepidation. Dr. Touch either didn’t notice my worry, or didn’t care.

“An excellent question!” He said, setting down in front of me. “At the moment, we’re testing the application of the spell over different lengths of time, so you’ll be in a small magical isolation booth. As it stands, we have a enchanted emerald based arcane structure built around a discharge vane, a ‘magic wand’ if you will.” He chuckled. I didn’t really feel like chuckling.

“Essentially, the spell matrix is stored in the emerald and cast through the vane, we can control it from the outside. We’ll set you up inside the booth, and all you have to do is look into the gem, and the test will be over before you know it!”

I didn't doubt that at all. Actually I'd have been more surprised if being turned into a rock didn't mess with my perception of time a little.

"We’ll be monitoring how your body reacts to the spell being cast and broken, and there will be some simple follow up tests just to establish your condition once this is over. We've successfully tested the process before, but we want to investigate how the body might react to petrification over a longer time span.” He finished.

Nothing he’d said had really reassured me all that much. There was no other way of looking at it, they were going to turn me into a garden ornament and then make sure my brain still worked afterwards.

"A-and if I change my mind?" I asked in a last ditch effort to not let this happen. I could find another way to make bits.

"Oh, you'd be free to go." He intoned, eyebrows raised. "Of course, we'd have to charge you for the assessment fees and for the cancellation of the completion cause of your contract. And I'm sure some questions would be asked about you abandoning the war effort, probably not a good look for a mare like you..."

Fantastic. Of course I wouldn't get an out, not really. I was honestly a bit shocked that they'd even use public image as leverage, that was kind of despicable. Unfortunately, it also worked. Nopony would ever come to my shop if they thought I was dodging duty, whether it was true or not. I was stuck in a lose-lose.

One losing option paid out, though.

"Okay, fine." I replied, deflated.

"Wonderful. If there are no further questions, we'll take some baseline readings and get you set up and ready for the spell."

I had several questions, actually. Most of them regarding the stability of the ponies running this programme, but it was probably fruitless to start kicking off now, so I kept my mouth shut. My silence was apparently satisfactory enough.

"Alright, let's get started!" He smiled. I shrank.

I really had a bad feeling about this.

The booth was cold, for lack of a better word. Almost deathly sterile. I may not have been a Unicorn, but being totally cut off from all magic was really quite an uncomfortably empty feeling. I was in one of three booths, one for each race according to Dr. Touch. I'd been told the next booth over was currently 'occupied' by a Pegasus mare doing the same test as me. The last one was empty, apparently they were still looking for a suitable Unicorn to run through the experiment with, although there certainly wasn't a lack of Unicorns in the building by any stretch. Apart from the booths the room was pretty empty. One wall had a big window into the control room, and in an opposite corner was a huge machine, some kind of magic computer I think. They did explain but it was all a bit technical for me.

Said Unicorns had spent the last hour or so taking all kinds of measurements and readings from me, hooking me up to machines that did Celestia knows what and making notes. I felt oddly violated by the whole process, even though objectively it wasn't all that different from a clininc check up. After what I was given a thin hospital gown. I was told the garment had some kind of sensors built in so they could monitor me remotely and an ear bloom so they could talk to me from the control room. All I could say about it was it was stiff and scratchy. A couple of cables ran from the chest area into a socket on the wall.

In front of me was a device that looked something like an eccentric radio with a broken antenna, presumably the petrification device itself. A sparkling green emerald sat in a claw like setting on the end of a pole that was pointed directly at me, right between the eyes if I stood where they wanted me to. The gem glowed gently, belaying it's enchantment. It was the only source of light in the booth.

I'd only been inside for a couple of minutes, but that was more than enough time to really work myself up about this whole ordeal. I was about to get turned into a statue for money, this was really happening.

I was, admittedly, morbidly curious about the whole process, though. Mostly, I was hoping it wouldn't hurt and that this time next week I'd be out of here no worse for wear.

I jumped as a burst of static filled my left ear, breaking me from my train of thought.

“Hello Ms. Sterling, can you hear me?” The voice of the unicorn I’d been informed was the project leader, Dr. Bright Spark, came through on the gown’s built in ear bloom at a near unbearable volume.

“Good. We’re just about ready to begin the test on our end, I thought it’d be pertinent to give you a final run down of what you need to do.” He said.

‘Final run down’ sounded more ominous than I liked.

“Go ahead.”

"Wonderful. Now, I’m sure you’ve been told multiple times about how the process works, so I’ll keep this brief and we’ll get going. When the casting starts, you’ll see the gem light up as the rod discharges the spell. We need you to focus on the light and stand perfectly still. The whole thing will be over in a matter of seconds as far as you’ll know.” Dr. Spark explained. "We'd like you to pay close attention to your experience, we'll get all the details from you during the post-test debrief."

Okay, look at the light, don't move, and remember everything. I could do that. Then I'll come round and this will all be over and done with. Easy.

"Alright, EEVIAC is linked, spell is prepared. We’re set to commence the test now, so if you’re ready we’ll begin.”

This was it. No big deal right? Just look at a gem and wait to be woken up again, it was hardly the end of the world. I took a deep breath, widened my stance and looked squarely at the strange device at the end of the room.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I said, resigned to my fate.

“Acknowledged, we’ll begin the spell. I’ll count you down as it’s cast, and remember, focus on the light. 1013 instance two ready.”

I steeled myself. I could do this, it would be fine, I'd barely even know it was happening.

The green light from the gem got a little bit brighter, surrounding a new, deep red gently glowing in the centre of the crystal, and the pleasant chiming of magic filled the silence. The light painted shimmering patterns across the walls, not unlike water. It was slowly getting more intense. I blinked and stared right into it like I was told, I really didn't want to do something wrong, who knew what the outcome would be? I certainly didn't want to find out.

"Five."

I noticed the tell-tale aura of magic surround the rod-antenna-thing part of the device, and muted green that sparkled in the air. Combined with the impromptu light show in my peripheral vision it was actually a little dazzling.

I was starting to experience a distinct, if hard to describe feeling of oppression. Almost as if all the air in the room had suddenly gotten heavier, a subtle weight pushing against my whole body. I tried not to pay it much mind, however unpleasant a feeling it was.

That was when I first noticed the numbness.

"Four."

I couldn't feel my hind hooves. It felt like my body just ended halfway up my legs. In a weird way it sort of just felt like they'd always been like that, but the sensation was entirely unpleasant. I didn't look back to check, I couldn't bring myself to look away from the light, something about the way the gem shone had me transfixed.

The booth felt eerily chill, the temperature had definitely dropped somehow. The chiming was filling the air louder now, coming from all directions and playing with my hearing.

The numbing was spreading, I could feel the unsettling wave of nothingness rolling past my hocks and up my hind quarters. The magic sort of felt like pins and needles inside and out, a tingling before the absence of feeling.

"Three."

Alarm bells started going off in my head as the wave of magic sludgily crept along my barrel. This was wrong. The process was now also starting to take hold in my forehooves, feeling slowing fading from my frogs. It was indescribably unpleasant to have this moving wave of emptiness creep up your body and meet with a part of you your brain is telling you isn't there. Almost nauseating.

This is when panic finally settled in. Much to my horror though, I realised that not only could I no longer move, but I couldn't breathe either. My whole chest had turned to stone. There was nothing I could do to stop it now.

"Two."

The horrible, unstoppable tide of cold rolled it's way up my neck. I would have shuddered if I could. I grit my teeth as it carried on up. When the encroaching emptiness met the base of my ears it made me feel sick, though I was sure vomiting would actually be impossible.

My vision started to darken and sound started to fade away, the last of my senses finally being overpowered to the spell. My mind slipped away, no more thoughts, no more feeling.

I never made it to 'one'.

Chapter One: Wake Up Call

Chapter One: Wake Up Call

"The whole place is empty, the floors all that's left."

My nose tingled, cold air playing over it. My ears twitched. My eyes fluttered. I could see the light again, dimmer than before, but still shining, the green sparkle of magic glinting around the edges my vision. A wave of warmth was travelling down my neck and along my back, feeling returning to my body. I could breathe again.

I could breathe! I was suddenly aware of the complete and total lack of air in my lungs and gasped a deep, heaving breath. I immediately regretted this as I sucked in a huge mouthful of dust. I choked and spluttered, a literal cloud leaving my mouth, a horrible, musty aftertaste sat across my tongue as I tried to spit out little bits of grit.

My forelegs buckled as the counter spell worked over my body, and I realised just how weak I was feeling. My hind legs, however, were still set in stone. This left me face down in an incredibly embarrassing position I was glad nopony could see me in.

As the magic ran it's course I slowly collapsed into a heap on the floor. Feeble and tingly, but alive. It all took a moment to sink in, but the spell had worked. I could feel my whole body again, a little achey but not really any worse for wear. Not only had I been petrified and recovered, but a whole week had gone by. Healing Touch was right, it really did feel like no time had passed at all. I'd done it, I'd made it through, I was going to get paid.

I jolted as a loud crack shot through the air. The emerald had shattered, glow snuffing out and shards falling to the floor in front of my snout. I managed to push myself up into a sitting position, carefully avoiding the sharp debris. Presumably that wasn't normal, probably some kind of defect. I'd have to tell the doctors about that when they came to get me. That and all the dust, the interior of the booth was covered in it, and by extension so was I. They should get that sorted out moving forward.

Actually, why hadn't anypony been in touch yet? The ear bloom was silent and nopony had come to get me. They controlled the spell and had me covered in sensors, surely they were aware I was no longer inanimate?

"Hello?" I called out, mouth dry and voice croaky. "Anypony there?"

There was no response.

"Hellooooo?"

Still nothing.

I gave it a moment just in case there was some kind of delay going on, but the ear bloom remained dormant. Just because I got through the spell doesn't mean the ear bloom did though, I'm sure there had to be some kind of magical interference going or something going on. They had to have started the counter spell, they knew I was jn here, I was just being impatient. If I waited somepony would come and get me. In the meantime I tried to give myself a once over. Everything felt okay, but it was too dark to really see much of anything. I tensed my hind legs experimentally, stood up, stretched out and shook myself off.

The dust cloud that exploded off of me was incredible, a powdery mist that sent me into a sneezing fit for a good minute. I wiped my nose on a sleeve of the gown (I didn't have any tissues) and huffed. I did not like this booth, not at all. I idly tapped a forehoof while I waited, the scientists were taking their sweet time.

It was a bit chillier than I remembered it being. Dust aside, the air had a sort of stale, musty quality to it that I didn't really recall coming in, like an old basement. Every now and then I could hear something, albeit heavily muffled by the walls of the booth. A distant thud or a soft bang, a sporadic click or creak. I entertained the thought that maybe I had been revived at night and the place was working on a skeleton crew.

I was starting to get a bit worried now. Skeleton crew or not, surely somepony should have seen to me by now, or at least been contacted through the ear bloom. Maybe there was a problem with the spell? A glitch or something, and maybe I wasn't meant to have been revived yet? Was that a thing? I shuffled nervously on my hooves for a secon at the prospect that this wasn't a part of the plan. But part of the plan or not, it was becoming increasingly clear nopony was coming to retrieve me.

So what to do? I couldn't just stand around waiting forever. If no one was coming to me, then I'd have to go to them.

I fumbled around feeling for the door handle, brushing up against the wall. I twisted it and pushed but the door only budged a little something was stopping it. I put my shoulder into it and shoved, this time the door grinded open, hinges squealing and something metallic clanging along the floor as forced the door wider. The culprit was a rusty metal pipe that seemed to have materialised from somewhere somehow, I could see it rolling away as I finally forced my way out of the booth and into the room proper.

This defined wasn't right.

The room was dark, lit only by a dim emergency light above the door that bathed the room in a weak, sickly red hue. Ceiling tiles littered the floor, the paint on the walls was flaking and mouldy. More pipes pierced through the remaining tiles, oxidised and crusty, leaving a small pool of fetid, stagnant water standing on the floor. The place smelled foul, wet rot mixed with old paper and stale air. At the far end the window into the control room had cracked and yellowed, but even still I could see nopony was in there, it too lit up in it's own red glow. The whole building groaned occasionally, as if forlorn.

I was stuck to the spot for a moment, gormlessly looking around trying to make sense of what I was seeing.

"How?"

Of course there was no pony around to answer. What in Celestia's Equestria could have caused something like this? This wasn't just damage or neglect, this was dereliction! The only possibility I could think of was that some other spell gone awry, but I couldn't for the life of me think of anything they could have been testing to result in all of this. There wasn't any sign of life here, save for some fungal looking growths in the corners, but it also occurred to me that I wasn't the only pony in a booth. There were two more of them in the room, and I knew at least one of them was occupied when I came in.

The far booth was empty, door propped wide open. The middle one though, the one next to mine, was still closed up. Dr. Touch had said there was a pegasus in there, I think. If they were still in there, chances are they were just as lost as me.

"Hey, hello?" I called out, tentatively approaching the centre booth. "Anypony in there?" No response was forthcoming. I hesitated for a moment, hoof inches away from the handle. Was I allowed to open the other booths? I didn't want to get in trouble or anything.

In trouble with whom though, I thought. There was nopony around to reprimand me. If anypony asked what I was doing, I guessed I could blame being left unattended. I pulled the door open, wincing away from the plume of debris that followed and poked my head inside once it had all settled.

"Oh."

There was a Pegasus in here, still petrified, firmly planted in the middle of the booth, wearing the same gown as me. Alarmingly, I could see the sparkly glint of shattered crystal on the floor. The gem had broken, they were stuck like this.

Stars above, she was stuck like this! Forget anything else, I had to find help! I had to get somepony to fix this, there had to be something they could do. "Wait here, I-I'm going to get help!" I told her before I realised what I said.

Shaking my head I made my way to the entrance of the room, taking care to avoid stepping in anything that looked like it might cling to my coat. If no-one was coming for us, I would have to go and find them.

The way out was through a pair of big metal double doors. Rusty metal double doors. I pushed as hard as I could, leaning my shoulders in, putting my full weight into it, but I couldn't get them to move at all. I huffed, defeated by the first obstacle, but I couldn't just give up, somepony was counting on me. It was time to try something else. I'd heard orchard farmers bucked trees all the time, surely with my Earth Pony strength I could kick the doors open myself?

I turned around and gave my hind legs a couple of tentative stretches, feeling out the distance between myself and the door, working out where my hoof would land. Easy enough, right? It was just a two legged kick after all. I got myself ready, tensing up.

THUMP

"AAGH!"

Terrible, terrible idea! My hooves made hard contact, the left one more than the right. The door shuddered but didn't open, leaving my legs alone to absorb the force of the buck. I fell to the floor as a sharp pain shot up my hind legs. I was writhing, gasping through clenched teeth, a throbbing sting coursing through my back half. My left pastern was blinding, I could only hope I hadn't broken it. I'd never bucked anything in my life, why did I think it was a good idea to start with a solid metal door?! Stupid!

I took a couple of minutes to recover, probably looking pretty pathetic while I did. Rolling around on the floor is never a good look, especially when it's this filthy. I was definitely going to need a bath after this. I pushed myself up into a sitting position and it was apparent even now that my left hind leg was going to protest any attempt at putting weight on it. Nevertheless I pushed myself up properly, only for a flash of pain to run through my injured ankle. I immediately lifted it off the floor.

Okay, situation check: I'd managed to hurt myself to the point of reduced mobility, I was covered in dirt, and I hadn't even left the room yet.

Fantastic.

There had to be a way out of here. I refused to believe that we were just trapped in this test room, I had to find another way. I turned my attention to the crumbling window to the control room. It spanned the whole length of the room and was already broken, cracks spreading across the panes and shards missing. I hobbled over to it, I could see that the door was open in there, the green glow of terminal screens providing a little more illumination than just the emergency lights. If I could break some more glass maybe I could get out that way. I felt bad for considering it, but this was an emergency, and they were going to need a new window anyway.

Thankfully the pipe from earlier was on the floor nearby. Carrying it and walking with my bad leg was going to be a no go, so I settled on throwing it like a javelin as best I could. It was not the cleanest or straightest throw, but it got the job done, haphazardly sailing through the air and crashing through the remaining glass and bouncing off a desk, clattering to a halt on the floor of the control room. It wasn't elegant, and was absolutely the loudest way I could have gone about doing it, but I had a way out.

Now to find help.

"Is there anypony here? I need help!"

The sound of my voice echoed and bounced off the long concrete walls, but no response came. Any hopes that I might have had for a quick resolution had been dashed. I'd tried every room in the hallway and still hadn't seen hide nor hair of anypony. I'd tried intercoms but they didn't seem to work, or if they did nopony was answering. It was like I was the only one here! I had at least managed to find a first aid kit and wrap my pastern in a magical bandage, which was actually helping a little. Enough to stand on it at least, but I wouldn't be galloping any time soon.

It was also quickly becoming clear that the sorry state of the room might well apply to the whole floor, if not the whole building. Disrepair and neglect permeated as far as I could see. It was actually incredibly unsettling, this place was bustling no time ago but now everything was silent and decayed. Books sat open, mugs waited on desks, terminals continued to hum. The hallway floors were mossy and wet, and old dark trails washed down the walls, the actual flow of fluid seemingly having stopped long ago. Pools of stagnant water sat all over. It was simultaneously like the place had been abandoned for ages but also like everypony had only just left. All of my legs were damp and my coat had been darkened with dirt.

I was going to be having words with these MAS scientists. Just as soon as I found them, that is. If nothing else they owed me a spa appointment.

I'd managed to work my way back to the atrium area. It was pretty dark, but peering down the other corridors showed them all to be equally empty, I couldn't hear or see any indication that any of them held anything more for me than where I'd just come from. I had ventured down a couple but only found broken down old computers and empty store rooms.

"Hello? Somepony? Anypony!"

Still nothing, just the groans of an empty building settling, the occasional drip of water, and the buzz of the emergency lights.

Was this even actually happening? This had to be some kind of a nightmare or something, none of this made any sense. But the pain in my leg was real, the smell in the air was real.

I shook my head, I was getting nowhere here. I needed to find help and there was no pony on this floor. The elevator wasn't working so I followed a sign around the corner to a staircase, cold concrete seemingly in slightly better shape than the rest of the level, which I thought had to be a good sign. I climbed up, my hooffalls reverberating off the walls and bouncing up the stairwell. I'd made it about halfway to the next floor when a distant bang echoed it's way down. It wasn't a bang I'd caused. Two more quickly followed, stopping me in my tracks. I had no idea what it was, but that had to mean something. Somepony had to be here somewhere.

I hurried my way up to the next exit, limping up the steps. Sub Level 2. This floor seemed to be in a little better shape for some reason, though not by much. There was a pungent smell hanging around, noticeable over the dusty background scent. It smelled of wet fur and smoke. Maybe an effect of an experiment gone wrong? I didn't give it much thought, everywhere else had stunk so far, this was just a different kind. I'd not actually been on this floor before, so I thought the best I could do would be to just look and hope I'd have more luck up here.

"Hello? Can anypony hear me?" I yelled. No matter how much it looked like it, I refused to believe there was nopony in the entire building. This place was huge, there had to be someone who could help. But again, no response was forthcoming. I was getting pretty sick of shouting into the void.

It looked like this area was mostly office space. Rows of desks sat dormant in large open plan rooms, cubicles dividing up the space. Posters and noticeboards lined the walls, propaganda and memos intermingling. I found what I assumed was some kind of data bank in a side room, dead and rusting away. A lot of the terminals still seemed to be working though, which was surprising because everything else in this place seemed to be broken. I left them be though, I didn't need to add being charged with espionage to the litany of today's events.

I walked past an open janitors closet and spotted a torch on the shelf. Picking it up I was surprised to find it actually did work, casting a warm yellow beam. A welcome difference from the red tinged semi-darkness I'd been walking in up until now.

There was a small sink in there too, below a small mirror. I caught a glance of my reflection and almost didn't recognise who I was looking at. My ivory coat was gritty and crusted grey with detritus, my platinum mane was dull and matted with dust, flecks of dirt spotted me all over. I looked terrible, grim and grimy. I was going to be having words with these MAS scientists. Just as soon as I found them, that is. They owed me a spa appointment if nothing else.

I pulled the door closed behind me and trotted on, path forwards now far better illuminated. The connecting corridor I was in split ways here, but I stopped in my tracks when I saw the wall ahead.

Blood. There was blood on the wall. Fresh blood, splattered and still oozing down. Above it were a number of shredded holes, and on the floor was a large bullet casing. The corridor was carnage in both directions, gouges in the walls, tipped over paper carts, and a crimson red trail on the floor. I gulped, feeling very nervous all of a sudden. There was someone here, and they had a gun. And they'd already shot someone else. Recently.

Stars, they were probably still in the building, maybe even still on this floor! My mind raced, was this a Zebra attack? Were we being invaded? I knew things were bad but I'd never imagined a week was all it would take for the war to come to my doorstep. No wonder nopony was answering me!

Okay, new priorities. #1 Don't get killed, #2 find help. I was trying my hardest not to panic, that wouldn't be any good to anyone, myself least of all. Maybe I was jumping to conclusions, but what else could I do when presented with this?

I heard a shuffling echo down one of the corridors, followed closely by a crash, and decided that there was really nothing for me in the hallway anyway and I'd be much better off just going into another room and hiding. I backtracked into a nearby office, very quietly pulling the door closed behind me and taking up position crouching behind the desk, the best hiding spot I could manage on short notice.

The desk was covered in paperwork, some of it having fallen to the floor. Open ring binders and folders splayed out across the worktop, empty filing cabinet drawers still hung open. If I wasn't so worried about being heard I would have been tempted to slide them in front of the door to keep whatever was out there out.

Something creaked outside the door and I shrunk, holding my breath and turning the torch off to be as unnoticeable as possible. I was really hoping it was just the sound of the building and not the attacker/s. I didn't know what I was going to do if the shooter came in here, I had no plan beyond 'hope they don't find you'. I wasn't a fighter, I was a jeweller! This was insane.

Excruciating seconds passed, but nothing more came, nopony tried the door, no shooting broke out. I nervously exhaled, safe for now. Thank Celestia for generic admin infrastructure. I slumped against the side of the desk and collected myself for a moment, trying to work out what the best course of action was. Self preservation was telling me to stay put, but I couldn't wait here forever. There was a petrified pegasus counting on me, and something told me the facility staff weren't just going to suddenly appear.

If I was ever going to get anything done I would have to leave the room, but what was I supposed to do against somepony armed and dangerous? There had to be something in here I could use to defend myself with if it came to the worst.

There was a letter opener on the top of the desk, but I really didn't like how up close I'd have to be for it to be any use at all. I started rifling through the desk drawers. Espionage accusations be damned, I wasn't going to be a sitting duck. I shoved aside paper and pens, staplers, sharpeners-

Wow, a gun!

Sat in the bottom drawer was a pistol. I'd never seen a gun before, except for in movies. It was black metal with a wooden grip, I think it was called a revolver. Sat next to it was an old cardboard box of bullets and a small note.

"Ms. Lovebloom,

Due to elevated tensions it's been deemed a necessity for a number of staff to be issued with weapons, including yourself. Your new sidearm should be kept in a safe place that is accessible to you should you need it. As per new policy you must attend a mandatory weapons handling class. This weapon is to be considered a last resort. Penalties will be incurred for loss or improper use.

Mercy on us all,
From the desk of Prof. Starry Sparks
MAS"

Carefully, I picked the firearm up, holding it in my hooves and giving it a quick look over. It was heavier than I thought it would be. Now, I was by no means an expert on guns, but I didn't need to have my special talent be in metals to tell you it was in pretty rough shape. It was grubby and was showing it's age, the metal was tarnished and pitted, and the wood on the grip was dry and cracked with age. On the upside it looked like it already had bullets in it.

I wasn't too happy that I didn't have any way to clean the mouthpiece, but I decided to take it anyway. It did seem oddly convenient after all. It would certainly up my intimidation factor if I came across the shooter, and well... I sincerely hoped it wouldn't come to it—but like the note said—it could always be a last resort.

I shuddered a little. I don't think I had it in my to hurt anypony. I desperately hoped it wouldn't come to it. I slipped the weapon into a sensor pocket on the chest of the gown, just about in the right place to grab it if I needed it. It wasn't perfect but hopefully it would do for now.

Okay, I had a way to defend myself now, and I'd not really heard anything going on through the door so I was whoever was out there had passed me by. Now would be as good a time as ever to go back out into the hall and keep searching. Just to be safe, I pressed my ear against the door, but after not hearing anything through it I took a deep breath and cracked it open, peeping through the gap. As best as I could see, the hallway was still empty, so as discreetly as I could, I swung it open and stepped back out.

Nothing looked any different, no new blood splatters or anything, just the same dusty hallway. I felt okay enough to go further and walked down the corridor, trying not to linger around the blood. I ended up in another large room full of cubicle offices. I could pick up overtones of old paper and ink in the air, which made for a pleasant change. Looking around, I noticed that about half of the cubicle desks had drawers and cabinets left open, papers and stationary strewn all over. Somepony had been looking through them for some reason, though I guessed I was hardly one to talk.

I cautiously meandered through the mess, on edge. I wasn't entirely sure who I was looking for anymore. How was I meant to tell anypony apart from the shooter? Hells, how were they supposed to tell me apart from the shooter? I had a gun too!

Something crashed in the distance, faint but echoing down the hallways from somewhere. I whipped my head around, ears twitching trying to locate the sound, but this floor was such a maze it could have reverberated from anywhere. I asked myself what I'd ever done so wrong for this to be happening to me, it was like I was stuck in some horror movie!

Uneasy, I glanced around for the closest way out (just in case) when I spotted a large wooden double door helpfully labeled 'EEVIAC CONTROL ARCANE DATABASE'. Or at least it probably would be helpful if I knew what that meant. But I reasoned that an arcane database would probably know more about the spell than I did, and maybe I'd be able to get help from there. I know it wasn't much to go on but it was all I had right now. Cautiously, I pulled the door open and stepped inside.

I paused mid-step, staring at the sight in front of me. The room was lined with filing cabinets, all of which stood open, papers strewn everywhere, if anything it was more of a mess in there than the offices outside were. It was dark, darker than everywhere else so far. This was clearly because several of the emergency lights had been ripped from the wall. Not only had they been ripped from the wall, the power cables supplying them had been torn out of the plaster too, leaving the floor totally encrusted with chunks of drywall. The cables had been pulled and stretched to a huge device at the far end of the room. It looked almost like an industrial fridge and a terminal had been mashed together, and an assortment of gleaming gems adorned the top.

The small space was lit up sickly green, and sat right by the device bathed in the light was the rattiest looking unicorn I had ever seen. She blinked in surprise that quickly gave way to a scowl, mismatched eyes boring into me for the briefest of moments. I didn't have a whole lot of time to process my own shock though, as no sooner had her expression changed did I find myself looking down the barrel of a gun. Her gun.

My mind went instantly blank and my heart plummeted. It was big and black, long and very scary, her magic holding it inches away from my head. My mouth dropped open and I sank down onto the cold lino, hooves up. What else could I do when looking death in the face?

"What in Tartarus are you doing here?" She hissed accusingly.

"Wait! I-I-I'm part of the t-test! P-please don't hurt m-me!" I cried, stuttering, doing my best to keep myself together.

"Not so loud! Those things have wicked hearing!" Winced the mare, keeping the gun trained on me but quickly darting her sight to the door, wary, maybe even scared herself. "Now, quietly, who are you and how in the hells did you get down here?" Her mismatched eyes staring daggers into my soul, voice a little more than an angry whisper.

"W-w-what th-things?"

"The duplets, what else?" She scoffed. I had no idea what a duplet was, but if she was worried about them with a gun like that it did not bode well at all.

She was young, younger than me at least. The dull red light made it quite difficult to get a proper look at her but she looked like she had a pale coat and her mane was tied up into a messy ponytail. Most strikingly, her eyes were different colours. She wore old scars on her face and ears and had a tatty old army jacket on. Interestingly she had one of those Stable-Tec computers on her foreleg, a PipBuck I think? She must have been important in some capacity, they didn't just give those things out to anypony. What was blindingly obvious though was that she definitely wasn't a scientist.

"S-Silver, my name's Silver, I'm part of the spell trial." I explained, trying to keep my voice low and level. "I'm meant to be here, promise! I-I've only just woken up. Please, there's another mare stuck downstairs, she needs help! I-I think the spell went wrong, she's still petrified!"

She regarded me for a moment, apparently as bewildered by this whole scenario as I was. "What in Celestia's name are you talking about?"

"Th-th-the trial, the cockatrice spell? I'm a participant, see?" I managed, pointing to the guest ID dangling around my neck.

"Hey, keep those hooves up!" The mare barked, gaze darting between my eyes and the pistol hanging out my pocket. I jumped in surprise when her aura grabbed my pistol handle and pulled it from me, floating it over to her side of the room and keeping it floating above her head, looking it over apparently unimpressed. "Look, 'Silver', I don't know who you are but this is my job, understand? So how ever you got in you can just go and leave the same way. Quietly."

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about." I replied, quiet and tense. "I came from downstairs, I'm just trying to find the scientists."

"Scientists? What scientists?" She tilted her head, looking at me puzzled. "Who else is here?"

"The scientists, the ministry scientists! The ones who work here? They're meant to be debriefing me..." I elaborated, equally as confused. Who else would be here? "Please, I need to find them, it's important!"

"Quit fucking around." She sighed, rolling her eyes. "I don't know how you got here, but I was here first, I found the mainframe, and I'm getting that data."

"I-I don't understand what you're saying! I-I'm just looking for the staff, there's a pegasus mare d-downstairs who needs help." I pled, getting the feeling that we both had the wrong end of the stick about whatever was happening. "I don't know anything about duplets or mainframes or data. Please, I just want to find help."

We were at a stalemate for what felt like forever, she was staring through me and her aim was steady. I was trying my best to stay perfectly still, nervously sweating, not able to look away from the weapon.

"Okay, look, I don't know what you're talking about, but whatever you're trying to do there's not anypony here who can help you." She replied, finally lowering her gun. I could feel the tension leaving my body. Not the room, but me at least.

"Where did everypony go?"

"What everypony? There is no everypony, it's just me. And apparently you."

That couldn't be right. This was a government building, a ministry lab! They would just all up and leave, surely? Okay, the whole floor downstairs had been empty and it was the same case for this floor bar this unicorn, but I simply refused to believe there was nopony here but us.

"No, no, this is a big facility, they were all here last week!" I countered. None of this was adding up. "They have to be around here somewhere."

"I don't know what to tell you." She shrugged."Nopony's been down here in ages, entrance has been a duplet nest long as anyone remembers."

"That's impossible, everything was-"

I was interrupted by the crackle of electricity as blue bolts shot from the cables where they'd been inserted into the machine, arcing wildly. They were strong enough to make my fur stand up on end, dancing across the metal surfaces of the nearest filing cabinets and leaving scorch marks all over. A small fire broke out on the side of the machine, sending thick black smoke upwards. The mare recoiled, covering her eyes from the sparks before yanking the cables out.

A rusty horn speaker above the machine blared to life with a croaky emergency alarm at a significant volume. The sprinklers overhead began to move, but no water was forthcoming.

"Shit shit shit!" The mare was suddenly panicking, tearing the cable from her PipBuck and looking around wildly, ears nervously twitching in all directions. "HELP ME TURN IT OFF!" She was scared, and that got me scared. What does a pony with a gun like that have to fear?

I scanned the walls looking for a reset switch or fire valve or anything. The constant wail was unbearable, stabbing at my ears, shrill and crackly. I couldn't see anything immediately obvious that would stop it. Weren't things like that usually big, red and obvious?

For her part it looked like the mare was just trying to rip the speaker off the wall, though it was much more firmly attached to the wall than the lights judging from how much she was struggling with it, straining her magic to no avail. "TO HELL WITH IT!" She roared, picking up a typewriter and launching it squarely at the speaker, crashing into it and leaving it crushed, and thankfully silent.

The alarm may have stopped but the mare did not relax. She was on edge and nervy, wary. Her gun was back in the air. There was a low grumble coming from somewhere that I don't think was there before.

"What is it, what's happening?" I asked, slowly cowering into myself as her gun swept across the room.

I felt it before I saw it. A slow rhythmic rumbling that shook the floor and tremored through my body, vibrating the whole room. Heavy, purposeful plods that only grew stronger. Something big was coming. It heard the speaker and it was in it's way. The gunmare had pressed herself up against the back of the filing cabinets and out of eyeline with the door, keeping her gun close. I scrambled for anything to hide behind, throwing myself behind a desk. If she was hiding obviously I should be too.

A pair of dissonant growls filled the air, muffled through the wall but gratingly atonal in quality, deep and bassy. The room began to rattle as the thumping got louder and faster. I peeked through a gap in the drawer fittings, I was frightened but I thought it would be a good idea to know what exactly I was hiding from.

An explosion of sickly flesh spewed out of the hallway and into the room, entering with such force that the doors were torn of their hinges, sending desks flying and cabinets falling like dominoes, barking and yowling all the way, collapsing on the floor in a heap. A pair of snarling heads reared up from the pile, teeth bared.

An Orthros! And holy hells it was big. It stood up drooling and gnashing, lumbering aside to reveal another one on the floor behind it, hunched over. Lit up by the few remaining emergency lights they both looked like there was something wrong with them, they must have been sick or had mange or something because they were absolutely disgusting. I had thought the Orthros to be fearsome but elegant, but the pair of them were repulsive. They were enormous, I'd heard they were meant to be big, but even in as bad a shape as it was, it was much bigger than me, standing at least three head taller and maybe twice as broad. Even in the state they were in they still looked strong. Ferocious. They were mostly furless and pale, and covered in scars and bumps, crusted and filthy. One had a large open wound across it's side, still bleeding. It wasn't hard to figure out who was responsible for that...

They were prowling, sniffing the air, furious. Their steps shook the floor and they batted aside office equipment like toys, tearing the place apart with ease. The room was barely big enough to hold the both of them. The larger of the two lifted one of it's heads and let out a bellowing, bone rattling roar that cut through the air like a buzzsaw.

My heart was pounding. What in Tartarus was I supposed to do here‽ How did this situation even come about? It'd almost be comically absurd if I wasn't so afraid for my life. I shuddered to think what might happen if they found me. They were practically foaming at the mouths!

I had a hoof over my mouth to try and quiet my breathing, almost hyperventilating. I could feel myself getting more and more tense with every step, shaking. I tucked myself down as small as I could be, wiling them both to leave me alone. One of them was sniffing at the other side of the desk, I could feel the wet air of it's exhales gust under me, any closer and I'd be in it's jaws. There was no other time in my life I could recall feeling fear like this.

Fortunately for me though, fate smiled upon me this time. A clang from the other side of the room must have caught the beast's attention as it paused and changed course, growling as it did so. I'd say the relief was palpable but there was no relief, I was still trapped in a room with two monsters and a mystery shooter.

At this point I noticed that my pistol was lying on the floor not too far away from me, the gunmare must have dropped it in the carnage. It was tantalisingly close, but it was out in the open, almost mockingly. If I wanted it I would have to leave my hiding spot. Was I that daring? I swung my gaze between the gun and the two orthroses, they were both investigating something in the opposite corner, attention fixed.

With a deep breath, I slid my barrel out from behind the desk, reaching out and grabbing the gun, taking it up in my mouth before slinking back. It was heavy and the old wooden handle stuck to my tounge and tasted like rot, but I had bigger things to worry about at the moment. Guns were easy right? Just point and pull the trigger, surely it couldn't be much harder than that. I didn't want to do any harm, but I might not have the choice.

This was not a good place to be, I had to get out of this carnage, I was a sitting duck waiting here. Being eaten by an angry Orthros wouldn't do anypony any good. I could backtrack to the stairs and keep going up until I was out of the building, I'd just had to be quiet. Hopefully I'd find help on the way up and once this mess was taken care of they could fix the spell for the Pegasus. Of course all that relied on successfully sneaking around these two brutes without getting torn apart. For a moment I envied the petrified mare downstairs, still inanimate, safe downstairs and blissfully unaware of what was happening up here.

I glanced back over to the gunmare's spot only to see she was no longer there. Somehow—completely unnoticed by me—she had joined me behind the desk. I almost yelped, thank the stars I had the weapon in my mouth or I would have given away our hiding spot. Her eyes were steely and cold, watching the creatures through a crack in the wood, glued to the floor. Silently, she lifted a flap on her saddlebag and pulled out some kind of rusty looking tin can with some wires coming off of it? Her horn lit up and she did something to the can, holding it above her head with her telekinesis. "Cover your ears." She mouthed, lobbing the can across the room and towards the orthroses, covering her head with her hooves as she did. I mimicked her, just about hearing the can clattering against the far wall.

BOOM

The room was rocked by an explosion, shockwave knocking the air out my lungs and sending debris flying. I felt it through our cover, and even though I'd followed her advice my ears were still ringing and muffled. A monotone howl droned over everything, and I opened my eyes just in time to see the gunmare stood up and firing repeatedly over the desk. I cannot overstate just how was devastatingly loud this situation was, so loud it physically hurt. My ears were still pinned against my head, but it was too little too late, everything already sounded muffled and muddy. I don't think my body would have allowed me to lift them even if I wanted to.

The next thing I knew I was tumbling through the air. The desk had split clean in two and both sides were sailing with me, chips and wood chunks flying past. The sensation of weightlessness only lasted for the briefest of moments before my back made very hard contact with something, slamming into it, deforming around it. The edge of my vision went dark as pain shot through my whole body like cold water, blinding agony spreading as I dropped to the floor limp and gasping. Stars danced in my vision as my head bounced off the floor, my jaw rebounding off my teeth. My whole body screamed out.

The culprit presented itself in front of me. A hulking monstrous canine head pressed up against me, teeth bared, dripping saliva, eyes ringing only death. Another head to it's side growled and grimaced, it's snout peppered with splinters from the desktop. It opened it's maw and flooded my world with the stench of hot carrion, biting down on the nape of my neck. I cried out as it's teeth pierced my skin and it slowly started to lift me off the ground, making it impossible for air to reach my lungs. I was being dragged. This was it, this was how it ended, in a living noose. In my head I said goodbye to everypony I knew and loved, and prayed to Celestia that it would be over quickly.

"Here boy!"

CRACK

Warm red blood splattered my side as the creature's head exploded. I dropped back to the floor as the other head yowled in pain.

CRACK

One of the remaining head's ears was reduced to shredded tatters, blood running down it's face. With a shriek it turned and ran, barrelling out of the room and leaving a crimson trail in it's wake. The lifeless corpse of the other orthros was laid out by the door, apparently having succumbed to the explosion, bloody chunks splattered across the wall and ceiling. The floor infront of me was caked in hunks of brain and skull, sharp fragments of bone poking up through the viscera. The sight burned itself into my mind. I'd never seen a dead animal before, I'd never seen uch violence. I don't think I would forget any time soon. It made me feel sick.

The room was now filled with smoke and embers, shreds of torn and burned paper swirled in the air. I gasped in breath after heaving breath, shuddering. Everything hurt. I seethed as I pushed myself onto my haunches, groaning and creaking, ribs protesting at the slightest movement. Tears were streaming down my face and I could feel the warm drip of my own blood down by neck. My back was killing me. A sudden sharp pain in my shoulders forced me back to the floor. I was shaking with adrenaline and fear, I had never felt a terror like this in my entire life.

But I was alive.

"Hey, you all in one piece?"

Her raspy voice sent a chill through me. It cut through loud and clear, caring little for my muddied hearing or ringing ears.

"Can you move? There'll be more on the way now, they know where we are."

Her. Whoever this mare was, she was incredibly dangerous. She'd shown no hesitation to pull a gun on me and was more than happy to throw around explosives with little regard for the consequences. I had no idea what she was doing with that computer, but what I did know was that she'd just obliterated two bloodthirsty predators with little effort. Despite everything, despite the spell and having just been at the mercy of a wild animal, fear clutched me strongest when she stood back in front of me, loading more bullets into her gun, scanning the now wide open entrance.

This absolutely could not be happening. This had to be some kind of nightmare, some kind of magic induced side effect from the cockatrice spell, a hideous psychotic episode playing out in in my head or something. The pain felt real but I absolutely could not believe that this was real life right now, everything about this was absurd. Things like this just didn't happen.

"C'mon, I really don't want to fight more of these things than we have to." She turned and offered me a hoof. I recoiled away feeling nothing but pure dread. The sudden movement did me no favours though, and I groaned as something clicked in my spine. She finally spared me a proper look, looking me up and down. "Oof, they did a number on you. Come on, up you get."

I felt the tingle of magic all over me as she scooped me up and gently placed me across her back, grunting with the effort. My joints protested being moved, but I didn't really have much say in the matter. "Jeez, you're heavy."

Pain and fear aside, I huffed. I was not heavy. I'm an Earth pony, I'm sturdy. It's hardly my fault she was so petite!

Slowly she set forward, trudging out of the room and back into the more open office environment. "Where are you taking me?" I managed, not really able to put up any kind of resistance.

"Out of here." She answered as vaguely as possible. "If you know a better way back up than the cargo ramp then I'm all ears, I'm pretty sure they followed me down that way." Almost on cue a distant howl sounded out, bouncing off the walls.

"Stairs. Th-there's a staircase in the hall to the left."

"Got it. Keep lookout for me."

Keep lookout? I was barely able to keep my head up, let alone be on guard for any more of those things. I felt like I was spinning, I was totally dazed and overwhelmed, not in any condition to do much of anything. I could see my own blood start to stain her jacket as it ran down my side, leaving a trail of drops on the floor.

"I-I need to get to a hospital."

"Yeah well we got to get out of this place first, then we can find you help."

I jostled and bounced uncomfortably across her back as she cantered around the corner, each little impact making me wince. "Mare downstairs still needs help." I grunted as the stairwell doorway came into view. The whole point of finding somepony was to fix whatever happened downstairs, I couldn't just leave her stuck like that.

"Look, we can get you help or we can get her help. If she's not dying right this second then it can wait until we're not being chased by duplets." She huffed, traipsing forwards. I said nothing. I did have a very bad feeling about leaving her alone, especially if this place was full of monsters, she very much wasn't going anywhere. In fact if there was one thing I could absolutely be sure of it was where she'd be at any given time moving forward. I was pretty sure these 'duplets' wouldn't even be able to get to her anyway, given the stuck door. I hoped not at least.

If there were monsters in here, it stood to reason the staff had been evacuated. If we got out of here we could find them. Then they can fix the spell and I can get paid, and never have to think about any of this ever again.

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. We were being followed. Another orthros, or 'duplet' I suppose, was stalking us from around the corner. It was smaller than the other two, and had more fur, but was just as ugly, teeth bared from both it's mouths.

"Behind us!" I yipped as it began it's run up towards us. "Go, quick!"

"I'm trying!" The mare shouted back as she picked up the pace, managing a cumbersome unsteady gallop as I shook with her every step, swinging side to side, watching the foul creater draw closer as it broke into a sprint, thumping towards us.

The concrete doorframe sailed past my eyes as the mare dove onto the landing, sending us both skidding to the side wall. I slid off her back coming to a stop pressed against the base of the steps. Not a moment later the stairwell filled with the echoed snarls of the duplet as it barked and clawed at us, but didn't come any closer, thank Celestia.

Smaller it may have been, but this duplet's shoulders were still far too broad for it to fit through the doorway, keeping it from reaching us. Not for lack of trying, though. It was shoving against the frame, desperately trying to reach us, wildly clawing and managing to get scarily close, heads taking it in turns to snap at us from the threshold. Any closer and it's claws would have absolutely been able to reach us, tearing us both to shreds no doubt.

My heart was pounding, all I could do was stare at my would-be killer. A dumb, mindless animal out for nothing but blood. No thought behind it's eyes.

"Luna's teats I hate these things!" The gunmare groused, her voice still softened by the ringing in my ears. Coldly, she floated her gun up to eye level with the creature.

CRACK
CRACK
CRACK

I saw what was coming and had already folded my ears in advance. The beast shrieked and fell limp in a great pile, red splattered on the wall behind it, gore thrown around by the shots.

We were safe. For now at least.

"Gah, shooting indoors is the worst." The mare complained, flitting her ears. "I can't wait to be out of here."

I watched her warily, or as warily as I could given my position and condition. She definitely wasn't security or police, if anything she was more like a hunter. Not fearless in the face of danger, but definitely more together than I was. I had no reason to doubt she could turn on me if she wanted to. Hells, she didn't hesitate at all to put me in her sights not five minutes ago! And now she was helping me get away. I didn't know what her angle was here, but truth be told the very real threat of being eaten was occupying most of my thoughts. And either way I was hardly in any position to argue, I was actually beginning to feel a little faint. Too much had happened to me in too little time, my senses were absolutely fried. I was pretty sure that was shock setting in, but I was by no means a medical expert.

She kicked the corpse, I guess making sure it was dead. Seemingly satisfied with the lack of any sort of response, she trotted over and joined me at the bottom of the stairs, pulling more bullets out of a pocket and sliding them into her gun while staring up into the middle distance. "Guess there's no chance you're feeling good enough to be up on your hooves?"

I couldn't really formulate the words to respond, I just grunted as I fought to stay awake.

"Thought not." She replied, pumping the gun and slinging it around her neck. I once again felt her aura all around me as I slowly floated into the air. She started up the stairs almost hesitantly, bringing me not far behind, sighing. "This is going to suck."

I slid in and out of consciousness as we ascended. I could have sworn we were moving slower every time I came to but I had no real measure for it. Images of razor sharp teeth and bloody messes plagued my mind.

I had no idea exactly how long we were climbing for. Every step, every landing, every floor, they all looked identical, dull endless concrete. The only real change was the sensation of the cold floor on my aching side as I was placed down. My eyes creaked open in time to see the gunmare flop down in front of me, panting and sweating, clutching at her head around her horn.

"Buck, never... hah... doing that again." She exhaled, rubbing her temples. "Gah, no more magic today."

A cursory look around revealed we'd reached the top of the stairs, and they had actually changed. The concrete had given way to rusted metal floors and cinderblock walls. Dull light struggled in through a cloudy window on a solitary door, the soft patter of rain audible through the ceiling. How far up had we gone? Any more than that though I couldn't tell, my vision was already swirling and I didn't want to make it any worse, it was already unpleasant enough. My head was pounding.

The mare had fished out a small flask from her jacket and was gulping down water. I hadn't realised how thirsty I was until now, my mouth was horribly dry. She must have noticed me looking, her eyes meeting mine for a second, raising her eyebrows in recognition. "How're we doing... science team?... Still with me? Almost out now. I hope."

"You hope?"

"Gotta... gotta figure out a way down."

Down? We're too high up now? Fine. Whatever. I didn't care anymore, I just wanted to be out of here. The sooner I got to a doctor the better, I needed painkillers and really wanted to have the bite on my neck looked at before it became infected. And a shower, stars I desperately needed a shower, Celestia knows how much shampoo I'd need to get this much blood out of my coat. I knew it wasn't all mine but I'm not sure if that made me feel better or worse about it. I was getting sticky either way.

The mare shifted, stretching her legs out and shaking her head before standing up. "Alright, I'm gonna have a look, wait here a minute."

As if I was going anywhere.

She pushed on the bar and the door screeched open, hinges grinding. A cacophony of caws and flapping wings filled the air, a few loose feathers ending up inside.

Daylight streamed in, stinging my eyes a little but still a welcome change from the constant red tinged semi-darkness. And fresh air at last! A cool breeze drifted in from outside and I realised just how stale and musty the whole building had been. I would be glad to be out of here for good.

"Let's see what we're working with." The mare mused to herself, propping the door open with her saddlebags and stepping outside.

Alone again. I didn't know how long she'd be, but for the moment I allowed myself to just enjoy the quiet and the breeze. Not really relaxing per se, but a minute free of any more stress at least. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the respite, however long it may be. I knew the hospital was going to be more stress, albeit far less life threatening, so this may have been the last moment of quiet I had for a while.

I almost didn't notice the tapping it was so faint. Light and rhythmic, pausing every so often. It got more frequent and chaotic until it was joined by a quick fluttering. I flicked and eye open only to see I was being stared down by birds. Stood in front of me, perched on the door, peeking around the frame. More were joining in every second. It was actually a little unnerving.

A braver one hopped right up to me, regarding me with a tilted head. I think they were crows or ravens or something like that. Large and dark. I'd never had a bird get this close to me before, or at least one that wasn't actively trying to steal food from me. I could see it in good detail. It was missing feathers in patches and seemed to be shattered with scratches. "Been in the wars, huh? Me too." I cooed as it hopped even closer-

"Ow!"

It bit me! The little bugger nipped right at my nose! I don't think it broke skin but it still hurt! I glared at is as another fluttered over to investigate me, getting what I now considered worryingly close. "Hey! I'm not food!"

It didn't care to listen, it bit me too, grabbing at my fetlock. "Stop it!" I whined, shifting my leg out of the way. Apparently this was the rallying cry the rest of the flock were waiting for as the slowly hopped and glided the shirt distance over to me and began attacking. They were pecking at me! Their beaks were pointy, it was like being poked by a load of twigs or being pinched by tweezers, and I was already tender. "Leave me alone!" I weakly tried to bat them away, shifting as best I could to move, sliding along ground in a probably pretty pathetic way, but it was all I could manage.

I wasn't aware just how close I was to the edge of the stairs until I suddenly felt no floor beneath my back. Sadly it was too late for me to move back by that point and I sank all the way over the edge, tumbling down, rolling hooves over back until I crashed into the wall below, slamming the back of my head and giving me an instant migrane and sent my mind swimming. As I looked up the stairs I saw dozens of beady black eyes staring back at me, bird perched on the bannister, probably waiting to start their attack again, and this time I'd be out cold.

After everything that happened to me today, a flock of crows is what took me out? Not a monstrous horror, not an armed stranger, a common bird? I think there was some irony in there, somewhere.

"Okay, I think I found- oh for Celestia's sake, shoo! Get outta here!" The mare walked back in and waved her forehooves around, sending the birds flying in all directions. With no more energy left, my vision started to go dark as I drifted away. The last thing I saw before I passed out was the gunmare clambering down the stairs towards me, ducking under panicking corvids. "What am I gonna do with you?" She asked, presumably rhetorically.

Everything went black, the world fell away once again.

Chapter Two: Interloper

Chapter Two: Interloper

"Confusion colours cruel designs, unhappy girl, you're out of time."

I was alive.

Everything was hazy at first. Thoughts came slow and sludgy, my head was full of fluff. Groggy would be the word I guess. Some kind of broken sounding device was chirping away quietly, playing crackly and treble heavy music that broke the relative quiet. I opened my eyes slowly, blearily looking around to try and get my bearings.

The room was dilapidated at best, haphazardly ramshackle at worst. The walls were a hodgepodge of various sheets of metal and wood planks (all of which looked old and worn) slapped together over cracked and crumbling concrete. There was a threadbare chair at the far end sat next to a well-used table, and the single grimiest looking radio I had ever seen, volume low and lights flickering but still just about working, croaking out an old pop song I was vaguely familiar with. There was a burnt looking wooden door that had been left slightly ajar, letting rays of light from the other side stream through, the only thing lighting the room. To my right there was a window, really just a hole in the wall with a yellowed sheet of plasic bolted around it. It was dark outside, but I could just about make out a dead tree or two peeking over a wall. The blanket I was under was absolutely filthy, holey and covered in dirt, and I could only speculate on the condition of the rest of the bedding. I cringed a little, I had no idea where any of this stuff had been. Smells lingered in the air, the scent of oil, metal, and... cake? Something sweet, hints of strawberry.

I was still waking up, but I worked out I must be in some kind of furnished shed or shack. That wasn't right, I should be in a hospital right now, not some groundskeeper's equipment hut. I started to get nervous, nothing good happened to ponies who wake up in mysterious shacks with no memory of getting there. Last I knew I was about to be savaged by a swarm of rabid birds! The gunmare was supposed to be finding help for me and the pegasus.

The gunmare, where was she? If anypony knew what was happening it'd be her. Realistically she was probably responsible for me ending up here, wherever 'here' was. I tried to get up but my body protested angrily, barrel aching, neck burning, head throbbing. It was obvious I was still in pretty bad shape and the next few days were going to suck. I at least managed to pull back the covers though. I was still dirty and bloodied, though not as badly as I remembered. My gown was gone and my neck had bandages rolled around it. I don't think this really counted as proper medical attention but it was something, I guess. Though from the state I was still in I definitely felt like I still needed to see a doctor, this may have been okay in the short term but I could really do without gangrene or any nasty fractures.

I wasn't alone in the building. I could hear humming and hoofsteps from the other side of the door. It obviously wasn't going to be a doctor, but a part of me hoped that it was the gunmare rather than some other total stranger. Better the devil you know and all that. She may have been dangerous but she had gotten me out of that building in one piece. Just about. Plus it would be nice to know I hadn't just been fobbed off to some random. Unless that random was a doctor.

The hoofsteps drew closer and the door swung open. Admittedly I felt a pit of anxiety as it did and I tensed up, I had no idea who might be waiting on the other side. Somewhat to my relief I was greeted by the now sort of familiar mismatched gaze of the gunmare, thankfully now sans gun from what I could see.

"Oh, you're awake." She said, walking in, looking vacantly surprised and with a full mouth, a slice of cake trailing in her magical aura. For a moment we just dumbly stared at each other, the smell of strawberry sweets filling the room. This was the first time I could get a proper look at her in normal lighting. Her jacket was gone revealing her coat to be a pale sandy green colour, and her mane was a muted shade of placid blue, still tied back but letting a messy fringe sit around her horn. I got a good look at her eyes, one a deep shade of red, the other a flat blue, strangely mismatched in a way I'd not really seen on a pony before. She was crossed with scars all over, some much more noticable than others. Her cutie mark was a magnifying glass crossed over a spanner or wrench or something. Repair? Fine work? Something like that I assumed. Younger than me for sure, but her physical state was terrifying. This was clearly a mare who lived violence.

"I am." I answered, blinking after realising I had just been staring at her. "W-where am I?"

"You don't remember? I carried you back to my place, You were mumbling all the way so I assumed you were awake. Anyway, this is my house. Cozy, right? I figured you could use somewhere to rest up." She pulled up a chair and sat on it backwards, resting her head on the backrest facing me.

I did have vague memories of something or other, crumbled roads and being jostled about, but I thought it had been some kind of dream. She brought me here? This was her house‽ Her demeanour indicated that she didn't seem to think that any of this was a weird thing to do and I can't deny that she did save my flank yesterday. But then why bring me here, and not a hospital? And just how was this her home? It looked like a stiff breeze could knock it over, as far as I could see it was just as good as an old squat.

"It's, uh... charming!" I said, trying to stay on her good side. "B-but if you don't mind me asking, why exactly did you bring me here?"

"You got kinda torn up by that Duplet yesterday, in case you forgot. And I don't think falling down the stairs did you any favors either." She said, tilting her head as she spoke. "Didn't look like you were handling it too well, so I couldn't just leave you there. Especially not with how mixed up you seemed yesterday, you seemed like you could use a helping hoof. Gotta say though, lugging you around really did a number on me, ate up my magic good."

"Oh... well, thank you." I said meekly, the weight of just how crazy everything that had happened slowly dawning on me. I almost died, and I certainly felt like it. As noble as her effort was though, I don't think she was a stand in for an actual medical professional. "Um, if you don't mind me saying, shouldn't I see a doctor?"

"Well, all your parts were still attached, so I was pretty confident the basics would cover you just fine, and you seem to be alright so far." She explained, stretching her forehooves out behind her head. "Besides, it's not like either of us has the caps to see a doctor anyway."

"E-excuse me?"

"I'm broke, you literally only had the clothes on your back, and I'm pretty sure all a doctor woulda done is give you a healing potion and charge double for it." She said. I looked at her incredulous, had she ever actually visited a doctor before? She must have noticed me looking at her funny because she held up a hoof and smiled. "Don't worry, I know my stuff, I've patched myself up hundreds of times!"

That wasn't as reassuring as I think she intended it to be.

I was silent for a moment, digesting the craziness that had been going on. Everything had been so weird since yesterday, it was past high time I got some answers.

"Who are you?"

"Me? I'm Make Do, salvage pony and maintenance extraordinaire! Best repair mare in Horseshoe Bay, and recovery expert as well, if the price is right." She proudly declared, drawing a hoof to her chest. "But enough about me," she said, leaning over in my direction, swaying back and forth in the chair like an excited foal. "Who might you be?"

I let myself relax just a little bit. The slightest amount. Right now this Make Do mare seemed more goofy than threatening, disarmingly so. However, I had to keep my guard up, I still didn't really know anything about this mare or where I was, only that she had access to a very big gun. I hoped 'goofy' didn't also mean 'unhinged' in this case. I couldn't just forget the carnage she let loose in the lab, I knew what she was capable of.

"Silver Sterling." I replied in the most neutral tone I could manage. For a brief moment we just stared at each other, before the gentle patter of rain broke my concentration. Sparing another glance out the window, I saw drops clinging to the glass, the dark figures of leafless trees just visible outside swaying gently in the wind, silhouetted against the cloudy, starless night sky. I looked back to the mare.

"Right, Silver, you said yesterday. So we're all acquainted, amazing!" She smiled, brusquely shaking my hoof. "And since we're such good friends now, Silver, would you mind telling me how you got into that Ministry lab without me or any of the duplets finding out?"

She was looking at me expectantly, as if I was about to spout out some grand revelation. "I just came in through the front door, same as anypony else? Me and one of the staff members just took an elevator down."

"Question."

"What?"

"That doesn't make any sense."

"That's... that's not a question."

"I'm just trying to work out how you got in there, but I don't think you've said a word of sense since I met you." She intoned, resting her head on her hooves. "Nothing you've told me adds up."

"Nothing about any of this makes any sense!" I frowned. "I arrived for the test and everything was fine, the test ended and everything was all messed up. What happened in there? And what were you doing in the lab anyway? You don't look like a scientist."

"You don't remember? Hmm, maybe you're concussed or something." She hummed, brow furrowed. "You're awfully hung up on these 'scientists', too."

"No, I remember what happened, it just doesn't add up! What on earth even is a Duplet? Where were all the staff and why did the whole place look like a mouldy old ruin?" I rattled off, trying to cover all my bases. "Honestly everything was all fine when I arrived last week, I just don't understand how things could have gotten so bad in the meantime.

"A week? You were in there for a week?" She asked, I guess choosing to ignore my questions.

"The spell lasted for seven days, yes. I arrived last week." I stated matter-of-factly. I knew I was right.

"So what, you show up, do some 'spell' for seven days and poof, everything's different? If you're gonna bullshit me, at least make it believable."

"I'm not bull- lying to you! I don't know why I'm even trying to justify myself to you, I don't even know who you are!" I muttered. I never swore, my mum hated it. I was still worried and a bit exasperated by now, and I still had no real idea what on earth was happening. "Please, I'm hurt and I'm scared. I'm sure you mean well but I just want to go home." I hoped she meant well anyway, I had no idea why she was so hung up on me being in the lab.

"Come on, what kind of spell takes a week to perform? How do you even test a spell‽ You don't have a horn!" She pointed at my forehead, presumably to illustrate my lack of any pointy bone appendage. As if I wasn't aware.

"How very astute of you." I deadpanned. "I didn't cast the spell, it was cast on me."

Us. The other mare too. I'd totally forgotten about her! A wave of shame washed over me, I was meant to be finding help but I was stuck here being borderline interrogated by a random. I'd been out cold, who knows how much time I'd lost. Not that it really mattered I guess, if there's one thing she wasn't in any danger of it was starving.

"We have to go back, there's another pony stuck down there. Her gem must have been faulty or something, she's stuck, we have to find somepony to fix it!"

"Hold up, that place has been a Duplet nest for decades, and I know nopony was down there last week because I had to fix the backup generators to even get the door open, entry log hadn't been updated since the Last Day." She said, raising an eyebrow and taking a bite from her cake, stuck on this singular train of thought. "I still don't know what you mean about any spells or anything, I assumed you were there for the same reason I was until you started talking."

"We were there for the trial? To test the Cockatrice spell? Project 1013?"

"Project 1013? That sounds familiar..." She trailed off fiddling with her PipBuck, concentrating on the little screen. The controls clicked and clacked and the green of the screen cast a funny shadow on her face. "You mentioned something about a Cockatrice spell in the lab too, what's the deal with that?"

I opened my mouth to talk but then remembered all the paperwork I signed before all of this. Things were already bad enough, I didn't need to be charged with breaking an NDA on top of everything else that had happened. I'd probably said too much ready. "I don't think I should be telling you if you don't already know. Why were you there?"

"'Recovery expert if the price is right', remember?" She said pointing to herself, not looking up from the device on her leg. "A client wanted a load of data from the mainframe for some reason, so I recovered it. I could've sworn there was a 1013 something or other in there somewhere..."

"Recovering- You stole information from a ministry‽" I wheezed. "That's treason!"

Of course. Of course she was a criminal. How on Earth could I have missed it? The gun, the attitude, even the outfit! How could anypony have thought she was there for legitimate reasons? Information theft from a ministry building wouldn't be a light charge, not by a long shot. If anypony found out what had happened, and if I was implicated in all of this- well, it didn't bear thinking about, my life was as good as over. I'd probably already said too much! "Oh no, oh Tartarus this is bad, what do I do, oh stars oh stars oh stars-"

"Treason? What are you talking about? Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm not okay!" I snapped, glaring at the mare angrily. My heart was pounding and my blood ran cold. "Y-y-you've gotten me tangled up in a crime against the s-state, d-d-do you know what happens to ponies that get caught doing stuff like that? Is that why you brought me here? So there wouldn't be a-any witnesses? Oh Celestia, this is too much, I have to get out of here!" I spiraled, thoughts circling around my head, none of them good. Was she just going to hold me captive?

I was reeling. She didn't seem concerned by the repercussions of her actions at all, in fact she seemed perplexed that I was upset by any of this. Was she really such a hardened criminal, so deep into this illicit career that anypony shocked by any of this would be odd to her? The pit in my stomach had a pit in it's stomach. The Ministry Of Morale had eyes everywhere. I was desperately scanning the room looking for an out, some kind of escape, anything. I didn't know why I was hear but it couldn't have been for anything good. It didn't matter that everything hurt too much to move, the sooner I got away from her the sooner I could distance myself from all of this and I could report her myself. That would prove I wasn't involved, right? If I could just explain myself then surely they'd understand that I wasn't invloved at all. There had to be some way to prove that my involvement was all a big misunderstanding, I was under duress, I didn't know what was happening. I did not want to be locked up, the police would probably hoof me over to the Ministry of Morale and I had heard rumours about what they did with ponies caught doing things like this. It was not good if even a fraction of it was true. That was if Make Do didn't get to me first, I didn't know if she was going to use me as leverage or kill me so I couldn't rat her out. I had to get away, I had to tell somepony, I-

"Hey, hey! Back in the room!" Make Do yelled, rapping her hoof against the wooden chair back. "What the hells has gotten into you? Maybe you hit your head worse than I thought..." I flinched as she put a hoof to my forehead, not quite up to speed enough to properly recoil. She turned my head from side to side, I guess checking me over. I held my breath as the tender spot on the back of my skull slid across the pillow.

"Y-you're going to get us both arrested." I said matter-of-factly, not really knowing what to do anymore.

"What, arrested? Nopony's getting arrested." She replied, settling back down in her seat. That was a definite answer and that was worrying. How could she be so sure, unless she was going to make sure?

"A-a-are you g-going to... k-kill me?"

"Kill you- girl, I saved your life and fixed you up, what about this is screaming 'murder' to you?" She balked, incensed. "I'm a professional, not some scummy raider."

I curled myself into a ball as best as I could before my spine made itself very known and watched her warily. I supposed she was kind of right if you stretched the definition of 'fixed up', but I still didn't trust her as far as I could throw her. And if she really wasn't planning to harm me in any way that still didn't make my situation a whole lot better, I was still stuck here with a criminal. Said criminal was still staring intently at her PipBuck, but had stopped messing around with the controls. Her eyes ran back and forth like she was reading the same line over and over again, occasionally looking my way before darting back.

"Project 1013 Subject: Participant #6G15 Sterling; Silver, Earth Pony, Female, 26 years of age, Blood Type: Q."

"You took my personal information too?" I groaned. So much for the confidentiality clause.

"Hold up." She said, cutting me off with a raised hoof. I bristled slightly at being interrupted, but kept quiet. She said nothing but her face was very animated, squinting and frowning and working her jaw as she read through what were no-doubt highly classified documents, stopping every so often to stare at me. More like gawk, actually. It was quite rude to be honest.

"#6G13-A, Burdock; Dandelion, Pegasus..." She trailed off, scrolling further before opening her mouth again. "So uh, you and this Dandelion mare were turned to stone?"

Dandelion. That's her name, then. Seems Make Do would have all her personal details too. Very nosy of her. But I also suppose that meant there was no reason to withhold anything from her, she likely knew more about all of this than I did now. It was probably in my best interests to keep her happy until I could get out of here. I wasn't happy about it, but it was logical.

"And when you say she's 'stuck'..."

"She's still petrified, yes." I confirmed, grimacing, eyes closed. I may have been willing to bend the rules but I still didn't like it. Plus the thought of being stuck like that just wasn't pleasant, even if I'd had more experience with it than most.

She was quiet for a while after that, intently reading, scrolling the wheel on the side of the device slowly as she did, it's soft clicks rhythmically clashing with the music on the radio. "Buck, this is insane." She muttered, looking to scan the same section over and over again. "I'm gonna be honest with you Silver, I'm looking at the matrix diagram here and this is all way over my head. Like, this is real arcane shit." She said almost sheepishly. "I think we're going to have a hard time finding somepony who knows how to cast stuff like this."

We? She was going help? All of this was starting to hurt my brain, I was getting emotional whiplash or something. I was baffled, surely the first thing somepony who'd just committed intelligence theft on an insane scale would be to lie low. How on earth could she ask around about this without anypony becoming suspicious. And actually- "Why would we need to find help, won't the scientists fix it? I know they weren't there earlier but they can't have gone far, right?"

"Aheheheh, that brings us on to a whole other can of worms." She smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck and looking anywhere but at me.

"What do you mean?"

She seemed to wrestle with the question for a minute, though the break in the conversation made it feel like longer. I was starting to get worried again because it honestly looked like she was unravelling in front of me, sighing and running her hooves through her mane, smile becoming strained before disappearing altogether.

"Well, if these log dates are all correct, and you really are who you say you are, then the spell worked. It worked really, really well."

"Well yes, I know that. What are you getting at?"

"It, uh, worked too well?" She intoned, pitch rising as the sentence went on.

I tilted my head in confusion. "I'm not following you." I replied, trying to work out what she meant by any of this. She sighed again and fixed me with a strange look, serious but somehow sorrowful at the same time.

"Look Silver, I don't like to be the bearer of bad news, but you might want to stew a little on the idea that you've been a statue longer than a week."

Oh. Oh no.

"How... how much longer?" I asked, ears folding flat. If this was real, this was bad. My parents must be worried sick. My friends too. I was meant to be getting a stock shipment in if I'd missed it I wouldn't be able to reopen the shop. Hells, if it was too much longer I might have missed a mortgage payment! That would be the last thing I needed, the cherry on top of everything awful that had happened to me so far, if after all this I get home to a foreclosed building.

Make Do wasn't saying anything. Why wasn't she saying anything? She was just forlornly looking at me, looking uncomfortable. "How much longer was I stuck for?" I repeated.

"You're not gonna like it."

"Just tell me!" I snapped. Her dodging was just making it worse.

"175 years, give or take a few weeks."

A beat passed, her words swirling around my head. I blinked at her once, twice, and snorted. "Oh shove off, do you really expect me to believe that? 175 years, as if!"

"I'm not fucking around, Silver."

"Yeah right, I wasn't born yesterday." I scoffed. "And that's a lot of wool to be trying to pull over my eyes, forgive me if I don't believe the total stranger pitching the most outlandish claim I've ever heard."

"I know we barely know each other but you gotta believe me, I'm not making this up."

"You're right, we do barely know each other, so why should I believe you?"

"Okay, you don't have to believe me but sooner or later you're gonna see I'm telling the truth and I think it'll be a lot harder for you if you're not prepared. I'm not lying to you, and I'm the reason you're even still alive, that has to count for something." She finished off the last bite of her cake and stood up, stretching like a cat as she did. "There's a healing potion in the nightstand, you'll probably want that. Your stuff is in there too. Come find me when you're well enough to move, I'll be around. I've gotta go work out some stuff. Please, just think about it, okay?"

With that she shuffled out of the room, leaving the door open behind her. "Oh, bathroom is just down the hall." She called back, not bothering to return. I heard her steps get quieter as she walked away and the gentle click of another door opening elsewhere. I was alone again, for now at least.

I sort of deflated as tension I didn't know I was holding left my body. I'd managed to navigate that encounter un-exceuted, but digesting what on earth had just happened was a whole other kettle of fish.

What in Tartarus was this mare's angle? She saves my life but brings me here, she steals my files but offers help, she makes ridiculous statements but gives me aid. She ping-ponged from goofy confidence to frustration to sorrow like nothing. I could not get a read on her at all. But at the very least it didn't seem like she wanted to harm me in anyway. She didn't have the air of a criminal mastermind at all, after all that I might even go as far to say she seemed delusional, tripped out on some wild flight of fancy.

It didn't seem like I was a prisoner or hostage like I'd feared. I wasn't restrained or anything, the door wasn't locked and I was invited to freely roam the building. A strained stretch to reach the drawer of the nightstand revealed that there was indeed a healing potion as she'd said, butted up against my gown, which although filthy and torn looked to have been folded nearly, and my ID lanyard.

Now that nothing was holding my attention I realised just how badly my whole body was aching. The pain may have dulled but it was still very much present. My body felt as stiff as a board, creaking at every movement. I supposed I should be grateful I could move at all given the beating my back took yesterday, but it still hurt.

I managed to grab the potion out of the drawer. The glass vial looked cloudy and scratched, and the label was yellowed and peeling, the print hard to read, it looked like it had been around the block so to speak. But it was definitely a healing potion, the Ministry Of Peace logo was still just about visible and the cap was still sealed, thankfully, so I knew it hadn't been tampered with in any way. I popped open the cap and sniffed it cautiously, I didn't know if these things had an expiration date or anything. It may have looked old but it smelled normal, vaguely medicinal with a little floral undertone. I drank the liquid, thick, syrupy and a little tingly and almost immediately felt it working, a wave of relief coursing through my body. It didn't fix everything right away, but I did feel a lot better.

"That was of course Sapphire Shores with 'How High The Moon', and coming up we have some more from the ever lovely Dorian Flash, right after the news. Stay tuned, Baltimare!"

The radio popped and hummed, fading in and out. I didn't recognise the DJ but Sapphire Shores rang a bell. I couldn't name a song of hers but I've definitely heard her name thrown around. How could it have been almost two centuries if they were still playing current hits! Honestly, what was this Make Do mare thinking? Her story had more holes in it than a slice of cheese.

Maybe being that far into the future would be nice though, the war would be over and who knows what arcane wonders would have been cooked up in the meantime? Certainly a novel thought to muse on. All this doom and gloom would probably be long forgotten by then, no need for the Ministries or anything. Back to normality, whatever that would look like by then.

Normality would be very nice. War aside, something crazy was going on and I'd somehow found myself right in the middle of it. I may not have felt directly under threat right this second, but I still didn't really know where I was or what had actually happened in the lab. Make Do hadn't touched on it much and being petrified for decades wouldn't explain the state the place was in.

Would it? It was a pretty advanced decay after all. I was by no means a connoisseur of ruined buildings, but I was very sure things couldn't get that bad in a normal week. It looked like it had been sat abandoned for a long, long time, decaying away.

It had to be something else, some kind of biome spell gone wrong or something. That would explain all the moss and fungus and the deformed orthroses. Right? There had to be a more rational, realistic explanation for everything. There's no way me and Dandelion would just have been left to rot, not when so many ponies knew we were there and we were being monitored. It was a Ministry test for Celestia's sake, we were there for an important reason.

Spittles of rain continued to tap weakly against the window, drawing my attention outside. Gingerly, I shimmied along the top of the bed to get a closer look, carefult not to exert myself too much. My bad leg flared up, not as bad as it was in the lab but still probably too much to be walking on it just yet, even after the potion. I must have done something serious. I grimaced and tried to move it as little as possible as I crawled over to the window. Hopefully I could work out where I was based on landmarks.

The shadowy figures of dead, leafless trees were just about visible outside, swaying gently in the wind, silhouetted against the moody overcast sky. A pile of rotted wood that looked like it might have once been a cargo wagon sat sadly against a crumbling brick wall that was spidered with ivy. I wasn't too sure what time it was but it seemed rather dark outside, not helped by the cloud cover no doubt.

Beyond the wall sat another building, cold and monotone, broken and boarded up windows and fractured concrete. Utilitarian looking but dilapidated. I grimaced at the thought I might be in a rougher part of town, it certainly looked like that was the case. I just wanted to go home.

Maybe I could flag somepony down? Just because it wasn't the nicest area it didn't mean there wouldn't be some decent ponies around. I should probably get looked over at a clinic somewhere and find a place to report the information theft. I couldn't believe that this had all somehow become my problem.

I shook my head. I was unfocused, it was hard to stick to one train of thought at the moment, I was jumping from nasty thought to half-baked plans. Maybe I actually was concussed?

I huffed and slowly lowered myself back to reclining, gently flexing my legs to see how they felt, feeling not much in the way of protest. More confident, I twisted my back, just to see what I was dealing with. It still ached, but it was nothing on how it was before. It popped and clicked as I turned, I'd never really had that happen before, and it wasn't a totally pleasant sound but it did kind of feel good at least.

Now that I was alone I realised just how tired I still was. I'd never really been knocked out cold before, was it normal to be exhausted after being unconscious for who-knows-how-long? That was basically just sleep, right? Granted probably not quality sleep, but surely it was kind of the same thing? I can't have been awake that long. I had no idea how long I'd even been out for. Make Do would probably know.

Make Do. I stared at the ceiling. So many questions. Why did she have my file downloaded onto her PipBuck? What else did she know about me? That was an uneasy thought. The last thing I needed was this unicorn stealing my identity while I was cooped up in her scrap hut. I needed to find out what exactly was going on here. Nothing had been making any sense since I woke up in that booth. Everything was like a bad dream.

My brain was still too foggy to properly work anything out. The rain outside was getting heavier and the sound started to drown out the meek tones from the radio, so I just settled for blankly following the raindrops down the window pane, trying not to think about all the ways things could potentially get worse. Eventually the drone of the rain and hum of the radio blurred into one hazy wave of white noise, and I felt my eyelids getting heavier. It was dark out and my circadian rhythm was telling me I probably shouldn't be awake. I rolled over and tried to get as comfortable as I could, relieved that healing potion had done away with most of my body's aches and pains at least. The bed was lumpy and worn, but it was probably better than the floor. It didn't smell as bad as I would have expected from the look of it.

I closed my eyes, and let my thoughts go quiet, falling into the white noise of the weather. Even though I'd really only just woken up I felt myself drifting off after not too long.

Maybe tomorrow something would go my way.

I wasn't feeling particularly refreshed by the morning. It'd been a restless sleep and I'd woken up a few times during the night. What dreams I did have were horrible snapshots of bared fangs and bullet wounds. Every creak and groan of the building seemed to have set me off, and every time I woke up I had a small panic not being in my own familiar bedroom. I was sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I didn't know what time it was, but it must've been early judging from the dim light outside. The rain had stopped but the clouds still lingered. I don't remember rain and clouds being on the weather schedule, but to be fair I'd been very much out of it recently so I could very easily have be wrong.

I tentatively lowered myself onto the floor, tensed and ready for my bad leg to hurt. The time I'd spent off of it must have done the trick though, it was still painful but it could actually stand on it at least. A few flexes confirmed that I should be ambulatory with just a little discomfort. Small victories and all.

Now that I was properly awake and up I could actually have a proper look around the room. It was, as I deduced last night, filthy. I didn't know if the fact that none of it appeared to be fresh made it better or worse. How could anypony live like this? I don't know why I let myself fall asleep here, in the grubbiest bedroom I'd ever seen under the roof of a shack belonging to a well armed loner I didn't know. I scrunched my muzzle at that thought. I was assuming it was hers. I was assuming she was by herself. I didn't know if the potential for there to be more ponies here was a good thing or a bad thing.

The radio had continued to chirp through the night at varying volumes. My ears swivelled as it decided to get louder, it was some kind of morning news bulletin but I didn't recognise any of the places they were talking about. Maybe it was tuned to some local station from the suburbs or something? That would maybe explain the terrible broadcast quality too, even for an older radio this thing sounded like arse. I didn't pay much attention to it, I was still working out what exactly I was going to do. To tell the truth, as much thinking as I had been doing, I still hadn't really come up with much of a plan.

After milling around for a couple of minutes and not hearing anything from the other side of the door, I figured I might as well have a look around. Hopefully I'd be able to find a way out of here.

Standing up, I nudged the door all the way open. It led into a small hallway of the same construction as the bedroom, old concrete and plaster supplemented with seemingly random pieces of scrap metal and planks. One of the hallway lights was flickering, and there was a hum coming from somewhere or other. The smell of oil and rust was almost overwheming here, mingling with other much sweeter and less abraive scents, albeit much weaker. There was a leak in the corner of the ceiling and rain water poured down the wall leaving a darkened trail, and I could hear more drips from all throughout the place. This whole building must have been an absolute mess.

I glanced around, trying to work out my next move. I was at the end of the hallway, two doors were on the opposite wall before it opened out into a larger area. If Make Do was to be belived at least one of these doors had to have been the bathroom. My best guess was that I was in some kind of horribly dilapidated bungalow and that further down the hall was maybe a living area, I'd probably have better luck getting out of here going that way. I strode forwards and immediately stood in a bucket half full of rainwater, shattering the morning quiet with a combination splash-clang that echoed down the hall and a shrill (and not-at-all-fillyish) shriek from me.

The water was really cold, okay?

I recoiled and managed to knock the bucket over, spilling standing rainwater all over the floor. Not that it made to much of difference considering the state of the building. I huffed and flicked my forehoof, sending small spray of dark water flying. At least the sudden chill was enough to wake me up a little more.

Mess thoroughly made I trotted down the hallway, careful to avoid stepping on anything else. I paused at the end and peeked around the corner. It looked like a crudely throw together living room and kitchen, there was a table in the middle surrounded with old chairs, a counter of some kind on the back wall, out-of-place looking cabinets and appliances, and a long, long dead potted plant in a corner. Pushed off to the side was some very large machinery, seemingly partially disassembled and long dormant. As I expected by now, everything was in a varying state of disrepair. There was a large metal door on the wall opposite me, and another hallway around the corner along. Dull light filtered in through barredd frosted windows either side of the metal door. Natural light. That had to be an exit.

A single lightbulb hung over the middle of the room above the table, where Make Do was sat, slumped forward and head hung low, sleeping if the steady rise and fall of her chest was anything to go by. Honestly I was a bit surprised considering the racket I'd just made.

Despite what she'd said yesterday I didn't really want her to know I was up and about, this may be my best chance to get out of here. I might not get another shot. I steeled myself and slowly stepped forwards, keeping my hooffalls as quiet as I possibly could, breathing slowly and calmly.

I made it around the side of the table and was able to get a good look at this mysterious Make Do mare, my confidence bolstered by the fact that she seemed to be properly konked out. She was smaller than I was and very thin. Up close I could see freckles dotted her face, and there was a chunk missing from her right ear. It looked like an old wound, already healed. Her coat was speckled with dirt, looking like she needed a wash almost as badly as I did. A stream of dribble was running from her mouth and pooling on the tabletop. Grim.

No, I couldn't let myself get distracted, the door was right there and the longer I spent just staring at this mare the more likely she was to wake up. I had to move now before it was too late.

I shuffled the rest of the distance, consciously as light on my hooves as possible as I trekked across the uneven floor, constantly looking back at the sleeping unicorn to make sure I'd not disturbed her.

The door was large, rusty and dented, wide and suspended from rollers above that spanned the whole width of the room, it was like a sliding barn door. The handle was wrapped in well worn fabric for some reason. I wrapped a hoof around it and started pulling, but it didn't budge. Huffing, I sat on my haunches and grabbed it with both hooves, straining to pull it to the side. I grunted as I put my whole body into the effort, the door groaning and creaking but still not giving an inch.

"Don't touch my stuff!" Make Do barked, springing from her position and wielding a rusty knife in her magic field before blearily blinking a few times and seemingly registering what was happening. "Oh, Silver, it's you."

I was wide eyed, my hooves shooting up in the air and my breath getting caught in my throat, stock still like a frightened deer. I'd pratically jumped out of my skin and my heart was racing. My eyes flitted between her and the blade.

"Oh! Uh, sorry, I thought junkies had broken in again." She said, putting the knife down onto twh table with a light clatter. She stretched out like a cat, joints popping and clicking as she did. I slowly lowered my hooves and exhaled, relieved. "Door's locked, gotta keep said junkies out."

"Yes, of course." I faux-agreed. I knew what very little I'd seen didn't look good, but I didn't realise this part of town would be that rough.

"And that aside, I asked you to come find me, not run out on me. I don't think it's a good idea for you to be wondering about on your own out there, not on your own anyway."

"And why's that?" I frowned.

"Because I may not have been around before the war, but I can 100% guarantee you that things are going to be different from how you remember them out there."

"Oh for goodness sake, I told you last night-" I was cut off mid sentence by my own stomach, rumbling the loudest I'd ever heard. I could have sworn I felt it move inside me. My face flushed with embarrassment.

"Well, guess you haven't eaten for a while." Make Do sighed, grabbing the knife and walking over to one of the counters. Perched on top was a glass dome, which she lifted. "Hope you don't mind cake for breakfast, I don't have much else. As good a way as any to start the day, right?"

The room was filled with the smell of baked goods. The scents of fresh fruit and sugar danced over my nose as I gulped. I would have licked my lips if it wasn't so rude. I was really actually quite hungry, and the cake smelled incredible. "T-that sounds great, actually."

Make Do set two slices down on the table as I walked back over. Despite everything else in the building looking like it'd been dragged straight out of a landfill, the table and plates were clean, if a little worse for wear around the edges. Make Do had already stared eating. I gave my slice a tentative sniff, which did nothing but re-affirm that yes, I did really want to eat this cake. Nerves be damned, it smelled amazing. I picked it up in my hooves, and took a small bite.

I was expecting it to be good, but I wasn't expecting this. The strawberries were juicy and fresh, the sponge was perfectly moist and the icing was just the right amount of sweet and creamy. The flavours and textures played across my tongue. A second bite followed the first, and then a third. It was, to my memory, one of the nicest deserts I'd ever eaten.

"Tasty, right?" Make Do asked with a smirk, most of her own slice already eaten. "Guess you were hungry, huh?"

I nodded in response, still chewing. It's rude to talk with your mouth full.

"Good! Hope you like it, ingredients are really hard to come by." She said, finishing off the last morsels of the slice before wiping her mouth with her fetlock.

"You made this?" I asked between bites, quietly. Truth be told I was only trying to make polite small talk, trying to keep the situation pleasant. Although, in all honesty I was rather impressed that something of this quality could come out of a kitchen as makeshift as this. Having said that, the fact that is was made here might not have been the greatest thing.

"Yep! My own recipe!" She answered, puffing out her chest and looking very proud.

"It's good, really good."

"Thanks!" She said, leaning back down on the table. "I started baking a few years ago, it's a lot of fun, but it can be really difficult to find base ingredients that are safe to use."

"What do you mean, how far from a store are we?" I questioned, how hard could it really be? "What do you mean 'safe'?"

"Like I said, Silver, things are a lot different now." She answered, a steely look crossing her face for a second. "Did you think about what I said last night?"

"No, I didn't. It's a ridiculous notion." I rolled my eyes, taking another bite of cake.

The unicorn huffed at that and put a hoof on my shoulder. I paused my assault on the cake to look at her. "One mare to another, I don't think we're as different you think we are. I went through something kind of similar to what you're going to go through when you walk out the door, and it bucking sucks. I just want you to go into it at least a little prepared."

I snorted angrily. I'd had enough of this inane line of dialogue she was pushing, and I really didn't like this 'concerned' angle she was coming at me with. "Okay, yes, fantastic, I'm two centuries into the future because you said so, wonderful. Now hopefully I don't have to worry about my mortgage."

"I'm being serious, Silver."

"So am I! You can't honestly say something this insane and expect me to just take your word for it. Hell, I still don't even know why you brought me here! All I know right now is that you have weapons and you took data from a ministry, and frankly everything is a little bit scary. I don't know why you're doing this, I just want to go home."

I didn't enjoy going off like that, but I had to say something. She had all the power here and with the way she was talking to me all of this was starting to feel like she was trying to induct me to some kind of cult, or hold me willingly captive or something. Trying to induce some kind of Stockhorn Syndrome in me. Keep me here, with her. I didn't like that one bit.

"Fine, if you won't listen to me, I can prove it." She spoke, eyes pointed at the ceiling. "You're not gonna have a good time, but I can prove it."

"Of course you can." I said, giving her a sideways look. She looked oddly expressionless, almost like a poker face. She exhaled loudly through her nose and stood up, leaving the table and walking out of the kitchen into the hallway. I heard a door open and then not a lot more.

Had I upset her? I didn't really care to be honest. I always try my best to be civil but I think it's more than fair to say that I found myself in extraordinary circumstances. I finished off the last of my cake. It was really good, despite all of this. If she actually did bake this from scratch then that would probably be a much, much more productive use of her time.

A few minutes must have passed. I would've checked but the only clock I could see in the room wasn't moving. I was about to get up and start looking for another way out before I heard a door slam and saw Make Do reappear in the doorframe. She looked... stern. She was wearing all her equipment again, and I could see now that her jacket was covered in random old metal plates. Her gun was slung around her side, which I immediately fixated on. That could only be a bad thing.

"Wh-what are you d-doing?"

"Put this on." She threw a raggedy set of overalls at the table, it had thick strips of rubber sewn all across, almost like a kind of homemade barding. "I hope you're feeling okay enough for a walk."

"A walk? W-where?"

"Just a little trot downtown." She answered, fiddling with the gun.

I gulped. I didn't have a good feeling about this, she was acting a lot more detached now. "Why do I need to wear this?" I asked, prodding at it. It was well worn and the fabric was stiff and had a funny smell to it, and had more than a few holes and mystery stains spattered around.

"Because you don't have your own armor and it'd be very anticlimactic for you to live through a duplet attack just to taken out by a potshot from a bloatsprite."

"A-armour?"

"Yep." She said nonchalantly, adjusting a pair of goggles that were dangling around her neck. "Better get yourself ready quick, I think it might start raining again."

I slowly fumbled with the garment, struggling to get into it. It almost felt like it was fighting me, rejecting me from comfortably wearing it. I did manage to get all four limbs where they should be though, if not after an embarrassing amount of time. I pulled the zip up to a close, and even that resisted me, tight in all the wrong places and hard to move properly in.

"Ready? Follow me." Make Do made her way over to the metal door, her horn lighting up and pulling out a large key from her jacket, opening the lock and sliding the door to the side with ease. Natural light streamed in, dull as it may have been it was still brighter than inside. I stepped out and Make Do slammed the door closed behind us, locking it back up as she did. "Stick close to me, I talk, you listen, okay? Bugs have been getting to be a problem lately."

This place was a junkyard. A literal junkyard, I wasn't just being rude. Piles of rusted metal and worn out old wagons sat all around, glumly eroding away exposed to the elements. Stacks of cart wheels and coils of cables intermingled with old pipes and worn out appliances. Brown scruffs of shrubs poked up in between detritus, and loose rubbish spilled out onto the gravel path. Dead leaves twirled in the breeze as we trotted down the path. There were still puddles scattered across, the ground was soggy and mushy, kind of like walking on oatmeal. Probably.

It was chilly, chillier than it shoud have been for this time of year. The extra layer of the jumpsuit was appreciated but it wasn't making a huge difference. There was a strong breeze too, and the sky looked angry, threatening to open up any minute. It'd be another downpour from the looks of things. I hoped we'd be under shelter before then.

Make Do kicked the gate open, sending it crashing against the old brick wall separating this place from the street. She'd cantered ahead while I was taking in my surroundings, I trotted to catch her up. My leg was holding up well so far, the healing potion seemed to have done it's job, and thinking about it I probably didn't even need the bandages around my neck anymore. Medical magic was incredible, it really was.

What wasn't incredible was my location. Now that we were out in the open my fears about being in a bad part of town seemed almost comically understated. I may not have been a Baltimare native, but I had no idea that there were parts of this city that were this rough. The buildings that weren't already reduced to piles of rubble were burnt out. The road paving was spidered with cracks and potholes, totally torn up. A collection of abandoned carts had been pushed up against the outside wall of the junkyard, and graffiti and litter lined everything.

I didn't really know what to say. This almost looked like a slum, but slums had ponies living in them. As far as I could see, me and Make Do were the only ponies around. The street was devoid of life, and I couldn't see a single light on in any of the buildings. Everything was deathly quiet and empty. Even so, I kept my guard up, my ears on high alert. This looked like the kind of place someponh might vet mugged if they weren't careful.

"H-hey, where are we exactlyyyy?"

"Hm?" She answered, looking back but not stopping. "I think this area is called Midtown, not too many ponies come by anymore though. Unless they're looking for me."

This was Midtown? That was crazy, we were only a few miles out from my shop. How could things get so bad here? I never really came up this way, but all the parts lf town I did spend time in looked nothing like this. Even the part of town the Ministry lab was in, and that wasn't far from here at all. I knew the civic budget had been stretched because of the war, but surely it couldn't have been this bad? This place was as good as a ruin!

But here I was, looking at it with my own eyes, walking through it. No wonder there was no pony around, there was nowhere to live.

As we carried on I started wondering how easy it would be to sneak off now that we were out in the open. There was nothing really stopping me from running off. Well, except that the mare with the big gun leading me would probably hear my hooves on the hard floor galloping away. That and I didn't really have any where to run to or to hide, I didn't know this part of town and it's not like there was anypony else around to help me.

I shook my head. I'd carry on following her for now, but keep an eye out for any opportunities to get away. Something to duck behind or somepony to run to. I'm sure something would present itself soon.

We trotted over a crossroad. Things didn't look any better either side. Carts were strewn all over, signposts were sunbleached and unreadable, vegetation grew over buildings. An army checkpoint blockaded one of the crossings, and even that looked like it had seen far better days. Vines spewed out of the windows and nearly all the paint had been worn off of everything. No soldiers were in sight.

This was all wrong. Everything looked old. I could believe this borough falling into disrepair—even if this was extreme—but why on earth would the army abandon a post?

I could see up ahead that we were approaching a tunnel dug into a rocky outcropping, wild overgrown greenery sat either side of the road. Bizarrely, the mouth looked like it had been partially barricaded with old planks, leaving it only half open. Surely that had to be some kind of violation? It was obstructing the flow of traffic!

Make Do halted in her tracks as something rustled in the plants, I almost walked right into her rear end. She stared for a few seconds before snorting and carrying on. Strange mare.

The Unicorn cast a light spell as we squeezed around the wooden baricade and into the darkness. The inside of the tunnel smelled musty and there seemed to be more debris and trash inside than there was on the open road. Not too far from the mouth was a cart tipped over onto it's side, it's contents strewn across the ground. There was another baricade set up just a little bit past that, a big pile of sandbags a few hands tall, maybe a makeshift roadblock? There also seemed to be a weirdly high number of empty barrels all around, some of them looked like they'd been used for fires. This place had probably become a squat for homeless ponies, since it was pretty clear it had been a long time since any actual traffic had passed through. That didn't really make me feel too safe. Did that make me a bad pony? I knew the homeless weren't inherently bad, but that didn't make any of this any less weird and scary.

We continued in silence, only our hoofsteps echoing off the walls. We didn't see a single other pony in the tunnel, just more broken down old carts and piles of junk. As we rounded a corner the end of the tunnel came into view, lighting up the path ahead. "I hope you're prepared for this, Silver." Make Do said, breaking the quiet spell as her magic dissapated. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

I didn't reply. I was actually a little uneasy given the state of my surroundings. Everything just seemed like it was, for lack of a better word, old, decrepit, ruined. But being spellbound for an inordinate number of years was just preposterous, there had to be a reasonable explanation for all of this.

Right?

We stepped out into the light. Both sides of the road were densely lined with dead trees and shrubs. A single crow cawed somewhere in the distance. The road was full of debris with dozens of shopping carts strewn all over, crushed and deformed boxes and bottles littered the ground. The road continued on a shallow curve, a lone, rusted Barnyard Bargains sign rose above where the treeline obscured our path. The closer we got to the store, the more packed the road became with carts and trash, forcing us to weave through to carry on.

My ears flicked as the first drops of rain started to spit down. Very infrequent but definitely there. I think a raincoat would have been more useful that this 'armour'.

"I just want to say before we head up here that I did tell you." Make Do meekly spoke. "But I guess you just have to see it for yourself."

I tilted my head at her.

I followed Make Do around the bend, splitting off at a junction and heading up an on ramp to an elevated road, cutting over the buildings below but not quite cresting the tree canopy yet. It was a short walk even though we were trotting at a slower pace than earlier. Crumbling barriers flanked the roadway either side, presumably to stop anypony from falling off. The overpass curved, I would have said gracefully but I was quite worried by the fact that the concrete we were walking on seemed to already be in the process of disintegrating. I had to watch my step for holes, falling through was not on my agenda for today. After a little while the road straightened out and...

Oh.

Oh no.

The road carried on dead straight before it just ended, having collapsed. That gave us an unobstructed view ahead of Downtown Baltimare, maybe a couple of miles out. But it wasn't the Baltimare I knew. This wasn't the clean, shining gem of a coastal city that I called home. Even from this far away, even through the distant downpour that was drowning the urban sprawl, it wasn't hard to tell that it was all wrong.

A lot of the skyline was just gone. The Transequestria Tower looked to be missing a number of floors. The trade building was standing crooked, ready to fall apart at a moment's notice, many buildings looked to just be collapsed entirely. Actually a lot of downtown looked like it had been reduced to nothing but rubble, and everything was a sickly burnt grey. The shimmering glass skyscrapers and vibrant colourful streets were all gone, leaving only the sad, skeletal shell of a city behind. It wasn't just Downtown, the surrounding boroughs didn't look like they fared much better, with entire streets burnt and ruined. Just like Midtown was.

How could this happen‽ This wasn't an earthquake or tidal wave or wild weather, this was beyond a disaster! This was destruction on a scale I didn't know was possible. The whole place looked absolutely decimated. My shop, my home was in there somewhere. Oh Celestia, my home! My friends! My neighbors! My hind legs gave way as I took in the sight before me. I turned to Make Do, trying to ask how this happened, but I couldn't form the words. My mouth was slack, hung wide open, croaking. The sight of the ruined city had burned itself into my head, tearing me up. My insides felt like a void, like an indescribable weight dropping right through me.

"Balefire bomb." She said, seemingly knowing what I was thinking. "Megaspell smuggled in on a ship at the dock, I think. Something like that. Went off just by the University, it's still too dangerous to go near there for long."

I was numb, just staring ahead. I registered her words but I physically couldn't react.

"It was a big Zebra attack, megaspells got set off all over. Ended the war for everyone, just like that. Happened a few days into your experiment, if the logs are anything to go by." Make Do continued, sitting down next to me. "That was that. No more war. No more Equestria."

I didn't respond. I couldn't stop looking at the hideous scene in front of me, taking everything in. Even for seeing it, I couldn't believe the Zebra Empire could've actually ended it like this. It was too much to process. Detonating a balefire bomb in a population centre was unconscionable, it was inequine. The death and destruction caused, the toll, the suffering. I was left feeling hollow. I was left not feeling, there was a great absence of anything in me.

The rain started to patter down a bit heavier around us, the wind picking up.

"The uh, the changelog on your file was last updated about 64,000 days ago according to the data. The saved date makes that around 175 years and four months or so."

What was I supposed to do? How in Tartarus was I supposed to handle that information? 'Hey, you've been a statue for almost 200 years, also the world ended.' I was stuck, staring at the ruined city like it was a train crash happening in front of me. This was far and away beyond the worst thought I could conjure up comes true.

"I know this is a lot, but I don't think there was any way you'd have belived me without seeing. I tried to warn you." She said, standing up and slowly trotting away. I didn't look back at her, my gaze fixed on the destroyed city. "Come on, we should head back, the weather looks like it's going to get pretty horrible."

I was rooted to the spot, eyes forwards. I could hear Make Do walking away, but I didn't take any notice. I was transfixed, in shock.

"Silver?" She called back, probably noticing I hadn't joined her. "Let's go, we're gonna get soaked if we don't go now."

The wind was whipping up now, and lightning started to flash in the distance, beyond the city skyline but closing in quick. It cast a sick strobe over the ruins of my home. My mouth was working but I couldn't make a sound, I couldn't reply to Make Do, I couldn't whine or cry, just breathlessly mewl in disbelief.

"Lets move, it's gonna get bad out here." Make Do said, putting a hoof on my withers and pulling me back up. I put up no resistance, moving with the motion and standing back on all fours. I couldn't even think properly, dumbly staring at nothing in particular as I turned around, mind racing. "Stick close behind me, okay? The wind might have spooked some of the critters in the woods."

I was like a robot, dumbly following Make Do back to her home. In my state she could have been leading me anywhere and I'd have gone with her, like going through the motions. There was far too much going around my head to focus.

"Hey, hear that?"

I just couldn't believe it was all gone. I'd seen it with my own eyes, but I just couldn't come to terms with it. Even as we trundled back down the ramp I kept glancing back to see if anything had changed, to see if it was actually real. There had to be a trick or an illusion to it. There was no way an entire city could be destroyed like that. It had to be a lie. I needed it to be a lie. I needed it to be a lie because the alternative, if it was true-

"Let's duck down over there until I can work out what that is."

It had to be a lie, one big stunt. That had to be it, there was no way one bomb could destroy an entire city like that. It had to be some next level projection spell or something. Baltimare wasn't really destroyed. We'd get back to the shack, and my friends would be there and it will all have been a big joke. Everything would all be normal and I'd go back to my shop, and I'd tell Mrs. Chime about it next time she came in to browse and she'd feign shock and she'd gossip to all the other shopkeepers about it. I'd write a letter to mum and dad letting them know about the spell test and my time with this strange mare and the prank everypony pulled one me. Noite and Perfect would laugh at me and everything would be back to normal.

"Silver?"

An illusion. It had to be an illusion. This whole thing had to be one big elaborate hoax. Any minute now everypony would jump out and reveal that it'd been a big trick, and I'd be shocked and we'll all joke about it and go home. I just had to wait for-

"SILVER!" Make Do roared, gun in the air, snapping me back into reality.

CRACK
CRACK
CRACK

A cloud of gore burst up right in front of me, covering my chest and neck in blood as the mare blasted a group of grotesque pig-looking caricatures that had drawn near, far too close for comfort. At my hooves was the bleeding corpse of one of the creatures, flesh torn from the bullets. I started shaking, scared at how close these creatures had gotten to me, at how close bullets had just flown to me, of the angry looking unicorn with a shotgun. Two more of the things were lying close by, dead and bleeding. I suppressed the urge to vomit as best as I could. Make Do lowered her gun and came over to me, scowling.

"What are you doing‽" She shouted, now face to face with me. "I told you to stay behind me! Were you even listening? Radhogs are dangerous, they'll take your bucking leg off if you're not careful!"

I looked around, lost. These things bleeding on the floor around me, the armed unicorn, a killer, shouting at me, the abandoned wagons, the sandbag barricade. We'd walked all the way back through the tunnel and I hadn't even noticed. I could smell the blood on me.

"Y-you got me." I wheezed out. "Got me good."

"What?"

"If this is a joke, it isn't funny anymore."

"A joke?" Make Do said, anger giving way to confusion. "What joke? What are you-"

"P-please!" I yelped, desperately looking around for something, anything that would prove none of this was real. "It has to be a joke o-or an illusion, It has to be!"

A gnawing emptiness ate away at me from the inside. It had to be an illusion. I needed it to not be real. I needed it to not be real, because if it was real that meant no more home, no more friends, no more shop. No more Baltimare.

"It's not real." I muttered. "None of this is real. I'm on to it, you can drop the whole thing right now!" But nothing changed. It was still raining, the road was still ruined. The thing in front of me was still dead. Make Do was still looking at me bemused, like she wasn't in on the whole thing.

No one jumped out. The scene was still the same.

"This can't be happening." I whispered. "This can't be real. It's not real, it can't be real!"

There was no big reveal. No punchline. Only the drone of the wind and rain. My legs faltered. The implications hit me like a ton of bricks. There was no illusion. There was no more Baltimore. There was no more home. No more shop. No more customers, no more friends, no more neighbours. Everything was gone. It was just me, soaked in blood in the middle of a dead city.

This was really happening.

My mind swam, this was too much. I heaved and was sick all over my front hooves.

"Woah, woah!" Make Do exclaimed, steadying me. Everything was spinning. I looked up at her, and she looked at me with sympathetic eyes. "Easy there, you okay?"

"It really happened? The whole city?" I choked out. She nodded. "I-is everywhere like this?"

"Yeah, pretty much." She said with a sad smile.

We sat in the mouth of the tunnel for a moment. I stared ahead, vacantly. I don't know when I started crying but tears were streaming down my face, dripping off my chin. I backed up away from the mess, sunk down low and rolled onto my side, laying on the cold cracked tarmac. My insides were churning, I could feel a migrane coming on. If this was real everyone was gone. Mum and Dad, Perfect, Noite, Chocomel, Skipper. Everypony. Everypony I'd ever met. I'd never see any of them again.

"Everyone I know is dead." I stated. Make Do didn't respond.

I didn't even have a home anymore, nowhere to grieve, nowhere to think. Nothing. I had nothing and no one. I was alone on a dead world, and I didn't even get to say goodbye.

"I shouldn't be here." I mumbled to myself, quietly crying, sprawled out on the ground. "I should've gone with them."

"Don't talk like that." Make Do growled, audibly defensive for some reason. "You got saved, this is like a second chance!"

"'Second chance'. You said it yourself, no more Equestria." I spat, voice shaky, glowering at no pony in particular as my situation replayed itself in my head. "I wasn't saved, I was forgotten."

There was a moment of quiet, my sniffling and the sound of rainfall intermingled and echoed down the tunnel.

"I'm sorry." Make Do offered quietly.

"Why me?" I thought aloud. "Why am I here? I-I'd have been better off if the spell never ended." I drawled. "At least then I'd never know that things turned out like this. Dandelion has it good."

"Silver, please don't talk like that." Make Do said, trotting over to my side. "I'm sorry that you got dealt a bad hoof like this, but-"

"'Dealt a bad hoof'? A bad hoof‽" I said, anger rising as I pushed myself up to look her in the face. "This is beyond a bad hoof, Make Do. This is catastrophic, this is the worst hoof imaginable! T-t-t-there's no way it could possibly be worse! I-I-I've lost everything, e-everyone!"

I was looking her square in the eyes, furious, weeping. She was looking back at me almost expressionless, a glimmer of sadness in her eyes.

"S-so d-don't you dare tell me it's 'b-bad'." I said, jabbing a hoof into her chest. "Y-you couldn't possibly know what it's like. I-i-i-it's a disaster, i-it's horrifying, i-i-i-it's-"

I couldn't finish my sentence, I fully broke down. I sobbed and cried, all the sudden stress and trauma bleeding out of me. I wept, and ended up pressed against Make Do to stay upright as my energy and composure all but disappeared. My wailing echoed and bounced off the walls, eerily melting into the sound of the storm. I didn't pay much mind to it, just focusing on the severity of everything. Make Do herself was silent and stoic, but somepony to lean on was better than nopony at all.

Time passed, rain fell, nopony came.

I'm not sure how long I spent in that tunnel crying on the mare's shoulder, but after some time I'd reined myself back to just snivelling and husk of myself, hollowness returning. I sat quietly sniffing, looking out of the tunnel and off into the middle distance. My barrell ached, my eyes were burning and my throat was sore. I was a mess. I think I had a right to be a mess.

Make Do sighed and stood up, stretching out her legs. "We should go home." She said, trotting out into the rain. It was a downpour by this point, thunder and lighting only ramping up in intensity. Rainwater had started running into the tunnel like tiny rivers flowing down the gutters, intermingling with the blood and vomit to make the most godawful puddle.

I stood up, shaky and exhausted, ultimately empty. I resumed mindlessly following the Unicorn. As soon as I stepped outside my mane was plastered to my face and the jumpsuit was soaked through. The water was freezing. I slowly trotted forward, not thinking, just tailing Make Do back through the ruins of Midtown.

I did try and keep more aware of my surroundings as best as I could, though. I didn't want to get jumped by wild animals again. I seemed to be making a habit of that.

I wish this day had never happened. I wished I'd never signed on for the spell trial. I should've gone out with everypony else. I didn't belong here.

Make Do has joined the party.

New Perk: A Friend In Need - Is a friend indeed! Your endurance in increased by 1 point when accompanied by Make Do.

Chapter Three: Time Damage

Chapter Three: Time Damage

"So I make a brand new life, fashioned out of brand new strife."

"Come on, you can't just hide in there forever." Make Do huffed from the other side of the door.

When I was growing up in Trottingham, my dad always tried to put me off drinking. His father had problems with alcohol and it really made an impact on my dad when he was younger. He loathed drinking, and he went ballistic the first I came home late, tipsy. He really doubled down on the anti-drink thing for a while after that, but he got more lenient seeing that it didn't stop me anyway, and that I wasn't coming home next-level plastered every night.

From then on I enjoyed a drink every now and then. Maybe more often than 'every now and then', truth be told. I liked a drink with friends, with dinner, maybe one or two after work to unwind. Maybe more than one or two. Anyway, my point being that I was more used to getting through the day with a throbbing headache and feeling like the room was spinning more often than I was proud to admit.

This was one of those times.

As it turned out Make Do actually had a pretty extensive alcohol cabinet in her workshop, and for the time being she was more than happy to ply me with whatever I felt like having. I don't know if she felt bad for me or was just keeping me occupied, but either way I didn't care too much. The end result was that I'd spent the last couple of days locked in the "bedroom' (I use the term loosely) attempting to drown my sorrows. I like to think I usually handle my drink well, but this was more than I'd had in a very, very long while.

I had everything I wanted for the time being. I'd liberated a bottle of rum, some vodka and a couple of other bottles I was pretty sure were gin from the cabinet. Make Do had shown me where the bathroom was after we got back from our walk the other day, she'd used her forge to dry us off and I'd managed to I step into a bucket that it turned out was the oil filled Slack Tub she used for metal forging. That made quite a mess of my coat, I had to rinse myself off in the sink.

Make Do had been leaving food by the door for me. I hadn't really been eating all that much though.

"Leave me alone." I mumbled back. I wanted to be by myself, to just wallow, to drown my feelings.

"It's been days, Silver, this isn't healthy." She pled. "I brought you some water."

It was not a surprise that I currently felt like absolute death. My fragile emotional state aside, my head felt like it was about to implode and my stomach was gurgling uncomfortably, and I was still a little bit drunk. Maybe more than a little bit. Enough for the room to feel like it was rolling around when I turned my head away from the light coming under the door.

I groaned and burped up a little bit of sick, pulling the sheets over my head. Water was probably a good idea, actually. "F-fine just... just close the door when you leave."

"Thank you."

The door squeaked as she pushed it open. Even under the sheet I could see everything get brighter. I squeezed my eyes shut and groaned. I heard the clanking of glass and the mare humming to herself.

"You alive under there?"

"Barely." I croaked back. "I feel sick."

"I'm not surprised, considering the amount of empty bottles in here." She scolded. "Look, far be it from me to tell you how to deal with this, but this isn't good for you."

Blinding light flooded my sense as she pulled the sheet back. I squinted up at her, vision blurry. "Wow, you look terrible." She said, practically dripping tact. I looked up at her as my eyes adjusted, she was wearing a tatty pair of overalls, and had oil smeared all over her face.

"You're one to talk-hughhh!" I heaved, thankfully managing to keep my stomach contents down. This time.

"This is exactly what I'm saying, you can't just drink your problems away, and I really don't need to be cleaning your vomit off the floor. I like a drink as much as anypony else but I don't have any meds for liver cirrhosis."

"Noted." I groaned, wishing she'd just leave so I could wallow in peace.

"I know we don't really know each other, but I've been where you are, I know how it feels. There's better-"

"How could you possibly know how it feels?" I spat, cutting her off, venom rising in my voice. She didn't get to pull that card, I'd not have any faux-empathy from anypony. "Everyone I've ever met is dead, don't you dare try and tell me you know what I'm going through. Don't pretend you've been in my horseshoes."

Her face twisted, an awkward silence hung in the air for a moment as she stared at me, glowering.

"Silver." She said tersely. I could tell she was trying to push back her own anger, there was a glint of something in her eyes. "You are not the only pony in the wasteland to have lost shit."

I blinked at her, I can't really say I was expecting that response. I was torn. Part of me knew that I'd clearly touched on a nerve here, but part of me also didn't care. Whatever she'd been through before this didn't really concern me, I was the one going through it right now, I was the one who was going through indescribable, crushing, devastating loss right now. I'd literally been permanently removed from my own life. All I wanted was to be left to rot. Like by all rights I apparently had been doing in the booth for decades.

"I know things are shitty, I know you're feeling isolated right now, but I am trying my best to help." Her gaze softened as she spoke, she took on an almost apologetic tone. "I'm sorry I was the one who had to break this all to you, but I've been where you're at, I do know how it feels, okay? You can come to me to talk or cry or whatever."

She was right. Things were awful and I was feeling very isolated right now, and I don't think having somepony I barely knew offering help was going to do much. It was a nice gesture, don't get me wrong, but I didn't want this. I didn't want any of this.

"Sure." I breathed, glancing down to the floor. There were two old but clean looking glass bottles filled with crystal clear water sat by the bedframe.

"Look, I've got to go out on a job later, you're welcome to join me if you'd like? Get you out of the house, maybe take your mind off things for a while?"

"No, thanks. I think I've gotten a pretty good hold on taking my mind off things..." That was sort of a lie, it was excruciatingly difficult to think about anything else, but I really didn't want to meet any more dangerous wildlife. That and I'm not 100% sure seeing the city again wouldn't just break me down further. Life from a window was fine for now, even if there wasn't much to look at.

"Okay." She replied, ears falling a little. "Well, I'll be in the workshop for a bit until I head out, if you'll be alright on your own?"

I nodded in response, slowly so as to not aggravate my headache too much. She nodded back and turned and left, pulling the door closed behind her.

I set back down and closed my eyes, they still stung from all the weeping and sobbing of the last couple of days. My head was throbbing so badly it felt like some kind of worm was wriggling around in my skull. I cringed a little thinking of that. I didn't know of any creature out there that did that, but I'd already been introduced to a couple of hideous animals in this new world, so who knows.

'New World' probably wasn't the right term. It was the same world just, well, obliterated. Along with everyone and everything I ever cared about.

Why was I even here? How did I come out of that spell? It didn't seem like anypony knew I was there, so how come I woke up? Why me and not Dandelion? Why now? Somehow I didn't think I'd get answers anytime soon. Maybe Make Do would know. Probably not.

She was graciously allowing me to stay in her... home, I guess. Keeping me fed and watered and nice and tipsy. I wondered if she just felt sorry for me. Probably.

I licked my lips. My mouth was very dry and tasted like stale vodka and regurgitated cake. Unpleasant. I stuck a hoof out and rummaged around for the water she'd left. I took the lid off the bottle and had a long sip. Despite the appearance of the bottle it was cool and fresh, which was most welcome since I was absolutely parched.

I ended up chugging the whole bottle in one go, which may not have been good from the not-vomiting point of view, but I was just so thirsty. My mouth at least was feeling a little more normal now. I pressed the cold glass bottle to my forehead, the sensation soothing the pain. I was content to just be still for a while, to try and get my body to settle down.

I was content to just lie there empty headed for a while. The radio occasionally crackled static on and off but otherwise the only sound was my own breathing at the window rattling in the breeze. I managed to drift off to sleep for a short while until the muffled sounds of clanking and buzzing started reverberating down the hall. Probably a good thing, I realised that if I didn't go to the toilet now then I'd definitely wet the bed, and I did not need that on top of everything else. I begrudgingly rolled myself upright, body protesting. I was swaying a bit, still a little bit drunk and exhausted. I lowered myself off the bed and stumbled out the door, leaning on walls for support a lot of the way. Navigating a building was much harder when it felt like the place was tumbling around, especially so when you weren't very familiar with the layout.

It wasn't a long walk by any means, only down the hallway, but the state I was in meant it felt much longer. I stumbled through the door, kicking it closed behind me with a slam that was far louder than I'd anticipated. The bathroom was as grungy as the rest of the building, rust and decay built up all over. Saying that, it wasn't necessarily dirty, so much as it was worn. Everything here looked less than ideal, but at least it was a bathroom to use. I just hoped everything looked this way from age and not, ahem, usage.

I set about doing my business. To give the mare credit, Make Do had somehow managed to procure toilet paper from somewhere. Was it still being made? There had to be some kind of industry of some sort by now, right? I mean, according to what Make Do said it'd been almost 200 years since-

Nope! Not thinking about it. Too heavy, don't need that right now.

I finished up and went to wash my hooves in the sink. The water didn't look as clean as the bottle water from earlier. It smelled funny too, but I thought it'd be alright enough to wet my hooves, I wasn't planning on drinking it. I looked up as I turned the water off, catching my reflection in a wall mirror above the basin.

I did look terrible. My eyes were bloodshot, surrounded by dark bags. My mane was all messed up, sticking out in strange ways. And I was covered in dirt, hell, there was even still blood on my face from the other day. That was gross. Disgusting actually, almost enough to turn my stomach again. That wasn't me, how did I let myself get this bad already?

I like to think that I took pride in my appearance, generally at least. We all had lazy days of course, but I'd never gotten to this point before. I hardly even looked like myself. I was sure I looked a few shades paler, even.

I hadn't noticed it until now, maybe it was the musty sheets or general state of the building, but I absolutely stank. I needed a shower.

There was a shower in here. It looked like it'd been pieced together from scrap. Really it was little more than a nozzle over a washtub with a plastic tarp hung around it as a makeshift curtain and a hole in the bottom to drain the water. It was obviously improvised, but it was better than nothing. A good wash would probably help me feel more like a pony and less like a shambling zombie.

I clambered into the tub. I was very confused when I realised that the shower head was actually coming out of the ceiling. I looked around, but there were no obvious controls for it anywhere. I must've stood there looking around exasperated for a good few minutes. Poking around the nozzle itself did nothing. The pipe it was attached to just went straight up into the roof. I didn't know if I was being blind or just stupid, but I couldn't for the life of me figure it out. I sighed and left the tub again, setting off to find Make Do.

I'd not had to ask anypony how to use a shower since I was, what, five years old? Not since I was a filly. It was embarrassing, it made me look like I didn't know how to take care of myself.

Make Do said she'd be in the workshop. I'd been in there after our journey out the other day, we'd used the heat from the furnace to dry off. I could already tell based on the metallic screeching alone that going into the room wouldn't be a very pleasant experience in my condition. I'd already pinned my ears back before opening the door.

The room itself had become one big all-out sensory assault. The smell of burning and chemicals was thick in the air, the light was low and dim orange from the furnace. It was uncomfortably warm. Sparks and wails filled the air as a masked Make Do set about cutting up a large piece of metal with a scary looking power saw. I didn't know how long I could stand it for, I just needed to be in and out as quickly as possible.

"HEY!" I shouted from the doorway, voice croaky and strained. As expected there was no response, though to be fair my voice was by no means a fearsome roar at the moment. I grimaced and entered the room, hangover really not gelling with this environment.

"HEY!" I hoarsely yelled again, closer to the mare this time. Still no response from her, she was absolutely engrossed in her work. Or still couldn't hear me over the din, more likely. The dark visor of the mask probably didn't help either, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be able to see me through it. I wasn't convinced a welding mask was strictly necessary for what she was doing, but I was sure she'd know better than me.

I cautiously trotted closer. Being a silversmith I was used to tools like these but on a much smaller scale, admittedly their full-size counterparts were quite intimidating. The noise was like a constant drone by this point, obnoxiously loud and grating. I don't know how Make Do was managing to persist without any kind of ear protection.

"MAKE DO!" I prodded her withers with a hoof and she jumped in surprise, which given the fact she was holding a power tool, was absolutely terrifying.

"Celestia above, Silver!" The mare said, lifting her mask, saw revving down. "You almost gave me a heart attack! You trying to get me to cut you with this thing‽"

"I was shouting but you didn't hear me." I retorted, frowning and rubbing my temples. "I can't work your shower."

"The shower? Oh, yeah, I guess I didn't really think about an Earth pony using it..." She trailed off, looking into the middle distance. "I'll come start it up."

I followed her back to the bathroom. She pushed the door open and her horn lit up, turning a small valve on the pipe and allowing water to flow. "It rained a lot yesterday so there should be plenty of water. Might be chilly, though." She said idly. "Hmm, probably not convenient to need my help every time you want a shower."

She sat on her haunches, seemingly contemplating the shower. She was right in the door frame, so I was just stuck awkwardly standing around behind her.

"Ahem." I deliberately coughed.

"Huh?" The mare turned to face me, and I nodded at the shower. "Oh, right, sorry."

She turned and walked back down the hallway, muttering to herself about pipes. I walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. The room was noisy now, the sound of the constant spray of water onto the sheet metal tub creating an oddly percussive, ringing drone that drowned out the sound of my hooves and the creaks of the building. It wasn't quite loud enough to mute the industrial sounds of metalwork that had roared back into life, but it helped.

Make Do was right, it was chilly. It was practically freezing, so cold that I flinched getting in, all the air leaving my lungs. I was already shivering, but I really did need a wash. This wasn't my first cold shower and at the moment I wasn't too picky. I could see all the grime flowing off of me and down into the drain. That at least felt good. It was refreshing at least, I certainly felt more awake.

My teeth were chattering as I let the water flow through my mane, dislodging clumps of dirt and assorted crap that I was glad to do away with. I wondered how much of it, if any, was still clinging on from my time in the lab. How long had that beem dirtying me? I couldn't find any soap but there was at least a fairly clean looking sponge I could use to more thoroughly scrub my coat. It was awkward to try and clean my back, but I wasn't prepared to traipse through this building again, let alone dripping wet, and ask a mare I hardly knew to wash my back. I could manage. Sort of.

Maybe a cold shower was what I needed, it had at least snapped me more awake. Cleared my head. I was content, for a moment at least, to sit in the shower and let the frigid water run over me, now that I was more acclimatised to the temperature it was soothing, even.

I sat there with my eyes closed until the water stopped. I felt a little bad for using it all up, but I felt a lot better for it. I was vaguely aware that I'd need to dry off and warm myself up or risk getting a cold, but I couldn't really bring myself to move. I was still, not really thinking about anything particular, just being.

Just being, despite everything. Living, somehow. I'd queue jumped the end of the world. I made it when countless others didn't. That was a weight to carry, a huge weight. But still, logically there must have been survivors, the fact that Make Do was alive alone was proof that some ponies must have ridden out whatever happened and carried on living. That didn't change the fact that even if any of my friends or family did manage to cling on, I'd still never see them again. 175 years is a long time.

I pictured my friends and family. I hoped for their sake they'd either managed to get into one of those Stables or... or I just hoped that it was quick.

The building was quiet again. No metalwork, no creaking. Only the last drips of water falling into the tub.

I sniffled, tears bleeding into my already sopping wet fur. I didn't weep or wail, or scream my loss from the top of my lungs, I just didn't have it in me. I just sat in the damp, quietly crying, staring off into empty space. The sinking feeling only got worse. I started shivering again, from emotion or cold I don't know, probably both. I needed to dry myself off. I needed to just do something, hopefully I could take my mind off of this mess.

Shaky, I managed to rather ungracefully tumble out of the shower. Lethargically pawing around the room revealed a total lack of towels, for better or worse. I did need to dry myself, but if the towels were anything like the sheets on the bed then I'm sure I'd just be rubbing dirt back into my coat.

That would leave me dripping wet and cold for a while. I supposed I could go back and sit by the furnace again, but if Make Do was going to be in the workshop for a while then that idea was less than appealing. I looked back in the mirror again. I did look much cleaner, free from the layer of dirt I was coated in. I was still pale though, and still very tired looking. Almost haggard. My mane being damp and plastered to my face certainly didn't help.

Once again the abrasive sound of metal work roared to life from the workshop, which ruled out drying off in there. It was more percussive than grinding this time. A hammer, maybe? Either way it would still be insufferable to listen to up close.

I wasn't going to get any warmer just standing around. I shook myself off as best as I could, leaving me damp rather than soaked, if making my head a bit more worse for wear, and left the bathroom to find something I could wrap myself up in, leaving a trail of wet hoofprints behind me. There had to be something I could use.

I sat on the edge of the bed and broke the seal on the bottle, twisting off the lid and taking a sip. I didn't find anything to dry myself off properly, so I settled for a bottle of brandy to warm myself up from the inside. The liquid burned my throat on the way down, which was a welcome feeling. It reminded me of my student days, waking up after a party and downing the dorm's 'patented' hangover cure, we called it a Doctor's Order. Two parts vodka, two parts whiskey, one part lemon juice, one part carrot juice, hot sauce, orange zest, one egg and a shot of coffee. Frankly it was disgusting, but it seemed to work. A couple of those in the system and you were practically good as new. Minus the aftertaste. I wonder what Perfect Prescription would think knowing his idea had lived on this long?

The fondness of that memory quickly faded as I remembered that Perfect, along with everypony else I studied with, was long gone by now. I was the only pony alive who even know what the cocktail was. I sniffled and took another swig. It had started raining again outside. I pulled the sheet I up over my head, almost like a kind of cloak, idly dangling my hooves off the bed frame, sipping at the brandy and feeling it warm my core.

The radio had somehow crackled back to life at some point, quietly playing an old Sweetie Belle tune. I never did get the hype around her myself, I prefer my music a little less pop-y, but for the time being it was the best thing I had to try and stave off the loneliness. And I suppose it was good to know that there were actually other ponies out there besides Make Do and myself.

"Hello Baltimare! Glissando back again for your on-the-hour-every-hour news update!" Spoke the croaky voice of of the radio DJ. "Because here at Radio Bayside, we never sleep, ever!"

I took another sip and hoped that maybe the radio could be a pleasant distraction.

"We're able to confirm reports that the folks from Red Union have seized control of even more of the downtown area. In case you've forgotten, these guys aren't your everyday raiders or bandits, they're better equipped, better organised, they're known to use prisoners as slaves, and their radio station can't hold a candle to ours. My advice is to keep vigilant if you're heading downtown, especially around Sewer Side and Clutchtown, there are bound to be border skirmishes. Stay safe out there."

I scrunched my snout. That was not a pleasant distraction. Slaves, really? It was bad enough that the world was in this state, let alone the possibility of being captured and forced into servitude. That was enough to warrant another drink.

"But in good news, Merriweather Pavilion trading post have just announced the continuation of their caravan trade service north. Red Rein have conceded control of the area after the effort to control Downtown, meaning the route is now back open for business. If you've got anything that needs to make it to Hollow Shades, now's the time to do something about it."

Trade was a good sign of a working society, so that at least was a welcome piece of information. Really though, I would have hoped some progress had been made back to normality after so long.

Another sip.

Normality. That was the key. A sense of normality. Nothing here was normal for me, but it was normal for everypony else. In a way I suppose that I was experiencing some twisted form of culture shock. Would I get used to it? Would everything be better then?

"And finally we're reaching the time of year where our lovely patron, Miss Dorian Flash, is ramping up to announce one of her annual scavenger hunts. It's all for a good cause and we understand the prize will be the biggest to date. We'll be live with the announcement when it drops so don't touch that dial!"

I didn't really know what to make of that one way or the other. A scavenger hunt?

"That's about all for this hour, folks. Forecast is rain, rain, and just for a change, more rain. Coming up next the thrilling conclusion to The Beach Fillies And The Monster! Like you've not heard it a thousand times already. That's your reminder that our mailbox is always open for more music and shows."

The station transitioned into some kind of radio play, which I promptly ignored. I was thinking about the new information I'd acquired. Apparent factions, trade and, uh, scavenger hunts. What did ponies even do now? Make Do had a job, I wasn't quite sure what it was but she had one. If there was trade there had to be some kind of organised community. Do I even have any skills that are useful now? I could only hope that silver was still a commodity that ponies wanted, otherwise I'm left pretty much useless.

I'm an Earth pony. I suppose I could always go into farming...

I took another sip. The whole reason I moved out of Trottingham was to get away from farming. I really hoped it wouldn't come to that, otherwise my entire adult life, and also therefore my coincidencidental survival of the balefire, was meaningless.

I wondered what Dandelion did for work. How would she be fairing if our roles were reversed?

I wondered how Trottingham fared in the apocalypse. Make Do said pretty much everywhere was equally decimated, but Trottingham wasn't on the mainland, maybe it escaped the worst of it. Maybe my parents were spared...

Luna above I hoped so. I chose to think so. I knew I'd never see them again either way, but that stung less than the alternative.

Another sip.

The familiar warmth in my barrel was somewhat reassuring at least. Everything may have been effectively alien to me now, but alcohol? Alcohol never changes.

The grinding of the door roused me awake, my eyes flitting open. It was dark outside now, I wasn't sure exactly what time it was though. An empty bottle clanked to the floor as I shifted, rolling away.

Bumps and hoofsteps and jangling sounded down the hall. Presumably Make Do was back from whatever she was doing. I don't remember her leaving to be honest, but I wasn't really paying attention.

I shook my head. I had done myself no favours, I'd spent the whole day drinking and sleeping, and not it a fun way, in a depressing mopey way. I must have fallen asleep at a funny angle because my neck was killing me.

I sighed as the room slowly span. I was getting sick of these four walls, I'd had enough. I couldn't keep doing this to myself. I was sad, well sad is an understatement, but things wouldn't just magically get better from me hiding away in here forever. I didn't escape from that booth just to stay in here. I don't know if I was ready to go outside, but I ready to be somewhere else at least.

I stumbled my way out of bed and out the door, lazily trotting down the hall. Make Do was stood in the kitchen, half out of her outdoor stuff, unloading things from her saddlebags into the kitchen.

"Hey." I intoned, propping myself up in the doorway.

Oh, Silver! You're up?" Said Make Do, surprised.

"Yes." I replied, not moving from the spot.

"Uh, okay then." I heard her trotting around, followed by the clicking of a stove and the sound of ignition. "Well, I was going to make some dinner, if you want any."

"Dinner? What time is it?" I asked, confused.

"About seven thirty, I think." She replied. I heard the fridge open and the clanking of pans. "So, do you want any food or not?"

"Um, what are you making?" I asked. It was later than I thought, and food was probably a good idea. My stomach growled, when did I last eat?

"Fried Lugworm." Make Do stated in a very matter-of-fact way.

"Lugworm? We're eating bugs?" I queried, hoping I'd misheard her.

"Yes, and I take it that 'we're eating' means 'yes please I would like some food, thank you very much Make Do'." She said, the sound of oil in a pan filling the room.

"I guess so." I finished.

Lugworm? Ew. Weren't they the little bugs that live in sandy beaches? Was this really the best thing going? Can an equine stomach even process bugs? I don't think I necessarily wanted to find out either way.

"On second thought, you'd wouldn't happen to have anything less, uh, alive?" I ever so subtly asked.

"Hm? Oh, no, don't worry, it's been dead for a while." She replied, not missing a beat.

"Not what I meant." I deadpanned.

"Aw, come on, it's not that bad." She said, the sound of sizzling filling the room. "Besides, fresh veggies are hard work, Lugworm is cheap."

I didn't really have a case to argue against that, I really didn't know whether it was true or not. And I was far too polite to turn down a meal that had been made for me. I could only hope that it really wasn't 'that bad'. I have to say, the smell wasn't really doing a great job of convincing me otherwise.

Make Do hummed a little tune as she cooked. A familiar melody. A really familiar melody, actually.
"Is that... is that Thee Headcolts?"

"Yeah, yeah it is." She answered. "Dad's a big record collector."

Well, knock me sideways. The last thing I expected to ever hear again was a Trottingham band that were underground even back home. I loved them, actually. I smiled a small smile, maybe all was not lost.

I think that may have been more than I could say about the food, though.

No, that wasn't fair, I hadn't even tried yet, I was being too dour about it. It'd probably taste just fine, and it had been a long time since anypony had cooked for me. I was hardly in a position to complain, and I was still hungry, after all. I was by no means the best cook around, and at a time like this it really was nice to not have to worry about making meals.

I poked my head up and watched Make Do for a bit. She didn't seem to notice me, occupied with task of preparing the food. I think I had quite unfair to this mare over the last couple of days. She was being very accommodating, and while I still found her to be a bit strange, she hadn't really done anything worrying. In context. I had been plenty worried before, but I also didn't know what was going on then. Us meeting may have not been under the best circumstances, and I'm sure first impressions were terrible both ways, but she'd really been nothing but, well, nice to me. Even when I was being a bit obtuse. Also, there had been a big reduction in the amount of times she'd pointed a gun at me, which was an improvement.

Was it a bad thing if I was getting used to the presence of lethal weapons?

"Aaaaand perfect!" The mare declared, switching off the stove and plating the meal up, dishes and utensils clattering. She made her way over to the table, plates floating behind her, and gently placed the meal on the table.

To say it wasn't what I was expecting would be something of an understatement. I thought Lugworms were little earthworm like creatures that lived on the beach, or at least the ones in Trottingham were. This thing was different. Very different. It was big, about the size of a tin can. It was segmented like a worm, though. Was this only a section? Make Do had a very similar thing on her plate, and if I looked closely I could see where it had been cut. These Lugworms must be enormous!

It wasn't a very appetising looking, or smelling dish. Essentially looking like a ridged, beige cylinder dumped onto a chipped and discoloured plate. Crusty on the outside and soft in the middle. It smelled like sweaty clothes. Make Do was already digging in, apparently far too eager, if her attempts to fan her mouth were anything to go by. I poked at the unfamiliar food with a fork. It jiggled a little, which put me off more. I wasn't sure what I was expecting it to do, but it wasn't jiggle.

I mentally scolded myself. This was foalish, I wasn't a filly anymore, I shouldn't be putting off new foods, especially when they'd been generously prepared for me. I cut a piece off and jabbed it with a fork, tentatively raising it to my mouth, blowing gently to cool it down. I took a small bite and chewed.

It tasted as much like sweaty clothes as it smelled. Not that I knew what sweaty clothes tasted like of course, I'm a mare with standards- but that's besides the point. It was unpleasant. This was a problem, as it'd be unforgivably rude to turn down a freshly prepared meal in my opinion. But also I really, really didn't want to eat the whole thing.

"So, how are you holding up?" She asked inbetween bites. "Guess you felt like getting out of that room, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess." I answered, poking at my dinner. "I think I was getting a little bit stir crazy. Can shut the world away, but not feelings..."

"Want to talk about it?" She offered.

"Not really."

I stared at my plate for a while. I really didn't want to eat this, it was like congealed laundry water runoff.

"Well, how about you tell me about yourself?" Make Do piped up, stabbing another fork full of food.

"Huh?"

"You've been here like, three days, and I still don't really know anything about you. Well, beyond what I saw in your file." She explained, taking another swig. "So y'know, fill me in. Who is Silver Sterling?"

"I'm, uh, I'm nopony, really. Nopony special, I'm from Trottingham and I like making jewelry." I paused, it was my turn to drink. "That's it, really."

"Trottingham huh? So that's what that accent is! A new one on me, never met anypony from there, what's it like?" Make Do said, now leaning forward in apparent enthusiasm.

"W-well, it's nice, I suppose. Quaint, a lot of open country, and you're never very far from the coast. I moved away to come to university here, I've not been back in a few years. My family all still live over there-" I still hadn't gotten used to the idea that they would all be dead. Saying it out loud stung like nothing else, it was like it suddenly became real. "Lived. They all lived there."

I sighed and wished I had some more of that brandy or something. Anything that could dull that sting would have been good, even if it was only a little bit.

How long had it been since I'd seen any of them? I hadn't seen Mum or Dad since I visited after graduation, and that was a while ago now. Cousin Mint had come to visit me a couple of years ago, but that was only for a few days. I hadn't seen anypony from back home in ages, and I never would again.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't think I want to talk about this anymore." I meekly managed to say, staring down dejectedly at the floor.

The conversation died for a little bit again, awkward silence taking it's place.

"You know, Silver, I used to live in a Stable." Make Do started, quietly. My ears perked up at that.

"A Stable? So they worked?" I asked, genuinely curious. Thinking about it I knew ponies who'd managed to get spots in Stables. It wouldn't make everything alright, but knowing that at least some of my friends managed to escape instant sublimation by the hooves of the balefire eased my heart just a little bit. "Is that why you have a PipBuck?"

"I guess you could say that, well enough at least." She answered, a little non-committaly, but the idea that the Stables had done their job was amazing. "And yes, everypony got one when they were old enough."

"What was it like?" I prodded. I was genuinely curious. I'd seen the ads but I'd never actually gotten to see a Stable in the flesh. Er, concrete.

"It was like a little sealed village. Safe, abundant food and water, everypony looked out for everypony else." She smiled. "It wasn't perfect, but it was home. It was a nice place to grow up in. To live in."

That did sound nice, cosy almost. But really begged the question of why she left if that was the case. She paused for a moment, looking like she was collecting her thoughts. Finishing the final bite of her dinner, she cleared her throat and started again.

"See, the thing about Stables is that they have a lot of resources. Fresh food, purified water, power, you name it, it's there. We were pretty ignorant of the surface world, but the surface world was not ignorant of us."

I nodded.

"One day the whole Stable gets called into a meeting. The Overmare says that we'd revived contact from outside." She continued. "Our directive was to remain sealed until we got further instructions Stable-Tec, and we'd not heard anything ever. As far as we knew, everything topside was dead."

Her horn lit up and she grabbed a couple of Sparkle-Colas out of the fridge, placing one down in front of me.

"A lot of the meeting went over my head, I'd only just gotten my cutie mark at the time, but at the end of it the concensus was that we'd send a scouting party to investigate."

She popped the cap and too a long sip of her drink. Almost chugging it, even.

"Poor bastards didn't even make it out the door. A group of raiders had found our location, somehow, and they wanted what we had. They were waiting for us, the second the door opened, they attacked. Security couldn't hold them back."

I paused, looking at her with wide eyes.

"A lot of folks died, raiders shot anything that moved. Or worse. Maybe it was because I was small, maybe I was just lucky, but somehow I managed to slip past them all and escape out into the wastes. I don't know if anypony else made it out of there, but I like to think so." She finished, leaving me borderline speechless.

"That's... that's horrible! T-t-t-that's sick!" After hearing all that I was truly shocked, ponies should not kill ponies. How in Celestia's name could we have decended so far as a species‽ This was despicable, it was a betrayal of the core values of equinekind.

"Yeah, it is, but that's how it is in this bitch of a wasteland, sometimes. It's harsh and ponies can be savage. I'm over it, mostly. It was years ago now, and I'd never have met my Dad otherwise." She said, rolling a hoof. "But my point being we're not a million miles apart, Silver. The hurt never goes, but it gets easier, you just have to get through it. I made it, you can too."

I understood her sentiments, but my main takeaway from her saga was fear. Not only were we contending with rabid wildlife, apparently there were now roving gangs of murderous ponies out there too. What next, angry robots? Mutants? This 'wasteland' was starting to sound like a bad science fiction novel.

What good were the stables if it just made their occupants even more of a target? How many more lives could be taken? This was just further proof that I just wasn't made for these times.

And all that aside: "Wait, I'm confused, do you mean you 'met your dad'?"

"I don't know what happened to my actusl biological parents after I ran. I hope they're okay, wherever they are. Anyway, I ended up wandering the wastes alone for a couple of days after I escaped. Got trapped by a couple of bandits who thought they'd try and sell me off to slavers, hurt me pretty bad too. That's when my Dad found me. He must have just heard me crying and came to the rescue. I thought he was scary too at first, but he saved me from the creeps and took me in, taught me everything I know, and the rest kinda explains itself." She finished with a small smile.

"T-that's quite a story." I said, trying to sound neutral. This new world was sounding more and more vile by the minute. Attacking and selling a foal as a slave? Sickening.

"That's life." She proclaimed, standing up. I took it. "It has it's ups and downs, but it always carries on. It might take a while for you to adjust, but you'll get used to it eventually. Trust me, it's was as much of a shock for me leaving the Stable as it is for you."

I sat digesting her words. Maybe she was right, maybe we weren't as different as I first thought. Very different personalities yes, but it seemed that we were both victims of circumstance to some degree. Everything I was dealing with was very depressing, but her account just sounded outright horrific. At least I didn't have to actually see my loved ones die. Perhaps if I stuck with her for the time being I could get back on my hooves. At the very least she would have some idea of where I was coming from.

Part of me did actually feel better for that talk, in an odd way. I almost felt like if she could do it, then so could I. I was going to need time, time to adapt, and time to get over, well, everything, but I was a big mare. I'm sure I could do it. And this was a second chance. Maybe not the most ideal second chance, but it certainly beat the alternative.

I think. I hoped so, anyway.

The other part of me though was still stuck in a state of abject horror over her account. Did I really want a second chance if this was the world I was stuck in? It was, for lack of a better word, wrong. The Equestria I grew up in was innocent and carefree. This new Equestria just seemed dead and decaying, the life having left it long ago now. Everything was rot and violence.

What to do? What would anypony do in my position. I bet Noite would be able to handle herself, she always was great at adapting on the fly. Perfect would probably have an aneurysm just from seeing how dirty everything was.

I vacantly stared at my food, now tepid, still unappetising. I wonder what Make Do's dad is like? Was he anything like my dad?

I needed another drink.

My mind was uneasy. After the last few days I had been thinking about Dandelion a lot, how we'd left her behind, still petrified. I don't know what machination freed me and not her, but I was under no illusion that it was entirely luck of the draw, and the roles could so easily have been reversed. It had been a long, contemplative night, considering my place in the world now, trying to work out where I belonged.

I couldn't stay in this room forever, but where could I go, what could I do? I'd spent nearly all my time locked in here lamenting my loss, when I was the only one of anypony I knew lived. That in hindsight was incredibly selfish with me. I don't know if it was survivor's guilt or something but it felt like such a waste, even though I knew it wasn't any kind of they-died-so-I-might-live scenario at all. Like it wasn't fair to them, like somepony else would be more deserving. But it came down to me, there was no pony else. Well, except Dandelion, but I'm not too sure how much she counts right now. I should probably try and find out what could be done about her, not cool of me to let her situation fall by the wayside while I got plastered.

I'd also been struggling with the fact that I had been acting like a spoiled brat for most of the time I'd been here. Yes, I was dealing with a lot, but that was not really an excuse.

I couldn't do this anymore. It was starting to seem like waking up tired was becoming a habit of mine. Definitely my own fault, I suppose, but that didn't mean I had to be happy about it. How many more mornings clould I spend waking up nauseous and fatigued, just to spend the whole day getting to the same point again? Unpleasant enough to not want to get up at all, covered in mystery aches and pains, reeking of alcohol, feeling greasy and dirty.

It was early, daylight still breaking. It would probably have been a lovely sunrise if I could have seen it through the clouds. I don't think I'd seen a blue sky once since I'd left the lab.

I was struck by the relative quiet I found myself in today, though. The radio wasn't cracking a dusty old song, I couldn't hear any power tools from the other room, and while it was drizzly outside, it was hardly enough to fill the place with noise. It was odd, I'd only been here a few days, but more often than not it was a cacophony of sound. The break was more than welcome, but still weird.

I decided I'd try and make the most of the quiet and see if I could doze off for a little longer. My stomach had other ideas though, rumbling. I didn't finish my dinner last night, and I felt bad about it, but it was godawful. That left me on a basically empty stomach.

Begrudgingly, I got up and made my way to the kitchen, finding it bereft of life. Since it was so early I assumed Make Do was probably still asleep. That was a bit of a problem. I could hardly just help myself to her food, especially if—from what I inferred yesterday—ponies are willing kill over it. And especially since I didn't even finish my dinner last night. I'd told her I wasn't hungry to save face, I'd come across as a liar. I mean, I was lying, but that wasn't the point.

This would definitely be crossing a boundary. I may not have been the most gracious guest during my time here, but this would really be pushing it.

My stomach growled while I fought against myself. My belly was cramping, I don't think I'd ever been so hungry it'd hurt before.

I had to eat something.

Despite myself, I hovered over to the fridge and pulled the door open. There were a few bottles of water and Sparkle-Cola, and to my relief, there was also a small supply of ready to eat food. Nothing special, but it'd do the job. I grabbed some water, a couple of fresh carrots, and a box of Dandy Colt Acres Apples that really looked in rough shape, but the actual apples inside seemed good enough. Thank Celestia for preservatives, I guess. There were some other bits and pieces in the fridge too, but to be honest I couldn't actually tell what any of it was, so I thought it'd be best to leave it.

I managed to tripod walk to the table and dump everything I was carrying. I sat down and unscrewed the cap of the bottle, taking a long sip. After another hunger pang I moved on to the carrots, greedily chomping through them both, stems and all. I tore open the box of apples and took a bite of one, despite it's advanced age it was still crisp and juicy, somehow. I limited myself to just one apple, eating the whole box would just be greedy.

"You know, most ponies ask before raiding someone's fridge." Came a raspy, now familiar voice. I could see Make Do out of the corner of my eye, stood in the hallway door frame. I turned my head to face her, guilty. She didn't look particularly impressed.

I was frozen mid-bite. Caught in the act, how shameful. "I'm so sorry." I offered meekly. I was so embarrassed I hid my face behind my hooves.

"I don't mind much, maybe just like, ask me next time, okay?" She sighed, trotting over to the table and taking the seat opposite me. "Food doesn't grow on trees, y'know?" She stated, without a hint of irony, only seeming to cotton on to what she'd said after a few seconds.

"I-I'll replace what I took, I promise."

She rubbed her eyes and grunted. "I appreciate it, but you're going to need money for that." She yawned. She must have literally just woken up, she was wearing a very oversized pyjama shirt and she had a severe case of bedmane. Actually I think this was the first time I'd seen her without it tied up.

"I'm an Earth pony, I can help you grow your own." I posited. "If you have seeds... and a garden... or planter..."

"Seeds are hard to come by, but if we find any I might just take you up on that. Never been very greenfrogged myself." She yawned again and shook her head, mussing her mane. "I need a coffee, you want one?"

"Coffee? You have coffee?" Just the mention of the word perked me right up. I probably didn't deserve it, but Celestia a cup of coffee would probably fix me right about now.

She must have taken that as a 'yes please'. I watched as she pulled out a battered looking tin from under the counter and scooped some brown powder into two mugs. It was granulated only instant coffee, but it was coffee nonetheless. And that was most welcome indeed. She filled a pot with bottled water and put it on the stove to boil.

I was actually excited. This was like a little morning treat, a little bit of normality. I hadn't even actually said yes and she was brewing one up for me too.

It may have been rocky at the start, but she had taken me in, given me medical attention, the works. I'd been suspicious and cold in response. Not to say I don't think my behaviour was justified, given my sitiation I think fear was perfectly justified, but I had been less than pleasant, shall we say.

I'm sure she probably just felt bad for me, but it was appreciated either way.

"Hey, I um... I don't think I ever said it but thanks for taking me in." I announced. I had to say something, I hadn't really been my best self the last few days. "Thank you. I know it's probably not been easy having me crashing here."

"Oh, it's not been much trouble." She smirked. "You seem like you're doing a little better."

I didn't know how true that was, there was still this all consuming void in my heart that I wanted to fill with booze and a general sense of looming nihilistic depression, but I think actually reflecting on my situation a but had made that a bit less upfront, for now at least. Maybe I had compartmentalised things, given the slow but steady stream of new information I was getting. Given the last few days though, I wanted to be doing better.

"Maybe." I non-answered.

"Well, either way it's nice to see you more together." She smiled. "I was starting to worry that I'd only get to know drunk or hungover Silver."

I was quiet for a little bit as the water heated up. The gentle hiss of the burner underscored Make Do's humming.

"So, what's your plan? What's on the cards for Silver Sterling?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, what do you want to do?" She intoned, looking back over her shoulder. "Free from the lab, nothing to tie you down, you're a free mare on the wasteland!"

What did I want to do? I didn't even know what the options were, nor what lay beyond the city of Baltimare. Tartarus, I only knew a single pony! Too many options, not enough information. Or drive, really. But there had been one thing playing on my mind, I didn't know that it was urgent, but it did feel like something I had to do.

"I think I want to help Dandelion Burdock out of the spell."

I felt a certain kinship with her, even though I'd never really met her and didn't know anything about her. We were bound by circumstance though, the last two ponies from before the end of the world. I wanted to help her. It was probably selfish of me, but I also wanted somepony I could share this with, who really, to have that kind of camaraderie of shared despair. I think it would make things easier for us both. Especially me.

"Wow, okay. Like from the lab?" Make Do chirped. I nodded. "That's a bit of a tall order. Doable, I think, but might take some effort."

"It's okay, I can take my time. It's not like she's going to be going anywhere."

"Ha, true I guess." She hummed in thought for a moment. "Okay, well I can hold off delivering the data, we'll need that to find somepony who knows what they're talking about."

My ears perked up a little. "Are you sure? I know delivering it was sort of your job..."

"Well, that'll learn them for paying me in advance." She winked, sticking out her tounge. "Besides, this is probably the right thing to do. Celestia knows nopony would help her out otherwise. You're a good pony, Silver."

"Thank you." It was a relief to know that she was on board to help. It honestly felt like a weight off my shoulders knowing I wouldn't have to figure things out by myself.

"Don't mention it. Hey, I gotta go to the bathroom, mind keeping an eye on the water so it doesn't boil over?"

"Yeah, sure." I confirmed as she trotted off. I stood up and meandered over to the stove, staring at the water intently. I know the old adage about watched pots, but I was very eager for this coffee. I was hoping I could sort of will it into heating up faster. It didn't seem to be working though, it was only just starting to bubble.

I rested my head on a hoof and leaned on the counter. I watched the flame dance it's little dance under the pot, a pleasant shade of blue, absentmindedly tapping my other hoof on the countertop.

My attention was suddenly drawn to the sound of clanking from the front door, I whipped mynhead around just in time to see it slide wide open. Stood in the doorway was the single largest Griffon I'd ever seen. His head was a stark, snowy white, face marked with numerous scars and cuts. He had very broad shoulders and was mostly muscle, and looked to be wearing a very sturdy—if well worn—armoured vest. I'm pretty sure there were some bullet marks decorating the thing. His talons looked razor sharp, as did his beak, and he was looking straight at me with cold, steely eyes.

I froze up. Quite frankly, he was terrifying. Was he one of these 'raiders' Make Do had mentioned yesterday. Oh stars above, were we being attacked?

"W-who a-"

I was not afforded the luxury of being able to finish my sentence. Faster than I could blink the Griffon had blasted the distance between us and had grabbed me by the neck, crushing me in his forelegs as his bodyweight pinned me to the floor. I spluttered and choked out breaths as his talons came dangerously close to breaking the skin around my windpipe.

"Make Do, are you here? There's some kinda drunk vagrant in the kitchen." He bellowed, tightening his grip as I-

Hang on, 'Drunk vagrant'? How very dare he‽ I scoffed, flat out insulted. I am a mare of standards, not some filthy hobo! At least, I would have scoffed if I wasn't currently being held in a chokehold by this hulking behemoth of a Griffon. I was only just about managing to get air to my lungs as it was.

"Oh shit, she's a friend Dad!" I heard the toilet flush and frantic hoofsteps as she galloped back into the room. "It's okay, she's cool! Let her go, please?"

Dad? This was her dad? He looked like he could pull a tree out of the ground with his bare claws! I was under no illusion that if he wanted to he could've pulled my head clean off here and now, but luckilly for me he chose not to.

"If you say so." He muttered, releasing me. I fell to the floor, coughing, gasping for air, tears beading in the corner of my eyes. I held my neck, I could still feel the indents where his claws pressed into my skin. My throat stung.

Make Do helped me back up as he left to retrieve a giant duffel bag he'd discarded by the door. "Can never be too careful these days." He remarked as he walked off, slugging the bag over his back and disappearing down the hall, slamming a door closed.

"Sorry about him, he's been a little on edge lately. He'll be fine later, I promise." Make Do said. "You okay?"

"T-T-T-That's your dad?!" I politely enquired.

"Well he's definitely not my mom." She replied with a flat stare.

"B-but he's huge!"

"Aaaaand? He's still my dad." She said, perplexed. I took a breath and realised that him being the size of a bull didn't have anything to do with it at all. Him being an entirely different species however was certainly different.

I took a deep breath to collect myself and get my airway working again.

"Sorry, I just didn't expect your dad to be a Griffon. Like, at all." This was true. I also didn't expect her dad to be so incredibly terrifying, but I thought it'd probably be rude to say that out loud. At least I knew where Make Do got her dangerous streak from, though.

"It's fine, nopony ever does. I mean, who would, right?" She giggled as I got steady on my hooves. I swallowed, still feeling the tightness around my neck.

What am I supposed to do if even the 'friendly' guys here are cutthroat and terrifying?

"That really hurt." I groaned. I wasn't prepared for what just happened in the slightest. I'd just been assaulted by a juggernaut, after the last few days of relative uneventfully depression, this had set my heart off beating a million furlongs an hour again. "Is that normal?"

"He's still in soldier mode, it takes him a little bit to decompress. He's amazing really, I promise. We've had... problems here before is all."

"I'll... I'll take your word for it." I sighed, I was not looking forward to encountering him again any time soon. Maybe this was my sign to try going outside again.

I guess it sort of made sense. I remember Make Do mentioning junkies breaking in. It just seemed like an incredibly heavy hoofed response to me. Especially as I am very clearly not a junkie nor a drunken vagrant, thank you very much.

The sound of hissing cut through the room as the pot of water sat foaming and boiling over, drenching the stove top and sending steam billowing to the ceiling

"Sooo, coffee?" Make Do awkwardly smiled as she trotted over and turned the burner off, calming the excited water. "Might need to boil another pot."

"Of course."

Nothing is ever easy, it seems.

Chapter Four: Work Experience

Chapter Four: Work Experience

"Get yourself together or fall apart."

"It's pretty simple, point where you want to shoot and pull the trigger with your tongue. Line the sights up on the top at what you're trying to hit, the one on the end of the barrel should be in the middle of the two closer to you. The recoil is going to mess up your aim for the next shot, it's going to want to pull your head back and sideways, so try to counter it. You've got six chances to hit something before you need to reload. And on that subject-"

The Griffon pushed the last bullet into the gun, flipping it closed and presenting it to me in one of his giant claws.

"Let's see what you can do."

Gabek Goldwing. Make Do's adoptive dad. He was somehow even more imposing the second time around, and that's quite an achievement for someone who strangled me on our first meeting. He was some sort of paramilitary big shot from what I'd gathered, and he absolutely wore that wholeheartedly. Despite what Make Do had insisted otherwise, he was stern and short of temperament, deadly serious. The only time I'd seen him smile since he'd arrived was when he was around Make Do, as soon as he saw me he would become stony.

Over dinner a few days ago I'd expressed an interest in going outside. I was going to have to face it sooner or later, and frankly I was getting sick of the stale air in that room, plus Mr. Goldwing had been home for a few days at that point, and everytime I'd been in the same room as him I'd felt uneasy and unwelcome, I'd hoped that it would mean getting some time away from him. Such was not the case. Make Do had immediately set about pestering her dad to help adjust me to the wasteland. He had (very begrudgingly) agreed, which is how we ended up in this scenario. I don't think either of us were best pleased about it, especially not him when he'd learned I'd never actually fired a gun before. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit excited, though. I had always wanted to try shooting a gun. Just not in this kind of scenario.

Make Do herself had split off to go do something or other that apparently I wouldn't very best prepared for until I could actually use a gun. Something about dogs and chickens? If that was the case I wasn't sure I wanted to get involved anyway, but here we are. She had tried to cram in some kind of post-apocalyptic field guide before she left, abridged as it may have been. At least I knew what a Mutfruit was now, I guess. Mr. Goldwing had walked us back to the tunnel me and Make Do had walked through the other day. Thankfully though we stopped short of venturing all the way through, I still don't think I was quite ready to see the city again.

I took the pistol in my hooves. It was very similar to the one I found in the lab, if much cleaner. A revolver, I was told. I gave it a look over and then got it sat comfortably in my mouth. Or as comfortably as I could get it. Turns out holding a big lump of metal with your teeth is not fantastic!

"Don't point at anything you don't want to kill. Try and hit that barrel over there, you've got six tries. And remember what I said about recoil." He shone a torch down into the tunnel, illuminating an old metal barrel in the distance. My target, apparently.

I squinted down the sights, tounge poised around the trigger. I was pretty certain I had it all lined up. I gently pulled back on the-

BLAM!

Sweet Cadenza that was loud! My ears pinned back, but they were already ringing. I knew guns were loud, but this one was so much smaller than the monster that Make Do had in the lab, how was it still so deafening‽ The sound reverberated off the tunnel walls, and I was glad we were stood right by the mouth or I'd imagine it'd be much worse. The recoil wasn't actually as bad as I was expecting, but still came as something of a surprise.

"Hmf, not bad, but you only grazed it the rim. Try again."

I missed? I thought I had it all right. I got myself ready to fire again, lowring my head a little this time and keeping my ears folded preemptively. This had to be be a direct hit, I was sure.

BLAM!

"You got it that time. Carry on." The griffon spoke. I was feeling a bit more confident now, it wasn't actually as bad as I had been expecting. I could even see the bullet hole I'd made on the surface of the target barrel.

I repeated my motions, firing off each shot quicker than the last as I adjusted and got used to the weapon. The whole thing ended with a click, I'd used up all my bullets. I took the gun out of my mouth and turned to Mr. Goldwing, who was inspecting the barrel.

"Well, color me impressed, you managed to get your shots closer together than most rookies. You've got a good eye, Silver, you might be a natural." He said, with the slightest hint of a grin creeping onto his beak. I took the praise, but I still wasn't really sure if this was something I should be proud of being good at.

"That said, a barrel is a barrel, hitting something coming at you is a whole different can of worms. That, and being a crack shot means nothing if you're out of ammo." He passed me a box of bullets, the cardboard yellowed and deformed, print half rubbed off. "It can be tricky to reload with hooves. Pull back the little release tab there, the cylinder will open up."

I took the gun in my hooves and did as he said, and the spinny- cylinder, I guess, fell open.

"Now tip it back and tap the rod sticking out, that'll dislodge the old casings."

I pushed down on the rod, and the empty bullet casings fell to the ground with a clatter. I went to pick them up again, but was met with a quizzical look from Mr. Goldwing, so I stopped. It felt weird to just leave them though. Was it littering? I guess no one out here would really care, everything was in a pretty bad state anyway, I doubt these loose casings would be anypony's biggest concern.

"Now you just replace the bullets. Revolvers aren't the quickest thing to reload without a speed loader, if you manage to find one out there, but they're sturdy and reliable. Ammo is easy to find and they're a breeze to maintain. You're gonna see a lot of them out there." He explained as I fumbled around with the bullets, trying to slot them in to the cylinder. He was right, it was tricky. I did manage to get them all in, but it was a pretty clumsy experience. Bullets are very hard to grasp with hooves! I bet unicorns have a much easier time of this, and griffons. Mr. Goldwing made it look effortless with his talons.

Stupid catbirds and their weird claw-digit-things.

"Close the cylinder again and you're good to go." He finished.

It closed with a satisfying click. I couldn't resist the urge to spin the cylinder, I just had to give it a go. It whirred just like I hoped it would, I giggled a little bit. Special Agent Sterling, Police Squad! I mimed shooting down the tunnel. Mr. Goldwing didn't really see the fun in it though.

"If you're done, I'd like to carry on with this so I can get back to enjoying my time off." He said flatly. Spoilsport.

"Shrry." I just about managed to vocalise around the bit.

"And there's your second issue." He continued. "I'd suggest finding a battle saddle or a holster if you want to talk and not be totally defenceless. A lot of folk prefer to settle things without words, though. Take from that what you will."

That was a depressing thing to learn. When did the world get so cutthroat?

"That's pretty much the basics. You go set up some more targets so you can..." He trailed off as a light buzzing echoed down the tunnel, coming from up around the bend. Listing around the corner was a disgustingly large bug. Like, hideous. It was slimy and hairy, bulbous and swollen, far bigger than was reasonable, and in every sense of the word, gross. It was also probably about the size of my head, which made everything ten times worse. I grimaced as it buzzed in the air towards us lazily, either having not noticed us yet or not caring about our presence. Hopefully both.

"Hmph, I thought we cleared all those things out. Okay, new plan." Mr. Goldwing announced, slinging his rifle off his back. "You are going to take care of that before it becomes a problem for us." He pointed to the bug, nodding between me and it.

"Yhu hon hee-" I rolled my eyes and removed the gun from mouth. "You want me to... shoot it?"

"Well I'm sure as shit not asking you to make friends with it." He grunted, looking at me like I was stupid. "Yes, obviously, shoot it, kill it."

I looked at the thing as it dumbly struggled through the air. It was almost pathetic, I think I'd sort of feel sorry for it it wasn't so repulsive. It still seemed blissfully unaware that I standing her contemplating ending it's existence.

Could I kill it? It was just a bug, but I never liked killing bugs anyway, even when they weren't quite as... interesting. I didn't want to get on Mr. Goldwing's bad side, but was that really a good enough reason to kill a living creature? Granted I'd probably be doing it a mercy if it's appearance alone was anything to go by, it certainly didn't appear to be thriving, but I didn't think that was my call to make.

"Today, perhaps?" The griffon sighed, rapping his talons on the ground and looking through me.

Frowning, I pointed the gun at the creature, my head following it's bobbing movements. This felt wrong, but I told myself that it was only a bug. It looked like a warped parody of a parasprite, which were destructive enough as it was. Who knows what this thing would be capable of? If Mr. Goldwing wanted me to kill it, surely there was good reason. It would be no bad thing to end this creature's life. Right?

It still felt like a bad thing.

BLAM!

I felt the force of the recoil twist my head around, fighting against it. I had missed completely. The sound of the shot though had alerted the bug to our presence, and it was suddenly making a beeline towards us. No pun intended.

I panicked as it gurgled and hissed, buzzing closer and retaliating by launching something gooey back towards us, splatting on the ground between me and Mr. Goldwing. I yelped and squeezed my eyes closed, pulling on the trigger again.

BLAM!
BLAM!

I cracked an eye open when the buzzing stopped. A burst of green blood and chitin surrounded the bug as it writhed on the floor, twitching. My heart sank as I watched the last jolts of life leave it's body, writhing and flailing. I'd done that.

"You're going to have a rough time out here if you're hesitating that much over a bug." Mr. Goldwing scoffed. "One thing you need to drill into your head is this is survival of the fittest. This is life or death, got it. The winner is the one who acts first. Next time, it might not be just a bloatsprite. Don't start on the backpaw."

I nodded sheepishly. I disagreed with everything he'd just said on a fundamental level. It may have just been a bug, but it was still a living creature that had died by my hoof. It certainly didn't seem like a threat until I'd attacked it, only retaliating because it was provoked. To live on the edge, to be ready to kill anything at any time was an inequine way to live. I felt terrible as it was.

"Two." He continued, grabbing the gun and tearing it from my mouth. "Don't you EVER shoot without looking again." His frown bored into me, angrily staring into my soul. My teeth hurt from the sudden force but I didn't say anything. "What did I tell you not to point this at not even five minutes ago?"

"...not to point it at anything I don't want to kill."

"Don't point it at anything you don't want to kill! How do you know if you want something dead if you can't even fucking see? What if someone else had wandered down range? Or I'd stepped out?" He actually clipped me around the ear, which honestly left me a little bit shocked. "You are a fucking adult, act like it. If I ever see you shoot with your eyes closed again I'll treat you as a threat, understand?"

I gulped, looking back at him wide eyed, the beginnings of tears starting to form. He was scary, I'd never been looked at with such and ice-cold stare, such a piercing, threatening look. I couldn't believe he actually hit me! I had no doubt what him treating me as a threat would entail for me. "Y-yes."

"What? Louder!"

"Y-yes!" I yelped, borderline sniffling. He huffed and rolled his eyes.

"God, you're like little filly." He shook his head and gave me back the gun. "I don't know where you came from, but you need to toughen up. Quick. Get real, or you won't last long."

I held the pistol in my trembling hooves, staring at it so that I didn't have to look at him.

"Okay then, that can on top of those sandbags back there, that's your next target."

I whipped my head up at that. "W-w-we're still going?"

"Yes we're still going." He grunted. "My daughter, for whatever reason, seems intent on you accompanying her around, and I will not have her in the presence of a pony who's more likely to shoot her by accident than to hit her actual target. You're practising until I don't think you're a danger. So get practicing."

I had spent the better part of the day in that tunnel shooting. My ears were ruined, all sound was muffled and pillowy. If guns were as prevalent as Mr. Goldwing made it sound like they were then it was a wonder that everypony wasn't stone deaf. Similarly, my teeth were aching and my neck was none to happy either. I was glad to be done.

That time had been a constant barrage of posture corrections and aim adjustments and increasingly difficult commands from an increasingly detached Griffon. As they day went on he was less and less engaged, which was fine by me to be honest. We hadn't said much of anything to each other, it was mostly just him rattling off targets or telling me what I was doing wrong.

We'd walked back in silence. Thankfully I hadn't been asked to shoot anything else that was alive. At the end of it all he told me to keep the gun, said I'd need it more than him. I didn't have any pockets or anything, seeing as this pistol was now literally the only thing I owned, so I'd carried it all the way back in my mouth, keeping my tounge off the trigger as per his instructions. I was hoping to find myself some kind of jacket soon, pocket practicality aside it was chilly out here and getting caught in the rain was a very real problem. I don't think I'd seen a blue sky once since I got here.

The problem was that presumably I was going to need money to buy a jacket, and I guess bullets now too, unless I wanted to go scrounging around, digging through ruins for scraps. Was that what Make Do did for money? What was salvage and what was trash? Or thinking about it, where is the line between salvaging and grave robbing? These would be dead pony's things, after all. Grim.

Either way, this had implications for me. I was going to have to find out what ponies even did for money now, I had my doubts that trinkets and jewellery were still a viable source of income given the state of the world. I didn't really have any other transferable skills. I was an Earth pony, I could farm at a push, I guess, but I'd spent so much time and energy making sure I didn't have to be a farmer...

What did ponies even eat now anyway? Lungworm aside, I'd seen fresh carrots and apples in the fridge here but they was supplanted with stuff I straight up didn't recognise and old boxes of pre-apocalypse food. Thank Celestia for preservatives. I don't know if it was more impressive or worrying that ponies were still eating this stuff. Make Do had tried giving me a crash course in foragable food, but I think it was too much at once to all stick. Except Mutfurit, but only because the name was so funny.

I had been left to ponder in my room. Was it presumptuous to call it 'my' room? Mr. Goldwing had slung himself up in a hammock as soon as we got back, and I wasn't particularly eager to spend more of my time with him. I could hear him snoring from here, which was admittedly very dad-like. Dad-core. Make Do was still out on an errand, I wasn't too sure when she'd be back. She'd tuned the radio to a different station before she'd left, one with apparent survival tips, that was currently humming away in the background. I was sort of half paying attention to it as I flipped through a crusty old magazine and thought about the day. The DJ was saying something about landmines. I didn't even have it in me to be shocked that landmines were something ponies had to worry about on a regular basis now, I had been worn down and my eyes opened by force.

How did ponies live like this? How am I supposed to live like this? All this time since the lab and I still had absolutley no idea how things worked anymore. I idly turned a page, paper crumbling in my hooves. I knew how to shoot a gun now, I guess. The one nice thing Mr. Goldwing had said to me was that my aim was pretty decent for a beginner, so at least I had that going for me.

It had been decided that if I was going to help Dandelion, then I should learn how to take care of myself, which did make sense to be fair. As bad as thing may have been out here, it wasn't fair to leave her petrified, and knowing how hard of a time I was having getting used to all this I'd be much more helpful if I knew a little bit about living in the wasteland. Make Do may have kindly kept all the spell matrix data stuff on her PipBuck for me, but I still needed to find somepony who could understand it all. I couldn't, and despite being a Unicorn, Make Do had said she couldn't make much of it herself. Once I could handle myself a little bit I could start searching. I'd been told that most ponies in town were pretty friendly, but that wouldn't be the case for everypony out there, and it was better to be safe than sorry. That was very intimidating. And obviously the new fauna goes without mentioning. But having a goal was nice, it was a good distraction if nothing else. Something to work towards.

I flipped the page again. I wasn't really too interested in the magazine, but I didn't have much else to do. There was a stack of old and kinda moldy old magazines on a shelf by the kitchen. I had liberates a few from the top to pass the time, it made me feel like a I was in the waiting room for the dentist.

It suddenly crossed my mind that I'd not brushed my teeth since this whole mess began. That must have been over a week by now? I cautiously checked my breath. It was not good.

I made a mental note to find a toothbrush as soon as possible.

I was half-heartedly scanning an ancient edition of Gemfinder's Monthly. It had certainly seen better days, but, it was at least legible. I didn't really have any idea what made Make Do want to keep these cruddy old magazines anyway. The content was very dry, but I imagine I'd have found the issue of 'Terminal Topical' that it shared shelf space with a lot less engaging.

I sighed, re-reading the same paragraph over and over again, not taking anything in. I didn't work much with gemstones, and when I did it was never in any magical or functional capacity, just as pretty trinkets. Most of this kind of content was wasted on me. I knew what a faceted stone looked like, but a 'facet number arcane manifold' might as well have been Prench to me.

My ears swiveled as the front door rattled open, creaking and rattling, ultimately slamming back closed. "'Mmm backh!" Came Make Do's chipper, muffled voice. I pushed myself up and trotted out to meet her. The grunting bouncing through the building told me that Mr. Goldwing was up too. Make Do was in the doorway, closing a battered looking umbrella that I'm very sure she didn't have when we left, carrying a basket in her mouth. She was also now sporting a rather large bandage on her right hind leg, and it was clear that she was limping a bit as she walked to the table. Splats of burgundy blood stains seeped through the gauze, not enough to be life threatening or anything, but still concerning.

"Are you okay? What happened?" My ears fell flat against my head as I watched her hobble over to the table, placing the basket down. I knee she could take care of herself, and she was clearly well enough to be up and about, but I was still a little worried.

"I'm fine, pack of dogs just got the jump on me is all." She assured me, smiling. I noticed now that she was sparsely splattered with blood all over, and was dirtied with mud and sawdust. "We got the fence up though, and they didn't get to any of the chickens. Ms. Fowl patched me up, even gave me that umbrella for the trouble, she's so sweet."

"Sure you're okay, Mender?" Rumbled Mr. Goldwing right behind me. I almost jumped out of my coat, I hadn't heard him at all. "Let me take a look at it, I'll go get some disinfectant and fresh bandages." He slid past to get a better look at her leg. I wasn't expecting to see him worry, I'd not thought him capable of emotions other than annoyance.

"I'm honestly fine, Dad, we made sure it was okay." She rolled her eyes at him, but still smiled. "I'm not a little filly anymore, I know what I'm doing."

"I know, I know, but let an old man fuss over his daughter." He replied, ruffling her mane. It was honestly a little bit sweet seeing this otherwise stoic griffon being so fatherly despite himself. "I'm still going to get some clean bandages. Does Ms. Fowl need any help clearing out the dogs?"

"Nah, we got 'em all." She shook her head as he turned to leave, brushing past me again like I wasn't there. She looked at me as he left, injured leg held off the ground a little. "Well, I hope you like eggs because now we have a lot. A lot."

"Hhhow many?" I enquired. Make Do pulled the lid of the basket off, revealing it to be absolutely packed to the brim with eggs, to an almost comical degree. "That, um... that is a lot of eggs."

"Right?" She beamed, flicking on the stove. "We didn't know how to work out payment so we agreed on a gross. Did you know that's 144 eggs? I had no idea!"

I was at a loss as to how she was going to keep this many eggs unless we were literally going to have eggs for every meal, which in all fairness wasn't beyond the realm of possibilities. Rather than think about it too much I just took a seat at the table, content to just see what exactly she was going to do with these eggs as she floated out various pots and pans. She hobbled around on three legs for the most part, her bad leg quickly retracting after any minimal contact with the ground.

Wait this isn't right, she's hurt, the least I could do after everything she'd done for me was cook dinner this time.

"Why don't you sit down and let me cook tonight? Rest your leg up?"

"Really?" She seemed surprised, a little shocked even. "That'd be really nice, actually. Thanks, Silver!"

We swapped places, her a moving a bit more unsteady than me, and she flashed me a smile as she passed, bright and full of gratitude. I didn't think it was that big of a deal personally, but it was nice to know my efforts were appreciated.

"Alrighty then little miss mender, let's take a look at that leg." Rumbled Mr. Goldwing as he reappeared, tending to his now seated daughter. Was this even the same Griffon?

Okay, dinner. Eggs for dinner. What can I do? What egg based recipes have I got in me? I stood there in front of the stove, staring at the open flame burning away.

I sank internally. I didn't know any egg dishes.

I'm not a cook, okay? I always grabbed dinner out, I've never been good in the kitchen. I volunteered for this because it was the right thing to do, but now I didn't know what I was going to cook. I couldn't not do it now either. What was I supposed to do, make an injured pony get back up mid-bandage swap to cook me dinner?

Okay, I could do this, I just had to think of something. Simple, preferably. I'd seen Noite Cooke omelettes loads of times, she's a real whiz in the kitchen, I just had to remember what she did. How hard could it be? I won't claim to be an expert in Lusitano cuisine but I'm pretty sure any kind of omelette is essentially just eggs with things put in it, right? Eggs in a pan with toppings, surely I could pull that off?

Rifling through the cupboards I pulled out a big frying pan and sat it on top of the flame, heating it up. What else would I need? Eggs, obviously, and a spatula. And some other stuff to add in.

I pulled the fridge open and scanned the interior. There wasn't a whole lot in the way of veggies or herbs or anything, but also being totally honest didn't really know what I'd even be looking for anyway. There was a bundle of loose leaves tied up with a string, though. Parsley, maybe? I'm pretty sure Noite put parsley in her omelettes. I grabbed that and a pretty sizable onion as my ingredients.

Okay, plan, ingredients, utensis. Sorted. I could do this.

"I am so sorry."

As it turns out, I could not do it.

I was mortified. I couldn't look either of them in the face. Sat at each place on the table was a plate absolutely loaded with burnt scrambled egg, chunky onion and mint. 'Burnt' may even have been generous, it was somehow blackened and crips yet also underdone and runny at the same time. I don't know if I could have done a worse job if I had tried to.

"It's uh... Well, I'm sure it'll be fine... It's the thought thst counts." Make Do forced a smile as she poked at the food with a fork, prompting a chunk of it to crumble off. Mr. Goldwing was just staring at his plate. I rested my head in my hooves so I didn't have to watch them try to eat this mess.

The smell alone was bad enough, like somepony set fire to a bottle of shampoo in a kebab shop. I could hear the sound of cutlery, sounding like a saw through cardboard, but a touch squelchier. All I could do was cringe.

"It tastes... interesting." Make Do offered, very diplomatically.

"You can say it's bad. I know. I'm sorry."

"Don't know what you guys mean, this is good." Me. Goldwing butted in, sentence flanked by crunching and chewing. I peeked up to see him with his cheeks full, holding the whole 'omelette' in his talons like it was a sandwich, carbonated crumbs falling to the table. He actually genuinely seemed to be enjoying it, somehow.

"'Good'?"

"The texture is great, the mint offsets the onion, and it has a bitter edge to it from the burning." He explained between bites. "It's good."

I stared in disbelief as he practically demolished the abomination. Make Do looked on similarly, prodding at her own food. Could it actually be good?

Only one way to find out I suppose. Taking a knife and fork in hoof, I cut a chunk free and stabbed at it, lifting it to my face. It didn't look good, and it didn't smell nice, but neither did parmesan and that was pretty tasty. I took a bite.

It was godawful. Acrid on the tounge, dry yet somehow sloppy. I spat it back out onto my plate. Make Do had not gone in for more.

"Well if neither of you are eating, I'll have them." Mr. Goldwing said, eagerly piling our leftovers onto his now empty plate, apparently shedding his cool and aloof personality to excitedly shove food in his beak.

The griffon palette, it seems, is strange. Still, I got to crack a smile about it, even if I was still hungry.

"Nnf... H-hey Silv, great timing!" Make Do called as I walked into the kitchen. The Unicorn was propped up against the table and did not look good, pale and sweaty, her voice had a croaky edge to it.

"Goodness, are you okay?"

"Not really." She huffed, straining to keep her head up. "Ms. Fowl cleaned my bite, but I maybe sorta kinda forgot to disinfect it when I got home..."

"You forgot?" I chided, taking some of her weight to help her to stand more normally. "You told your dad it'd already been done!"

"I don't like it, okay? It stings and I'm usually fine without it and I'm an idiot? Happy?" She huffed before immediately softening. "Sorry, that wasn't fair, just my head is swimming right now."

"Come on, let's get you off your hooves." I breathed, letting her lean on my fully as we shuffled to her room. I'd never actually been in myself. It was bigger than mine and a lot messier. Aprons and jackets and goggles were strewn across the floor, a desk sat covered in paper, tools and fixings, and in the far corner was a small bed below a window frame with the curtains drawn, barely illuminating the room in a dull glow. Her shotgun was propped up against the wall beside the bed in a manner that didn't feel all too safe to me. I shuddered to imagine it falling over and going off...

Make Do flopped down onto the bed, deforming the matress and bouncing lightly, spreading herself out.

"Buck it's hot in here." She moaned, fanning herself.

"It's not really. I think you have a fever."

"Yeah, no shit- sorry, sorry, I just really feel like ass right now." She said, flopping a foreleg over her eyes. "Hey Silv, can you do me a favor?"

"What do you need?"

"You remember the Barnyard Bargains we went by when I took you to see the city? There's a preserve chest in there full of medicine. I need you to get me a purging potion so I can get over whatever this is. Please?"

"B-barnyard Bargains? You mean, like, a-alone?" I had thought she was going to ask me for a glass of water or some painkillers or something, not this. In theory this was a pretty reasonable request, but I hadn't been outside on my own yet. The idea alone was scary. What if I ran into something?

"Please, my dad'll kill me if he found out I didn't treat it properly!" She pled. "He's out at the moment, I need the potion before he gets back. Pretty please?"

"I-I don't know..."

"Look, dad said you're a pretty decent shot and those overalls from the other day are pretty alright protection if it makes you feel better." She stared up at me with big eyes, genuine worry painted across her face. "Please, I know you can do it, it's just a trip to the store and back."

She shivered slightly and curled herself up on top of the sheets. I wasn't a nurse by any stretch, but I'd hung out with Perfect enough to know that she did actually seem pretty ill and probably wouldn't get better on her own, infected wounds could kill. She groaned, sweat already starting to soak into the fabric around her.

I sighed, I had to do something. It was just popping to the shop after all, I'd done it thousands of times. Different circumstances, granted, but I shouldn't be this intimidated by the idea of going out alone. I'd gotten the gist of the area by now, I think. "Okay, fine, but if you get hurt again you're treating the cut properly, okay?" I scolded her, honestly from everything she's told me she should definitely know better.

"I know, I'm stupid." She breathed. "Not going through this again."

"What am I looking for?"

"The purging potion is a little green vial, there were a few left last time I checked. Top shelf, I think. The preserve chest is a huge white thing, looks like a fridge fused to the wall, it's behind the counter of the pharmacy."

"Do you want me to just grab them all?" I quizzed. It seemed silly to me to leave a load of medicine sitting out of the way.

"No, their matrix is volatile, they need to be kept in preservation environments and I don't know how to enchant something like that."

"Then why don't-"

"It's a part of the building, not an appliance. It can't be removed, believe me, I've tried."

Well, so much for that.

"The potion starts to degrade once you take it out of the chest, so you'll have to hurry home." She elaborated. "Big 'if', but if there are any healing potions left in the pharmacy grab them too, they're always handy."

"I'll uh, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you." She mewed, sounding weak and small. "Please don't tell my dad about this, okay?"

"Righto." I agreed. She seemed really hung up about her dad. "I don't suppose you've got anything over that those overalls at all? They're just a bit... snug."

"Okay, forget the overalls, take my jacket, it's armored if that makes you feel better."

Her jacket was spread out on the floor by her bed. I thought about picking it up, but I glanced back at the Unicorn first. She looked so small right now. I had assumed she was younger than me, but maybe I had underestimated just how young she was. To be so concerned about not letting her dad know about any of this, like a teenager breaking into the alcohol cabinet for the first time.

"I... don't think that'll fit me either."

"Shit, uh... buck, my dad probably has some spare plates in his closet, you can wear those. And grab those saddlebags too." She gesticulated somewhere towards the floor by the bed at a pile of clothes.

"I-is all this really necessary?" I asked as I dug through the heap, eventually finding a bag. Truth be told going to fetch armour was only making me feel worse about going out.

"Probably not, but better safe than sorry, right?" Make Do answered. I didn't have the heart to point out the irony in her statement. "Grab them anyway, can't hurt."

I ventured back out and into Mr. Goldwing's room. It was pretty barren, almost the opposite of Make Do's. The floor was clear, there was a neatly folded set of barding in the corner, some boxes of various ammunition, and the closet Make Do had directed me to. A hammock hung above my head, spanning the room from corner to corner. Even though he wasn't here, I still felt an oppressive aura upon entering, like the room itself was telling me he wouldn't want me poking around in here. Truth be told I didn't want to be poking around, this felt something like an invasion of privacy.

I swung the door open to reveal a very well organised wardrobe inside. Sets of barding and armour hung from a rail, along with what looked to be some kind of suit and a raincoat. All far too big for me though. Below was a shelf with various bits of metal with straps affixed. These must have been the plates Make Do meant. I fished out a few, long thin ones to tie to my legs and a big vest looking one that sat around my barrel. They were surprisingly tricky to put on—knots are difficult to tie with hooves—but I got there eventually. Some of it felt a little loose but I didn't think that I could do a better job. I did feel a lot heavier, though. Sturdy, I suppose, if not a bit too big for me. To top everything off I swung the bags over my back.

I went back to my room to grab my gun. I flipped the cylinder open to check it was loaded and then fwipped it back closed, giving it a satisfying spin since Mr. Goldwing wasn't around. I dumped a box of bullets into one side of the bag, just in case I needed them. I hoped I wouldn't.

This was strange, I felt like a knight, I clanked when I moved. I must have looked kind of imposing and scary in all this, but that was a cheque I wouldn't be able to cash.

Not that I'd have to, because I was just going to the shop, everything would be fine. Make Do wouldn't have asked me to go if she didn't think I could handle it, surely.

"Ehy 'hink mn 'ehddy." I said as best as I could with the gun in my mouth, noisily navigating back to the unicorn's room.

"We have got to find you a holster." She groaned. "Okay, purging potion, preserve chest in the pharmacy, got it?"

I nodded.

"Okay, good, thank you. Seriously, you're a life saver. Door's unlocked already, you got this! I'll just be here trying not to vomit."

She really didn't look in a good way. Hopefully I could do what I needed to do and get out.

I took a deep breath and prepared myself. I remembered the way there, I just had to find the chest and get back home. Easy peasy.

The front door rattled along it's railings, opening up to the slightly damp, chilly air that seemed to be permanently hovering around town. I was outside, by myself.

I trotted through the scrap piles and to the gate, leaving the safety of Make Do's house properly. I was out in the open now, fully exposed. In the few times we had been out I'd never encountered much of anything around here, save for a Spritebot once, but now I didn't have anypony to back me up I felt on edge already. I looked up and down the road, nothing had changed, same old piles of rubble. Steeling myself, I stepped out and started walking. Nothing bad had happened out here as far as I knew, but I was clenching my gun for dear life, constantly checking behind me. Just in case. After the whole ordeal in the lab I was doing my best to make sure that nothing could get the jump on me.

Part of me couldn't believe I was doing this. Another part couldn't believe that it was that big of a deal. A third, smaller part was outraged that I was doing this just to save Make Do getting scolded. A fourth part reasonably leveled that she was sick and helping was the right thing to do.

She did look really sick. I don't think I could've sat this out if I wanted to, she already seemed worse when I left than when I helped her to bed, that was pretty worrying. Infections don't mess around, Perfect had told me about somepony who lost a leg to an infected paper cut once. Scary stuff.

But that wasn't worth thinking about now, all I had to do was bring back the potion, simple.

I cantered a course around the old carts strewn across the paving and past the blockade. I could see the tunnel now, drawing closer to the dark and foreboding mouth. Hopefully there'd be no enormous creepy crawlies hiding in there this time. I let my tounge sit across the trigger, just in case.

The tunnel seemed to be funneling a wind, my mane whipping in the gust as I got closer, I had to squint to stop it drying out my eyes. I stopped just short of entering to scan ahead. It was dark but I could see all the junk barricades and cans I'd practiced shooting at the other day. And my old bullet casings. And the lifeless, chitinous form of the 'bloatsprite' I'd encountered. I eyed it for a moment, just to make sure it wasn't going anywhere, before staring further down to try and see if any of it's friends had decided to join it. But the path ahead was thankfully void of life, and I couldn't hear any buzzing or chittering up ahead.

I gingerly crossed the threshold and ventured into the darkness, by hoofsteps almost drowned out by the rushing wind. I weaved around the debris, stepping over the brass shells and green blood on the floor. I should have brought a torch.

It really wasn't long before I saw the literal light at the end of the tunnel though. Turning the corner and walking back out into daylight, the wind easing up a little but still very much present.

I hadn't been back this far yet, not since that first day. Flanked by dead forests either side of the road and the path ahead littered with rusted out shopping carts. Birds flew overhead, branches rustled, the Barnyard Bargains sign groaned and swayed gently above the treeline. Thankfully I couldn't see the city from here, I really didn't need that today.

Moving forward, I followed the road through carts and boxes and junk up until I split off the off-ramp into the entrance, heading on up to the cart park. I probably shouldn't have been surprised by the amount of wagons that were still here, if there was ever a place for them it would be here after all. Closer to the building itself I could see what looked to be the burnt out wrecks of some sky carriages.

As I got closer I saw something that stopped me dead in my tracks. There were still bodies in these sky carriages. Charred, blackened skeletons were strewn all around the insides, visible through the windows and gaps in the incinerated metalwork, weather worn and broken, but still present. I almost dropped my gun. By now I knew things were bad, but I would never in my wildest dreams and thought it could be this bad. Literal corpses left to rot out in the open. These were ponies with lives and families and dreams left festering out in the open for who knows how long. Had they been here since the megaspell went off? It was either that, or this was more recent and I didn't really want to think about that.

To think that not once had anypony thought to properly bury these bodies was tremendously sad. Surely somepony could have done something for these poor souls? Empty sockets looked back at me, skulls silently screaming, trapped forever in what ever horror befell these ponies. All just... left out here.

It wasn't like nopony had been here before, that these ponies had been long lost, there were signs of activity everywhere. A pile of clothes by the store entrance, open tin cans and boxes, desire lines worn into the ground, hells, it even looked like parts of the sky carriages had been cut away and salvaged! Ponies had been here, just none of them cared enough to do the right thing. I would have done something myself, but I didn’t have the time, this was a lot of bodies and I was just one pony. I shook my head and thought to myself that this was different, that if I had the time I'd certainly give these bodies a proper send off. If I could bare to touch them. Could I? I'd never even seen a dead body before, let alone a pile of incinerated corpses.

I was getting caught up in myself again.

I spared a solemn moment and collected myself, a moment of silence for these poor souls. I could only hope whatever happened was quick. If I could do something it would have to wait for now at least.

Now feeling sort of hollow on the inside I slowly carried on. The doors to the shop weren't wide open per se, one set of double doors was chained shut and the other was ajar, swaying slightly in the breeze. The facade of the building was crumbling, washed out and covered in dead vines crawling their way around the walls. The glass was all long shattered, though it looked like some attempt was made to board the windows over at some point. I focused on moving ahead, snorting as a edged closer to the open door. I gently nudged it, it swung freely, slowly revealing the interior of the building.

I cantered over the debris laden floor, trying my best not to trip. The first thing I noticed was that this place had clearly been decimated over the years. It made perfect sense that the first thing ponies might do after a catastrophe was to go and gather food and resources, but it was still weird being in a shop that was so empty. Almost uncanny. Hopefully that wasn't a sign of things to come in the pharmacy. Daylight streamed in through big holes in the ceiling, spotlighting rows and rows of barren shelves. The building creaked, dust fell from the roof, rusted metal rafters hanging down. This place was a deathtrap!

Ideally I wouldn't be spending any longer in here than necessary. The signs over the aisles had long since funded illegiblity, I briefly entertained the thought of jumping to try and see over the shelves so that I might be able to see where I wanted to go, but decided it'd be much less silly to just walk through the place.

Rubble crunched underhoof as I set forward. Going wasn't as fast as I'd have liked given just how uneven the floor was after decades of abuse, especially since the piles of dead leaves everywhere meant I couldn't really see what I was stepping on. Stubborn weeds poked up through cracks, I swished my tail to keep rogue mosquitos away from me. I ducked under cobwebs and bobbed around fallen shelves that blocked the way. There were somehow less shopping carts in here than outside, wasn't sure what that was all about. Judging by the chirping there were birds nested in the roof. I kept a wary eye out for them, I could do without being swarmed again.

Once I'd gotten between rows I finally caught a glimpse of a giant 'PHARMACY' sign proudly displayed on the far wall, right at the back. Proudly may have been an exaggeration, the letters looked to be wood, and were rotten and peeling. One had fallen off entirely. 'Harmacy'. That did kind of get a chuckle out of me at least.

Something rustled behind me. I whipped around faster than I'd ever moved before, if I was a cat I'd have had my hackles up. I turned back just in time to see a mangey looking fox running away from me down what used to be a produce aisle. I tracked it as it scampered out of sight, kicking up dust under paw, only then exhaling.

Maybe I was just the slightest tad bit tense. I didn't realise how tight I was gripping the gun until my teeth started hurting. My heart was pounding. I needed to chill out, I was here now and nothing was trying to kill me. I forced myself to relax a little, loosening my tighted muscles, deflexing, immediately feeling a bit lighter for it.

I turned back and carried on towards the pharmacy, carrying on through the shop. One shelf in particular was bent out of shape and splattered with blood. So much for chilling out.

A more urgent canter had me reaching my desitnation, finding the counter shuttered. A closed wooden door on the side of the kiosk showed semi-regular signs of usage, the ground where it swung was clear. I guessed this must have been some kind of communal medical supply for locals now, not that I'd seen anypony else yet. The walls were scrawled with spray paint.

"TAKE ONLY WHAT YOU NEED,
DON'T BE A PLOTHEAD!"

Colourful decor I suppose. Kind of confirmed my theory, too. I pulled the door open and slipped inside.

I definitely should have brought a torch. There was no light at all in here, save what precious little weakly filtered around me through the now open door way.

My eyes adjusted as I cautiously stepped forwards. Long ransacked tills sat rusted open and receipt papered was thrown around everywhere. It was only a small space so it wasn't hard to miss the chest I was looking for. The thing was huge, the whole length of the room and a bit taller than I was, I could hear the magic imbued in it gently tinkling away. It was pretty amazing that it was still going after all this time. I couldn't see all too well, but the thing looked practically new. Well, comparatively new I suppose. But still, it was in great shape for something that had presumably been running without maintenence for almost two centuries.

ARCANE PRESERVATION CHEST
PROUDLY PRODUCED BY TIMELESS INDUSTRIES

There was some more text underneith that I couldn't quite read. I yanked on the handle, pulling the door open. I had to take a step back to give it space. The tinkling stopped and a little gem inside lit up, illuminating the space. When Make Do said it that it would look like a fridge I didn't expect it to just be, for all intents and purposes, a magic fridge.

The light did actually illuminate the rest of the room just a little bit. Enough for me to see the mold on the walls. Probably best to get out of here quickly.

The inside of the chest was sparse, but not empty just yet. There were some boxes of presumably pills, a smattering of syringes, a bag of mystery liquid, some squezey toothpaste-looking tubes, and on the top shelf was a few small bottles organised by the colour of the fluid contained within.

Little green vial, top left. That had to be the one I needed. The glass clanked as I stretched up to reach it, securing it in my bag.

Well, I suppose that was that. Easy enough in the end. I smiled and kicked the door chest door closed, the contents rattling as it thudded shut. Go on, me! I know it wasn't much, but I'd done something by myself in this new scary world! That counted for something, to me at least. One small step and all that.

Though maybe I should actually get this medicine back to Make Do before I congratulated myself on a job well done.

I took my sense of self accomplishment and strutted out of the room, back into the relative wide open of the shop floor. Home stretch now, I just had to get out of this deathtrap, not think about the bodies outside too much, and get back to the junkyard.

Trotting back over the crumbly, uneven floor as quickly as I could, I ended up back in the middle of the store pretty quickly, zigzagging to find an unblocked aisle to go down. I was almost on the home straight when I heard chittering behind me. Hissing. Loud.

I debated not looking back for a split second before common sense decided I should probably actually see what was going on.

The wet, half-rotted remains of what I think used to be a fox were splayed out on the ground. At least the back half was, I couldn't actually see the front half under the crawling mass of horrifically large cockroaches. Some of them had to be the size of my head! And they were looking at me.

You had better belived that I'd never moved as fast in my life as when I saw the first one's wings open up. Nope. No way, I am not dealing with an army of giant killer roaches. Not today. I'm not ashamed to say I bolted, galloping an stumbling away from the oversized insects as fast as I could. There were too many of them to fight anyway, and I could live the rest of my life happy if I was never that close to another one again.

The worst thing was that I could hear them buzzing after me, clumsily flapping against the shelves, greasy gosammer wings beating the air into submission. I couldn't tell if they were gaining on me or not, there were enough of them that the sound all blended together, and the noise of crunchy gravel and rubbish under hoof certainly didn't help either.

I could see daylight streaming through the ope front door. I just needed to get out and I could lose them.

Unfortunately for me I lost my footing on the last stretch, sending me arse over head and tumbling outside, my hind slamming the door wide open and leaving me on my back on the dirty old paving slabs. I didn't really have time to process all of this though, the last thing I needed was any of those things getting close enough to touch me. I scrambled to my hooves and took a hard right away from the entrance.

I looked back to see at least a dozen cockroaches explode out of the doorway, careening in every direction. I don't think they were particularly good trackers as most of them sailed past me entirely, even though I was huffing pretty loudly.

A couple of them did come for me, though. They were even more disgusting in the light, shiny brown chitin encrusted wity old blood and dust, segmented limbs reaching out towards me, iridescent wings blurring away. Those horrible bug eyes, and I don't even want to think about it's mouth.

I squeezed the trigger on my pistol, tearing right through the first one's head and sending it falling to the floor in spray of viscous fluid and chunks.

Two more bullets tore off the second one's antennas and some of it's wings, leaving it spiraling and flailing around like a crab on it's back. I decided it best to get away before any more decided to come at me. I broke into a canter, following the treeline back to the road.

It wasn't until I was out of the parking area that I stopped to catch my breath, realising how tender my back and butt was from the fall. My hooves were dotted with flecks of dirt and little green splatters of bug blood, which was a bit grim. The sound of wings buzzing and chittering was still too loud for comfort so I picked up the pace until I got to the main road. Fortunately for me it seemed like the rest of the cockroaches weren't as inclined to follow me. Maybe the gunshots scared them? I certainly hoped so.

I chagrinned as I carried on. My butt hurt. Not enough to be debilitating, but enough. At least my heart rate was going down though, I was not expecting to be chased like that. To... kill.

I know they were just bugs, and they were after me, and they were scary and I'm pretty sure they were eating that corpse, but I still felt weird about it. Who was I to decide what lives and what dies? I was probably getting too philosophical about it, but it was truly a struggle I had never in my life thought I'd be involved in.

Maybe it wasn't such a big deal, I was overreacting. It's not like I'd shot a pony or anything, I don't think I could ever bring myself to do that. And it's not like I hadn't accidentally killed bugs before. Yes, the intent wasn't there and they weren't so enormous, but it wasn't that different, right? And I dread to think what might have happened if I didn't fight back. The thought of being swarmed by those things sent a shiver up my back. Even still, I just couldn't shake this bad feeling over the whole ordeal. Sinking, I suppose, like I'd done something wrong.

I rolled my hips mid stride to see if that would ease the pain at all, but it didn't really help.

Well, everything else aside, I had gotten the potion and I'd done it by myself. It was still scary being alone out here, but this had to be a step in the right direction.

Huffing, I trotted down the road and back towards the junkyard. I still had a sick unicorm to help.

Chapter Five: The Big Payback

Chapter Five: The Big Payback

"Daddy's girl's got some brand new cash, you're messing with reds, we're gonna kick your ass."

"-reported exodus of zombies out of the Z Quarter and into surrounding areas, so be wary out there, we wouldn't want any of you dear listeners getting hurt! And finally, the Super Seal infestation around the old Merriweather dock has been taken care of by the fine folks from Eclipse, with creative use of nets and flamethrowers. The results have been described as 'delicious'."

Ew.

"That's everything for this hour, this is Tremolo for Radio Bayside, and coming up we have the twangy sounds of Jet Shadow with the slickly titled 'The Mare With The Golden Hoof'. The sleeve says this was a movie theme, anypony ever seen a movie before? And don't you touch that dial 'cause we have a big announcment from Dorian Flash this afternoon, so stay tuned!"

The mare finished her chirping and the song began to play, it was twangy as promised. I wasn't really paying much attention to it, I was bemused by the whole thing about zombies? On top of everything we had zombies now? As in the dead walking amongst the living? What in Luna's name was all that about? That couldn't be real. And I didn't even know where to start with these 'Super Seals'.

"You coming, Silv? I don't wanna miss the announcement!" Make Do bellowed from the kitchen, rather impatiently I might add.

"Yeah, just give me a second!" I yelled back. I was still getting ready and I didn't really understand what the rush was.

Make Do was fine, the potion had done it's job and her dad was none the wiser, I think. She was still limping a little, but there weren't any healing potions left at the shop so there wasn't much we could do about that right this second. As thanks for errand running Make Do had spent a couple of hours sizing up a new padded jumpsuit for me to wear, since her Mr. Goldwing's armour was much too big for me, even if it was very protective.

Having a larger jumpsuit didn't make it any easier to get into as an Earth pony though. You try getting all four limbs into something and pulling it up, I promise you it's harder than you think.

Maybe I was making a little bit of a meal of it. We were meant to be going into town. Town. Because I'd gone out on my own Make Do had decided it was high time to actually get me out and about properly. I hadn't said anything, but I was not thrilled by the idea at all. Barnyard Bargains was disturbing enough and I had no emotional attachment to it, how was I supposed to deal with literally walking through the ruins of my life? I knew sooner or later I was going to have to deal with it, but I was rather hoping it would have been later.

Make Do was particularly antsy to get up and go. She'd spent all of yesterday indoors recovering and whatever this 'announcement' was had set her off all excited. If she was a dog she'd have been pawing at the door. Apparently she had some jobs in town I was going to help her out with and she needed a hoof bringing some things back to the junkyard. Why she didn't just take one of the dozens of carts that were sat outside I didn't know.

I could only hope we'd be coming home with something to eat that wasn't eggs.

I pulled the zipper on the suit closed and experimentally flexed and stretched. It was still a little bit tight, and quite stiff thanks to the padding Make Do had installed, but it was a lot comfier than the one I'd worn before. The Unicorn had even added a little holster-pouch-thingy to the withers so that I didn't have to walk around carrying a gun all day, which was nice. I was presuming we'd be seeing other ponies today, and it would be a horrible first impression if the first thing somepony saw was a weapon pointed straight at them.

"Your dad's not coming?" I asked, throwing my saddlebags over my back and meeting her by the front door.

"Nah, he's going out later anyway and he said there wasn't anything he needed to do in town." The mare replied, filling a saddlebag up with assorted junk and slinging it over her back, gun hung around her neck. "Oh well, more caps for us. Good to go?"

"Yeah, lead on."

What's a cap?

We'd been walking in companionable silence for a little while. The ground was damp, but it wasn't raining so that was a bonus I guess, even if the sleeves of my suit were already dirt splattered. Could have been worse, I guess. We hadn't been going long and were already most of the way through the now rather familiar old tunnel, light streaming through the exit. I'd spent the while time out mentally preparing myself to see the skeletal skyline again. I could still see it in my mind's eye, backlit by flashes of lightning, ruins clawing out of the ground, scorched and dead.

I shook my head. I was remembering it worse than it actually was, surely. The shock must have wigged my memory. Still I couldn't deny having a sinking pit in my stomach that only got worse the further we pressed on. I tried telling myself that it was just building, just places, just things. Maybe that would help compartmentalise my feelings about all of this. I had an attachment to the city, not all these ruins. It was different, I think.

If nothing else I supposed if we got split up for some reason I'd at least know where I was. The streets should still be the same, right?

Gulping as if to try and swallow my thoughts, I told myself that I was being dramatic and that this was an important first step in finding somepony to help me free Dandelion from the lab basement. This was bigger than me. For better or for worse, chances are I was going to be seeing a lot of Baltimare in it's current state, I just needed to get over myself. I mean, if we were visiting that had to mean ponies still lived there, right? It couldn't all be death and destruction.

"H-hey, Make Do?"

"All my friends call me MD, Silv, only my dad calls me Make Do." She smiled, warmly. "What's up?"

"Right, MD." I parrotted. Friends? I guess we were friends. "Baltimare... is it... is it bad? Up close, I mean?"

"I mean, it can be I guess, same as anywhere. Not where we're going though, I don't really feel like getting in a fight today."

I was simultaneously relieved and not. Striclty speaking that wasn't exactly what I was asking but it was nice to know we weren't going anywhere awful, but just the idea of avoiding certain areas for fear of violence wasn't nice. I know Baltimare had rougher areas before all this, but there wasn't anywhere I wouldn't have gone for fear of being attacked. I could only hope she meant the danger was from wild creatures.

Little huffed breaths left my mouth as we trotted past the ruined road ramp and past Barnyard Bargains, I kept half an eye on as we sailed on, wary of any roaches that might decide to try me again.

Weaving past potholes and shopping trolleys, the road turned right ahead, bisecting the woods either side and turning towards the city centre. The rubble of the collapsed overpass presented a bit of difficulty, I had to scale it carefully as even after all this time it was loosely packed and kept threatening to give way underhoof. Thankfully though we both made it over pretty uneventfully.

Here the trees started to thin out, giving way to empty fields ahead of some residential looking area. Behind that lie the city of Balrimare in all it's folly.

Bony and burned spires stuck out of the ground like thorns, a mockery of the skyline I knew, collapsed building leaning on each other and flattening the low rises below.

My breath hitched in my throat as I stopped and stared. It was like seeing it for the first time all over again. My home reduced to a charred corpse. How many ponies had died here? All this abject horror by the hooves of Zebras, and for what? Evil for evil's sake from a nation desperately clawing for any form of spiteful retaliation. And we all lost. Cowardly.

"You good, Silv?"

How I'd like to see what was made of the Zebra Empire after all this. I felt awful that the only small comfort I was trying to take in this dire circumstance was that the perpetrators would have it worse, but deep down I wanted it to be so. They deserved nothing less for what they did. It was absolutely unfathomable to me that they'd go as far to end the world, and if there was any justice in this world then given everything there'd be no traces of the Zebra Empire left, it'd be totally wiped from the world's surface, condemned, Zebras a footnote in history books, if anypony was even keeping track of history anymore... maybe I was the only pony who remembered now. Was that fitting? I wasn't sure. I was only even here in this hellscape because of this war, because of the Zebras. None of this would have ever happened-

"Silver, you okay?" I blinked as the Unicorn waved a hoof in front of my face. I realised I'd just been staring at the Baltimare skyline. She was looking at me with an odd look, a sort of combined concern and annoyance.

"S-sorry, I... Sorry, Make Do, it just a lot to take in, you know? Seeing the city again, I mean." I trailed off, again transfixed by what remained. "I can't quite put it into words. It's awful."

"Aw, it's not that bad, plenty of folk still call it home. Let's get a move on." She reassured, badly. "And call me MD, remember?"

She winked at me and carried on ahead. I slowly started following, still captivated by the skyline. It was like a train crash or something, I just couldn't tear my eyes away.

We left the road to cut across a large open field, brown and dead. Was 'scorched grassland' just a big thing here, or was this how most of Equestria looked now? I couldn't believe that a few crafty Earth ponies wouldn't have gotten to work getting the land living again. Even I could feel how sorry it was, and I didn't even work with plants! I get that living in a place like this gives a pony different priorities, but the earth was calling our for some serious TLC, and I couldn't be the only one to feel it. Surely everypony would benefit from getting the land healthy again? I would have thought that was something that would have been a priority, especially after so much time had passed.

Maybe if I knew what I was doing then I could have done something, but as much as knowing the land was in my Earth pony nature, my talents lie elsewhere. I was pretty sure I'd be useless, especially on this scale.

We marched onwards, closing the distance to the city, the wide roads giving way to streets lined with old shops and stores. The number of old chariots and wagons had started to increase, burnt out carts, trashed carriages, even one caravan which rather gruesomely still had a charred skeleton inside. I tried to hurry past that one as quickly as I could.

I couldn't help but think of all those burned bodies I'd seen outside Barnyard Bargains. I wasn't exepcting to see any more corpses just lying around, it's empty sockets boring into my soul. "Goodness, that's awful."

"What's that?" Make- MD inquired, flicking an ear in my direction.

"T-there's a skeleton just left here in this carriage." I explained. "I saw more, too, outside the supermarket, it was dreadful..."

"Oh, yeah, there are a lot of those around. Pretty grim, but you get used to it."

'You get used to it'? We're supposed to just abide by stark remnants of the greatest tradgey the world has ever seen? These were living ponies[/i and they're being treated like they're litter. I thought that was absolutely abhorrent, everypony deserves a proper burial.

I suppose to be fair, everypony who would even think yo care would be dead and gone by now, and anypony around now, again, probably had more important things to worry about. It still didn't make it right, though. Not that there was much I could do about it, I was only one mare and as horrible as it might be, there were a lot of bodies scattered around. I couldn't even imagine the size of the graveyard that would be needed, or the time recovery would take.

Still though, surely enough time had passed? I couldn't believe that not one pony in the last 150 years had thought to clean up a bit.

On that chipper note, we turned a corner onto one of the city's main streets, or at least the tail end of one. I could see things getting closer, taller buildings slowly creeping up above us as we got deeper into town. We were drawing into a little roadside rest stop that appeared to be boarded up and crumbling. Ponies milled around a steady stream of grey smoke billowing out from a small campfire, and behind a little makeshift table, was sat a short-ish, plump looking bat pony mare with a muddy brown coat and slate grey mane. I'd never seen a bat pony before, so this was a surprise for me. She was kind of cute in a sort of fluffy way, like a baby fox or a cat or something. She was wearing an old stained apron and was busying herself with something of other as we approached.

That was something. This was the first time I'd seen anypony out and about just existing. I was actually a little bit excited.

"Heya, Ms. Fowl!" Make Do called out. The mare glanced over and waved happily.

"Good morning MD, thought I heard you coming! How's the leg? All okay, I hope." She said, large tufted ears folding flat. This must be the Ms. Fowl whose fence Make Do had fixed.

"Don't worry about it, it'll be right as rain soon enough." Make Do answered, giving said leg an experimental flex. "Takes more than a few dogs to keep me down."

I snorted.

"If you say so, dearie, just don't push yourself." Ms. Fowl replied, giving the unicorn a warm look before glancing to me. "And who's your friend here?"

"Ah, Ms. Fowl, this is Silver Sterling!" The unicorn said, gesturing to me. "She's, uh, she's new here."

"Hello." I said, nodding to the new mare. "It's nice to meet you."

"Oh, so polite! The pleasure's all mine!" She replied with a smile which showed off two little fangs, and a pair of very vibrant golden eyes. "My name's Tawny Fowl, but most folks around here just call me Ms. Fowl. My family run a little chicken farm a mile or so east of Make Do's house, but I spend most of my time here selling my produce, you're welcome to stop by any time!"

"I'm showing Silver around town, tryna keep her from getting lost." Make Do explained, before turning to face me. "This is the Coastal Junction Rest Stop, a lot of ponies heading Baltimare way stop here for food and supplies and stuff."

I nodded, that made sense, I supposed. It wasn't the prettiest place, but Ms. Fowl seemed pleasant enough, and I already knew all about her produce.

"Well, since you're new in town, how about an omelette for the road? My treat!" The bat pony mare asked, leathery wings flitting, looking at me with the sweetest, most genuine smile I'd seen in a very long time.

The last few days I had eaten nothing but eggs for all three meals of the day. Boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, poached, fried, whatever. I absolutely could not take any more eggs. I'd literally just eaten a plate full off eggs before we came out! I'd be happy to never even see another egg as long as I lived.

But I couldn't make myself say no. Her smile was too genuine, the way she looked at me just beamed excitement to share her cooking with me, an earnest eagerness to share something she loved with a new friend. "Th-that sounds lovely." I croaked through a forced smile. Even thought I'd just met her, I had a feeling I'd be letting her down if I said no.

"No pony can ever say no to a Tawny Fowl omelette!" She beamed, walking over to the fire and setting up a pan. "I'll fix you one right up, it'll be ready in a jiffy!"

I grimaced as she cracked an egg on the rim of the pan. I was internally screaming as I watched her work. I just had to get through this and then hopefully cut off my relationship with eggs entirely.

It was light, it was fluffy, it was made from eggs. Have you ever had eggs? They're bucking incredible.

It shouldn't really be possible for somepony to make something so delicious with such rudimentary equipment and ingredients in a place so run down, and yet Ms. Fowl had done it. That thing was made with love. I think Make Do was a little bit jealous, Ms. Fowl insisted that my 'first one's on the house', and I think she wanted a free omelette too.

If ponies around here are anything like Ms. Fowl, maybe things wouldn't be as bad as I was expecting them to be. Granted the scenery wasn't holding much promise, but the ponies here so far had all been fine. Make Do was... odd, but seemed to be dependable and friendly, Mr. Goldwing was okay, I suppose, and Ms. Fowl had certainly made a lovely first impression. There had been a couple of other ponies I didn't catch the names of at the rest stop too, selling water and odds and ends. All amiable enough really.

We'd left the rest stop when it became Make Do wasn't getting free food, Ms. Fowl waved us off as we carried on down the road. Nice as she was I'm sure she still had money to make and probably didn't need Make- MD hanging around like a gannet looking for scraps.

Apparently we were heading for the Mascagni Trade Pavillon. It hadn't taken me long to work out by the route and street signs that we were actually going to the Sea Spray Pavillion. I had no idea why anypony had felt the need to rename it, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued to see what has become of it. On a nice sunny day there were few places I'd like to spend my time more than Sea Spray, I was glad to know that it lived on, even if nice sunny days seemed to have gone with the balefire.

We cut East heading towards Horseshoe Bay. I could try not to think about it as hard as I wanted, but there was no getting around the fact that we in the city properly now. Westport if I wasn't mistaken, though admittedly I wasn't super familiar with this part of the city. The skyscrapers of downtown seemed to loom taller than ever, casting a dark shadow over me specifically, almost like they were mocking me. That said, there were still a few stragglers still standing proud. The Bronco Seltzer Clock tower still stood to the north of us, even if it was looking a little worse for wear. I wonder if any of the clock faces still worked? I doubt it, but things like that were built to last. Paying more attention to it, there was something on the roof of the tower too, some kind of scrap metal penthouse. Guess somepony had decided to call it home, for whatever reason.

"That's Dorian Flash's place, she'll probably do the announcement from up there." MD chimed in, apparently noticing where I was looking. "I can't believe I'm finally gonna catch one, so exciting!"

"What's the big deal with Dorian Flash anyway?"

"Uh, only everything! She's basically the only pony actually doing anything in this shitheap."

"What do you mean?"

"Like, there are so many ponies out there just doing things for themselves, vying for power or whatever, assholes." She elaborated. "Dorian's clique actually help out the little folks. She's the reason we even have regular trade caravans." She kicked a loose rock for emphasis, sending it tumbling down the road. "Plus she's loaded, she's always announcing these crazy games for big prizes, that's what I'm hoping for later."

"A crazy game?" I inquired, slightly perplexed.

"A big prize." She corrected, flicking her tail. "Maybe make things not so much of a struggle. Would be nice."

I didn't have much to say about that. It all seemed a bit strange to me, but what didn't anymore? I'd be lying if I said eccentric philanthropists weren't around before, perhaps for the better now more than ever.

We took a turn at a junction into Saint Augernon and I found myself staring at a whole walled off street. Well, kind of, it was more arranged rubble, but a deliberate arrangement nonetheless, reinforced with wooden boards and sheets of metal, old billboards and girders, it was about four times as stall as I was. Smatterings of razorwire guarded the top of the wall, not that it would do much to deter any pegasi. Or bat ponies, I guess. And it wasn't just the street that was blocked, it stretched on down crossroads, sectioning off an entire chunk of the city by the looks of things. A metal watchtower of sorts protruded over the top, and smoke rose from small fires behind. I could hear the echos of chattering, laughter and yelling as they bounced off the buildings either side of us. Whatever this was, it was something.

"Fortune City, first stop." MD announced with a smile. "Stick with me through the gate, they know me here."

My hooves clacked against the broken (but relatively clear) tarmac road as we approached a large metal gate, flanked either side by large stallions with equally large guns. They were wearing some dubious looking patchwork barding and also old, threadbare police caps for some reason.

They weren't paying that much attention until the one on the left noticed us and pointed us out to the other, both of them scrambling to attention and pointing their guns at us. I almost stopped in my tracks but MD carried on unfazed, so I gingerly followed behind her. After a few moments, the one on the left squinted out way, gave his colleague a friendly shove, and both of them lowered their weapons, causing me to sigh in relief.

"'Sup MD, didn't know you were swinging by." The stallion on the left schmoozed. He was a large Unicorn with a mauve coat, mostly hidden by armour. "To what do I owe the pleasure, come all this way to see me?"

"As if." The other sorted, a white earth pony. "Why would she waste her time with you when she could have a real stallion?" He shot her a greasy smile and waggled his eyebrows.

Was this for real right now?

"Oh, shove off Twinkle." MD groaned.

"Hey, that's Officer Star to you." He said. The other guard snickered.

"Oh, so cold now?" MD feigned hurt for a second before turning to the other guard. "And you can shut up too, Bitsy. We're just passing through, but I got a little business to settle with Violene."

"You're way less fun when you're sober." The earth pony complained, rolling his eyes. "Maybe your pretty filly friend there is more fun?"

Oh Celestia no.

"Hey there, beautiful." Officer Star said, attention now solely on me. "Not seen you around here before, what's your name?"

"Do you guys ever get laid?" Make Do said with a flat look. "Just open the damn gate."

"Spoilsport." The earth pony replied. Regardless, they did as she asked and opened the gate with us. "Just be sure to spend some more caps while you're here. If the 'business' you're taking care of is anything like the last time, the mayor'll be thrilled."

It looked like a jolt of electricity ran through Make Do, just for a split second. The froze and tensed up ever so briefly, before adopting more of a sagging posture. Very strange.

"Can we not talk about that?" Make Do groaned, ears flat. "It's not gonna happen again, anyway."

"Whatever."

"Have a great day, cutie." Officer Star said to me as we walked by, giving me a wink. "I'll see you around."

I felt my face involuntarily scrunch up as soon as the words left his mouth. Slimeballs.

"Asses." MD mumbled to herself in unknowing agreement. The gate shuddered closed behind us, and I took a good look around.

Ponies everywhere. The yells and hollers of an open market flooded the air, legs trotted in all directions, stalls and vendors lined the street. As far as I could tell this place was a good few city blocks, and even the buildings looked like they were in better shape than the ones outside the walls. They weren't dormant and empty either, ponies lived here, ran shops, actually lived rather than survived. This wasn't the rampant chaos I'd seen so far, apart from the age of everything and the attire some of the ponies here were wearing, this could have been an actual town from before the balefire. If you ignored the apocalyptic backdrop, anyway. It was hard to escape the ever looming presence of the crumbling skyscrapers.

The smells of mystery foods danced around, intermingling with the smoke of barrel fires. I may have been tempted to find out what was cooking if I wasn't full of omelete. A few street food stands stood not too far away, mingling with other vendors. I couldn't make out much of what was on sale due to the bustle surround the stalls.

"Okay, I've got a little work to do, shouldn't be too long, and we can leave out the other gate, saves us backtracking." Make Do spoke, pointing over the crowd in front of us. "Take it all in, just keep up and stay alert. Fortune is pretty rife with pickpockets. And sometimes worse."

Well, that was sounding less promising. I stepped in closer to the mare, for my own security. Safety in numbers and all that.

"I've not got anything to steal, Make Do." I nervously intoned.

"That won't stop them trying." She replied. "And I said call me MD."

We cut into the throng, weaving between ponies going about their day, sometimes jostling, almost like a crowded dance floor. A lot of them were wearing barding or rags, most of it looking homemade. Not many of them paid us much mind as we navigated around them, save a few annoyed glances and grunts. I'd apologised after bumping into a couple at first, but quickly realised it wasn't worth the effort. Most of the ponies here seemed busy or in a hurry, but I couldn't help but notice a few just loitering or hanging around a fire pit. I wasn't one to judge, I didn't have a job either, anymore.

Just what did ponies do for money now, anyway? I know MD said she was a scavenger, and there are evidently ponies still running shops and trading, even armies of some form, but something told me that there weren't exactly a lot of 9-5 office types around anymore.

The crowd started to thin out after a few minuted of uncomfortable passage, and we thankfully emerged out the other side into a more open area.

The street was clear and wide open, lined with occupied buildings, at least if the lights and sounds coming from within them was anything to go by. Some were still boarded up, I could hear hushed conversations from the alleys between buildings. There were fewer ponies here, and the ones that I could see were mostly just hanging around, a group sat on a building stoop, a couple standing in the gutter, even a fee crowded around a small bonfire throwing dice, loudly hollering and jeering. All of them sparing us some kind of look, maybe an upward glance, but a look nonetheless.

I could see now that a lot of these buildings had been either repaired or repurposed into shop and businesses. We passed a couple of bars, a weapons shop, a place labelled as 'Dorian's Helping Hoof', and apparently several casinos. On both sides of the streets. A lot more casinos that a place this size really needs.

Actually, now that I was paying more attention, there was something off about this place. Glancing down an alley as we passed, I could spy a group of ponies all sat around a barrel fire, playing some kind of card game. Further along the street there was another group playing dominoes or something similar on the pavement, one of them eyeing us warily as we approached.

"Hey MD, what's the deal with all the gambling here?" I asked, frowning. "Isn't five casinos on one street a little excessive?"

"Vice economy." She answered simply, turning to face me with a sly smile. "Fortune's built off of gambling, as the name implies. It can be a fun place to be after dark if you've got the caps for it."

"That's... interesting." I knew Las Pegasus was built off the same idea, but that was a whole city. To try and execute the same idea in a place so small was just ridiculous. "Does it work?"

"Well enough to keep them going I guess, town's been around since before I was so it can't be all bad." She replied. "Why, you wanna play? 'Cause it'd probably cost you less to just let me wipe the floor with you at blackjack." She slyly smirked.

"Um, no thank you." I said, shaking my head.

There were a lot of ponies milling around outside the buildings. The ones that weren't engaged in games were slumped against walls, I could hear the sounds of a fight echoing off the walls of a nearby alley. I grimaced as we carried on past. I couldn't see anything, but from the sound of it somepony was going to be hurting in the morning.

I clocked on that MD was flitting her eyes back. Turning her head just a little, tacitly trying to glance behind her, watching our blind spot. I tilted my head quizzically, she nodded towards an alley in return. I dutifully followed her into the dimly lit passage, walls boxing off the daylight. The bustle of the town faded into the background as our steps echoes off the close walls. Three sets of hoofsteps, and I couldn't see anypony in front of us. MD sighed and rolled her eyes before stomping a hoof to the ground. "Can I help you?" MD grunted, stopping in her tracks and whipping her head around. Behind us was a scruffy looking old unicorn stallion, gaunt and weathered, wearing tattered rags. I had no idea how long he'd been following us, or how long MD had known we were being followed.

"Spare a cap?" He spluttered, spittle flying from his gap filled mouth.

"No, sorry pal, can't help you." She snorted.

"Aw, you sure? See, me and the boys all heard about your last visit, we figured you'd have plenty to go around." He pressed, taking a small step towards us. I took a step back away on instinct.

"I got nothing, I can't help you, get it?" MD pressed back, voice raised.

"Oh bullshit, moneybags!" He shouted back, pulling a large metal pipe from under his clothes and making towards us. "Now fork it over, if you want to keep those pretty legs of yours working!"

I stumbled backwards as he advanced. Make Do, however, stood her ground, floating out her shotgun from its concealed position under her saddlebags and pressing it to the stallions throat, stopping him in his tracks. "You really want to try this, old man?" She jerked the gun barrel into his neck as if to emphasise the point.

The stallion swallowed and the glow around his horn faded away, letting the makeshift weapon clang loudly to the floor.

"That's what I thought." MD said flatly, pulling the gun away but keeping it trained on him.

"Fuck you, asshole." He spat, rearing up and turning back down the alley and disappearing around the corner.

"Whatever." MD huffed, putting her gun away.

I was an uncomfortable combination of frightened and bewildered. Was that at attempted mugging? It was over almost as quickly as it had started. How long had that pony been stalking us? I'd been totally unaware the whole time, for all I knew he could have been following us since we came through the gate. MD had clearly picked up on it, though, and didn't even seem that phased. I wasn't sure how she wasn't even a little shaken that somepony was willing to bash us in over a 'cap', but I guessed she'd been around the block so to speak. Was MD really prepared to shoot a pony? She'd pointed a gun at me a few times, but never actually fired. I had hoped in the back of my mind that it was only a deterrent, I don't think I could handle seeing anypony actually getting shot. Corpses were grisly, but witnessing a murder doesn't even bear thinking about.

"Come on, let's keep moving before he comes back with friends." MD gestured, pointing her snout back the way we came. I did as I was told and followed her as we trotted the same path as the stallion, but turning the other way back out onto the street.

"W-what was that all about?" I pressed, keeping a nervous lookout for anypony else who might try and approach us. I glanced down to make sure my pistol was still there.

"Somepony tryna make some quick cash. Not that I've got anything worth his while." She sighed. "Remeber what I said about that not stopping them?"

"It sounded like he thought you were rich." I prodded. MD softly nickered at that.

"Oh, look, we're here!" She announced, ignoring me and diverting course towards a shabby looking, nondescript, squat concrete building. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to be getting in off the street, away from any more encounters.

MD nosed the door open and I followed in after her. The interior was messy, not quite as 'thrown together' looking as MD's place, but it had definitely seen better days. The wooden floor was very well worn and covered in stains, pits and splits. The walls were dirty and the ceiling was flaky, but at least it looked like somebody had tried to keep the place clean. There was a large wooden counter in the middle of the room, and a couple of old looking chairs under the storefront windows, which were miraculously intact, if well past due for a cleaning. Behind the counter was a very large noticeboard covered in scraps of paper, but I couldn't make out anything written on any of them.

"Hellooooo?" MD yelled, tapping a hoof on the counter top, which I thought was exceptionally rude. It seemed to have done the job though, as I could hear something stirring from the room behind the counter. The side door swung open, and a large, very vibrantly purple unicorn mare stepped out, looking particularly unimpressed to see us.

"Oh. It's you." She said, kicking the door closed and trotting to the counter, leaning on the surface and resting her head on her hooves. "What do you want?"

"Uh, to finish the job? I got all the things requested in here." MD said, gesturing to her saddlebag.

"Oh, goody, hopefully you'll be out of my mane quickly then." The mare said flippantly, bringing out a worn looking binder from under the counter and flipping it to a marked page. "Vacuum tubes?"

"Yep." MD nodded and pulled the flap of her saddlebags open, levitating out a load of pretty shiny and fresh looking glass thingies. "Two 12AT7s, four 12AX7s, and four 6L6GCs, all tested and working. What are these even going into, anyway?"

"Don't know, don't care. Just give them to me, then you can get paid and go away." The mare said, tapping a hoof impatiently.

"Fine, whatever." MD rolled her eyes and placed the tubes down on the counter, the mare picked them up and put them below, along with the binder.

"And your other contract? Ministry data retrieval? The client has been waiting a while for that." She asked, looking over her snout, rapping a hoof impatiently.

"Uh, that's going to have to be a negative on that one Violene, I ran into... complications." MD replied, giving me a very awkward sideways look. I smiled a sheepish smile in apology.

"Fucked it, alright then." Violene sighed, crossing out an entry in the binder. MD stared flatly at the ceiling.

"Okay, the vacuum tube job is all paid out, 200 caps total, your share is 125." She said, fishing out a small paper bag labelled '100', and open a small tin with her magic. She floated out a load of bottle caps? They looked like bottle caps to me. "And that's the 25."

I tilted my head in confusion. This had to be some of the wackiest bartering I'd ever seen. What good were bottle caps? I could only assume that MD had a use for them because she seemed more than happy to take them. Her hoof was batted away before she could grab them, though. "And what do you think you're doing with those?" She huffed.

"Taking my pay, what else?" MD frowned, rubbing her hoof.

"I don't think so, if you'll remember the contract for the data retrieval job —which I know must be quite taxing for you— that job paid half in advance. Now unless you have some caps to give back, I'm going to be keeping this as part of your repayment." She explained with a slimy grin, clearly reveling a little in this exchange. "And when can I expect the rest of the money back?"

"Well, the thing is, it wasn't really my fault that I couldn't finish the job, so..."

"Oh, but you were still more than happy to blow all the caps at The Black Caviar, no? What was it, everything on red or did you whittle it down on cheap booze and slots? Perhaps you should have thought for a second before flushing all the money away and you wouldn't be having this problem now." Violene laughed humourlessly, looking at MD down her snout. "I knew you were stupid but this is rich even for you."

"Screw you!" MD snarled through gritted teeth, nostrils flared. I genuinely couldn't tell if she was about to do something rash. I was incredibly uncomfortable being stuck in the middle of this.

"Now now, luckily for you I have a job here that specifically requested you. And since I'm so fair and just, I'll let you take it, even though you just came into my shop and disrespected me. I suggest you take it." Violene said cooly, holding a folded note in her magic. "So why don't you take your little friend there and get to work. I'm not a charity and I doubt the client is particularly interested in waiting. Honestly you're lucky I don't just blacklist you on the spot."

MD snatched the note away and shoved it in one of her pockets, snorting as she did. "Come on Silver, let's get out of here."

"Oh, Silver, is it?" Violene called after me, my ears perking to attention. "Do be wary around Make Do, she's got a bit of a problem with running her mouth, I'd hate to see you dragged down with her. And Make Do, a 'thank you' would be nice."

"Go to Tartarus you hag!" MD yelled back, slamming the door wide open and storming out.

"Hey, wait for me!" I called, pushing the door closed and cantering to catch her up outside. MD was already trudging down the street. "What just happened?"

"So much for buying supplies. Bucking Violene!" She hissed. "I hate that her so much, who does that bitch think she is?"

"I-I mean, from what she says it kind of sounds like you took the money."

"The job paid in advance, that was payment!"

"Yeah but usually when somepony pays part in advance it's because they expect the job to get done." I pointed out. "Did you read the contract?"

"Oh no, don't start with this." She borderline snarled, clearly frustrated. "Of course I read the contract! In fact I could march right back and finish the job right now if I hadn't already agreed to help you with the other pony in the basement! So don't even start!"

I recoiled a little, those words were pointed. I think she could tell I was a but stung because she softened slightly.

"I'm sorry, I just hate dealing with Violene." She sighed, pausing and staring up at the sky. Honestly finishing the job hadn't crossed my mind since we met, I'm mad I forgot about it. Gonna need a way to pay this off quick."

"What if we cloned the data? So you could complete the contract and we'd still have a copy to work with?" I suggested.

"Nah, now that I know what the data actually is, I don't think it's a good idea to give it out to just anypony. It's probably best that we get it to a scientist or mage or something as soon as we can. Besides the write port on this thing is busted." She rebutted, gesturing to her PipBuck. "It needs a full service, but it's not like there's any certified PipBuck technicians just wandering around the wasteland."

"Well, what about that new job?"

MD huffed and pulled the crumpled note out from her front pocket, almost pantomiming the degree to which she didn't want to do it. She scowled at the piece of paper, scanning it over before crumpling it up and shoving it in her saddlebags.

"Any good?"

"I guess." She kicked at a loose pebble as she spoke. "More data retrieval, needs doing today. Pay is... alright."

"So why don't we start with that and work it out?" I offered. "We can split it up from one big problem to smaller ones, it'll be easier to manage that way."

"Sure, I guess that makes sense." She conceded, punting the pebble away. "Guess it'll still be work experience for you, too. Maybe if we scratch the pavillion and head there now we'll still be able to catch the announcement."

"See, we can do this!" I encouraged, smiling at her. "Let's get this done, listen to the announcement, and then we can work out the best way to get this all payed back." She'd helped me out, the least I could do was help out in return. The circumstances may have been pretty vastly different (I'd like to think I wasn't so wreckless with my finances), but I knew what it was like to owe money, and it wasn't pleasant.

"Let's go then, we can cut through the other side of town, saves us fighting the crowd."

"So, where exactly are we going?" I asked, cantering alongside the Unicorn.

"Sewerside, it's a little shithole a couple of miles northeast from here."

"Sewerside?"

"Yeah yeah, I know." She rolled her eyes. "But that's where the caps are today."

Hearing 'caps' yet again caused my ear to twitch. "Do you get paid in bottle caps?"

"Usually, yeah." She nodded.

"Why?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Beats me, it's just what everypony uses."

"Why?"

"I dunno, Silv, I'm not claiming to understand why things are the way they are, I'm just showing you how it is."

This seemed... silly. What exactly was so bad about bits that collectively they were replaced by the cheapest, flimsiest, most worthless metal possible?

"And how many 'caps' do you need to pay back to Violene?"

"5000 minus that 125." MD answered, clicking her tounge.

Ouch. Okay, maybe worse than I had thought, but not totally unmanageable.

We were coming up to the perimeter wall again, and I could already see the gate. Not as big as the one we came in through, but still hard to miss. There was a rather bored looking guard sat in the crumbling ruins of an old store with some kind of wooden scaffolding on the roof, and across the street there was an old stallion sat next to a table hawking something or other to nopony inparticular. The guard's ears perked up as we approached, she stood up and trotted out to meet us.

"Well well, if it isn't MD, how ya doin'?" She asked with a thick, southern drawl.

"Tacit." MD nodded.

"Ah ah ah, I'm on duty, it's Officer Blue, even to friends." She replied with a smile. She was a large and well built earth pony, and had a pale sandy coat and a grey mane with a muted green streak running through it. Her eyes fell on me as she finished talking. "And speaking of friends, who's this?"

"Silver, Tacit. Tacit, Silver." MD said, gesturing between both of us.

"Howdy, I'm Officer Blue, can't say I've seen you 'round these parts before." She said, adjusting her cap.

"Yes, well, I suppose I'm new to the area." I smiled. It wasn't technically a lie.

"Well, it's nice ta' meetcha." She grinned. "I'm usually posted on this here gate, so you'll probably see me around."

"And on that subject." MD butted in. "Mind opening the gate up? We got places to be."

"Sure, sure, you just make sure to come back and splash some caps around again, ya'll are the talk of the town!"

MD groaned. Officer Blue tilted her head in confusion, but didn't press any further. Instead she walked back over to the gate and swung it open for us, waving as we passed. Now back outside the walls of Fortune, I didn't know if I felt any safer or not. I guess we were technically back our in the wide open, but also the only time I'd actually felt in any real danger was within the town walls.

"Safe travels!" The mare called out as the gate closed behind us with a clunk. There were no exterior guards on this entrance for whatever reason. I could see Officer Blue's head peak over the top of the wall, apparently for one last wave from the wooden frame. Makes sense that they'd have some kind of viewing platform if they weren't going to have anypony outside.

We set off again down the street, turning off at a crossroads and making our way north, I think. The road was in noticeably worse shape than inside of Fortune, but I guess that was to be expected. Just ahead of us was a group of ponies coming the other way, presumably heading into Fortune. There were four of them, two out in front with weapons, one behind them, and... something was pulling a cart. It looked like a cow, broad and lumbering, sickly like a lot of the creatures I'd seen so far, but it had two heads.

Two heads. How did that even work, biologically speaking? I gawped as we passed each other, one of the heads giving me an intense side eye.

"Hey, maybe we could get you a job with a caravan!" MD says. "Pretty stable work if you can get it."

"Yeah... maybe..." I said aloud, not paying particular attention to her, still transfixes by the multiheaded bovine. Clearly I had a lot more to learn about before worrying about my potential future employers. Priorities and all that.

We were trotting along what was once a coastal road, but was now just a massive collection of potholes. Somewhere off to my right was the beach, but the weather had taken a turn for the murky and it was difficult to see down to the shoreline. This must have been a scenic route at one point because there weren't nearly as many buildings lining the road. The skyline still loomed over us to the left, but we were just far enough away that there was still wide open space.

I assumed that this was a path less travelled, because I couldn't see anypony else on the road. Although to be fair, I hadn't seen all that many ponies outside of Fortune at all, just a couple of stragglers and caravans, and hearing the distant pops of a faraway firefight at one point. I stuck close to MD after that.

We walked in amiable silence, and it wasn't long before we came upon a little bridge. However, rather than carrying on over it, MD veered off the side of the road, heading towards the embankment. I followed her cautiously, paying extra attention to where I was stepping, I could really do without slipping and rolling down the slope.

After a little while the muddy ground gave way to old concrete. It looked like were were walking into a storm drain, for some reason. There were a few little scrappy shacks set up under the bridge. It became clear that the middle of the bridge had collapsed, explaining why we were coming down here in the first place. The shacks were set up surrounding the pile of rubble from the fallen roadway, and a little crudely painted wooden sign read 'Welcome to Sewerside'.

"See, told you it wasn't as bad as the name sounds." MD chirped.

I spared a glance around. Make Do wasn't exaggerating when she said it was a little town. I'm not even sure you could call it a village. There wasn't really all that much here, four or five small shacks, a larger one on the far side, and a small pen full of mud. It looked like they were growing vegetables or something. There wasn't anypony around at the moment. It was a little depressing to be honest.

"I suppose it'd be hard for it to be as bad as it sounded, because there's nothing here." I commented unimpressed.

"Yeah, there's not a whole lot to look at. Wicked bar though."

"I'll take your word for that..."

"Anyway, building's just on the other bank there, should only take me five or ten minutes to get what we need." MD said, gesturing to a building on the other side of the storm drain. It was a bland, beige-ish building, four storeys tall. Apart from broken windows and chipped paint, it didn't seem to be in that bad a state. There was a billboard on the top, but whatever it was advertising had long since deteriorated to the point of being unreadable.

MD started scaling up the opposite bank, I stuck close behind her. It was pretty hard to get proper purchase on the concrete, but we just about managed.

We came around the front, revealing the shopfront. 'Steady Step Auto-Farriers' the sign over the door read. There was a huge rusted horse shoe hanging from the roof, and I didn't entirely trust it not to fall off. It really didn't help that it creaked in the breeze. The sooner we were out of it's way the better.

"This place was mostly picked clean ages ago, so there's not a lot to hunt around for. Still, might be worth having a look around while I get the data off the terminals, test your scavenging skills!" MD explained as she shouldered the front door open and trotted inside. "I'll head up to the offices, you- ACKH!"

I jumped back in shock as the butt of a floating gun made itself acquainted with MD's face. She splayed out on the floor, but she wasn't down and out just yet. She grabbed her own gun with her magic, but a large, uniformed stallion delivered a swift kick to her temple that sent her sliding across the ground. She was groggy but still made for her gun before another smack finally knocked her out cold.

He turned and looked at me, the gun he used to hit MD swinging around in his magical aura. I was frozen to the spot. What was I meant to do? MD said this was supposed to be an easy job!

"Hey, there's somepony else with her!" He bellowed.

"Shit, grab them too!" Another voice called back.

He took this as a cue to actually aim the gun at me, and then he started stomping towards me. Oh fuck, oh shit, what was I supposed to do?! There was a big pony coming to get me, and he really wasn't far away. This was very, very bad!

Gun! I have a gun too!

I craned my neck down and shakily grabbed the pistol out of it's holster, but by the time I looked back up, he was right in front of me. The gun he was carrying raised up over me. My eyes went wide and I shook my head 'no', but he ignored me, and the weapon came down on my head.

Everything went black.

I've had killer hangovers before, I've fallen and hit my head before, but this was on another level. It felt like my skull was cracked open. Tartarus, for all I knew it was cracked open!

I forced my eyes open and tried to raise a hoof to my head to inspect the damage, but I couldn't budge an inch. I tried again, attempting to pull my forelegs forward, but it was no good. My legs had been tied. Oh Celestia, I'd been kidnapped! I'd actually been kidnapped!

Thoroughly panicked, I started looking around to see where I was. I didn't recognise anything, not that I could see a whole lot. It looked like I was in the back of an old covered cart, and if the creaking and rocking were anything to go by, I was on the move. I tried to shout, scream, anything, but quickly found out I'd been gagged as well. Gods above I hoped whatever they'd stuck in my mouth was clean.

I struggled for a little bit, but it was no good, these guys clearly knew what they were doing. Which was terrifying. Even a half baked kidnapping attempt was scary enough, but a professional job? Who knew what else these ponies were capable of?

What did they even want from me? The stallion seemed surprised to see me when he knocked MD out, so they clearly weren't after me. But why did they want MD? And why did they knock me out too?

MD! Where was she? I couldn't see her, had they taken me alone? Oh Celestia this was worse than I thought. What could I do by myself? I started tearing up as my mind inevitably jumped to the worst possible conclusion. The cart jolted and something sharp jabbed my right between my shoulders. Something was behind me, something hard. I prayed that it wasn't somepony pressing a gun to my back, but I just couldn't tell.

Tears welled up in my eyes, trailing down the side of my face to the wooden boards below. I'd have been gasping if I could open my mouth. I wanted to go home. Home home, before any of this, before the death and destruction. Away from this horrible future.

Another bump in the road caused whatever was behind me to stab at me again, hard. I moaned and scrunched my eyes closed. The rocking of the cart slowed and then halted, it'd stopped. I kept my eyes fixed on the tarp flap, terrified of who or what might be coming for me.

"Hey, it's Cosmos, open the gate!" A stallion shouted from outside.

"What's the password?" Another yelled back from somewhere further away.

"Buck you! Open the fucking gate or Swarfega will tan your fucking hide!" The first stallion retorted.

"Alright brown nose, keep your tail on!" Another replied, a mare this time.

"Don't make me come up there!" The first shouted again, apparently getting angrier by the moment.

"And what, make you do some actual fucking work for a change? The gate's open when it's open!" The mare scoffed. There was a big clank and an odd whirring sound, followed by the creaky sounds of protesting metal.

"Actual fucking work? That's rich coming from you, all you do is sit on your ass all day! I've been out there busting my balls to get this job done!" The first voice snarled.

"Oh wowee, big stallion managed to catch a little filly! What, like I'm meant to suck your dick about it? Fuck you, get inside before I lock you out."

"Just you wait, I'll be talking to your CO about this!" The first voice said as the whirring stopped and the cart started to move again.

"Hah, like he cares! I'm not scared of you."

The cart slowly jostled forwards and the whirring sound started again, the light from outside faded down. Wherever they were taking me, I was inside now. The cart shuddered and rattled, moving past clangs and vague conversations, shadows playing on the light shining through the aged fabric covering the bed we were in. My imagination started to run again. There's not much scarier than not knowing, and I had absolutely nothing on my side in this situation.

After a few very long minutes the cart stopped again. There was more yelling to somepony working another door or gate or something, and with a now decidedly slower roll, the cart passed inside, the already dull light filtering through the fabric now giving way to darkness. We stopped for the last time, and I could hear the sound of hitches, clips, clacks, and hoofsteps. Somepony was coming to the cart door, my eyes tracked the sound of their movement as they slowly made their way around.

The sickly glow of pale olive coloured magic pulled back the fabric flap from the back of the cart. Cast in shadow, a tall, grimy looking Unicorn was stood in the gap, a smaller Earth pony mare behind him. They were both dull shades of brown, and they were wearing matching black clothes. He had definitely been through it, his face was marred and battle hardened, missing one ear and having stitches across his brow. My breath hitched in my throat. I couldn't do anything but stare.

"Hello, Make Do." He said, with a hideous grin. He was missing both his front teeth. Make Do? They've got the wrong pony! His smile gave way to confusion when he saw me. "Who the fuck is this?" He asked, turning to the earth pony.

"Fuck if I know, the guys picked her up with the prisoner." She replied unenthused, sounding not so much lethargic, as so much disinterested. The unicorn's smile slowly crept back.

"Ah, you made a friend?' He sneered. "Good, you're going to need the help after we're through."

I struggled as his horn lit up again, except I didn't feel the touch of his magic. The green hue was dimly lighting the cart from behind me, dragging something forward. A bewildered looking MD slowly levitated over me, tail dragging across my barrel. She was in here with me the whole time? Selfishly, I was a little glad to not be in this situation alone. He carelessly flopped her to the ground, I heard her hit the floor but didn't see her below the cart bed.

"Okay then, let's get moving. Swarfega's expecting you."

His magic aura grabbed at my throat and pulled me to the edge of the cart bed. I struggled to breathe as he dragged me off and to the floor, falling in a heap beside MD, rolling onto my side and groaning in pain, stars popping up in my vision. Her face was swolen and bruised, and she seemed out of it, like she'd just woken up. The unicorn's glow danced around us, releasing the binds on our hooves. I only now noticed and inhibitor ring on MD's horn.

"Ghet hup." Said the mare, words slurred as she jabbed a pistol into the nape of my neck. I sharply inhaled and shakily struggled up.

"On your hooves, wouldn't want to keep the boss waiting now, would we?" The stallion said, grabbing MD's ear in his magic and drawing her forwards as she growled in protest, stumbling over herself.

"Moovf." The mare said. I didn't need to be told twice. I limped forwards, sniffling and shaking.

The stallion led us through a grimy looking building, maybe once some kind of carriage factory in another life. It was crumbling but had clearly been somewhat maintained and repurposed, the floors free of debris and walls patched, long dormant machinery stripped for parts and removed, replaced with what seemed to be spaces for bunks, shooting ranges, piles of crates and old electronics.

There were other ponies here watching us being escorted. Mostly Earth ponies, all wearing black jumpsuits, most with guns. A militia?

We turned a corner and the unicorn kicked open a door, leading us outside. The ground was soggy and the path we were on was well worn. Ragged canvas tents lined the way either side of us, flapping in the breeze, and up ahead were what looked like bleachers built from rusted scrap. There were more ponies with guns milling around here, it looked almost like a courtyard of some kind.

Public execution sprang to mind, and my mind went blank. I was sweating profusely and jittering with adrenaline. The cool metal of the pistol was still pressed against my fur. I didn't dare make a single wrong move. I wanted to beg, for mercy, to be let go, to tell them they'd gotten the wrong pony, but I couldn't remove the gag from my jaw.

MD was trudging her way behind the Unicorn, ear still firmly in his grasp. As we got closer to the courtyard, I noticed that there was a group of ponies watching us as we made our way towards them, maybe a few less than a couple of dozen. They were talking to a bright green Unicorn wearing a peaked cap, who seemed to be watching us intently, cigarette hanging limply from his lips. I really didn't like the way he was looking at us. Smirking almost knowingly. He was sat on a large crate, tracking us as we closed the distance. As we drew closer it became clear we were being led directly to him. MD was thrown to the floor, and before I had time to react, a swift buck to the flank sent me following her, both of us ending up in a dirty puddle. I came up breathless, cold, dirty water dripping from my chest and neck. The stallion pushed himself from his perch and trotted over slowly, intently, lowering his head to MD's level and giving her a cold facsimile of a smile.

"Hello, Make Do." He croaked, blowing a cloud of smoke in her face. She scowled at him as best as she could, but I could see the fear in her eyes. He held her gaze for a moment before turning to me, dead yellow irises boring into me. "And you brought company, how pleasant."

For what felt like forever he stared right into my soul, close enough that I could almost count the strands of hair in his mane. He had a very large scar running all the way down his face, notching his top lip. He was wiry and tall, even his horn was long, almost looking like it'd been sharpened to a point. His gaze was piercing, there was no light behind his eyes. I didn't realise I was holding my breath until he turned away, snorting.

"I'm sure you're wondering why these fine ponies to brought you in today. Truth be told I'm a busy stallion so sometimes I forget the small details. It's a good thing I've got this kind officer here to remind me precisely why we wanted to see you today."

"Breach of contract, Swarfega sir." Barked a gangly, if surprisingly well groomed looking unicorn.

"Ah, that's right, breach of contract." He parrotted. "Breach of contact, thank you officer."

He turned and paced infront of us both, slowly going back an forth in a small circle.

"See, by my reckoning it's been about three weeks since you were paid for a data retrieval job. Now, that's the best part of a month, isn't it Miss Do?" He turned to face her, head low, looking her right in the eyes, snout to snout. MD could do nothing but stare back. "Officer Bantam, could you kindly remind me of the exact wording specified in the contract, please?"

"Five days from acceptance. Half of payment made up front, half to follow upon receipt of goods. Advance to be returned in the event of non-completeion, Swarfega sir."

Oh no.

"Thank you, Bantam. Five days. Isn't that interesting? That's a damn sight less that three weeks, wouldn't you agree?"

MD glared at him, eliciting a single, bone dry chuckle. Suddenly he swung a mean right hook straight to her face, sending her crumpled back into the puddle below. I winced instinctively, squeaking, scared out of my mind. He stood above MD for a moment before pulling her up out of the mud, holding her by the jaw with his magic. "Three weeks, Make Do, and we paid you in advance! Now call it naieve if you'd like, but it seemed to me like we were doing you a favour, giving you all those caps prior, PRIOR! To completing the job. Now tell me was the other half not incentive enough or did you really think that we'd be too stupid to care? Maybe you thought you'd stick us, hm? Or maybe you just chose to ignore the non-completion cause?"

He tossed her aside like litter, splaying her out sideways on the floor as the crowd looked on, swiftly stomping down on her. I looked from face to leering face, nopony was shocked by this. Some of them even looked bored. This was nothing to them.

"Your reputation preceeds you, you know. When the broker told us that it was the great Make Do who'd picked up the job, I have to say I was relieved, glad that we'd be in good hooves. You can imagine my disappointment when we were left high and dry. Now not being able to finish the job is fine, it happens, but most ponies would have the common courtesy to return the money."

MD was roughly brought back up to her hooves by one of the ponies who brought us here, gently swaying in place. My heart was beating out of my chest as I watched this Swarfega pace slowly and deliberately.

"Still, it was good of Violene to play ball in getting you to us. Bad news for you is you've fucked around with the wrong ponies, Miss Do. It's one thing to run off with our money, but to not even have the decency to lay low afterwards is almost insulting. But, hey, you know what happens to ponies who fuck around, don't you?" He turned around and bucked her in the ribs, MD yelped through the gag, tears streaming down her face. Two stallions in uniform held her up as Swarfega unleashed a flurry of blows to her barrel, her muffled groans dissipating into the air. With one final double legged strike to her chest he calmy stood back. "They find out."

I was almost choking on my own fear by this point. This was torture, plain and simple, in broad daylight! I stood quivering, being as still as I could manage, deathly aware of the weapon still pressed up against me.

"I'm not an unreasonable stallion, Miss Do. We paid you good money for a service you didn't provide, I'm sure you can understand why I'm a tad upset. It's hard for us to play our part right when there a snakes like you around letting us down. Gentlecolts." He nodded to the stallions holding MD in place. They let her go, and she flopped limply to the mud. Swarfega lowered himself almost to her level and pressed a pistol to her head, clutching it with his magic, forcing it against her skull. Keeping the gun in place he turned his head to face me. "Now who might you be, hm? Business partner maybe? Wife? Whore?"

He thrust the barrel of the gun against MD's temple, pushing her head. "Whoever you are, I hope you really take this all in. You know what they say about stupid games and stupid prizes." He pulled her head up by her mane and repeatedly pistol whipped her across the jaw. I could see some of the dirty white fabric of the gag in her mouth start to stain red.

I wanted nothing more than for this to all stop. He was going to kill her, and Celestia knows what they would do to me.

"Well, stranger, I'd really hate to have to give you the same treatment as Miss Do here, especially as by all accounts you've got nothing to do with this whole situation." He addressed me, gesturing to MD's beaten and bloodied face. "But that doesn't mean we can't treat this as a warning, does it? And hey, I wouldn't be sending much of a message if let you get off totally scott free now, would I?"

My vision was blurred with tears. I had no idea what he meant by any of that but I knew that none of it was good.

"You see, it's to Miss Do's immense great fortune that I can't just kill her, as much as I would like to." He continued, turning back to MD. "See, if we're not getting the service we paid for, we need our deposit back. Plus intrest, of course. Can't run an army on ideals alone"

MD unsteadily rose up to a sitting position, swaying and bleary.

"Of course, Make Do has proven to be less than trustworthy, so we can hardly have her running around free as the wind, can we?" He smiled at us both, before carefully removing MD's gag, keeping his gun trained on her the whole time. "Now tell me Miss Do, you're a business owner so I'm sure you can see where we're coming from, what would you do in my situation?"

"Fuck you and the cum soaked bitch you rode in on." MD grunted, spitting out blood. "You Red Rein fucks don't deserve shit."

"Wrong answer." He grunted, wrapping the gag around her neck and pulling, causing her to choke.

I tried to cower away, turn and hide, close my eyes, but foreign hooves held me in place by force. Why was this happening? Why didn't she just give them the data?!

"Your friend here looks scared, Miss Do, can't say I blame her. Come on now, I'm not going to hurt you, I have no particular qualms with you." He laughed. "Shit, I don't even know who you are! I have to say though, you keep... unfortunate company."

"Screw- you, guh, let us- go!" MD gurgled, futilely wriggling to get free. Swarfega rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to her.

"Come now Miss Do, I'm just accommodating our guest!" He sighed. "Besides, you're hardly in any position to be making demands."

The glow around his horn intensified as his pull on MD's neck grew tighter, her eyes growing wilder as she desperately panted, unable to free herself from the makeshift garotte. He was killing her!

"As I was saying-" He interjected, unmoved. "Since you're a proven scab, I've not got a lot of confindence that you'd make this fuck up right by your own devices. Bantam, be a dear and fetch us a couple of those collars Ripple has been working on, won't you?"

He dropped the rag just as MD's face was starting to turn blue, shuddering as she sucked in air. The stallion 'Bantam' trotted off to who knows where as Swarfega paraded in front of us both.

"I take no pleasure in this, I really don't." He shook his head before stubbing out his cigarette on MD's neck, eliciting a breathless yelp from the mare. "I hope you've been paying close attention stranger, I'd hate for you to find yourself in Miss Do's position."

I whimpered. MD was not in a good way, her face was swolen and her mouth was bleeding, she was shaking and heaving on the floor, covered in cold, wet mud. This was sick. These ponies were sick.

"See, we have a mission, and unfortunately it's ponies like Miss Do-"

"FUCK- YOU-" She yowled.

"You're stubborn, I'll give you that." Swrafega grunted, coming down hard on her back, bending her backwards and pushing her down further into the mire. "Where was I? The mission- ah Bantam, much obliged."

Bantam trotted over with a couple of drab looking metal boxes which appeared like they've seen better days, dented and paint flaking.

"Now then ladies, here's how things are going to go. It's all well and good me telling you you're going back out there to get our money back, but Miss Do has already proven she has absolutely no respect for the binds of her contract." He taunted MD, pulling her by the scruff of her neck up into a semi-standing position. "I could send one of our fine mares or stallions out to accompany you to make sure the job is done, but they've all got better things to do see, that's how come we hired you in the first place. But these, well that's a different story." Swarfega grinned. "Officer Bantam, would you kindly leave me those boxes so I can show our guests here how we keep ponies in line."

Bantam placed the boxes on the floor in front of us, and with a flick of his horn Swarfega unlatched the lids on both of them, turning his attention to me as he did.

"Now, I don't really know who you are so this is nothing personal between me and you, but Miss Do here has proven herself an enemy of the cause. And you see, the friend of my enemy is my enemy."

Swarfega's horn lit up again, and from the inside of the boxes he pulled out two chunky looking metal collars. MD's eyes went wide.

"We've tried the velvet rope, you've had the iron rod, now for the bridle. One of our magitech whizzes modified these, all rigged to go but with a programmable timer. Didn't see much use for them at first, but you know what? I think they'll be perfect for this job. I'm sure I don't have to tell you what they are." He groused. I had no idea what he was talking about, but MD was shaking her head.

"N-no, no no! N-n-not this! I-I can-"

"YOU SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!" Swarfega roared, a sudden and stark departure from his cool and disconnected act. "You had your chance, you have had more than enough time! You do NOT get a say in this! You chose the path you chose, and this is where it got you. Stupid games, stupid prizes! Guards, hold them both please."

I was roughly forced down onto my haunches, magic firmly planting all my hooves to the ground and keeping my head facing dead ahead. I had no idea what was happening.

"Violene tells me that you took our pre-payment straight to the casino, so I'm sure with your winnings you won't have any trouble scraping enough up to pay us back, say, oh I don't know, 750% of your initial fee?" He pondered as MD's eyes went wide. "Now, I'm not unreasonable, I'm not expecting a miracle, a week should be more than enough-"

"A WEEK?? No no, that's no way enough time-"

"You have had MORE than enough FUCKING time. You'll have a fucking week." Swarfega snapped. "A week, 168 hours. I suggest you both make note of the time and get your shit together."

Moving in his sickly glow, the collar passed under my chin. Once it sat at the base of my neck it clamped closed uncomfortably tight and beeped twice. It was heavy and restrictive, cold against my fur.

"All set. They're linked and arcanolocked by the way, so no funny business. One goes, you both go." He smirked, drawing a hoof across his neck. The implication hit me like a ton of bricks and made me feel physically ill. "Oh, and Violene kindly told us where you live, so don't even think about trying anything. A week. Bring back our money and just maybe I'll do something about those collars if you catch me on a good day. GO." Swarfega shouted. The hold around my body released, and I sagged down. MD stumbled, unstable on her hooves. The guards all stood back, smirking and jeering. Now free to move I pulled the gag free of my mouth, gasping.

"M-MD, w-w-what is this? What's happening?" I bleated, tilting my head to try and get a better look at the collar.

"Swarfega you ass, a week is not enough, I-I-I can't possibly-" MD started.

"If you don't like it, you know what the other option is." He replied, once again perched on the crate. "Now, I said GO! Unless you want me to set those things off now."

"Fuck fuck fuck!" MD stammered, panic starting to set in. "Silver we have to go."

"W-what's happening? P-please tell me, I'm scared."

"Not now. Come on, we have to move-agh!" MD was limping, struggling to walk properly after the battering she'd endured.

"What's going on? A-are you alri-"

"SILVER. We're leaving, NOW." She was practically dragging herself back the way we'd been walked in, desperate and laboured, grunting and groaning. "W-we have to get, ack! Out of here."

I was planted to the spot, overwhelmed. Fear, confusion, the almost expectant stares from the sadists in the crowd. Swarfega bridged his forehooves and was staring down his nose at me like I was an idiot. I was frozen.

"SILVER, FUCKING MOVE!" Make Do shouted furiously. I'd not heard that tone from her before, it sort of snapped me out of my stupor. I ran over to her and she led me back through the door. "You move when I tell you to move, understand?" She said, pointedly, as if I was a misbehaving child. "Fucking Swarfega, fucking Red Rein, FUCK."

I followed as she staggered towards an open gate, a guard laughing as we approached. We crossed out of the compound and out into the open, a derelict industrial area that was heavily fortified, maybe the Canter area? MD did not stop, struggling along the potholed road away, swaying and grunting the whole time. My mind was racing, just wanting go put distance between us and what had just happened.

After a little while of running MD started to flag, legs buckling in a plot of open ground, collapsing. "F-fuck, adrenaline's wearing off."

I was too out of breath to reply. I hadn't noticed it until she said it, but I had been running on pure adrenaline too. I wobbled for a moment before falling to my haunches, putting all my weight against what was left of an old power pole, panting and trembling, head pounding, ears ringing.

A few scrapes aside I didn't seem too worse for wear. My temples were throbbing, but I had no way of seeing what condition my head was in, I'd have to take a look later. It felt like everything was where it should be, at least. No missing teeth and ears still present, anyway.

MD was not looking so hot. She was covered small cuts and bruises, battered and blodied, filthy, and her lighter eye was swolen shut. Her whole snout was dark red with blood, trailing down her chin to her chest.

"Stars, are you okay?" I asked. I didn't really know what to say, she obviously wasn't okay.

"F-fucking Violene." MD huffed, spitting. "I can't believe that bitch is working with those pricks!"

"What in Equestria is going on? W-w-what was all of that? What is THIS?!" I asked, pulling at the horribly uncomfortable metal collar. They both beeped in response.

"STOP!!" MD yelp, quickly sitting up. I pulled my hoof away and the beeping stopped. She sighed in relief. "Luna's teats..." She ran her hooves through her mane, breathing in deeply, eyes closed.

"Shit. Shit shit shit!"

"MD please, what in Tartarus is going on?"

"What's going on Silver is that I've seriously fucked us both and if we don't get our shit together we're both going to wind up without a head." She said flatly, if deflated.

"W-w-w-what do you mean 'without a head?'"

"I mean if I don't get those bastards the caps they want when they want these collars are gonna explode and leave both of us absent from the neck up." MD sounded a lot more stern now. "That's what I mean. We need to get to work right now or we're going to... die."

Instantly blank. Sheer blind panic hit me like a tidal wave.

"Look, I know this is-"

"MD get this thing off of me, I don't want to die!" I started desperately pulling at the collar, causing them both to start beeping angrily again.

"SILVER CALM THE FUCK DOWN YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US BOTH!" Make Do roared, grabbing my forehooves and forcing them back down. The beeping again stopped. "Celestia above Silver, they're rigged to blow if you try take them off! We're linked, if you lose your head, I lose mine too."

"C-c-calm d-down‽ Make Do there's a bomb around my neck!" I wheezed, on the brink of hyperventilating. "How the F-FUCK am I supposed to calm down‽"

"Because we're going to take care of it, okay?" She snapped back. "You just need to calm down and let me think for a second!"

"Oh Celestia, I'm going to die, I'm going to die..." I was literally a walking bomb, telling me to calm down wasn't going to cut it.

"Okay, 750%, it was what, 7000 caps? "Okay, okay, we've got seven days all we need is like uh... 53,000 caps. Yeah, 52,500... Shit shit shit shit."

Make Do started breathing heavier, pushing herself up and pacing in a very small circle. I watched her nervously.

"FUCK!" She screamed, bucking the power pole, narrowly missing my head and sending splinters flying. "FUCK THAT'S SO MUCH MONEY!"

I cowered back as ahe continued kicking with apparently scant regard for me. I may not have known her very long, but this was a side to Make Do that up until now I had not seen. Angry and desperate, the pony who so far had been directing me through this grim new world now in an absolute state, lashing out and ultimately directionless by the sounds of things. To both our detriment. This was the first time since the first day I'd first woken up in her home that I felt afraid of her. Not just wary, but scared.

With a final buck the pole gave way, rotten wood snapping and collapsing down between the two of us. I wordlessly looked back and forth between the pole and Make Do. She was panting, head low.

"No, I am not letting those assholes win." She snorted. "Silver, we have work to do. Let's go. And can you get this thing off of my horn?"

I didn't dare move. She glared at me.

"Silver, come on let's go, we don't have time, we have to lose these things in seven days, get a move on."

I studied her for a moment, mind racing, thinking about the time I'd spent with her. I had allowed myself to get close to Make Do by virtue of her being the first pony to find me, but realistically the only reason I was in this horrific mess was all because of her. Could I really trust her to get me out of this when she was the only reason I was involved?

"Silver-"

"No."

"What?"

"No, whatever you're doing, I-I'm not going." I said. "I never asked for any of this, to be here, I'm only here because of you! I only have a bomb around my neck because of you! I'm so scared right now, I don't need you making things any worse." I was angry and afraid, I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. "I never wanted any of this! Why should I go with you after you dragged me into this? I've been kidnapped a-and assaulted! I'M WEARING A BOMB! Oh stars, I'm going to die, I'm actually going to die!"

Make Do grabbed my snout and held my face inches away from hers, not unlike Swarfega had done to her.

"You listen to me Silver. You owe me, okay? I saved your life, I took you in. I helped you out. You ARE only here because of me, if I hadn't have found you, you'd still be rotting in that basement. You're GOING to help me out, or we both die, you understand? There is no other option."

In the time I had spent with her, I had never heard Make Do's voice be so cold. It was a calculated, callous tone with intent behind it. She was unblinking, deadly serious, looking me dead in the eyes, not allowing me to look away, scowling at me through my tears

"You're helping me, or both of us die, is that crystal fucking clear?"

She let go of my face. I stood up, not breaking eye contact. It was like I was talking to a different pony. There was no warmth to her, she barked orders like a bad cop, angry at a situation she'd engineered herself into. I had the same time she did but I didn't know where I was or what to do. I had lost what little equipment I had when I got knocked out. Without her I literally had nothing. I didn't have a choice.

I was too scared to say anything. This was all wrong but I couldn't even begin to express what I was feeling right now. Why was this happening to me?

"Come on, we're going home, we can start there. And help me get this suppresor off." Make Do said, gesturing again to the ring on her horn. "Please don't tell my dad about any of this."

Chapter Six: Playing Fetch

Chapter Six: Playing Fetch

"Beyond the threshold, change for the worse, change nonetheless."

"Okay, so I've turned over everything, found another 5 caps in the workshop, so that brings us tooooo... 233 caps. So that's uh... 52,267 to go."

I could hear her banging around in the kitchen. We had arrived back at Make Do's house about an hour ago, and she'd spent the time simultaneously turning the place upsidedown looking for money and cooking up get rich quick schemes. Mr. Goldwing was not home. I don't know how long it had taken us to get back, it didn't feel like any time at all, but the sky was noticeably darker by the time we got through the door. I was focused on other far more pressing matters, obviously.

I hadn't spoken a word to Make Do since we'd set off. I was terrified, yes, but I was also livid. I hated that she was right, I had less than no chance on my own. Most of all, I hated how vindictive she was about it. I hated how I was now involved by proxy. I wasn't even party to this deal but I was now fatally stuck in the middle of it. I felt used.

I'd not really been helping in the search for 'caps'. This house wasn't mine to look around, these things weren't mine to rifle through. Admittedly it was probably in my best interests to be more involved, but this was Make Do's mess, literally and figuratively. She'd drank a low strength heealing potion and had set about praticallu turning the building upside down, I thought there had to be a better way than desperately searching under furniture. I was more occupied to trying to think of an actual solution, trying my best to block out the sounds of rummaging and the grating tune that the radio was struggling to pump out.

"You find anything Silver?"

I grunted in response.

"Is that a yes or a no?" She poked her head around the corner, eyeing me quizzically. "Are you listening to me Silver? You've not even started looking! I'm not just pissing around here, this is serious!"

I threw up my hooves and started half heartedly rummaging around the bedroom. I don't know what she expected to find squirrelled away in here, but I had strong doubts I was going to find 52,000 caps under the matress.

The song finally faded out to quiet crackles as I randomly flailed my hooves under the bed for any loose bottlecaps that might be tucked away for some reason. If I wasn't already filthy I'd have been upset at dirtying myself with the dust and grime on the ancient floor.

"Good afternoon Baltimare, Glissando here with your on-the-hour-every-hour newscast, and lucky you if we don't have a tape straight from our friend Dorian Flash's with her big announcement, and I gotta tell you folks, this is a doozy. Tremolo can we roll that tape?"

"Hey, turn that up!" Make Do commanded, thumping into the room, jumping over me to reach the device.

"Citizens of Baltimare, thank you for your time, I appreciate each and every one of you." The voice of presumably Dorian Flash played, rich and sonorous, almost intoxicating, even given the grainy and tinny sound quality. I stood up as she spoke, something about her tone reached the depths lf my soul. "As you know I have been calling on your help for years now in finding priceless pieces of historty, and I once again call upon your aid in locating an artifact from times gone by."

MD was transfixed.

"Decades ago, the legendary songstress Octavia Melody created the beautiful music that we still listen to today on a Cello crafted by master luthier Strotivarius even further back in history, going back centuries. After the final day the location of this legendary instrument and indeed the fate of Octavia herself was unknown, but I know if anyone can uncover this lost marvel it'll be the talented and resourceful ponies of our fine city. Obviously I appreciate the lengths that recovering such an item might take, and I'd be remiss to ask this of you all without proper compensation. So, I am excited to announce that the party responsible for this wonderful instrument's veridication and safe arrival at my tower will be rewarded with a sum of one million caps."

The reaction of the crowd was audible, even through the poor sound quality of the abused radio speaker. Make Do herself gasped. I had no idea what the exchange rate of bits to bottle caps would have been, but a million of anything was an insane amount.

"There you have it, folks." The DJ's voice cut back in. "One. MILLION. Caps. Do not adjust your set, you heard right, one million caps. The contest is open to all and starts today, so good luck to all those joining in. On that note, I'm off to check the instrument cases in the studio basement. So to get all you at home into the spirit of things, here's 'Theme For A Prince' by the cellist of the hour, Octavia Melody."

The music started, but I didn't pay it much mind. Make Do stood slack jawed, I could almost see her brain working, I knew exactly what she was going to say. I was skeptical of the whole proposition. This may have been an oddly convenient announcement but realistically this could surely be no better than a lottery.

"A million..." Make Do said to nopony in particular. "Silver, we have to find that cello, it's our only option."

"Oh, okay, sure, let's drop everything and go on some wild goose chase for a decrepit old instrument that probably doesn't even exist anymore." I balked, shaking my head.

"What, you have a better idea?" She snorted. "'Cause that sounds pretty good to me right now, not got a lot of options here."

"We have a week, Make Do, that cello could be anywhere in the country, and that's assuming it wasn't burned up or crushed or rotted or anything!" I yelled. "We have no time, no leads, and no garuentee that the thing wasn't wiped off the planet with the rest of Equestria. Tartarus, the money probably isn't even real. The whole thing sounds like a scam, it's a pipedream!"

"Dorian's good for the money, she's been doing this for years." She countered. "I'm not saying it won't be hard but I don't see any better options! We can do this, we have to."

"Will you listen to yourself?" I snapped, frustrated. "Just think about it for a minute! You're blinded by the money, you're not thinking about anything else! Where would we even start with this? Tartarus, we'd probably be up against hundreds of other gullible desperates doing the exact same thing! Even if we find the cello how in Tartarus would we even know it's the right one? It's a fool's errand! We'd just be wasting what little time we have."

"So what do you suggest then?" Make Do barked back. "I'm hearing a lot of back talk but I've not heard any actual ideas."

"Yes, actually, I do have a better idea! Why don't we just go back and give them what they paid for? You have the data on your PipBuck! This could have been over before it even started-"

"Because I don't want them to have it!" She shouted back, anger quickly returning. "You've seen what those evil fucks are like, do you really want ponies like that to have the ability to turn anypony to stone? And you were the one who wanted to save your friend! You can't have your cake and eat it, Silver."

"If you didn't want them to have it, then why did you even take the job in the first place‽"

"BECAUSE I DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS RED REIN! IF VIOLENE HAD TOLD ME IT WAS THEM I WOULDN'T HAVE TOUCHED IT!" She screamed, huffing for a moment before carrying on. "I don't want that scum anywhere near this spell. Face it, finding that cello is the best option for us and for every other creature in the wasteland."

"If this is the best option we've got then I might as well just off myself now!" I growled. Make Do seemed genuinely a little taken aback by that. "I don't want to be here. I don't want this... this... I don't want any of this!"

"Come on Silver, don't talk like that." Make Do said softly. "Well get through this, okay? I'm your friend-"

"Are you, Make Do? Are you my friend?" I hissed, glaring daggers. "Because it seems to me that I'm just a means to an end to you! A-a-a tool you've invested in to help you out of the direst situation possible!"

"What?"

"'I owe you', remember? I thought you had been helping me out of the goodness of your heart, but it's good to know you were always planning on holding it over me."

"Holding it- Silver we literally both have explosive collars strapped to our necks! I'm sorry if I got heated but we don't have time to be petty here!" She said flatly, instantly dismissing me.

"Petty? You think I'm being petty‽"

"Uh yeah, kinda. I think we both have bigger things to worry about-"

"Make Do, you are literally the only thing I have in this world! I have nothing to my name, no family, no home, not a single damn thing. And apparently I don't really even have you!" I exploded, reaching boiling point. "It really hurt that apparently all I am to you right now is a means to an end. Not only that, but apparently the end I'm being used for is going to find a cello on a lark! I never asked for any of this, but I thought you cared, I thought I had been getting to know you, but you're like a different pony right now. Stars, you're the reason I have this THING around my neck! So don't you dare tell me I'm being petty!"

I sniffled as she stared at me, her mouth hanging open a little, unblinking. The radio continued crackling away as we sat in uncomfortable silence. I glowered as she sat there, almost vacant.

"SAY SOMETHING!"

"L-look, I'm stressed, okay? I-I'm stressed and I'm scared, and I'm sorry you're upset but I'm trying my best to fix this! I'm not selling you out or using you or... I-I'm trying to fix this for both of us! We're not really swimming in options here!"

I eyed her sceptically. She sounded sincere, but nothing she said was really an apology in my eyes, just shifting.

"We are friends. At least I'd like to think we're friends..." She offered.

"Whatever." I sighed, rubbing my eyes. I wasn't convinced but it didn't seem like I was going to get much more out of her. "So, what are we doing then?"

"Look, I'm telling you now there's literally no other way I'm gonna be able to magic up that many caps in seven days. We have to find that Cello. Short of pulling off a heist this is all we have, and Luna knows none of the caravans around here carry that much money."

I stared at the ceiling and exhaled through my nose. Looking for a long forgotten instrument would be like a wild goose chase to find a needle in a haystack, but not knowing much of any other ways to make money this did seem to be the obvious answer, as astronomical a shot as it was. All I really knew was silver smithing, and something told me trying to sell wasteland ponies on jewelry would be nigh on impossible.

The collar felt very heavy around my neck. If this was really our only shot then the outlook was beyond bleak.

"And what you said about not having a lead isn't true." Make Do intoned, interrupting my train of thought. My ears perked up.

"What? How?" I pressed. How in Tartarus would she possibly have a lead on something like this.

"My dad's a big music guy, remember? I know for a fact he has some old tour posters of Octavia's in his room, so I also know for a fact that her last tour took was underway the week the world ended. I'm not saying it's a done deal or anything, but if we're at least on her trail that's gotta be something, right?"

I'll be damned. That actually was something. Not a lot, but something. Obviously still a huge leap of faith, but it would probably still put us ahead of anypony else.

As loathe as I was to admit it, Make Do may have been right. This might just be our best chance to pay off her debt and get these collars removed. Everything had to go right, the odds where infintessimally small that we would find the damn thing, but with the time we had and my lack of worldly experience, I think this may have been our only shot. I sighed a long sigh, eyes closed, processing.

"Okay." I borderline whispered. "Fine, we'll do it your way. I'm not happy, but I'll do it."

I was able to watch the tension leave Make Do as the words left my mouth. "Good. I'll go grab the poster, we can gather up supplies and head out once we know where we're going."

She hurried out of the room, crashing through the rest of the building.

Celestia I hoped she was right about this.

The closest town within the timeframe was Dodge Junction. It was an old railway terminus town, if I remember right from the news it was a big manufacturing town producing a lot of goods for the war effort. According to the poster Octavia's show was to be the 'recently completed' Jubilee Hippodrome's debut performance. Go figure.

By Make Do's reckoning Dodge Junction was about a day and a half away on hoof. Assuming the cello was there, and everything went to plan the whole trip should take a little over three days. If not, well the next closest town was Ponyville, another day and a half trot from Dodge. Getting back would be cutting it very close. And if it wasn't there either...

Make Do had gone about gathering supplies. She had thrown a large saddlebag on the kitchen floor and was flitting room to room, haphazardly piling things into it. Food, ammo, bandages. She'd dug out a old replacement revolver for me, which I was in the middle of cleaning the grip of. If something was going to be in my mouth, it's going to at least be clean. It was heavier than the one Mr. Golding had given me, and in nowhere near as nice shape, but it was all I had.

Make Do had also made me a new rain hood from an old tarp, as it was once again hammering it down outside. She'd even gone as far to make us both very makeshift scarves to cover our collars 'so that nopony mistakes us for escaped slaves', which is a sentence I really didn't want to think about too much.

I'd made a sort of rudimentary webbing out of a roll of old fabric, since Make Do only had the one bag. It really wasn't much, but I'd at least managed to strap a spare bedroll to my side and make a very basic holster for my right foreleg. If there'a one thing I did pick up from the Filly Guides, it was how to tie a knot. I didn't want to have to use the gun, but it was probably better to have easy access. I'd stuffed the pockets of my suit full of spare bullets, just in case.

Truth be told, I was dreading the journey. I was a city mare, I wasn't built for hikes. I knew it was something I would have to get used to, but I was less than excites for a multi-day trudge through the rain.

Make Do at least didn't seem too worried. She had set a map marker on her PipBuck so we'd at least know where we were going and had been kind of talking to herself while getting ready, mostly mumbling about projected timeframes and meeting Dorian. There was no logic to how she was packing the bag, she was just tossing things in there. I knew that time was very much of the essence, but I also couldn't help but think the time she might be saving now wouldn't be worth the ordeal of trying to look through the bag later. I didn't say anything, though.

Pushing the bag closed with her magic, Make Do threw the bag over her back. I wasn't sure exactly where all these weapons had been stashed, but she even had a replacement shotgun, which truth be told did make me feel a little bit more comfortable about heading out into the wastes. By Celestia's grace I hoped we wouldn't need it, though.

Satisfied, she pulled down her hood.

"Okay, this is it. Ready to go?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." I took a deep breath and prepared myself.

"Alright alright. You head out, I just wanna do one last thing." She said, trotting to the table.

I made my way to the door and nudged it open, standing in the frame as the rain came down in sheets. Wonderful.

I looked back to see Make Do leaving a note on the table before she turned and trotted through the door, nodding forwards.

"Come on Silver, Let's get this show on the road."

Hi Dad!

I'm out running some errands, please don't worry! I'll be home in a few days!

Love you loads!
Your little Mender

The route to Dodge Junction was apparently a fairly well travelled road. Well, strictly speaking there wasn't much of an actual road per se, but a well trodden path across the barren land, through woods and ruined subbirbs. It made for a more 'as the crow flies' journey between the towns. Trade caravans made the trip between towns pretty regularly, so there was quite a well established route to follow. From what I understood the roads were in worse shape here in Baltimare than they were around Dodge Junction, so it made sense here at least.

I'd lived in Baltimare for a few years before the experiment, but it was kind of strange cutting through the outskirts, even in the state they were in now. This was a part of town that I'd never usually find myself in. Rows of homes intersected by stretches of empty fields, occasional energy substations, the burned out wrecks of caravans and wagons. Most of it looked like how I guessed it did the day the megaspells first went off, give or take a couple of centuries of decay. At least parts of Baltimare, from what I'd seen anyway, had been cleaned, rebuilt, an attempt was being made at moving forward. But here? No pony lived here, just passed through. Purgatory.

Carts still sat outside homes, mailboxes stood open, garden gates swung in the breeze. Most of the buildings, though showing their age, seemed in a lot better shape than those closer to the centre of town. If it wasn't for the charring and wear to everything it'd almost be like everypony just disappeared one day. I guess they kind of did, really.

It had been raining intermittently on and off since we'd left. This was the whole sad Earth thing all over again. I knew things had changed, but I couldn't believe that not a single Pegasus was even making an attempt at taming the wild weather! Come to the of it, I'd not actually seen a pegasus since I left the facility. Bat Pony yes, Pegasus no. Funny.

Though to be fair, the weather as it was wasn't all too dissimilar to Trottingham, even when Pegasi were taking care of things.

By this point we'd been making a steady pace for a couple of hours. We'd left behind the suburbs and were walking the grey plains, following the path as it lead us towards distant woods. We'd passed a couple of ponies heading the other way, a trader and his caravan, but apart from that it had been just us and the sound of the rain.

Well, for me at least. Make Do had her PipBuck's ear bloom in and had been listening to the radio, if the bopping of her head was anything to go by. We still hadn't really talked all that much.

Off on the horizon I could see the tree line. Black, dead, twisted monsters, dense as anything. If I squinted I could swear I could see the odd living leaf or bloom trying to poke out. The trade route went veered off here —carts wouldn't he able to navigate the roots— but judging by the desire line we were gar from the only ponies to carry on through the woods. Male Do said it should save us half a day's travel, and we needed all the time we could get. From there it should just be a case of following the old road network straight to Dodge City. Sounded simple enough.

A flock of birds sprang out of the forest canopy, heading out to Celestia knows, cutting a stark shape across the skyline, silhouetted even against the dark clouds.

The plan was to camp out for the night once we got far enough into the woods. Make Do reasoned it'd be easier to find dry ground and shelter from the rain, and also give us a place to hide from anything unsavory that might cross our paths. I'd never really been one for camping, not even in my Filly Scout days, but it was only for a few nights. I'd just have to make do.

Ha.

We wordlessly trudged along the soggy path. I was thankful for my rain hood and jumpsuit, but my legs were totally soaked and my hooves were caked with mud. I was already looking forward to settling down the the forest for the night to clean myself up if nothing else. None of this seemed to bother Make Do, but I supposed it wouldn't, this was the everyday for her. I'd just be glad to be walking on paving again. Thankfully as we drew closer to the treeline the rain did begin to let up a little, going from a downpour to more of a drizzle. Even so, the sky only grew darker as daylight began to give way to evening.

The woods were more intimidating up close. Dark and packed, dead trees intertwined making a hideous spectre of dead limbs. Birds called out from the depths, branches creaked and swayed in the wind. It was like it was telling us to keep away, like the landscape itself was hostile. If Make Do felt the same she certainly didn't show it, she was still happily trotting, occasionally whistling a tune as we went. That was a good sign of confidence, I think. Besides she's made this trip before, she knows what we're getting into, right?

Did she say she had made this trip before?

"Hey, Make Do?"

She didn't answer with words, but threw her head backwards over her shoulder to look at me. It would have been endearing if I wasn't still upset with her.

"You've done this trip before, right?"

"Oh yeah, sure. Maybe twice? Definitely once." She answered. "To New Dodge at least. Five years ago give or take?"

Oh, fantastic. She's been near it half a decade ago.

"Great."

"New Dodge is really close to Dodge Junction, should only be like an hour or two from New Dodge? Once we're over the river it should be pretty smooth sailing until the outskirts, the roads are all still mostly there."

Well, if she kind of knew what she was doing that was better than nothing I suppose. And she did have a PipBuck telling us where to go.

Was I being unfair? She was probably doing her best given the situation after all. I couldn't really ask for much more. I'd certainly not be doing any better if the roles were reversed. But also we'd not be in this situation at all if the roles were reversed...

Though if I had owed money to shady organisations I probably wouldn't get anypony else involved. I pondered the extra weight around my neck for a moment. Who does this to ponies?

This train of thought wasn't going anywhere. I was still stung by Make Do's words.

The plains gave way to sickly looking shrubs, dead leaves and dirty ground bleeding into the woods. The well trodden route we followed taking the path of least resistance through the trees. Some were clinging to life but most were dead. Having said that, it still seemed awfully dark given the lack of any real canopy.

Twigs gave way under our hooves, black and brown leaves danced in the breeze. The call of distant birds and buzzing insects filled the air, bouncing off the trunks surrounding us. It was like walking in the woods in the dead of winter, minus the biting cold.

How farming worked without a weather schedule was beyond me. Maybe that's why most of what I'd seen was such a mess, you can hardly rebuild if the sky decides to tear everything down again on a whim.

The path meandered around trees and stumps, scragly bushes and rotted trunks. A couple of bird skeletons sat sadly in a twisted mess of roots not far off the track. Cobwebs and long dead ivy dangled from the branches, slowly ebbing back and forth.

"Damn it, lost the signal, trees must be fucking with it." Make Do said, pulling the bloom from her ear.

"Ah that's a shame, Celestia forbid you don't have an excuse not to interact with me." I rolled my eyes, not that she was looking.

"Hey, I wasn't using it as an excuse! I was keeping up to date with the news, that's important!" She retorted. "Besides, it doesn't really seem like you want to talk all that much right now..."

I didn't reply to that. She wasn't entirely wrong, I was content to linger in my own anger for the moment.

"Are you still mad at me?" Make Do asked. I heaved a heavy sigh.

"Yes, Make Do. I am still mad at you. I am very mad at you."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I just... I'm sorry." I could see her ears splay out under her hood.

"What are you sorry for, Make Do? Are you sorry for guilt tripping me here? Are you sorry for acting being so irresponsible? Are you dorry for getting me turned into a walking bomb?"

"Well, I guess uh, kinda, sorta, all of those?"

"It's not an apology if I have to tell you what you're apologising for."

"I'm sorry, alright! I'm bad at this sort of thing-"

"Clearly."

"I panicked, okay? I was scared shitless and I panicked. I was angry at myself for fucking up this badly, and I guess I have a bit of my Dad's mean streak." She explained. "I'm sorry I blew up at you, but I need you, and you said you weren't gonna help me. If you didn't help then we'd both be as good as dead..."

She sort of trailed off for a minute.

"Were you really leave?" She asked quietly.

That gave me food for thought. Was I actually prepared to leave, to not help her out of this? Up until that point she really had been nothing but kind and accomodating, for the most part at least. She'd saved me from some beyond dire situations and never really asked for anything in return. Did I mean what I said or was I just running on pure panic just like she was?

Probably panic.

"I don't know." I answered. "I don't know what I would have done, I was scared. I am scared."

"I'm scared too." She borderline whispered. "I'm glad you're here, Silver."

The conversation petered out and we carried on in silence, albeit a slightly more comfortable one.

The deeper into the woods we got the path seemed to disperse. I guess nopony stuck to the same route once they were in here. Roots stuck up out of the ground, pits and long abandoned animal burrows dotted the ground, catching me off guard once or twice. Occasionally we'd pass some graffiti carved into the bark of the trees. Names of ponies on the same journey we were on, couples initials in hearts, dates. It was a reminder that we weren't really alone, certainly not as alone as it felt. Trade still happened, ponies still travelled, this world was still clinging to life.

The longer we walked the darker it got. The sun had passed below the horizon now, and with the cloud cover natural light was getting low fast. It was already a bit tricky to navigate, but it felt like I was stumbling more and more as I could see less and less in front of me.

"We should probably find somewhere to camp soon." MD suggested. I had no qualms with that.

She'd lit up the torch function on her PipBuck, so at least we weren't walking totally blind. The trees played with the light in strange ways, casting long shadows that seemed to move around us. The drone of insect wings was getting louder the further in we got.

MD suddenly thrust a foreleg out infront of me, both of us coming to a complete halt. She surveyed the area ahead with a steely gaze, looking out into the middle distance. She turned to me and put a hoof up to her lips, miming a shush, before taking my pistol in her magic aura and aiming it out. I folded my ears flat to deaden the inevitable bangs.

Sure enough, two shots cracked out in quick succession, followed by the sound of something splatting and retreating buzzing.

"Bloatsprites." She said, putting my gun back in it's holster. "Nailed the biggest two, scared the rest off. For now, at least."

MD closed the distance to the dead bugs, I followed close behind her. A rancid smell became more and more apparent the closer we pressed.

"Well, that'll be that." Illuminated by the glow of her PipBuck screen was the fetid, rotten, half eaten corpse of a Radhog, the ground below it sullied with old blood and mystery fluids. "Little shits were gorging themselves."

"That's lovely." I replied, trying hard not to gag. "Can we possibly go literally anywhere else?"

"Yeah, probably a good idea. Best be wary though, I don't think the Bloatsprites killed that hog."

"There's something else here?" I hissed, now very alarmed.

"Most likely, never seen a Bloatsprite with insicors the length of my horn." MD snorted, crouched low to the body. "Might be a good idea to find somewhere not so out in the open to sleep tonight. Come on, let's go."

We carried along as the ground under our hooves started to become almost unwalkable, not helped by the fact that I could hardly see where I was stepping. If I thought it was bad before, walking here was positively gnarly. Nothing had been beaten into submission by the constant wear of hooves, it was ever changing and never level, an actual struggle to get across. I was following MD blindly, if I lost track of her I'd have no idea where I was, and being lost in the woods, alone in the dark, was not my idea of a good time. Thank the stars for that silly little light of hers.

After a few minutes of stumbling MD came to a halt, causing me to bump into her rump. She was lighting up a particularly large tree ahead of us. "Hey, up there, check it out." My eyes strained to see as the sickly glow struggled to properly light up what I was looking at. At some point, somebody had nailed down a load of planks between branches to create a platform, and an old tarp fluttered in the breeze above it as an improvised roof.

"Up there? Is it... is that safe?"

A low, distant and perfectly timed howl answered me very well. My fur stood on end as it sounded loud and clear through the trees.

"Beats finding out whatever that is. Come on, help me find a way up." MD said.

I did not need to be told twice. We circled the base of the tree looking for a rope, a ladder, some way to get up. No dice. The platform was a good 40 hands off the ground, way too high to leap up from. There weren't even any low hanging branches to climb. I sat on mu haunches as MD continued to poke around. A chilly breeze danced across my neck, making me shiver.

"MD I don't think we can get up, shouldn't we keep going?" I was wary of staying put too long, lest whatever was out there find us.

"Hold up, I have an idea!" She replied, trotting away from the tree and to the base of another.

This one had fallen at some point over the years, leaning precariously against it's still standing companions. The top had torn away from the trunk, leaving it smooth and ramp like, ending in a splintered point. MD clambered to stand on top of the toppled plant, walking deliberately to it's end, a point that stood just about level with the platform, if a not insignificant distance from it.

She was going to try to jump!

"I don't think that's a good idea!" I intoned. I was not in a position to take the lead if she hurt herself, we'd both be as good as dead.

She took a hoofful of steps back, her hooves sliding on the damp bark. Stopping for just a moment, she tensed and began a very short gallop to the top. It wasn't the most graceful leap I'd ever seen in my life but it worked. She landed on the platform with a loud thud, the tree groaned as the inertia and new weight exerted itself, but ultimately held steady. MD slipped a little on the landing but managed to avoid wiping out completely. Finding steady footing, she dumped the bag off her back and exhaled.

"See, no sweat!" She chimed. "Now come on up, it's actually pretty dry up here, I'll get us some food ready."

My stomach rumbled. I hadn't eaten anything since that delicious omelette this morning, and thay didn't even feel like it was the same day any more. I glanced between the fallen tree and MD up on the platform. If she could do it, I could do it. Probably.

Was I really being baited by food? Deep down was I really no better than a trout?

I climbed tentatively up the trunk. It was wet, but the texture was still pretty grippy. I slinked up to the end, where I couldn't help but look down to the ground. It felt like a lot more than 40 hands from up here, the ground below seemed so dark and far away. I could really do without breaking a leg this early into our journey.

"Hey, you'll catch me, right?" I asked.

"Huh?" MD replied, looking up from the bag.

"When I jump, you'll catch me, yeah?"

"Oh, uh, sure." She said, getting up walking to the edge. "You can make it though, it's not as far as you think."

Easy for her to say.

I slowly shimmied back down towards the roots, in my head working out the flattest places for my hooves to go, coming to a stop once I felt the dead trunk flare out against my frog, there was no more space to go back.

I was not an athletic mare, but if MD did it then why shouldn't I be able to? I was sturdy, I was an Earth pony for Celestia's sake! I could do this.

I steeled myself, stared dead ahead, and galloped as fast as I could on a surface this unergonomic. The end approached much sooner than I was expecting, and I put as much force as I could into my hind legs, sending me up into the air.

I must have been airborne for only a fraction of a second before it became obvious that I wasn't going to stick the landing. I was sinking far quicker than I was closing the distance. My legs started windmilling as if it would have made a difference. The whole tree shuddered as I hit the side of the platform chest first, instantly knocking all the air out of my lungs. I scrambled for purchase with my forehooves as my hind half carried on it's momentum, swinging me under and threatening to drag me off all together.

"Help me!" I managed to breathlessly gasp, trying to claw my way up.

"I'm trying!" MD shouted, taking both my forehooves in hers and pushing by underside up in her magic aura.

After a bit more struggle I was firmly topside, scrunched up into a little ball and sucking in all the air I could, but not so much as to make my freshly impacted ribs feel like they were exploding. It was a fine art that I had not mastered in the slightest. Make Do flopped down beside me, panting lightly.

"Luna's tits you're heavy, Silver."

"Hey! I'm- an- Earth- pony. I'm not- heavy, I'm sturdy." I wheezed.

I was not that heavy. I was just built bigger than her.

"Anything you say." She huffed. "I'm gonna grab us some food, feel free to join me once you've finished cradling your ribcage."

MD carried on searching through the bag, struggling to find exactly what she was looking for, just as I'd thought. I couldn't help but feel a little vindication through the throbbing of my chest. I held my legs to my barrel, trying to soothe the pain as best I could. I would certainly be feeling it in the morning.

But right now, my stomach was rumbling. I tentatively extended my legs, slowly getting into a standing position. Where my legs met my barrel was protesting, but it was manageable.

MD was half tucked into an unfurled bed roll, poking at a can of something with a fork.

"I'd start a campfire, but probably not the best idea given we're standing up a tree." She said, mid chew. She floated the can over to me, it was a positively ancient container of steamed kelp. "Want some?"

I wasn't a big fan of kelp at the best of times, but beggars can't be choosers. I just didn't have anything to eat it with.

"Got another fork in there for me?"

"Nah, probably not, sorry. You can use mine though!"

I grimaced internally. This had been in her mouth. A gun I'd cleaned was one thing, but this had literally been in her mouth less than 30 seconds ago.

My stomach growled again. Beggars can't be choosers. I didn't really help her pack either, so I'd kind of made my own bed there. I'm sure using another pony's fork was far from the worst thing to ever happen. At least it wasn't Lugworm again. I stabbed a portion on the fork and put it in my mouth. It was cold, salty and slimy, almost tasteless but not enough to not be blandly agreeable. Still, it was edible at least, at the end of the day that was really all that should matter.

A fairly large canteen sat between us. I made sure I'd swallowed all my food before taking a swig. Nopony needs backwash.

"Maybe in the morning you can forage us some breakfast, put your skills to the test!" MD chimed. I murmured in agreement.

We passed the food and water between us for a little while until the can was empty. The sharp pain in my barrel had started to shift to an ever-present dull ache for the time being. It was quiet again, and it had only now just set in how physically exhausted I was. It was nice to have a moment to wind down.

The sky was dark now, the hazy grey light of day having given way to the blanket shadow of night. I couldn't see very far beyond our immediate surroundings.

"So, is it cool if you keep watching first?" MD asked, idly picking her teeth with a twig.

"Keep watch?"

"You know, be the lookout, while I sleep anyway. Then I'll take over." She explained. "We're still on the clock here so I wanna get back on the move ASAP. Probably be light enough a little after dawn."

"Uh, sure, okay. Given everything that's happened today I don't think I'd be able to sleep anyway." I replied. My hoof went to nervously poke at the collar before I realised that that would not be the best idea.

"You ever keep lookout before?"

"No, I've never really been camping much before, to be honest."

"It's okay, it's not so hard. You just gotta keep an eye out for any nasties, if anything gets too close just wake me up." She explained. "I'd go on shift first, but since you've got two good eyes I figure you'd see more than I can when it's this dark."

"'Two good eyes'?"

"Two's better than one." She said, pointing to her paler, milkier coloured eye. "This baby's is just for show."

I'd not really paid it any mind after we first met. Her left eye was a very faint blue, a stark contrast to the vibrant red of her right one.

"Really? I just assumed you had Heterochromia!"

"Hetter-what now?"

"Nevermind." I said, shaking my head slightly. Truth be told I only knew what it was called because my friend Noite's cat had it too. "You're really blind in one eye?"

"More like three quarters of an eye. I can tell light from dark, but anything more than that is just a kinda shapeless blob."

"Well, I never would have guessed, it doesn't seem to effect you at all!"

"Nah, when you've lived with it for this long you pick up a few tricks. Like did you notice every time we've been out together I've tried to stay on your right? 'Cause I might not be able to see anything trying to flank us from the left, but you can."

I hadn't noticed, but now that she mentioned it she did always seem to be slightly ahead of me and to the right.

"That's actually really clever."

"I wish I could say it was my idea, but having a tactician for a Dad really helped figuring stuff like that out." She explained. "Or like only ever using the ear bloom in my right ear. The only thing I worked out by myself was to not rely on EFS too much, really. Dad probably would have told me that one too, except he never had one of these."

She lifted the leg her PipBuck was fitted on in demonstration, blasting me with light for a second.

"EFS?"

"It's sorta like a targeting compass I guess. Tells me the direction something alive is in and whether it thinks it wants to hurt me. Actually should probably turn the light off, don't want to attract any more bugs." She elaborated, fiddling with the device until the screen went dim, plunging us into almost pitch black.

"That actually sounds like it'd be really helpful."

"Oh sure, it is when it's working right, maybe like 55% of the time." She huffed. "Remeber when I said the write port on this thing is busted? A lot of this thing is busted. You're s'possed to get them serviced every couple of years, but this one's not been touched since I left the stable. Give it another five or ten and it'll probably be as good as useless."

I remember seeing PipBucks being advertised as some kind of do-all wonder device, it was a little strange to hear just how fallible they actually where.

MD used the lull in the conversation to get herself comfy in her bedroll, removing her jacket and the scarf around the collar. I hadn't noticed it before, but it had a countdown timer on the side, emailing a dull, low, orange glow.

I gulped. I could not afford to forget why we were on this journey in the first place.

She fidgeted with her PipBuck for a moment before settling herself inside the cover.

"I've set an alarm for 1am, you keep watch for me 'til then and I'll tag you out, hopefully we can both get some rest. Sunrise should be like 5, so we'll try and leave a little before then. Sound good?"

"Alright, I can do that." I confirmed. It wasn't like I'd never done a night shift before.

"Awesome, I'll see you in few hours. You got this!"

She hunkered down, leaving me to survey our surroundings. Or at least what I could make out. The moonlight wasn't penetrating the cloud cover much at all, and now that MD's PipBuck light was out, this really was advanced darkness. I don't think I could see much further than a few trees distance in any direction. At least we had the high ground, though. But for the moment there wasn't much going on. The occasional fly buzzed past, the unanswered hoot of an owl sounded out, crickets chirped and the wind whistled through branches. All I could do was stay alert as best as I could and hoped everything stayed uneventful.

At that point it dawned on me that I didn't have any way of keeping track of the time, which would make it really hard to track how long I'd have left on my shift. Maybe that was for the best, the time would probably drag less if I wasn't counting it down.

I didn't have much else to do but think. How had I not noticed that MD was partially blind? Was I really that self absorbed? I didn't like to think so, but I'd been around her for weeks. In my defence, though, I think it'd be fair to say that I'd been going through a lot, my mind had been elsewhere.

Mr. Goldwing, was a tactician, whatever that entailed. Maybe he was in the army or security for hire or something. That would explain all the armour and weapons in their house at least. And why she left it to him to teach me to shoot. If what she said about his mean streak was true though, I was glad I hadn't seen it. Or I guess seen that much of it. MD seemed pretty keen for him not to find out what was going on, but there's no telling what he'd be like if he found out his daughter was a walking bomb.

I thought about them for a moment. If he rescued her as a filly then they'd been together for a while. Anytime I'd seen the two of them together he certainly seemed to have a lot of love for her. A lot more warmth than he had for me anyway. I could hardly fault him for that though, to him I was basically nothing more than a stranger who'd appeared at his house and was eating his food. Tartarus, he'd probably killed to earn that.

Now that was a scary thought. It hadn't really crossed my mind before that there would be people out for blood as well as mutant fauna. I'm sure Mr. Goldwing had seen and maybe even done unspeakable things. Swarfega was certainly prepared to kill us, even if by sick proxy. The raiders who attacked MD's stable basically committed mass murder, hay, I'd killed something! Not anything sentient, granted, but my point still stood. Violence seemed to thrive here.

Had MD killed anything sentient? She'd been surviving here a lot longer than me.

Would it change anything if she had?

There were really bad ponies about, dangerous ponies. Dangerous creatures. How much can I really fault somepony for coming out on top in a fight for survival?

Could I kill a pony if push came to shove?

My brain was whirring. I scanned the treeline. A distant low roar sounded out, and a breeze rattled the trees. I shivered a little as it blew across my shoulders. I shifted my weight and laid down on belly to give my legs a rest, slowly and gently to not make the pain in my ribs any worse, pulling my legs in for warmth.

I carried on my watch.

"Silver."

"SILVER!"

An urgent shaking roused me. MD's face was almost pressed against mine, eyes wide. I instinctively went to yelp, but she pressed a hoof to my mouth, miming 'shhhh' with the other.

Branches cracked and broke below and MD snapped away. She was holding her shotgun in her aura, magic quietly shimmering. She looked back and forth between me and the ground, Stonehaven.

Now very alarmed, I leant to peer over the edge, body protesting. A tree near us creaked, lumbering steps rumbling around us. My heart rate went up. It was still too dark to make anything out in great detail, but circling around us was a very large and gnarly looking bear, pale skin just barely visible through patchy fur.

I inhaled sharply, looking to MD. She met my eyes briefly before flitting back to the creature.

It's nose was in the air, loudly sniffing and snorting. It smelled us, it must have, but hadn't found us yet. The beast growled, heaving steps shaking the forest around us. I reached for my pistol as quietly as I could. It swung it's head around, trying to pinpoint our location.

It was huge, easily four or five times my size, maybe six. We wouldn't stand a chance.

MD spared me a quick glance. She pointed at her eyes, then to me, then to the bear. I nodded. She gently put her gun down and slinked over to the still open saddlebag, leaving my peripheral vision. I didn't dare look away from the bear, tracking it as it lumbered closer to out tree.

The closer I got the more I could see. Like the other animals I'd seen so far it was horribly deformed, it's back was lined with strange lumps and rumors, and it's claws were enourmous, five jagged spikes sticking out of each paw, gouging the muddy ground as it strode.

It snorted, mindlessly snarling as it pointed it's nose towards us. I crept back from the edge, desperately hoping it wouldn't spot me.

MD closed back towards the edge carrying a couple of cans. She tore the ring pulls away from both with her aura, leaving the lids curled open but still attached. She took one in a hoof, twisted her barrel around and hurled it as hard as she could. It sailed into the void, darkness consuming it not long after release. It brushed by twigs and ultimately clanged to a halt some unknown distance away. The bears ears perked up and it turned to face the direction of the sound. MD launched the second can, throwing this one higher, arcing further up until it to crashed into something far off.

The bear grunted and sniffed the air. I silently willed it to leave, jaw clenched. Finally, with a roar, the bear departed for the direction of the cans.

We watched it trudge off into the night, leaving only a trail of massive pawprints and a train of spittle and broken branches. My heart was pounding out of my chest, I didn't dare move until I couldn't hear it's footfall anymore. The crunching eventually faded into the distance and out of earshot. I slowly exhaled out of my nose, folding in on myself. None of this could be good for my heart, I was going to be scared into an early death at this rate. I exhaled, tension leaving my body.

MD was frowning in the direction the bear went in, left ear still pointed towards it as her right ear flicked and scanned all around. I'd heard that blind ponies had better hearing to compensate for their lack of vision, I wondered if that would apply to her too, if only a little.

She was tense for a while longer, then she slouched, ears relaxing.

The slouch did not last long at all. It couldn't have been more than a couple of seconds before she shot me the dirtiest look, boring right into me, and getting right back up in my face.

"You were meant to be on watch, Silver! Why the fuck am I waking YOU up?" She hissed.

I didn't have an answer, I didn't even remember falling asleep!

"Do you know what a Fibanda that big would've done to us?" She practically seethed, jabbing a hoof into my chest. "Stars above there'd be nothing left except fucking bones!"

"I-I-I messed up! I don't know what happened, I'm sorry!" I whispered back. I really didn't know what happened, I was keeping watch just fine earlier, I hadn't even been that tired!

"Yeah you fucked up, what if I didn't wake up in time? I need you to be on point Silver, this is life or death, we're not fucking playing around here!"

I shrank away from her. I messed up, I was sorry, what was I meant to do?

"You need to buck up, because next time we might not have the height advantage and it might not be a wild animal. Understand me?"

I nodded, a little teary eyed. I felt like foal being scolded. MD deflated a little and looked back out to where the 'Fibanda' had gone.

"Well, so much for tomorrow's rations." She sighed. "Hopefully it'll just move on once it's done with them."

She gave me a pointed, steely stare.

"I'm sorry." I repeated. It was all I could do, really.

"Don't let it happen again, okay? Just, there's no way we can do this thing if we're not on the ball."

Sniffing, I nodded again.

It really was lucky MD did wake up. I shuddered to think how differently things might have gone otherwise. That thing was looking for us, I could see it from it's face.

MD ran a hoof through her mane, making it stick up at funny angles.

"Go back to sleep, Silver. It's almost time to swap anyway." MD suggested. Not really knowing what I could do otherwise, I climbed into my bedroll. "And you're DEFINITELY foraging breakfast tomorrow."

I couldn't argue with that.

The rustle of fabric and the sound of a zip had woken me up, MD had been packing up, getting ready to move on. It wasn't quite sunrise yet, but I could tell it would be soon. There were actually some breaks in the cloud cover, letting skant few streaks of dark azure sky peek through, a few stuborn stars still dotted around. I'd packed up quickly soon after and we'd carried on our way to Dodge. Getting down from the platform had been a lot easier than getting up to it, as it turned out. We were able to just lower ourselves down from the edge, saving any more drama. Saving ME any more drama, realistically.

We'd fallen into a bit of a tense quiet again as we trotted, roles almost reversed from yesterday. I could tell she was in a bad mood, not that it was unjustified. We were definitely moving at a more brisk pace than yesterday. That thing's pawprints were still embossed all over. Each one was about the size of my head.

For my part, I did at least manage to scrounge up a hoofful of Mutfruits to keep us going, hopefully proving I wasn't entirely a liability. Being an Earth pony I couldn't really eat on the go, but I jammed some in my pockets for later. I'd really need to get a saddlebag at some point as my suit's storage was pretty much at capacity now. Eating on the go wasn't really an issue for MD though, being a unicorn. She was idly chewing as we walked.

Almost like the opposite of yesterday, the further we travelled the less dense the woods seemed to get, space between plants opening up and making for a much less claustrophobic trot. In the daylight I was able to make out signs of life, too. Flocks of small birds, slowly encroaching moss, mushrooms that may or may not have been deadly, baby plant shoots fighting their way out of the ground. Even a couple of rabbits at one point, hopping away upon spotting us. Despite everything, this place was still fighting and alive. Maybe not thriving, but certainly not down and out. That could only be a good thing

I was behind her and to the left again. After what she'd explained yesterday I couldn't help but notice that it was the formation we'd defaulted to.

It was a long walk in silence, and it wasn't nice at all knowing somepony was upset at you. I can only imagine she'd felt the same way about how I was acting for most of yesterday. It took getting over myself to remember that she is in fact generally very pleasant. I still think I was justified in being upset, but it didn't make it nice. I supposed I was my turn to apologise properly.

"Hey MD, I'm sorry about last night." I started. She threw her head back over her shoulder at me. "I think I was just a lot more tired than I thought, and I didn't catch myself falling asleep. I didn't mean to, but I'm sorry that I did."

"Okay, apology accepted." MD replied. "Just please don't let it happen again? The wastes are really dangerous, especially at night. Anything could creep up on us."

"Wait, really? Just like that?"

"Yeah, sure, why not?" She answered, a little confusion colouring her voice. "I trust you. Should I not be forgiving you?"

"No, it's just... thank you." I smiled, relieved.

I felt a lot better for saying my bit. In retrospect, I don't think I'd been my best for the last couple of weeks. Granted, I had incredibly valid reasons for not quite being myself, waking up to literal armageddon was a lot to deal with, but none of that was Make Do's fault. She didn't have to take me in or try to guide me through any of this, but she did. She might have had her own demons to deal with too, but who among us didn't. It was just bad luck that I got tangled up in it. I think where it counted, she was a good pony. A little immature maybe, but a pony trying her best.

It was easy to forget that she was younger that me. I didn't actually know how much older I was than her, but I had to guess a good few years. I'd be lying if I said I didn't make mistakes when I was younger. Of course, the mistakes I was making were more like sneaking out late to go drinking with my friends or not doing my assignments, a lot less violent, a lot lower stakes, easier solutions. But hay, I also wasn't worried about being attacked in my sleep or where my next meal was going to come from. I don't know if I'd have done what she did, but who's to say really. Everypony gets to be young and dumb once.

"Hey, MD?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you win anything at the casino?"

"Oh yeah, sure, a whole bunch at first. I'm wicked at blackjack."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm, dad taught me to play with some of his platoon, real hotshots. Didn't feel like a big deal after playing with those guys."

"So what happened?"

"So I've never been in a casino before right? I'm playing, I'm winning, and then the dealer asks me to leave the table for some reason? Like I'd won too much or something?"

Ah, her first mistake, thinking a casino would let her win.

"But whatever," she continued, "I'm having fun, I play some slots, check out the entertainment, buy a few drinks, I'm having a party right until I get up to the roulette table."

"Did you go all in?"

"Everything on 14, my lucky number." She confirmed, nodding. "Not lucky that night though."

"Ouch, how much did you lose?"

"Something to the tune of 10k. Eh, say lavee."

I snorted at that. "It's 'C'est la vie'."

"Huh?"

"C'est la vie, it's Prench, it means 'that's life'." I explained, smirking.

"Serious? I thought it was just something ponies said when shit happened."

"It pretty much is, to be fair. It's like a fatalist thing."

"What, fatal like killing?" She asked, head tilted in confusion.

"Not really. It doesn't matter." I didn't really fancy explaining fatalism this early in the morning, especially since I was hardly a philosophy expert. "Anyway, the casino?"

"Oh, right." She carried on. "Don't remeber exactly what it landed on but I lost. Dealer took all my caps but to be honest I was kinda too drunk to care by then. Figured at least I was having a good time, for all the good that's done me... anyway, stumbled home, tried to do the job, found you and, uh, here we are."

It sounded to me like she'd been played hook, line and sinker.

"Well look, if you ever go back, quit while you're ahead next time. Those places thrive on ponies pushing their luck."

"Eh, I don't know, I've heard 99% of gamblers quit tight before they win big." She joked, poking her tongue out.

Seemed her spirits weren't too dampened by our whole ordeal.

We carried on.

The sky had been getting brighter, I could see the sun coming up through columns of trees way out on the horizon. The splash of orange was a sight for sore eyes, I felt like everything had been grey and brown up until now. It was hopeful. Through the branches I could see the blue above, still cloud splattered but more clear than I'd seen since I'd left the Hub.

It had felt like ages since I woke up in that booth in the basement of the hub, but looking back on it it can't have been much longer than a week, I think.

Was that right? It didn't feel right. Everything had sort of just blurred together, time had sort of lost meaning to me between the insanity that was surrounding me. And I'm sure being a statue for years might have messed with my head a bit also, I couldn't rule that out.

I wonder what the results of the test would have been? What would the scientists have written? If MD hadn't shown up, would I have just sat there forever? A lonely, crumbling relic of the old world, forgotten by everyone?

That was a sombre thought.

Despite the world becoming an inhospitable hellhole, despite what I had said before, I really have been better off being stuck like that? Would I be trying to help Dandelion if I really thought that was the case? Probably not.

Maybe MD was actually right yesterday, maybe I did owe her.

"So, is this Dorian really good for a million caps? That's an insane amount."

"Dorian Flash? Uh, of course!" She balked, looking at me like I'd just asked the stupidest question in the world. "She super rich and super charitable, she's been doing things like this forever."

"I swear I know that name..." I trailed off. Every time I'd heard her mentioned it ticked something in the back of my mind.

"Probably saw some posters in Baltimare? Or heard one of her songs on the radio maybe? Her voice is dreamy." MD smiled a goofy smile.

She was probably right. Though I wondered what one would have to do to be rich in this economy, somehow I doubted being a singer cut it anymore.

I guessed that we'd be hiking for a few hours when we finally broke out of the treeline and back to wide open ground. There was an immediate breeze blowing a chill across my withers, but it was a real relief to be walking on flat ground again. I couldn't count how many times I'd almost rolled my ankles or tripped.

The last few miles had been downhill, and the ground was really sloping now, making the slippy surface just a little bit precarious, enough to have to think where my hooves fell.

"Oh thank Celestia and Luna!" I exclaimed. In the distance, I could see an honest to goodness road. It even looked mostly intact from here. No slippy mud, no twisting roots, no sharp vines. It may have been a bit sad, but I was genuinely excited to be walking on it after all this traversal.

MD had said that down further was the Patapscolt River, the road would lead us to a bridge to cross over it and from there we'd get to Dodge. I was looking forward to getting this all over and done with and getting this collar off. Life-ending potential aside, it was tight and it chafed. It was heavy too, I was really feeling the extra strain around the base of my neck. The sooner it was gone the better, I could still see Swarfega's sick grin in my head.

Way out over the horizon poked the very top of one of those pointless MAw towers, piercing the clouds, seemingly pristine. Fat lot of good it seemed to be doing. I lamented that they seemed to have survived just fine instead of something actually useful.

Speaking of clouds, they sky was still relatively clear here right now, but the sky seemed to get more overcast in the direction we were going. It didn't look like it was raining though, as far as I could tell anyway. I was enjoying the dry spell to be honest, it feels like it had been clouds and rain non-stop since I arrived at MD's house. It was depressing if nothing else, I missed the warmth of the sun on my fur.

We slowly and cautiously trotted down the hill, both trying to avoid tipping over and tumbling. The last thing my aching body needed was a head over hooves trip to the river bank. The ground was soggy but not straight up wet. It wasn't slippery so much as damp, almost clay like. I had to slow down a little because I was sinking into it slightly, a problem MD didn't seem to be encountering as badly. Having said that, we both had very muddy fetlocks, and the barrel of my jumpsuit was now brown with kicked up dirt. It was messy and tiring, but we pressed onwards, eventually reaching the fantastic grey ribbon cutting across the the earth.

It was incredibly mundane, but after trudging down the hill, finally climbing the verge and getting onto the road felt like a major victory. Yes up close it may have been cracked and pitted, but I don't think I'd ever take flat, level ground for granted ever again. I could have kissed it, but that definitely would have been going too far.

Excited as I was, the road came all the trappings of roads. Old carts, fallen billboards, potholes. Nothing terrible in comparison to where we'd just come from, but a reminder that things are rarely as easy as the seem. A lone Sprite-bot floated listlessly down the paving ahead of us. It had been a long time since I'd seen one. Not long enough, though. I was honestly surprised that it was still kicking around after centuries outside, exposed to the elements. Some things were just built to last, I figured.

The closer we got to it, the louder the Sprite-bot's endless parade of ministry approved music got. Back when I had my shop it was all I'd be able to hear outside as they floated up and down the streets of Baltimare, dozens of them patroling day in day out. It was infuriating. This one showed no interest in us as we passed, carrying on on it's noisy, annoying vigil. If I heard that music again before I died, it would be too soon. Even now it seemed like the shadow of the ministry's was inescapable.

At least I was enjoying the relative ease of walking though, we were practically strolling really. Cutting around debris was much easier than walking over twisted roots. We were able to pick up the pace again, MD was hoping we could get there for the evening.

To our left, the ground continued to drop. Further down below was a raging river, rocky and rapid. It was a horrible brown looking colour, junk and debris washed up on both sides of the banks. Among the trash lurked impossibly large crabs, light blue in colour, lumpy with growths. Gross. I understood that all the bad magic used on the last day had a dire effect on any creature it touched that didn't die outright, I just didn't understand why it had to make them all so big. Seriously, giant crabs, giant roaches, giant nears, what was the deal with that?

The road curved and weaved along, dancing along the river and cutting through the landscape. I couldn't help but imagine it in better days, packed with ponies travelling to and fro. I was a fairly recent transplant to the area, I'd lived in Baltimare for only a few years, and I'd never really explored the surrounding areas like this. I'd never been to Dodge Junction, or Fillydelphia, or Hollow Shades or anything. I'd always wanted to visit Manehattan, but never quite had enough bits. I wished I had just gone now, but I left it and now it was too late. Apocalypse tourism wasn't quite as appealing to me as seeing these places fully intact.

Over the gentle rushing of the wind I could hear something chittering. I couldn't quite place it, but there was definitely something around. My ears swivelled to try and locate it. MD had her earbloom back in, she said she wanted to keep up with the news, but the signal was screwy. She'd been trying her best to walk and fiddle with her PipBuck at the same time, which was kind of funny to watch at least.

We passed a rusted out motorwagon hauler and the chittering went crazy. My ears both pointed hard left, and my head followed.

The wall of the trailer had been completely eroded away, leaving the interior wide open. Inside, tucked amongst broken crates and old empty bottles was a camping chair with the degrading remains of a unicorn sat in it. And sat on and around the corpse was about a dozen Radroaches, about half of which were now looking at me.

Apparently losing interest in their carrion, one of them jumped at me, several others following suit. They were disgusting, bastardised chitinious masses the length of my whole leg, still dripping viscera from their maws. Luckily for me though, they were not as fast as their normal sized ascendants. I had just enough time to draw my pistol before they closed the distance.

Panicked, I pulled the trigger in their direction. Mr. Goldwing was right, moving targets were hard.

Cracks filled the air as I managed to nail the nearest one in the face, it's face exploding into gooey green gore as the bullet tore through it's head. Two more bullets hit the roach behind it in it's legs, causing it to flail wildly. The fourth bullet hit one of the bugs further back square in the carapace, causing it to fall limp.

Bullets five and six didn't come, there were just clicks. I had totally forgotten to reload after MD killed those Bloatsprites yesterday.

Running out of options, I stomped on the closest one to me with such force it practically burst, spraying my chest and legs with it's insides. I reared back to stomp again, but a single blast from MD's shotgun took out at least three more of the things before I could bring my hooves back down. She pumped it once in her hooves and fired at the rest of them, sending roach parts and gravel flying back, I think she even managed to take out some of the ones still in the trailer as collateral damage.

The bugs that weren't already attacking scuttled off, buzzing towards the river and leaving us stood in a pile of messed up exoskeleton.

"Nice one, Silv! These guys would've probably gotten the drop on me if you weren't here." She beamed, winking her bad eye at me. "The system works!"

I nodded to her before looking down at myself. I was absolutely covered in their blood, green and stinking. I tried to scrape some off of my chest, but it was sticky and oozy, gross. My neck hurt a little from the recoil and my ears were ringing.

MD had trotted over to the trailer, looking over the bloated body, idly floating a couple of shells into her shotgun as she inspected it.

"Poor bastard. Wasn't the bugs that killed him though."

"You can tell?" I asked, still kind of distracted by all the crap I was covered in.

"Well, I've never known a Radroach to leave a bullet in the head."

My head snapped up and I caught a full glance at the body, albeit still at a distance. I felt no need to get any closer. It was a bloody mess, rotted and emaciated. His head was thrown all the way back in a silent, permanent scream. It was easy to tell where the bugs had been eating away at his flesh, he was covered in bites dripping congealing blood and there were full on chunks torn from his barrel. Behind him there was a splash of dried blood on the remaining trailer wall. Flies buzzed all around him. It dawned on me that the horrible smell probably wasn't coming from the Radroach remnants I was painted with.

I gagged. A few times, to be honest. Since waking up in MD's house I'd vomited a lot more than usual. This time I managed to hold it down. Just. I couldn't bear to look at the body anymore though, so I turned away, I had no idea how MD could stand to be so close to it.

I'd never seen a dead body before, skeletons notwithstanding. But the skeletons just sort of made me sad now, this was scary, this was a murder.

"We should take a look around, see if he's got anything useful." MD suggested.

"We're stealing from a dead body?" I asked, surprised, tutning to face her. I knew she was a scavenger, but a graverobber too?

"Well it's not like he's going to be needing any if it anytime soon." She explained, clambering into the trailer, the corpse lingering in my peripheral vision.

"I'm good, actually." I replied. I was not going in there. I couldn't fault her logic but I thought digging through the unicorns things would be incredibly grim as well as totally disrespectful.

"Suit yourself, finders keepers." She said, setting her sights on the contents of the trailer. I turned back around but I could hear her clanging around in there. If the smell was bad here and I only imagine what it was like over there, I couldn't think of anything worse than voluntarily getting that close to a fetid, rotting corpse. I glanced back over quickly, catching it in my eyeline. Maggots writhed in its eyes, dried blood marring the sockets.

I swallowed some bile and turned back away. I needed to reload anyway.

Scraping as much goo as I could off of my hoof, I pulled out my pistol. Just like Mr. Goldwing had shown me, I pulled the cylinder out and pushed the plunger, six empty casings clattering to the ground. Now for the tricky bit.

Brushing past the Mutfruit, I rummaged in one of my suit pockets for a bullet. Careful not to drop it, I pulled it out and inserted it into the empty chamber. I did this half a dozen times until the weapon was fully loaded, then I closed everything up. Good to go. I wait just another beat and spun the cylinder with my hoof, filling the air with a satisfying whirr. Guns may be scary, but something about that just felt cool.

I really wished I had a speed loader though.

I could hear the ancient suspension on the trailer creak as MD jumped out of it and back on to the road, her hooves tapping on the surface as I looked back at her.

"Pretty much a bust, someone else got through it before us." She sighed. "Did grab you this, though."

She floated a saddlebag over to me, clearly well worn but looking sturdy enough. Much better than stuffing everything into my pockets at least. I didn't take it immediately, I was still uneasy about taking this dead stallion's things.

"It's okay, it's clean." She said, sensing my hesitation. "Honestly, he not gonna miss it, it'd be a waste to leave it when you need it."

I couldn't really argue with that. It still felt a wrong, but it would just be sitting around doing nothing if I wasn't going to take it. I grabbed it from her aura.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Managed to find these squirreled as well too, better than nothing." She continued, floating a healing potion out of one of her own pockets and an old box of apples out of her bag.

I made quick work of emptying the contents of my pockets into the bag, loose bullets in the bottom and the mutfruit sitting in a segregated flap inside. I placed the bag over my back and shifted my weight, getting it in a comfy position.

"Sweet, let's roll, we're making good pace." MD said, already starting to trot off. I cast a look back at the body.

"We're just going to leave him here?" I asked.

"I mean, yeah? We're on the clock here Silver, and to tell the truth I'm pretty sure he'd turn to slop if we even tried to move him."

This didn't sit right with me at all. He was somepony, he lived, he probably had a family somewhere. I didn't know who he was, but somepony did. We'd taken his stuff for Celestia's sake! This was different from the dozens of anonymous skeletons outside Barnyard Bargains. I glanced between MD and the body. I couldn't just leave.

"Thank you." I said softly, closing my eyes. "The darkness of the afterlife is all that awaits you now. May you find more peace in that world than you did in this one."

It was an old last rite that Perfect had told me about ages ago when he was studying up on bedside manner. It seemed pertinent right now. I bowed my head for a moment before turning and catching MD up further down the road. It wasn't much, but I felt it was the least I could do.

"Wait, it gets better!" MD giggled. "By the time he gets over the whole beam had collapsed, so now I'm stuck on this crumbling tile floor 10 stories up!"

I'd asked her about what her day to day life was usually like in Baltimare. She was regaling me with her own follies and feats of derring do.

"It's too far for me to jump, so this guy throws a lasso over and hooks onto some rebar, and he's like 'climb over' like I'm a circus performers or something!"

"Did you?"

"I didn't really have a choice! The floor was crumbling, I was gonna fall if I didn't. I tried crawling along it, 'course I'd never done anything like that before and didn't account for the physics of the whole thing. The rope slipped and I ended up swinging down, went straight through the window and ended up dangling outside halfway up the building, never been so scared in my whole life!"

"Celesta above, what did you do?"

"Clung on for dear life." She chuckled. "I was like one of them whatchacallits... pendulums! Got swung back inside, managed to fling myself to a more solid floor below, but you better believe I don't mess around with tall buildings anymore." She shuddered, shaking her head. "Still have nightmares about falling."

"Yeah, I bet." I wasn't scared of heights, but I can imagine something like that would put the fear in anypony.

"Anyway, what about you, Silv? What's a day like in your horseshoes?"

"Me? Like, before all this?" I answered, a little perplexed

"Mmhmm! I wanna know what Baltimare used to be like."

"You don't want to hear that, it's boring. How am I meant to follow your story up?"

"Come on Silv, I'm a Stable Dweller, remember? I'm sure it can't be any more boring than that." She chided. "I just wanna know what it was like."

It seemed weird to me that the banality of my life would be of any interest at all to somepony like her, especially when the story she'd been telling me sounded straight out of a movie. But I suppose that my life was so far removed from hers that there had to be some kind of quaint appeal to it.

I thought back to my shop, to the Baltimare I knew. It was only a few days ago for me, really.

"Well, I'm a silversmith, I make jewelry and trinkets and do repairs and stuff like that. I live in the loft above my shop on Cloven Street, it's a small place but it's mine. There's not much more to me than that, to be honest. I thought it was safe. At least we all thought it was. My own dull slice of life."

I internally winced. I missed that safety. I missed all of it. Even in retrospect knowing it would only have lasted a few more days, I missed it.

"That's about it really for my day to day. It was just a 9-5 but it was one I'd built. It was mine. Sorry, it's probably silly being so attached to such a banal way of living, but it's all I have- had. I'm nopony special really, but it's my life."

There were thousands of others just like me, tens of thousands. I was a needle in a needle stack. Was. But those thousands are gone now. I was still here. Probably the last pony around to have lived that life of normality.

"Silver, most sane ponies would kill to live like that."

"Really?"

"You had a real home, a way to make money, access to food and water, no monsters trying to kill you and nopony trying to take it from you. That's a pretty sweet deal." She explained. "Back in the Stable all I had to look forward to was repairing water filters for the rest of my life. And I'd still give anything to go back, to leave all this behind and have that security again."

She looked steely and solemn for a moment.

"I may be more used to living like this than you are, Silver, but I'm still scared. Anything can happen out here." She confided, quietly. "That's what makes ponies like us brave, we're scared but we carry on."

"I don't think I'm very brave, MD."

"Silver I'm pretty sure I can guarantee that the last couple of weeks has been the scariest time of your life, right? But you're still here. You didn't give up or run away or hide. You're out here still making a living in a world you don't know. I'd say that's pretty fucking brave."

Maybe I didn't run and hide, maybe I didn't give up, but maybe I wanted to. I didn't know if I was more brave or more stupid.

The road cut through some dense underbrush for a little while, and on the other side we emerged near a quite clearly still occupied building. It was an old cargo depot sat of some kind in an cut out embankment. It's aging walls had been patched with parts of old carts and roadsigns, and smoke rose from several barrel fires out the front. It's delivery door sat wide open, and it's old sign had been painted over.

Outta Dodge Rest Stop

We drew closer to it, and two ponies sat inside the delivery dock took notice of us and came out.

"Well shit, we got some genuine travellers here!" One yelled excitedly.

"Sure looks like we do, been a minute!" The other replied.

Two stallions were waving us over, one a stout grey Earth pony and the other a tall, pale yellow coloured pegasus.

"Hey there, Outta Dodge is open for business!" The shorter one beckoned. "Come set a spell, have some coffee!"

Moon and stars, it wasn't until the word left his mouth that I realised how desperately I needed a coffee. We hadn't stopped moving since sunrise and it was past noon now. It had been a very long couple of days, and the caffeine would be beyond welcome.

"MD I know we're on the clock, but we've not stopped for a while and I could demolish a coffee, like, right now. Please?" I pled. MD halted for a moment and inspected her PipBuck.

"What the hay, why not, we're closer than I thought we'd be by now." She smiled.

A heavenly chorus sung in my head. I could have leapt for joy if I wasn't self conscious about bring weird. We adjusted course for the building as the stallions bumped hooves.

"Don't mention the cello or the collars, okay?" She whispered in my ear. "We don't know who these guys are."

I nodded.

"Thank you both kindly, been some time since we've had guests!" The pegasus said.

"You can say that again!" The Earth pony chimed. "Come in, come in, take the weight off your hooves."

The interior of the building had been completely stripped and replaced by something like a homemade café. A few tables were dotted around with cushions for seating, and some stacked crates served as a counter, complete with a set of mismatched stools. A lone Sparkle-Cola machine sat in the corner, flickering and buzzing. It was quite quaint, and actually a little bit cute.

"Name's Rover, thanks for stopping by!" Said the Earth pony, stepping behind the counter. His voice was warm, with a hint of a drawl. He was large and weathered, wrinkles marring his face, the grey scruff of a beard sitting on his jaw. He was sporting a threadbare jacket and a cap that so frayed it flopped when he moved. "What can I get for ya?"

"Silver." I replied, perching myself on one of the stalls. "A coffee, please and thank you."

"I'm Make Do, make that two coffees, please!" MD added, leaning on the counter. Rover took notice of her PipBuck immediately.

"A Stable dweller, well ain't that something!" Been a long time since we had one of you under our roof." He said, looking surprised. "Two coffees, Rusty!"

The pegasus, presumably Rusty, walked behind the counter and into a back room. Rusty looked a little younger than Rover, but not by a whole lot. He was tall and gangly and was wearing mechanic's overalls and a pair of reading glasses that had seen better days. A long, messy, gray mane flopped down his face, contrasting his short cropped tail.

"So what brings you two ladies this way?" Rover asked, wiping the counter top down. "This old road's been mighty empty as of late."

The clattering of metal and ceramic bounced out of the back room. I couldn't see what was happening but eventually I heard the constant low whine of a stove and figured coffee must be on now.

"We're heading to Dodge, got a little bit to trade." MD replied tacitly. "How come the road's been so dead?"

"Ah, everypony has been taking the long route ever since the bandits rolled in." He sighed.

"Bandits?" I asked.

"Buncha fiends broken off from Ponyville or the gorge or somewhere." Yelled Rusty through the door. "Camped up on the bridge and started charging a 'toll', if you can't pay up they shoot. And even if you do pay, I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them."

I gulped nervously. After yesterday I wasn't in any hurry to run into any more armed and dangerous ponies.

"Totally killed out hooffall, y'all are the first ponies to stop by in weeks." Rover added grumpily. "Ain't even seen hide nor hair of our regular merchants, not been able to restock on account of everypony taking the long road around."

"The long road?" MD asked.

"It's a route that heads further west from New Dodge towards Ponyville then cuts back around north of here past the woods. Now it's a lot longer, but it's safer than dealing with those plotholes on the bridge. If that's where you're headed, I'd suggest turning around and rejoining the route from there."

MD looked at her PipBuck for a moment before she grimaced.

"No can do, we're on a tight schedule, we'd lose almost a whole day going around." She said, looking at me.

"I don't know MD, this sounds really dangerous." I countered. Bugs and wild animals were one thing, but this was ponies with guns we were talking about.

"I get it Silv, but remember what we're working with here." She flicked her eyes down to my neck for a fraction of a second. "If we go the long way and get into Dodge and can't find what we're looking for then we're bucked, I don't know if it would leave us with enough time to look anywhere else. Walking back across the mud will slow us right down, too."

She lifted her PipBuck to me and showed me the map screen, lighting up my face in a sickly green glow. It was quite a hefty detour in all fairness.

"I get your point, but given the choice I think I'd really like to go the way where we don't get shot." I protested.

"Well, we could always pay the toll." MD pondered aloud, looking to Rover. "Do you know how much it is?"

"I have no idea Miss, but I'd say you're ballsier than me for even considering it." He laughed. "They're fiends, they'll take what they want from you and stab ya in the back to say thanks."

"The folk who did pass by weren't in a good way." Rusty piped up. "And they did pay the toll, from what I remember at least."

He emerged from the back room with his wings half splayed out, each one carrying a cup of steaming hot cup of coffee sat on a saucer. Effortlessly, he spread his wings at such an angle that the drinks slid off his plumage and smoothly onto the counter, coming to a stop in unison squarely in front of us both, not spilling a drop. It was admittedly a little impressive, graceful even, but I'd always had a bit of a soft spot for Pegasi.

"Thank you." I nodded to him, picking up the cup in both hooves, it was hot to the touch. I blew a breath across the surface and took a sip.

It was almost scalding, it was almost definitely instant, but it was coffee. And it was good, after everything that's happened the last couple of days. A delicious little bit of normality.

"So what, damned if we do, damned if we don't?" MD asked.

"We don't know that, we can go the long way around and once we get to Dodge we'll find-"

"But that's what I'm saying Silver, I'd love to just stroll in to town and find it first go, I really would. But suppose it's not there, okay, and we then have to look somewhere else and don't have enough time left to get home? Do we really want to risk that?" She drew a hoof across her neck for dramatic effect.

"Okay, but do we really want to risk getting ourselves shot?" I countered.

"Look, fiends we can at least fight back against, but there's no getting back the time we spend backtracking!"

"Maybe we could fight back, but there's only two of us, and we have no idea how many of them there are! Enough of them to close down a whole road for weeks!"

"Ladies, ladies! Now I don't know what ya have going on, but it sounds like y'all are getting worked up just talking yaselves 'round in circles!" Rover interrupted.

"Now it's no business of mine, but I really would suggest turning back and taking the other way, surely the extra time is worth your safety?"

"I really wish it was that simple." MD replied, hooves in her mane. She took a big swig of coffee with her magic and leaned on the counter.

"Well, how about we make it simpler?" Came Rusty's voice, slicing through the conversation.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Come now Rusty, we've talked about this." Rover said, almost pleading.

"I know, I know, but there'd be three of us, and I like those odds." Rusty rebutted, joining us at the counter and settling down on the stooll next to MD.

"You folks need to get to Dodge right quick, am I right?" He poised. "And we sure as Tartarus could do with getting traffic moving this way again. I can give you a hoof clearing those bastards of the bridge, and we both win!"

"You wanna help us?" MD asked quizzically, head tilted.

"We don't need to get involved!" Rover interjected. "They'll move on eventually-"

"So we should just hold tight a little longer? It's been weeks, Rover! Are we supposed to just let them carry on killing our regulars? Our friends?" Rusty countered. "I can't just sit on my ass any longer, it's high time we did something about it!"

"Rusty please, it's not safe, I can't have you getting hurt and I can hardly ask these mares to put their lives on the line!"

"Then let's make it safe! Things'll never get back to normal if we just let these assholes win!" Rusty retorted. "It's me we're talking about, they won't even know what hit them."

Rover looked concerned, but didn't reply. Rusty heaved a heavy breath out before looking back at us. "So are we on?"

"Are you sure?" MD asked. "You're kinda... old."

"Hah, I might not be as young as I used to be, but I served as a sharpshooter for years, best in my unit. I still got it where it counts, I can be a pretty shadowy pony."

"You're a sniper?"

"You can bet your tail on it. Still got my service rifle ready and waiting." He grinned. "I don't know how many of these bastards we're dealing with, but if you ladies can draw them out I can pick them off. Between me and that fancy targeting spell on your PipBuck I bet we can make quick work of it. We get our road back, you get a quick and easy way to Dodge. That's a win all round, far as I'm concerned."

I seriously had my doubts. He may have been a sniper at one point, but who knows how long ago that was now? That and the fact that for this plan to work we were essentially meant to be bait, we were just there for him to get a clear shot. It sounded like a lot of risk for us and not a lot for him.

"Fuck yeah, sounds perfect!" MD chimed.

"Now just hold on a minute!" Rover bellowed. "Rusty, you mean to tell me your plan is to just dump these mares at hell's gate and let them take all the heat? I know you're a crack shot but that just sounds downright cruel to me!"

I nodded enthusiasticly in agreement, the stallion was speaking reason. This was a stupid plan. "I'd really like to not be anywhere near these fiends if I can help it." I added. "I'm not trying to get myself killed."

"It's not like I was gonna let them head in there unprepared!" Rusty groused, tapping his hoof on the countertop. "We got things put aside, I figure this is worthy a cause as any to donate 'em to."

"Hey now, we agreed that was for emergencies!" Rover frowned. "Rusty, these ponies don't know us from dirt, I cannot in good conscience ask them to go and fight for us!"

"Well, you ain't. I am." Rusty clicked. "And they don't seem too broken up about it."

"Look, if it means getting to Dodge on time, then I'm all for it!" MD replied enthusiastically.

I couldn't believe I was hearing this, another decision was being made for me entirely against my best interests. I understood the bomb collars could not be reasoned with, but playing an up close and personal part in a mass shooting was absolutely not the lesser of two evils here.

"Don't I get a say in this?" I nickered. "I can't do this, any of this! If these ponies are as dangerous as you say they are, then no way am I getting up close to them, let alone fighting them! Drawing them out for the kill is just horrifying. Trying worm through by ourselves, which I still object to by the way, is one thing, but this is just murder!"

I took a big sip of my coffee before continuing.

"I get that these bandits may be bad ponies, but even if me and MD don't get killed being bait, surely by killing them off we'd be no better than they are!"

All I got in return were three dumbfounded stares. I had at least expected Rover to agree with me, but he too was looking at me like I'd grown a second head.

"I get the sentiment Silv, but ponies like this can't be bargained or reasoned with. If we leave them be they'll just carry on killing."

"Ya Vault dwellin' friend's right, Miss." Rusty interjected. "All a fiend knows is killin' and rapin' and stealin'. They're barely even ponies, if you ask me. They'd shoot you and your family just for the fun of it first chance they got."

"He's right about that." Rover agreed. "Much as I don't want any of you to go through with this, it's the danger rather than the morals. Some ponies are just born bad, I reckon."

That really didn't make me feel any better about this plan at all.

"Oh, okay, and what, me and MD are supposed to just walk up to these 'shoot now ask later' types and hope Rusty gets them before they get us?" I asked, incredulous. "If they're as dangerous as you all say they are, then you can count me out."

"No hope about it, I'm a straight shot, I'll put 'em down clean." Rusty clarified.

"I'm sure you are, you might be the best shot in the world, but if the fiends shoot first then it's us who's on the line!" I countered.

"She's right, Rusty, it's too dangerous. We just met these folks and you're asking them to fight and maybe even die for this?" Rover shook his head.

"I know it's dangerous, that's why I'm saying we gear them up. Give them the right tools and the bastards won't be able to touch 'em." Rusty smiled, raising his eyebrows.

"'Right tools'?" MD parrotted.

"We trade with all kinds here, got all sorts stockpiled." Rusty smirked, nodding to a closed metal door on the far wall. "We can set you up with some armour, AP rounds, the works. Sure as shit be better that whatever they're working with on the bridge. You can keep whatever you take when we're done, consider it a thanks for the help."

MD looked at me pointedly. "Come on Silver, you hear that? It's a total no brainer!"

"You'd be doing us a great favour. Hay, you'd be doing everyone in the area a great favour. I'm sure the folks in Dodge City will be thrilled when you tell them the bridge is clear." Rusty chimed in. "We can stop them now and nopony else has to get hurt."

I hated this. I hated being dogpiled on. This wasn't a silly dare we were talking about, this was real life and death for everypony concerned! Truth be told I couldn't believe how flippantly MD was treating the whole situation, she seemed more than prepared to march over and start shooting. Killing!

Is this what it took to survive in the wastelands? I know Make Do had said things could turn all 'kill or be killed', but it's one thing being told that and another being asked to voluntarily put yourself in that situation. I liked to think that deep down ponies were inheritantly non-violent creatures, stuff like this just wasn't in my nature.

I knew these fiends were bad ponies. Bad was probably an understatement, I can't think of a word low enough to describe them based on what I'd heard. I didn't like it, but in the long run it sounded like we'd be saving innocent lives by removing them for good. But did I have it in me to pull the trigger myself? Even if it would make the world a better place? Ends, means, justified? These three certainly thought so.

I didn't know.

I shot MD a concerned look. I think she could tell I still didn't want to go. It was lose-lose for me either way, either we run out of time or get shot. I thought about the corpse we passed on the road. I didn't want to end up like that, but I'm sure he didn't either. I'd never want to do that to anypony either, but clearly these fiends didn't have such qualms.

MD had gotten us this far, though. She'd had my back at every turn so far, there had been a lot of times where I could have died but didn't because of her. She seemed to think we could do it, maybe I should trust her on this.

I closed my eyes and sighed. I wasn't happy about it, but for the greater good, I could try. Wordlessly, I nodded at MD. I didn't have the heart to verbally agree to this.

"Alright, let's do it." She announced.

"Well shit, thank you both kindly!" Rusty replied, pushing himself up from the stool. "I'll show you the stockroom, y'all can help yaselves to anything in there."

He trotted around the counter and over to the metal door, sliding it open. It was a fairly large room lined with shelves piled with all sorts of clothes, boxes of bullets, potions, medicine, weapons, everything a survivalist could want. It was literally stacked to the ceiling. My eyes went wide.

"Oh, jackpot!" MD beamed.

"Y'all can take anything except the ketamine, that's mine." He winked. "I'm gonna go get ready, I'll meet you outside."

"If'n y'all are really doin' this, please make sure y'all come back alive!" Rover bellowed from the other room. "I'm serious."

I felt like I was in the army.

I was sporting a helmet and had traded my jumpsuit for some armoured barding that was currently strapped around my barrel. My bag was full to the brim with bandages, boxes of bullets, a few healing potions and some other assorted things MD said would be useful that I didn't recognise. We'd reloaded my revolver with Anti-Pony rounds, which sounded horrific, and filled one of my bag's pockets with a hoofful of spares. We'd also found a proper holster for me and even a speed loader. To top it off I had a combat knife strapped to my chest, which I was really hoping I'd not have to use.

MD had found a battle saddle that unfortunately neither of us were lanky enough to fit, but had also up a pistol as a side weapon as consolation. She was wearing an armoured vest too, but no helmet, she said she didn't like how they restricted her ears moving. She'd shovelled Celestia knows what into her saddlebag, but it almost looked full to bursting.

If I felt like I was in the army, Rusty looked like a hardcore veteran. He was dressed head to hoof in a set of matching armour, it was dark grey and had seen heavy use by the looks of it, the plates scuffed and scratched, battered. Pouches lined his barrel but left space for his wings to sit. On the chest plate it looked like he had painted the outline of Rainbow Dash's cutie mark for some reason or other.

The gun took centre stage, though. Strapped across his back was the longest, biggest gun I had ever seen, the barrel sticking out well past his chest and out in front of him. He had to carry it at an angle so that his neck wasn't in the way. It was huge. I'd not seen anything quite like it before. The main body of the thing was chunky and seemed to be emanating a kind of green glow. It was covered in tubes and wires. A large scope sat on top of it. It almost looked alien.

"Stars, that thing looks nasty." MD said, looking over his rifle.

"Well, it certainly ain't friendly." He chortled. "Plasma Sniper, it's an old Cloudsdayle Armoury pattern and it means business. Y'all should be glad you ain't the one it's pointin' it at."

"Yeah, no thanks, I've had more than my fill of plasma exposure." She replied. I didn't really know what she meant by that.

Rusty was leading us down the road to the bridge. We'd left the rest stop a little while ago, Rover seeing us off and telling us all to keep safe. He'd stayed behind to watch the place, though Rusty had told us that he really wasn't one for fighting. That made two of us...

MD's estimated from her PipBuck's map that the bridge was about a 45 minute walk away. We'd been making a brisk pace along the road for a little while now. I was silently dreading what was waiting for us.

We'd spent most of the short trip so far talking about the plan, if you could call it that. Despite their chatting, MD and Rusty hadn't really come up with anything more in depth than him splitting off to higher ground while we coax the fiends into his line of sight. I was hoping that between them, being ex-military in some capacity and the daughter of a tactician respectively, they'd have come up with something a little more thorough and thought out than that. Apparently not though. Rusty would fly ahead of us before we got to the bridge and scout it out so we'd at least know what we were dealing with. From there he would find somewhere to hunker down where he wouldn't be spotted. Then it was our job to get to the bridge and draw all the fiends out into the open so that between us we could get rid of them all. Rusty would try and take out as many as he could before we had to get our hooves bloody and finish off anypony he couldn't see. That was assuming they didn't just rush us on sight.

Luna above, I never should have relented, we were going to get ourselves killed.

The road was lined with trees either side now, obscuring the river from view and meaning the fiends hopefully wouldn't see us coming too early. The further we headed the cloudier it started getting again.

"So, Dashite, huh?" MD asked.

"Yes ma'am, by default if nothing else." Rusty replied. I had no idea what they were going on about.

"Default?" MD replied, sounding a little confused as well.

"Well, it was maybe 30 years odd ago." He started. "Was sent down on covert ops with my squad a ways out west from here when we got in a bad tangle with a Manticore, messed me up real nasty. 'Course, rather than help my team all ran off, saved their own hides. I was an 'acceptable loss', see. They just left me down here to die."

"Ouch." MD said.

"You can say that again. I woulda been killed for sure if Rover hadn't come along and found me, kind soul that he is. Had no reason to help me, but he did. Healed me up, took me in, been here ever since." He explained, voice low. "Now, you spend your whole life serving, you give everything for your people just for them to turn tail when you need them most, and a stranger you've been taught to hate comes along and does the right thing? Makes a pony think, makes a pony come to some unpleasant conclusions. I wasn't branded or kicked out or anything, I'm a Dashite 'cause they made me one."

Harrowing as that all sounded, I still had no idea what they were talking about.

"What about you and your friend, then? I see you're a Stable dweller but your Earth pony companion doesn't seem to be." He asked, looking between us both.

"I was a Stable dweller, not for years now. Raiders saw to that." She snorted.

"Stable 5?" Rusty inquired, head tilted.

"Yeah, that's the one."

"My condolences, heard about that when it happened. Sounded like a real horror show." He bowed his head down.

"Yeah, well, time heals all wounds and all that. At least we can right some wrongs by this." She muttered darkly.

I was a little shocked hearing those words leave her mouth. Far be it from me to chastise somepony for holding a grudge, especially over something as deplorable as what MD had gone through, but it was rattling to hear her talk so callously. It'd never crossed my mind before that she might be out for some kind of revenge. Surely these couldn't be the same ponies? She couldn't be implying that the whole 'eye for an eye' deal would make things right?

"And what about you, Miss?" Rusty asked, looking back at me.

"Me? I'm nopony special." I replied quietly. "I-I just want this to all be over."

"I found her at a MAs hub, she'd been turned into a statue during the war." MD explained.

"Well shit, now that sounds like a tall tale I'd like to hear." Rusty said before looking around, as if realising where we were. "But maybe another time, we're coming up on the turn. I'm gonna take off while we're still hidden, you two wait here and I'll see what I can see."

MD nodded at him, and he began a short gallop, his wings opening and pushing him into the air, clearing the treeline and leaving my sight. It was just me and MD again, alone with a gentle breeze and the distant sound of rushing water.

"Ready to do this thing, Silv?"

"I don't know, we haven't got a real plan, we don't even know how many of them there are!" I hissed. She shrugged it off.

"Well that's why Rusty is scouting ahead. Silver, this isn't my first rodeo, okay? We'll make it work. I'll go up front with the shotgun, you can hang back with the pistol and pick them off from a distance. Rusty's an Enclave sniper and I've got the targeting spell on my PipBuck. We got this, no sweat."

"I'm scared MD, I don't like this."

"That's normal, fiends and raiders are scary, but they're also dumb as rocks. Just hold your ground and don't lose your nerve. We got this, okay?" She said, putting a hoof on my withers reassuringly. "And if you really need it, I've got a saddlebag full of drugs."

"I don't know, t-t-this still feels wrong."

"Silver, there's nothing you could even think about doing to these ponies that they wouldn't actually do to you in a heartbeat." She said coldly. "They're sub-equine, I do not say that lightly."

"MD, have you... have you killed anypony before?"

"Not anypony who didn't deserve it."

I looked at her borderline horrified. The confident finality of that statement was terrifying. I knew that sometimes reasonable ponies had to do unreasonable things, but this genuinely came as a shock, though I wondered if it should have. Even way back at our first meeting she was a twitch away from shooting me. I watched as she nonchalantly checked over her equipment in preparation for what was about to happen.

Whether somepony deserved it wasn't her call to make.

I tried to put thst train of thought aside for the moment and try to prepare myself for what was about to heppen. I didn't really know how to get myself in the right mindset, I'd never been in so much as a hoof fight before so this was going to be a big jump for me. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't fighting back tremors.

MD was sat on her haunches inspecting a forehoof, waiting for Rusty to come back. A small step for her, a big jump for me.

Eventually his silhouette came back into view, gently gliding down from the canopy, an old monocular hanging around his neck. He came to a halt above us, hovering in place, wings kicking up a downdraft.

"Alright, I scoped out what I could. Looks like there's about ten of them or so, there's a couple of tents I couldn't see into though, so possibly more."

Ten?! I almost bolted on the spot.

"The weapons they have mostly look like shit, but a couple of them mighta had SMGs, so be wary of that. They've got some pretty shoddy scrap walls for cover, you'll need to flush 'em out for me to see 'em, but shouldn't be a big deal, they'll probably all come runnin' out at the first sign of a commotion anyway." He continued. "I found a rocky outcropping up the hill a ways, I'm gonna go get set up there and we're all good to go."

"Sounds like a plan, thanks." MD nodded.

"Just one more thing, it's pretty grim down there so just... steel yourselves. It ain't pretty."

With a small wave and a heavy beat of his wings, he ascended again, shooting off into the distance.

"What does he mean by that?" I asked. MD hummed for a second.

"Well, you know the whole 'respect for the dead' thing you have going on? Most fiends are like the opposite of that. It's actually more like a contempt for the dead." She grimaced. "There's going to be bodies, and they're probably not gonna all be... intact."

"That's absolutely vile!" I said, scrunching my snout in disgust. Not having the time, means, or even will to take care of a corpse was one thing, but to purposely keep disfigured corpses around somewhere you were living sounded not only absolutely horrific in a moral sense but also alarmingly unhygienic.

"Just.. be ready. There's probably gonna be some fucked up shit." MD added. "We should get moving."

"Great."

We slowly started trotting again, heading towards the turn in the road. The trees began to thin out along the verge, bringing the slope to the rivers edge slowly back into view. After a couple of minutes the cover gave way entirely as the road reached a junction, a sign gave us our options.

DODGE JUNCTION 10 ^
PONYVILLE 45 >
TOLL 500 CAPS!!!

It had been crudely amended with yellow spray paint. A unicorn skull had been placed on top of the signpost, still bloody, the last vestiges of festering tissue still clinging to the bone like something out of a bad horror movie. Positively grotesque.

I held my nerve for now. We carried on past the sign as the road turned perpendicular to the water. Now that I could see the river clearly it was easy to tell it was a lot wider here than it was when we first saw it, but no more calm. It frothed and sprayed and eddied, the current obviously very strong.

Further down from us was the bridge, barricaded with a messy wall of scrap metal, old chariots and fallen trees, with nothing but a small gap for passage. Between us and it was pure carnage.

The smell hit me first before I realised what I was looking at. Rank and sickly sweet, putrid and inescapable. It practically clung to my nostrils. My stomach churned.

The path before us was lined with the dead. There might have been dozens, it was hard to tell.
I'd heard about scenes like this happening during the war, but to see it for yourself is something else.

Lone ponies cut down mid gallop, heaps of bodies stacked up and melting together into great piles of decay, individuals strung up and left as sick displays. Some were missing heads, some draped entrails, some still dripped fresh blood from their wounds and others were rotted to bone. Swathes of bodily fluids clogged the ground, leaving hideous browny-red pools. Bullet holes riddled the paving, empty casings rolled under hoof.

'DONT FUCK WITH US' read graffiti on a billboard. A decapitated body had been hung by it's tail over the top by a rope, drained of blood from the gaping hole.

In the middle of the road before us lay the sad, tiny remains of a foal, still in the protective clutches of it's deceased parents.

A foal.

I don't think I can properly convey the sickness I felt. Past the obvious repulsion and horror, it was something that struck me to my very core, burned into my mind. This was far beyond evil, this was a crime against life itself. The fact that any creature was able to carry out this atrocity was fundamentaly despicable, let alone one able to think, able to tell right from wrong. This wasn't a bugbear or a manticore blindly lashing out, this was by the hooves of ponies. The sights I saw here would never leave my mind, and I knew that there would only be more of this waiting for us on the other side of the bridge.

Unforgivable.

I didn't cry, or collapse, or run. I felt hollow. Knowing that I shared the world with ponies capable of atrocities like this made me feel dirty, sullied as a pony. And I carried on walking. There was no rite I could recite to make this better.

I grit my teeth and carried on following MD, willing myself not to be sick. Not here, not now.

MD looked back to make sure I was still there. Half a life in the wastelands may have hardend her, but even she was looking decidedly paler than earlier.

We weaved between pools of blood and broken corpses, around abandoned wagons and carts, drawing closer and closer to the bridge itself. The ramp up had been barricaded with overturned vehicles and scraps of metal and wood. A guard standing in front of the makeshift wall spotted us, raving and yelling behind to presumably the rest of the bandits behind. We were too far away to hear what was being said, the chatter drowned out by the sound of roaring water. They knew we were here now, there was no turning back. I could only hope Rusty had eyes on us, wherever he was.

A group of bandits popped up over the barricade, all toting guns. They looked almost exactly how I'd imaginezd, ragged, and filthy. Some of them had what I could only guess was supposed to be warpaint splattered all over their faces.

"Don't take another step or I'll blow your fucking heads off!" One boomed. We stopped.

My heart rate was through the roof. We spent a tense few seconds stood there, not moving.

"Toll's a thousand. Each. You got caps?" Another shouted.

"Sign says 500." MD shouted back.

"Sign's wrong." The third replied, pushing herself up off the top of the baricade, standing tall. "Now are you gonna pay up or are you tryna paint the floor?"

A moment went by with the mare staring at us down the sights of her gun. She was a dirty shade of lilac and had black paint smeared around her eyes and striped down her sides. It must only have been a couple of seconds but it felt like all the time in the world.

The electric green ball of plasma slammed into her head, instantly reducing it to a smouldering pile of goo that bubbled down her neck. Her limp body fell from the wall with a thud, crashing backwards. Two more bolts of energy quickly followed before any of the other fiends had time to react, one vaporising the guard stood in front of us entirely and the other splashing off the neck of one of the fiends on top of the wall, not killing him immediately but leaving behind a horrific caustic burn that ate away at his flesh, causing him too to fall down, screaming.

Something inside of me registered this as a horribly gruesome thing to witness, but beyond the discomfort of seeing it I didn't actually feel bad about it at all. These ponies deserved worse than they got.

"OH SHIT, AMBUSH!" One of the remaining fiends on the wall shouted. Another one opened fire, liberally spraying bullets in the general direction of me and MD.

Now panic set in. I scrambled out the way, galloping behind a wagon and clenching my pistol in my teeth. This was real now, we were being shot at. And I'd stupidly broken off from MD. Bangs and yells sounded off all around me as the clips of galloping hooves blended into the droning roar of the river. It was incredibly overwhelming.

"IT'S AN ATTACK, KILL THE FUCKERS!" screamed somepony from the camp.

Trying my best to steady my breathing, I peeked around the edge of the wagon, gun at the ready. I was trembling, adrenaline rushing through my system.

I spotted MD, she was pressed up against the barricade facing the bottleneck, poised and ready to take out the next fiend to exit. She wasn't waiting long before one ran out on her, an Earth pony clutching a pistol. Before he'd even had time to see her, she'd pulled the trigger on her shotgun and blasted two shots right into him in quick succession, buckshot tearing away at his shoulders and barrel, spraying the wall in fresh blood and sending the fiend skidding along the floor.

"GET FUCKED!"

A couple more emerged over the top of the barricade to take his place, not hesitating to open fire. I ducked back behind the wagon, stray bullets splintering the wood but thankfully missing me. A couple more plasma bolts soared over my head, but I didn't see if they hit their targets.

The deafening sound of MD's shotgun filled the air again. I looked back over only to see a bloody but still very much alive unicorn swinging a golf club at MD. She was deftly dodging the blows, but the close quarters meant she couldn't line up a shot.

"YOU FUCKED UP NOW, CUNT!" The fiend screamed, land a hit across MD's head, the shaft of the club deforming with the force and leaving her dazed for a moment, stumbling back. He pulled back to swing again. I pointed towards him and pulled the trigger on my pistol. I didn't really have time to aim properly but I couldn't hesitate, he was going to kill her. I squeezed off four shots rapidly.

I'd managed to land two hits, leaving a pair of small holes in his flank that were gushing blood. I might have grazed his back too, but it couldn't say that he wasn't already injured from fighting MD. What I could say though was that he was now very aware of me, and that the bullets didn't seem to have hurt him at all, if anything he only seemed angrier! Apparently now losing interest in MD he began galloping in my direction, covering the meager distance in no time at all. I backed up, terrified, but nowhere near as quickly as he was moving.

"You wanna join the fun?" He sneered.

Club in his aura, he swung as hard as he could into my barrel. Even wearing armour I could feel my ribs crack, leaving me winded and reeling. He'd hit me so hard the club had snapped in two, bottom half tumbling to the ground not too far away from me. The pain was searing and instant, my ears rang and my vision went dark for a moment. I braced myself for another hit, but it never came, MD had run up behind him and unloaded a shell into him almost point blank, entering one side of his shoulder and exploding out the other. He fell, sending the club handle rolling.

She offered me a hoof and I grabbed it, steadying myself.

No sooner was I back up on my hooves I squeezed the trigger again, a machete weilding mare was coming up fast on MD's blind side. I hit her square between the eyes and she went down knife clattering against the tarmac.

She was dead. By my own doing.

She was a dusty pink unicorn with a cropped yellow mane, face and body plastered with warpaint. Her cutie mark seemed to be two red X's. Blood ran down her face from the wound on her forehead, big green eyes still wide open staring vacantly ahead, no life tp be found within.

I'd killed a pony.

My introspection was cut short by bullets flying overhead. A bandit with a shotgun fired at us from a distance. I closed my eyes as shrapnel flew past us, cutting at my ears and neck. It burned, but I don't think anything significant landed. He too found himself reduced to a puddle of plasma goo just seconds later.

The rattle of a machine gun sounded off and I scrambled to get behind cover, though the sudden searing pain in my left flank indicated that I'd not been quick enough. I yelped and tumbled down in the open, splaying out on the ground in front of two more fiends carrying another shotgun and machine gun between them. MD quickly pulled me behind an old stagecoach just in the nick of time as bullets tore up the paving where I was laying not a second earlier.

I gasped for air, wordlessly, dropping my gun. I'd been shot. I'd been shot! I stared down at the wound, it was a long, shallow gash that ended in a red hole just below my cutie mark, throbbing and spilling blood down my leg. It was a burning pain like I'd never felt before. I trembled, almost hyperventilating. I tried to move but I couldn't put any weight on my injured leg, slumping down against the side of the wagon, grimacing. Oh tartarus this was real!

My breathing was ragged, fast and shallow. MD grabbed my face and gave me a look over, she was mottled with blood and covered in dirt. Concern flashed on her face when she saw my leg. She was saying something to me, but I couldn't make any words out over the ringing in my ears and the cracks of gunshots. She reached into her bag and pulled put a bandage, tying a quick tourniquet around my hip to try and slow the bleedinfg. Then she grabbed a small glass bottle, shook out a little pill and looked at me. She spoke again —I still wasn't able to make out anything she said— and offered me the pill.

I looked at it unsure for a second before a barrage of bullets tore through our cover just above our heads, dusting us with shards of rusty metal. MD ducked down to the floor and my ears folded flat. She shook her head and shoved the pill in my mouth. I swallowed it automatically, sticking to my dry throat for a second before it worked it's way down, making me wrech a little.

The bullets stopped flying just for a moment. MD took the brief respite to reload, sliding more shells into her shotgun.

As the pill dissipated in my stomach, I was feeling okay. Maybe a bit better than okay, actually. All the pain was melting away, and I was feeling more alert, more alive! I felt good. These must have been some high grade painkillers for sure, I'd never had anything work so fast! I scooped my revolver back up and pushed myself up onto my hooves, leg no longer giving me any trouble at all. Even the ringing in my ears was fading!

There was a flash of green and a scream, followed by the sound of sizzling. Rusty must've landed another hit.

No sooner had I stood back up, me and MD were both rocked by an explosion, the blast knocking us both over and tearing away our cover.

"CAN'T YOU SHITHEADS DO ANYTHING RIGHT?" Shouted a new voice. "Fuck it, I'll kill 'em myself!"

Scrambling back upright, I saw three fiends leaving the entryway and coming right for us. Two mares, a Unicorn and an Earth pony trotted either side of a large Unicorn stallion. He was rough and weathered, a sickly green, wearing the cracked skull of an Earth pony on his head, cresting his horn, patchwork leather and metal boarding clung to his body. In his magical grasp he was holding a bunch of grenades. The leader, he must have been. The one behind all this horror, all this senseless killing.

"This is how you do it!" He yelled, pulling the pin free from one of the grenades.

"DIE YOU EVIL FUCK!" I spat despite myself, squeezing off all the shots in my revolver. One. One shot. MD may have reloaded, but I hadn't. It whizzed by harmlessly, missing all three of them and embedding itself in the barricade behind them.

He laughed at me, a spiteful little giggle.

"Time to say goodbye, asshole!" He chirped, lobbing a grenade right at my hooves. I fell over myself trying to run away. Thankfully MD scooped it up with her magic and threw it back towards the group. It exploded in the air before it could hurt any of us.

Almost simultaneously a plasma ball hit the Unicorn mare and MD fired on the leader. The former screaming and collapsing as the skin on her chest and forelegs melted away, and the latter jumping back, narrowly avoiding a cloud of buckshot. Me and the other mare locked eyes. She was a dull blue Earth pony, her mane braided, and she was carrying a knife in her mouth, violet eyes harbouring nothing but hate.

She lunged forward, galloping right at me as shotgun blasts filled the air. I didn't have time to grab my own knife before she closed the distance, but I instinctively ducked down, sending her toppling over the top of me. With her stumbing behind me, I quickly delivered the most solid buck I could, my hind legs crashing into her barrel and knocking her to the ground.

"SILVER!" MD cried. A grenade clattered to the ground next to me. I froze for a moment looking at it dumbfounded. Suddenly coming to my senses, I flailed, trying to dispatch the bomb in any direction. I kicked it behind me and started blindly running the other way. I heard the mare behind me screech for a moment before it went off.

Shrapnel flecked and tore past. I didn't think any of it got me too badly but it definitely shredded some of the armour around my back half and cut away at some of the skin around my hind legs and flanks. The blast wave crashed into me and threw me off balance, causing me to stumble and fall right at the hooves of the fiend leader.

"Hello, beautiful!" He sneered. He was wearing some kind of spiked horseshoe and had armour rising up his legs, his fur sticking out in tufts. He smirked and brought a forehoof down on my back.

The armour definitely did it's job, but it still hurt like Tartarus. My spine bent around the impact, and my already hurting ribs screamed. I groaned in pain.

Shotgun pellets flew past from MD's gun, nicking his face. He grunted and threw another grenade her way, I heard galloping and the jangle of her magic before it exploded, kicking up dust and gravel everywhere. I used this moment of distraction to pull out my knife, clutching it in my jaw.

Still tracking MD, he brought down his other hoof to stomp on me again. I twisted my head and faced the blade upwards, piercing his hoof right in the frog, going deep enough to scrape against bone. The sound was horrible, a wet scraping that I could feel against my teeth. He yowled and jumped back, the knife sliced out the side of his leg, leaving some of his skin flapping off. He dropped his remaining grenades in the process, pins still inserted, thankfully. I shakily stood back up as he inspected his injured leg, glaring at me intensly, pure malice radiating from him. He frowned, pulling a lead pipe off his back and trotting towards me menacingly, leaving a trail of bloody hoofprints in his wake. I slowly backed up matching his steps.

"I'm gonna enjoy this, BITCH." He span the pipe around in his aura, still trotting towards me. I nervously readied my knife.

I needn't have, though. At that very moment MD got a close shot on his rear, crippling his hind legs. Before he even had time to scream, a plasma bolt burned through his barrel, the searing ball of heat almost splitting him in two. His body smoked and twitched and he fell, the pipe clattering to the ground with him, his mouth open in a silent cry.

He was dead.

I deflated, letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding. This sadistic bastard was dead, he could never hurt anypony else ever again. We'd done it. I fell to my haunches in relief. I was sweating and hurting, everything sounded fuzzy, I was filthy. I felt better for knowing we'd stopped this bastard for good, but couldn't help feeling harrowed by what I'd seen. What I'd done."

"SILVER, BEHIND YOU!"

I whipped my head around as MD yelled. The knife wielding Earth Pony was mid jump towards me, chunks of flesh hanging from her face and neck. I didn't have any time to react, my eyes wide as she landed on top of me, grabbing my ear in her teeth and sending us both careening along the floor. She didn't let up her grip once. I pushed myself up and started bucking wildly trying to dislodge her, but her hold was firm.

"DIE DIE DIE!!!" She howled, releasing my ear and wrapping a hoof around my throat. I had no chance to recover before she plunged the knife into me, blade going straight through a gap in my vest and between my shoulder bones. I screamed in agony as it pushed through muscle and sinew, my own blade clattering to the ground. She pulled the knife out and quickly brought it back down again into the side of my neck, trying to slash at my jugular. She brought it down for a third time between my neck and my withers, dangerously close to my bomb collar, pushing it down to the hilt, grinding on my bones.

I rolled over, desperately trying to push her off me, but she followed my movement, straddling me the whole way around until I was on my back and she was straddling me. She brought the knife down on me again, slicing right between my neck and my chest, cutting through the soft tissue and tearing between my throat and my ribcage.

Running on nothing but pure adrenaline, I noticed the handle of the broken golf club laying next to me, the shaft now sharp from the break. I grabbed it in a hoof and swung as hard as I could at the mare. The pointed end pierced straight through her throat and came all the way out the other side, dripping red.

She went slightly limp, gurgling, hooves reaching for her neck, choking crimson spittle. I let go and she swayed for a second, I thought it was over until she began to weakly pound her hooves on my chest. Luna's moon, she was still trying to fight! I writhed as she tried to grab the knife again, still not able to shake her off, even in the state she was in she stubbornly clung on. Gravely injured as she was, there was nothing but hate in her eyes, malice, contempt for my existence burning to her core. She wanted me dead, she would accept nothing less. Everything hurt, I was losing the strength to fight, I was pushing her back as much as I could, but it just wasn't enough, she was getting closer to the handle of the knife. She was going to end this.

By the grace of Celestia though, MD had other ideas. She rushed over and threw the mare off of me. Before she'd even had a chance to struggle, MD pulled the trigger and put her out of her misery, shotgun blowing her head apart like an overripe melon.

I could feel my own blood pooling underneath me, knife still wedged in my chest. I tried to get back upright, groaning with the effort, my whole body protesting. I managed a scant few steps towards MD before I fell back onto my haunches, woozy.

"Oh moon and stars Silver, you hang on, I'll get you patched right up." She said worriedly, hurrying over and trying her best to keep my from falling forward.

She looked in a bad way too. Her face was marked with cuts and grazes, a small fragment of shrapnel stuck out of her neck, her armour torn. We were both covered in blood, both our own and the bandit's.

"Is it over?" I weakly bleated, voice croaky.

"Yeah, it's over, we did it." She smiled back. "You just hold tight, I'm gonna patch you up, okay?"

I nodded as she opened the flap on her saddlebag, rifling through it. I would be okay, MD was gonna take care of me. I just needed to lie down.

A shadow passed overhead as I slowly flopped out on the paving. Rusty touched down just by MD. "You two okay? I circled around, I think we gottem' all!" He said, glancing to MD and then to me. "Shit, girl, you don't look so good."

"I feel it." I muttered in response.

"She's bleeding bad, help me out!" MD barked at Rusty before coming back to me. "We got you, Silv, don't you worry!"

"Hold on lil' lady, we'll get you fixed right up in no time!" Rusty agreed.

I could feel them working me over, wrapping the worst of my injuries in gauze.

"We gotta get that knife outta her." Rusty pointed out. "Can't give 'er a healing potion til' that's gone."

"There's bullets, too." MD added, before coming into my field of view. "Sorry, Silver, but this is gonna suck. I'm gonna give you some of this, it should help."

She levitated a needle of Med-X in front of my eyes before jabbing it into my foreleg and pushing the plunger down.

The effect was almost instantaneous, like the pill from earlier but even more potent. Pain ebbed away, leaving me feeling floaty and light headed. Exhausted, even. I'd been through a lot today, after everything that happened I think I definitely deserved a nap.

My eyes grew heavy as MD and Rusty buzzed around me, I knew I'd be taken care of. The world dropped away in a warm haze. There was too much to process right now, I just needed a minute. Just a little rest and I'd be right as rain.

Chapter Seven: Drop In

Chapter Seven: Drop In

"Fix me, please, I don't wanna be dead!"

It was evening outside, light low, the sky a dark hue of orange that was slowly giving way to royal purple. The room was bathed in dim yellow lamp light, cultivating a cosy mood as we chatted on the sofa. Noite's cat had curled itself up on my bookshelf and was dozing away. A record span away quietly, some new album Perfect had picked up, brassy and rich, upbeat.

I picked up my glass and sipped. Noite had brought a medley of fruits and juices with her and made up a batch of Sangria, it was sweet and went down a little too easy, I was already feeling a bit merry. One of the perks of being self semployed was that I got to decide my own working hours, and I'd already decided it wouldn't hurt for the shop to open a little late tomorrow...

Perfect was walking us through today's drama at the clinic, we were both giggling along.

"-and I swear on my life, we get the X-Ray back and there's an entire Power Ponies action figure lodged way up there!" He exclaimed, gesticulating wildly and almost spilling his drink.

"No!" I gasped, covering my smile with a hoof. Noite howled with laughter, beating down on the sofa arm.

"I know!" He giggled. "And then he starts the 'I have no idea how it got there' routine, so I said, 'well there's two ways it could've ended up there, and I'm pretty sure you didn't eat it!'"

"Gross!" I tittered. The room was filled with laughter for a minute. Perfect was always good for funny stories.

"Anyway, if you girlies will excuse me, I need a refill. Anyone else?" He pointed his empty wine glass between me and Noite. I shook my head, I still had most of my drink left.

"Sim por favor, Doutor!" Noite nodded.

"Sim, senhora!" Perfect bowed, dutifully taking her glass in his magic and trotting out into the kitchen and leaving me and Noite on the sofa. I took a sip from my drink, swirling the liquid around in the glass.

Noite was staring at me, a small, coy smile on her face, playing with a lock of her mane.

"What's that look for?" I asked, smiling back.

"You know what it's for, Prata!" She said, playfully shoving me. "I want to know how it feels!"

"How what feels?" I laughed, shoving back.

"To be a killer, of course!"

A bolt ran through me and I dropped my drink, I went numb. A gun, a gunfight, a shot to the head, a dead mare. By my hoof.

"Pretty heavy stuff." She continued, matter of factly. "Would never had thought you had it in you, our sweet Silver."

I had killed her, the bandit, I'd shot her in the head, left her lifeless eyes staring right through me. But I didn't have a choice, if I didn't kill her she would have killed me!

"I-I did what I h-h-had to, s-she was gonna kill m-me."

"Oh sure, sure, it was life or death, you or her." She agreed. "But you wanted her dead, didn't you? She deserved to die, right? They all did."

Noite pushed herself up off the sofa and slowly walked over to the window. I was shaking.

"I-I didn't want to kill her, I had-"

"I never said you wanted to kill her, Prata, I said you wanted her dead." She clarified, looking back at me, smiling. "Similar, but not the same, yes? The sentiment is different. But you saw to the outcome either way."

"T-they were evil! I had to!" I yelled, rising to a stand. "They were shooting at us- t-they killed children!"

"Easy, Silver, easy. I'm not trying to upset you, just making a point." She spread out her wings, long and graceful, stretching out almost the whole length of the room, navy blue plumage shimmering in the lamp light. She was wordless for a while, staring out the window into the eventide. "As estrelas agora elas estão mortas." She uttered. "But you're still here."

I didn't know what she meant by that. She'd taught me a little Lusitano over the years, but I was far from fluent. Truth be told my mind was too fixated on the firefight to try and figure it out.

"You've changed, Prata, whether you realise it or not. I've never known you to wish ill of anypony." She retracted her wings and turned around to face me. "This isn't bad, just an observation. Sometimes reasonable mares must do unreasonable things, no? We adapt and survive, we all change."

She closed the distance between us, until we were snout to snout. She looked into my eyes, hers a piercing yellow, caring, with a hint of mischief. I was trembling, I had no idea what was going on. She pushed me over, flat on my back. Before I had time to react, she'd jumped on top of me, straddling my barrel.

"W-what are you-"

"Familiar, yes? All I'm missing is the knife." She interrupted. The face of the Earth pony mare flashed before my eyes, bloodied and murderous. I squirmed under her weight. "Change will keep you alive, Silver. Just maybe don't change too much, please. I would hate to see you tarnish." She winked at me, smirking slyly at her own joke. That at least was classic Noite. The room fell away, no music, no sofa, no loft. It was just me and her. She smiled a small smile, almost mournful.

"Vou deixar você com sua vida desperta. Com amor, querido Prata."

"Noite?"

My eyes fluttered open. Noite was not there, none of it was, all just a strange dream. I sighed a little sigh.

I was apparently making quite a habit of waking up hurt with no idea where I was. I tried to stress but my whole body screamed in pain, from the tips of my ears to the bottom of my hooves. Horrible, but not as bad as I was expecting, probably whatever painkillers MD had given me were still in my system. Or maybe I was in shock. Or both.

I tried to glance around to work out where I was, but a razor-sharp tearing pain in my neck cut me off instantly, I winced and grunted, inhaling sharply. My eyes darted down to see-

THE KNIFE WAS STILL IN ME.

"AAAAH!"

"Silver, Silver, hey!" MD yelled, suddenly coming into view. She was crossed with bandages but didn't seem to be too worse for wear otherwise. "It's okay, it's okay!"

"T-t-the knife's still t-there, MD." I whimpered, not daring look down again.

"I know, we're going to get it fixed, just listen, please?" She said softly. "We couldn't give you a healing potion until we get those bullets out of you, and taking the knife out in the meantime woulda made the bleeding worse, you just gotta hold on until we get to a doctor, okay? We're already on the way, we're almost there." She sat down across from me, I noted we were in the bed of a cart, gently rocking. "You're gonna be fine, promise."

I sniffled and tried to calm my breathing, unconsciously tensing up, staying a rigid as possible to not disturb anything.

"We're almost there already, Rusty offered to take us the rest of the way to New Dodge."

"Damn straight!" He hollered from the front, I could just about make out his shape pulling the cart. "I could hardly just leave y'all back there, it's the least I could do. Glad to have ya' back with us, miss! Figure I owe you both an order of gratitude more than this anyway."

"H-how long was I sleeping for?" I mewled, eyes half shut, trying and failing to not look at the blade sticking out of my neck.

"Not too long, maybe an hour? I've been keeping an eye on you, don't worry." MD replied.

"Those fiends sure did a number on you, hope yer not hurtin' too badly- uh, the obvious aside." He continued. "I know they sure are though, we gottem all!"

He sounded very pleased about that. My feelings were... mixed to say the least. They were obviously deeply evil ponies, and it's undeniably a good thing that they were gone. But to make that happen we ourselves had committed the worst of all sins, we'd killed them, and I wasn't convinced that didn't put us all in the same level. Who's to say if I'm truly better or worse than they were?

I could still see the piles of bodies and smell the death in the air. The pure hatred in their eyes, the empty, vacant stare of the mare I'd shot. The blade coming down on me. I don't think I'd ever be able to get any of that out of my mind.

I can't say my weird dream helped much. I could tell myself that I did what I had to do, just like I told Noite, but I couldn't help but feel dirty about the whole ordeal. Silver before the apocalypse would never have hurt anypony.

Silver before the apocalypse never had a reason to.

Either way, it was done. There was no undoing it.

I sighed. Even that hurt.

"How're you feeling, Silv?" MD asked, I must've been quiet for a bit.

"Like I fell off a cliff." I answered honestly. I could be worse, but not by much. I was aching and exhausted, my head felt like it was awimking. Slowly, deliberately, I glance over myself to see what condition the rest of me was in.

I wasn't wearing my armour anymore. I was sticky with blood, drying out and turning an unpleasant maroon-brown shade. It ran all down my chest, back, and legs, snaking trails all over. Bits of dirt and gravel clung to my coat, soaked into the ooze. I was also covered in bandages, crossing all around, especially my neck and flank. I had bled through most of them, leaving me looking like a second rate Nightmare Night decoration. I felt disgusting.

"Stars, this is bad." I muttered to nopony in particular. "This is bad, this is bad..."

"Silver, trust me, you're going to be fine." MD started. "We stopped the worst of the bleeding, once we get to the doctor you'll be good as new."

I took a deep breath. We were already on the way, panicking would get me nowhere, if MD said I'd be okay I would just have to trust her.

"I couldn't do anything about your ear though, sorry." She added sheepishly.

"My ear?" I repeated, suddenly very alarmed. "What happened to my ear? Which ear?"

Obviously I couldn't actually see either of them. I flicked them both frantically to try and work out which was the effected appendage, but they both stung.

"Your left one, when you were wrestling with that fiend she must've, uh... taken some with her..." She trailed off. "It's not as bad as you think though, honest!"

Amazing. Of course, of course I finish my first ever fight permanently disfigured, why would I expect anything less? My mind went wild with speculation, I couldn't see myself and there was hardly going to be a mirror lying around. How much had gone? The tip? Half? The whole thing???

"H-how bad is it?" I tentatively asked.

"Oh, it's not bad all, it's just like a little nibble out of it, right Rusty?"

"Oh for sure, I've seen worse!" He chipped in.

That really didn't help much. A nibble? That could be anything! I think it was pretty obvious I was still upset because it wasn't long before MD chimed in again.

"It really isn't that bad, it's kinda like mine, see?" She tilted her head towards me and I got a good look at her ears. The right one had almost an entire clean circle taken out of the edge near the top, obviously a bullet wound. "We're matching!"

Despite her efforts I didn't feel any better about it. I just hoped the doctor would have a mirror so I could actually see what I'd be dealing with for the rest of my life.

Actually that goes for everything, stars I hoped none of this would scar too badly. I didn't have much else in this world but I would love to come out the other side still looking like me. Medical magic willing, I would be okay. I'm an Earth pony. We're built sturdy.

I tried my best to feel sturdy. Physically and mentally.

The cart rumbled on, Rusty's hooves clipping down the road. I had to give it to him, for an older Pegasus he was handling the load of the cart well, we were rolling at a decent pace considering he was hauling two ponies and a pile of assorted junk that I presumed MD had decided to bring along. I wasn't paying too much attention to the scenery as we passed by, I was very much preoccupied with worrying about myself.

One thing I did notice though was unfamiliar voices. Muffled, but definitely present. We were passing close by crumbled river-view mansions that must have been quite lovely in their time. A few were borded up, I could see the dancing light of fires in a couple, the sound of chattering bouncing off the walls. Homes, still serving their purpose after all these years, albeit not as grand as they used to be.

MD shifted over to the front of the cart, clutching a new gun, cautiously sweeping around us. She must have heard them too. I couldn't blame her for still being on edge, if anything I appreciated it. The last thing I needed right now was anypony getting the jump on us.

"Alrighty, we're coming up on Dodge inna minute, I'll wheel you two in and set off home, Rover's probably worrying like nopony's business." Rusty chuckled. "I'll park up by the clinic, should be able to fix you up good as new! General store is next door too, and the 40 has beds if ya needed a place to stay the night."

"Thank you, Rusty." I replied, eyes closed. A bed sounded absolutely astounding right now.

"Ain't nothin', thanks for the help clearin' the route, ya both did a good turn by us." He smiled. "Sure everyone in town'll be happy to know the road's safe now, too."

We trunded onwards for a few more minutes, me trying to keep as stoic as possible. The mansions fell away and the road opened up, rugged rocky plains stretched way out. Far away I could see the ruins of another town, easy to spot thanks to the presence of a MAs tower poking into the sky like a needle.

Before that though stood a great metal wall made up of mismatched shipping containers, chainlink fences and flatbed train cars, rusted cargo cranes and old smokestacks poking out over the top. Running accross the road was a gate that looked like it was made out of the cargo door of a boxcar. A lone pony stood vigil on top of the wall, watching us approach. New Dodge City, it must have been. It was much bigger than I was expecting. I thought it was going to be a similar size to Fortune, two or three town blocks maybe. This was sprawling, wide and imposing, cutting a blocky silhouette across the landscape and contrasting heavily against the flatlands it sat on.

The gate guard tracked us as we approached, staring us down through the sights of his rifle. As we drew closer to the wall, the guard lowered the gun before disappearing entirely, slipping down behind. The gate slid open with a clank, we were being waved in by who I could only assume was the same guard.

"Come on in, wasn't expecting anypony to swing by this route!" He greeted.

"Well, me and these fine ladies here have just cleared out the bridge, so I reckon you'll be getting more traffic this way again soon." Rusty replied, wheeling us through the entrance, cart rattling. It was a small, dark room, that I think actually was a whole boxcar at some point in it's life.

"For real? Now that's the best news I've heard all week, the mayor will be extatic!" He beamed. In spite of everything, it was nice to think that we'd genuinely made a difference.

"We're happy to help, though my friends could do with some medical assistance, if you'd be so kind to let us through?"

"Heya!" MD chimed, waving at the guard as he looked us over.

He was a bright, cheerful shade of red and was wearing a brown vest and sunglasses, obscuring his eyes from sight. He waved back to MD and poked his head into the cart, giving me a once over.

"Ooh Celestia, they sure put you through the wringer, huh?"

Rude.

"You go right on in, clinic is on Cana Ave off West Street, right from the centre and third left." He explained, pointing the way vaguely.

"Don't worry none, I know where I'm going, thanks buddy!" Rusty replied, starting us on the move again, the gate crashing back shut.

"Welcome to New Dodge!" The guard yelled behind us. We were in.

I winced as the cart trundled out of the guardhouse and back out into the open, nut honestly it wasn't much longer after that that I found myself almost agape at what I was looking at. We had emerged onto a wide street lined either side with buildings, a concrete road flanked by a sidewalk made up of old railway sleepers either side. To the right seemed to be some kind of large warehouse, bustling sound floating out of open windows, brickwork holding steady against the elements. On our left were a load of smaller building made from container crates. Not simply repurposed, not bodged together, actual well crafted intentional structures, neatly arranged and well maintained homes. Alleys cut off between them, leading deeper into the settlement. Wires and cables ran overhead between building, swaying gently in the breeze. Further down the road ahead of us I could just about see the beginnings of a crowded market square.

This was an honest to the stars town!

Chatter filled the air as we passed a converted warehouse, now some kind of indoor market, loading bay transformed into a flower lined courtyard, a mural of Celestia and Luna gracing the tall rendered wall. A group of elderly ponies were sat outside playing cards and drinking coffee as a news vendor replenished his stall. This place had it's own newspaper.

Couples walked down the street, foals played in grassy gardens, tradesponies marched up and down the road, there was even somepony sweeping the street.

We were reaching the town centre, the road opening up and essentially becoming a big crossroads where all the main streets met. A group of guards milled around, they were all wearing old hard hats which I found a little funny. A large covered well sat in the middle of the crossroads, several ponies stood around it chatting, one was winching up a bucket from the depths.

We swung around the right of the well, weaving past a group of fillies playing in the street, laughing as they ran by. We pressed forward, turning onto a road signposted as West Street, the smell of food wafting through the air as we passed a café.

"Jeez, this place makes Baltimare kinda look like a shithole." MD observed, head swivelling around, taking in the sights and sounds. "I've never been this far into town before."

"Sure is something, ain't it." Rusty nodded. "One of the biggest towns this side of Canterlot Mountain, so I've been told. Safest too, I reckon."

I could believe it. Ponies were going about their business just like how it was before the war. They chatted in the street, they shopped. They didn't seem worried about where their next meal would come from or anything like that. They looked happy. Thriving.

Something about this was incredibly nostalgic for me. It wasn't just like how life was before the last day, this was like how I remembered life as a child, before anypony ever had to worry about the Zebrican Empire. A more carefree, innocent time that I had assumed was long lost forever.

I knew that there was more to this post-annihilation Equestria than I'd seen, I just knew it! Of course there were still resourceful ponies out here keeping the world going, rebuilding. If there were more places like this around then I could hold out hope that things might not be as all-encompassingly dire after all.

We passed a large allotment full of Earth ponies busily harvesting fresh veggies right out of the ground, a full blown irrigation system keeping everything well watered. Small cinder block huts sold freshly made food around the border of the field, I would definitely have to come back for something to eat once I was done at the clinic, an actual, home made meal would do me wonders.

I yelped as a particularly heavy bump jostled the blade sticking out of my chest. Perhaps I was getting ahead of myself, though I has to admit the peaceful sights had done a great job at keeping me diatracted. That and the painkillers.

There was more traffic down this road. Large, dormant cargo cranes cast long shadows over us, their bases hidden behind walls made of railway wagons. We hooked another turn down a smaller street, much narrower than the main roads we'd just been on. Darker too, the height of the buildings blocking light from reaching all the way to ground level. Neon signs lit up the way, pawn shops, a post office, general stores, and finally the clinic. We came to a stop just outside, Rusty parking out of the way as best he could.

It was a compact structure, looking to have been built of several passenger train cars cut up and assembled onto a building, seemingly to a very good standard, looking seemless and sturdy. A red cross was emblazoned on a sign above the door.

"Alrighty, this is us." He announced, unhitching himself. "I can help Silver here if you wanted to sell all this stuff off, figure you could kill two birds with one stone."

"Yeah, makes sense to me, thanks." MD answered, stretching out like a cat before hopping down to the floor.

"Y-you're leaving me here?" I squeaked. I was scared and hurt, I didn't want to be left in the hooves of a stranger, no matter how capable he seemed.

"I'll come in with you, but after I'll only be next door. We're probably gonna need the caps to cover the bill, I'll be back before you know it!"

I gulped. Money hadn't even crossed my mind. Of course we'd need to pay for this all, somehow. I think MD had managed to scrounge up 200 something caps before we'd set off but I had no idea how far that would stretch.

Did we even pay Rover for the coffee earlier?

She may have had a point, but I still didn't feel good about this. Doctors made me nervous at the best of times. In the state I was in could really use a friendly face.

"Alright Silver, lemme give you a hoof." Rusty spoke, trotting around the back of the cart as MD lifted her pile of assorted junk out of the way. "Real slow now, okay?"

Anxious, I steeled myself and shifted to move, pain instantly shooting through my chest. I groaned as I melted back down into the bed, tears starting to form in my eyes.

"C-can't..." I gasped.

"On it." MD said lighting up her horn. I could feel her magic pushing up under me, sort of like being lifted in a harness. I was only off the bed of the cart by a little bit, but even so the movement hurt. I seethed as my wounds moved, sharp and burning.

"I'm gonna put you down on Rusty's back, that okay?" MD said, clearly straining to lift me up.

She slid me slowly backwards until I had cleared the cart, my hooves falling limp below me. Rusty quickly ducked beneath my barrel so I was across him, and MD gently placed me down. My injured ribs protested, and I'm not too big to admit I squealed, I felt my back click as it bent and the movement of my barrel tugged on the knife.

"Phew, are we all good?" She asked, clearly relived to have put me down.

"Yep." Rusty grunted, I could feel him shifting beneath me. "Let's get her inside."

I didn't say anything, I was to busy gently whimpering as every step he took jostled me around. My wounds must have been disturbed by all the movement because I could see myself leaving behind a small trail of red drips on the floor.

MD held the clinic door open for us as Rusty trotted in. I held my breath to try and keep myself together just a little bit longer. The lobby was small and spartan, a desk against one wall and a long bench against the other. It smelled clean, though, the kind of chemical sterile smell all hospitals seemed to have.

"Goodness me, is everything alright?" Gasped the mare at the reception desk, leaping to duty. She was a mule, I'd only met a couple of mules before. A two tone grey with a black mane and a cotton nurse's hat.

"We just need a little help fer this one here." Rusty managed, carrying onwards. "Got inna tangle with some bandits."

"Right this way, first room here." She directed, opening the nearest door and walking through. Rusty prrssed forwards, slowly but surely getting us down the hall. My weight shifted with every step and pressed my ribs into the armour running down his spine. I'd be very glad to be back on a flat surface again. Not that I didn't appreciate the help, but still. MD tailed behind us.

The room itself was a small examination room. A basic wooden bench sat in the middle, joined by a cabinet on the wall to the left and a desk. The mule mare was washing her hooves in a sink that was mounted on the far wall, and a cold fluorescent light hung on the ceiling. Maybe a tad depressing, but it seemed functional if unwelcoming. It actually reminded me of the practitioners back home in Trottingham a little bit, not that was necessarily a good thing. Rusty carefully weaved through the doorway, careful to not knock my head against the frame.

"On here, please." The molly directed, point Rusty to the bench. He ducked down and I gently slid down his back, seething as I was slowly transferred onto the wooden surface.

"Well, there we go." He exhaled, working his shoulders. "How's that for service? Straight to the hospital bed!"

"Where are you hurt the most?" She asked, almost appearing at my side, now sporting a paper mask and some rubber horseshoes. "Oh."

I hadn't said anything but the hilted weapon sticking out of my front was not hard to miss.

"There's a bullet in her flank too." Rusty added. "Didn't want to give her a potion 'til we could get everything out."

"Good call." The molly acknowledged, eyes scanning the rest of my body. "You're safe now, okay? You're going to be fine. What's your name?"

"S-Silver, Silver Sterling." I eeped out. My anxiety was back through the roof.

"Ms. Sterling, I'm Mercy, I'm going to get you all healed up." She turned away and opened the cabinet, the sound of metallic jangling chiming in the air. "Have you taken an pain relief at all?"

"Her friend sorted her with a shot of Med-X after the fight."

"How long ago?" She asked, trotting over with a tray of implement balanced on her back.

"Not too long, I reckon."

"Hmm, better safe than sorry then." She mused aloud, checking over the tray before turning back to face me. "Okay Ms. Sterling, I'm going to take care of that bullet before the knife, that should minimise the bleeding before I can give you a healing potion. Does that make sense?"

I shakily nodded.

"Can we close the door so I can work, please?"

"Don't worry none, I'll be on my way anyway." Rusty answered.

"Y-you're leaving?" I cast a frightened glance over to the door, he was stood in the frame smiling apologetically, MD was nowhere to be seen. I'd left a not-unsizeable red patch on the back of his armour.

"I gotta get home, Celestia knows Rover is probably worried sick about all three of us. But you're in good hooves, miss, trust me." He nodded. "And ya friend'll be back any minute now, you don't need an old stallion like me hoverin' around. Thanks kindly, swing by our way again soon, everything's on the house for the both'a ya."

My ears folded flat despite how much it hurt, I wanted to protest, surely he could at least stay until MD got back? I barely knew him, but anything was better than bring stuck alone with a total stranger, especially when said stranger was about to be fetlock deep in my open wounds. But I didn't get a chance, with a wink he swung around and left, pulling the door closed behind him. It was now just me and this Mercy.

"Okay, let's see what we're dealing with." She said, peeling back the blood soaked bandage covering my flank. I started as her hooves contacted my fur, and I couldn't help but look.

I felt woozy seeing it. A deep gash ran under my cutie mark, flesh raised and raw, culminating in an angry looking hole that gurgled blood.

"Oh, just a little bite." She mused. "Looks fairly clean, should be nice and easy. This'll hurt, but only for a minute."

Should I even be awake for this?

Mercy grabbed a pair of long forceps from the tray, gleaming in the harsh light. I shrank away, they looked huge! I took a deep breath as she held them in both forehooves, dreading what was to come. The forceps plunged into my leg, forcing the wound open, pulling at the muscle. My vision went white for a moment as I held back a yelp.

The tool pushed deeper, I grit my teeth against the pain, eyes tearing up. My whole body was tense. The movements were only slight, but it felt like I was being torn up from the inside.

"Hmm, feels like it might have gotten turned around in there." Mercy mused, poking and twisting the implement around, stretching the already damaged tissue. Her hooves twitched on the handles, minutely adjusting them, trying to get a grip on the bullet. Every miniscule movement amplified by my nervous system.

An excruciating moment later and the nurse hummed positively. Slowly, she started pulling the tool out, the slightly open jaws grazing along the inside of my wound. Finally, it emerged, soaked red with blood and clasping a much smaller than I expected bullet. I heaved a shuddering breath I wasn't aware I was holding in.

"All in one piece, that's good." She muttered, inspecting the bullet. "Means there's no surprises waiting in there. Let's take care of that blade and then we can get everything disinfected."

My breathing was now shallow and fast as she made her way to my front, studying the handle proudly protruding from me. I watched her studying me, and though her face was mostly obscured I picked up that she seemed rather weathered. Small scars crossed what I could see of her snout, her long ears were cut and slit, long since headed. It was a little unsettling, to be honest. Intimidating, even.

"Okay Miss Sterling, on the count of three I'm going to pull this out." Mercy announced. "I need you to hold as still as you can. Yell, scream, whatever you need, just try to keep still."

I scrunched my eyes closed and nodded, right on the border of outright panic. I don't know if there was anything she could have told me that would make me feel more scared.

"One... Two... three."

"AGGHHH!"

Mercy slowly but firmly slid the knife out of my neck, it pulled on my flesh and the cutting edge was raw against my insides, feeling like it was shearing through me all over again. The blood that had been trickling down my front was now almost a spout being dragged out along with the metal.

It couldn't have been more than a couple of seconds before the knife was finally removed, but it was agonising. I hadn't really thought much about it but now that it was gone it's absence was noticeable, though I couldn't be too sure that that wasn't just because I now just had a gaping hole in my neck.

"That was good! Almost done now Miss Sterling." Mercy reassured, the knife falling into the tray with a clang. "We just need to get your wounds disinfected and then we can administer the potion. I'm just going to remove your bandages, okay?"

I wasn't paying much attention to her at this point, I was shivering and my heart was pounding, I was trying to tell myself that the worst was over as Mercy peeled back the blood soaked fabric wrapped around my body. But I snapped to attention as she started pulling on my scarf.

"T-that can stay, thanks." I protested, raising a hoof infront of hers. She swiftly pushed it away. "Please?"

"Dont be silly, it's right over the wound, I need to-" She pulled the splattered fabric off, revealing the bomb collar, standing starkly against my fur.

"Ah." She announced, eyebrows raised, ears standing straight upright. "I see."

I didn't know what to do, I was frozen. I didn't know this mare! What if she thought I was a runaway slave or a prisoner or something? What would even be the perogative in that situation? 'Return' me to slavers? Sell me off?

I was startled and panicked, and tried to scramble away. Unfortunately for me, my body was still not quite ready to be moving like that again yet, and all I managed to do was sort of half stumble off the table and limp my way into a pile on the floor, weakly flailing like a frightened animal.

"Wait wait, it's okay!" Mercy blurted out, holding her hooves up. "I'm not going to tell anyone! I promise!"

I eyed her warily.

"Just calm down, please? You're going to hurt yourself worse than you already are. I'm here to help!"

I didn't move, I just stared at her.

"Please, you're still bleeding, let me help you."

She sounded earnest. She was still holding her hooves up, and the small pool of blood under me was slowly but surely getting bigger. She was a doctor, she had a duty of care. If there was anypony I would expect to do the right thing, it would be somepony like her. I was letting blind fear get the best of me. Again.

I allowed my muscles to relax, tentatively falling to my haunches. Mercy seemed to visibly relax a little bit too.

"S-sorry." I offered. "I just... don't know what to think anymore. I-I've had a very rough couple of weeks."

"It's okay, I know it's scary." Mercy closed the distance between us and pulled down her mask, giving me a reassuring look, warmer than before. "We don't engage with slavers. You're safe in here, I promise. Let's get you back on the table and get you cleaned up. The ponies you came in with, are they...?"

"MD's a friend, she's got one too. Rusty doesn't know..."

"I see. If only Chek was here, he'd be able to actually help you out." She sighed. "Let's get you fixed."

I tried to hobble back on to the table but it was too high for me to get up in my current condition, I just couldn't reach without my body protesting. I was starting to feel a little woozy, to be honest. I set down on the floor like a foal struggling to walk.

"I uh, I can't get back up."

"That's okay, we can work from here." Mercy nodded, removing the final bandages from my ear and retrieving a bottle of disinfectant and a clean wet cloth. "This might sting a bit."

It did sting. She pressed the cloth down my flank, the cool water seeping into my wound and flushing it out, loosening any remaining debris, working back and forth to make sure nothing was left behind.

She did the same thing for the knife wounds around my neck, obviously paying special attention to the main offender. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes of discomfort before she threw the rag across the room and into a bin.

"Now, this is going to sting a lot." Mercy said, picking up the disinfectant. "Just bear with it, I promise it'll be over quick."

It was a small spray bottle, brown glass with a sunbleached label. She picked it up in her mouth and bit down on the trigger, sending a cloud of burning mist over my raw flesh. I jolted as it made contact, dancing on my cuts and grazes, feeling like salt or acid being poured directly into my nerves, a horrible tingling.

I bit my lip and bore it as my flank and chest were thoroughly sprayed. She spritzed my ear too, that was nowhere near as bad, but still enough to cause it to flick involuntary.

Giving me one last once over she trotted back to the cabinet and pulled out a fresh looking vial, a healing potion. I'm no chemist so I couldn't say what kind, but it looked a little different that the ones me and MD had been carrying around. As she was faced away from me I couldn't help but notice more scars crossing her back and withers, long, deep gashes that must have been agonising once upon a time. I shuddered to imagine what could have caused them.

"This should close up all your injuries, then we can get you clean."

Just as she finished speaking the door clattered open, swinging until it hit the wall. I was expecting to see MD standing there, but instead it was a rather irate looking black unicorn wearing a labcoat and a frown. Curiously, he also had a PipBuck attached to his leg. He looked at me for a second before shifting his eyes to Mercy and slowly trotting in.

"Mercy what is the meaning of this?" He demanded, marching right up to her, towering over the Mule.

"Goldheart, I-"

"DOCTOR Goldheart."

"Doctor Goldheart, this mare came in while you were out, I was just-"

"I have explicitly told you that you are not to tend to any patients, have I not?" He interrupted. "So what exactly is happening here?"

"Doctor Goldheart, I am fully capable of-"

"I don't care what you are or are not capable of, Mercy, I have directly ordered you to stay in reception and not get involved in any kind of medical work! So can you kindly explain to me why you've chosen to ignore that? And why are they on the floor?!" He poked her chest, nostrils flaring.

"With all due respect, Doctor Goldheart, I am the head nurse here, I am fully capable of treating this pony, and this is not your clinic." Mercy replied icily, swatting his hoof away. "Doctor Chekwas -"

"Now you listen to me you stupid mule, it may not be my clinic but I am your superior. When I give you an order you are to follow it. Doctor Chekwas isn't here, I don't know where he is and frankly I don't care, but that leaves me in charge as the most qualified pony in the building. I don't want an animal interacting with my patients, leave that to those of us who can actually use magic. Is that understood?"

The two of them glared at eachother, unblinking. The tension was palpable, thick and swampy. I tried my best to shrink away, feeling like this was all my fault.

"Hey Silv, how're you- oh!" MD chimed, suddenly appearing in the doorframe. I don't think any of us had heard her approach judging by the fact that we were all staring at her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." She sheepishly added before squinting at the Unicorn quizzically. "Goldheart?"

"Yes? Do I know you?" He asked, critically scanning her horn to hoof until he noticed her own PipBuck. He looked her in a face again for a moment, gears turning in his head. "Oh, you were one of the brats assigned to maintenance, weren't you? Mildew? Mackrell?"

"Make Do."

"Yes, Make Do. You look terrible." He said, examining her. MD's brow furrowed.

"Yeah, well, we weren't all so lucky as you to run away at the first sign of danger, some of us got shot for our trouble."

"Being on the Overmare's Priority List was not 'running away', we were the most important ponies, of course there would be vested interest in our safety. It's just common sense." He replied, pointedly.

"Sure. Whatever." MD grunted, rolling her eyes. "Tell that to everypony who died."

The room fell quiet for an awkward moment. Nopony looked like they wanted to be here.

"Well, you all finish up whatever this godawful mess is and then I expect to see you in my office at once, Mercy." He huffed, turning around and pushing past MD, slamming the door closed behind him.

"That unbearable plothole." Mercy practically spat, words dripping.

"Prick." MD agreed, glaring at the door.

"Not to interrupt, but I'm starting to feel a bit lightheaded..." I added quietly. As interesting as it may have been to know that MD and Goldheart were stablemates, it was probably best to delve more into it when I wasn't profusely bleeding.

"Oh goodness, I'm so sorry!" Mercy shook her head and removed the cap from the potion bottle. "That wasn't very becoming of me, you're still under my care after all. Please accept my apologies." She said, giving me the bottle and bowing. "Drink this up and you should be as good as new."

The liquid was a pleasing lilac colour and glowed ever so slightly, sporting a Ministry Of Peace sticker slapped on the front, looking a fair bit newer than the one MD gave me when I first woke up at her place. I wondered if these things had a best before date. It smelled vaguely of lavender. I sipped the potion down, slightly sweet and a little viscous, not entirely unlike cough syrup, and it started working pretty instantly. My body tingled as the magic ran it's course, pain slowly fading away, cuts closing up. I could actually feel the skin on my flank put itself back together, which was incredibly strange, if slightly unpleasant.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, medical magic is amazing.

I tentatively gave my hind leg a flex, flapped my ears and turned my head side to side. There was a lingering dull ache all over, but anything agonising had all but disappeared. I stood up properly for the first time in a few hours and stretched, joints popping. After so long limp and folded up, it felt really good. Looking down at myself I couldn't see any sign of my stab wounds or gunshot. I was still a bit lightheaded, I doubted the potion could just generate blood to replace what I'd lost, but otherwise I was fully healed. Almost as if nothing had happened.

But I knew that wasn't really the case, my ear...

"Is there a mirror I can use, please?"

"Of course, let me fetch one." Mercy said, searching through the cabinet. "I'll try and find something for the collar, too."

"Collar? Oh buck, your collar!" MD exclaimed, apparently now noticing my missing scarf.

"It's okay, Silver told me about your mutual binds." Mercy said, trotting back over with a mirror and a folded gown on her back. "I won't tell a soul."

I took the mirror in my hooves, staring at my reflection.

I stared at the face looking back at me. This mare was tired and frenzied, dried blood ran down her face, staining her ivory coat. Her silvery mane was matted and ratty, full of dirt and detritus. She was gaunt and vacant. Her left ear was missing the tip, about an inch and a half of it torn away, ragged edge standing stark against the smooth contour of the right ear. It twitched as I stared at it.

That was real, that was tangible. That was something no healing potion would ever be able to fix, a permanent change to my body, ugly and jagged. I was asymmetric, marred for life, a grim souvenir of my fight to the death. I won't lie and say I wasn't a little heartbroken. The only thing I had right now was myself, and I didn't even have all of that anymore.

"Who are you?" I whispered, deflated, scanning my own features, unfamiliar as they were.

Those eyes were still mine. Darker and sunken, maybe more distant, but still mine. Still alive.

"How're you holding up, Silv?" MD asked, appearing over my reflection's shoulder.

"Bad." I answered bluntly. "Pretty bad."

I was a mess inside and out. I had so many conflicting thoughts and feelings about just about everything. I was incredibly overwhelmed.

"Yeah, not many ponies come out the other side of a firefight peachy keen. But you came out the other side though, so that's a win at least!" MD reassured, patting my back.

I couldn't return her enthusiasm, I was still rattled at being left here by myself. Realisticly I knew it was literally only a few minutes, but being in as a vulnerable state as I just was I couldn't help but feel hurt, or abandoned, or something. I was sure the junk could've waited five or ten minutes.

"Where's Rusty?" MD asked, glancing around the room.

"Gone. He went home."

"Ah, alright. Damn, maybe I should have asked him to come with us, he woulda been good to have around."

Mercy —having cleaned up a little— re-entered the conversation carrying a hospital gown on her back. "There's a shower you can rinse off in in room 3, if you'd like. You can use this to cover the collar up, too." Mercy offered, nodding to the gown. A pale seafoam green, she'd folded it lengthways so that it more resembled a scarf, it would be pretty easy to wrap it around my neck.

But first, a shower sounded absolutely heavenly.

"Thanks, Doc." MD chirped. "How much do we owe you?"

"No, I can't in good conscience charge someone in your situation for treatment." She shook her head, idly running a hoof along the base of her neck. "It wouldn't be right."

"Are you sure? I don't want to get you in any more trouble." I offered. I felt bad enough in the first place.

"It's fine, Goldheart may be a nightmare, but Chek actually does have a heart of gold, I know he'd do the same thing. I just wish I could do more." She lamented. "I can give you directions to a safe place, though! The whole region east of here has signal disruptors to stop the rangefinder in those things from detonating, there's good people that way."

"Yeahaha, that's sorta the way we came." MD chagrinned. "And I don't think these are standard collars either..."

Mercy seemed a little perturbed by that, and leaned in close to my neck, analysing the collar. "What in the world is..." She was quiet for a moment, and to be frank I was starting to get a little but uncomfortable with her being so far into my personal space. "This is... Terra Mater, that's not a timer is it?"

She pulled away with a look of abject horror plastered on her face.

"Yeah, it is. We got, uh-" MD paused to check the readout on my collar. "139 hours to work something out. We gotta get a move on."

"I-I-I've never seen anything like this, that's abhorrent even for slavers!"

Well, it was good to know our situation was so cruel and unusual it was notable even in a world full of monsters and foal murderers.

"Bless you both, I'm so sorry. I wish I could do something." Mercy sighed, ears flopping down dejected. "I'm afraid you're in the right place at the wrong time."

"What do you mean?" I asked

"Doctor Chekwas, he's the head of the clinic, he's with the Redemption Order if you've heard of them?"

"Kinda rings a bell?" MD mused. I shook my head.

"They're good people, maybe the best among us. Chek is some kind of magic with collars, I've lost count of creatures he's freed. He's something special." Mercy smiled before directing her gaze to the floor. "He took a research trip to the Junction. He was supposed to be back last week but we've not seen any sign of him. If he was here I know he'd be able to help you..."

Both me and MD perked up.

"The Junction, as in Dodge Junction?" I asked.

"That's right, he said he was going to be researching Ghouls, no better place for it." She confirmed.

Ghouls? Like little green ghouls? Like Ogres & Oubliettes?

MD was looking at me, flashes of intrigue daring to spark in her eyes, trying to keep a poker face despite her obvious intrest. I presumed she was thinking the same thing I was. Did I dare hope that this whole ordeal could be ended?

"You know, the funny thing is that we were actually heading to Dodge Junction." MD replied, Mercy's ears immediately standing to attention.

"Please take me with you." Mercy said, no hesitation, no pause.

"We could- wait, what?" MD tilted her head, apparently only just registering the sentence.

"Take Me with you. I'm not much of a fighter but I've got a strong back and medical skills. I'd have no chance on my own, but three of us would make things much easier." She bowed her head down and closed her eyes, solemn. "Please, I owe him my life, this town needs him."

This proposition seemed to leave MD torn for some reason. As far as I was concerned having the extra help could only be a good thing for us. An extra set of eyes and professional medical training? It was a no brainer to me.

"I don't know..."

"Why not? You literally just said about bringing Rusty along!" I pointed out, baffled that she hadn't already immediately agreed. "MD if she can help us get these collars off we'd be stupid not to take her up on this."

"That's different, he's a veteran-"

"And Mercy is a nurse! Rusty couldn't help me just now and neither could you, are you telling me you wouldn't want her around in case something like this happens again?"

"I'm more than happy to bring supplies and provisions, I'll help however I can." Mercy added.

"I'm not saying that, we just have to remember what we're here for." MD gestured to my collar. "We don't have a lot of time here, say we don't find him, then what? With the best will in the world I know if we bring her along finding this Doctor will become the priority, and we can't afford to lose a day or even days searching if he's not there."

"Will become- MD it should already BE the priority, he can take these bloody collars off!"

"I'm just saying we can search for him at our own pace by ourselves! We know what we're dealing with here, I think it would be better to keep our options open rather than putting all our eggs in one basket."

"MD right now there couldn't possibly be any more eggs in our basket! We're risking our lives just to find an old cello for Celestia's sake! We have no backup, no contingency, and now that we're presented with somepony who can actually help us you're not sold? I don't understand you at all sometime!"

I liked MD, I really did, and I won't claim to know to know her or the wasteland inside and out, but stopping to think about ot a lot of the things that we were doing at her behest were questionable at best. I had blood on my hooves by her say so!

Nope, it was my turn to call the shots. MD might have had the world experience, but I'm very sure that I had the wisdom in this scenario.

"No, we've done it your way so far, I'm as tied up in this as you are, I'm making the call this time." I announced, flowing at her before directing my attention to the mule. "Mercy, thank you for your help, we would greatly appreciate it if you'd accompany us to help find your friend."

"Silver-"

Thank you!" Mercy exclaimed, relaxing on the spot. "I-I know time is of the essence, I'll get a bag made up as quickly as I can, we've got lots of medical supplies I can bring. We might even be able to hop the train if we get moving soon, Freighty owes the clinic a favour anyway." Mercy said, hurrying out the door. "I'll get ready, I can fill you in along the way!"

That left the two of us alone for the first time since the rest stop. MD was glaring at me, she seemed antsy.

"I hope you know what you're doing." She said curtly. "If this goes wrong it's our necks on the line."

"If we find the doctor then we have nothing to worry about." I replied.

"That's a huge if. IF we find him and IF he can actually remove these things. I'm just worried we're biting off more than we can chew here. We don't even have anything to go on!"

"Well then I'd say that puts us on about even odds of finding this cello, then." I pointed, giving her a flat stare. MD didn't have anything to say about that. The way I saw it this was literally doubling our chances if solving our problem. A win-win.

I really hoped I could still use that shower before we left.

Chapter Eight: Search And Rescue

Chapter Eight: Search And Rescue

"When the world is sick, can no one be well?"

"A Zebra?"

I swayed as the railway wagon lurched and shuddered it's way along the tracks. I liked to think that I wasn't a prejudiced pony, but walking through the aftermath of a holocaust so absolute that the country still hasn't recovered almost two centuries later may have coloured my opinion just a little. To learn that not only were Zebras still around, but that they were still in Equestria was almost insulting. The fact that this meant a Zebra was also our best bet for freedom was a particularly bitter pill to swallow. They were the root cause of everything that had happened to me since the war started.

To be fair I probably should have picked up on it sooner, 'Chekwas' wasn't a very Equestrian sounding name after all. How a Zebra ended up here as a doctor I'll never know.

"Yes, a Zebra." Mercy confirmed, either not noticing or ignoring my stupor. "He's about 11 hands tall, grey stripes, blue eyes, quiffed mane, and a small beard on his chin. His glyphmark is a laurel wreath, but he'll most likely be wearing barding so you might not see it."

"We don't need all the details, pretty sure a Zebra is gonna stick out." MD interjected, bracing herself against the wooden walls as the wagon swayed.

"Details couldn't hurt." Mercy rebutted. "Anyway, I don't know exactly where in the Junction he is, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was the only creature in sound mind that we come across."

I wasn't really sure what she meant by that but it didn't inspire confidence.

We'd left New Dodge, hopped a boxcar heading south that would passright through Dodge Junction. I'd been assured that we'd be able to hop out without killing ourselves.

Mercy had led us to a group of absolutely enourmous old brick buildings, huge warehouse and factory looking structures, railways lines snaking between them, swathes of train sidings serving them all. It was also where most of the cranes I'd seen were situated. Based on the signage it was all old foundries and factories producing railway wagons, which made sense I suppose. It at least explained New Dodge's city walls anyway. Judging by the activity the area had mostly converted to a freight depot. Mercy had had a brief back and forth at the depot with an Abyssinian of all people, to get us aboard. 'Freighty Cat', which was a name so ridiculous I could only for his sake that it was just a nickname. From my understanding he ran the trains, and while I'm not privy to the details it seemed like Mercy had twisted his arm about something or other, granting us passage just a minute or so before the train left.

It was almost a novelty to be riding a train after the end of the world, and actually pretty relieving that there was enough industry in these settlements to necessitate a daily cargo service between them. I had no idea where the train was actually heading, but I presumed it had to be somewhere at least as developed as New Dodge, maybe even more so.

I had actually managed to clean myself up before we left the clinic. Just. I was able to rinse off the worst of the blood but I didn't have enough time to dry myself before Mercy marched us to the train depot. As such I'd left sopping wet, which had since been upgraded to damp. Still though, I was freezing cold, airdrying in a fast moving vehicle was not pleasant, the wind chilled me to my core. We had tried closing the door but it was stuck open, so I was stuck being wind tunneled. I'd tried my best to clean my stuff too, but I'd done a less than stellar job. At least the armour wasn't sticky anymore.

The train had been on the move for about fifteen minutes, cruising over barren plains at some clip. This had probably saved us a few hours travel, and we'd still have daylight when we arrived in Dodge Junction. The train was starting to slow down already, I could hear the screech of brakes in the distance.

Apparently, our passage into Dodge Junction was an enourmous rail depot, presumably the 'junction' itself. The train was going to have to weave through a mess of freight yards and damaged track sand, well, junctions. Navigating the mess meant it'd be crawling through town at a snail's pace, we'd be jumping off when it was slow enough to not hurt. We had started passing larger industrial buildings niw, solitary factories and powerstations, sparcely spaced. I guessed that this was the very outskirts, and as we slowed down things would only get more dense.

I stared out the door, watching the scenery pass, the flat land slowly growing more arid looking the further we went. It was nice to not be walking for a bit, at least. I did feel like an old time hobo, though.

The rocking motion of the wagon was threatening to send me to sleep despite the racket. After the day's events I was absolutely exhausted, everything hit me like a ton of bricks the moment I'd taken the weight off my hooves. I'd almost died today. I'd killed somepony, a living breathing pony. I'd been party to a massacre, and I didn't even feel bad about it. I felt worse that I was involved in it than that they'd died. That made me worried for myself, surely that wasn't normal?

MD floated the canteen over to me, and I took a few sips. We'd not eaten since this morning, I was actually quite looking forward to settling down for the evening and digging into some ancient canned goods. She'd had sold off all the junk she'd picked up at the fiend camp, so she was able to buy some more food and ammo and still have a little left over for the collar removal fund, on the presumption we wouldn't find Doctor Chekwas. I couldn't say I blamed her, I'm all for keeping options open, I just desperately hoped we wouldn't need to, that we'd find this Zebra and everything would be fine. Somehow.

In my lethargic state I almost toppled over as the train squealed around a bend, intertia pulling on me. Buildings were becoming more frequent now as we started to roll into the outskirts, roads lined with old billboards and small homes starting to coalesce.

I poked my head out the door to try and get a look at the town properly, wind whipping at my mane.

I could only sort of see the skyline, but compared to Balitimare it look fine. Almost normal, even. Buildings were still standing, if showing their age, nothing immediately seemed burned or blown up or anything. No skeletal remains, the whole city was there. The MAw tower I'd seen in the distance was looming over us now, casting a long shadow over the rooftops. Just like when we walked through the Baltimare suburbs, it looked like everypony just up and left one day. I wondered if that'd still be the case the further we got in to town.

I turned my attention to my travelling companions. MD was similarly staring out the door, absentmindedly prodding at her collar, hopefully subconsciously. Mercy's attention was fixed on the floorboards, anxiously tapping a hoof. She noticed me looking at her and glanced up with a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes.

I beheld her for a moment. She couldn't have been much older than me, but wore her years. Her nurse apparel had been replaced by a thick old army jacket, ragged and patched repeatedly. I felt there was a sadness to her that I couldn't quite place.

The brakes screeched on as the momentum of the train slowed, like a giant metal banshee grinding it's way along. Loud enough to hurt a little.

Now lumbering, we started to pass by rail yards full of parked wagons and cars, all looking a lot worse for wear than the one we were in. Most rusted, some overgrown, a few collapsed, all making up a huge incidental wall between us and the town. The train began jolting as we passed along swiching tracks and bad joints, shaking us around. I shifted away from the door, just in case. The last thing I needed was to fall under a moving train.

Our boxcar was towards the back of the train, I could see the rest of the wagons snaking around turns in front of us, engine way off in the distance. It was a cobbled together behemoth of a machine stalwartly towing Celestia knows how much weight. Shuddering and rumbling we continued to decelerate passing through another rail yard, more empty than the last one, more gaps in between parked up wagons, sound clattering off of them as we passed. know how fast we were going but it felt faster than it looked.

We shifted and jolted down the tracks. To be fair I would imagine they weren't in the beat condition after decades of presumably less than regular maintenance. I watched the ground pass underneath us outside, gravel splayed between sleepers, more tracks joining us to the side. Random bits of cables and wires joining with who knows what.

"Get ready, we'll jump in a minute." MD called, yelling over the cacophony. Mercy threw her comically large bag over her back and stood up, MD was already waiting by the door. I looked around to make sure none of us had dropped anything, idly noting my wet hooftracks.

A little bit longer and it seemed like we were moving at more of a walking pace, or at least a steady trot. The train was slowly coasting past what looked like some kind of factory, broken remnants of other trains decorating the neighbouring tracks. MD sat down at the edge and poked her head around the doorframe to make sure we weren't going to be jumping into anything before nodding to us both.

"Alright, seems as good a place as any, let's go."

She took a breath and leapt out of the open door, apparently we were still moving faster than expected because she absolutely wiped out on the landing, losing balance immediately and falling onto her side, sending loose gravel flying. I cringed back from the edge.

Mercy jumped out after with little hesitation, a graceful little leap that stuck the landing. She trotted out of the jump and went back to help MD up.

My turn now. I checked myself just to make sure I wouldn't be slamming myself into a pole or pillar or anything, but seeing that the ground ahead was clear, I pushed myself out too. The gravel gave way around my hooves, cushioning my fall a little. I landed into a brisk walk, more stable than MD did. I put that down to my Earth pony sure hoofedness.

I joined the other two as MD dusted herself off, dislodging loose stones from her size, grunting. "Fuck that hurt."

"Lucky you didn't hit your head on the tracks, I don't think we'd be able to do anything about that." Mercy added, helping MD clean herself.

I struggled to hear either of them other the clacking of the still passing cargo wagons, steady and rhythmic. We were stood in a big interchange, it looked like dozens of rails met and intertwined here, branching off in all directions. A sad, broken down, grimy looking train stood in front of us as the one we had just left rumbled on behind us, kicking up dust. The old factory loomed over us, the skyline of town poking out behind it.

Old Dodge. Dodge Junction.

I'd never been here myself before, but I remember it being one of the manufacturing hubs of Equestria. They made everything here, from cherry pies to spark batteries to machine guns to pesticide. I was no strategist, but it seemed odd to me that the Zebras hadn't completely leveled this place, considering it's importance as a part of the war machine.

The last wagon on our train sailed by behind us, carrying it's rhythmic clanging with it further down the line, fading into the distance. As it left though, I noticed a new sound replacing it. Me and Mercy both looked at MD, more specifically her PipBuck. It was crackling softly, intermittently.

"Well, that's not fun." She said, staring at the device.

"How bad is it?" Mercy asked, concerned. I wasn't sure what was going on but if they were both worried about it then it couldn't be anything good.

"Not that bad, but a fair bit higher than background." She replied, fiddling with her PipBuck, pointing it around. "I can't figure out where it's coming from, though."

"It's coming from the town." Mercy answered. "The whole place is radioactive. Don't worry, I brought us plenty of RadAway."

Radioactive?

"The whole town‽" I squeaked. I'm no scientist, but even I knew radiation was a bad, bad thing!

"Well, kind of. I think by this point pretty much everything is contaminated. There's a reason they built a New Dodge." She explained. "I'd really recommend not eating or drinking anything we find here."

Ah, okay. Everything was contaminated. Wonderful.

I silently cursed the fact that both of our best shots for freedom were probably here somewhere. Why couldn't they have been somewhere nice and non-life threatening?

"Well, it's not gonna stay light forever." MD chimed in, walking ahead of us. "Shall we?"

I inhaled. Radioactive or not, we wouldn't find anything by just standing here, time was ticking. I followed behind MD, Mercy following me. Our hooves crunched in the gravelly ballast, knocked against sleepers, and clanged over rails. We weaved between decrepit wagons, over flatbeds and through open cars, all accompanied by the clicking of the PipBuck.

"So, where exactly are we going?" I asked. I'd been following MD along but right now I wasn't sure to what end.

"I got no idea about the doctor, but if I had to guess I'd say the Jubilee Hippodrome is probably gonna be towards the city centre, so we'll work our way there and keep our eyes peeled." MD explained.

"You don't know?"

"I've never been here before, Silv. Do you know?"

"Touché."

"Chek would have come through on hoof, most likely from the east heading inwards. If we can make our way there through that area of town I think that'd be a good start." Mercy added.

"Noted." MD added, pausing to check her PipBuck screen. "Any idea specifically where he might be? Something to look out for?"

"Well he was looking for ghouls to study, so it tracks that we'd probably be looking for areas wity more intense contamination." Mercy explained. "He might have marked anywhere he was staying just in case someone came looking for him, so keep an eye peeled for that."

So not only do we have no real direction, the current best plan is to head towards the most dangerous areas? Because this Chekwas might be there.

What on Celestia's green earth had we gotten into here?

"He's a part of the Redemption Order, their logo is a first aid cross in a triangle, that's what he'd tag if he was going to tag." She elaborated.

"Oh, that's what that is!" MD hummed. "I've seen that around before."

"Redemption Order?" I asked.

"They're a small group dedicated to wasteland recovery." Mercy explained. "They dedicate their lives to helping others and recovering old world medicine and magic."

My ear twitched at that.

"So, theoretically, if somepony was to have the data for an experimental spell, they'd be able to work out how it works? Reverse engineer it?" I prodded. I could be onto something here.

"Well, in theory maybe. I'm not a member myself so I can't say for certain." Mercy hummed in thought. "Chek would know, though."

I made a mental note about this Redemption Order. With any luck I might be able to kill two birds with one stone here. Though I held my tongue on my thoughts on the irony of a Zebra being a part of a 'Redemption Order' given the current stare of Equestria.

We were currently working our way through a dusty old factory populated with dusty old robots. All deactivated. They were the tracked kind with real brains, I'd always found the notion uncomfortable, but to see them now fetid and rotted, misshapen and discoloured floating in their domes, was pretty horrific.

Machinery sat dormant, the robots stuck apparently mid-task. The whole place was eerily quiet, our hooffalls echoing off the concrete walls. The only other sounds were the dripping of water from somewhere in the building and the continuing drone of the geiger counter. It made for some real offputting ambience.

We passed a workstation with a nearby trough style sink on the wall which seemed to me emanating a dim glow. I went to check it out and found a stagnant pool of luminous green liquid standing in the basin, supplemented by the decayed corpses of several birds that left a thick, dark sludge below the gloe. The same green liquid was slowly dripping from a couple of the taps, plinking down. I heard the geiger counter go crazy behind me as MD made her way over too.

"Best not stand too close, Silv."

She didn't have to tell me twice. I backed up, scrunching my snout.

There wasn't much else of note inside. The only reason we were here in the first place was it was the path of least resistance out of the freight yard, entering through a still open roller door. If our hoofprints in the dust were anything to go by, we were the first ponies to be in here in a very long while. It was just us and the couple of radroaches we'd spotted scuttling around.

I tell a lie, there was something else I found odd about the place actually. The amount of stuff here didn't match the desolation. Desks still had papers and pens strewn around, open notebooks and coffee mugs. Lockers still had bags and things hanging inside. Even the canteen seemed to still be set up ready to dish out a long, long past best meal. It was as if everypony just disappeared.

There was no sign of Chekwas here, not that I think Mercy expected there to be. We reached the main lobby, a rather grand marble lined room that belied the building's function, and exited through the unlocked front doors.

Even out here it seemed like everything was coated in a fine layer of dust. The roads were empty, and the slowly lowering sun cast a dim light through the clouds. The breeze was still, and no animals called. The air was heavy, somehow. It felt wrong, I think we all felt it, sticking close together as we trotted. The road was wide and lined on both sides by heavy industry, ugly and oppressively large buildings dwarfing us, looking like they were just waiting to be fired up again save for the plantlife that was successfully reclaiming the land. Ivy crawled up pipes and over windows, grass sprang from cracks, an affront to the old concrete and steel.

A lone sprite-bot floated a holding pattern ahead of us, looping between all four corners of a crossroads. As we got closer I was able to hear that it wasn't blaring music, but a message.

"-remain indoors. You should not leave your location for any reason until an all clear has sounded. If possible, shelter away from outside walls, keeping far away from exterior doors and windows. Ensure your chosen shelter is stocked with enough provisions for an extended period of time. Potable water should be drawn into containers now to prevent future contamination. Radiation can not be seen, tasted or felt, but poses a direct threat to life. Again, remain indoors and await further instructions on this frequency. Message repeats. This is an emergency alert from-"

It paid us no mind as we walked past, carrying on it's tiny holding pattern. I wondered how long it had been patrolling this deserted interchange, broadcasting the same message over and over again. It'd almost be sad if it wasn't so annoying.

The road stretched onwards, factories giving way to warehouses and eventually offices further along. It was eerie being in a town so totally devoid of life, it sort of made me feel uneasy. Even given the time and age of everything, the air still vaguely smelled of smoke and chemicals.

I think part of what was making this place seem so strange was the absolute stillness of everything. There wasn't even a hint of a breeze, no plants moved, no litter drifted, nothing. It felt very unnatural. It was almost like the place was actually frozen in time, and I felt like I had more authority on being frozen in time than most.

We trotted over a bridge spanning more train tracks, a great embedded swathe cut into the ground, dozens of rails lying dormant. The bridge creaked slightly but held, we were probably the first ponies to cross it in a long, long time.

The other side of the bridge was decidedly more town-like. Offices and a few scant small factories still dotted the roadside, but shops and cafés were now present too. Definitely more domestic.

This was almost stranger, at least the absent hubub of heavy industry was almost alien to me. But a place like this, this could've bene anywhere. Baltimare or Trottingham, Manehattan, whatever. Preserved but absolutely desolate. It almost gave me shivers as we navigated through what was once an urban sprawl. Never had the term ghost town seemed so apt.

It was starting to get dark now, overcast sky growing blacker and blacker, hopefully through sunset and not because it was about to rain. I was almost expecting to see all the streetlights illuminate, but such was not the case.

MD seemed agitated, flowing at the road ahead, slowing down before signaling for us to stop at another crossroad.

When we stopped walking there was a total absence of sound, I hadn't realised how quiet this place was save for our hooves on the ground. It was stone dead now except for the quiet crackle of the geiger counter. MD was glancing around, but not seeming to stop to look at anything in particular. I couldn't see anything myself, just the empty void ahead.

"Is everything alright?" Mercy asked.

"EFS is going crazy, the whole area ahead of us is lit up red. Might be nothing, but..." MD trailed off, whacking the device with her other hoof. Red meant bad, I knew that much. "Maybe we should duck in somewhere."

The closest building to us was some kind of little café sandwiched between two soulless office blocks, chairs and tables still sat out front, looking like a converted home. Quaint, cosy. We hurried over, crowding the patio as MD tried the door.

"Locked, give me a minute, watch my back?" She muttered, horn glowing. I tuned back to face the street, anxiously looking up and down, waiting for some new kind of horror to appear.

Thankfully whatever MD was doing worked and the door quietly clicked open before anything could get the drop on us. We pushed in and slid a chair against the door handle to hopefully prevent anything from following us inside.

'Briar's Bakery'

The inside was like a time capsule, sort of like the factory we were in earlier. The display cabinet was filled with the powdered remains of long decayed pastries, mugs still waited on tables, now filled to the brim with mold. It was much less dusty in here, though. I leaned against the counter as Mercy and MD peered out the windows. Tension may have been high but I was grateful for whatever rest I could get.

Over the dead quiet I could hear something. I thought it was the building creaking at first, but the more I listened the more I realised it had cadence, intonation, pitch. A voice.

"There's somepony here!" I hissed, trying to keep as quiet as possible just in case they weren't looking to make friends.

They both whipped their heads around to face me. Mercy's ears pivoted to hear what I was hearing, glancing between us both and nodding. "Downstairs." She whispered.

MD pulled out her shotgun, keeping it close to her body as she slowly crept towards the counter. "Can't make anything out on the EFS, still too much red outside."

I pulled out my pistol just in case. MD stepped behind the counter and nudged open the wooden door, revealing a split staircase heading up and down. "You wait here in case they rush us." MD instructed Mercy, who nodded in response.

MD gingerly stepped down the stairs, I followed behind and Mercy stood guard at the top. The staircase turned a corner and ended with a short hallway to a large wooden door. I could see a warm yellow light shining through from underneath. The muffled voice continued within.

"Hello?" MD called out.

There was no direct reply, but the voice carried on.

"We're friendly." She continued.

More of the same. MD looked to me and back at the door.

"We're coming in."

She took a couple of steps back and twisted the handle in her magic. It didn't immediately budge, and I could see her straining a little to get it to give. The glow around her horn intensified for a moment, and with and invisible shove the door groaned open.

We were hit by a waft of foul, stale air, dust flying out of the room.

"-remain indoors and await further instructions on this frequency. Message repeats. This is an emergency alert from the Dodge Junction Metropolitan Council and the Ministry Of Wartime Technology. An attack from the Zebra Empire is currently underway and we have detected lethal levels of radiation-"

The radio droned away as me and MD both choked on the smell. Musty and rotten. It made my eyes water and set MD gagging. It was old decay, advanced rotting, horrendous.

There was nopony here anymore, we'd just heard the looping broadcast, but that's not to say there was never anypony in here. Spread around the room were the mummified remains of half a dozen ponies, empty cans and bottles scattered on the floor around them.

"Oh Luna." MD spluttered, trotting in and flipping the radio off.

Whoever they were, they had been here for a long while. The bodies were dry and flakey, vacant, eyeless sockets staring at us. A couple of their cutie marks were still visible. A few were huddled together. Judging by the empty shelves they ran out of food and starved to death in this basement.

My heart ached for them. Poor souls. Trapped like rats waiting for instructions thar never came. At least they were in a better place now.

"Is everything okay?" Mercy called from the ground floor. "I heard a commotion."

"We're alright, there's nopony here, don't worry." MD yelled back. "We'll be up in a second, can you keep an eye on the front door?"

She glanced around and started rifling through the room, quickly locating a first aid kit. I took a deep breath and followed her in, making a point to only breathe through my mouth.

Aside from the empty shelves, the room had a desk on the far wall, on which sat the radio, a spark lantern and a terminal, all still on. Not seeing a whole lot else, I curiously looked at the terminal. It was unlocked, awaiting input.

[STOCKTAKE - ONGOING]
[STOCK RECEIPTS]
[DELIVERIES]
[RECEPIES]
[LOG]

I semi-curiously navigated to the Log, opening it and bringing up a wall of text.

[1]
I'm such an idiot, I knew I should have applied for entry to that new Stable. I'm stuck here now, my own fault. Me and Kneady have hunkered down with the customers that were here when the alerts went off. I've got no idea what's happening up there, but I hope the all clear comes through soon, it's pretty claustrophobic down here. There's nothing to do but wait so I thought I'd keep a little log going.

There were more entries, but I elected not to read them. I didn't need to know the ins and outs of how these unfortunate souls spent their last days, it seemed inappropriate. The least I could do was let them have their privacy in death. I shook my head sadly, sparing the bodies another glance. I hoped they didn't suffer too much. I couldn't help but think this could've been me, under different circumstances. There but for Celestia's grace was I.

"Hey MD, there's a recipe list on this thing, figured you'd be interested."

"Oh, score! Thanks Silv!"

She came over to the desk and interfaced her PipBuck with the terminal, tapping the keyboard. I picked up the lantern, it was at least something we could use moving forward.

I headed back upstairs.

The bedroom we found ourselves in was admittedly rather homely, and being on the first floor gave us a little height advantage and a pair of windows to look out to the street through. The room was bathed in the yellow glow of the lantern, as far as I could see this made ours the only building with lights on. Normally that'd make us a beacon for anything to find us, but just as it was earlier, the street was still deserted. Even still, we all kept our eyes peeled. MD insisted that her EFS was still lit up fully red. I was watching out the window.

I had felt very strange about sharing a building with half a dozen corpses, but MD and Mercy didn't seem to share my feelings about it. Guess I just had to get over myself.

Mercy had whipped us up a delicious fruit salad out of her own rations. It was the freshest tasting canned fruit I'd ever had, though I was lamenting the lack of any sort of alcohol I could use to take the edge off. It had been a very long, very trying day. Almost dying was heavy. Taking a life maybe moreso.

"See, the thing with our Stable was the everypony was a Unicorn. I mean, literally everypony." MD explained between mouthfuls of fruit. "I think being cooped up for that long with only your own tribe led to like, a kind of unicorn exceptionalism that Goldheart is still buying into."

"How can it have just been Unicorns? Who grew the food?" I rebutted.

"I'm telling you! I didn't even know other ponies still existed until I left, I thought it was all Unicorns everywhere!"

"Well, that tracks." Mercy sighed. "Goldheart always was prickly treating Earth ponies. He really seems to have a real hatred for me, though. And don't get him started on the fact he works under Chek. He's been trying to call the shots from day one, or so I've been told. Since he's the 'best suited'."

"Bucking tailhole. I can't believe nopony's done him in yet." MD scoffed.

"Oh, believe me, they've tried." Mercy chuckled. "More than one swing has been sent his way."

"Why doesn't Chekwas just ditch him? Seems like a terrible time for everypony- uh, everyone involved." I asked. Truth be told I still didn't really know how I felt about Zebras given everything, but Goldheart just seemed like a twat.

"Unfortunately he is incredibly skilled. The community would be at risk without him. We're stuck with him for better AND for worse."

"Stable clinic was pretty swish." MD chimed in. "Ended up there more than once."

"Yeah, well hopefully we can put Goldheart back in his place." I snorted, turning my attention back to the view from the window.

For all intents and purposes it was pitch black outside. The moonlight couldn't break through the clouds and the lamp light wasn't strong enough to reach the other side of the road. The building occasionally creaked and groaned, as if protesting our presence.

"So not to change the subject, but what were you girls coming here for anyway?" Mercy asked, mouth full. "It's pretty rare anyone comes to the Junction."

"It's a bit of a long story, but we're-"

"Looking for something to buy our way out of these collars." MD interjected, giving me a side eye.

"But why here?" Mercy followed up, tilting her head. MD looked at me warily.

"I think we can tell her, I really doubt she's out for the money." I rolled my eyes. It was pretty clear to me that Mercy's only goal here was finding this zebra.

"The less ponies know the better." MD answered, apparently not convinced.

"We're looking for Octavia's cello."

"Silver!"

"Oh come on, like she's gonna turn on us!" I said, smiling at Mercy. "She's got her own stuff to worry about. Besides once we find the doctor we'll be golden."

"I can't say I know what a cello is to be honest, I'm really just trying to find Chek." She confirmed, tail swishing. It was kind of cute, the way it tufted at the end sort of reminded me of a paint brush.

"I'm less worried about her and more worried about anypony else who might hear. We won't be the only ponies looking for this thing." MD replied.

"Anypony else? MD the only other ponies we've seen since we arrived are dessicated!" I contested. "Besides, we won't even need the cello if we find the doctor first."

"We might be free from exploding for now but they know where I live, Silver! What's the point if Red Rein can just show up at my house? We need to find the cello either way and pay them off, then they have nothing on us. Square. Done." MD explained, frowning.

"I'm basically a ghost, MD. They have nothing on me but I've got the same collar as you. Even if we do pay them I wouldn't trust them to keep their word."

"Look, I'm just saying that no matter what we need to find that cello." MD huffed. "You might be a ghost, but Baltimare is my home. I have friends and family there, a life. I can't lose all that, not again. I need this."

I didn't respond right away. Her wants were not my wants. If we could get these collars removed then I really didn't want to be out on this stupid search. I understood where she was coming from of course, but I'd almost been killed on the first full day of the search, and truth be told I found being in the ruins of Baltimare incredibly depressing. I didn't know if I saw a future there beyond helping Dandelion.

I liked MD, I knew why she wanted to do this, but given the choice I wouldn't be here.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to start an argument." Mercy offered quietly. "But whatever your plans are after this, I wish you both the best of luck."

"It's okay." I assured her, snapping out of my thoughts. "We just haven't had a minute to actually work out what we're doing."

"Yeah, we're kinda on the fly here." MD agreed. "Didn't really plan anything on account of... Well, y'know." She awkwardly smiled, gesturing to her neck.

"Well, for what it's worth I've been in your horseshoes. You both seem like you're handling it well." Mercy offered, sympathetic gaze meeting both of our eyes.

That was an unexpected development to say the least.

"You have?"

"Mine wasn't on a timer. I don't know how long I was held. Years " She replied, staring into the middle distance. "They didn't even keep me as a slave, I was a beast of burden."

Oh Cadenza, am I ever going to be told something that isn't unbelievably harrowing?

"Celestia above." MD muttered.

"I won't go into it, but that's how I know Chek can help you, I wouldn't be here otherwise." Mercy finished, eyes closed.

Horrible as it might sound, I was greatful not to be getting the full details. Literally everything I'd seen an heard the last few weeks had been awful, i didn't need Mercy's tragic past compounding that. I'm sure the wasteland would do a pretty good job of that given due course.

I mentally huffed and turned my attention back to the street outside. For all intents and purposes it was pitch black. The moonlight couldn't break through the clouds and the lamp light wasn't strong enough to reach the other side of the road. The building occasionally creaked and groaned, as if protesting our presence.

"It's pretty late, maybe we should think about bedding down." I posited. I was greatful to not be on watch first tonight, since we'd stopped to rest the weight of today's events had fully caught up with me. I was taking third shift tonight.

"Yeah, probably." MD agreed, shifting in her bedroll. "You all set to keep lookout, Mercy?"

"You can count on me." She affirmed, taking my spot on the window as I moved out of the way, borderline collapsing into the embrace of my own sleeping bag.

"Amazing, thanks, wake me up when it's my turn." MD replied, flicking through her PipBuck. "I'll wake you up when it's your shift, Spooky."

"Spooky?" Was she talking to me.

"Yeah, Spooky." She nodded, grinning. "Y'know, since you're a ghost and all."

Ass.

"Goodnight MD." I groaned, closing my eyes.

Not much exciting was happening, which I guessed was for the best. I yawned but fought the claws of sleepiness. I fished a Sparkle Cola out from MD's bag. She'd picked up a load of stuff from the traders in New Dodge, I thought I could use them to keep myself awake. It wasn't coffee, but it'd do. I did wish it was cold, though.

I was again lamenting the lack of any real way for me to keep track of time. I really needed to keep an eye out for a watch or something. A PipBuck would be amazing, but I had a feeling I wouldn't find one just laying around anywhere.

I think it'd had been an hour or so of sweet nothing since I'd changed over with MD. Mercy had curled up on the soft carpeted floor, muzzle tucked under her tail and MD was quietly snoring under her blanket.

Honestly the image of the dim street was starting to burn itself into my brain before I noticed something was actually happening outside. It was gradual and slow, it took me a moment to notice, but there was a light. A bright green light, slowly but surely travelling down the road. I dimmed the lantern and turned back to the window.

It approached from the right, casting a shining radius all around, illuminating the street. I didn't really know what I was looking at until it was only a few yards away, but when I saw it I was dumbfounded.

"What in Tartarus is that?"

It was a pony. Or at least used to be a pony. It looked dead, it's skin in tatters, fur, mane and tail long since fallen out, it's nose and ears eaten away, horn broken, eyes vacant and milky. And it was glowing. This thing was the source of the light, it's skin a sick green, light emanated from it's insides shining through missing patches. The crackle of MD' geiger counter gently intensified the closer it got.

I was so focused on this abomination that I almost didn't notice the veritable army following it. Over a dozen similarly decayed ponies shambled along behind it. Though none of them glowing it didn't make them any less horrifying to look at. Flesh hung like rags from them. Lips were missing, teeth were bared. Some hobbled on missing limbs. I would have sworn one or two of them were wearing the remnants of old combat armour. The light from the glowing one cast a ghastly shadowed visage across them all.

I kept as still as I could, I was worried the movement might attract their attention. I swear a few must have looked up at me, but either didn't notice or didn't care enough to investigate. The herd sailed right by us, meandering past the window and further down the street.

Whatever that was, it was disgusting, but they didn't seem to know we were here.

Eventually the glowing one meandered around a corner, it's cohorts shuffling after it. The light began to fade away until it was dark again. I kept my eyes fixed on the street for a while after to make sure they were definitely gone, but relaxed after a little while when I didn't see any further sign. Satisfied they were gone I grabbed another Sparkle Cola, questioning what I had just seen. The street was just as it was before whatever that was. Did I imagine it? A waking dream? Maybe I was more tired than I though.

And if that was real, what had we gotten ourselves into by coming here?

I sipped from the bottle and continued my watch, just in case those things came back. It was definitely something to tell the others about when they woke up.

"That's what a ghoul is?"

"Mmmhmm." MD confirmed.

"You've never seen one before?" Mercy piped in.

We were in the process of packing up and I was filling evrypony- everyone in on last night's roving party while putting stuff away. I'd called them mutants, I didn't really come up with a better wor to describe them.

But no, apparently I should have known that 'ghoul' meant irradiated zombie this whole time and not like, I don't know, a ghoul. The word ghoul makes me think of goblins and demons, fairytale stuff.

In my defence though, I don't think mutants was wrong. These were literally ponies exposed to an ungodly amount of magical radiation, so I've been told. I don't understand the mechanics behind it but I was told that for all intents and purposes they were immortal, too. I couldn't imagine anything worse than an eternity spend as a mindless, decaying corpse. I shuddered to think.

"A glowing ghoul is new on me though." MD added. "I'd hate to count the sieverts coming off of it."

I hadn't neglected to mention the geiger counter spike. That and the fact that the thing had been going off constantly since we got off the train meant we'd had a round of RadAway for breakfast to stay safe. For medicine, it was surprisingly not entirely unpleasant.

The wall of red marks that MD's EFS was showing her had disappeared. I surmised that the horde of ghouls was what it was detecting. Where they'd gone was anypony's guess. Leaving the bakery we walked down the street unimpeded, pressing further in to town. It was easy to track the movements of the ghouls from the wide swathes of hoofmarks they left in the dust. Helped us know which direction not to go.

We did find one straggler, though. Hanging by a back leg from a rope thrown over a lamp post, swaying gently and very angry, grunting and struggling, a zombie-like facade of a pegasus stallion. It looked like some kind of trap, but why?

"This has to be Chekwas' doing." Mercy hummed. "He's got to be nearby."

"Why sling it up, though?" MD asked, waving a hoof in front of the thing's face, his head tracking her movement.

"Observation, probably." Mercy pondered. "I'm sure he'd probably want to see how they'd tick without needing to run away all the time."

The ghoul snapped and tried it's best to swipe at us, fruitlessly. It seemed to only possess mindless rage.

Without saying a word MD floated her pistol to the thing's head and pulled the trigger, it's body falling limp, the crack of the the shot echoing down empty streets for what felt like ages. I recoiled, shocked. "No way to live." She muttered, holstering the weapon as brownish, sludgy blood fell to the ground. I felt like I'd just watched an execution.

"Celestia MD, what the hell!"

"Trust me, I was doing him a favor." She replied cooly. "Whoever he was isn't there anymore."

"That could have been a research specimen." Mercy pointed out uneasily.

"Well it doesn't sound like he'll have a hard time replacing it. Let's keep moving." MD instructed, continuing down the road.

Mercy seemed torn but didn't say anything further. I couldn't help but stare at the gently swaying corpse as we started on the move again. I might have been out of my depth with all of this ghoul stiff, but it just didn't feel right.

It was still early morning, dull light filtering down though the grey. We headed towards a crossroads that was barricaded by an abandoned MAS mobile outpost —some kind of monitoring station on wheels— consisting of a roadblock surrouding a large, armoured caravan. Whoever was manning it was long gone, and we found nothing much inside save for a long expired dosimeter and stacks of useless paperwork.

We found another ghoul strung up, which while unpleasant seemed to be a good sign that we were heading in the right direction. MD did that one a 'favour' too. I was honestly a bit wary about this behaviour from her, there was no need for this.

The buildings continued to get less brutal the more we walked, it wasn't long before the gritty semi-ndustrial sprawl had given way entirely to a more city looking city. We happened on a long empty public park, grass browned, benches sat unused, drinking fountains dripped green, a Sparkle Cola machine hummed away, still desperately clinging on after years of neglect. The sides of the roads were lined with parked up chariots and coaches, owners never to return.

I marvelled at just how intact everything still was. If you had told me the place was abandoned last week I would probably have believed it. I just couldn't put together the why. Why so little damage, why so much radiation? The ticking of the geiger counter had been steadily increasing again as we got closer to what I assumed would be the centre of town. Taller buildings loomed closer now, making the quiet more oppressive, insulating us and causing our hoofsteps to echo and bounce in all directions, playing tricks on our ears.

At least I hoped they were tricks.

"This is strange." MD announced as we trotted through a Skywagon Station, rows of shining metal vehicles all lined up outside the art deco building, still awaiting long-gone Pegasi pilots.

"What do you mean?"

"All of these have had their batteries taken, see?" She said, swinging open a access panel on the nearest chariot revealing the empty space within. Now that she'd pointed it out I could see that every single one of the parked vehicles had this panel left open. "That's not normal."

"You think it was the doctor?" I asked, not really sure what to make of it. I wasn't a mechanic by any stretch.

"I think I've found something!" Mercy yelled from a few spaces over.

Me and MD both galloped over. Mercy was stood in front of another Skychariot, door cracked and dim yellow light shining from inside

"Chek, is that you? Chekwas it's Mercy, I'm coming in." She said, nosing the door open. MD drew her pistol, I grabbed mine too on the off chance something happened. We followed close behind Mercy as she climbed the step up.

The inside had clearly been used as a shelter fairly recently. A bedroll lay across the back row of seats and a lamp lit the cramped space. A couple of empty cans sat next to a large open bag, half full of provisions. A couple of sheets of loose paper sat on a seat, a pen placed neatly on top. Otherwise, it was empty. I holstered my gun and prodded around. Mercy made short work of inspecting everything, picking up the notes and scanning them over.

"This is his, he was here." She said, voice rising. I'll admit that I got a little bit excited, the prospect that we were close to finding him, close to losing the collars, was a very welcome one.

"Does it say where he is now?" I asked, hopeful. We were 3 days into time now and I could not wait to be rid of this thing around my neck.

"No, just a list of medical equipment. But he can't be far."

"Why don't we just wait for him to come back?" I offered.

"No way, if he was only meant to be gone a few days then why is there so much unopened food here?" MD pointed out, prodding at the bag and causing a box of snack cakes to plop out. "If he was coming back there wouldn't be this much stuff left. We can't afford just sit around and wait. Timer, Spooky."

"Yes, thank you, I hadn't forgotten." I glowered. She was right, but she didn't have to say it like that. "What do you suggest then?"

"Well, if I was a doctor and I needed equipment, I know where I'd go." MD said, picking up the fallen box, opening it, and shoving a cake into her mouth. "Thr horfitl."

Hospital. Right. That made sense.

Heading to the hospital had it's advantages. Following the road signs had brought us in to the city centre, which also had brought is to the Jubilee Hippodrome. Failing finding Chekwas here we were only a stones through from our cello search area. However it wasn't without it's downsides, most notably the intensifying magical radiation levels, which just pipped the increased presence of roving ghouls to the post. Mostly just loners shambling around, easily avoided thanks to MD's PipBuck, but still encounters that I was happy to avoid.

What I was more concerned about though was the radiation. MD's geiger counter had been going crazy and didn't seem like it would be settling down anytime soon. The air had taken on a greenish hue, glowing motes floated around in the air, and the ground was smothered in a thick silt-like layer of dust, kicking up and swirling in our hoofsteps. I was sure I shouldn't be breathing it in, though considering the startling number of bodies we'd now seen wearing gas masks or hazmat suits I supposed it wouldn't have made much difference either way.

I just hoped we'd brought enough RadAway.

Things did actually start to get more chaotic as we got closer to the city centre. Doors were left wide open, shops looked to have been looted, homes were barricaded, army chatiots stood haphazardly. Nothing recent, but a definite contrast to where we'd come from.

Dodge General was a wide, stout building, solid and built of large slabs of stone. Several floors high and half a block wide. If Chekwas was in here we were still going to have a job locating him.

The Hippodrome was only a stones throw away at the other end of the road, an ornate granite building with plenty of arches and columns, dark stone stark against the more generic high rises of the rest of the block. Hopefully we'd find what we need quick either way.

"Okay Mercy, me and Silver are getting near the point of no return." MD said. "If he's not in here, we have to cut off and carry on our own search."

We were approaching the 48 hour mark on the timer, MD was worried that if we took much longer we wouldn't have enough time to get from Ponyville to Baltimare if the cello wasn't actually here. I still thought it would be a better idea to keep searching for Chekwas than some old instrument, but what did I know, right?

Mercy nodded as we stared at the entryway to the hospital. Even from out here it was easy to see the carnage that was the lobby. The doors had been ripped off their hinges and all the windows were broken. There were piles of skeletons, all rammed together like a calcified stampede. Fixtures had been ripped up in the crush, seating and counters toppled uselessly on the floor. Whatever had happened out there made these ponies desperate to be in here.

Despite it all though, fresh hoofprints beckoned us in.

We all gingerly entered, trying our best not to step on any bodies, keeping as quiet as we could. Not that it really mattered, no sooner had we breached the doorway had a ghoul reared it's head from behind the desk, popping up right in front of me.

Seeing them from a distance was horrible, it was something else entirely to behold one up closer. The layers of it's skin flopped around, as if delaminated, it's eyes milky and unfocused, yet staring directly at us. It let out a deathly groan and scrambled my way, creaking and jerking towards us, lunging over the desk. I was literally being charged by a corpse.

Fortunately, between us we made quick work of it, by the time I'd drawn my pistol MD had already loaded some buckshot right into it's head, putting it down permanently, erupting into an explosion of dried flesh and already congealed blood.

The blast unfortunately served as a clarion call for more abominations. Hoarse screams sounded out as more ghouls made to rush us from connecting hallways. I landed two shots in one's forehead, and another all but exploded from the force of MD's shotgun.

"Well fuck me if it isn't a party in here." MD nickered, pumping her shotgun. Growls rang out from adjacent corridors, more horrors emerging through swinging doors.

I managed to stop one ghoul, blasting into it's barrel until it collapsed. MD made swift work of another. For her part, Mercy had managed to kick one so hard it flew across the room, sending it crashing to the opposite wall and landing in a heap, dead.

"I don't think they're going to stop!" Mercy yelled as the hallway doors were pushed open by more rushing zombies.

"Let's move." MD commanded, pressing ahead towards another set of doors. Almost on cue, three more ghouls appeared, so blindly driven to get to us that they all got jammed together in the doorframe. Even stuck, they were still clawing with their forelegs to try and reach us.

"Nht taht whey dhen." I muttered around the pistol grip. More ghouls built up behind them, pushing, slowly but surely dislodging the blockage, threatening to spill out. This was very quickly getting to be too much, I couldn't focus on one at a time.

"Over here!" MD yelled, directing us to a more open hallway. I ran after her, and judging from the sound from behind, the newly dislodged ghouls ran after me.

I wished I had a more powerful weapon, something with more of a spread. There was no way I could hit them while I was galloping. MD kicked a door open ahead of us and turned around in the entrance, Mercy running past her.

"Get down!"

I ducked my head as MD fired a barrage over me, tearing our pursuers apart and causing the ones following them to tumble down over their bodies, buying us a bit of time. I scrambled bacl to my hooves and ran for the door, MD pushing it closed behind me and Mercy pushing a cabinet in front of it, hopefully keeping them out. On the flip side though, it was keeping us in.

"Another door over there, let's keep moving." MD instructed. The banging on the door had already started, it was only a matter of time before they got in.

It looked like we were in a small office of some sort, not that I had much time to take in the sights. The other door led us out to another corridor, thankfully less populated than the last one. A couple of ghouls were shambling around the far end, but hadn't noticed us. It wasn't hard to pass by them undetected, I can't imagine two centuries worth of exposure to radiation did the sensory organs a world of good. That and I'm sure by this point their brains were well past their sell by date. We sailed around a corner out of eyeline and ducked in to an empty examination room, stepping around some more recent looking bodies in the process, quietly clicking the door closed.

Safe. For now at least. I sagged down, this was a nightmare, we were being pursued by a literal hoard. I was really trying to breath as quietly as possible, but not only was that quite hard given the circumstances, I'm not sure it would have helped us hide anyway given just how loud and constant the crackle from MD's geieger counter was now.

"Okay." MD hissed. "Where do we start?"

"I-I don't know, I wouldn't know where to look." Mercy jittered back.

"Well, then what might he be looking for?" MD interjected. "We can't just sweep the whole building for him, we'll be up to our necks in crusty zombies."

"What sort of equipment was on the list?" I asked.

"Uh, tranquillisers, anaesthetic, restraints, medical grade crystals, magnets... H-he wanted to research ghoulification, how it effects the brain, try and prevent victims going feral."

"Okay, that's a start. How would you do that?" MD asked.

Crystals, magnets, the brain, this was all ringing a bell.

"MRIs. Scans the brain." I answered. "They're big machines, they take up a whole room."

Magical Resonance Imaging machines. I had to be scanned in one once after I managed to bean myself in the head with a chunky pendant, I'd lost my grip on it while I was working it on the polishing wheel. That was not a fun few days.

For the record, I hadn't done any permanent damage.

"You think he's putting ghouls in these machines?" MD tilted her head.

"I don't know, MD, I just know that's what you'd use to scan a brain."

"So where do we find them?" Mercy asked.

"You're the nurse, you'd have a better idea than me."

"We can look for the stairs or elevators or something, they usually have those little lists of what's on what floor, right?" MD offered.

We didn't really have much else to go on. Tartarus, we've been going on nothing since we left the Red Rein compound. It struck me that at this very moment in time my entire life depended on the outcomes of two moonshot schemes that both had little to no planning.

We didn't have too much time to mull anything over. Apparently our conversation had managed to attract some attention, if the slamming on the door was anything to go by.

"Guess break time's over." MD whinnied, reloading her shotgun. "You know, for a hospital, the bedside manner here is awful."

"Hang on guys, I'm not feeling too great..." MD called, leaning against the wall of the landing.

We paused behind her, I watched down the stairs for any stragglers that might try to follow us. MD heaved, the sound echoing all the way up and down the cold concrete stairwell.

"That doesn't look good."

I turned to see what was happening. A pool of vomit sat at MD's hooves, concerningly red in colour. Blood.

"Hmm, radiation sickness." Mercy mused, opening Chekwas' bag. "I told you not to eat anything we found here, I should have stopped you taking that cake."

How long had that cake been sat in that Sky Wagon if it was contaminated enough to make MD ill? Mercy shoved a bag of RadAway at MD, who tore it open with her teeth and gulped it down, throwing the empty plastic to the ground.

"That should stop it getting worse, for now, but you're probably still going to feel nauseous for a while. Maybe itchy, too." Mercy rattled off.

I wasn't feeling itchy until she mentioned it, but now I was, all up and down my back. Was I sick too?

"What, no lollipop?" MD smirked. Mercy didn't seem that amused.

MD drank from her canteen and gargled, spitting the water out over the bannister and down the stairs. She did look a few shades paler than earlier. She was shaky as she steadied herself. A lot more fragile than I was used to seeing her, at least outside of the aftermath of a fight.

"Alright, back to it."

We carried on up the stairs, I made sure to step well over the pool of vomit, wretching ever so slightly as I danced around it.

We were heading to the seventh floor. Looking for elevators had paid off, there was a little map on the wall detailing all the floors. Of course the elevators themselves were out of action, so we had to climb our way up, hoofing it step by step. It might not sound like a lot, but we were all carrying heavy bags full of equipment and were feeling it. Except Mercy, she seemed to be handling it with ease.

"Hold on, this is..." Mercy started, pausing in front of us. "These are Chek's saddlebags."

She prodded at the tattered pile of fabric, contents strewn accross the landing, unopened RadAway and RadSafe, cans and syringes of some kind of liquid, and reams of loose paper scattered around.

"We can't be far then."

"I just hope he's okay." Mercy said, ears flopping down as she collected his possessions. I may be pretty new to all of this, but even I could figure out losing anti-radiation medicine in and environment like this was pretty dire.

Reaching the seventh floor landing, I was a little nonplussed to see the doors had been removed. Not forced off like the main entrance, purposefully and carefully removed, they'd been unscrewed from their frame. Peeking around the corner I could see they'd been set up as a form of barricade, partitioning off a part of the hallway, and were adorned with some kind of markings. A huge bag sat nearby, identical to Mercy's. From the ceiling hung bouquets of old cans? No idea what that was about. More loose cans and scorch marks marred the floor, and old blood congealed in pools. Piled up ghoul corpses lined the sides of the hallway, bullet holes riddled the walls. If he was still here we clearly weren't the only ones to have figured it out.

"This is his, he's here!" She said excitedly, making to step forwards before MD stopped her.

"Hold up, the geiger counter is going crazy!" To prove her point, she swung her leg around the corner, the PipBuck's already frantic clicking becoming veritable static. Wonderful to know I'd just stuck my head out into that. "The concrete is kind of shielding us here, but that hallway is can't be good for us. Like, at all. We need a plan, I don't want to be vomiting blood again."

"If it's that bad we need to do something quick, I have his RadAway, he could die!" Mercy pled.

I won't claim to know a whole lot about magical radiation, but hanging out with Perfect taught me a thing or two about how hospitals work. For once, I had an idea. A pretty good one, I though.

"Hey, what floor were the X-ray machines on?"

I still thought it was a pretty good idea. But a few issues did become apparent as we went.

The first were purely logistical. Navigating a floor we hadn't cleared in a zombie infested building was not particularly fun or easy. We were starting to run low on ammo, and it was exhausting being on alert all the time. This extra detour was eating into our time too, it may have only been an extra 10 or 15 minutes, but it was adding up. MD was already anxious about being here at all, and backtracking was not helping that.

An issue that I didn't expect though, was that somepony else had had the same idea. It probably shouldn't have surprised me that in a hospital exposed to high levels of radiation, hospital workers regularly exposed to radiation would wear their protective clothes, but it did for some reason.

Rather dishearteningly though, it didn't seem to have worked for them all too well. To be fair, I could hardly begin to guess if the radiation killed them or something else, but it still wasn't the best endorsement for my plan.

There were several sets of lead lined aprons and gloves on the wall, but I thought it would be better to try and get the full suits, which unfortunately meant evicting their current occupants.

I'd seen a lot of bodies by this point. In various states. I'd even been responsible for some. Seeing them was never pleasant, but I can say with certainty that nothing compared to robbing a corpse with the sole purpose of wearing the clothes they died in. The bodies may have been old and skeletal, but that didn't mean there weren't any... remnants.

Dust and dead skin, fur and hair. Mystery stains. It was grim. I did not relish it, but I told myself it was only until we had retrieved Chekwas. It would be worth it.

This is where the final issue became apparent. These suits were heavy. Really heavy. As in a whole other pony's weight heavy. They were a struggle to get on and just as bad to move around in. Even worse, they were so insulated that MD's EFS stopped detecting anything and she couldn't work her magic properly, her horn covered in protective padding. Straining, she could just about operate the trigger of her shotgun. This was a small saving grace as the suits had face covers, meaning I couldn't hold my gun and MD couldn't operate the bit of her battle saddle.

We were protected, but slow and bordering on defenceless. And the less said about the trip back up the stairs the better. At least the lead lining would also act as armour. Hopefully, at least.

We reached the seventh floor again, lumbering, breathless and sweaty. Me and MD anyway, Mercy seemed to be handling the extra weight like a champ.

"Let's hope this works." MD huffed, turning on to the hallway.

It felt different here. I knew that radiation isn't something that can actually be felt, but I was feeling something. It may have just been my brain knowing it was dangerous to be here, but I was sure I could feel hostility from the air itself, as if telling us we shouldn't be here. The sooner we got in and out the better.

Slowly, we crossed the barricade, stepping around the piled bodies, plodding into the closed off section. A row of doors on either side greeted us, each one an examination room, each one locked with a wooden board blocking the handle. Through the slit windows I could see that individual ghouls had been trapped in the little rooms. Some paced, some flopped on the floor, a couple tried to break out to get at us. Why trap them rather than kill them? Test subjects, maybe?

One room in particular had been left open, populated with several gurneys hosting several dead ghouls, all of which seemed to have been autopsied, a lantern providing a dull light. Grim.

At the end of the hallway was a larger door. An ominous buzz came from inside, and a glow was visible around the edges.

MRI Examination Room 1

"Chekwas?" Mercy yelled, voice muffled by the padding. There was no response. "Chek, are you in there?"

The door resisted opening, sticking to it's frame. The more it swung, the more bluey-green lighted poured out. Mercy leaned her full weight into it, slowly inching it open. Bullet cases jangled and rolled as the door finally swung free.

A glowing ghoul had been restrained, tied down to a wooden board, and was in the process of being scanned by an MRI machine, whirring and grinding away, protesting after decades of inactivity. The ghoul was not happy. It writhed as best as it could, screeching and grunting, but unable to break free.

In one corner was the still body of another glowing one, evidence of broken binds around it's pasterns. It was still glowing even in death, sat limply under a chalkboard covered in sprawling notes. In the other corner was a messy pile of wires and stackd of old spark batteries, the apparent power source of the machine. They sparked occasionally, contents slowly leaking, obviously all juryrigged together. The wires led not only to the machines, but into a walled off control room, blinds drawn but door slightly ajar.

"A for effort, but this wiring is a deathtrap." MD observed.

"Chek, are you here?" Mercy called, pulling the door open. He was indeed there.

I recoiled at the sight of the zebra leaned up against the wall. However long he'd been in here with these irradiated freaks was clearly too long.

For lack of any better way to describe it, he was melting. This wasn't the dry rot of the ghouls, his flesh was slimy and sludgy, loose and waxy, glistening. A large pool of bloody fluid spread out around him in all directions, trailing from a desk which was home to a terminal and a humming printer streaming paper. Through the torn and tattered remains of a hazmat suit I could see thay swathes of his fur were missing, the skin underneath thin and translucent where there was skin left at all. Blood ran from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth, trailing down his front. He was liquifying from the outside in, a grotesque perversion of the equine form. A scant few empty RadAway pouches sat next to him, along with a rifle and spent boxes of bullets.

Most alarmingly, he was still alive. His chest heaved slowly, hot, wet breath leaving his mouth. His sunken eyes focused squarely on us, sparking with recognition. Not only was he alive, he was aware.

"Luna's fucking teats." MD heaved. I didn't really have the words to express any sentiment I was feeling.

This was meant to be our best shot at freedom.

"Terra Mater, Chekwas!" Mercy cried, rushing to reach the Zebra. "G-g-gods, what do I do?"

I was pretty sure Celestia herself wouldn't be able to help him at this point, he looked like a slug.

"Is he... is he turning into a ghoul?" MD asked, uneasy.

"I-I don't know! I don't think so!" The mule whinged, frantically searching her bag. Chekwas strained to shake his head, groaning.

"No... save yourself..." He croaked weakly, chest rising with the effort. His teeth were stained red with blood.

"A-absolutely not! We're getting you out of here." She grunted, stomping a hoof. "Can one of you find a tarp or a sheet or something?"

I didn't move, I sort of stopped focusing entirely. Internally, maybe selfishly, I was panicking about our bomb collars. He was supposed to take them off, we were going to find him and this would be over. But I could tell just from looking at him he was in no state to move, let alone manipulate explosives. Hells, I was astounded and slightly disturbed that someone could even be alive in that state. He was basically goo!

On a base level I recognised that this was an incredibly disturbing site and a grotesque scenario, but I didn't feel all that effected by it. I was disgusted, but I wasn't horrified that this could happen to somepony, at the pain he must be in, that I was watching someone die in an incredibly gruesome manner. I was angry. I was angry that my best shot for survival was as good as dead, that we'd wasted time in finding him, put ourselves in mortal danger for no reason. I felt stupid that I'd insisted on searching for this zebra like we'd just find him fine and dandy after he'd spent days in an irradiated hell hole. Why did I think I knew better?

This whole detour was all for nothing. We could have searched the whole hippodrome and been on our way by now.

The wasteland was starting to get to me. I felt bad for not feeling bad, but I also didn't know him, and he was a zebra. Objectively this was all very sad, but I didn't really care at all.

"A tarp, a sheet, anything please!" Mercy growled at us, borderline sobbing.

"Mercy, look at him! There's nothing we can do now." I replied, failing to sound sympathetic. "Maybe we should-"

"Should NOTHING!" She screamed. "We are leaving here with this zebra, understand? We can help him and he can help you! J-just like he helped me."

"Quiet, the whole building will hear you!" MD hissed. "There's no way he can help us now, we have to get out of here while we can."

"But-" Mercy started.

"Go, now!" He interrupted croaking, feebly pointing a deformed hoof to the main room, which seemed degrees brighter than I remember it being.

The glowing ghoul was glowing. Well, obviously, but glowing brighter, and it seemed more agitated. None of that could be a good thing.

"Guys, I dont know what this is but I don't like it." I said, cautiously backing away towards the door.

There was an incredibly bright flash, blinding, it made my eyes water and fucked with my vision for a good few seconds. A wave of something washed through the room, and MD's geiger counter went insane, even under the lead shielding.

I tasted metal, I licked my teeth and found my gums were bleeding. My stomach was doing backflips, my ears were ringing. I looked around disoriented, Mercy groaned, MD was sick again.

"Fuck this, we're leaving, I can't take any more of this." MD huffed, trudging back towards the hallway.

"Don't go, I can help him!" Mercy protested. I could tell she was crying under her suit. "I-I can fix it."

"How, Mercy? How can you fix this? His skin's falling off!" I yelled. "If we spend any longer in here we'll end up like him."

"Go... Mercy..." He wheezed, limply raising a sopping foreleg to point at stack of papers under the chalkboard. "My research... take it to... Buck Hill... the Order... Please..."

"Chek..."

"Please, Mercy... take it."

BLAM

The roar of MD's shotgun filled the room. I whipped my head to the door.

"We need to leave, they know we're up here!" The Unicorn yelled. "I've only got 5 shots left, I can't reload wearing this thing!"

I shuffled out to rejoin MD, I didn't need to be there when he breathed his last, nor did I really care to. He couldn't help us, that was that, and we'd already taken an insane dose of radiation just being in that room. We had to get back to finding the cello, I couldn't waste any more of our time. The sooner we got out of here, the sooner we could take off these suits too, they were not comfortable on any level. I just hoped we'd have enough RadAway to avoid joining him.

A decapitated ghoul's body was splayed out the stairwell doorframe, brains splattered down the hall, the barrel of MD's gun still smoking lightly.

"I can hear more downstairs." She half whispered to me, muzzle of the suit now splattered a crimson red I noticed. There was indeed shuffling and muffled banging echoing up and out the stairwell door.

"This place sucks." I whined.

"Yeah, well, you brought us here." MD pointedly replied. Ouch. "Let's just get out of here so we can find the cello."

"What about Mercy? We can't just leave her here."

As if on cue, a sniffling Mercy walked out of the room and past us, her suit stained around the fetlocks. She didn't stop to wait for us.

"Well, there she is, let's go." MD answered, following her out.

"Hey wait, are you okay?" I asked, catching them up.

"OF COURSE I'M NOT OKAY!" She exploded, turning and shouting at the top of her lungs. "How could I POSSIBLY be okay?!"

A lone ghoul galloped out of the stairwell, screaming towards us. Before I could even flinch Mercy bucked it so hard she decapitated it, sending it's head flying down the hallway. It rolled like a squishy bowling ball, coming to a stop facing us. I looked on, both horrified and now a bit scared of our travelling companion as she stormed off down the stairs. I would never have expected she'd have that in her.

"Okay, okay, try the understage!"

"We've turned over understage twice, it's not there!"

The Jubilee Hippodrome was thankfully not as big as the hospital and was also devoid of any ghouls, save for the few that had followed us in. It was in a much better state than Dodge General, so much so that it was almost like nopony had ever set hoof inside.

The upsides ended there though. The already thick air was borderline soupy in here. We'd practically torn the place apart but hadn't found any instruments at all, let alone the cello we were after. Mercy hadn't uttered a word since her outburst, she was almost unresponsive, blankly trudging around like a golem. She'd obliterated a few more ghouls on the way out in an intimidating display of violence. We'd all taken a few hits but managed to make it out of the building relatively unscathed, radiation aside. Other than that she'd been teary but silent. We'd downed all our remaining RadAway when we ditched the lead suits and MD's PipBuck still said she had acute radiation poisoning. We had no way of telling but I couldn't imagine me or Mercy were doing any better. My gums had stopped bleeding at least, but sooner or later we'd probably need actual treatment.

Moods were already through the floor, but the longer we were here the more apparent it was becoming that the cello wasn't here. I was very quickly becoming hopeless.

"What about backstage?"

"It's empty, MD, just like the rest of this place!" I shouted back, poking my head around the stage door.

"There has to be something!"

"There's nothing here! Looking again isn't going to make it magically appear!" I glowered, trotting back out to the wide open stage. "Face it, Dodge is a write off."

"Fuck this fucking town!" MD growled, punching the wall. "I fucking hate this fucking place!"

I couldn't argue with that. Mercy was sat on the edge of the stage, sniffling.

The full weight of the situation dawned on me. Our two best options for survival were a total bust. If the cello wasn't in Ponyville we were dead. If we couldn't get back to Baltimare on time we were dead. Damned either way.

"Oh Celestia, we're so bucked." I muttered. "We're so bucked, we're so bucked..."

"Shit, all we can do now is head north-west and pray the cello is in Ponyville, 'cause if it's not..."

"Ponyville?" Mercy mewled quietly. "You're going to Ponyville? Terra Mater, why not just kill yourselves now and save the effort?"

"Why do you care? You don't have to come, you can just go home." MD retorted, frowning at the mule.

"Mercy-"

"As a matter of fact I need to get to Buck Hill now, thanks to you both, so we're going the same way." She rebutted. "I would just prefer to get there alive."

"Look, Buck Hill or wherever, I don't really care. We need to get to Ponyville."

"There's nothing in Ponyville but death and destruction, you're fools for even considering it."

"Oh, okay then, please tell us where else we might have a chance of finding a wondrously valuable artifact before our heads explode?" MD taunted.

"Screw you, I'm trying to help!" Mercy chided.

"Some help! All you've done is suggest suicide and talk to us like we're idiots!"

"Because it's a stupid idea!"

"We don't have much of a choice, Mercy. It's that or just give up." I sighed.

"Oh, like you gave up on Chek?" The mule spat, eyes cold.

"Hey, there was nothing we could do for him!"

"You didn't even try." Mercy glowered, pushing herself up to face us. "He would have broken his back to save you both."

"What was I meant to do, I'm not a fucking doctor!" MD retorted, prodding Mercy's chest. "Look, I'm sorry, but he was beyond help."

"Who are you to make that call? Either of you‽"

"We were trying to help!" I pushed back.

"Could've fooled me!" The mule chuckled humourlessly. "I should have known you were 'just trying to help' when you left him to die."

"We said we'd help you find him, and we found him! If we stuck around we'd be flesh-piles too!" MD snorted, borderline muzzle to muzzle with Mercy now.

"Can we all please just calm down‽" I stepped between them. "Look, I'm sorry things are the way they are, but we don't have to be like this. We're all big girls, let's be civil, please?"

They both stared at me. I didn't realise tensions had gotten so high.

"MD, Mercy is upset and expressing concerns. Mercy, I'm sorry about Chekwas but between all of us there wasn't anything we could do. Trust me, I wish it was different, but it's done."

"I know it's done, I finished it." She muttered darkly. "He asked me to."

Celestia, that was morbid. Stopped my train of thought for a moment. I looked at Mercy and MD both. I didn't feel too bad about the ghouls we killed, they seemed pretty mindless, but that was... heavy.

"L-look, I know you're upset but time isn't on our side here. Our best shot for finding the cello is Ponyville now, there's no reason for us to be standing around getting more irradiated so Mercy if you're coming with us can we get moving, please? Get out of this Celestia forsaken hellhole amicably?" I smiled. They did not.

"Sure."

"Whatever."

Wait, were they both mad at me? Why? What had I done?

"Let's just get the fuck out of here." MD nickered, coughing as she collected her bags, spitting out more blood. "Argh, this place fucking sucks!"

Mercy shoved past me to grab her own stuff. I slung my saddlebag over my back.

The atmosphere was heavy and incredibly tense, entirely unpleasant. Today had brought only the worst possible outcomes for us all. I could only hope things wouldn't get any worse.

Ponyville awaited.

Mercy has joined the party.

New Perk: Healer - Is there a doctor in the house? Health potions restore 40% of lost Health and RadAway removes 40% of radiation while accompanied by Mercy.

Chapter Nine: Tourist Trap

Chapter Nine: Tourist Trap

"Lately I have been frequenting bad houses, places no respectable mare would be seen."

"I'm telling you now, that's a terrible idea." Mercy nickered, voice lilting as her hooves clopped on the ground.

"Noted." MD snorted, continuing to mix the liquids anyway, sloshing in her aura as she trotted.

"I mean it, as a medical professional what you're doing is incredibly dangerous." Mercy continued.

"Noted." MD repeated, swirling the flask, mixing the fluids together into something new. I wasn't entirely sure what she was doing, but at this point I was far too tired to care.

"Fine, don't listen, but don't expect me to-"

"Noted."

Things had been tense since we'd got out of Dodge. It had been a long, unpleasant slog north to Ponyville, over hills and under heavy atmosphere. We had been trotting for hours now. We were all ill, and my hooves throbbed, aching and sore. MD had stopped to dry heave a couple of times, and my stomach was killing me. Mercy seemed to be the least effected of us, but I knew she'd taken just as much radiation on as me and MD, she must have been feeling it some way.

Truth be told, I was grateful to have the not-quite argument as a distraction. Walking in silence had left me alone with my thoughts, and after the things I'd seen and done the last few days, they were far from pleasant.

It was getting to be dark now as we followed the roadsigns, fueled only by Sparkle Cola and an impending sense of doom. Walking around at night was scary enough before the apocalypse, but now? I was watching every shadow, every corner, any sign of movement. Call me paranoid, but after the 'Fibanda' incident I was in no hurry to find out what else lurked the wasteland after sunset.

Our pace had been grueling, I was struggling to keep up. I don't know how long we'd been on the move for or how far we'd travelled, but I did know that time wasn't stopping for us and if we wanted any chance of paying off MD's debt and getting these collars removed, we couldn't afford to stop moving.

I was starving. I didn't have the luxury of being able to eat on the move, and our unforgiving pace meant I hadn't been able to eat since dinner yesterday. Or was it two days ago now? I was so tired it was hard to work out what was when. Hunger pangs joined the choir of aches and pains.

There was one positive, though. MD's geiger counter had stopped going off once we'd left Dodge's City limits. It had been clicking for almost two straight days. Two days. I don't think I'll ever take quiet for granted again.

"Guh." MD groaned, grimacing after taking a large swig of the concoction she'd created. She shook her head and floated the bottle over to me. "Here."

"What is it?" I asked, staring at it doubtfully, now noticing the gentle glow radiating from the open cap.

"Mostly cold coffee I mixed with Cateye and Med-X. And a little rum to take the edge off. Maybe more than a little rum."

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you." Mercy chimed in. "Mixing chems is dangerous."

"What's this even for?"

"To feel less like shit and so we can see where we're going better than me blasting light everywhere."

As the sky drew darker the wooded verges certainly felt like they were closing in, shadow blanketing the path ahead. I'd heard of CatEye before from some friends on the night shift at the farms back home but had never actually used it myself, I'd never had a need to.

I was swaying on my hooves, my body was telling me to stop and rest, I was starving and my mouth was bone dry. Realistically I knew I should listen to Mercy, but I was also too fatigued to give anything much though. Coffee, even cold coffee, sounded like a gift from heaven right about now. I was very much running on fumes, I needed something. Surely just a drink couldn't hurt too much? I stopped for the first time in what was probably hours and grabbed the flask out of MD's magical grip. The liquid smelled funky, for lack of a better word. Coffee and warm spice, but with a decidedly medicinal overtone. I noticed that the others hadn't stopped to wait for me so I hurriedly chugged a few gulps of the mixture down.

I would have coughed it back up if my throat wasn't so dry, it was swill, tasting a strange mixture of earthy and chemicals, chased by the distinctly sharp, tropical burn of good spiced rum that I internally lamented being wasted. I wasn't expecting it to be as strong as it was. I swallowed down what I could and spluttered, spitting to get the taste out of my mouth. "Celestia, that's vile." I exclaimed to nopony in particular. Pocketing the flask so I could walk again I cantered to catch MD and Mercy up. "A little rum? That's like a Navy ration!" I whinnied as both MD and Mercy grumbled to themselves.

Most of the hike had been like this, we'd barely said a word to oneanother. It was getting to be a bit painful to be honest. I know nopony had particular cause to be happy-go-lucky at the moment, but would it kill them to just at least be cordial? Mercy flat out didn't want to hear anything I'd had to say and MD seemed too focused to care about anything.

The unicorn pulled her flask back off me wordlessly. I sighed.

The effect wasn't instantaneous, not like whatever MD had given me during the firefight on the bridge, but gradually everything started to seem brighter, almost a higher contrast, and certainly much more blue. There was a warmth in my stomach that wasn't there before, and I could see my surroundings much clearer despite the darkness. I could read signs in the distance that I couldn't even see a couple of minutes ago. Hells, I could see through the treeline better than I could in daylight! Birds nestled in overhanging branches, glowsprites danced in the underbrush, suddenly ten times brighter than before.

"Woah." I breathed, looking every which way. I'm sure the novelty would wear off soon but for now it was at least interesting.

"Kicked in, Spooky?" MD snorted. "You can take the lead, I'll follow up the rear."

"The lead? You want me up front?" I asked, surprised. I wasn't cut out to be a team leader. I didn't even know what way we were going for Celestia's sake!

"You got two working eyes, better to see what's ahead." MD explained. "And if Mercy isn't gonna join in that leaves you as the best lookout."

"I would have happily just taken the CatEye if you hadn't mixed it in with other chems!" Mercy brayed. "But you didn't ask."

"Just killing two birds with one stone is all." MD rolled her eyes.

"Carry on like that and you'll kill yourselves." Mercy retorted.

"Sure." MD sighed. "So you taking point or what Silver?"

Taking point. I was a big girl, I could do this, I was just being silly. All I'd need to do was keep lookout and follow the road. Realistically how different could being a little in front of MD be from being a little behind MD?

"Something up ahead." I whispered, slowing my pace.

"Celestia fucking dammit Silver, we can't afford to stop every time you see a dog or something!" MD groaned.

Perhaps I had been too cautious, but given the things I'd seen out in the wasteland I was more than happy to play it safe. But this was different, this wasn't the far-off glint in the eyes of a wild animal, this was something deliberate and unnatural.

The trees had given way to sickly brush land. There was a light, a fire, flickering behind the bushes in the distance. It just barely illuminated the base of a big Ministry Of Peace billboard that stood above the canopy, but it did light it up just enough for me to see a pony stood on the catwalk in front of it, almost totally hidden by shadow. I couldn't see well enough to work out exactly who I was looking at, but I could guess whoever they were they hadn't spotted us yet.

"There's somepony on that billboard." I said, pointing to the sign.

"Uh, yeah, that's Fluttershy, she's on lots of billboards." MD snorted, squinting.

"In front of the billboard you jackass!" I retorted. "Uh, no offence Mercy." Mercy frowned at me but remained silent.

We came to standstill as both me and MD stared, trying to make out anything we could. I could have really done with a pair of binoculars or something.

"I can't really see much of anything. We're too far away for my EFS to pick them up." MD sighed, taking a few steps forward. "Shit, that could be anypony."

"So what do we do?" I asked.

No sooner had I opened my mouth our mysterious friend leapt from the platform edge, spreading a pair of wings and gliding towards us for a second before shooting directly upwards, disappearing into the clouds.

"A pegasus, great." MD huffed. "Guess we're watching the sky now too."

"Do you think they saw us?" I asked nervously, half poised to ready my gun.

"I doubt it. I hope not, anyway."

A chilly breeze blew down our backs, causing me to shiver. Dead leaves and detritus gently sailed past us. MD kept her gaze fixed upwards.

"Whoever it was, let's hope they're friendly." Mercy chimed in. I doubted if she'd even seen the pony in question, but I definitely shared the sentiment.

The sky was getting a shade lighter by the time we saw the clock tower. Cresting over a hill, the spire protruded from the ground defiantly. Time had not been kind to it, the dials I could see were handless and darkened, the roof had partially caved in and the whole structure looked to have been on fire at some point. But still it stood.

Behind it stood the ruins of Ponyville. A far cry from Dodge Junction or even Baltimare, the town had been absolutely decimated. Nearly every building I could see from here had been burned or had collapsed or some combination of the two. Some specks of light still shone from the remains, but I had been advised to expect nothing pleasant from the ponies that still inhabited this wreck of a settlement. Old farmhouses and desolate fields surrounded Ponyville for miles, but least the town itself looked a hell of a lot smaller than Dodge Junction did, hopefully that would make things easier. Rolling hills served as a backdrop, and beyond that I could even make out the base of the Canterhorn mountain, though Canterlot itself was obscured by... something. I couldn't quite make it out from here.

I knew that Ponyville used to be home to the Elements Of Harmony and all the ministry mares, but that was before my time, way before the war and all if this. I didn't know much about the town in the intervening years, but time had obviously not been kind. And if what Mercy had mentioned was anything to go by, it was not a good place to be anymore.

Even still, I was a little bit relieved to be here. I was dead on my hooves, I think we all were really. The cold wind and our constant movement were the only things keeping me awake at this point. Being here meant we were one step closer to not being here, and not being here meant rest. I was longing for the embrace of the trashed, threadbare old matress in my room at MD's place. It wasn't all that long ago you wouldn't have gotten me to touch it with a barge pole, but times change.

"Welcome to Ponyville." MD announced, unenthused. "Let's just find what we need and get out."

"'Get out' being operative phrase." Mercy agreed. "You wanted to be here, I just hope you know what you're doing."

I scanned the path ahead, the CatEye was wearing off and I couldn't see as far well as earlier, but with night falling away it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Maybe subconsciously we'd drifted back into our usual formation.

I understood that whereas we'd be heading back after we found the cello, Mercy would be carrying on through the other side of Ponyville heading further west to a place called Buck Hill. We'd accompany her until we all got out the other side of town and then part ways. Safety in numbers and all.

With Chekwas dead, she'd said there was nothing for her in New Dodge anymore.

I did honestly feel terrible for her, it was just hard to express it when there was so much going on.

We approached the tower, crumbling brickwork and torn beams adorning the ground around it. To the right were smaller wooden structures, old houses presumably. Long abandoned. It was sad to see-

I whipped my head around. I had heard something. I don't know what, but something. I could have sworn I saw a shadow out the corner of my eye, but I couldn't see anything for looking around. I was lucky enough to look just in time to move out of the way of a loose roof tile falling from the clocktower, but that was it.

Great, tired enough to be hallucinating. Exactly what I needed since things weren't difficult enough already.

I blinked and shook my head. A SparkleCola might help keep me more lucid, failing any actual coffee. The little jolt of adrenaline from the falling tile was welcome, too. Though admittedly I certainly hurt less now that I was thinking about it, I didn't really want any more of MD's rancid drink. She'd carried on swigging away at it, but even hours later I still couldn't get the taste out of my mouth. Plus it had given me nasty heartburn.

Pops of distant gunshots sounded out, reminding me that it was probably best to keep moving. I didn't know just how bad it was here, but I'd worked out enough to know this was no normal ruin.

We crossed a crumbling cobble bridge over a sickly vomit-green stream, the last thing separating us from the town.

"Do you at least know where you're going?" Mercy asked us both. I let MD answer that one, I'd just been following her this whole time.

"The Theatre."

"And do you know where the theatre is?" The mule prodded pointedly.

"Of course I don't. I'll be following the signs just like last time." MD sighed.

Mercy visibly wilted, long ears hanging down. "If you can even find a sign in this place I'll eat my heart out."

It didn't take long to find out what she meant by that. Walls and blockades of rubble and scrap cut across paths and between what was left of buildings, entire cottages had been cannibalised for crude building material. We'd barely even stepped hoof into Ponyville and navigation was already going to be an evident issue. I had to hand it to these raiders though, sharpened bannister poles as defensive spikes was certainly imaginative, and it was almost funny the way they retained their decorative carvings. It was just a shame that they were actually working in keeping us out.

Fortunately while the blockades were extensive, they weren't particularly thorough or well maintained. It was fairly easy to find gaps to worm through, or even just flat out walk around. I don't think a lot of thought had gone into placement.

Besides the slapdash architecture, the raiders' taste in artwork left much to be desired. In it's crudest form it was represented by profanity and genitalia spray painted on the walls, and at it's vulgar best it was depictions of acts I don't really care to describe in uncomfortable detail. If I was being generous I could have called it mixed media, but I don't think bodily fluids should count as a medium. Call me old fashioned, but I always preferred blood to stay inside the creature it belongs to. The less said about the rest the better.

The smell of the place was starting to get to me. It had the horrible rotting decay of the bridge but not quite as all encompassing, it mingled with a smokey charcoal and a metallic zing, it lingered in the back of your throat. Awful.

We cautiously turned a corner, emerging out into a proper street, flanked with long vacant shops on both sides. One of them looked to have been a florist shop before the end of the world. Half a pony hung from the awning over the door, his forehooves nailed into the wood, his hind missing entirely. A barrel fire sitting nearby possibly indicated that the ponies responsible were probably not too long gone. Grim. I chose not to think about the (thankfully empty) conveniently pony-sized cages stacked up next to the building too much. The whole scene was vile, I tuned my head so I didn't have to look at it. Honestly I would probably have had more of a reaction if we hadn't spent half of yesterday fighting what amounted to hoards of walking corpses.

I wondered what great cruelty would drive ponies to do unspeakable acts like this, and to apparently revel in it at that. What drove the creation of bucketfulls of sickness and horror in an otherwise meaningless life? If you had asked me my thoughts on the soul before the experiment I would have said that I thought that all ponies had an innately good nature deep down. But now, after the bridge, after the bomb collars, seeing this... Good nature had no part in this, there was no slither of kindness hidden deep down somewhere. I think some ponies may actually be born evil. How much can somepony really be changed?

To think we shared a world with ponies like this now.

To think that we may have always done so, it was just social conventions preventing them from acting out.

I think I was getting too philosophical for my own good here. I was certainly no psychologist or therapist or whatever, far be it from me to postulate on the nature of good and evil. Actually, it was probably for the best that I not try and get into these ponies' heads.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I absentmindedly trotted into Mercy's behind, shunting her forwards into MD. I hadn't even realised they'd stopped, but neither of them were best pleased.

"Sorry." I offered, only to be met with shushes, shaking heads and flailing hooves. I could take a hint.

We were stood against the corner of a wall, peering around the edge. I peeked over MD's head (being the largest one here had to be useful eventually) to see what the issue was.

Sat outside the next building over was a lone unicorn stallion, swinging on his chair at a makeshift table, drinking and swatting flies, warmed by a burning rubbish bin, a rifle leant up against the tabletop. Bullets proudly adorned his harness, and his cutiemark looked to be a chisel or a nail or something. In the firelight I could see maybe half a dozen ponies inside the property through the doorway, sprawled out on filthy mattresses. The ground between us and them was strewn with empty bottles, vials, bullet holes, needles, broken glass, all sorts of junk. Piles of sandbags created a sort of half-baked defence, restricting any chance we might have had at sneaking around the guard.

I didn't think this would be a fight we would win if it came down to it, we didn't have Rusty to pick them off at a distance. If they woke up they'd be right on us. Unless one of us managed to discreetly take care of the guard before he could wake anypony else up, then we might have a slither of a chance of sneaking by the sleeping parry.

I shivered as the wind caught me, building creaking.

"What should we do?" I asked, turning back MD who was looking at me puzzled.

"Uh, go another way?" She answered, pointing along the relatively open street we were already on.

Right, of course.

Apparently too exhausted to even think rationally, I followed MD as we simply carried on down our road, quietly so as not to alert the guard (or anypony else) to our presence. Probably for the best MD was taking the lead again.

The actual 'ville' of Ponyville was not large, maybe a hair bigger than New Dodge. We were already fairly deep inside and we'd probably be making quicker progress if not for all the blockades.

Now that the sky was getting brighter I could see just how bad we were all doing. MD and Mercy both sagged as they walked, we were definitely moving slower than yesterday. MD in particular seemed gaunt, her eyes dark and sunken, coat crusted with debris. She was sweaty and stumbled every now and then. Mercy looked a shell of herself, which I could hardly blame her for. I was a little glad I couldn't see myself as I'm sure I was also in an absolute state. I wasn't built for this. What I wouldn't give for a spa break. Or even just a warm bath. My whole body ached, we'd been walking so long my hooves were tingling.

BANG

I scrambled as a bullet whizzed past my head, embedding itself in the ground beside me in a burst of dust.

BANG

I whinnied as another bullet grazed by my foreleg, sharp burning pain making itself very known.

"Sniper!" MD yelled as she started backing up, shotgun at the ready.

BANG

I panicked, we'd walked right into this, I didn't know what to do! I couldn't even see who was shooting us!

BANG

"MOVE!" MD commanded, turning tail completely and running back the way we'd come. Mercy brayed as a bullet clipped her ear, I stumbled over myself to follow them, kicking up dirt.

"The fuck?" The guard from the encampment rounded the corner in front of us, eyes going wide as we rapidly approached. MD crashed right into him sending them both tumbling down the street.

"Agh shit!"

"Cocksucker!" The stallion groaned as MD swiftly detangled herself from the pony pile. He wasn't far behind her at all, swiftly bringing up his gun. "GET OUT HERE YOU LAZY FUCKS!" He screamed back to his camp. I delivered a quick sideways buck to his flank as I passed, causing him to stumble and at the very least delay him from lining up a shot at any of us.

I didn't dare look back but the commotion behind us told me he had definitely gotten the attention of all the sleeping raiders. Hooves pounded the ground and jeers filled the air, drowned out by the air rushing around my ears.

We swerved around a rubble bottleneck and MD led us around a corner, horn alight and flinging debris vaguely behind us in an apparent effort to slow our pursuers. I almost missed when the unicorn suddenly dove inside some kind of old general store, sending me and Mercy skidding in behind her, rotted porch floorboards groaning under us.

"Close those doors!"

Dutifully, I slammed closed one of a pair of metal doors, leaning my back into it as Mercy pushed the other one, blocking out the burgeoning morning light and plunging us into darkness before MD's horn lit up again, head held to the gap.

I scrunched my eyes closed as an absolutely blinding light emanated from the appendage, sparks flying, burning into my vision. She was welding the door closed! The heat from the spell was starting to wash across the surface of the door already, warmth spreading across my back.

Unfortunately for us the crowd really wasn't far behind us, and the incredible brightness of the magic was likely making us incredibly easy to spot, even from outside.

The doors shuddered as hooves tried to force them open, I could feel the impact reverberating through my body.

"Hurry up!" I barked.

"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!" Somepony shouted from the other side. The pounding only intensified, threatening to bounce me clear off.

Something jolted through the metal, banging and pinging. Were they shooting at the door‽

MD sagged as the light died down, falling to her haunches, panting. Now able to actually use my eyes I could see the doors had been fused together, a rough hasty join connecting them both down the middle. I didn't know how long it would last, but hopefully it would hold the raiders off for the moment. Mercy popped up in front of me and wedged an old broken plank through the door handles for good measure.

"We-we need to- keep moving." The mule huffed as the doors bowed.

There was more pinging and banging and yelling, and the door continued shaking, but it was holding steadfast for the moment, keeping them outside.

Unfortunately that also meant it was keeping us in.

It was difficult to tell just what kind of store this place had been before, but it was strange, rather small and windowless. Save for the counter and a rickety looking staircase it had been gutted and then filled with piles and piles of random junk. There was evidence of a very old campfire on the floor (indoors? Terrible idea) and the now apparently requisite graffiti but scant little else.

"Flush 'em out, Malört!" Somepony commanded from outside. There was some kind of crash and the gap below the door lit up orange, wood crackling. They were trying to burn us back out. Probably not the quickest method, but given the wooden floor it wouldn't be too long until we were in danger again.

"They're setting the place on fire!" I screeched, alarmed. They were going to incinerate us!

"Can we not catch a single break?" MD groaned, struggling back to her hooves, wincing with the effort.

"M-maybe there's a way out the back?" Mercy suggested. A small but steady stream of blood was running from the wound on her left ear, matting her fur. Wisps of smoke were already beginning to float through the gaps in the door from outside.

A very cursory look around revealed that there was no 'back', this was it.

"Stairs it is." MD announced as the first licks of flames started to peek through.

Despite the situation we managed a rather orderly single-file-one-at-a-time arrangement given the size and condition of the stairs, creaking under our weigh having presumably sat unused for decades. The top floor wasn't much more populated, but importantly did have windows, along with a moldy old wardrobe and a bloodied matress that was still home to a bloated, chained up corpse that I was trying very hard not to think about right now. Escaping out the front was less than appealing for obvious reasons, but looking out the back I could see that another building backed onto this one, more of a bungalow. We could probably drop down onto the roof and get away there. Somehow. "Out here? Not a lot of options otherwise."

"It can't be any worse than the front." Mercy added. We both looked to MD.

"Sure, whatever, let's just... let's just go." The unicorn breathed, laboured and irritable, obviously fatigued. I hadn't noticed until now but she had a nosebleed, she must have hit that raider really hard.

Grey smoke was starting to float up out the front, we didn't have time to dwell right now.

Poking through the frame, the roof below seemed a lot further down than it probably was. I steeled myself with a deep breath and pushed myself over the edge. I flailed briefly before I landed with a thud, the roof creaking under my weight but ultimately holding steadfast. Mercy was next, a quiet grunt escaping her as she made her jump, landing with far more grace than I had. Finally, MD followed, usual cool and collected demeanour absent as she shakily slithered out of the window frame, slipping off the edge and botching the landing, tumbling down, landing on her back, just about managing to wheeze out a "Fuck!" as the air was forced from her lungs.

I caught her as she started to roll down the gentle slope of the tiles. If I wasn't so tired I could probably have caught her earlier. She spat out blood as I helped her up, which was never a good sign. Exhaustion aside, I think the radiation was really doing a number on her especially.

Following the gradient led us to the front of the building and a small alleyway, which from our vantage point I could see was considerably more open and less populated than where we'd come from. I certainly fancied our odds better there, it could only be a good thing to put distance between us and the fire, which I'm sure would spread given the terraced nature of the street. Just like back home, thinking about it. Terraces, I mean. Not burning.

A portion of the roof had collapsed, making a handy ramp down to street level, rickety, but just about stable enough for us to climb down. Or limp, in MD's case. The alley was close and littered with old rubbish, but seemed free of barricades, and importantly there didn't seem to be any raiders present at the moment.

"Which way?" I asked, looking both ways down the path. We couldn't see where either end came out.

"Can one of you just get us out of here please?" MD grunted, swaying, chest heaving with every breath. I was worried about the state she was in but we couldn't do anything right now, we had to keep moving. I could still heat the raiders jeering, and hoofsteps from somewhere or other. Shadows flickered overhead. We were by no means out of the woods.

"Let's go this way, I think this is the general direction we were headed anyway." Mercy nodded down the alley, leading the way. I made to follow her but MD's limping and lethargic movement was worrying me. She really wasn't in a good way, she was in visible discomfort moving her right legs, groaning and wincing.

"Hey, come on." I said, backing up alongside the unicorn. "Lean on me." I wasn't in tip-top shape by any stretch, but I think I was doing a lot better than she was. She hesitated for a second before resting her bad side up against me, taking some of the strain off her legs. "You alright?"

"No, everything hurts." The unicorn huffed.

"Yeah." I sighed, wholeheartedly agreeing with her, noticing the smell of alcohol. "Celestia MD, your breath is flammable right now."

I couldn't help but wonder if she'd sort of dug her own grave with that. She was a lot less poised and composed than normal, but I couldn't really say if that was due to alcohol or fatigue. Probably both.

We turned the corner and could see the alley open back up to the street, some kind of enormous, gnarled tree with doors and windows (?) sat front and centre and the sound of rushing water droned. Mercy was stood waiting for us. "I think we're clear." She said, scanning the area ahead. "When we find somewhere quiet I can bandage us all up."

We were at some kind of plaza or rotunda or something, several roads met and the area sat wide open. It probably would have been lovely in another lifetime.

"Hope you're ready to eat your heart out, Mercy." MD dryly chuckled.

"What?" The mule rebutted, head tilted in confusion.

MD pointed ahead to a wooden pole, neglected and severely leaning but just about still standing.

"A signpost." She smiled smugly.

"Hold up!" Mercy hissed, cantering ahead of us and blocking the way. "This is boobytrapped."

She pointed up at the old lamp post, and sure enough there was a bundle of metal apples —grenades, if I'm not mistaken— dangling from a thin wire that ran all the way down to a tripwire that I was about to walk into between rubble piles, waiting for any potential victim.

A shiver ran down my spine, I'd almost led the whole party to a quick and violent death. This was a cold act, how could these ponies possibly know who would set this off? They could be killing their friends for all they knew!

"Can I borrow your knife?" Mercy asked. I nodded and she pulled it from the sheath, clutching it with her teeth and deftly cutting the tripwire with one swing of her head. The grenades still hung perilously overhead, but the way forwards was safe now. Hopefully.

A long since dessicated pile of assorted body parts lingered behind a rubble pile on the other side. I wondered if those ponies had fallen foul to the same trap. A couple of loose grenades sat in a metal ammo box nearby. MD's horn flickered weakly as she floated them into her saddlebag, grimacing as she did. "Jeez, my head is killing me."

We slowly shambled on, Mercy taking point as me and MD sort of held eachother up. My brain was fried and my legs were almost dead weight by this point.

But, if the ancient signposts were accurate, we should be closing in on the theatre. That may not have meant the end to our journey by any stretch, but it would mean the end was in sight. I think we'd all earned a good long lie down. I also think I'd earned several trips to a good therapist but I'm not sure how realistic that was given the distinctly anarchic flavour Equestria had taken on since the end of the world.

Right now though MD was on alert for some reason, frowning and looking around, which couldn't be good.

"What's up?"

"EFS picked something up super quick, but it's gone now." She explained, shaking her head. "Probably just playing up again."

I kept an eye out but I couldn't see anypony either. Still, we progressed cautiously. This place was cragged and ruinous, there were plenty of places for a pony to hide.

I could see a column of smoke billowing from a few streets away, presumably the building we escaped from. I wouldn't be surprised if it had spread. I was glad to be away from it but I also didn't feel good about continuing forward. It had been a little while since we escaped the mob trying to burn us and this place wasn't that big, chances are we were bound to run into somepony again soon, and very soon if that trap was anything to go by, I doubted it had been sitting idle for ages. And now that Mercy had disarmed one trap I couldn't help but be hyper aware of our surroundings. Spiked metal poles jutted from the ground around piles of debris, and I nervously watched as we cut past some kind of rifle fixed up and rigged to fire down an alley we thankfully weren't heading down. Heaps of bones slumped up against a nearby wall. Nothing inspired confidence.

"H-Hello? Hello, hey! Up here!" I jolted as a new voice squeaked from above, immediately on guard. "Please, I need help before they come back!"

Ahead of us, confined to a large birdcage hanging precariously from a pulley hook jutting out of a house was a pony. An Earth pony. He was small and skinny, there was almost nothing to him, and from here I couldn't tell if his fur was mottled or if it was patchy. He shivered in place, holding himself tightly. The cage itself was bound with rusted chains and old rope. I don't know if whoever was responsible had other plans or had just left him hung up to die, but either way it was abhorrent.

"You don't look like them, can you get me down? P-please?" He whinnied, fear and exhaustion colouring his voice, cracking as he talked.

Moon and stars, he only a colt! He'd probably not even had his cutiemark longer than a couple of years. What kind of heartless monster would do something like this?

"Holy shit, we gotta get him down!" MD limped into action, pressing forward as quickly as she was able. Her horn lit up weakly, a dim glow surrounding the cage, bit not much of anything happened before it disappeared and the unicorn was left huffing. She tried again, and failed again. "Shit."

"Are you alright?" I asked as she wobbled on her hooves.

"Burned out, used up all my magic." She answered lowly, shaking her head. "That welding took it out of me I guess. Need to rest."

Mercy strode ahead of us as I was checking on MD, mouthing for us to wait here as.

"What's your name, young stallion?" She asked sweetly.

"C-Convoy."

"Well Convoy, me and my friends here are going to help, okay?" The jenny assured him, it must have been her bedside manner kicking in. "Do you know how many raiders there are? Is there anything we should know about before going inside?"

"I-I don't know. A bunch of them left last night and haven't come back yet... I-I was with my m-mom when they t-took us." He whimpered, ears sinking. "I don't know where she is."

I looked into the building, entryway stark open, front door seemingly long gone, and windows boarded over. It may have been light outside now, but the interior was still plunged in a veil of shadow. I could barely see a few hands in, it was ominous and intimidating, eerily quiet. The pulley hook Convoy was hanging from stuck out of a loading door on the top of the building, left wide open. Anypony who might be inside surely already knew we were here, what with the borderline shouted conversation happening. We would have surprise on our side. We wouldn't have much of anything on our side.

"What's your mom's name, honey?" Mercy continued.

"Ship Shape, she's an Earth pony like me, but yellow. They took us inside and took her away... P-please find her!"

"We should go in." MD panted, looking on the edge of collapse. Mercy waved at us to stop without looking back, one ear fixed on us.

"Alright honey, we'll find your mom okay? And then we're going to get you out of there." She assured the colt, I guess trying to put him at ease. "Do you know what it's like inside?"

He shook his head. "It was too dark for me to see." He replied.

"Okay Convoy, we're going to get you down, I just need you to hold tight a little longer, can you do that for me?"

He nodded, sniffling.

"You're a brave colt, Convoy. We'll be back in no time, okay?" Mercy finished, turning back to us.

"What's the hold up? Let's go!" MD groused, making for the entrance.

"The hold up is that that's bait!" Mercy whispered, subtly gesturing back to the cage. "I wanted to know what we'd be dealing with before we run in."

"Bait? For what?" I hissed back.

"For creatures like us who don't know any better." Mercy breathed. "If we're going to help him, we need to be smart about it. Whoever put him up there wants us to come inside."

That gave me pause for thought. The idea that somepony capable of something so heartless wanted us in their grasp was sobering. To what end they would want us for didn't bear thinking about. I swallowed a lump in my throat as I looked back into the building. Ostensibly an old abandoned farm style house, but now something twisted, a lair of evil. It made my skin crawl and heart race, despite everything.

"So what do we do?" MD asked.

"Well it's dark and we don't know what it's like on the inside, but if the group that left don't come back and we keep an eye out for more traps we should be okay." Mercy explained, face falling. "He says his mom is in there, but I wouldn't expect to find her... well. We can hope for the best, but..."

"EFS is clear, but I'm pretty sure it's busted." MD huffed, whacking her PipBuck with her other hoof. "I got nothing."

Righteous as this cause was, walking into to what was almost certainly a raider den blind was a less than stellar idea. The worst thing about all of this though was that I felt conflicted. Helping was the right thing to do, obviously. He was a child in need, it would be monstrously cruel to leave him be. But we were on a very real, very dire countdown. I felt inequine for even entertaining the thought, but present potential danger aside there was the terrifyingly real prospect that this becomes the distraction that runs our counters down before our collars get removed. Especially in the state we were in. Given how lethargic and tired I was, and especially MD was, I was worried that even if we didn't get hurt, or Celestia forbid, killed doing, then we'd end up dead just by virtue of losing time. If things were so die that we had to walk through the night did we really have time to do this? We hadn't even found the damn theatre yet!

This was like the bridge all over again.

"Look, I'm not trying to be heartless, I want to help, but can we afford to do this? I just mean, our collars-"

"Silver, you finish that thought and I will ram my horn so far up your ass you'll be coughing up sparkles." MD cut me off with vitriol, standing snout to snout with me, looking me dead in the eyes and jabbing a hoof into my chest. "I wouldn't be here without a stranger's help. You wouldn't be here without a stranger's help."

"I-I'm just saying-"

"And I'm not listening." She snorted, frowning. "That is a foal. We're not leaving him up there."

"Alright, alright, sorry." I held up my forehooves defensively. I thought about explaining that I never meant we should just abandon him here, but I thought it best to let it slide. I was sick of all this tension and conflict. I understood her reaction, and I couldn't deny this was objectively the good and moral thing to do. I just hoped it wouldn't come back to bite us.

That left us and the building, and a deep foreboding aura that might have just been me. Four storeys of boarded windows and veiled malice. Celestia willing we would be in and out quickly, but somehow I doubted it.

"I still got the rest of that jungle juice, should help with the dark." MD announced, peering through the threshold.

"Count me out, I'm not changing my tune." Mercy shook her head as MD fished her flask out of her bag. The unicorn chugged the contents, brow furrowed and swallowing laboured.

"Guh! You in, Silver?" She asked, wiping her mouth and waggling the flask at me. I almost heaved at the sight of it, recalling the taste from earlier. That said, it would be nice to see where we were going, especially if there were traps. Plus it had rum in it, and I could definitely use some Friesian courage right about now. I took the flask in my hooves, catching a waft of the foul liquid. Maybe if I held my breath it wouldn't be as bad?

It was just as bad.

I wished I had my own warer to wash it down with, it was foul but I also hadn't realised just how thirsty I actually was until it touched my tongue. MD took her flask back as I waited for the CatEye to kick in. Just like before my vision slowly started to become a bit brighter and a lot bluer as the substance started working through my system. The interior of the building gradually began to reveal itself beyond the entryway to the building, hopefully giving us a little edge on our foray inside. In the daylight, even as dull of a day as it was, the effect on my vision was quickly becoming uncomfortable as the light got brighter and brighter, washing everything out to the point I had to shield my eyes.

"Shall we?" Mercy asked, gesturing to the doorway.

I grabbed my gun and hesitantly followed behind my companions as we crossed inside, augmented eyesight adjusting. As expected by now the place was an absolute tip. At one point we would have been in an open lobby type area, but one side had been crudeley sectioned off which funnelled us in one direction. Customary graffiti mingling with ruined furniture and torn up walls. The place stank. I recoiled as I stepped in a cold puddle of something. Something that based on the smell I really did not want to think about.

The living room was strewn with junk and bizarre
idiosyncrasies. A broken table replaced by planks stacked on bricks, a pile of old rusty guns superceded by a bloody lead pipe, the kitchen was rife with moldy and loose food, but the remarkably preserved fridge was empty, doors hanging wide open. None of it made any sense to me. The building creaked, almost as if protesting our intrusion.

Thankfully though, this whole floor was seemingly devoid of life. Completing a circuit around the layout we ended up the staircase, just on the other side of the barrier in the lobby.

With my enhanced vision I caught a glimpse of something crossing the steps, a wire crossing one side to the other and running up the wall.

"Holh ohn." I grunted, stopping us in out tracks and pointing to the tripwire. "Trah."

I sat on my haunches and pulled out my knife. I'd seen Mercy do it, it couldn't be that hard, right? Clutched in my hooves, I reached the blade out and severed the wire. To my surprise, unlike the trap Mercy disarmed, something above us clanked and the tripwire was pulled up and away. I didn't know what that meant but it probably wasn't good. Not a second later a wooden board came swinging down towards us. I recoiled on instinct, falling backwards as it came to a swift halt a few steps ahead of us, a railway spike sticking out of it at what would roughly be eye-level.

"Luna's teats!" MD yelled, taking a step back. Mercy helped me back on my hooves, I was shaken and fixated on the spike. That was just a nasty thing to do to a pony. I'd dropped my knife and gun in the flash of panic, once I'd collected them (and myself) we pushed past the board and up the stairs.

The landing on the next floor turned around on itself which left us peeking around the corner. I think in another life this floor would have been lined with bedrooms, but now most of the walls had been torn away, save for the ones around the staircase. Something whirred mechanically, but I couldn't see what it was from here. There must have been a lantern or fire tucked away somewhere as this floor was significantly lighter than downstairs was. The floor, though strewn with rubble and detritus, seemed otherwise free of tripwires or anything that could catch us unaware.

"Whas tha' sound?" I asked as best I could, not really wanting to walk into something.

"I dunno, but let's be wary, it's probably not anything good." MD replied, peeling around me and up.

With no explicit danger in front of us we emerged onto the landing. The floor bowed under our collective weight, making it very clear that it probably wasn't a good idea to hang around for too long and also raising the question of why ponies would set up shop somewhere so unstable. Most of the wooden frames that previously held up the walls were still standing, sort of outlining the old floor plan. Most of the 'rooms' on this side were full of mattresses, bed rolls and piles of old hay. That and stacks of boxes and trunks, empty bottles and chunks of plaster.

The mystery sound grew louder as we tracked down the hall, causing me no small amount of anxiety. We reached the base of the next set of stairs and the source was revealed to be some kind of pile of scrap metal? A rusty old shopping basket with some sort of a pipe and a torch sticking out of it slowly swept-

"Turret!" MD yelped.

RATATATATATAT

Shooting! It was shooting at us! I flailed wildly to hide back behind the staircase as bullets tore past us, whistling into the outside wall of the building, blasts absolutely deafening. A burst of energy surged through me, I trembled as I hugged the wall, joined by MD and Mercy besode me. The gunfire continued for a few seconds before the machine presumably realised we weren't there.

"Whuzzat? Whosh there?" A mare drunkenly slurred from the other side of the stairs, stumbling hoofsteps ambling across the creaky boards.

"What do we do?" Mercy nickered.

"I don't know!" MD grunted back.

"Whera ya at? Come out!" Screeched the mare. "I'll find youuu!" The sound of crashing and stomping bounced around the building as she moved, slowly and unsteadily drawing closer our position. "Teach ya' to mess with us! How's it feel to be hunted back, huh?"

MD clutched her shotgun, I noted with her hooves and not with her magic like usual. Her teeth were grit and her eyes bounced around. "Okay, I have and idea." She whispered. "Get behind me, make for the stairs when I say so, got it?"

We nodded and I shimmied around her, leaving the Unicorn on the corner peeking around the edge. Tense seconds begrudgingly passed like sludge as the uncoordinated mess of a pony clambered closer and closer. MD looked back and mouthed 'get ready'. A little jolt of anticipation and terror ran through my body as I prepared myself for whatever was about to happen.

A figure emerged behind MD, swaying. Their head was covered with some kind of sack, horn protruding and eyeholes cut out, and leather barding criss-crossed their body.

"Gotcha, fuckers!" She sneered, bringing up a crowbar over her head. Before she had a chance to swing down MD leapt into action, holding her shotgun out in front of herself with both forehooves and springing forwards, using the gun like a staff and slamming into the raider's neck, forcing her back.

"GO!" MD screamed as she breached out past cover, still choking the mare, slamming her against the outside wall.

RATATATATATAT

I scrambled to my hooves as the gunfire started up again, apparently fixed on MD. Mercy and I swung around out of cover and onto the staircase as MD slid her way beside the mare, bullets slamming into the raider as the turret tracked MD. Sun and moon, she was using the mare as an equine shield!

I watched in horror as MD dragged the raider back with her to reach the steps, bullets tearing into the mare's side the whole time, spraying blood all over. She squealed and gurgled, her sack-hood stained red as her movements became heavier. Finally reaching the stairs, MD let the mare fall limp on the floor and hopped up the first few steps out of the line of fire of the turret, panting and flopping down in an uncomfortable heap. Her whole right side was soaked in the raider's blood. Finally, the gunfire stopped again. The mare was dead.

I stood shocked. I knew these were bad ponies. Bad was possibly the biggest understatement possible. But what I'd just seen my friend do wasn't right, it wasn't a just or sporting thing to do, it was cold and cruel. And I knew that these raiders would never extend us the courtesy of fighting fair, but did that mean we had to stoop to their level too? I didn't know how to feel about it.

"We need to keep moving." Mercy chimed from above. "This is a bottle neck, they're not going to stop for us."

MD groaned, slowly rising to her hooves, legs shaking, though I'm not sure if it was from the effort or the adrenaline that was no doubt coursing through her. "F-fuck..."

"You alright?" I asked as she struggled up.

"No." She grunted. "Cover your ears."

I held my hooves over my head as MD fished one of the grenades from earlier out of her bag. She pulled out a little keyring looking thing and threw the weapon down the stairs before covering her own head.

BOOM

I scrunched my eyes closed as the whole building shook, dust and plaster raining down on us. A wave of pressure rushed up the stairs and sent my fringe back. I opened my eyes to a light grey misty smoke slowly rising from the floor below. Rusted metal shards littered the floor below. I guess that took care of thr turret.

"Let's move." The slung her gun back around her neck and began clumsily climbing the stairs, passing me and joining Mercy. I slinked behind them, bringing up the rear as we ascended.

"Are you hit?" Mercy asked MD, nurse mode apparently now kicking in.

"Don't think so. The unicorn huffed. "Nothing bad, at least."

"You're grazed." Mercy replied, looking over MD's back. Her jacket was torn, but any wounds she might have hard were hard to see under all the other mare's blood.

"I'll deal with it when we're out of here." MD grunted, pausing at the top of the stairs to look around. Mercy grimaced as we waited behind her but didn't press the matter. "Fuck, this isn't good."

"What's going on?" I eeped out. Nothing had been good in this town, for something to be notably not good was worrying.

"They're dead." She answered, walking out onto the next floor.

"That's... why is that not good?" I asked, confused. That could only mean less of a fight for us, surely?

"Because I doubt they all commited suicide." Mercy interjected, a worried look across her face.

Coming up onto the next floor I was immediately presented with a very fresh corpse collapsed up against a wall, clad in rags and still clutching a sledgehammer, congealing blood running down from a cut across her throat. In the opposite corner was another fallen raider splayed out on the floor. MD reversed out of a nearby doorway, shaking her head.

"These are very recent." Mercy announced, inspecing one of the bodies, pulling on it's leg. "Rigor mortis hasn't even set in yet."

"M-maybe it was the mare downstairs?" I posited. It would be nice to think that whoever did this was now also no longer amongst the living.

"With a crowbar? No, these are fine cuts, this took a sharp blade." The jenny replied, taking a close look at the wound.

"Gun too, by the looks of it." MD added, looking a little forlorn. "I, uh, I think I found his mom." She gestured to another room with a flick of her eyes.

Passing the first open doorway revealed some old bunks populated with more bodies, I tried to pay too much mind to it. I passed MD to catch a glimpse of the second room, which was a very different story.

I don't really know why I looked, I knew to expect something awful. There were three bodies in here. It was a small room, almost more like a cupboard really, so things were very close. Ship Shape was on her back on a messy bedroll, dead, teary eyes wide open, a single bullet wound to the head leaking crimson down her face. Her forelegs were bound with rope and hind legs were forced open by the body of a stallion... violating the poor mare. I'd really not like to describe it further than that. A bullet hole peirced the back of his head.

The third body was slumped against the wall, like she was killed while watching the disgusting scene unfold. I felt sick to my stomach. I turned and left, I couldn't look at this any longer. I had no words, just anger and sadness. I thought back my philosophising on the display we'd come across earlier. Good nature clearly had no place in this town. This place was sick. This was clear and present evidence for the presence of evil in these pony's souls. This was pure evil. Pure malice.

"Oh my stars." Mercy sadly exclaimed, taking my place in the doorway.

"The darkness of the afterlife is all that awaits you now." I uttered, not turning back around. "May you find more peace in that world than you did in this one."

I heard the door click closed and MD slowly walked away. "Kid doesn't need to see that."

That poor mare. That poor boy. I swallowed a lump in my throat, shaking my head. I don't know if the sight would ever leave my mind. MD and Mercy passed me in silence, carrying on down the hallway, heads low. I joined behind them, feeling hollow.

"Oh thank Celestia!" MD breathed as she limped ahead of us to and old cooler on a side table, pulling out a pack of RadAway and greedily gulping it all down. I knew she was the worst effected of us, but we'd all been exposed. It would have been nice to have some left.

"Anything else in there?"

MD gasped as she finished the last of the orange liquid, throwing the empty bag to the floor. "Whew. Uh, got some Med-X, a lot of Med-X actually, Mentats, Jet-"

"All the habitual stuff then." Mercy groused.

"Pretty much." The unicorn nodded, checking her PipBuck. "Alright, let's keep moving." She said, setting off around the last corner of the hallway. This led us to the last set of stairs, a little more rustic looking than the rest. Another dead raider was sprawled out at the base, I stretched to step over her.

It may not have sounded like a lot, but having put this many miles in and having been awake this long, four flights of stairs was really taking it out of me. It was a struggle to reach the top, but I got there. Out of breath and light headed maybe, but we'd made it.

The attic was wide open and pretty empty, mostly home to cobwebs and a few old crates. And dust, a lot of dust. Still, I kept my pistol ready, just in case. There were still places a pony could hide up here. A large hole in the roof let natural light pour in, which caused more than a little strain on my enhanced vision. Collapsed rafters and mouldy piles of thatched hay sat heaped under the hole. There was a separating wall in front of us with an open door, through there I could just about see outside. That had to be where Convoy was hung up from.

Mt feelings about the rescue were complicated. Of course I was happy that we'd gotten to him, and in the grand scheme of things this really hadn't eaten too much of our time, but how on Earth were we going to break the news about his mum being dead? And then what, we bring him with us? Through Celestia knows what future danger?

"Through there." MD commanded, leading the way into the room. It was another large, empty space, and with the cargo doors open like they were there was a wide open view of Ponyville at rooftop height. It must have been lovely once upon a time. Between the opening and the skyline was the cage, gently swinging in the breeze outside. We might not have been able to save Convoy's mum, but at least we could get him down from there. A rope tied around the top of the cage and sagged down through the doors, that had to be our best bet of moving him.

"It's us Convoy, we're going to get you inside, just sit tight!" Mercy called out.

"Well ain't we just a buncha bleedin' hearts?"

I didn't know that voice. The door slammed closed behind us. I steeled myself and did a full 180°.

"Not so fast there, friend." My breath hitched as another more feminine voice sounded out from above. Before I could react I felt cold metal press up against my skull, the downdraft of flapping wings swirling around me. "Wouldn't want to lose that pretty little head of yours would we? Drop the gun."

I did as I was told, letting the revolver clatter to the floor.

"Good girl." Purred my assailant.

A bat pony stallion had Mercy in a chokehold, some kind of bladed gauntlet pressed to her neck. His other foreleg was aiming a rifle point blank at MD's head, outfitted with sone kind of tin can looking device on the end of it. He was small and his fur was dark, but his eyes a piercing yellow, slit pupils watching my every twitch. He didn't look like a raider, but obviously he was not friendly. "You too, short stuff." He instructed MD, jostling the gun against her mane. She glowered as she relinquished her shotgun, joining my pistol on the floorboards. "Now I see that horn light up and I'm pulling the trigger, clear?" MD grimaced as he smirked. "Wehehehell shit, ya were right!" He chortled, looking Mercy over with a sickly grin. "An honest to the moon Mule! Not too many of y'all around now are there?"

"Those freaks in the tunnel are gonna love her." The mare behind me cooed. "And look at you, big girl!"

"W-whats happening?" Convoy mewled. "I-I can't see!"

"Don't worry about it kid, the adults are talking." The floor behind me creaked as the mare touched down, decrepit planks bowing under the new weight. A hoof on my withers spun me back around and I found myself snout to snout with another bat pony, muddy brown and pale eyed, smiling, fangs visible. She had a long gun in the crook of her leg pointed right at me. Both of them were decked out in spiked, intimidating looking metal armour. "I don't know why all you tourists are comin' this way, but I'm sure as Tartarus glad ya are!" She chimed, eyes sparkling mischief that seemed to undersell the situation. "Been keepin' us busy."

"Been trackin' ya for miles." The stallion chuckled. "Ya know, funny thing is, this weren't even our trap in the first place! Had ta clear the place out, but hey, gotta crack a few eggs ta make an omlette, am I right?"

"What do you want?" MD rasped. The mare looked over my head, apparently nonplussed.

"Luna above, don't exert yourself too much girl, ya look like yer fit to croak!" She snorted.

"Worth keeping?" The stallion asked, nudging the barrel of his gun against MD's head again.

"She's got four workin' legs and can take orders, can't hurt." The mare shrugged. "If she dies, she dies. No skin off our backs. What about the kid?"

"Sure they'll find a use for him. Besides, he's already tied up ready for us!" He chuckled.

"No, oh Terra no, not again, no no no..." Mercy quietly muttered, eyes wide with horror.

"W-w-what is this? What do you want from u-us?" I stammered.

"Don't worry your little head about it." The stallion mocked. "Just do what we say and we're all copacetic."

"Alright ladies, bags on the floor, and no funny business." The mare commanded, keeping the gun pointed at me but making to slide our weapons out of reach. "You go stand with the others." She gestured to where MD and Mercy were being held by the stallion.

"You heard her, bags on the floor. Armor too, missy." He cajoled, nudging the other two while frowning at me. MD begrudgingly complied, Mercy looked weepy as she jostled her pack off her back. I removed my saddlebags, joing the other's things in a pile on the floor. Apprehensively, I slipped off my armour too, leaving me feeling very exposed.

"Whoo, looks like we got some goodies tucked in these!" The mare hollered, giving a cursory look in
Mercy's dufflebag. "Meds and potions, probably worth a few caps!"

"Please no, please no, please no." Mercy whimpered, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I can't do it again, I can't-"

"Now then, why don't y'all be good little girls and put these on, 'less ya want to be looking down the wrong enda this here rifle." The stallion reached into his own saddlebags and pulled out some very heavy chains, throwing them on the floor I front of us with a rattling thud. Manacles. My blood ran cold just looking at them.

This couldn't be real. No way was this happening. My mouth hung open as a looked between him and the restraints. MD frowned and Mercy cried, still muttering to herself.

"Git to it, we got a place for you." He smiled darkly.