Chapter 1: A buck in the head
Chapter One: A buck in the head
I was in pain. Alive but to what degree I was not sure. But I was alive and that was all that mattered. At first I didn’t have the strength to open my eyes. I felt numb all over as my body was flooded with increasing pain. I lifted a hoof slowly to my face as I rubbed one of my eyes only to draw it away seconds later as this only made the horrible feeling worse.
Slowly I opened my eyes. Everything was blurry for a while. Brushing my yellow mane from my face I glanced up at the sky which was full of clouds unlike what I was used to. I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know who I was!
I couldn’t remember my name leaving me franticly searching my thoughts trying to find it. My thinking was suddenly interrupted with a sharp jabbing pain at the back of my head as the nerves sprang to life. I used more strength than I should have to roll myself onto my side. Looking back over I found that the source of the jabbing was a small jagged rock splattered with blood.
Slowly I managed to sit up. Getting a view of my surroundings. To the left of me was a tall cliff with what seemed to be a shallow cave. Off in every other direction was nothing but dense forest and foliage that darkened under the leafy canopy. Looking back up I could spot a number of holes in the cloud cover above through which sunlight poured through. Putting the pieces together I recalled that the Enclave had trouble with the cloud canopy around the Everfree forest. So I knew where I was.
What I didn’t know was how I got here, who I was, or why I felt like complete shit. I searched for these thoughts as I rubbed my eye again. The pain not as severe this time as before. My vision cleared as I looked myself over. I had cuts and bruises all over my body. Blood standing out against my light blue coat had dried while trickling out of cuts that were just beginning to scab. The most notable cut being a curve across my side. As deep as it was I figured I was lucky to be alive. But with the amount of pain I would have settled for dead.
Eventually I noticed that my cutie mark was not the yellow sunray I was used to. A dark cloud with a lightning bolt had taken its place. The mark of a Dashite.
I didn’t remember much but I knew that the Dashite brand wasn’t there before.
I clopped my forehead with my hind hoof trying to jog my memory but to no avail. If anything it made the feeling worse because I had somehow had chipped my hoof several times prior to me waking up.
I looked around me again. This time looking for anypony else nearby who might be able to help. Or at least know what was on. To my disappointment I was alone.
I staggered up on all fours. My legs wobbling and suddenly bursting with searing pain trying to tell me to sit back down.
I didn’t intend to use my legs. I was going to fly out to see if there was anything that would be helpful. I didn’t care how it was helpful I just needed help. Period. Besides my wings felt fine unlike the rest of me.
But as I spread my wings getting ready to launch myself into the air another searing bolt of pain sprung from my right wing. As I looked back at it I could see it was clearly broken. It was bent in a few spots right where bone should be and was bruised in a few spots. To my surprise it wasn’t bleeding and actually had most of its feathers. But it would still be useless for a good chunk of time.
My other wing however seemed to have no damage at all aside from a few scrapes and cuts. Not only that but I felt very little pain emanating from it. That or the rest of me hurt so much that it felt like the wing hurt too. But it was still only one wing and I couldn’t become airborne with just the one. Even so I probably didn’t have the strength to buck myself off the ground in the first place.
So flying was off the table. And the burning in my legs told me I was in no fit state to walk out of the forest. So I was stuck there.
I glanced over at the small cave which was burrowed into the Cliffside. I had paid no attention to it before but now I was staring at it with unbound curiosity.
I was in not fit shape to walk out of here. The pain all over my body was no better than it was when I woke up. And my wing was clearly not flying me anywhere anytime soon. This cave proved to be the only shelter in the immediate area around me.
A thought crossed my mind saying “dragons tend to live in caves”. I looked it over and I could just barely see the back end of the cave. If a dragon was in there it would have to be pretty damn small to be able to escape my gaze. So I ruled out that possibility. And considering my options right now this cave was starting to look like heaven.
I started trotting towards the cave.
I made it about five yards before the painful burning in my legs forced me to sit down again. I knew I was in bad shape but I expected to get farther than that.
I glanced back to the cave as something caught my eye. Slumped over a rock I could make out what looked like a saddlebag that was thrown over the jagged boulder. Considering I’ve had little to no hope at that point the saddlebag felt like a gift from above. My greatest hope was that it had some healing potions inside. Or at least some painkillers to dull the pain for a while.
It wasn’t much motivation but it was enough.
I pushed myself back up. Pain once again bursting from my legs as I slowly trotted my way over to the saddlebag.
I collapsed onto the rock it was nestled on. My muzzle impacting the hard surface. I hurt too much everywhere else to even notice. I grabbed the bag, rolled myself over, and let my fore hooves give as I slid down the cold hard surface of the rock into a sitting position.
I opened the bag only to have my hopes shattered by disappointment. The saddlebag had no healing potions or painkillers.
Instead the bag contained a knife, a blank notebook, a broken pencil, and a pair of brown goggles. Even though I was in a world of pain I felt slightly better having found at least this small collection of items. At least in mind. But it wasn’t helping my situation
The rock was no more than a few feet from the cave and I couldn’t find the strength to pull myself inside. I never felt so pathetic. I was in so much pain I was considering suicide. I did have a knife. And if I did it right it would be quick and relatively painless. I held the knife in my hooves thinking it over.
I asked myself questions like “what if it’s not sharp enough?” or “what if I mess it up?” the thoughts ran through me as I stared at the knife. Its blade like a mirror reflecting the cave off of it. I had held it away from my face for fear that it looked worse than the rest of me did.
I was about to do it when something in the reflection caught my eye. It wasn’t an object but an ever so faint green light emanating from behind a rock from within the cave.
I rolled back over and pulled myself onto the rock which I had been using to keep myself from lying face down. I could definitely make out a small pale green light.
Curiosity took over at that point. I pushed myself back up again sending my legs into yet another protest of pain. I then struggled my way over to the rock while dragging the saddlebag in my teeth unable to find the strength to sling it over my flank.
I made it over to the pony sized rock with the glowing behind it. At this point each step felt like I was wading through fire as my legs screamed out in pain. Eventually I collapsed onto my side with my eyes landing right in front of the light source. Sitting on the floor of the cave was a pip-buck.
I knew what it was but had no idea how it got here. It had been modified in many places. The standard strap to hold it on the leg had been cut off and replaced by a Velcro strap. Clearly whoever owned this had no intention of wearing it permanently. I looked through the databanks only to find them empty except for one message called “play me”
“Skylight!” I could recognize the voice as my own. “I know you’re confused right now. I don’t have a lot of time before they find me and chances are you ‘ll be suffering from amnesia...”
This struck me as odd because I thought I suffered a blow to the head that made me forget everything.
“if you can’t remember then that puts a wrench in our plan because I don’t have time to explain. I have maybe one minute before the enclave stumbles upon my location…”
Then shut up and explain me! At least I thought it was me.
“ok… I know you’re confused. Your name is Skylight. You have a blue coat, blonde mane, and a sunray cutie mark…”
Ok it was me.
“You’re here becau-“
The… my voice cut out with what sounded like a rock hitting my head followed by a loud thud and then static. I sat there a while. I played it again. Then a third time. I think I spent about fifteen minutes listening to it over and over.
I had no idea what to think of this new information. How did I know I had amnesia ahead of time? Maybe it was a precaution but in this case it was highly unlikely because I don’t know anypony who would prepare ahead of time for amnesia.
Why was the enclave after me? Did I do something to piss them off? I must have if they sent somepony down to find me. But from this recording all I had to go by was something hitting my head and knocking me out. For all I knew they could have had a raptor looking for me. I ruled that out figuring if they were desperate enough to send a raptor below the cloud cover then I would be dead right now.
So clearly they had no intention to kill me. But from the aching pain that was all over my body I could tell they were at least pissed. I can maybe imagine being concerned over amnesia ahead of time but it was still unlikely. I may be one paranoid pony but not that paranoid.
Remembering that I was paranoid made me realize I seem to remember a lot of things about myself. And for me to not remember something as simple as my name or reason for being here seemed way beyond coincidence. How could I possibly remember everything but my name and current task?
On top of all of my confusion I was also in denial. Part of me didn’t want to believe my name was Skylight. Even when I had conclusive evidence that it was. I didn’t know what to believe at this point. And I had only woke up about thirty minutes ago.
I slipped the pip-buck onto my arm and fastened the Velcro band. I had no intention of keeping it but I needed the medical readout to see how bad I was hurt. Part of me didn’t want to know but I pushed that thought aside knowing I was hurt and needed to know if I was in critical condition.
To my relief it actually wasn’t that bad. Nothing was broken except for my wing which had fractures left and right. The pain I was feeling was just from the cuts and bruises I had somehow obtained. Well I was no medical expert but I figure it should have hurt a lot less than it did.
I figured the pain would go away over a short time during which I could do some more thinking. The only thing keeping me from trotting out of here was this burning in my legs which had now ceased since I stopped using them.
Thoughts came again as I realized I had no real drive to actually leave this place I woke up in. I didn’t have any goal or path to take because somepony knocked me out before I could tell myself. At least I think it was a pony.
I turned on the pip-bucks Eyes Forward Sparkle. Figuring it would be better at finding somepony nearby. The search turned up nothing. There was nopony near me to help.
Isolation started to fall into play as I realized I was truly alone.
I hated being all alone.
I went back to my thoughts trying to forget my isolation. I started questioning the dashite brand on my flank. I had figured the enclave burned it on while I was out. i searched my thoughts and came up with nothing as to why I would want to come down here. So far I hated it for all it was worth. And the last thing I would want was to be labeled as a “renegade who defects to the old world” as my father would say. I wondered what he would think of me now that I had unwillingly become one of said renegades. He’d probably say I was a flat out traitor and buck me straight to the moon.
As much as I hated my father I still respected his decisions. At least he wasn’t there to see me curled up in this cave. Or for all I knew he was one of the ponies who were hunting me down.
Next thing I knew an hour had passed and it getting dark. I had spent all this time just contemplating what has happened. Thoughts were still flowing around my head as I realized I was still lying on the hard cave floor.
It wasn’t exactly comfortable. But at this point all I wanted to do was sleep. I figured I would wake up and the pain would be gone.
My eyes grew heavy and I fell asleep.
Chapter 2: Directions
I woke up in the dead of night. The cave I was hiding out in was bathed in a dark shade of blue from the cave entrance. The only other light coming from the Pip-buck I still had on my leg. I checked the clock. It was three in the morning.
I would have gone back to sleep but it was like I was snapped wide awake and couldn’t drift back no matter how hard I tried. A problem I’ve had since I was a filly.
I tried moving my leg and was met with surprisingly little pain compared to several hours ago. I pulled myself up and sat on my rump peering out the cave entrance from behind the pony sized rock I had slept behind. Now that I look back on that sleeping against a rock probably didn’t do me any favors. All that was outside was forest, shrub… and the sound of a tuba?
I pulled up the Pip-bucks E.F.S and saw that there was somepony or something outside off to the right of the cave entrance.
I immediately sprang to all fours and rushed out of the cave. My legs actually cooperating with me this time. I veered off to the right and was met by a hovering spherical robot. I had majored in robotics at the university and knew what it was.
“Spritebot, combat model A-1, mass produced model equipped with minor armament and thin four centimeter composite armor, power outlet basic spark battery” I said out loud as I looked over the bot.
“That’s impressive!” the hovering spritebot replied startling the living crap out of me as I jumped about a meter away from the thing.
“Oh… sorry were you expecting something different to happen?” it asked as I stood with a stunned look on my face.
“Well no. it’s just the textbooks never said anything about the A-1’s having their own artificial intelligence” I replied calming a little.
“I’m not the spritebot. I’m just broadcasting myself through it to talk to you.” It shot back.
I stood there a few seconds before replying “that was going to be my second guess” calming down slightly more “Who is it that I am speaking with then?”
"Call me Watcher" it replied as i walked slowly towards it. "What’s a smart pony like you doing way out here?"
I told him what happened which led to an awkward silence of about fifteen seconds or so.
“So you have no idea why your even here?” it asked
“No! I have no idea why or how I ended up here. All I know is that my name is Skylight.” I replied.
“OK calm down Skylight. I don’t see any way the Enclave will accept you back so like it or not you’re stuck down here.” It shot back. Oh sure just rub it in while you’re at it.
I let that sink in a little… then I stopped pacing. How long had I been doing that?
“Well then I need a direction to go in so I can start sorting this mess out.”
“Well… you could fly.” it offered in an almost sarcastic tone.
“My wing’s broken.” I said as I pointed at my horribly mangled wing.
The spritebot paused for a while before replying. “Ok then the fastest way out of the forest would be to go south west. Be glad you’re only about a mile into the place. Do you have a weapon?”
“I have a knife.” I offered.
“Better than nothing I suppose. Just try not to do anything that may get you killed. Everfree forest isn’t exactly the safest place in the wasteland. “
The voice cut out and the music resumed as the bot hovered away.
“OK not a perfect direction to go off of… but its progress” I said aloud to myself as I watched it fly off. As it went out of sight I trotted back to the cave to gather the knife and other contents of the saddlebag I found earlier and set out on this quest… if you could call it that.
* * *
My walk out of the forest started out pleasant. If you consider every ten steps ducking behind the nearest rock because of a noise off in the distance the least bit pleasant.
Regardless along with the knife I was also now carrying a large stick to go with it. Not the most threatening sight but I’m off to a good start... At least I hope I’m off to a good start.
I decided to keep the Pip-buck because… honestly I saw no reason to get rid of it. It was amazingly useful, it came with the E.F.S and S.A.T.S, and since it had its Velcro band I would actually be able to take it off if I needed to. Not to mention it was almost unbreakable so I could use it as a blunt weapon.
Since I did have an E.F.S I decided to actually use it. I switched it on and to my relief and minor embarrassment nothing was around. So I spent the past half hour cowering in fear for nothing... Yeah I was walking normally now.
I only made it fifteen more seconds when something shot past my head. I looked over to the right and spotted some sort of plant resembling a flytrap I had seen in my biology textbook. Only this one was bigger, had razor sharp teeth, and was spitting balls of slime at me.
It spit at me again as I ducked behind the nearest rock. I glanced over to see the slime hit a tree which it was now dissolving. I didn’t have any effective weapons so I threw the stick at it. It smacked into the plant and sort of disoriented it giving me time to start running in the opposite direction. By the time it could spit another ball of acid at me I was already out of sight but I kept running anyway.
* * *
I’m not entirely sure how far I ran when I tripped on a rock and landed right on my face. As if I didn’t have enough scratches as it is. I had my eyes clenched shut as I pulled my head up to rub my muzzle. I opened my eyes and was faced with a skull making me jump back farther than I did with the Spritebot. I looked at it for a while before I finally stopped shaking.
It wasn’t just a skull it was an entire skeleton. It was laying slumped over a rock and had a piece of paper nudged under its leg bone. I didn’t want to touch it but by Celestia I wanted to know what was on that paper. I picked up a stick and forced it out to a point I was comfortable picking it up. The note was barely legible after the years of deterioration but I was able to barely make it out.
Sorry everypony but I can’t stand it anymore. Since Caramel was listed as killed in action I’ve never been able to get past it. So I’m ending my life. Goodbye.
WW
It brought tears to my eyes. I found it weird I was crying over somepony I never knew but here I was tearing up over somepony named WW. I wiped my eyes and put the note in my bag.
Looking over the skeleton revealed it to be that of a pegasus… not sure how I felt about that. Buried under the leg was what looked like a pistol of sorts which I carefully extracted with the stick as I did with the note. It was old… REALLY old. I wasn’t even sure if it would fire. Well it probably would but I could guarantee firing it would cause the 10MM round to backfire and cause the entire gun to explode in my mouth. I just had my teeth cleaned and I would really rather avoid getting dentures… if I could find any.
Since I was lacking any firearms of my own I stashed the pistol in my bag. Maybe if I was lucky I could intimidate somepony with it without revealing that it may do more harm to me than them. Ooh there’s a disturbing thought right there!
* * *
So I was walking again. Just me alone with my thoughts… along with the countless wild animals that would like nothing more than to jump out of nowhere and eat me but I tried not to think about death right now. Oh and also my run-ins with the blue weeds that seems to be everywhere. I knew enough to avoid it and if I couldn’t my knife seemed to do the job.
Speaking of my knife… I was using it as a makeshift mirror again. My face wasn’t all that bad as I had feared. In fact it only had a few minor cuts and bruises. If I could just brush my mane I would look half way descent in terms of my face. The rest of me would need a thorough wash down to get the blood out of my hide. I knew I probably shouldn’t be worrying about how I looked but it was one of the few things keeping me going at this point.
That and the fact I’m hearing constant noises coming from the more dense brush around me. Watcher said I was only about a mile into the forest but it sure didn’t feel like I was. I suppose it didn’t help that I was stopping every ten feet to look around when even the tiniest noise came out of nowhere. I’d start walking normally but last time I tried that I was attacked by a plant.
Finally a came to a road heading south west and about two minutes later I was out of the forest. I looked at the Pip-buck clock again. It was going on five in the morning. I couldn’t help hitting myself for over the matter. How in Equestria did it take me an hour and forty five minutes to walk one mile? Sure the plants, animals, and just about every other scary thing within a fifty yard radius were slowing me down by all the noise but COME ON! I have 9.1 wingpower and no way of taking advantage of it. Well maybe I could slap somepony with my good wing and it would hurt a lot but that won’t do me any favors. I was top of my class in flight camp… you know it’s funny how I remembered that but I couldn’t remember much else.
My attention was suddenly drawn to the sound of gunfire off the side of the road. It didn’t sound too far away and curiosity always got the better of me. And I’m not saying that it got me hurt a lot… in fact more often than not it did.
* * *
When I got within sight of whoever was shooting I was already seeing the slightest hints of morning. It was still dark though. I was about twenty feet behind two ponies who were using a rock as cover when I ducked behind a tree… if you could call this shriveled black thing a tree.
I peeked out to see the two ponies that were both earth ponies, one of which had a battle saddle mounted with a rifle, milky green coat, and crimson mane. The other had some sort of SMG in his mouth, dark brown coat, and a shaved head. Behind the rock was another rock with another pony scrunched behind it. All I could make out was a blue mane.
When the pony popped up to take a shot at the two I was able to make out that it was a unicorn mare with a tan hide.
So now I have some options… I could wait for them to sort this out on their own, risk blowing my teeth to bits by trying to shoot the unicorn with the rusty pistol I have, try to take out the two trying to no doubt kill said mare, or I could walk away.
So I went with the best option that would sort out the problem without extorting too much effort and risk but at the same time not make me look like a coward and decided to try taking out the two earth ponies. This led to my next problem which was how to go about doing that. I had my knife but I doubt I could take them both out fast enough with it. But I also had this gun which still may or may not explode if I fire it. Well I thought about that gun for a second. How it was rusted over, covered in dirt, and the rough jagged handle that may or may not… hello idea!
* * *
I snuck out from behind the tree with the pistols gun barrel in my mouth and managing to grip the knife with my not broken wing. What I was doing may or may not have been completely stupid but I didn’t see a whole lot of options out in front of me.
I managed to get right behind the two ponies who were still fixed ahead at the unicorn who they had pinned down. I went up behind the one with the SMG and bashed the back of his head with the butt of the gun. It must have done enough damage because he collapsed into a heap in front of me unconscious. For a moment it was satisfying and I was able to breathe a small sigh of relief. At least until his partner took notice and was turning around to focus on me.
My instincts kicked in again and I threw the knife at him. It struck him in the leg causing him to stagger for a second while I dived for the SMG on the ground. By the time I had it in my mouth he already had a shot lined up on me.
I braced myself for him to shoot me when suddenly everything just stopped. Everything round me stopped in time and I found myself staring directly at the earth pony in front of me. Looking at his head left it obscured by some sort of green highlight and a small box next to it that said 88%. It took me a second to realize that I was in S.A.T.S mode which made me want to smack myself for not figuring that out sooner. Yeah I knew how to use S.A.T.S I just never had to until now.
I targeted his head and fired a off short burst from the SMG which impacted into his skull sending him down into a heap.
It took a second for S.A.T.S to set everything back so I could move again. When it did everything was silent. I peeked over the rock to see the unicorn mare’s head just barely sticking out the top. I walked over slowly and in that time she still didn’t move from behind the rock. I was right in front of it when I decided to try talking to her.
“Hey… you alright there?” I asked only to be met with her popping up and shoving a magically gripped pistol right to my forehead and her blue eyes filled with anger as if she was staring right into my soul as we made eye contact.
“Who the hell are you?” she asked slowly with a hint of anger in her voice. The pistol still wrapped in her magic grip pressed hard against my forehead.
You know… maybe it would have been smarter to try asking her that from a bit of a distance…
Footnote: Level up!
New Perk Added: Tinkerer- you have a knack for fiddling with all things technology and figuring out what makes them tick.
((Authors note: Wow it’s been what eight months? Sorry about the massive hiatus on this story everyone! SkylightPegasus left the project and dumped everything in my hands. I’m only now getting around to this because I’ve had a number of things going on myself and haven’t found the time to write this. Now that I am its unexpected that there will be another hiatus like that. Sorry for the wait.))
