Chapter 1: Another Day in the Wasteland

Chapter 1: Another Day in the Wasteland

It was a day like any other. The sun was high, the Wasteland was still dangerous, and I was sleeping in a comfy bed before I was pulled out of the land of dreams by a little pony sticking the alarm clock inside my ear. I quickly opened my eyes, only to find myself staring at a smiling unicorn.

“Mecha? Why did you wake me up? It’s only… well, I don’t know what time it is, but I want to sleep a bit more.” I buried my face in the pillow, but she quickly pulled it away with her magic before I could even close my eyes.

“Have you forgotten? You promised me that you would teach me how to use guns.”

“Me and my big mouth…” I mumbled as I left the bed. It was our first week since we left the Stable Vault and I didn't miss their rigid eight o'clock-sharp schedules, but Mecha was the kind of pony who followed the rules even in the Wasteland.

“At least I can eat my breakfast before we start, right?”

“Of course. I prepared it an hour ago to save us time.” The grin painted on her face showed how much she wanted to start. When we left the Stable Vault, I expected her to be sad and depressed after showing her how our new life would be, but she still managed to find some happiness.

We installed in one of the abandoned buildings, called the Common House, in a settlement called Small Town, about two or three miles north-east from the ruins of Ponyville. The town was being inhabited by ponies and humans - something very weird and hard to find the Wasteland, since ponies and humans usually hate each other - surrounded by a wall made of cars, debris, and rubble, and all the houses were fortified with barbed wire and sandbags.

"Breakfast?" I asked, taking a seat in the only other available chair. There was a creak; I was not sure whether it was the chair that made it or the floor. The windows placed behind the sink depicted some of the houses of Small Town and the medical clinic.

“Well, we have two apples and sweet corn. Unfortunately, at this rate we’ll run out of food by tomorrow. What are we going to do?”

“The merchant will come in about three days or so. I guess that we’ll have to search for food.”

“Yeah, but before that we will have our first guns lesson. It’s gonna be so much fun!” The look in her eyes showed her excitement, but I was worried that using a gun would turn into a game for her and that she could get injured because of that.

“Using weapons is not funny, Mecha. The only reason I’m giving you lessons is because I won’t be able to protect you all the time. I want to be sure that when I’m not around, you will be able to defend yourself. Got that?” Her excitement slowly disappeared, being replaced with disappointment.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean that; it’s just that I always liked your lessons, like the first time I managed to fix a toaster. It was easy, yes, but for me it was a great achievement.”

“I know, I know. I didn’t want to sound harsh, it’s just that I’m worried, Mecha. It’s just that I’m worried about you getting hurt.”

Blinking in the dust, I stared across the table to Mecha as I had done for the past week. She was a pony that stood out easily, decked in a Stable Vault suit too big for her; the bright yellow lines of the suit combined with the blue fabric clashed horribly with her green coat and emerald eyes. Her gray mane was tied up in a ponytail, which I found more amusing than I should have. Because, you know, ponytail? Well, sorry for trying to have a sense of humor.

The food wasn’t exactly fresh, but it was still in a good shape. The apples didn’t look very good, but what it really mattered was the inside. It made me miss the food from the Stable Vault; red and juicy apples were a privilege in the Wasteland, unless you were lucky enough to find them hanging on a tree. The corn on the other hand was still edible; not fresh, but it still maintained the flavor after all these years.

After our breakfast I got the equipment and we headed to the backyard. It was a BB gun, fairly harmless; while Mecha gripped it excitedly, I lined a fence with empty bottles and tin cans.

“I want you to knock three of these cans and bottles to check your aiming skills. Take your time and reload when you run out of ammo. If you don’t remember how many bullets you can shoot, you’re going to get screwed in a fight.”

“All that just for firing a gun? I always thought it was a matter of aiming and pressing the trigger.” She lifted the BB Gun with her mouth as a bright jade light enveloped the lead pellets and placed them inside the gun, one after another, until it was fully loaded.

“Yeah, I thought the same as you the first time I used a real gun. I think it was a .357 magnum revolver; the recoil was so hard for me that I twisted my shoulder. But before starting, I want you to know the best way to use a gun.” I corrected her stand and showed her the proper way of holding a weapon, as to avoid losing an eye from the recoil if she got her hooves in a real gun. “Alright, now shoot three of your targets.”

A hum of magic throbbed as the gun was elevated to her eye level. Her left eye closed shut as she pulled the trigger; suddenly, one of the bottles shattered into thousands of little pieces that crashed against the ground. Once more, twice, three, ten times in total the shots rang out, painfully loud in the dead quiet of day. Three more times she hit, killing two bottles and a can which whined as it stomached the bullet; the others times were misses, the pellets disappearing into the Wasteland.

We continued for a couple more hours, running a series of standard practices - reloading, drawing, firing at different distances, firing while moving, using the S.V.A.T.S - a little bit of everything, nothing too intense.

After a drink, we left for the Medical center. We had an appointment there, though we weren't the ones needing fixing - their wiring was.

Along the way a certain unicorn called Ice Pop, possibly Mecha's friend, rolled up to us. Rolled, because she was in a wheelchair; wheelchair, because there was something wrong with her legs, if the layers and layers of tight bandage were anything to go by. Her blue coat and the flowing light blue mane complemented each other, and her purple eyes resembled two pieces of amethyst embedded in her face.

A pony like her would be an easy target in the Wasteland, since the ones with such a bright color were always the first ones to be spotted. She was forced to use a wheelchair especially designed for ponies with both her rear legs were covered in bandages; I couldn’t help but feel sorry for what this poor mare must have gone through. From what Mecha told me, the talent of this pony was portrayed by a blue shield with a white diagonal line, possibly showing her desire to protect the town.

“Hey guys, how’s going?” She asked us in a cheerful tone. “You’re going to fix something, I suppose?”

“Yeah, we’re going to the medical center,” I replied. “The electric installation has been giving them lot of trouble and they asked us to fix it. And how about you? Everything’s fine?”

“Yes, thanks to you I can listen to my favorite DJ. I still can’t believe that you managed to repair my radio. I usually replaced it with another one when it started to malfunction.”

Repairing radios was one of the easiest jobs of my life; it wasn’t unusual to find their transistors damaged since they didn’t contain too many components or pieces hard to replace due to being scarce. Our conversation dragged for a while before I called for a break.

“I’m sorry to stop our conversation here,” I said, “but we have a job to do, and at this rate we won’t be able to fulfill everything I had planned for the afternoon.”

“Oh, you have plans for the afternoon?” Ice Pop asked.

“I didn’t know we had anything else for the afternoon. So what’s going to be? Repairing a TV? Reinforcing the wall? Cleaning the toilets?”

“No, it’s nothing like that. I’m going to take you with me in search of food, and maybe we will have some time to hunt animals. I want to see how you defend yourself against a moving target capable of fighting back.”

“Wait, what? You’re going to leave me alone against one of those things?” Her pupils suddenly turned into tiny dots as her voice started trembling. After she was attacked by a pack of radroaches, Mecha developed a phobia of the wildlife. Radroaches, bloatsprites, hellhounds… Even hearing their names was enough to scare her.

“I assume that she’s not in very good terms with mutated creatures?” Ice Pop asked.

“Oh no… I’m not going to get near one of those things! They’re too ugly, and all those sounds they make! And they run very fast! And I don’t want to be chased by them!” She wrapped her legs around my left leg like a lost kid. “Please, I’ll do anything! Just don’t make me stand near them!”

“Do you think I like to wander near those things? I’m afraid of them, too, but I had to survive by any possible means. They’re disgusting and smell bad, but at least their meat is edible, even if it sometimes tastes like ghoul meat.” Mecha started to look at me with a puzzled expression. “Not that I’ve ever tasted Ghoul meat. It’s just an example.”

“But, but…” Words were failing her, and I could feel that she would be too scared to try and follow me into the Wasteland for our hunting training. I kneeled to face her on the same eye level and hugged her tightly.

I took a deep breath and steeled myself. “Look, I know that you’re afraid, but you will have to face your fears one day. If you keep running from them, they will catch up with you one day, and I won’t be there to help you.” I stopped hugging her and backed up a bit to talk with her, face to face. “Do you trust me?”

“I…” She struggled to find an answer. “Yes, I trust you! But don’t leave me alone with one of those things around, or I will kill you, alright?”

“I promise you, Mecha. And I never break my promises.”

After that, we moved on. On the way we watched the rest of the villagers working together without starting a fight. Meanwhile, Dusty, the human watchman of Small Town was in his post, reading comic books.

His post consisted of an old metallic chair near the wooden bridge leading to the town, armed with a hunting rifle and body armor. Instead of doing his job and watch out for possible attackers, he would usually fall asleep in his post or leave without any warning. I always imagined that the only reason he got this job was to act as the town’s scapegoat. Whatever the case, he was there today, quickly hiding his comic book when he noticed our presence. Everyone in the town knew it, but I wanted to get as soon as possible to the medical center instead of losing my time telling him to do his work.

The medical center was like any other house in Small Town. There was a small sign in the door with the words “Red’s medical center” written in big letters, possibly with some kind of marker, and the window glass were and incomplete fracture strengthened by duct tape.

I knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Hooves clopped against the wooden floor, creaking under their weight as she got closer to the door. The door was opened, and we were greeted by Red Cross, the owner of the Medical center and the only doctor in the town.

Even though she was only as tall as my waist, her coat, blood-colored, caught my attention quickly. Tired eyes stared at me; hovering above them was a cropped pink mane. She was dressed in a worn medical coat; from what the others told us, the Cutie Mark underneath it was an empty syringe. I couldn’t help but think that if there was someone in charge of the ponies’ palettes, she was the third worst I had seen in my life.

“Hello guys,” she greeted us. I presume you’re here to fix my electric installation?“

“Eeyup. Could we see the troubles you’re experiencing?”

“Yes. Please, enter. I’ll show you the room where I have the worst problems.”

The hallway contained four doors, two in each side and a last one headed straight to the kitchen, with a fridge visibly standing at the other side of the door frame. The other rooms were probably her room and the living room, although I didn’t pay too much attention to them We finally reached our last destination at the last room to the right, which had been turned into an O.R.

The room was very clean, and I couldn’t help but imagine Red cleaning for hours after any operation and keeping everything tidy. A medical gurney and a dropper stood in one corner along with a white curtain and a shelf full of medical supplies. I turned the light switch, but the lamp flickered a few times before turning off again.

“I presume that the problem goes beyond a simple bulb change, right?” Mecha asked.

“Yeah, unfortunately it doesn’t affect only the lap,“ Red replied as she pointed some of the machines she owed. “The fridge works at random times and most of my food has been spoiled, while I stopped using my medical tools like the drill or the defibrillator.”

“Before we start, I would like to know what we’re dealing with. Do you use a generator or a solar panel to provide electricity for you?” I asked, placing my hands inside my pockets as I waited for her reply.

Red looked to the ground, pressing a hoof against her chin as she tried to resurface her memories. “Well, I used a generator not too long ago, but when it broke down I changed to a solar panel that I found in the scrap yard located in the outskirts of Ponyville.”

“Then it’s a wonder this thing managed to last this long without causing problems,” I replied.

“Where did you place it?”

“I installed it in the roof. Just wait me at the front door; I’ll get you a ladder to reach it.”

In about five minutes we found ourselves on her roof, examining the old and decayed solar panel.  The panel wasn’t even fixed, instead lying in the roof with some damaged cells, and the installation wasn’t very good either. Peeled cables and lots of duct tape barely managed to keep everything together.

“Well, at least we know what the problem is.” I turned my head back to Mecha, who couldn’t hide her enthusiasm from facing something new.

“I can’t wait to repair this. I never worked with a solar panel connection,” she replied, breaking her gaze at the panel to look at me. When a few moments passed, she prodded me: "What do you think?”

“It sounds like a good plan, but I’m a bit worried that the combined weight of the chairs, the chains and the panel can tear the roof down. Aside from the obvious problem that so much metal in one place could be turned into a lightning rod.” I examined our surroundings, glancing the roofs of the rest of buildings before looking down at the metal wire that surrounded the Medical center.

“We should move everything down and place it as close as we can to the Medical center. Most people think that the higher the panel the more energy they can receive, but the truth is that as long as the sun keeps shining, it will keep producing electricity. And we should start using a backup generator to avoid any short circuits or outages.”

“Alright, then. What do I need to do?” Mecha replied with an aura of passion to start working.

“Well, as for now I want you to stay up here while I talk with Red. If she agrees, then I’ll use your help to get down the solar panel as your telekinetic powers can be very useful with this task.”

“Sir, yes sir!” She saluted.

I slipped down the ladder, hitting hard on the ground below before Red Cross walked towards me.

“So, how do you see it? Did you find the problem?”

“Yeah, it’s nothing new. The panel is very old and damaged but it can be fixed, and we think that it would be safer to place it on the ground. Besides, the cabling was done very badly and you could have been electrocuted during the installation.”

“So that’s all? Well, at least it’s cheaper than asking you to fix the whole electric installation,” she replied, letting out a sigh of relief. “How long do you think this will take?”

“Well, fixing the panel shouldn’t take too much time as long as we don’t need to replace any of the cells. It will be very cheap, so you don’t have to worry about the payment.” Usually, a job like this would be very expensive, but since Red Cross didn’t have too much money, I opted to lower the price. “A backup generator would be of great help, but those are very expensive.”

“So, what do you recommend?” Red replied raising an eyebrow.

“I can get you one from the scrap yard and fix it for you. It will last longer and cost you very little caps.”

She nodded her head. “Alright then. All I ask is that you can finish the job as soon as possible.  I’m worried that being closed will put in risk any future patients.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t even notice our presence.”

“Yeah, we’re going to be like ninjas.” Mecha replied from the roof, sticking her head over the edge. “And nobody will see us move because ninjas always hide in the darkness.”

“Well, you can start by bringing the solar panel and then getting off of the roof, miss ninja who moves in the darkness.”

The solar panel was soon enveloped in a green light as it slowly descended to the ground. I waited for Mecha to bring the tools she kept inside her saddlebags.

Fortunately it was mostly intact and we only had to repair the broken cells. The process took us a few hours and lots of replacements, but fortunately we managed to find substitutes. We got some new cables and installed one end on the solar panel and the other into the Medical center electric installation. Our last problem consisted in searching a good place for the panel, as it would need constant exposure to of the sunlight. The best solution we came up with was to place it in the backyard of the Medical center, under the constant care and protection of Red Cross.

“This should stop giving you any more problems, Red. If anything else comes out, you know where to find us.”

“Thanks, I owe you a big one. I thought that I would have to close the building because of this stupid problem. If you ever need any medical help, my clinic is always open for you, and of course, it won’t cost you a single cap.”

“Thanks for the offer. We’ll drop here from time to time to check for any future problems.”

We headed back into the Wasteland in search of food and some mutated creatures that could be used as targets to train Mecha’s skills with weapons. We stocked up the varmint rifle, a 9 mm gun and enough ammo to kill an entire nest of radigators. As we crossed the bridge, the only sounds that followed us were Dusty’s snores and the wind dragging the sand of the desert as it erased our footsteps behind our backs.

Reputation unlocked

Small Town: Liked

Thanks to your efforts, the community is starting to like you.  This allows you to heal your wounds for free in the Medical center of Small Town.