Fallout: Equestria - Shadowless Augury

Fallout: Equestria – Shadowless Augury

Chapter 2: Hunting

“It’s worthless, a waste of time. This goal is out of reach, you better fall back in line.”

Prute, a magical land of trade that we constantly visited, you sort of had to when you are constantly finding loot along your travels. It was a large town that was broken up into five sections.

S1 is the first place visited, especially because it’s at the entrance of the town. There’s not much to it, there were a few caravans that would stop there, and a few small shops were set up.

S2 is the largest section and where all trade takes place. Dedicated shops for anything you could need were built where you can buy or trade. Traders would set up camp and offer prices better than most of the shops that have been set up, but the product is usually worse. If you know how to repair, it’s probably worth it to buy from these traders, if not just stick with the dedicated shops that are set up.

S3 has nothing more than a living area and two bars. Boring if you ask me.

S4 and S5 are really one section but most separate them into two different ones. S4 is the red-light district; adults only, even though fillies and colts are there daily. Prostitutes and chems are obviously in high supply there. S5 is more bars. S4 and S5 are shipped as one section because the two are constantly being mixed together and there are no real boundaries separating the two.

* *        * * *        * *

We reached our destination and got ourselves a room. We could finally get some rest, safe rest where we don’t get attacked. We put our stuff down, again. “Fuck,” was all I said.

My brother held me close, “It’ll be alright. We’ll push our way through this, trust me.”

“I know we can push through this, I just miss them so much.”

“Me too. Let’s get some sleep. Good job out there, by the way. You probably saved us both,” he gave me a pat on my back before letting me go and headed off for his bed.

“Thanks,” I said unappreciatively. I didn’t want to be complimented for saving two of us; I wanted to be complimented for doing a better job and saving all of us. Fuck. Why does the Wasteland have to shit on everyone? Not just ponies, everyone.

None of us got much sleep after what happened. We just lay in bed, waiting for morning. It was only a few hours away, so not too long of a wait.

Looking at a stained white ceiling, I started thinking. That was never good for me.

‘How could we have done better?’

I don’t know. If they waited for a better opportunity, like me, maybe they would have survived.

‘So it’s their fault? We couldn’t do any better?’

No, I couldn’t. If Dad telegraphed his plan to us then maybe I could have done something. Maybe we all could have reacted and taken all of them out.

‘Dad made a foolish mistake. What about Mom?’

Mom shouldn’t have run to him. She left her life in the hands of the ponies who killed her husband and our father, wrong move.

‘Don’t take any blame, then?’

Maybe I could have done something to keep them from dying.

‘So, now we take partial blame? What could we have done?’

Shoot everything and hope it didn’t end in our death…?

‘Well isn’t that the greatest plan we’ve made.’

There wasn’t much I could do, so just shut up, dumb mind.

After wasting my time talking to my head, I realized the sun was out, sort of. The sun never came out. It was always cloudy, always. Everypony says it’s the Enclave, but I don’t really care who did it. All that matters is that there was no sun, just clouds. I still lay in the bed, hoping something would change. Hoping something could take my mind off everything happening. Cor came up to my bed and said, “You’re awake, get out of bed.” I got up and looked at him. “Let’s go.”

“Go where? We don’t have anywhere to go,” I said, sounding more like a pessimist than I wanted to.

“Get a drink,” he said. We needed to stop moping around, and this was a temporary escape.

“What about the second stop?”

“We’ll figure something out, I promise,” he reassured me with a smile on his face. I nodded in response. He hugged me, “I know you miss them, I do too, but we’ll push through this. I promise. OK?”

“OK.”

He looked me in the eye, “I want to hear you say it.”

“We’ll push through this,” I repeated.

“Let’s go then.”

* *           * * *        * *

We walked into the crowded bar and ordered ourselves a couple beers, Mom and Dad never would have allowed this. We took a seat in the small space there was available. As crowded as it was, it was still quiet. At least quiet enough to hear the famous DJ-PON3 on the radio. A calm song was playing for us then it ended and the DJ’s voice came on, “DJ-PON3 here and that was Sweetie Belle singing about internal conflicts we all face. In this hellhole of a Wasteland we always have to deal with something internal and external, but it’s how we deal with it that makes us strong. Our body surviving doesn’t mean much if out soul doesn’t live on too. And that, my little ponies, is an important thing to remember. And now, folks, time for your favorite part of the day, time for some news!” At this point, no pony was really caring about what the DJ was saying. News about a missing pony or a gang of raiders didn’t really matter to us when the missing pony was so far away from us all.

Our attention was lost until he said something that got everyone’s attention, “And now some news for my ponies out in Neigh City. It’s all good, I haven’t forgotten about you… yet. Two ponies that have been changing the Wasteland for better over there are now dead. Yes, it’s a sad truth, the duo of Amaranthine and Beryl Blue is dead. And now their two sons are orphaned and left alone in the Wastes. I feel for you two. And to everyone out there, sometimes it’s just a pat on the back and telling someone ‘the world hasn’t ended’ to help them keep going. Now please, always look out for one another; watch each other’s back and lend a helping hoof when it’s needed, that’s how you can be a hero in the Wastes. Remember, chaos is what caused this all in the first place. Let’s try to cut down on the chaos. Now this next song goes out to you two,” he finished and let the music fill the air.

Sometimes I just get that feeling that he watches over everything in the Wastes. It happened so soon and he already knows about it! How? How does he do it?!

“Let’s go,” my brother rose to his hooves and started walking out the small building, not even finishing his beer.

I chugged the rest of mine and caught up to him, “Hey! Where are we going?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Let’s just walk to somewhere, anywhere,” he said as we kept walking. We didn’t have much of a plan and we didn’t have any gear on us, but we went anyway

* *           * * *        * *

We walked down an empty road for what felt like hours. Eventually I opened my mouth, “What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know. Do you have any ideas?” he asked seriously. Damn, none of us had any idea on what we should do without our parents. But there was one idea…

“We could find out who that red buck is and go after him,” I suggested.

He stopped and looked at me, “No.”

He started walking again. “We don’t have anything else to do. And unless you have a better idea we should try it.”

“No,” he repeated. “The only reason we’re still alive is because that red buck left us with inexperienced fighters. Two unarmed and shackled ponies against four fully armed and armored ponies is not an easy fight. It’s through some miracle we’re not dead right now.”

“Do you have any other ideas?” he didn’t respond. “Let’s just try and figure out who he is and go after him.”

“How about this: we figure out who he is, and if he’s bad and a pony Mom or Dad would have gone after, then we go. If not, we don’t. Does that sound good?” I nodded in response. I had no doubt that he was bad, but we still had to find out who he is, where he is, and if my suspicions are true.

* *           * * *        * *

We made it to the grey building we were at yesterday and went inside. Mom and Dad were lying next to each other. We took both bodies and put them outside. On the side of the building we started digging a hole. Using our hooves and magic we dug the grave for the both of them beneath a tree. Twenty minutes later, the hole was covered and the epitaph ‘With Us Always’ was on the tree.

We headed back to Prute. If there was ever any information needed, a trading town was the first place to go. The ponies there have been everywhere; they’re bound to know something.

* *           * * *        * *

We made it back and the first thing we did was go back to the room we rented. I sat down, disassembled some of the weapons, took the parts that were good and used them to replace bad parts in other weapons. We didn’t mess with Mom’s and Dad’s weapons, but we took our two hunting rifles and made them into one. The shotguns, armor, and assault rifles we picked up from our captors were in a really good condition; there was nothing I could do. As for the hunting rifle, I didn’t do as good of a job as Dad would do, but it was good enough. Cor took Dad’s sniper and one of the shotguns, I took Dad’s assault rifle and Mom’s .44. The rest we chose to sell. We gathered our gear and left.

* *           * * *        * *

The Stockpile; a large building in S2 that buys from you and sells to you, and with everything ponies sell there it becomes a chore keeping it all. So it’s stockpiled and kept for when ponies actually want to buy, hence the name. The inside didn’t have much other than a counter where the nice mare, Merch, sat behind, ready to trade and buy. We walked up to her and said, “How are you today, Merch?”

“What do you have for me today, fellas?” she asked us.

“We got this,” I said as I took out the hunting rifle, my .32 pistols, the assault rifles, a shotgun, and four sets of armor.

She looked at everything, but her eyes stopped on the armor. She looked up at us and asked, “Where did you get this armor?”

“Why does it matter?” I asked.

“Because only elite members of the Samdiny wear this armor,” she said somberly.

“The Samdiny?” Cor and I both asked.

“Yes, the Samdiny, a group of mercenaries that work as a whole, meaning individual mercenaries won’t take contracts, the company as a whole takes the job. They’re professionals, if you come across them you’re dead, contract or not.”

“They didn’t seem like professionals,” Cor said.

“Are you telling me you took them out easily?”

“It wasn’t a hard fight, even while we were bound to each other,” I said.

“Then you must have been really lucky. Most are lucky if they can take out one of them,” she said to us.

“Maybe we’re just better fighters than them,” Cor suggested.

“Maybe, but not likely, those mercenaries are well trained and well armed. For the future, stay away from them,” she advised us. I’m assuming we weren’t going to get information that will help us from her. We stocked up on healing potions and ammo and she took everything we placed on the counter and gave us bottle caps in return. Yes, it was a strange form of currency, but it worked.

We were about to leave when she said, “I’m sorry about what happened to Amaranthine and Beryl Blue. I just wanted to tell you two to stay safe. You’re parents were good ponies, live up to their example.”

“Thanks, that means a lot,” I said sincerely as Cor nodded his head beside me. There was something I wanted to ask, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to get an answer I liked. I summoned my courage and asked anyway, “About those mercenaries you mentioned, do you know who they’re working for now?”

“I don’t know who he is, don’t really want to either. I do know he is insane and isn’t somepony you should mess with. He hired mercenaries for something though, so he’s probably up to something,” she answered. I knew it was worth a shot.

“I thought you didn’t want us to go after them,” Cor said in response.

“I don’t. Your parents would though, and I know you two want to fight the good fight.”

We nodded in agreement. I said another thanks and we exited the shop. “Well, we can assume he’s bad,” I said to my brother.

“Yes, but we need to know more. I don’t like the idea of going after somepony I know nothing about.”

“Implying we are going after him?” I questioned my Brother with hopeful glee.

“Yes, we’ll go after him, if we can find more info. It would be pointless to go after a pony if we don’t have a clue where we should start.” He was right, we wouldn’t have found that buck if we didn’t know where to start looking. We would have been making circles, accomplishing nothing.

A grey old buck who was watching us as we left Stockpile decided to join our conversation, “Hey, you two.  Come here.” We hesitantly moved towards the buck. His dry, raspy voice said, “You two are looking for somepony, maybe I can help, but you’ll need to give me whatever information you have on him.” We didn’t know much about the mysterious red buck, but we told him the little we did. “I know who you’re talking about, but I can’t tell you much about him. He’s trying to keep a low profile, but hiring a whole company isn’t the most discreet thing to do. I don’t really know where he is now, but your best bet on finding him is hitting up one of his safe houses.”

“And where would we find one of his safe houses?” Cor inquired.

“Well, I can’t actually tell you. You could probably find something out if you raided one of his slave compounds. They’re everywhere, but just out of sight for a regular explorer. There’s bound to be something for you to find there,” the old buck informed us. He had a strange look in his eye. I couldn’t quite place my hoof on it, which was strange for me. I would usually be able to pick apart anypony after talking to them for a minute.

“How do you know all of this?” I asked him. There was no way a buck as old as him was out adventuring the Wastes, finding out about incognito ponies. It just wasn’t possible.

“There are a lot of ponies out there,” he answered, “and these ponies talk about whatever they damn-well please. A buck like me who has nothing to do but eavesdrop can find out about anything around here.” He had a point about getting information from eavesdropping, especially when the ponies you’re eavesdropping on are the ponies that travel around the Wastes, exploring everywhere. That was actually my plan if no pony would willingly give us information, wait for conversation to start.

“Thanks for the help,” Cor said as we turned to leave.

“A word of advice before you go: most of his ponies are terrible fighters. They can shoot, but without their guns, they’re done.”

“We’ll keep that in mind,” I said as we finally walked from the old buck. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to help us or get us killed. Most ponies wouldn’t just tell you what you needed to know, especially without a price. He could be telling us the truth, but I did not want to take any chances. I decided to see if we could learn more before we went after the mysterious red buck.

* *           * * *        * *

After being in S1 for about an hour, we got some confirmation of the old buck’s word, but not as much as I would have hoped. That red buck really was working quietly if none of these ponies knew anything. But that sparks the question: how did that old buck know any of this? He said he learned all of this by eavesdropping on these ponies, but these ponies didn’t know much. Something was up with that old buck, but we weren’t going to focus on him.

We left Prute and just walked. We still didn’t know where to search for these slave compounds. ‘They’re everywhere, but just out of sight for a regular explorer’. I wasn’t sure how difficult it was going to be to find them, but I knew we could do it.

* *           * * *        * *

We kept walking among ruined buildings, searching for anything that is or can lead us to a slaver compound. We searched relentlessly, but we didn’t find much. I was determined though, I wasn’t going to stop.

Cor and I walked up to a building, almost completely destroyed by time and the megaspells—the spells that brought an end to the war of ponies and zebras. The war wasn’t one that ended well for any involved; it nearly brought an end to life in Equestria. Some survived by being put in a Stable built by Stable-Tec, it could withstand the impact of a megaspell and all the radiation it brought with it, at least some of them could. From what I’ve learned, not all the Stables were built to protect its inhabitants, some were designed as experiments. Yes, Stable-Tec is filled with assholes, moving on—we climbed over rubble and up destroyed stairs to the top of the building. A higher view point might help us in our search.

Upon reaching the top, I took out Mom’s revolver and looked through the scope. I searched the horizon for anything that could be a slaver compound. There wasn’t much to see other than a small building, completely destroyed. It looked different, as if it was destroyed purposely and the rubble was pushed closer together and piled up. It was trying to hide something. Maybe I was trying to find something to look for, anything that could hide something just out of sight. I signaled Cor to follow me around the buildings so we could get a look of whatever was behind the pile. If what we found was what I was hoping to find then I wouldn’t want to find out by being attacked. No, I was going to attack first.

We stopped and looked around the corner of a building. Nothing, there was nothing behind the destroyed building. I walked to where I thought a compound would be. There was nothing more than a locked ammo box and an empty first aid box. I took out a screwdriver and a bobby pin and started to pick the lock. After four failed attempts, the box opened. Inside there were some shotgun shells and a few grenades. We took it all and went to search again.

* *           * * *        * *

It was starting to get dark, we had been walking between buildings for hours now and we were tired of looking. At this point it was just walking and looking left and right. I wasn’t looking for anything strange anymore I was just walking and turning my head. However, something did catch my eye, a small shimmer in the distance. I took out Mom’s revolver and peered through the scope. Shackles, ponies in binds were quietly walking in the dark. I was able to make out the shape of seven ponies. I couldn’t tell which ones were slaves and which were Samdiny.

I crept up to a building and peeked around the corner. I still couldn’t tell who was who even from here. Cor and I began trailing the group from far. I knew it was a bad idea to let them regroup, but I went with the plan anyway. The worst that could happen was a firefight and I’m not expecting any of the slaves to be shot during the fight. What would be the point of shooting your own slaves? If the Samdiny are as formidable as Merch said they were, then maybe a firefight would end badly for all of us. I still didn’t want to be shooting at something I couldn’t see and I wouldn’t want a slave to get shot, so I decided to take a chance.

* *           * * *        * *

We trailed behind them for at least an hour, hearing (and barely seeing) ponies being hit for walking too slow or not facing forward. It was sickening abuse. How could anyone treat another like that? Abusing one another was what got us into a war in the first place, the reason for all this chaos. The group we were following reached their destination though, a lit and open field with cages that held ponies. Cor stopped me before we were exposed to the light.

From here we could tell Samdiny from slave. There were four Samdiny in the group we just followed and four more at the compound. A rough estimate of thirty slaves was sitting in cages with four-five per cage, including the ponies that were just brought there. Merch told us that Samdiny elites wore armor with yellow lightning, but only one wore that design. That meant the others weren’t elites, and hopefully it meant they were less experienced.

I took out Mom’s revolver and Cor took out Dad’s sniper. We brought up S.A.T.S. and put three shots into the bodies of the closest Samdiny. As our shots made contact they fell from the impact, blood dripping from the wounds. Everypony readied their guns and looked our way. They couldn’t see us though as we snuck to a different position. The leader ordered four of her ponies to search for us while the other one look over the slaves. She stayed in the center of camp and looked around for us with a shotgun in her magic’s grip and an assault rifle on her back. We set up another two shots into the closest two Samdiny. It brought more attention to us this time. Bullets whizzed through the air around us as we brought ourselves closer to the ground. We took another shot without S.A.T.S and another two dropped. Two left, we almost won this fight. “We need to keep her alive,” I told Cor as I pointed to the mare with the yellow design on her armor, “she can tell us where we’re going next.”

“What if she can’t tell us?” It was a question I didn’t have a real answer to, but I knew I could do something if it came to that.

“She’ll tell us,” I assured him. The last pony we could kill was behind the cages, and we couldn’t shoot him unless we wanted to risk shooting the slaves. I quietly circled around in the dark to get the shot I needed. With S.A.T.S recharged I put two bullets into my target’s head. Only the leader was left now, but how could I get close to her without getting shot myself? I shot the ground around her, but she didn't move at all. Instead she shot at me with her assault rifle. I was the distraction, perfect. Cor took the opportunity and ran up behind her and tackled her to the ground. Her assault rifle was knocked free and I took it and her shotgun before she had a chance to grab them. I put my gun to her head and started the interrogation, “Who do you work for?"

“I work for myself,” she snidely answered. She wasn’t going to make this easy for us.

“Who do you and your team work for?” I demanded more aggressively.

“We don’t work for anyone. We’re a private group,” she answered. She was a terrible liar.

“Don’t lie to me. I know you work for somepony. Now, tell me who he is.”

“I don’t know who I work for. He sends emissaries to deal with us. I don’t know who he is, what he looks like, or where he is. All I know is he wants us to capture ponies,” I could tell she wasn’t lying; I’m a good judge of character.

"What does he need ponies for?” I kept asking.

"I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him,” she snidely answered again.

“What happens to the ponies you capture? Where do they go?”

“I don’t know. I really can’t help you, and I really don’t want to help you,” she answered in that annoying tone of hers.

“You’re not making this easy for me. Make it easy.”

“Sorry,” that was all she had to say. Sorry. That was it.

“Sorry, but it’s going to have to come to this,” I told her as I pushed my gun closer to her head. I really didn’t want to do it, but I would if I had to. My magic slowly began to tighten on the trigger.

“Wait! Waitwaitwaitwait! Listen to this: you don’t shoot me, and in return I act as a tour guide for you,” she suggested.

“Why would I do that?” I asked skeptically.

“Because you seem to be out of ideas,” as true as it was, I wasn’t going to admit it.

“How do I know you wouldn’t shoot me in the back first chance you got?”

“I said I would be the tour guide. That means I walk ahead of you. You would always have your eyes on me.”

"What about when we get close to your team? You wouldn’t screw us over then?”

“Well, if I do, you could always shoot me. You two aren’t bad fighters. If there was a fight, you two could handle it.” As much as I appreciated the comment, I still didn’t want to take the chance.

I looked at Cor for an answer. He nodded his head. I moved the gun away from her head and said, “Congratulations. You win the honorary title of ‘tour guide’,” I joked.

“It’s all I ever wanted to be!” she continued with the joke.

"Unlock those cages,” I ordered her. She unlocked the cages and set free several emaciated and angry looking ponies. Some gave thanks to Cor and I as they left, others told us this mare should be killed. I asked each one that passed me if there was anything to know about this mercenary. None could give me anything useful except she was going to shoot us when she got a chance. Only I wouldn’t give her that chance.

We looted the dead Samdiny for ammo, guns to sell and repair, and any food they had on them. Maybe eating two-hundred year old food wasn’t the best diet, but I’d take any food out here in the wastes.

We finished our looting and our new member asked, “Where are we going first, boys?”

“Where can you take us first?” Cor asked in response.

"Let’s go visit some of my friends,” she suggested. And so we went.

* *           * * *        * *

It didn’t really feel like we were going anywhere as we kept walking amidst ruined buildings in silence. Our new dark gray coated mare decided to break the ice, “So... you two got a name?”

“Why does it matter?” I asked, not really caring for her or her question.

“I’m just wondering. Name’s Twisted Shadow. I’m not that twisted if that means anything,” she told us earnestly.

Nothing was said for a few seconds, but I decided to show her the same affection, “Suthain.” I waited for my brother to introduce himself, but it was clear he wasn’t going to say anything. “That’s Fortis Cor,” I spoke for him, “my brother.” He didn’t look happy that I introduced him. “Mind telling us where we’re going.”

“A camp, just like the one we were at,” she said. "If there's any information I could get you two it would be there." It might have been a trap. Regroup with more Samdiny then attack us, but I had a plan and faith. She might try and screw us over, but if she did I was going to be ready. "We're here, just around this corner," she informed us.

I peeked around the corner and saw another camp set up in between two buildings. I spotted two cages but nothing else. After a second of thought, I moved back. "This is the plan: Cor and I go into that building there and keep watch," I said as I pointed my hoof to the large edifice to our right, "Shadow, you go in and gets us what we need to know. You try anything and you die," I told Shadow, not even joking in the slightest.

"There's just one problem," Cor spoke up, "how do we know she won't tell them to attack us after we leave?"

"I got it under control," I assured him. "Meet us back here when you're done," I told Shadow. "Let's move," I commanded them. I let her walk ahead of me and used my magic to make a small microphone that I sneakily placed in her mane.

Cor and I headed into the building and took watch through the small windows. I tuned my Pip-Buck's radio to the bug I placed just in time. "Hey, guys," I heard Shadow say with trepidation to the group of six.

"Twisted Shadow, what are you doing here?" the leader with the yellow patterned armor asked dimly. She was staring daggers at Shadow; I could understand her trepidation now.

"You know... just passing by. I... uh, actually I came to ask if you could... um... help me with something," it looked like she would faint before she got any info.

"Well don't just stand there, ask!" Leader Mare commanded testily.

She took a moment to regain her composure and asked, "Do you know who we work for? And where I can find him?"

"We work for a buck that you don't mess with, unless you want to get fucked up. Does that bring up any memories?"

"Hey that wasn't my fault!" she yelled defensively, "He tried raping me and he tried killing me, and somehow I ended up taking the fall when I fought back!"

"Still, cutting off each of his limbs and beating him with them seems a bit harsh," I would have thought that was the end, but then I remembered this is the Wasteland, there's never an end, "Then you cut off his penis and fed it to him. When you finished you didn't even end his suffering! According to the record, you just gave him a kiss on the forehead then walked away and left him there to slowly die!" I cringed. Didn't she say she wasn't twisted? I'm not a fan of barbarism, so this certainly made me doubt our choice of letting her travel with us. Cor's face gave me the impression he was feeling the same as I was.

"Well... he had it coming to him," she said flatly. There was still a small hint of fear in her and the Samdiny leader still looked like she wanted to kill Shadow.

"You were the reason we were all 'disciplined'. That was the reason everypony wanted to kill you and suffer worse than he did."

"It's not like our punishment was that bad. So we couldn't eat for three days and we had tougher workouts. It wasn't too bad," she said easily. How did she say that though? She looked so weak; I would imagine she would be dead from that.

"Why do you want to find this buck?" Leader Mare asked," You're just going to do something stupid and end up getting beat up by everypony else, again."

"I just... want to have a chat with him is all," Shadow answered.

"Last time you had a chat with our boss we found a pony without a penis or limbs drowning in his own blood," Leader Mare said simply.

"Oh no, nothing like that, just a friendly chat," Shadow said mischievously.

"You know you're going to get fucked up again if you do anything," she warned Shadow. From the look in her eyes I think she was hoping for a chance to beat up Shadow again.

"Just tell me what I want to know," Shadow said, finally asserting herself.

"Hit up one of the safe houses. You're bound to find him or some info on him there."

"Which is the closest one?" did she really not know? I thought this was her profession? If this could even count as a profession.

"Go to the school."

"Thank you," Shadow said as she turned to walk from where she came.

"Shadow," Leader Mare called. She stopped and turned her head, "As much as I want a reason to kick your ass, don't screw us over, please."

A warm smile grew on Shadow's face and she said, “No promises."

We ended the transmission and sneaked out of the building we were in. Shadow was waiting for us where we made our plan. Upon reaching her she told us what we overheard, "So the first place we're going is a safe house."

"Yes, we know," I told her.

"Could you really hear what we were saying?"

"Yes. I'd get that microphone out of your mane if I were you."

She put her hooves on her mane and started searching for the microphone I placed. She took out the bug and grumbled, "You could have at least told me you put this here." I could have done that, but how would I know if I could trust her if I did? It was a risky move, but I had to take my chances.

"So the big question, how do we free those slaves?" Cor asked us.

"We prefer the term prisoner. It makes us feel better about ourselves," Shadow told us.

I started thinking. The Samdiny were lazing around, oblivious to anything happening around them. The tops of the buildings could be an advantage for us. Take out each Samdiny with ease and they wouldn't even be able to hit us from up there. Go back down and free the slaves or prisoners, whatever we were calling them.

But I wanted another solution, preferably one with less killing. The cages were pinned up against the wall of a building. A sneaky pony should be able to get there and unlock the cages and slowly lead each pony out without getting spotted. If we failed sneaking then it would turn into a firefight. I couldn't have the slaves caught in the middle of that. We needed a distraction, and our tour guide would work perfectly.

"I've got a plan. Cor, go up to the rooftop of that building and be ready to open fire if something goes wrong," I said as I pointed at a four story building. Perfect for sniping and offered good protection. I turned to Shadow, "Distract them while I work on freeing the slaves."

"Prisoners," she muttered.

"Shadow, I don't care. Slaves or prisoners we have to free them. The mic is going back in your mane, so don't try anything," I informed her. "Listen to the broadcast, Cor, and shoot if she compromises us. Everypony understand?" They all nodded and began to move into position.

I moved through the empty buildings and moved into position. I peeked around a destroyed wall to see if Shadow was ready. She was slowly walking to the leader. The Samdiny gave her their full attention. This was my chance.

"Just a quick question, why are you always a bitch?" That was the only thing I paid enough attention to hear. Leader Mare shoved Shadow and a fight started.

While everypony was focused on Shadow getting her butt kicked, I took out a bobby pin and screwdriver and started to pick the lock. I hushed everypony inside the cages as they started whispering amongst themselves. Two bobby pins later and the first cage opened. I told this group to wait in the building I just came from and went to the last cage. This one I unlocked with just one bobby pin.

I led this group and the other group from building to building as quietly as possible. We met with an amused Cor on the rooftop. He tried to keep from laughing too loudly. "She just went up to her and asked!" he said quietly. It was somewhat amusing but we had to put a stop to this soon.

"Should we let her fight it out?" I asked Cor.

He thought for a second, "We really shouldn't, but this is fun to watch!" I decided to use this as a test. A chance to learn how strong and useful could she be to us. And it was still fun to watch.

The two mares threw their hooves at each other like crazies and kept trying to get into a dominant position. One would take down the other only to find herself on the ground the next second. Leader Mare was finally about to win. Shadow was on the ground and Leader Mare was merciless.

Shadow wasn't about to quit though. She covered herself well, and when she found the opening she attacked Leader Mare. One hard punch to her face and she was stunned. She took the opportunity to push Leader Mare off her and move on top of her. Now Shadow had the advantage. She didn't stop throwing punches at Leader Mare. I didn't expect Shadow to be a good fighter, but this wasn't terrible. She knew what she was doing at least. One last blow to Leader Mare and she wasn't moving. The green bar on my E.F.S showed she was still alive, but looking at her made me think otherwise.

Shadow picked herself up, said, "Bitch," and walked away. The other Samdiny went to care for their unconscious Leader and still hadn't noticed the empty cages.

We headed out the back door of the building and let the slaves go on their own. Cor and I met with Shadow in the same place as before.

She looked at us with a proud smile on her face. "Good fight?"

"It was... entertaining," Cor answered. The fight didn't get interesting until the end and both fighters sucked.

"Oh come on! You gotta give me more credit! I knocked that bitch out cold!" her giddy voice screamed.

"You get more credit when you fight better," I told her.

"That wasn't good enough?" she asked as she turned to lead us to our next destination.

"How long is this walk going to be?" Cor asked her.

"Far. Very far. Maybe it would help if I knew where the school was."

"Why don't you know?" Cor asked.

"Do you expect me to know everything?"

"We expect you to at least know where your own safe house is."

She stopped walking and looked down, "I have good reason not to."

"And they are...?"

She gave a little shake of her head, "It's not so simple to talk about."

"Let's just keep walking," I told them.

She seemed content with that suggestion and started walking again.

* *           * * *        * *

It was getting dark and we decided we needed to stop for the night. We went inside the first building we found that looked like it wasn't going to collapse on itself and lay down our bedrolls and took off our saddlebags. After a small meal of two-hundred year old food we decided to sleep. I searched the buildings by us for anything I could use as a leash for our tour guide. I didn't trust her fully yet and I didn't want her running away or trying to kill us in our sleep. After a short search I found a small rope that I used to tie her to a beam on the opposite side of the room.

We all settled down and tried to sleep. Cor was out quickly, but I couldn't sleep. I stared at the ceiling for some time before I took the pendant Mom wore. I turned it in my hooves and held it close to my chest.

I missed them. I couldn't change what happened though. As much as I wish I could, I couldn't. Hopefully the afterlife was a better place than the Wastes. What wasn't better than the Wastes though? All that is here is pain and misery. Every soul suffers; the good and the bad, the ones that don't deserve it and the ones that should burn. It's a sad truth. But a pony can't be perfection in the Wastes. Sadly, we're all reduced to killing each other to survive. The Wasteland is ruled by fight-or-flight. There's isn't as much civility as I would like in the Wastes. But I believe we could go back to an age of ponies where there is good, an age where we don't tighten our grip on the trigger when we meet someone new. We could fix all this; we just had to try harder.

I was close to falling asleep then I was whipped on my side. I yelped and turned to see Shadow standing above me, holding the roped I tied her with and a look of success on her face. "Try harder next time, kid," she whispered as she threw the rope on me then went back to her side of the room.

I stood up and tied her back up and made sure the rope was secure. Then I went back to my bed roll and drifted away.

* *           * * *        * *

I was shaken awake by a frantic Cor. "Wake up! We've got a problem!"

"Ugh, it's too early to wake up," I said as I stood up and shook myself awake.

"We lost somepony," he said as he pointed to a beam and a rope with no Shadow.

"How...? Where'd she go?"

"I don't know, but we'd better find her if we want to get to that safe house."

I went to where the rope lay and investigated. I wasn't good at tracking, but I thought I would give it a try anyway. I put myself in her position and looked at the ground for prints. There were hoof shaped dust prints in the ground. I followed them out of the building and into the street until they disappeared into the dead city.

Well... there went that plan.

I stared out into the street. How were we going to find her?

"At least we can assume she went this way."

"No," I said, "She didn't go this way."

"What makes you say that?" Cor asked.

"Just a hunch." I had no real reason to say it, I just had a feeling...

"Let's split up and look. I go this way," he motioned to where the prints led, "and you go that way," he motioned the opposite direction. "We meet back here in three hours."

I nodded and we went back into the building we slept in. Why was everything still here? "If she ran away, you think she would have taken our stuff and her's."

"Maybe she's dumber than we thought," he suggested. Who could be that dumb though? There was something wrong with this scene. We took our supplies, left the building, and parted ways. Maybe splitting up wasn't the greatest idea, but we would have a better chance of finding her this way. There were plenty of buildings to look through, but I didn't have that much time. I had to minimize my search so I didn't waste time. If I escaped from somepony and I didn't have any weapons where would I be? I would go for the nearest town. Of course I had no idea where the nearest town was, I had no idea where I was. Sure I've lived in this city my whole life, but I haven't explored much of it. Cor and I were always following Mom and Dad, and they didn't travel far.

I started walking through the buildings. I kept my eyes open for any signs of where Shadow might have gone. I didn't see anything for a couple blocks then I noticed something. There was fresh blood on the deteriorating pavement. Somepony was here not too long ago. The blood trailed down the street and into an alley where it led to the skeletal frame of a radhog, pigs' irradiated descendants.

I turned out of the alley and kept walking. If Shadow came this way she couldn't be too far away. I continued down the street and made a turn at the end of the block. I didn't know if she would be this way, but I gave it a shot anyway. It wasn't long until I found more blood paired with another gutted radhog. There was a trail of bloody hoofsteps continuing down the road. If I was following Shadow then she's dumber than I thought. She was careless when she escaped and now she was leading me to her.

I followed the hoofsteps into a building to find a familiar charcoal pony sitting around a fire, cooking her radhog meat.

She looked at me then turned away. "Thought you could get away, huh?"

"Actually, I thought I could go for some food that wasn't two-hundred years old."

"Yeah, whatever you say. I don't want to encourage you, but next time you run away don't leave an obvious trail."

"I was going to come back. I left your saddlebags there and I even made enough food for the three of us," she said as she pointed at the cooked meat. It would actually feed all of us. "Besides, you two treat me better than the Samdiny ever did. The ponies there just wanted to kill me. The only reason I'm not dead is because our rule book discourages the killing of fellow Samdiny." She actually looked sad talking about it.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked as I sat down next to her. Dammit, why was I being sympathetic?

She shook her head. "No. It's not one of my finer tales."

I stood up. "Let's head back then."

* *           * * *        * *

We arrived back at the building and waited for Cor to come back.

We sat down outside. It was a quiet few minutes before Shadow asked her question. "Why are you and your brother doing this?"

"It's a personal and moral affair," I answered as I took the eagle hung around my neck in my hoof.

"I'm guessing that necklace meant something to you."

"It was my mother's," I told her. "She always wore it. You Samdiny bastards and your leader killed my mother and father less than two days ago," I said as I fought back tears.

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "Do you know why they killed them?"

"That's what I want to find out. And I will find out," I told her with conviction.

"And I guess I'm helping you with this."

"Yes. You're useless, no offense, but you're probably the most willing Samdiny." Sure she was the first we met, so 'most willing' out of one. But she said she hates the Samdiny, and she has been helpful. She's taking us to a safe house which is where that old buck told us we should go. When she asked where the closest one was I expected closer though. Maybe it was a trap. "So how much more walking do we have to do?"

"Hmm... maybe a few more hours."

"Why don't you know any of this? You don't know where your own safe house is. You don't know who hired you."

"That's another story better left untold."

"A lot of dark and repressed memories?"

"More than you would like to know," she said. She looked like she was about to cry.

"What if I do want to know?" Why do I keep feeling sympathy? I have to stop doing this.

"You still don't get to know. I'm not going to burden you with my past." I wouldn’t have a problem being a shoulder to cry on, but it felt weird. She was Samdiny, the same ponies that killed my parents.

"So be it."

Cor finally arrived. "Oh, you found her."

"She left an obvious trail. She also went hunting for us," I said as she took out the cooked radhog meat.

"Whoa... food that's not super old." He started salivating. "Mom and Dad never let us eat meat. We had to hide our catch and eat it when they wouldn't notice."

"Why weren't you allowed to eat meat?" Shadow asked.

"Ponies are herbivores," I answered.

"Well, not anymore," she said. "There aren't any plants left, in case you haven't noticed."

Changing the subject, Cor asked, "How did you get out of the ropes?" I was interested in finding out myself, but it was probably my fault for not tying them securely enough.

"I was known in the Samdiny as an escape artist. That was the one of the only reasons I was as high of a rank as I was." At least I couldn't be held responsible for her escape. "And somepony sucks at tying ropes," she said as she turned to me.

"I blame sleep deprivation."

"We don't hold the water responsible for our wayward behavior." Cor said to me. He told me this once before. It’s not that I don’t find meaning in these words, but I haven’t been put in a situation where this could apply.

We sat down and ate the food Shadow caught for us. Afterwards we got up and headed to the school.

* *           * * *        * *

Finally, we were here. 'Very far' was an understatement. We probably walked across most of Neigh City at this point.

"Here it is," Shadow told us as we approached the large brick building that was in incredible condition. It was hardly affected by the megaspells that dropped or by time.

"What's in there?" I asked her.

"That's what we're going to find out."

We peeked through the glass doors and windows. No pony was in sight. We took the opportunity to walk in.

The inside was absolutely beautiful. Bright and colorful ornaments were on shelves and hung from the ceilings, medals and awards were left polished in display cases, drapes adored the walls and together added life to what would have been a boring foyer.

We walked down a hallway and into the first door we saw. It was a large open gym. Or it would have been if there wasn't a large octagonal structure in the corner.

"What is that?" Cor asked as I stood there admiring the octagon. It looked so sleek and perfect, but whatever was happening in there probably wasn't good.

"No pony really knows. This gym used to be empty, but now that's there," she told us while pointing at the large structure.

"No pony knows or you don't know?" Cor asked. "There's a difference between the two."

"Both, actually. Yeah I'm not alone on this one. The only ponies who would know are the ones working in there."

"How do we get in?" I asked.

"I'm sure somepony has a key. And it could probably be opened from a terminal somewhere in here." I made the decision to look for the terminal. One fight and this entire place would turn against us.

We headed went back into the hallway and found the cafeteria close by. Two of the walls were made almost entirely of glass. Looking in we saw about two-hundred ponies. Now I really didn't want to start a fight.

We snuck past the cafeteria and closer to the classrooms.

"Is it a bad idea to split up?" I asked the two as we approached the long perpendicular hallway lines with classrooms.

"It probably is, but let's do it anyway," Cor answered. "Assuming all or most of the ponies in here were in that cafeteria, we shouldn't have much to deal with."

"I'm surprised there were that many ponies in one safe house. There are usually never more than thirty ponies," Shadow told us. Something seemed off about that many ponies in one place when I saw it. What was happening?

"Cor, take Shadow and check every room on the left side of this hall while I take the right." Cor nodded unhappily with the partner arrangement. I'm guessing he still didn't like Shadow.

Most of the rooms I checked were empty, and the ones that weren't usually had nothing more than a row of cots. But in one room I did find bottle caps, a nice combat knife, two submachine guns, two grenades, and plenty of ammo for all our guns, no terminal unfortunately.

The next room I checked had five lone monitors with a green glow emanating from the screen.

I think I found what I was looking for.

I loaded up the first terminal and was surprised to find it was unlocked, which was good for me because I wasn't very great at hacking these machines.

"Note to all Samdiny" was the first entry on the terminal. It read:

Meeting at safe house #13 on August 22. All officers and other high ranking Samdiny are expected to show up. Those in field duty are exempt. Non-officers are not obliged to appear.

How many Samdiny were there? If what we saw wasn't all their members and we might be their enemy, then we would have a problem.

The only other entry, "Hard Light," read:

All ponies interested in volunteering in Project Hard Light must submit their forms before the end of the week. The first Hard Light session will begin on 8/18.

Perhaps that's what happening in the octagonal structure. I didn't know what Project Hard Light was, but it didn't sound good, especially when it was related to the Samdiny.

The next terminal had the same information. But the third terminal had something more. "For newcomers"

This how our system works:

You are going to be called a rookie, grunt, bitch, noob, newbie, ass licker, or the one of the Samdiny favorites: Cunt Man McGillicutty. Deal with these names.

Well, wasn't that quite the name.

There are four ranks that you can attain, starting with grunt, mercenary, officer, and chief. To rise through each rank you must complete a number of contracts within an amount of time. Group contracts are usually taken and offer greater benefits in the Samdiny.

Current employer: Red Rum

Found it.

As I was getting ready to leave, Cor and Shadow busted through the door. Both were panting and speechless. "What's wrong?" I asked them several times before getting an answer.

"We found somepony with issues. Had to haul ass out of there," Cor told me between breaths.

"Who was it?"

"Really skinny pony. Scars all over his body and face. He had a shit ton of knives on his belt and in the room. Motherfucker tried cutting us up."

"And you two ran?"

"Suthain, you didn't see him.  He was scary as hell and was throwing knives and swinging at us. He was moving faster than what I thought was even possible. We couldn't take him down, especially when only one of us has a gun," Shadow said.

"And he might have alerted everypony else in here," Cor said.

I turned my head into the hallway and saw nothing. I moved slowly and carefully through the hall, looking for a pony hiding in the rooms I already cleared. Cor and Shadow crept up next to me. Something made me stop in my tracks though. I barely saw a hoof around the corner of the hall that led to the cafeteria. The cafeteria filled with two-hundred ponies.

I led the two behind me into the nearest classroom. I silently motioned Shadow to hide and Cor to take a position by the door on the opposite side of the hall.

When we were ready I took a grenade and threw it where I thought the pony was. A few seconds later and there was a loud explosion accompanied by several screams.

"Move up!" I heard somepony shout. Four ponies walked in pairs along the walls. I took out Dad's assault rifle and brought up V.A.T.S. Time froze and I put two shots into the heads of the closest ponies. Everything started speeding up again and my targets' heads exploded. The two behind them took cover in the classroom next to them.Behind the two ponies was a disorderly swarm as opposed to the neat formation that preceded it. Cor and I exchanged nervous looks as they came closer.

Just in time to bail us out, Shadow tapped my rump and yelled, “Traps set!” over the noise. I took a quick glance in the room to find grenades scattered on the floor. She held a grenade up with her magic and was ready to throw it on the ground when the moment came.

I took out my last grenade and motioned Cor to come to us. I yanked the pin and threw the grenade in between the masses of ponies running at us. Cor bolted to where I took cover, shooting as he ran. We went in the room and heard the loud explosion and screams accompanying it. One mare made it past the explosion though and came into the room shooting.

Cor didn’t hesitate to open fire on her. She didn’t die though. She looked up at Shadow with a questioning look on her face. “Shadow? Why are you helping them?” She asked through broken breaths. “You’re supposed to be on our side.”

The ponies’ howls grew louder. We had to move now.

“Consider this my resignation,” Shadow said as she waved the grenade in front of the dying mare. Does this mean she was leaving them and joining us? I had no time to think about it when I saw her pull the pin and her magic’s grip released.

The three of us burst through the windows opposite the door. We ran to a wagon and took cover behind it. In its deteriorating state it might not be the best the cover, but it was all we had. We put our heads down and suddenly I went deaf. Even behind the wagon I felt the shockwave and heat from the blast. I laid there motionless for a moment before I stood up again.

The entire classroom was destroyed and so were the rooms beside it. It was a complete mess of gore in the areas that stood standing.

Shadow observed the destruction and uttered one word, “Cool.”

I was speechless as I stood there looking at the crater. I finally turned away and went to Cor. I gave him the knife I found. “You like CQB, right?” He took the weapon merrily. “So… what did you two find?”

“Plenty of grenades and ammo,” Shadow answered. “Nothing else.”

“I got us a name. Red Rum.”

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk Added: Horse Sense – You are a swift learner. You gain an additional +10% whenever experience points are earned.