Fallout: Equestria, Darkness Falls

Chapter Six

“Hey, I'm watching you like a hawk.”

“I can’t believe it…

“Those assholes built a stable up in the mountain, and nopony can get in! No wonder we couldn’t get any kind of answer on Celestia-damned tickets from Stable-Tec; there were none to be sold whatsoever! Who do those bastards have in there? The Princesses? Company executives? Generals? What the fuck makes them more important than the rest of us? Huh? I hope they all die the most horrible, agonizing death conceivable for leaving us all to die in this damned mess they made! Every single pony in that stable!

“Well… regardless, my girl and I are here, safe. For now...

“Poor dear cried herself to sleep. Did my best to try and calm her down. It’s not easy when she’s old enough to know what’s happening, but not enough to… I don’t know. Accept it? She kept asking why this was happening and when we could go home. Breaks my heart to tell her that we can’t. Keeps asking me about the stable, too, and it honestly takes all I can to not blow a gasket and start ranting on all those assholes that must be sitting pretty in there.

“Anyways, we’ll be okay here for a short while. I found this little cave here and stashed a week’s worth of food and supplies a couple months back, just in case the zebras pushed far enough to get to Goldpeak and we had to evacuate in a hurry. Can’t say I never thought the day would come, but I was definitely hoping it would be one of those ‘you’d rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it’ kind of thing.

“Though I never thought we’d be here when fucking megaspells fell. When I last dared to peek outside, none had struck Stalliongrad directly or indirectly, but a bunch of them hit in White-Tail Wood. Dunno why the zebras would attack an unpopulated forest. Probably more religious mumbo-jumbo, like with Princess Luna. Crazy stripe-heads…

“And what has this damned war done for either side, except get us all killed? Nothing, that’s what.

“Uh-oh. My radiation counter is going berserk. This ain’t good! Oh shit! No! No, no, no! Fuck, it must be from White-Tail Wood. Has to be. Nowhere else got hit! Fuck! FUCK! How did the radiation get this far!?

“Damn it! Damn them to hell! All of them!

“We’re dead, and there’s nothing I can do. One last message. To anyone that finds this, assuming anyone is left to find this, don’t try for the stable in Mt. Sorbet. It’s sealed up tight. No one from Goldpeak got in, because we weren’t fucking meant to. I’ve… I-I got to go. I want to be with my daughter, i-in our last moments. One last lullaby...”

*** *** ***

The recording finished and all I felt was hard depression. It was not until the morning after my nightmare-fueled sleep that I discovered two skeletons, a small one hugged in the forelegs of a larger skeleton, curled in the corner not three feet from where I slept. In the corner I had found what was an audio log, and in a bout of curiosity I plugged it into my pipbuck.

I wished that I had not.

As I listened, I knew there must have been some form of cataclysmic event and that these ‘megaspells’ were somehow involved. I still did not understand most of the log, but perhaps I could find out more while I searched for Whiskey.

I sighed as I sat away from the two skeletons, the embers of the dying fire smoldering even now. My heart was only half into my quest now. In less than a day I had almost died a half-dozen times. Venturing beyond that cave felt like nothing more than signing my execution. But what else am I supposed to do? I cannot go home in defeat. I cannot go back and see the depressed faces of the others, knowing that I had failed.

A deep breath and I made an attempt to stabilize my head. I still needed to do this and still needed to find him. He cannot be allowed to get away with his crimes.

Though… if there is a lot of ponies like Bracket out there, this is going to be a lot harder than I thought. Trust is something I cannot get careless with. I cannot get close. I have to be more vigilant than ever before. The ponies here are demons, nothing more and nothing less.

My head hurt and I massaged my temples as I would often do. This also conflicted with everything I had been preaching for over a year now. Help others when you can. Always be kind and courteous, never harm anyone or allow anyone to come to harm and many more.

“What do I do?” I questioned aloud, my gaze to the dank cave’s ceiling and to the Princesses above. Right then I hoped, prayed, for some kind of answer. A quiet suggestion. A whispered hint. Anything to guide me in this dark time.

The wind whispered just outside the cave, and what light did come in briefly intensified. Not by a lot, but just enough. I smiled at the clear sign.

I examined the supplies left behind by the deceased. An ample amount of canned and boxed food, all of it sealed in plastic bags to protect it from the elements. There was even a few bottles of clean, purified water. I drank one immediately and stashed the rest in my bags along with some of the food. With that food was a medical box, but the only things inside were a box of magic-laced bandages and a single healing potion, which I drank for my sprained hoof. Regardless I gave a prayer to the Princesses for a modestly good fortune.

I tested my hoof before leaving. Still a little bit sore, but no longer swollen and definitely ready for use. That was good, because if Bracket was still around I would need all my legs to work at full steam. His gruesome threats still lingered in my head and made me shiver.

Cautiously I peeked my head out of the cave. Filtered daylight illuminated the white hill I had traversed the night before and the surrounding area. No sign of Bracket, so I nudged myself out a bit more.

Goldpeak seemed unchanged, the fires had all died or maybe Bracket put them out. I wasn’t going to go find out, however. That left the massive city in the distance and the large black triangle I had seen before. Both were curious to me and I had no leads to go on. I picked the triangle to head towards… but would first give the accursed raider town a very wide berth.

Before starting my journey I looked back to the cave, knowing that it was the gravesite for two unfortunate souls from a forgotten age. It was thanks to them that I had the gifts I had now, and I couldn’t just leave that unacknowledged.

“Rest in peace under Celestia’s sun, sleep tight in Luna’s night.” Then gave a respectful bow before departing.

*** *** ***

“Oh Celestia!” I groaned not for the first time.

How does anypony get around? This unbearable cold and this ground is murder on my hooves! Already I missed not just my warm, soft bed, but also the whole stable. It was never so miserable just walking to and fro in my home! The cave had a mattress at least, even if it was dirtier than anything I had ever seen in my life. Which, by the way, meant I did not sleep on it.

I stopped for what must have been the dozenth time since putting Goldpeak behind me. In fact, the town was not too far away. I could still make out the buildings if I squinted. In contrast the black triangle surrounded by sand still seemed impossibly distant.

I groaned and collapsed back onto my flanks, ears folded. I wanted to curse, instead I whined and just collapsed into the puffy white ground. The cold was both welcome and abhorrent. It soothed my achy muscles yet caused discomfort because it has been nothing but cold since I left!

Perhaps I should have spent more time exercising in the Arboretum, rather than attending sermons and taking care of the cathedral. Maybe then I wouldn’t be in this pathetic mess...

This felt so ridiculous and unfair! How was I supposed to find him in all of this! How!?

I groaned yet again and forced myself to stand and keep going, convincing myself that there had to be a way, even as doubt seeped into my mind.

In all likelihood I wouldn’t find him. There couldn’t be any beings of the Princesses’ light out here. It was Tartarus after all, and thus far everyone had either tried to kill me or worse. At times the very air seemed like it was setting its will against me with each visible breath.

My ear twitched and I started up another hill, one of many in this desolate place. Once at the top I saw, of course, more hills that stretched onwards toward the bemoaned goals of my quest. A broken line of gray weaved its way from Stalliongrad all the way to Goldpeak. I assumed it must have been some kind of pathway for travel. I made note that it did not branch off towards the strange triangle. To my left was another structure, this one solitary with nothing else beside it, all alone in the hilly plain.

I blinked, and my ear twitched again, and I thought I heard something that sounded like a sharp crack.

Turning to where I thought I heard the sound, I found another wagon that was near the old road, but a different section that curved its way back towards another area of the massive city.

At first I thought it was a second band of raiders that were making their way to Goldpeak. Though, this time it was a covered wagon instead of a cage on wheels.

Curious.

This time I heard the very same crack, and there was but a smidgen of movement near the wagon, and then somepony fell. My eyes widened and my concern grew.

it seemed strange to me that someone would be this close to Goldpeak. If these ponies were anything like that mare that I rescued, then they must know about the raiders.

I approached the stationary wagon out of curiosity that, in all likelihood, would bite me in the flank.

“Oh dear…” I gasped softly. There were indeed ponies around the wagon… just not living ponies.

I counted around eight. All of them recently deceased as their blood had not darkened and congealed. I recalled Genesis had once explained how the body’s life fluids can, under ideal circumstances, harden into a protective shell in a process called ‘coagulation’. These ponies did not have that opportunity. The wounds were too grievous and severe.

Of the deceased, their wounds followed an odd trend. Four of them had holes in their heads and judging by their attire they looked to be of raider stock. Small entry wounds that mirrored that of Clover’s, but with gaping cavities where -- I assumed -- the bullet had sickeningly punched through their skulls. Perhaps this was the result of a more powerful version of Whiskey’s pistol, though I could not be sure.

Goddesses I can see some of their brains! Unable to stomach any more I averted my gaze to the different set.

Three others had no gunshot wounds. Instead they were covered in bruises and doused in cuts and blood. Following a hunch, I saw that the raiders had crude clubs of pipe and serrated knives. Raiders must have ambushed them, and somepony must have fought back, resulting in a stalemate. My brow furrowed and as I looked around, an inexplicably odd feeling came over me. It seemed familiar, as if the Princesses were watching over me but it was not their benevolence.

Seconds passed and nothing happened. Nothing but my own cold breath moved in the slight wind. I sighed, pushed the odd sensation from my mind, then checked for any pulses.

As expected, none of the raiders were alive. But neither were any of the other ponies. I came to the last body; a mare, tightly curled in on herself. I frowned as I envisioned the raiders beating and stabbing her while she tried desperately to defend herself. I could imagine her screams, the laughing…

I clenched my eyes and trembled. “Goddess Celestia,” I whispered in despair at what lay before me. “Why does this happen?”

It made no sense to me. Why? What reason do these ponies have for killing each other? This isn’t supposed to happen, this isn’t how things are supposed to be!

I shook my head and sniffled as I fought the creeping depression. I couldn’t break down here. I did what I could and resolved to lay the deceased to rest, then gave prayer for their souls.

I sat back on my haunches and put my forehooves together. For some reason I couldn’t close my eyes, unable to take them off the dead mare. Who had she been? What was she doing out here and why? What had her symbolic name been?

“Rest in peace under Celestia’s sun…”

Maybe it was her alabaster coat that kept my gaze so. It reminded me much of Celestia’s own, sadly marred in blood. “Sleep tight in Luna’s ni-- AUGH!” I fell backwards and scrambled away, eyes bugged.

I stared. Then it happened again! The mare’s forelegs, they moved! If ever so weakly.

It -- I mean she -- moved! Oh my Goddesses she moved! She’s alive!

My heart now racing, I jumped into action. “Don’t worry! I’m going to help you!”

Immediately I took out what few medical supplies I had, while also cursing myself for wasting the now much-needed healing potion. The cuts and bruises that were ending her life would have been healed almost instantly with the potion I no longer had. As quickly as I could, I wrapped up the most grievous of her wound, a deep gash under her left foreleg.

Though…

I paused, now noticing something that I did not before. Or rather, something that was not there to be noticed. In Clover’s last moments, she was breathing hard and fast right up until the last second.

I stared hard at her even as her forelegs moved yet again.

Her barrel was still. She was not breathing. When this fact dawned on me I checked her neck for a pulse. Nothing.

“Huh…?” I confessed my confusion aloud, brow furrowed and head tilted to the side.

My fervor to save a non-existent life now gone, I gently moved the dead leg.

She had a large bundle clutched to her dead chest, wrapped as though any exposure to this horrible world would shatter what lay beneath. I waited for a moment, then two, and was rewarded with the brown fabric moving just a little bit. More curious now than ever, I lit my horn and moved a flap of the cloth.

And revealed the tiny face of a unicorn youngling, the white-coated foal’s eyes closed.

My jaw open, I looked back and forth between the dead mare and the still living. It dawned on me with terrible, sad realization…

She protected it with her dying breath. She did all she could to keep the raiders away.

I took the bundle as gently as I could, favoring my magic over my hooves at first. The bundle stirred and gave a sleepy whine at being disturbed. A quick check of her face and a tiny whine told me that it was a youngling filly. I frowned, supporting her with my foreleg. She had to have been removed from her vat tank incredibly early, as she was even smaller than the two young ones with the caged mare in Goldpeak. Too small to do anything for herself. If I had not come…

Ping!

I eeped and jumped back, the ground at my hoof exploded, throwing up a little fountain of dirt and white powder. The sharp ping beforehand was brief, gone before I realized it had even happened. I looked around quickly and saw nothing, ever careful of the foal in my leg. There was nothing around me, just empty hills and the distant mountains.

Still, my heart thundered in my chest, the rush of adrenaline had me tense. Something else out there now wished me harm! But with cold realization I knew that whatever was now after my life had to be something I couldn’t see. No one was around me, nothing was in sight. I was alone, yet dreadfully not.

I whimpered and backed away, clutching the silent foal in my foreleg and trying my best to shield her. With a wince it dawned on me that I might end up just like the other mare.

Ping!

A brief flurry of sparks showered me and I screamed. Startled, I ducked as another sharp twang made my ears ring. Something fast and small hit the metal of the wagon right next to my head!

I didn’t think about it. On pure instinct I ran as fast as I could -- or tried to, since I wasn’t about to leave the defenseless foal alone to be murdered!

Ping! Ping! Ping!

More dirt and white powder jumped into the air, always a step ahead of me. I shrieked with each one, convinced that the next would send me sprawling into the ground, dead or dying. The next second may very well be my last!

The wagon was not safe. I knew that because of the bodies. Whatever was now trying to kill me must have been what killed the raiders. But how does one hide from an unseen threat? One that strikes from nowhere with no prior warning? At least raiders were not hard to miss.

Ping!

Another close call, and a searing pain across my left flank nearly sent me down. Only adrenaline kept me going.

I’m going to die! I chanted in my head as hot tears of pain and terror ran down my face. I was going to die in this horrid place! Far from home, away from those I cared about! And all for what!? My heart sank at my foolishness and I still searched desperately for something, anything, that could spare me.

And then I saw it. The old, solitary house atop the hill.

I had to reach it, it was my only chance!

My invisible assassin never gave up. Every other second another missed shot would either barely graze my hind legs or would only impact the ground. Thankfully the door was already open, cracked and bucked from Goddesses-knows-what but still intact, allowing me to barrel into the room.

Unfortunately I was going so fast in my bid to save my own life that I did not pay attention to my hoofwork. A foot stool had been resting peacefully until I tripped over it, which sent it and myself rolling into the room with thuds and crashes. I curled up, keeping the small foal as secure as I could. I heard breaking glass and splintered wood, and came to a stop.

Everything went silent.

I blinked, barely able to process whether I was still of this world. My chest still moved and my heart still beat. I was alive!

A quick panic attack and a check later confirmed that the young foal was safe and sound too. And she was still asleep? Wow, and here I thought that I slept like a rock at times. Though, in my own defense things never got so heart-poundingly tense in the stable.

I groaned, my body’s aches and pains catching up with me after my mad gallop. That irritating sting came back, and my hind-legs felt numb. I tried to move, then gasped out as pain surged from my leg. Biting back another yelp I pulled back the black robe.

Oh Goddesses above…

Sticking out from my leg was a piece of shattered glass the size of my forehoof, covered in what could only be the splatterings of my own blood. I had landed square on a table, surrounded by broken, ancient wood and shards of dusty glass.

Again I wanted to curse my confounded luck in this abominable land! I am cursed, hexed, I had to be. There was no other conceivable explanation. Surely nopony else that lived out here could get injured so much on a regular basis.

Even as my legs throbbed I still couldn’t afford to believe that I was safe. This place gave me shelter for now, but who or what was attacking me would most definitely advance to finish the deal. I clutched the foal at the thought, worried more for her than for myself.

Though, I couldn’t move with a glass dagger in my leg. I gripped the shining shard in my magic, bit my own hoof to stifle the inevitable scream... and pulled.

“MMMMMMMNGH!” Exploding pain! Goddesses it was like someone had poured molten syrup into the wound. My leg bucked, hitting the musty couch not three feet from me and making it lurch an inch. I whimpered, hot tears left my eyes to stain my cheeks as my jaw relaxed. I had to, lest I injure myself further.

I just laid there and breathed until the agony dulled enough. All I wanted to do was lay there until it felt better, but I knew that I could not do that forever. Time was running out.

The home was not too different than that of Goldpeak. Wooden walls, dusty, moldy furniture and what I recognized as a television across from the couch. Stairs led up to a second floor and two open doorways led to other areas of the house. The foal hugged to my breast, I made my way into the first room. It was a kitchen. I searched around and found nothing that could help me right now.

Thump, thump.

I went quiet and still, just near the kitchen table and waited. It sounded like hoof-steps, though I was not sure.

“Come out,” came a steely, cold voice that sent a shiver down my spine. “You can’t hide.”

I gulped quietly and clutched the sleeping foal tighter. Frantically I looked around for an alternate exit. I heard no more steps, it seemed my assailant was content to block the front door. I spotted a back door in the kitchen and immediately tried to fling it open with my magic. It stuck fast, denying me the exit I desperately needed. Upon closer inspection the door had glistening ice in the frame, a busted pipe above the door had frozen it shut.

I puffed my cheeks in a barely-contained, frustrated scream.

Crack…

My head twisted back to the living room entrance, as did both my ears as my eyes widened. How had they come in so far without me hearing them!? Hooves were not silent, least of all on wood!

I bit my lip and looked for another escape and found it in a second set of steps that led downwards. Forgoing stealth and subtlety, I raced down the steps as fast as my injuries allowed, biting my tongue the whole way with fire lancing up my side.

The underground floor was a storage area. Barrels and boxes and trunks that held nothing of interest to me right now. Little light flowed in from the fogged-over, tiny windows to the outside world.

“Stop running and I’ll make it quick,” the cold voice said from above, in the kitchen but not yet within my sight. There was a deadly promise in those words and they confirmed my fears that whoever the voice belonged to meant me harm, and the defenseless foal as well.

I wasted no breath on an answer and instead looked for a way out. Across the cellar was another ray of hope; more stairs that led to a boxy, wide door. Moving quickly, I tried pushing and found it unsecured, the heavy wood falling over with a soft thunk. I gave a squee and a prayer for a good turn in these bad events.

I went to run…

And paused as a thought hit me.

If I run now, my pursuer will just fire at me again from a distance. And already injured, there’s no way I’ll survive.

Those thoughts hit me like a cold, dreadful wave. It wouldn’t matter how far I got. Intuition told me that I was attacked at distance, and assuming that was true, then there was no way that I would get away. Or at least not in these nearly-barren white hills. One decent shot would cripple me, and leave me helpless.

I have to make them think I disappeared. Cover up my tracks enough that they won’t know which way I went, then hide and wait them out.

I glanced back at the cellar door, knowing that if I was to do this that I would have to be quick. I bucked the door shut and found an old shovel, then thread the shaft through the handles to bar my pursuer’s way.

The white hills bore little in the way of vegetation, certainly not enough to give me cover. The branches of a lifeless nearby bush would serve a better purpose, however. Snapping one off with my magic, I walked backwards while sweeping the branch back and forth. This eliminated any tracks that I made, as without them no one would know which direction that I might have taken.

Banging came from the doors, the pony behind them trying to buck their way out.

I made it to the house porch when two sharp bangs resonated through the air. They were similar to what I heard from Whiskey’s pistol, but definitely more powerful. In an instant, the handles had been blown clean off in a brief cloud of wooden shrapnel, and had even snapped the shovel in two.

I didn’t wait. I quickly but quietly made my way back into the front door. After all, what was the point in trying to hide if they could hear my hoofsteps on the floor. Looking for another place to hide, I went upstairs.

The hallway gave me several options. Three bedrooms, one to my left and two to my right, with a fourth room directly down the hall that looked like it might be a bathroom of sorts, as there was a crusty toilet in the cracked doorway. Only one of them was open, and I figured that if I was trying to hide it might have been better to not close a door and possibly make noise. Thank Celestia the floor beneath me did not creak as I went.

It led into what could only be described as a young filly’s room. Small bed, small furnishings; something like what I had when Dawn was still raising me. Several dusty, damaged toys sprawled around the floor and tables. One sported a board game, much of its pieces damaged or missing, judging by the sparseness of what was probably a complex game.

I sighed softly, my eyelids drooping a bit. I was getting tired? Now, of all times?

The bed seemed like a good place to hide behind. Its orientation on the far wall would put it between me and the open door, so if my plan didn’t quite work, then a cursory glance into the room would not reveal me. I made my way over and laid down, the amazingly still-asleep foal resting quietly in my foreleg. Again I bit my tongue as the sting of my wounds threatened to give me away. I must treat them soon. As a last resort I drew the boxy weapon that I used the day before. Hopefully brandishing the weapon would be enough to deter my pursuer, should they manage to find me here.

And now I anxiously waited.

Nothing happened for several minutes, my pipbuck’s clock telling me so. Even in the house and my heavy robes I felt colder, the very idea of moving any more was tiresome. I leaned my head against the fabric of the dusty comforter, eyes drooping closed.

“Just rest,” I mumbled tiredly. “J-just… for a little… bit.”

My eyes closed and my cold body laxed.

The world began to slip away, a peaceful calm overtook me and soon all I could hear was my own slow heartbeat. It seemed slower than it should have been. The strain grew as I tried to keep the boxy weapon levitated, now to keep from making noise. Though, if I just set it down for a little bit, I could…

Click.

The sharp noise caught my attention. The world came back in a flood. I shivered, tired now more than ever, my eyes weighed as much as lead. Even more so the room was blurry. A few blinks and it cleared enough for me to see.

A voice spoke but I didn’t understand. It was garbled, like trying to speak when underneath the water.

I wasn’t alone.

I brought the weapon back up as much as I could, and found another device floating nearby. The dangerous end pointed at my head. I recognized some of the similarities to Whiskey’s pistol, but this ‘gun’ had some kind of notched cylinder and a short scope. And the hole was clearly bigger than Whiskey’s.

My senses cleared a little bit more, and behind that weapon was another unicorn. A dark blue coat and a black mane under an equally black hat with a wide rim. The tone of voice was not too dissimilar to Whiskey’s, so it must have been another stallion. He wore clothing as well; a white shirt with a collar, and over that was a black vest with several buttoned pockets. It seemed larger than ordinary fabric should have been, particularly around his barrel. Some letters stood out on the vest: “S.C.C. S.W.A.T”

His eyes were what held my own. Cold, unfeeling, and they held a sharp precision that must have been watching my every minute movement with the utmost attention to detail. The glow from his horn held the gun so steady, I doubted that anything could have moved it off-target.

We had our guns pointed at each other. I imagine that was the only reason why he has not killed me yet. If he fired and I managed to squeeze the trigger, then he might end up dead too.

“If you’re going to try and hide,” he spoke coldly, “then patch up your wounds first.”

I blinked, not understanding at first until I glanced at the floor. There was a breadcrumb trail of blood that started at my leg and went around the corner at his hooves. The glass had me bleeding all over the house and probably outside too. My plan to hide was ruined before it was even conceived.

I stared back at him, still holding my weapon with his. The thought of shooting someone was something incomprehensible. I hoped he wouldd be deterred.

“Any last words, raider?” he asked, the weapon pointed at my head.

Raider!?

“I a-am not a r-raider!” I defiantly shouted, my magical grip on my own weapon strengthened. How dare he compare me to those Celestia-cursed psychopaths! “Y-you’re the raider! K-killing a-anypony you s-see! A d-demon from the p-pits of Ta-tartarus!”

My unwanted companion scowled with an eyebrow quirked.

I grit my teeth and glared, trying to be more fearsome. Though, my weapon trembled as his held absolutely still.

And soft whimpering caught my ears and cooled my indignant fury. Movement touched my breast and I looked down, the strange pony in front of me forgotten. The little foal was stirring, and that stirring quickly evolved into crying. Fairly loud crying.

My ears folded and I groaned, pain and fatigue beleaguered my effort to sit up.

I was not a guardian. I did not begin to have a clue about how to care for a little one, much less a filly so young. She shouldn’t have been out of her vat-tank for at least several months longer. Yet I vaguely remembered what Eternal Dawn used to do for me whenever I couldn’t sleep. She would rock me back and forth, slowly and carefully when I was youngest. I did the same, now, for this one.

She cried and cried, I got my first glimpse at her light-green eyes. I smiled. “There there… I-It’s okay.” I rocked her back and forth as my feeble body weakened, my rude guest forgotten.

It’s cold. So very cold. My vision slipped further, and in my sluggish thought process it dawned on me that I was bleeding out. I glanced at his cold expression, and wondered why he still hadn’t shot me dead.

Probably wants me to suffer, to enjoy my last fleeting breaths before he has this young foal at his mercy. Evil demon!

I couldn’t do anything. The strain of my magic became too much and the weapon clattered to the floor. I’m not sure if my rocking had comforted the foal into contented silence or if my hearing had gone the way of my sight. Gravity increased a thousandfold and it became impossible to stay upright.

Everything went black…

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk: Slippery Filly, Level 1 - Shots that are taken against you at long range are given an aim penalty based on your Agility.

Author's Note

And thus, it begins~

I've long pondered what kind of "theme song" I would pick for Darkness Falls. A song or melody that could confer the emotional depth that I would feel whenever I imagined the many epic scenes that I had planned for this story. This song has also held deep emotional meaning for me, even if I've never seen the actual movie that this song was composed for.

For me, Lux Aeterna carries a sense of foreboding action, a sense of epicness and what I can only describe as the destiny that awaits those who are born to do great things, which is the way I felt about Little Pip, Blackjack and many other heroes and heroines that I've had the pleasure of reading about. This song inspires me to write Silver Starlight to greatness. But even moreso, I hope that it can inspire others to create their own epic storylines, within Fallout: Equestra and other universes.

Enjoy~ and thank all of you for being so awesome!