The Lottery

“Never trust anypony that bumps into you and smiles about it.”oooOOOooo

Once upon a time, there was this wonderful thing called "sunshine". It was warm, it made stuff grow, and it made sitting outside enjoyable. There was also these things called "morals" and "virtues"; also long gone. Apparently those two, along with sunshine, made life a paradise since folks were honest to one another, ponies practiced random acts of kindness, generosity was the norm, and getting shot in the back was unheard of since loyalty was as common as laughter. All these random things, all these random little bits of selfless whatevers were part of the "Magic of Friendship" concept, and it drove the world.

But like all good things, this bright, cheerful world had to end. And end it did in fire and brimstone. And now all that remains are underground cities called “Stables”, walled off settlements, and all the horrors in between.

The funny thing is I always thought I would be safe in my Stable, Stable Sixty Seven. I never thought I would have to deal with the likes mutants, raiders, and obsessive whackos. Or go on a journey across a scarred paradise. I was sorely mistaken.

I’m not going to just tell you how the story ended because that would be stupid. You need to know the who’s, what’s, when’s, where’s, and why’s. You need to know how I went from living a life of regulation to a life of chaos. You need to know who my friends were, and who my enemies were, who I loved, who I hated, and all the other who’s out there. You should already know the when since I’m talking to you right now, and the story really isn’t that old, but you still need to know where I’ve been since where I’ve been has led me to this place. And most of all, you need to know why. Why I’m here. Why I did what I did. Why I had no choice but to change.

Now pay close attention, for I will not be able to repeat myself.

+**********+

In Stable Sixty Seven, we lived by a strict code of conduct, and when I say "strict", I mean: mares slept in one area, stallions in another once you turned sixteen; you needed to be approved for a marriage by the Marriage Council and both parents; every Sunday was "Meet-and Greet Day", which basically meant both genders could actually look and talk to each other all day without worry; and, of course, your position in our society was determined by your cutie mark and social status. There were a lot more rules, but I don't think you want to hear me talk about a five hundred and sixty two page rulebook that everypony got assigned when they turned five.

But I'm sure you want to know my name. My name is Ephemeris Clock, or simply "Meris". I like being called "Meris" because it doesn't sound as weird as my real name. Everypony else had something normal, like Dusk Shine or Key Ring or Rose Petal or Artisan Bread or Braid Mane. But I got the joker parents who decided to give me that horrible name. I wanted to get it changed, but name changes were illegal and anyone caught would be exiled immediately. How that name changing thing worked anyway, I have no idea.

I am straying.

As you can see, I'm an earth pony, so I have nothing special, and this was further enforced by the fact that my cutie mark is a pocket watch. That basically put me at the bottom of the food chain since clocks were not exactly something high on the list of priorities. All I really did was fix clocks, build clocks, and when I wasn't fixing or building clocks, I was day dreaming about Rose Petal... and then it would go back to clocks. Stupid clocks.

I'm straying again.

I can tell you want me to get into the action. Tell you something along the lines of how our stable was attacked or how I tried to perform a noble deed by rescuing a beloved citizen. Well, I hate to break it to you, but that is not what happened. The catalyst of how I wound up where I am today was to say, the very least, completely stupid.

It began on one of those Meet and Greet Day’s in our lobby; we had the music playing, the mares and stallions were walking around, chit chatting and having snacks and drinks together, and it was all being watched by our Overmare, Braid Mane. Not even the end of the world stopped her family from living a life of luxury. The Manes were always high class, and supposedly their wealth came from a massive company that dealt closely with Stable Tech, Ironshod Firearms, and other companies that drove the Equestrian war machine. So when the world ended, they got first class seating to Stable Sixty Seven and had been ruling it ever since.

Anyway, with the party; I was being myself and sitting in the back, watching everypony eating, drinking, and being merry. And then I saw her, Rose Petal Flower, the most beautiful mare in the stable. She was an earth pony, like me, and her coat was pink and pristine. It always shined wherever she went, and her mane and tail had this great blend of yellow and red. The color choice may seem weird to you, but I liked it; besides, she couldn't help it if she was born with a weird color scheme. Oh, she also always had a flower in her mane. It was a real one, too, not those plastic ones that the foals choked on all the time. This was possible because she was the botanist of our stable and had a dozen gardens in her area, and she also had a permit to wear them.

So, on with it; I saw her, but she didn't see me, which was fine since I was used to being ignored by basically everypony that breathed, and I decided that today would be the day. Today I would go up to her and ask her if she and I would like to get a Dating Permit with me. To be safe, though, I took a shot of sparkling cider before I made my move. I watched the others, and I saw that they always had this cocky smile and little... sway, or something, in their walk. The stallions would make themselves look bigger, their strides would get smug and they would look like complete douche bags. But it worked! And now I was going to try it.

I walked over to Rose Petal, after taking another shot just to be safer, though, and I put it all out. I got the cocky smile, the arrogant walk, the mental cross-hairs locked on to her, and I didn't even care that I was still being ignored by her. Today would be my day.

I walked up to her, and all the music and chatter just faded away, and she became just the one pony on my mind. Her giggling was the only music I needed to hear (don’t laugh) and the way she flung her mane out of her eyes was a rarity I hardly enjoyed. It may sound creepy, but when you spend nearly every waking moment of your life in a basement with clocks, you take pleasure in simple things; especially if it’s from a mare.

When I finally reached Rose Petal she was talking with her friends, Curly Mane -daughter of the Overmare- and Cosmo –just some girl- and when she saw me, she stopped talking and looked at me with a curious smile. All of her friends looked at me, too, and that is when panic came in. I held that stupid smile, but I felt my heart racing and beads of sweat roll down my face. My mouth became dry and despite my best efforts, I could not stop the nervous chuckle or my eye from twitching.

“Um, hi,” she said, her smile now uneasy and her friends giggling behind her back.

“Hello,” I replied in an embarrassingly squeaky voice. Then in a much louder voice: “I WAS WONDERING IF YOU WANTED TO GET A DATING PERMIT WITH ME!”

Her smile disappeared and her eyes went wide from shock. Her friends’ jaws dropped and to make it worse, I felt eyes on me; thankfully the music was still going. I chuckled nervously and tried to play it cool by keeping my smile and leaning against the table.

“I mean, if that is cool with you, or whatever.”

Then the stupid table broke and I fell over with all the punch and cider and apple slices spilling all over me. Rose Petal shrieked and reeled back, and her friends laughed till their faces turned red. And on top of that, the music stopped and I heard more laughing. My face burned up and I wanted to crawl under my bunk and cry myself to death. But despite what I was feeling at the time, I still scrambled up and tried to act like I wasn’t affected by this by smiling broadly and claiming I meant to do that.

“You meant to break the table?” asked Rose Petal skeptically.

I nodded and said: “Yep. It’s to show my brute strength, and um… you don’t believe me, do you?”

“Not really,” was her reply.

I could tell by the way she looked at me that she thought I was an idiot, and I felt like an idiot, and I was sure everypony in the area thought I was an idiot. Life was great at the moment.

It took the Overmare ordering everypony to have fun lest they want to return to work to get the party going again. The music restarted and the conversations resumed, and I decided that it was a great time to fix some clocks.

I spent the rest of the day in the maintenance stall, working on my own personal project since I basically had nothing to do. It was a pocket watch that I had been working on from scratch. Getting the gold and silver plating was hard enough, but add in all the tiny gears and little hooves, etching the elegant designs and keeping the project hidden, and, well, you got yourself a chore. Especially the etching part. Do you realize how hard it is for an earth pony to etch an apple tree on a tiny clock? It’s hard!

So there I was, working on my own special project, when Artisan came barging in, wearing his baker’s hat and apron, and carrying something in his mouth basket. The golden unicorn was panic stricken when he skidded to a halt in front of me, and I freaked out and created a mess as I tried to hide my pocket watch. Luckily for me, he was too busy worrying to notice me wrecking the place.

He quickly, yet gently, set his basket on my worktable, nearly in tears, and frantically said: “Meris, you gotta help me! Eggy is broken!”

I peered inside his basket and saw his prized possession, an egg timer with a loaf of bread as the counting hoof, lying on its side, silent as death with the hoof pointed at the six minute mark. I looked up at Artisan Bread; he was now whimpering and dancing in his spot, anxiously, hoping that I could fix his egg timer.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

He might as well have kissed my hoof and called me King Clock from how happy he was.

~~~~~~~~~~

That night, I was lying on my bed, with my pillow to my chest, staring at the light bulb, worrying about tomorrow. I didn’t know why I was worrying since the chances of me talking to Rose Petal were slim to none, but I reasoned that there was still that chance that she dropped by my neck of the Stable. I kinda pictured it like this:

Rose Petal walks in my place with a broken timer, looking beautiful as always, while I’m wearing a dirty apron, covered in gunk and other crap.

Rose Petal: “Hey, I need you to fix this for me.”

Me: “Sure thing.”

Rose Petal: “Wait a minute… Aren’t you that guy from yesterday who wanted to get a dating permit with me?”

Me: “No, that was an ass.”

Rose Petal: “You sure? Because you look a lot like him.”

Me: “Yep, pretty sure.”

Queue argument.

Silly, ain’t it?

I didn't have much time to plot out the course of the argument, though, since Artisan walked in, smiling and thanking me for fixing Eggy. I tried to tell him that it was no big deal since Eggy's battery just needed recharging, but he still found it to be a huge deal, and I quickly found out why. He was baking a cake for Curly Mane's sleepover party, and Curly wanted a triple decker cake with each layer being chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry with the frosting being apple flavored.  I'm surprised I even remember all that.

Anyway, after hearing that Artisan was baking a cake for Curly, I instantly knew that was the reason for his antsy-ness. You see, Braid Mane was cool, she did the bare minimum requirements for Overmare and generally left us alone. She got tough when she had to be, but other than that, she was really down to earth. Her daughter on the other hoof was a brat, through and through. She was the kind of pony that would throw a tantrum over everything and wouldn't stop crying and whining and screaming and kicking and doing all kinds of crap until she got what she wanted. Which brings me back to Artisan.

Last time Artisan made an apple pie for Curly, she didn't like it because the crust wasn't soft enough, and when he tried to explain that apple pie crust shouldn't be soft, she threw it in his face. It was hot out of the oven, too, so he was in quite a bit of pain. And he cried himself to sleep that night, and I've hated Curly ever since.

But back to the story.

I'm lying on my bed, pillow to chest, trying to play it cool with the whole Eggy fixing thing, and Artisan is practically in tears for how happy he was of me saving his hide. It was an endless streams of thank yous and praises, and it did get kind of annoying.

Finally I said: “Okay, okay, I get it. You're happy that Eggy is fixed. Can I get some sleep now?”

I rolled on my stomach and buried my face in my pillow, hoping that the fluffy comfort will make sleep come faster. I just wanted to sleep so I can go to la-la land and dream of something that hopefully won't be clocks. But Artisan wasn't letting up. I felt him hop on my bed and lay next to me and he rubbed my back while his tail drooped over mine. It creeped me out every time he did that, and every time I told  him not to do that because I felt violated by it, but he never listened. He would stop for a couple of weeks, and then he would go right back at it.

“You had a bad day, didn't you?” he asked.

“No, I had a great day.” I said sarcastically.

He pat my back apologetically, telling me that this was probably the start of something great, that possibly whatever happened would leave a positive impression.

I could only think of one phrase: “You're so full of shit.”

I didn't say that to him, but I did tell him to get off my bed, and he did after giving me a hug. Once he trotted off to do whatever it was he did I forced myself to sleep and not dream of clocks. The sleeping part went okay, but the clocks... well, there's no escaping those bastards.

<<<>>>

The week had gone by rather quickly. Since I was only “qualified” to fix clocks, and the Stable really didn't have much clocks that needed fixing, that left me time to finish my pocket watch. I still kept it hidden, though, since I didn't have a permit to make such a device for my own amusement, and if anypony found out they would break it and probably put me in solitary for a week. But it was finished and that was all that mattered.

Luckily after I finished my pocket watch the Overmare had decided to give me more responsibilities by putting me in charge of scheduling events. It was nice and I actually got to boss around others since I was qualified with all things related time.

I had spent the past few days busy looking over and tweaking schedules and learning the ropes of Stable politics. I had met with Overmare Mane and other higher-ups personally, and we enjoyed lunch and had a nice chit chat over salad and apple juice. Overmare Mane was probably the coolest of them all, and she talked about how she met her husband, who was head of security, when he accidentally spilled punch on her. It was a great time and I knew I was finally going somewhere in the world. Especially when we talked about my record. It was gold, and she said that the Stable needed gold, and that was when she asked me how I would like to get the position as Vice-Head of the Scheduling Administration.

How could I refuse?

After getting the position and learning the ways of the Scheduling Administration under the guidance of an old coot named Flow Chart, I felt like it would only be sunshine and rainbows from now on. I would get out of the basement and be high on the social ladder.

After leaving from a small meeting at the Scheduling Administration office, I headed off towards the lobby for another one of those Meet and Greet Days. I really didn't know what I was thinking since I knew Rose Petal would be there, but while my mind told me to study, my hooves walked me into the manticore's den.

The lobby was, as usual, thriving with activity as ponies milled about, doing all the meet and greet stuff. I saw Artisan trying to pick up a stallion named Glitter Shine, brother of Dusk Shine. Glitter might as well have been a mare with the way he acted and talked, while Dusk was such a homophobe that he would wash himself raw if a gay bumped into him. And speaking of Dusk Shine, I saw him flirting with Rose Petal.

Game over. Too late. I lost. Time to go home.

I turned to leave, disappointed and relieved at the same time, making for an odd, sickly feeling, but I heard somepony gallop, and I just had to look over my shoulder. It was Rose Petal, and she was running right towards me. I paled and turned my walk to a trot, but she got in front of me and poked me in the chest.

Petal said: “Aren’t you that guy from yesterday who wanted to get a dating permit with me?”

“No, that was an ass.” I quickly said, wincing on the inside when I realized that the argument was becoming a reality. And I didn't even prepare for it.

“You sure?” she asked. “Because you look a lot like him.”

“Yep, pretty sure.”

She smiled that sweet, irresistible smile and called me a liar. I really couldn't defend against that since it was the truth. Then she walked behind me and started pushing me by my rump towards the back. My face burned and I dug my hooves in the tile, wincing when the awful screeching noise from my pitiful resistance caused some heads to turn. One of which was Artisan, but rather than glaring or scoffing, he gave me a smile and a wink and then went back to Glitter. I saw Rose Petal's friends staring too, and Curly looked like she wanted to kill me. It was at that point that I decided to stop resisting and just walk with it.

Once I started walking, everything went smoother, and Rose Petal kept giving me a giddy smile while I could only return a nervous one.  I didn’t know where she was taking me, and with all that had happened between me and her, I figured I was going to get my tail chewed out for embarrassing her in front of her friends. What? Smiles can be deceiving.

So we’re walking down the length of the wall, her eyes are focused and mine were not. I kept looking at the party, seeing how everypony was enjoying themselves in some way and how the cliques were praising their members for scoring tail from either gender. I didn’t want to think about what horrors awaited me in the back corner of the lobby, but when I actually got out of my distracted state, I realized that Rose Petal had taken me to the Dating Administration.

My jaw dropped and I looked at her, and she looked at me out of the corner of her eye with that adorable sweet smile. My heart was racing and I felt butterflies in my stomach. This was actually happening. I was going to get a permit to date Rose Petal!

“Careful, we wouldn’t want your jaw to fall off,” she said with a teasing smile as she closed my mouth her hoof.

I could only nod stupidly and follow her inside. Once inside, we were greeted by a unicorn mare named Elegant Harmony; she was old, fat, and had a mole on her cheek. I didn’t even realize ponies could get moles, but apparently it was a rare birth defect, and it was ugly!

When Elegant Harmony did the whole spiel with the questions, Rose Petal answered each of them a firm, and yet still silky smooth, voice and she kept giving me those looks out of the corner of her eye that said that she wanted this thing to hurry up. I fully agreed with her. But when it was my turn, I was the complete opposite of her; I didn’t stutter, but I did sound like an idiot and got momentarily confused by all the paperwork, whereas Rose Petal blew through it all like a professional.

After signing the endless supply of paperwork, we were brought into the back of the office and we each had to do a small test in separate rooms that were cold and bare, save for a cushion, a table, and an obnoxiously loud clock. I didn’t even have to make a mental note about getting that clock fixed, though, since Elegant Harmony gave it to me and told me to fix it and bring it back the next day before I even started the test.

So I’m taking the test with the loud clock on the ground next to me, and I’m trying to be careful with answering the questions. It was a personality test, so you had to be careful what you put. If anything points to something concerning then they would deny the permit, and I couldn’t let that happen!

I took that test, quickly, yet carefully, and when I was done, I slid the paper away and tried to think about something other than the horrible taste that the pencil left in my mouth. I thought about Rose Petal and all the fun we would have on our dates. It was expensive, but I wanted to buy a yearlong Dating Permit and take her to a play or two. Yeah, we held plays in our Stable, but they were expensive and you had to have a great record for the semester. Luckily I had a great record, so getting approved for a ticket was easy.

After waiting for nearly an hour in the room, freezing my tail off, Elegant Harmony walked back in with a folder, and she took my test and left again. I waited again… And I waited… And waited… And waited… And waited for nearly an hour before she returned.

“Here’s your permit. Enjoy.”

The emotion in her voice was nonexistent, but I grinned from ear to ear, knowing that tonight would be the start of something great! And I celebrated by fixing a clock. Yay.

But all good things have to come to an end eventually.

<<<>>>

It had been a few months after I had gotten permission to date Rose Petal, and we had all kinds of fun. From watching plays, to dancing and eating out, and, of course, those intimate moments. It never got passed the kissing or nose rubs, though.

I was also promoted to head of the Scheduling Administration since Flow Chart croaked in his sleep. The funeral was like every other. Long and ponies pretended to care, and some threw in a few fake tears to make themselves all the more “authentic”. He was cremated and had his ashes put in his old office, which was given to me. And it was creepy. I'm pretty sure he haunted the place.

Funeral aside, with my new position, I was put in charge of scheduling events, like what goes on on Meet and Greet Days, how long a birthday party could last, and a dozen other things. I got a huge pay raise and found myself enjoying parties with the Overmare and her entourage with Rose Petal by my side. Although, while things were going great between me and Rose Petal and the Overmare, it seemed that Curly got worse with me. Like the closer I got with those two, the more evil that Tirrac spawn became. And her evil just got...

Let me move on before I get too carried away.

As much fun as I was having with Rose Petal and my new life in the big leagues, fate had another thing in mind for my future. You see, every year our stable held this thing called the “Lottery”, and it basically meant that once you reach thirteen, you were given a number and if the said number is drawn then you get your flank kicked out of the stable. They take your pipbuck and then give you some food, a couple of canteens, and a farewell.  Strangely enough, the Manes never had anyone in their family exiled, whereas those who tended to be vocal about the Lottery or the Mane's amazing good luck had a better chance of having their number drawn. That goes without saying that sometimes the vocals got lucky or that they switched their number with somepony else's.

I was one of the unlucky ones.

When we were holding the ceremony, everypony was handed a number by Commissioner Mane, husband of the Overmare, and everypony that could took a seat in the lobby.  But given that our Stable was packed, we could only fit about a third of the population in, and the rest were forced to sit outside. And just to clear things up, when I said everypony, I meant everypony. Even the guards took a number and so did the Overmare and Curly and Commissioner Mane.

My number was oh three, ninety two, seventy eight.

Numbers aside for the moment, due to my new position, I got front row seating, and I had reserved one for Rose Petal right next to mine. And while we were waiting for the announcement of who will get caste out into the Wasteland, my stomach told me it was time for a snack by the way it rumbled. Rose Petal giggled and I smiled sheepishly at her, and I asked her if she wanted anything before I left for a snack. She wanted a caramel apple.

I left for the snack bar to grab a couple of caramel apples, and -Yes, we did serve snacks at our Stable when somepony was about to be exiled. It was an event. Can I continue? Thank you.

I left for the snack bar to grab a couple of caramel apples, and along the way I bumped into Curly Mane. Or rather she bumped into me and gave me the most phony apology I have ever heard. Seriously, it was so fake that my ears hurt from its phony-ness. She brushed some invisible wrinkles off of my jacket, still apologizing with that evil smile of hers. And as quickly as she came, she left, now with a skip in her step and I watched her snuggle up next to the Overmare. I had no idea what that was all about, but I tried not to think about it since I felt I had nothing to worry about and besides, I still had to get those caramel apples.

After getting those apples I returned to my seat and gave Rose Petal one of the apples, and while we munched on our snack we listened to the whole opening ceremony. They talked about the need of population control and how the Lottery is only by chance and there is nothing personal about it. I got bored with it, and I could hear a few yawns and somepony muttering about how they should get on with it. It took another hour before they called out the numbers.

Six, thirteen, twenty three.

Then everypony looked at their numbers. I smirked, knowing that I was safe, but I still looked at my slip. That was when I realized I had been screwed over. I glared at Curly, and she was showing the Overmare her slip, which was actually mine!

I felt a surge of anger go through me like I have never felt before. I wanted to hurt Curly. I wanted to hurt her badly. I wanted to pound her face to a bloody pulp and stomp on her until her heart popped. And keep on stomping until her body stopped twitching. Everything that I had worked for was now gone because that little bitch had switched our numbers! I don't know how she did it, but she did it and I wanted to kill her for it.

I felt every muscle tighten and my vision just went red. And being unable to control myself any longer, I jumped up from my seat, screaming: “You bitch!”

The crowd gasped and Rose Petal's face paled as I stomped towards Curly. The security got in my way, and I tried to fight through them, yelling about how Curly switched our slips. The guards were having to push me back, and the Overmare hugged Curly while she cried in her barrel.

“Tell them! Tell them that you switched our tickets!” I yelled, vision clouded with tears and throat hurting from how loud I was screaming.

The guards started to drag me away, and Rose Petal and Artisan tried to free me, but they were no match for the guards. And when one of the guards smacked Rose Petal with his club, I punched him right in the jaw. He was wearing a helmet, but the force still sent him to the ground. Next thing I knew, I felt a solid impact of a baton strike me on the back of my head, and I was out like a light.

~~~~~~~~~~

When I came to after Celestia knows how many hours later, I had a bandage on the back of my head, which did nothing to stop the throbbing, and I was locked in a solitary cell. My PipBuck was gone, leaving just a bare spot on my hoof, which had considerably less fur given what was there. Heck, it might as well have been bald for how thin it was, and it was gross seeing my skin, too. And to make matters worse, I saw that they took the liberty of packing my stuff. The saddle was there, stuffed with apples and medical supplies, and it had two canteens strapped to it. I briefly rubbed my chest, and sighed with relief when I found that my pocket watch was still there.

The guards must've been watching me sleep, because right as I was putting on my saddle, the door opened up and the Overmare and Commissioner Mane stepped in. Both of them looking apologetic about what they had to do, but nonetheless it was their duty to carry out the Lottery.

“I'm sorry it had come to this,” said the Overmare sadly, “but you know that it is the way things are. It is nothing personal.”

I saw Curly standing next to Rose Petal and Artisan. Rose Petal was crying in Artisan's shoulder, and he was trying to comfort her. Curly looked like she was trying to comfort Rose Petal, too, but when she saw me, she got a victorious smile and hugged Rose Petal harder. Like how a brat would hug their prized teddy bear.

“Maybe it's not personal for you.” I said, and I left it at that.

They stepped aside as I walked out with guards flanking me. When I got to Rose Petal we hugged, and I didn't want to let go of her. I had to close my eyes just so I didn't have to see Curly's scowl or Artisan's tears. I ran my hoof through Rose Petal's mane and told her that everything was going to be okay. She nodded, and tried to say something, but all she could do was sniffle. I knew she wanted to believe it, just like I wanted to, but we both knew that nothing was going to be okay. Our world had just turned upside down and I won't ever be able to return.

The guards had to pull me away from her, and I told Artisan to keep an eye on her for me. He nodded and hugged me tight, telling me that he promises he won't let anything happen to her. I returned the hug and tried to leave, but Artisan wouldn't let go, and the guards had to pull him off this time.

When I was escorted to the entrance of the Stable, I could feel all eyes on me. Familiar eyes. Eyes I loved and hated, and eyes I barely knew. But they were all watching, and when the Overmare typed in her code there was a heavy silence. I did everything I could to hold back my tears, but I could feel a few of them trickle down my cheek.

I watched dreadfully as the mechanical arm descended from the ceiling and grabbed a hold of the door's knob. When the door opened, the whole room shook from the rumbling, and everypony -me included- instinctively folded our ears to muffle the horrible screeching sound of metal grinding against metal. Once it was out, it rolled to the side and I saw my future. A desolate, hopeless wasteland with no life as far as the eye could see. Not even the sun was able to shine through the murky cloud barrier covering the sky.

I took a deep breath, looked over my shoulder and tried to give a reassuring smile to Rose Petal and Artisan. Rose Petal's face was soaked in tears, and Artisan had wrapped his hoof around her shoulder. Rose Petal waved farewell and mouthed “I loved you”, and I think Artisan was out of tears, because all he could do now was gulp. To enforce his pledge, he hugged Rose Petal tighter, and I nodded and looked back towards the Tartarus I would be living in.

Then I walked out.

++++++++++

Footnote: Level Up!

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