FALLOUT: EQUESTRIA
GRIM PROSPECTS

The moment they had gotten back in town, Euphoria had spirited off towards the ghoul to collect, and also to have him fix Yiltse. It had taken a fair bit of arguing, and she had to give him half of what she had just made, but Euphoria managed to convince the ghoul to treat him. He, had of course said that she could return in a few hours, and Yiltse would be fixed up.

Now, she stood in front of the glaring eyes of four Raiders and their leader. “I did what you wanted, and you shouldn't have any-more trouble. Where's my payment?” she demanded, and at her request, the Raider-leader had swivelled in his chair. Euphoria was left to stare at the back of a mouldy chair, turning on rusty wheels, but she wouldn't leave without what was rightfully hers; too much had been risked for that to happen.

“Well... aren't we in a pickle?” the stallion said. She didn't take the bait, and just snorted in response. “You wanted information, right?” Euphoria didn't move. “Right. People don't usually venture through here, unless they're Raiders, and that'll cost you a bit more.” He snickered from behind the chair, and Euphoria felt her anger rising, along with bile in her throat.

“First, tell me what your missing pony looks like. Anything and everything. My memory, isn't what it used to be,” the stallion said coldly, as he swivelled back around to judge Euphoria's appearance. Her leather-armour had been beaten, and soiled over the last few days, and its condition had dropped considerably. Some of the straps had ripped, and she was missing half the barding protecting her flanks, but she wasn't quite ready to change yet.

“Grey coat; murky short mane and tail; cold blue eyes.” Euphoria remembered the stallion's appearance clearly, and if the leader here wanted her to tell him the number of hairs in her attacker's coat, she probably could. “He also wore red markings all over his body, I think it were some kind of tribal war-paint,” she added after a small pause, briefly thinking of the paint that the Raiders holding Yiltse had painted themselves with.

A small smirk came and went on the stallion's face, as Euphoria regarded him carefully. “Lord Tenebrous,” he said after a pregnant pause; the smirk was now very visible on his face. “Seems like you've gotten yourself a nemesis worse than you know.” Having said what he wanted, he turned in his chair, to watch the ruined gardens outside the large window. “He's up in the remnants of Detrot, and you should see it clearly on that device of yours, but you're lucky I don't kill you where you stand.”

“Tenebrous is a mean son-of-a-bitch, but he's our de-facto leader, and that makes you, my enemy too.” Euphoria took a careful step back, but one of the stallions behind her chuckled coldly, and she stopped after inching two steps backwards. “Lucky for you, that he doesn't want you dead. If he did, you and me wouldn't be having this conversation.” The leader of the Raiders tapped his hooves together, smirking briefly, as he swivelled back around to face Euphoria.

“You have your information, now leave.” Euphoria didn't have to be told twice, and left as quickly as her hooves could thrust her ahead. Security seemed to have tightened since last she had been in the building, and stallions, as well as mares, were kept guarding each door she passed. With four guards at the front, it seemed as if it had been transformed into a fortress rather quickly.

So where to now? Euphoria thought to herself, as she descended the cracked concrete staircase towards the even more cracked pavement. She stopped halfway to look at her Pip-Buck, and way off to the far-South, being by the farthest point on her map – was Detrot. It looked like a giant blob, of blackness, but that had to be it.

From what she could remember, Detrot had been a vital part of Equestria, serving as its hub for wagon making. Then, it had simply fallen into disrepair as there were no jobs to be found, and the city's population dried up. Other than that, Euphoria's books didn't contain much. At first, she thought it was just because they didn't exist, but in light of new information – maybe the Over-Mare pulled them away, and hid them.

As she put her hoof back down, and resumed her walk, she also resumed her thought. Should I just head to the city, or should I find my friends? Groaning, she walked onto the pavement, just as a foal darted in front of her, and she had to stop and raise one hoof, so he wouldn't just collide with her. “Sorry, lady!” the foal called out briefly, before he resumed chasing another foal. Euphoria just chuckled, and resumed walking.

What few ponies that were outside, had retreated into their tents, except a vagrant here and there – still asking for fresh water. Euphoria frowned at the thought, as she walked over to a mare standing just outside a tent, selling ammunition. As she walked closer, Euphoria focused in on the necklace around the mare's neck; if it hadn't been for that, she just might have fooled any-pony with her nice attitude.

From the amounts of times Euphoria had watched casings being spat out of her rifle, she knew exactly what the ammo looked like. For a nice amount of sixty-five bottle-caps, she managed to get around fifty bullets. Finishing up her purchase, Euphoria met the gaze of the mare. “Want to come in for some tea?” the teal-coloured mare offered with a smile, that showed off her few missing teeth.

Grimacing briefly, Euphoria nodded. “Yeah, sure,” she said, rolling her eyes as the mare pulled away a flap in front of the discoloured green tent. Stepping inside, Euphoria hit her head on the central pole once, and flopped down on the floor -- on top of some kind of fluffy-carpet that obviously hadn't come from any place near here; it was the strange glyphs on the edges that revealed its origins -- as massive brief, stabbing pain assaulted her.

Sitting up, wincing slightly, Euphoria's eyes were drawn to the white smoke as it rose upwards, and through a hole slightly off to the centre in the tent, let it out into the air outside. Following the smoke back down, she watched as the mare stirred a dented, but still usable pot steaming over a fire.

Letting her eyes wander for a moment, Euphoria followed it to the bottom and saw the small, off-white coloured cooking-plate, flaring with blue heat. “That can't be cheap,” she said with a slight giggle as she pulled her eyes away, and looked across the steaming-pot of tea. That was what Euphoria presumed it to be, at least.

“Being a part of the Zephyr have granted me some things, yes,” the mare answered in a tone of voice that Euphoria had not expected from a Raider. All she had ever heard were vitriol, and several new ways to use a pole. “You haven't been her long, have you?” the mare asked, and Euphoria shook her head in response. “Well, I'm lucky to have made your acquaintance then. I'm Herbal Essence,” the teal-mare added and reached a hoof over to shake Euphoria's own; dropping the spoon in the process.

Euphoria reached a hoof back up, and shook Herbal Essence's hoof briefly, and smiled. “You … You're not what I expected,” she finally said, and scratched behind one of her ears, as she put on a forced smile. “It's actually not that bad, I would say!” she added, after an awkwardly long pause of silence.

“The other clans have soiled our reputation a bit, but that's not the Zephyr way. This very town, is a testimony to that.” As the mare spoke, Euphoria thought back to seeing the mare strung up in the middle of town, without getting any attention from any-pony. “Of course, we have been forced to make ponies cooperate,” Herbal Essence's voice said, as Euphoria caught back up with the conversation.

“Yeah... I noticed that...” Euphoria commented dejectedly, as she sniffed the air, and took in the aroma of huckleberries and something else she couldn't quite put her hoof on. With a look of satisfaction on her face, she opened her eyes again. “What do you make this tea from?” she asked Herbal, still smiling.

“I can't tell you that. Apart from the ammunition, I sell, I also sell my tea, so I have to keep that a secret... Sorry...” Euphoria's ears twitched. Was that a 'sorry'? The notion of ever hearing a Raider say sorry for anything was beyond Euphoria, but this mare had definitely changed Euphoria's view of expected Raider-actions. “Do you make any food?”

“Me? No, never. I'm, however, very good at eating food!” Euphoria replied and grinned, holding a hoof in front of her muzzle as she giggled. Herbal Essence let a giggle or two slip out, as well, as she stopped stirring and moved the pot slightly to the left. She turned around, and pulled out two cups – one of them having a crack going down one side, from a slight chip in the top edge.

Lifting the pot by the handle, Herbal Essence poured low tea into both the cups, and this she didn't have to explain to Euphoria. Once the cups were full enough, she sat the pot back down, but didn't put it back in the centre of the flame. Nodding, she nudged the cup without the crack in it, for Euphoria. “So, you like food then?” Herbal Essence asked, lifting her own cup as she took a light sip.

“Very much so,” Euphoria answered back and fumbled with the cup for a bit, before managed to hold it in her hooves. Slowly, after blowing on the tea for a few times, she lifted it to her muzzle and took a sip. She quickly pulled her tongue back in, as scolding tea hit her. After a few moments, however, she could taste it.

Huckleberries mixed with strawberries, Euphoria guessed it to be. Still, she felt like she missed something. “Where is it that you sell your tea? Sorry for me asking, but I haven't really seen many civil enough places around,” Euphoria asked, as she took another sip of the tea – her tongue felt cool, and numb now.

“You would be surprised at how many places there are, that will let you in on the notion of fresh tea,” Herbal Essence answered with a slight giggle following her voice. “That, and we do get a few merchants around here. Ever heard of the Crimson Caravan?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. Euphoria shook her head, and finished her tea in one last sip – perhaps dragging it out a bit too long, if she were to judge by the look on Herbal Essence's face.

“They deliver all over the wasteland these days,” as Herbal said it, the sentence sparked an idea in Euphoria's head, and she asked the question without thinking.

“Do they even deliver to Detrot?” Herbal Essence stopped what she was doing, and only moved her hoof to lower her cup, and to turn down the flame, until it sputtered to an agonizingly slow death beneath the pot, still radiating warmth into the surprisingly comfy tent. “What? Did I say something wrong?”

“Look, we Zephyr might belong as a part of his grand army, but we try to stay as far away from that place as we can. It'll give you nightmares, and trust me, it's worse than whatever you think it is. Radiation blankets the area, fifteen miles out, and it's deadly when you get closer to the centre, but by then you'll already be dead.” Euphoria gulped slowly, and leaned a bit back.

“If you have enough Rad-Away to survive the radiation, one of those mutations will kill you. Hardened by radiation, diamond-dogs prowl under the earth, and when you least expect it...” Herbal Essence's voice trailed off, and she jutted her hoof into the air as she mouthed the word 'dead.' Euphoria just blinked her eyes a few times. “That's not even half of it.”

“Okay... guess I won't be going there any-time soon,” Euphoria said and cursed on the inside. Rats, there goes that plan! She thought, as she watched Herbal Essence return to just smiling, as she poured Euphoria another cup of tea. “Thank you,” Euphoria said and reached for the tea.

Just as Euphoria took another sip of her tea, Herbal Essence found it necessary to resume the conversation. “Found yourself a stallion yet?” Even though it was a somewhat safer topic, Euphoria went beet red and coughed, as she put the cup down. She tried to answer, but she didn't manage to struggle through the coughing enough.

Still struggling, her voice came out hoarse, but Euphoria just had to answer. “No...” she managed to say, as she coughed loudly, and took a deep breath of fresh air. “M-much b-better,” she said, and looked across the teapot to one, giggling Herbal Essence. “Do you usually ask ponies about that stuff, just when you've met them?”

Herbal Essence shrugged. “When I get the chance, yes. You find love where you can these days. It's not what it used to be...” she lamented, and Euphoria wondered about that. In Stable nine, she had only ever gone on one date, and that was because her mother pushed her, and she was a filly. The moment she had grown up enough to make her own decisions, it had stopped, and while every other pony was out on the Saturdays, she was inside, just listening to her radio shows.

“True, but I prefer this place in that regard. At least stallions aren't hitting on me out here,” Euphoria added quickly and proudly, so Herbal wouldn't notice that she had zoned out for a moment. The teal-coloured mare raised her eyebrows at Euphoria, and after a few minutes of that, and an awkward pause, Euphoria relented. “All right, I didn't have any stallions hit on me. Who would go out with an earth-pony, when there are so many nice unicorn mares around.”

“Don't worry, in time you will,” Herbal Essence added, and Euphoria shuddered, thinking of the message that a certain stallion had left for her. Now, that everything had calmed down for a bit, she had some time to think it over. Maybe it was the cramped environs of the tent that brought the memory, to the forefront of Euphoria's mind. She didn't know, but she didn't care either.

“Anyway...” Euphoria started in a poor excuse of segue into less dangerous waters, than the ones she were currently sailing on. “I should be going,” she said and got a curt nod in return from Herbal Essence. She shifted and rose from her seat on the fuzzy blanket, and remembered to duck as she vacated the cramped tent.

With a happy sigh of relief escaping her, Euphoria looked across the ragged street at a Raider, as he sat in the ditch and fiddled with a rifle. Mottled light yellow hide clung to various parts of his skin, but most of it was a singed black. Euphoria's eyes travelled upwards the stallion's lean body; he looked as if he hadn't eaten in a while, or as if he had eaten what he shouldn't.

Dirt covered most of the stallion's face, and cropped dark-blue mane. Atop his head, half-covered behind a lock of hair, was the stallion's cracked horn. As Euphoria focused her eyes on the stallion, she saw brief slashes of golden light emerge from the cracks in the horn – as if he was trying to use some magic, but weren't quite able to get it focusing right.

“What you lookin' at, bitch?” the stallion snarled at Euphoria, and she meet his menacing gaze, as the stallion revealed a row of crooked yellow teeth. He snorted at Euphoria, and pulled out a piece of metal from the shotgun he was currently working on. Closing one eye, he examined it as he held it up, filtering the sunlight through the rusted piece of metal. “Yeah, gonna cost ya fifty-four caps, Bloodhound,” the stallion called out with a slight snicker.

“What?” another stallion answered back, gruffly. Euphoria perked her ears, and looked towards a charcoal stallion with a crimson mane, emerging from one of the tents close by. “I don't have that kind of money, and we had a deal, you piece of shit!” he snarled towards the unicorn, still diligently working on the shotgun.

We didn't have a deal, and you're welcome to fix it yourself!” he shot back to Bloodhound, and shoved the piece of half-rusted metal back into the side of the barrel of the gun, before he cocked the loading-mechanism. “I'd say you have – maybe – ten more times, before the pin breaks, and turns your face into a bloody affair.” He snickered and tossed the double-barrel shotgun towards the tent. “Perhaps, it'll match your name then!”

Catching the satin-black gun – heavily caked with brown dust and grime – the other stallion retreated into the tent again, as the repair-raider gazed across the road at Euphoria. “And? Speak up mare, or I'll make you speak,” he said, snickering with malice.

Euphoria only frowned and stepped up to the stallion. “You fix weapons?”

“As long as you have the caps, yeah,” the stallion answered back, and tugged at his own barding with a hoof. “I can fix anything, as long as it isn't magical beam weapons.” He nodded at Euphoria, as she slid out her .32 Hunting rifle, and passed it to him. Whistling loudly, the stallion took the weapon and juggled it between his hooves, as he took aim down the street at a random raider, sleeping to the side of the road. “This thing is fine work, as long as it's in working order. As it is...”

He lowered the gun, and pulled back the reloading pin, as he retrieved a screwdriver from a saddlebag, that he had been hiding behind himself. With a quick motion, he unscrewed the two rusty screws holding the pin in, and pulled away the plate-covering, as he slid the pin out and showed it to Euphoria. “You're lucky, you haven't blown your head away. It's a common enough problem, though, and I can fix it but I'll have to replace the entire reloading mechanism. Two-hundred caps,” the stallion said with a smirk, as Euphoria frowned.

“I'm guessing it's out of your league, but that's my price. Or, I can actually fix it up, by sanding away most of the rust.” He looked back down at the rifle, and pulled it back up, as he took aim towards Euphoria, making her back away as she glared back at the stallion. “For twenty caps, I can give you a little more life out of it, as is, but it will break,” he added as he lowered the gun, revealing a smirk on his muzzle.

With a nod, Euphoria took out twenty caps from her saddlebags, and left them with the stallion. “That's a deal then,” she said and frowned slightly, as the stallion took the caps and went to work on her rifle. Keeping a sandpaper between himself, and the pin, he slowly rubbed it across the rusty metal-cylinder. “So, how did you end up here?”

Repair-Raider didn't look up at Euphoria, and just kept working on the gun. “There isn't that many places to get a job around here, unless you want to end up as the target for Raiders. Since you want to know though, I used to live in a town not too far from here, but that didn't last. Raiders hit, and I had to leave.”

He held the pin into the air, and watched as it glittered briefly in the sunlight. “Soon after, I had a choice, and I chose to live,” he said, still not looking at Euphoria. Without another word, he put the pin back into its slot, as he screwed the rusty screws back onto the slat of metal, and slapped it on. He cocked the rifle a few times, before he slid it back to Euphoria. “As good as I'll get it, under the current conditions.”

Euphoria just frowned, and slid the rifle back into her battle-saddle, as she got to her hooves. Giving the stallion a curt nod, she turned on her hooves and headed back towards the hill and the clinic on top. A few raiders in town gave her displeased looks as she went past them, but Euphoria just ignored them and went on with her business.

Ghoul-doctor stopped Euphoria outside Yiltse's room, as he held the door in place with his magic. She looked across at him, and frowned; getting a smirk in return. “Good work on the job, and I hear you've decided what to do next?” He cocked his head at Euphoria, and she frowned back at him. “News travels fast in a small town”

“It also travels fast with people who should be watching what they say,” she replied and leaned against the wall, briefly looking at the pealing walls, that carried scattered bullet-holes. “What do you want?” she asked, as she looked to the side, but didn't fully turn. “I'm not gonna work for you again,” she added, smirking a bit herself.

“Actually, I wanted to give you something. The job may not have paid out as well as you thought, but you've made a route for my caravan, and that's invaluable.” Euphoria snorted and looked away from the ghoul, and his scrawny horn. “The next one I get will be fully loaded, so it doesn't matter that you didn't get everything this time.” His horn glowed golden again, and he lifted a piece of paper from a small satchel, hidden inside his dirty lab-coat.

“As they say: 'Do not open until Hearth's Warming Eve',” Ghoul-doctor said with a light snicker and tucked the note into Euphoria's saddlebags. “I have connections, and you've proven yourself useful,” the ghoul continued as his horn's glow slowly dissipated, and the hallway was cast back into the gloomy white light of the overhanging metal.

He turned and left Euphoria standing in the hallway. Glancing to her left, she looked at the back of the ghoul. “What's your name?” At her question, the ghoul-doctor stopped and turned his head to look back at her, slowly smiling.

“Shallow Stones,” he said with a light snicker to his voice. After that, he vanished around the corner of the hallway, as Euphoria sighed in reply. Why does everybody I meet have to have a really bad sense of humour? She shook her head, and trudged through the door to Yiltse's room, and headed into the bad excuse of a clinic room.

“I'm heading out soon, and I thought I'd check on you before I left,” Euphoria said with a smile as she sat down next to the murky bed, as she looked over Yiltse. The zebra snorted, as Euphoria looked at his leg, now encased in bloody bandage, and nestled between two panes of wood. Do they reuse bandages? She thought, grimacing.

“We're not friends, but you've proven to keep your words, so I guess we are associates, then,” Yiltse replied, and flashed what Euphoria thought was a smile. She blinked her eyes in confusion, and rubbed furiously with a hoof for a brief second, being careful so that Yiltse didn't catch her. “I can't say that I'll ever be able to repay you now, since you've saved my life two times over – my debt is still there,” he lamented.

Don't worry about it,” Euphoria replied quickly and put a hoof on his shoulder. Getting an angry growl in return, she quickly pulled it back and mouthed an apology. “You've saved my life equally as much. Trust me, I doubt I would have survived the marshes, or Cale's Field without you there. Heck, I might have been killed by the mayor here, if you hadn't guided the conversation!” Yiltse's smiled at that, Euphoria was sure of it.

“True as that might be, I still owe you my life, and that can't be repaid. I'm honour-bound to stay by your side, now more than ever,” he said and shifted his body. Before he got get too far, Euphoria pinned him down with a hoof, and he growled at her, but she didn't pull her hoof away this time. “Are you gonna get your friends?”

“Yes. After that, I'll head down to Detrot and pay Tenebrous a visit.” As she spoke, Yiltse's shivered and Euphoria pulled her hoof away from him, though he didn't roll out of the bed as she did so – he remained in place. “Him, and his Raiders killed some of my best friends, and I plan to make him pay.”

“Just... watch yourself,” Yiltse replied after a pregnant pause and shifted his body, so he could look Euphoria in the eyes. “You may have been safe when travelling with me, but now you're fair game for any-pony that wants you, and there are a lot.” Euphoria zoned a bit out after he had said 'safe.' She wondered if he could actually hear himself talk, or if he just ignored it.

“Fine, whatever,” Euphoria replied as she got back onto her hooves, and headed for the door. She however, stopped halfway, before she returned to Yiltse's side. “Here, you keep hold of that,” she said, as she pulled the letter out of her saddlebags, and shoved it over to Yiltse, as he looked back at her with a befuddled expression. “Just remember, that I'll be back for it.” She smirked, and left the room before the zebra could complain.

Leaving behind the safe confines of a Raider-fortress, Euphoria had ventured back into the big empty wasteland surrounding it. Guided by nothing more than a pulsating arrow on her compass, she moved at a slow pace, perking her ears for any sounds around her, but there were none except the constant whooshing of cold wind.

Groaning at the silence, Euphoria pulled up her Pip-Buck menu, and dialled the radio to the frequency of one of the channels available. There was a brief burst of static, but it lifted quickly. “You are listening to Radio Detrot – the only radio for upstanding ponies, in this dark era,” a mare said in a voice that made Euphoria smile.

“I'm as always, your host – Ruby. Today, I bring you news from the North, and the settlements there. Apparently, there's been some commotion at Cale's field, as some-pony just waltzed into town and freed a slave.” Euphoria felt her cheeks flush, but kept on walking towards her destination. “Looks like some-pony had the decency to brave the Syndicate's home-base.”

A brief electrical cheer interrupted the mare on the channel. “Yes, but she's not a hero, I can assure you of that.” Now, a resounding booing of a crowd of ponies echoed out of Euphoria's Pip-Buck, and she frowned. “The Newcomer was seen as she headed back to the town of Gravel, home of the Zephyr clan.

“Surprising it isn't, but at least she hasn't killed any-pony yet.” The sound of a triumphant fanfare, of spectacular and aged music rang out, before the mare spoke again. “In other news, there's been talk of Calico's gang, running errands around the wasteland. Several ponies have spotted mares in unusual barding, patrolling around the wastes; specifically, around the ruins of abandoned Stables.” Before the mare could say anything more, the radio burst with static again. This time, however, there was no coming back from it, so after a few minutes of waiting patiently, Euphoria turned it off.

As she walked, Euphoria glanced to her left, as she saw the scorched remains of a house. Within the confines of the ruined wood, she saw a stained porcelain tub with a skeleton laying in it. Standing completely alone in the vast emptiness of nothing but wind, grit, and violent ponies, the house served as a reminder to Euphoria. She sighed, and kept on walking, determined to not let the dreary look get to her.

Other than the few lonely houses on the plains, Euphoria passed nothing interesting, or so she thought. The few, pony-sized mounds of rock and dirt around her had slowly been increasing, as she ventured forth. At first, they hadn't bugged her, but now they had become so regular, that she suspected something was wrong.

Before she had time to address the eerie feeling in her gut, Euphoria sputtered from the cascading plume of smoke, rocks, and dirt that spewed forth from a mound in front of her. Holding a hoof to her muzzle, she coughed and inched away, as the smoke cleared. In front of her, there was now a pony-sized hole where the mound of grit had been a moment ago.

A pegasus soared through the air in front of Euphoria, and took a wide birth to her. As she squinted her eyes, the pegasus circled back around towards Euphoria again, and she saw brief flashes of green wink against the orange backdrop. It only took a second, for the sizzling fire to hit the ground.

Both plumes of goo missed Euphoria, and merely impacted the ground, and turned it to a sizzling mess of bubbling, acidic water. Yelping, Euphoria scooted back as the pegasus soared past her, and turned on the wind. Cackling loudly, the pegasus lined up another shot – this time, it rang true, and Euphoria shouted out in pain and anger, as she dropped to the ground completely.

Pain flared up from Euphoria's tail, as she slapped it against the ground, in an attempt to douse the fires. When she finally looked back, she noticed that there was no fire – only a searing slash of green goo clinging to the ends of her tail. Frowning slightly, she slapped her tail again, as the last few gouts of goo left it, and sank into the ground.

Still feeling the pain, Euphoria rolled out of the way of another series of green goo-plumes being fired at her. The pegasus slashed past her, as Euphoria looked after the blue shape in the air. She kept her form close to the ground, and lined up her hunting rifle, as the pegasus doubled back around.

Once she drew near enough, Euphoria slipped into S.A.T.S., and lined up three shots at the torso of the pegasus. In the calmness, she noticed that the mare had thrown her silver-mane back by a bandanna, and she had a scare going along the side of her face. Her body had been decorated in menacingly black tattoos, that criss-crossed across her.

Slipping back out, Euphoria gritted her teeth and watched with glee, as her rifle tore two holes in the right wing of the pegasus. Gashes of bright-red blood spilled into the air, as the angry expression left the now injured pegasus. She flailed in the air, as she desperately tried to keep herself level, but she wasn't able to.

Euphoria jumped out of the way, as the blue pegasus mare slammed into the ground with enough force to knock the air out of her own lungs. She slid to a stop a few feet past Euphoria, after she had painted a grizzly line of red after herself. Flailing about on the ground, the pegasus shouted mispronounced words at Euphoria; some she recognized, and some were completely new to her.

Bringing her rifle to bare again, Euphoria swivelled around and walked towards the blue pegasus still on the ground. Did I wound her that bad? Euphoria thought, but she got her answer more swiftly than she thought. Once she had gotten close enough, the mare's cobbled-together language stopped, and she cackled instead.

Rising with a swiftness Euphoria remembered all too clearly, the pegasus charged at her, and knocked her to the ground. Coughing, she shared a look with the mare, expecting to see an angry expression, but the pegasus had none. As she ripped the rifle away from Euphoria's battle-saddle, the pegasus went for her neck.

Pushing against the pegasus with all her might, Euphoria struggled in vain. She could feel the hot breath of the snarling mare on her neck, as she panted and slobbered all over her. In the midst of the debacle, the pegasus would occasionally giggle uncontrollably, before she went back to her attempts of biting Euphoria's neck.

“Will... y-you... stop!?” Euphoria asked with bated breath, but only got a slobbering in response. The pupils of the pegasus had contracted into pinpricks, and even as her right wing leaked blood like a faucet does water, she continued with her struggle. Her hind-hooves scraped in the ground, and Euphoria noticed blood-streaks forming in the grit behind her.

Fuck! With one final push, she managed to knock the pegasus over onto her side, and she immediately went for her rifle. Soon, however, the pegasus knocked her back to the ground, and cackled madly as she leaned down, and licked the backside of Euphoria's left ear. Grimacing, she pushed back against the pegasus, but was simply pushed back into the dirt, as the pegasus growled manically, and spoke something; again, it was too mispronounced for Euphoria to figure out.

Her voice heavy with snarling, the mare slobbered over Euphoria's neck, as she knocked her away, by arching her back in protest. Still panting, Euphoria went for her gun, and backed away with it held firmly in-between her fore-hooves, as the pegasus rose back to her own hooves. She just grinned, growled – and howled towards the air, before charging Euphoria.

The .32 Hunting Rifle spat fire, and the pegasus went down after getting three shots to the head, that shattered her cranium. Even after the second bullet had torn out a good piece of her brain, the pegasus had tried getting up. Euphoria had aimed her gun at the pegasus head decisively, and pulled the trigger without remorse the last time.

Blood mixed with the grit and goo already on the ground, as Euphoria sat down panting, and watched as the pegasus foamed at the mouth; her eyes now devoid of both light, and madness. “So... I guess you're a Whirlwind, huh?” she asked, and perked her ears – half-expecting some cobbled together response. Of course, there were none, but Euphoria poked the mare in the sides a few times, before she decided that the pegasus was dead.

Around her, the cold wind howled as the orange had dipped away, and left the sky a mixture of blue and purple – pink on the very edge of the horizon. She reached a hoof behind herself, and rubbed at the base of her neck. Slowly, she pulled it back, groaning at the spit now covering her hoof. “Eww...” she replied, and scraped it into the dirt.

Turning her mind back to the matter at hoof, Euphoria looked turned the mare over onto her back, as she looked over the barding. It was similar to her very own leather-armour, but it was a deep shade of black, and had less pockets – only one. Next to the pocket, written in now badly faded ink, was the mare's name.

“Redpath,” Euphoria said as she read the white flap, christened with black writing. From there, she gazed at the mare's weapons. Hanging from the side of the mare's battle-saddle, she saw a rifle made completely of metal, that ended in a green crystal at the tip. On the sides, she saw three large bulbous glass cylinders, sparking on the inside.

Flipping the battle-saddle off of the mare, she slid her hoof into the saddlebags, and pulled out the contents. Inside, she found an old picture, a few worn bottle-caps, a rusted fork, and a cracked cup. With a sigh, Euphoria threw the weapons and battle-saddle away from herself; there were no bullets for the weapons.

As she looked back to the mare however, she grinned. “At least, I can make use of that,” said she, and unzipped the mare from her armour. Blood caked the insides of the silky-smooth material, as Euphoria rubbed it gently against her own cheek. “So... soft...” she lamented, and put it into her own saddlebags; watching as her inventory weight, shot upwards.

Seconds later, as her eyes travelled back to the bloody pegasus, now laying in a pool of her own blood, Euphoria frowned at herself. Had she been so self-interest, that she had let this mare die? Surely, she had defended herself, but still she felt bile rising in her own gut. Muttering a few words, Euphoria rose to her hooves.

I have to do better,” she said and turned around, ready to leave the pegasus for other's to pillage or worse. In her short time in the wastes, she had witnessed much cruelty, and it wouldn't surprise her, if some-pony would find the corpse, and have their own bit of fun with it.

As the wind spun around Euphoria, she headed forth – perpetually driven by the winking blue arrow on her compass. It had never truly left her mind, not even in the heat of the battle.

She watched the ponies from her position at a nearby hill. Down there, cresting amongst the flickering lights of blue and gold from a few still standing light-posts, guards patrolled the open spaces between the worn husks of wagons, anciently old. Euphoria watched, as she counted the ponies there.

Twelve, Euphoria counted. Or, that was how many she could see. For all she knew, there could be more inside the caravans – surely, there would be. With a frown on her muzzle, she pulled the pip-buck back up, and looked at the auto-map. By now, she had checked it more times than she could count, but she had to be sure – needed to be.

Lowering her pip-buck again, she continued to watch the camp. It had been set up amongst a series of ruined metal wagons, dotted around a small plot of land. A small house, reinforced with rusted pieces of metal stood at the entrance, along with a pony walking back and froth in front. Slabs of wood criss-crossed between the wagons, and interconnected them all.

Above some of them, the Raiders had built shacks out of ruined girders, and whatever metal they could find. Within a few of these, Euphoria could see the hanging corpses of ponies – inside one, she swore she could still sea the impaled pony's chest still rise and fall, raggedly. She didn't recognize the coat-colour however, so she didn't pay that much attention.

The fence that had once run the edge of the compound, had crumbled at the edges, and fallen to the earth halfway at each side. Despite that, Euphoria doubted that they had any problems in defending this place. From some of the shacks, Raiders stood and watched outwards. Others slept soundly in some shacks, and the rest were completely empty.

Next to the pony guarding the front, the welcoming sign had had its message erased, and now simply read 'Fuck you!' in bright, green writing. Euphoria shook her head, and locked eyes with the inner compound again. Over to one corner, piled next to two hollow wagons, Euphoria could see the same ruined, rusty shopping-carts that had been converted to makeshift cages.

They held no prisoners however, and Euphoria let out a breath as her eyes drifted away from the cages. As she let her eyes drift again, Euphoria noticed a group of ponies huddled around a fire, a few feet from the entrance. A brilliantly white mare, with a short blue mane was talking to the other three ponies surrounding her, but Euphoria was too far away and frowned as she could only see the mare's mouth move; voiceless.

The mare carried no barding, but Euphoria supposed she didn't need to, and snorted as she saw the mare's horn peek out from between a few locks of her mane. As she kept watching the ponies, Euphoria noticed something that had she hadn't quite seen at first. Of course, she should have noticed it, but she was too wrecked with making sure that she was in the right place.

All the Raiders in the compound, had the same red slashes of paint on their bodies. Once she noticed that, images of her fellow Stable-ponies getting tortured and horribly murdered appeared before her, as an apparition. Euphoria growled, and knew in her mind for certain that she was in the right place.

Bringing her back to her senses, the wind was the only audible sound in the area; it made her ears twitch. Tearing her eyes from the conversation, Euphoria watched across the compound to just outside the fence, were two puttering generators stood. Only one guard were guarding them, Euphoria noted as he stood under the flickering light of a still working street-light.

“There we go,” Euphoria commented as she slipped over the edge of the hill, and slid as quietly as she could down the ridge. Because of the darkness, she had to muffle her cursing every time she bumped painfully against a rock in her path, but less than a minute later she was on the ground. Looking back up, she grumbled. Fuck, that wasn't far...

Snickering, she pulled the rifle from her battle-saddle, and slowly eased herself towards the flickering light, watching as it sparked. Euphoria stopped briefly, as she thought, One...two...three....four... And the light sputtered, spewing sparks on the ground and the raider, as he blinked his eyes and rubbed them. Now!

Euphoria charged forth, and skidded to a halt as she swung her hunting rifle around. A loud crack, and a muffled groan rang out as she crashed the wood hard enough against the raider stallion's jaw, to break the wood on her trusty rifle. “What the--” The Raider didn't get any time to finish his sentence, as Euphoria hit him again – knocking him to the ground.

As he groaned on the ground, and clutched a hoof to his aching jaw, Euphoria scooted over, and pressed the rifle against his throat, holding it in place with her hooves on either side as the stallion flailed against her. She grinned viciously as she lowered her face closer to him, and snickered. “Now, you'll die, you piece-of-shit,” she forced out between her teeth, as she watched the stallion's pupils shrink a moment before his body went limp.

Satisfied that he was out of it, she pulled her rifle back and put it into her battle-saddle again, but she looked at the stallion one last time, and saw him twitch. “You...” she said with a sneer, as she pressed a hoof to his throat, and pulled it back quickly. Euphoria's ears twitched in the loud pop that rang out, and she watched as blood pooled in the stallion's mouth. “There we go...” she commented, as she rose back to her hooves.

Staying as silent as possible, Euphoria pranced over to the two sputtering generators. Both of them were heavily caked with rust, and looked as if they had been poorly maintained; steam rose from an air-vent on the side of each; they were also covered in blood-stains, and some foul-smelling liquid – which Euphoria assumed was gasoline, though it was heavily faded, and only the edges of splashing pools could it be seen clearly.

Euphoria stepped closer to examine the generators, and traced her hoof over one of them. The metal was bumpy, and crisp to touch, but after some searching, she found the plate covering her price. Of course, the Raiders – or some other lunatic – had removed the latch that were supposed to open it easily. She shook her head briefly, and pulled her rifle back out, but she twisted it around in her hooves instead of just aiming the muzzle at the plate.

Her hooves brought the butt of the rifle against the plate, and it added a huge dent at it, so it bulged at the ends, making it easy to remove. However, Euphoria stopped for a moment, and looked towards the compound to her right. None of the Raiders had moved, except one or two in the overhanging shacks, but none of them were trained on her. Exhaling heavily, Euphoria pulled the plate to the side.

Within, she found a leather-belt racing at high speeds, so she didn't even think about using her hooves to stop it. It only took her a moment, as she looked between the knife hanging from one of the Raider's hind-legs, and the generator, to realize what she needed to. Euphoria grinned wide, as she quickly grabbed the Raider's knife, and brought it over to the generator.

She took a deep breath, and clenched her eyes shut, as her entire muzzle twisted into a grimace, before she brought the knife to the belt. Sickening, black-fumes billowed around the generators, as the belt churned to a stop. As she opened her eyes again, Euphoria cheered as she saw that the belt had twisted around the knife, and had been cut off completely in the process, rendering the generator useless.

What the fuck was that noise?” a gravelly voice croaked, and Euphoria glanced to her right, to see two stallions approaching her. Before they were too close to notice her, she slipped back to the dead Raider, and groaned slightly as she pulled on the edge of one of the leather-belts bound around his torso. It tasted of a mix of Whiskey, and copper; it made Euphoria want to throw up, but she dragged the Raider back a bit, before she spit it out, and turned to watch the others.

One of the Raiders – a dark-green stallion with a cropped cyan mane – lowered his head to examine the generator, while his buddy stood just behind him and snorted. “Wasn't Shark supposed to watch these today?” he asked, as he turned his head towards the other stallion. Euphoria bit down on her bridle, and cackled as the green stallion fall to the ground in agony, spraying his friend in a barrage of bullets as well.

As the other stallion dropped to the ground in a rising pool of his own blood, Euphoria yelped, and instinctively pulled her injured hoof close to her body. For fuck's sake...she thought, as a thin line of blood streamed from the shot that had grazed her. “Who the fuck is out there?” the angry voice of a mare said, and Euphoria was brought back to the real world.

“Three down, nine left,” said Euphoria to herself with a low growl, as she darted through the brief sliver of light in the darkness, and into the compound. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness again, she could hear the shots from the large group of Raiders still hanging around the fire, as they hit nothing but air; one was close enough to her ear, that it was really sheer dumb luck that Euphoria avoided it.

Euphoria skirted the edge of the compound briefly, but came to a stop close to one of the wagons, and bit down on her bridle. A chorus of orange muzzle-fire, and thunder of bullets sang out in the crisp night air. She watched, and cackled satisfyingly as one Raider keeled over, groaning in agony as he held a hoof to his muzzle. “Suck it up!” the brilliantly white mare cried, and kicked him in the shin, but he didn't get up.

As the Raiders fired back into the darkness, Euphoria slipped inside the hulking, rust-heap, but smiled as she could hear the bullets ping against the metal; it was the sweetest sound she could have ever heard. She panted heavily, as she shifted in place, feeling something stab into her side. Once she had managed to slide to the left, she turned her head to see a dark-green metal-box, marked 'Ammunition.'

Still smiling, she opened the latch – letting out an inward cheer, as it wasn't locket – and found a set of faded-red bullet-casings. Euphoria examined one, but pocketed the five she found quickly, as another set of bullets pinged against the wagon, with one ricocheting inside. It bounced against the metal four times, before it hit one of the dozens of dirty mattresses piled into a heap, in the back.

Taking another deep breath, Euphoria looked out of the open door, and saw three Raiders approaching, including the one that had stood guard at the entrance. She inhaled and exhaled sharply several times, before she galloped out the door, wincing at the pain as it flared upwards from her hoof.

The second her hooves hit the ground, she dropped into S.A.T.S., and loaded up four head-shots. As the world sped back up to normal speed, the head of one Raider exploded in gory display – showering the other three with blood, and skull fragments, along with two eyeballs. In response, they just growled more and fired back at Euphoria's black shape, in the darkness.

“Fucking hell!” Euphoria screamed and dropped to the ground, as the Raiders cackled behind her. “Fuck.. fuck, can't let' em get me...” she moaned out in agony, and limped back up to her hooves. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she managed to drag herself over to a nearby rock, and take cover behind it. Fight... fight... the pain! She repeated it over and over again in her head, as she could hear the hooves of the Raiders crush the grit underneath, and it slowly rose in pitch.

“Got you now, bitch!” the glorious white Raider cackled, as she closed in on the rock. “I'm gonna rip your guts out, and then I'm gonna shower in your blood!” the mare added in a proclamation, as Euphoria groaned and grimaced at her own pain. Why the fuck do they have to be so chatty? She thought to herself, as she rolled out of cover.

The world slowed to a crawl again, as Euphoria lined up two more shots. This time, the mare's proclamation became half-true, as she was doused in some-pony's blood. Behind her, the two Raider stallions, fell to the ground; blood gushing from the throat of one, whilst blood flowed freely from the crotch of the other.

Euphoria sneered as she turned her attention towards the white mare, and saw her backing away, dropping her two saddlebags as she begged for her life. “No, no... I...I... didn't mean to...” she croaked out, between tears as she continued to back up. In response, Euphoria cackled and grinned, as she bit down on her bridle.

She fired three bullets into the mare. The first one turned her left eyeball to nothing but red paste that dripped from the empty hole; the second one cracked the bone in her right fore-hoof, and Euphoria watched as she stumbled, and the bone punctured upwards through the skin, tearing flesh on its way; the last one, tore straight through the mare's chest and out through her neck, so she went limp. “T-the pain...” she moaned, as she looked up at Euphoria with her one good eye. “It h-hurts... p-please make it s-stop...” she added, but Euphoria had already walked away, leaving the mare to an agonizing death, as she bled out on the ground.

Her victory was brief, as she had to dart into cover again, cursing. The Raiders still left, were the ones in the overhanging shacks, and they used their cover and superior fire-power to their advantage. Euphoria pressed her back against the cold metal of a dumpster, as she leaned out from cover and took a brief glance at the Raiders.

As one bullet pinged against the edge, she pulled her head back in swiftly, and thumped it back against the metal. “Okay... six Raiders to go, and I have forty bullets left. I can do this,” Euphoria said, and gritted her teeth against the rising bile in her stomach, but she had to push onwards.

Bullets rained down against her, and Euphoria darted between them, but even then she let out a shriek as one of them punctured her already injured fore-hoof. Mere seconds later, the firing stopped and Euphoria looked up to see that the Raiders had retreated back into cover. Cackling, she crouched low and pushed through the pain as she waited.

The second the first Raider stuck his head out, she bit down on her bridle, and watched as blood sprayed into the darkness, and the stallion fell backwards. As he did so, the entire backside of his shack opened up, and girders impaled themselves in the ground, with the Raider falling onto them. Blood poured out between the girders, as sheet-metal rained down on him; sadly, he was already dead.

The other Raiders got off shots at Euphoria, as she jumped into another Wagon, taking cover inside the hulking metal. She thumped forcefully against the wall, and groaned as she saw a trail of blood following her every move. “Yeah... this is why, Yiltse...” she commented, and coughed violently, spitting out a gob of blood onto the dirty metal floor.

She made a face, as cackling in front of her turned her attention towards the opening. The face of a laughing stallion peered back at her, and Euphoria suddenly saw why as a gun surrounded by shimmering purple came into view. She ripped her entire body to the right, as the stallion shot at her, and the bullet just pinged against the wall, and ricochet.

Even though he wasn't hitting her, the stallion continued firing shot after shot into the caravan, at Euphoria. He only stopped, once his gun clicked and muzzle-fire no longer illuminated his cackling face, and that was when Euphoria took her chance. As she had rolled out of the way, she had pulled her rifle out, and now she took aim, and fired without hesitation at the stallion's face.

With his face turned into a bloody mush, the stallion's body along with his gun, dropped to the ground. “F-four... only four to go...” Euphoria added, as she got to her hooves, and galloped outside, once she had slipped her rifle back into her battle-saddle. Suspicious silence hung in the air, and Euphoria skidded to a stop just outside the wagon. “What...?”

“You're gonna bleed!” a Raider cried, in-between his cackling, as he loaded his rifle, and fired at her. Euphoria screamed in agony, as the first bullet chipped against her other fore-hoof, and she staggered, and as she did so, she saw the flash of muzzle-fire, and that was enough. As she bleed, Euphoria bit her bridle weakly, and fired two shots at the stallion. She didn't see him keel over, but she heard the scream, and bang of metal against metal as his rifle hit the floor.

“Three...” Euphoria barely had enough time to say it, as two more Raiders jumped out of a Wagon nearby, wielding melee weapons. Fuck... there shouldn't be this many bad ponies... she thought, as the Raiders neared her. Euphoria rolled meekly to her side, and bit on her bridle. Due to the angle she was lying in, she was lucky that she hit anything, but she hit the stallion's head.

Blood already dripped from the stallion's muzzle, by the time Euphoria cracked open his skull, and he foamed at the mouth. The shock alone, had been enough to make his jaw go tight, and more blood poured from his muzzle at that, as the blade he held in his mouth carved into the sides violently; Euphoria only heard muffled screams for a short while, before his back went taut, then he went limp.

The other Raider just chuckled, as he kicked Euphoria's sides, and rolled her over so she faced him. “I'm gonna make you a real mare!” he said around the bat he was holding, and even though she was exhausted, Euphoria kicked wildly with her hind-legs, which only gave her another beating from the stallion, as he flipped her back over.

Euphoria coughed violently, as the stallion dropped the bat, and brought his muzzle close to her neck to whisper. “You've killed my friends, and I even liked those guys, so now it's time for a little payback. Besides, you owe me,” he added with a slight snicker, as he pulled Euphoria's tail out of the way.

Oh fuck that! Euphoria's mind screamed at her, and she took the bat with one hoof, forcefully bringing it back against the Stallion. Even though it wasn't a full swing, the stallion staggered. “That's...” Euphoria began and rolled back around, as adrenaline surged through her veins. Facing the stallion once again, she swung the bat, and it was a true swing this time.

The stallion impacted the ground hard, and he spat out blood, and yellowed-teeth as Euphoria rushed over to him. “No way to treat a lady!” she finished and brought the bat down on his head again, and again, and again, and again. By the time she was done, she had stopped counting, and only gasped in horror at the Stallion's crushed face.

His entire skull had been beaten inside, and his lower jaw had been mangled so much it had dislocated; while his eyeballs were bulging out of his head, along with brain-matter. Backing away from the grim sight, Euphoria dropped the bat. Half a second later, her entire body jerked at the sound of metal, and she saw the shape of a mare dart away from the compound. “I don't want to die!” she screamed, and escaped into the darkness.

Euphoria just looked after the mare, and dropped to her knees. “Fuck...t-there's something wrong with me...” she said, panting as she looked at the ground and her own fore-hooves. When she looked back up, she didn't look at any of the mangled bodies surrounding her, she instead focused on the one thing she had left untouched – the building. “Now, I really... really, really hope they're in there...” she said, and slowly got back to her hooves.

On her way to the building, Euphoria picked up her rifle and slid it back into her battle-saddle, deciding that she could loot the bodies of the Raiders later, since she had more pressing issues. As she pulled on the door, it opened easily, but creaked horribly, and Euphoria just groaned as she stepped inside.

Flayed bodies of random ponies had been strung from the ceiling, and the flood was caked with their blood. A table had been set up in the middle of the room, and had four adjacent chair set up around it; all of them made from rusty metal, with flaking white finish still clinging to a few places; on the table, strips of flesh lay in a pan, whilst several different kinds of drugs lay next to it, including a health potion.

As she passed the table, Euphoria slipped the potion into her bag, and approached the wood counter at the end of the room. She ducked under the bodies, and went behind it, seeing a pony impaled onto a dirty bed. Euphoria grimaced at the mare's decapitated head, and her mutilated torso, which counted countless sores that had most likely been inflicted before she had died.

In front of Euphoria, a half-open door stood, and seeing as there was nothing else in the room, she headed through it and soon found herself in what had once been a gift shop. Rows upon rows of shelves on each side, contained both ancient toys, and new weapons, as well as bloody body-parts of different ponies.

She stopped halfway, as her mouth hung agape at what met her in the middle of the room. A dark red mare, with a fiery red mane stood over a green mare, still in her Stable uniform; whilst the red mare had dressed up in typical Raider uniform. She took one look at Euphoria and cackled madly, as she pulled the knife she had pressed up between the sobbing mare's nethers on the floor, away.

Her pupils pulled into small pinpricks as she made eye-contact with Euphoria, and she cackled wildly. “Come to join the party, E?” Buckshot said, only cackling more as she saw Euphoria's legs shake in response. Gripping the bloody knife between her teeth, Buckshot turned her attention fully to Euphoria. “We're gonna have some fun today!” she added, and charged for Euphoria, her mad cackling echoing dimly in Euphoria's ears.

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk: Silent Horseshoes – With this Perk, you now have the ability to move quickly and still remain quiet. You can Sneak, and gallop at the same time. Without this Perk, you would automatically stop Sneaking if you galloped.