//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Hangover // Story: Fallout Equestria: Ashes to Ashes // by Tango //------------------------------// Ashes to Ashes - Chapter 3 Hangover I was standing in the middle of Neighvac. The main street was completely deserted, save for me and the gecko king, wearing his crown of water bottles. Ten meters of dusty ground separated us. Slowly we circled each other, keeping an eye for any sudden movement. Once in a while, he would hiss at me, at which I would return a growl. A small hole opened up in the cloud curtain. Sunlight fell through it and created a perfect circle of light between us. From the hole, a shape fell down. I struggled to keep an eye on the gecko king, fighting my curiosity about the shape. A faint noise got louder. “WaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” BANG! The shape crashed down into the ground, creating a small crater and making me struggle to stay on my hooves. Once the dust cleared, the shape appeared from the crater. It was the bartender whose name I never learned. He stood there, smiling and waving at me. “Hello with the pudding.” Well, at least he was civil. I smiled back and said. “Good day with the cake.” The sneaky gecko king used the distraction to leap from behind the bartender, claws ready to tear up my face. Time slowed down while he jumped at me and I got a good look of his long claws and fangs. I saw him come closer and closer, while I stood there, petrified. Then, at the last possible moment, one of the water bottles on his crown exploded and his head was jerked back. Time returned to normal again and a shower of water and blood erupted from the late king's head. I saw a large hole in his skull and I looked around, searching for my savior. Behind me, the dragon stood, with Fifty Cal in its mouth. He gave me a nod and I waved at him when I noticed a movement in the corner of my eyes. My eyes shot to its source: the dragon's tail! The dragon was alive after all! I tried to yell at Fifty, warn him to get out of there, but no sound left my mouth. The dragon's eyes looked at me, and with a shock I realized that I recognized them. They were my own! The beast winked at me and closed its jaw. I stared in horror as I witnessed Fifty disappear between the long, sharp teeth which now formed a large grin. “Noooooooooo!” I screamed. That bastard! Who did that dragon think he was? I grabbed a nearby rock and ran towards the laughing creature. He didn't even notice as I ran up his tail, between the spikes on its back and on top of its head until it was too late. I brought the rock down and crushed the skull, sending scales and pieces of skull flying. Its head cracked like an egg. I looked inside the dragon's head, where Fixer and Sticky Piston were standing. Fixer gave me a stern look. “You should really wake up.” Piston looked at her. “Oh let her sleep some more, can't you see she's having a nice dream?” Fixer dismissed him with a hoof. “Listen to me. It would be really smart to wake up now, before something bad happens. Okay Ember?” I almost lost my balance when the dragon's head moved. “Ember.” It said. From its mouth I heard Fifty speak. “Ember.” Down on the ground the gecko king stood up again. “Ember.” It sounded a bit like a frog's croak. Whatever a frog was. Then the bartender yelled at me. “Pudding!” “Cake!” I yelled back. Finally I put my attention back at the inside of the dragon's head. I looked expectantly at Piston. He didn't disappoint. “Ember!” His yell was so loud that I had to cover my ears. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. “Ember!” I groaned. “Ember, Ember, wake up!” I stretched my legs, and curled up a little. I was still tired and the voice hurt my ears. “Awww, can't I stay in bed just a little longer?” “That's the problem, you're not in your bed.” Wait, what? I opened my eyes. All I saw were clouds. Oh, right. I must have fallen asleep outside. No problem, I was used to that. I slept outside all the time. Sand was my favorite soil to fall asleep on, then came mud. Mud came second only because it was so wet and cold. I liked its squishyness though. It felt like I was currently lying on rocks, hard and cold. Or wait, no, it felt more like metal. As I ran my hoof along the surface, I felt some texture, scales. Okay, that was unexpected, metal normally didn't have scales. A voice in the back of my head was screaming that I knew what metal this was. I knocked. It sounded hollow. I shot up, and immediately wished I would have stayed down, the sudden movement made my head spin. But I knew where I was: on top of the dragon's head! “She's awake!” I heard a voice yell from the ground. The sweet, safe ground. The sweet, safe ground which happened to be twenty meters below me, I noted as I looked down. The sight instantly made me feel dizzy. “Ember! Listen very carefully to me! Whatever you do, do not, under any circumstance, look down! Oh, and don't panic, Piston will come and get you out of there!” I recognized the voice as Fixer’s, who now shouted something unintelligible to Piston. I decided to follow her advice and not look down anymore, instead I inspected my sleeping spot. Celestia knows why, but sometime last night I had apparently had the brilliant idea to spend the night as the dragon's hat. My 'bed' was located between two large spikes over the dragon's ears, giving me something to hold on to. The previous day I had been two meters below, I hadn't had any trouble with the height back then, but then the statue's teeth had been there to hold me back from the edge. Now, with only a spike preventing me from becoming a pony pancake, it was a lot scarier. Several tense minutes passed, during which I spent most time lying curled up in the middle of the the statue's scalp. Eventually loud huffing and puffing announced that Piston had arrived to save me. When I looked at him though, I wondered which one of us needed the rescue. His eyes were huge and he was shaking all over his body, apparently I hadn't been the only one to look down. After we had calmed down a bit, we made our way down the dragon's spine. Fortunately Piston had brought some rope with him, which we had tied around one of the spikes and around ourselves. We then zigzagged through the spikes on the statue's back, making our descent somewhat safe. As we came down, I noticed that what looked like the whole town had gathered around, watching us. All of the attention embarrassed me and I walked down the last part with a huge blush on my face. The moment I set hoof on the safe soil, I let myself fall and kissed the ground, causing a loud cheer from the audience. I immediately covered my ears in agony. Since when did sound hurt so much? “Here, drink this, it'll make you feel better.” I looked up at Fixer, who was levitating a bottle of water. Wasting no time, I grabbed the bottle with my own telekinesis. Or at least I tried to, since the moment my red aura enveloped the bottle, a splitting headache caused me to throw up. “Aw, isn't she cute? Her very first hangover! Does anypony have camera?” I looked up at Piston. “Don't talk. Please, just don't talk, it hurts.” I managed to mumble. Fixer deemed me unfit to take care of myself and instead put the bottle at my lips. “Drink. Hopefully this will teach you to stay away from alcohol.” She kept her voice down, for which I was eternally thankful. While I was drinking, the townsfolk scattered and went back to their own businesses. Fixer had been right, the water helped numb the pain. Once I had finished the bottle Fixer left to get some more. I looked at Piston. I remembered that he had taken me to the bar, where we had been drinking together. That left me with an important question. “Why doesn't it hurt you?” I asked Piston, it was unfair that he seemed to be okay while I had been sleeping on top of a dragon. “Practice, my young apprentice, lots and lots of practice. Oh, and the fact that you hogged the whole bottle of Gargle Blaster might have had something to do with it too.” I remembered the bottle, how could so little liquid make me feel so sick? Right on cue, my stomach decided that it didn't like water and sent it back up. At least that made Piston look a bit sick as well. “You let her drink a whole bottle of Pan Equestrian Gargle Blaster by herself?!” Fixer, who had come back and overheard our conversation, had discarded her soft voice. “What were you thinking? That stuff can floor an Ursa and you gave it to somepony who had never drank before!” I clutched my ears, trying to shut out the sound. Fixer was far from done, she ran up to Piston and started tackled him. “You. Inconsiderate. Stupid. Moronic. Ass!” Punctuating each word with a smack in the head. Piston curled up and begged. “Mercy! Have mercy, please, Ember, tell her to stop.” Despite my headache I grinned at him and shook my head, this was far to funny to put an end to. But, as they say, all things must come to an end, and after a couple of minutes of bashing and yelling, Fixer was too exhausted to lift her hooves anymore. “Now. *Pant* Apologize. *Pant* To her!” She managed to say. Piston stood up unsteadily and came swaying to me. “I'm sorry about getting you drunk and stuff. But we did have a good time didn't we?” “I honestly can't remember,” I said. Fixer gave a smirk. “Yeah, that's what alcohol does to you. I suggest you better watch out next time.” Piston gave her a dismissive wave. “Don't mind her Ember. She still isn't over the time that she drunk a little too much.” He gave a dreamy smile before continuing. “The next morning she completely freaked out when she woke up in my bed.” Fixer's face turned from silver to red. “You promised to never talk about that again!” she yelled at him. “Hey, I never promised anything. You just told me that you would kill me if I talked. And, if I recall it correctly, it was you who actually convinced me to, you know,” Piston retorted with a wink. I didn't think it would be possible, but Fixer's face was now even redder than my coat.  “I did not! You're making it up!” Even though it was funny to watch them argue, I wished they wouldn't yell. My headache had gotten worse again from all the loud noises. “I ain't making up anything. You got me in bed, and I was more than happy to let you have a good time! I'm a real gentlecolt you know, I always let the ladies go first. In fact, I'm pretty sure I let you go for what, five, six times before it was my turn.”  Fixer looked as if she wanted to skin him alive. I figured my stomach wouldn't be able to handle such a mess, so I decided to jump in. “Piston, I was curious, how did I end up on top of the dragon?” The two of them turned to me, distracted from their argument. Piston sighed. “Frankly, I have no bucking clue. After you finished the Gargle Blaster, you jumped up and yelled something about saving the town from a monster. Then you ran to the door and left. I got up as quickly as I could, but since I'd had a few bottles myself, my reaction time wasn't exactly top-notch. By the time I got out, you were long gone, so I searched all around town for you. I even went to the well, since I figured you meant geckos when you said monsters. I had never thought 'bout looking for you on top of the dragon though.” He looked me in the eyes. “Look, I'm sorry for what happened. I was trying to cheer you up a bit and I promised to keep an eye on you, but well...” He gestured at the dragon. “Apology accepted?” His expression was serious and I saw that he meant it when he said he was sorry. “Apology accepted.” I agreed, I couldn't possibly stay mad at him. Sure, it was a big shock to wake up twenty meters above ground, but he never meant any harm to me. He only wanted to give me a fun time. Which reminded me. “Say, until the dragon climbing part, did I have a good time?” I wondered. Happy that his apology was accepted, Piston's smile returned. “Oh yes! You were having a great time. Dancing and singing like there was no tomorrow, though nopony was really sure what you were singing.” “That doesn't really sound like me.” I had only started speaking again less than a day ago. It seemed odd for me to sing and dance. Piston sighed. “You're right, you only did that for a little while. When there was about a quarter bottle left, you started sobbing. It was hard to understand, partly 'cause I had had a few bottles myself, but I do remember you calling for your mother.” I looked at the ground, my mood was killed. Piston and Fixer came next to me. Fixer put her leg around me. “Ember, do you want to tell us?” I shook my head, I was tired and wanted to sleep, escape from reality. “No. Not yet, at least. I, I want to go to bed now, please.” Fixer squeezed me a little tighter. “I understand. You can use one of the beds in the clinic.” I followed her inside and was soon  asleep, this time in a proper bed. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. After a long nap I woke up again. Fixer had given me some water before I went to sleep, and my headache was almost gone. I now had only a faint throbbing feeling, which was a great improvement. I climbed out of bed after managing to overcome a slight dizziness. Fixer wasn’t in the building, so I decided to take a look outside. When I trotted out the door I noticed the light falling through the clouds had lessened, indicating that it was some time in the afternoon. Coming out on the main street, I had no idea where to go, so I decided to check if Fifty knew where Fixer was. I made the climb to the dragon’s head, this time the proper way. Once I was in the mouth, I coughed to catch Fifty’s attention. I didn’t dare to get close enough to tap him on the shoulder, partly because it would be unwise to startle someone with a large gun, partly because I didn’t want to get close to the edge. It just didn’t feel safe for me anymore. Fifty snickered when he looked in one of his mirrors and saw me. “Did I impress you so much that you wanted to become a sniper as well?”  This time I understood the sarcasm and laughed with him. “You really are a good shot, I was glad you had our back yesterday.” “Thanks, I must say I was quite impressed by your hoof-fighting skills too. That gecko was no lightweight.” I blushed a bit under his compliment. The nice thing about a red coat though, is that you would have to be practically on fire before other ponies can see your blush. “Anyway, what is it you wanted to see me about?” “Well, I’m looking for Fixer. I kinda hope she can give me some directions on what to do next. I now sleep in the clinic, but that can’t go on forever. I need to find some kind of income for myself.” The nap had given me the opportunity to think about my future, something I hadn’t really done before. While I knew I was welcome with Fixer, I felt a bit like a parasite. Besides, I wanted to feel useful, so a job would be a good idea. “I don’t know ‘bout Fixer, but if you need an income I think I might be able to help you with that.” Okay, he had my interest. “Next week there’ll be a trade caravan to Saltash. They’ve got some supplies we need, and we’ve got water to trade for it. Partly thanks to you of course. Anyway, if you want, I can get you a spot on the caravan, help with carrying the supplies. We’ve got no Brahmin you see.” “Wait! Did you say Saltash?” Old memories flashed before my eyes. A small town in the middle of the desert, smiling ponies walking through the streets, strange hooves from under my bed, a slaver dragging me to the middle of town, the same ponies as before, but no longer with smiles, a final look back, the large billboard with the letters written over a long faded image: Saltash. “Yeah, Saltash. They’re not the nicest bunch, but not too bad once you get too know them. Besides, they’re one of the closest towns to Neighvac and we really need some of the stuff they can provide. So yeah, we just got to deal with them.” That was interesting. And unexpected. I occasionally thought about what happened to Saltash after we had been taken away, but it had never crossed my mind that new ponies would settle there. From the way Fifty talked about them I understood that they weren’t the nicest ponies either, which was difficult for me to imagine. It did made me curious though. “Is it okay if I think about it?” I needed to sort out my thoughts first, decide if I really wanted to go back. Without looking back, he nodded. “Sure, you’ve got plenty of time to think about it.” It still was a little weird to talk to somepony who didn’t look directly at you.I got a lot of respect for the sniper though, standing for hours in the same position, always alert. That made me wonder, standing for hours, surely he would have to empty his bladder once in a while. I inspected my surroundings more closely, there surely was no bathroom here. It also didn’t smell, well, not more than usual, so he didn’t do it in a corner or something. Speaking of corners, in one of them was a small mountain of food and drinks, as well as ammo. In another corner were more drinks, except, the bottles were all filled with yellow liquid. Fifty saw me stare via one of the mirrors and chuckled. “I wouldn’t drink those if I were you.” Oh. OH! I stammered a goodbye and quickly ran out of the dragon again. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. After walking around for a bit, I arrived at Piston's shack. Once, the structure must have been a lovely house. Now, sheets of metal showed were the walls and roof had collapsed. The area around was littered with pieces of scrap metal and old machinery. I went up to the door and knocked, half expecting to break it. “I'm coming!” I heard Piston yell, so I decided to wait. After a minute or two, the door opened. The pony in the door however, was not Piston but rather a heavily blushing Fixer. She let out a squeak of surprise. “Ember! What are you doing here? Why aren't you still in bed?” “I was, but I woke up and went looking for you,” I answered, also a bit surprised to find her here. Last time I checked, she had been pretty angry at Piston. “And now I found you, but uh, why are you here? Weren't you angry with Piston? Did you come here to apologize or something?” Fixer laughed nervously. “Yeah, something like that. Say, why don’t we go back to the clinic?” She quickly added. While she led me back to the medical outpost, I noticed that she was having a little bit of difficulty walking. When I voiced my concerns though, she assured me she was fine. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. After we came back, I told her about Fifty’s offer. I didn’t tell her about Saltash though, I didn’t feel ready to tell her my life story yet. She seemed a bit hesitant about it first, but admitted that the caravan probably was the best way for me to get some caps. Though the route between Neighvac and Saltash was relatively safe, I had displayed a talent for getting injured. And relatively safe didn't mean a lot in the wasteland, where even the bugs could kill you if you weren’t careful. So Fixer decided it would be a good idea to teach me some basic medicine; how to bandage wounds to prevent bleeding out, how to remove a bullet and how to use healing potions. Granted, even foals knew how to do the last thing, but she did give me the tip to remove bullets before using a potion. Healing potions would usually push any shrapnel and bullets out, but sometimes you just didn’t have any potions with you. On such occasions, it would be advisable to remove the metal so that it wouldn’t do any more damage. After some practice on a piece of meat Fixer made me promise to never attempt to remove a bullet without without using my magic to manipulate. It is very difficult to handle a scalpel with your mouth and if the piece of meat would have been a real pony... Let's just say that a shotgun would have done less damage. When my lessons were finished, it was time for bed. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. I had my standard nightmare, with the slavers attacking and dragging me away. This time though, I didn’t wake when I was dragged out of the room. Instead, the black slaver carried me outside, levitating me so I couldn't hit him or try to rip his snow white mane out. We passed by several corpses, some of slavers, some of ponies I knew. I didn’t care though, I only cared for my mother, which I made clear to my captor by lots of kicks and screams. This didn’t seem to have any effect though as the slaver chuckled before whispering in my ear. “I love the way new slaves struggle. It only makes it more fun.” Confused, I stopped for a moment. Then I remembered why I had been whining in the first place and continued. The stallion laughed a bit. “I think you and I gonna have a lot of fun together.” Something about his voice made me shudder and redouble my efforts to get away from him. He took me to where they were holding the other captured ponies. Slavers were busy putting collars around their necks. An older stallion, whose name I couldn’t remember, recognized me. “Ember! Thank goodness you’re alright!” He looked around. “Where is your mother, didn’t she come with you?” I looked at him, unsure of what to say. That wasn’t a problem though, as the the slaver laughed and answered for me. “I’m afraid her mother won’t be coming.” He grinned before adding. “Well, maybe if she stayed alive long enough...” He shook his head. “Anyway, she was too stubborn to surrender. We were lucky that this one,” he poked me. “was such a loud-mouth.” My fault. It was my fault that they had found me. All I had to do was to be quiet. I stopped my wriggling and sat down, staring into the distance. The old stallion spat at the slaver. “You disgust me.” The black stallion didn’t seem to appreciate it. He slowly wiped the spit from his face before roughly grabbing the buck by the mane and dragging him away from the group. He addressed all of us. “Listen carefully, because I will only say this once. You are now our property, slaves. If you behave nice, you’ve got nothing to worry about. However, if you don’t obey or even, as this one...” He pulled out a revolver and pointed at the stallion on the ground. “...insult your master. Then you will face the consequences.” He pulled the trigger. Around me, several screams and angry yells sounded. I didn’t scream or yell. I just sat there, staring at the old stallion whose name I couldn’t remember. In my head I heard my mother’s lovingly voice: “That’s my filly, I love you so much. Now remember, whatever happens, make sure they do not find you. So no moving or talking, okay?” ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. There was no screaming involved when I woke up, which was a nice change. My body didn’t want me to have nice things though and had produced a huge amount of sweat, soaking my mattress and sheets. I quickly rolled out of bed and dragged the soaked clothes outside. It still was a bit dark, but during the day it would hopefully get hot enough to dry everything. Since I awoke earlier than Fixer, and since I kinda ruined her mattress (as far as a 200 year old mattress can be ruined), I decided to make us some breakfast. As a slave, food was provided for us most of the time. This meant I missed any experience with preparing food, but hey, how hard could it be? One ruined kitchen later I had managed to create something, after some poking at it I concluded it was hot and perhaps edible. Since I knew how it had been prepared, I decided to let Fixer taste first. I discovered that I could levitate small things again without a headache, though I was still a bit lacking on control. Oh well, if I kept practicing, I would probably become better at it. So I levitated the plate with uhm... well I wasn't really sure about what to call it, so let's stick with Ember's special for now. Fixer was happily surprised when I announced that I had made her breakfast. Her smile faltered a bit when she saw exactly what I had made though. After I assured her that it was perfectly safe she took a small bite. Which she instantly spat out again. After rubbing her tongue for a while she sighed. “I think cooking lessons are in order. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the gesture, it’s just, did you actually taste it yourself?” “Uhm, I’ve actually never cooked before.” I answered honestly while nervously shuffling my hooves. Fixer gasped. “Wow, no wonder then. Did your parents spoil you so much that you didn’t have to cook yourself or something?” That made me cringe. Fixer noticed and facehoofed. “Oh, I’m sorry Ember. I forgot. I shouldn’t have started about your parents.” I sighed. “It’s okay, and I still promised you to tell my story. But can we go see Piston first? I don’t want to have to tell it twice.” She agreed, and after a quick meal (prepared by Fixer), we were on our way. A short walk later we arrived at Piston’s house. Fixer knocked and we waited for the door to open. “Fixer! Good to see you again!” Piston said cheerfully after opening the door. When he saw her expression and me, he got a bit more serious. “Is something wrong?” “It’s probably easier to discuss this inside, can we come in?” Fixer answered. Piston hastily nodded and gestured for us to come in. After we got seated on some raggedy chairs I took a deep breath. “I used to live in Saltash...” ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. “...and that’s when you found me.” I concluded. Somewhere through the story I had started crying, causing me to see everything blurry. Furthermore my throat was hoarse, which wasn’t surprising considering I just talked more than in the past years combined. A silence fell now that I had stopped talking. Piston and Fixer were still sitting in the same position as when I had begun. Neither of them had spoken during my story. It was a bit odd to be the talking one for a change, while everypony else was silent. Several seconds passed in complete silence. I was getting more and more uncomfortable and wanted to leave, then Fixer stood up and walked to me. She completely startled me by putting her forelegs around me, holding me tightly. For a moment I didn’t know what to do. I decided to return the hug and let myself hang onto her. I put my head on her shoulder, it felt good, safe. The feeling made more tears come out, but not tears of sorrow. It felt relieving to cry, it was as if part of my misery washed away. We stood there for a long time. Simply holding on to each other. No one spoke a word, nor was it necessary. Once I was done, I broke the hug. I felt better than I had felt in years. Relieved. “Thank you, I think I needed that.” I whispered, not wanting to violate the perfect silence. I looked at Piston, who was shifting uncomfortably in his chair. I gave him a weak smile and he came over. He also gave me a hug, albeit shorter and a bit awkward. Nevertheless, I was glad that he did. “I’m so sorry for you, it’s just, I’m not really good with emotional stuff.” He gave a small snort. I smiled at him. “Hey, me neither.” It made him chuckle a bit. We kept standing there as they asked me questions, which I tried to answer as best as I could. Eventually it was time for my own question. “So, how is it now in Saltash?” “Well, it’s definitely different now. There are quite some shady figures so if you decide to go there, you should keep an eye out,” Fixer told me. “It’s a Luna-damn ratnest that’s what it is. Half of the scum of the wasteland come there!” That was something I liked about Piston: he always seemed honest. “Sure there are some rotten apples,” began Fixer, until she saw Piston raising an eyebrow. “Fine, a lot of rotten apples. But there are also good ponies there. I mean, we trade with them; you can hardly call that criminal activity.” Piston’s expression hardened. “Sure we trade with them, but if we would one day decide we wouldn’t want to trade with them anymore they would just as happily come and steal our water. Besides, where do you think they get all those goods from? Heck, I bet that half of the bandages in your clinic originally belonged to some poor bastard who came to an unfortunate end in Saltash.” Fixer’s facial colour had started to match mine over the course of Piston’s monologue. “Now listen to me very carefully. Those bandages saved lives and I refuse to believe that they were taken by force until you can prove me otherwise. So unless you’ve got some hard evidence saying that the ponies in Saltash are as bad as you say, you need to shut your mouth! Understood?” Piston was evidently taken aback by the outburst. He quickly nodded and muttered a “Yes mam” before taking some quick steps back. As Fixer seemed to be steaming I figured it would be a good moment to step in. “I guess the only way is to go and see it for myself. Who knows, maybe I can visit my old house.” I let out a weak laugh. Truth was, a part of me really didn’t want to go back to the origin of my nightmares. An equal part did want to go back though, partly out of curiosity, partly because I silently hoped to somehow find my mother again. I was no foal, I knew that if new ponies lived there now, all corpses would have probably been taken away. Plus, if after all those years my mother was still be there, well, I wasn’t sure if I would want to find her. My decision snapped both of them out of their argument. “We should better get started on those cooking lessons then, if you want to be able to take care of yourself,” Fixer said. “And you’re gonna need to train a bit, water is pretty heavy if you’re not used to carrying loads. Come back tomorrow, I’ll put together a rig for you to practice with. No offense, but you don’t look like you can carry a whole lot,” Piston said as he poked at my ribs. I smiled as I realised that these ponies really cared for me, that I could say that they were my friends. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. I do not own the rights for Fallout nor My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic They are held by Bethesda and Hasbro respectively Furthermore the Fallout Equestria universe has been created by Kkat who also deserves a lot of credit. And also thank you Otherunicorn for proofreading and pointing out some things to improve!