//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: A Long Road Home // Story: Fallout Equestria: Ashes to Ashes // by Tango //------------------------------// Ashes to Ashes – Chapter 4 A Long Road Home True to their words, Fixer and Piston taught me how to take care of myself. Over time my cooking skills gradually increased until the point were we could actually eat my creations. The cooking lessons also greatly helped me to practice some fine control with my telekinesis, which was beneficial in the shooting practice Piston gave me. This time he actually taught me how to reload as well and after a couple of lessons I had become a decent shot. He also gave me some tactical tips, like to find cover, or retreat if the enemy has a bigger gun than you do. Between the shooting and cooking lessons, Piston made me carry around a rig loaded with scrap metal. I had carried heavy loads before, but walking through the wasteland while suffering from malnutrition and dehydration is an effective way to destroy one's condition. Fortunately the combination of training, good food and proper rest at night was enough to get me back to strength. Well, proper rest... Over the course of the week my nightmares had slowly become worse. Every time I had the dream where I was dragged out by the slaver, I spotted something new: bloody hoofprints on windows, the remains of a pony who seemed to have had a grenade explode underneath him or her, screams coming from one of the buildings, slowly dying out. In short, I wasn't looking forward to going back. Still, a part of me insisted I should go there, out of curiosity and the hope for closure. All of this I was contemplating while lying in bed. I had been sleeping alone in the clinic for the last couple of day since Fixer was now spending every night at Piston's house. According to her, she had to watch over him since he had caught some rare disease. To me, Piston looked pretty much the same as before, though maybe a bit tired. But who was I to judge a doctor's opinion? The next morning the caravan would leave and I was supposed to be sleeping, getting a last, good rest before hitting the road. Still, I couldn't fall asleep. I thought of my fears and hopes in Saltash. I thought of the nice ponies here in Neighvac, specifically Fixer and Piston, who had helped me get my life sorted out. I wanted to stay, but I didn't want to abuse their hospitality. I rolled over and groaned in my pillow. Bad move, the pillow was stained with two centuries of sick ponies and, though it had been washed many times, I could easily smell that. Quickly I rolled back to my side and smelled myself. Not the best smell either, but still better than the pillow. I chuckled a bit as I tried to imagine having a proper bath. The closest thing I remember were the warm showers back when I was a filly. Maybe I could try to get a bath once I was back in Saltash. It seemed unlikely since they needed to import water but hey, a mare can dream right? As I was thinking about nice, warm baths I slowly drifted to sleep. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. “Aaahhhhh.” I let out a sigh of relief as I stepped into a large pool, filled with clean, warm water. This was perfect, I closed my eyes and let myself relax as all the dirt and grime of the wasteland washed from me. When I opened my eyes I saw there was something wrong. I was pretty sure that there weren't supposed to be any dark tendrils floating from my hide. I tried to rub them of my skin but that only seemed to make them bigger. All I could do was watch while the darkness spread throughout the water, slowly making it increasingly more difficult to see the bottom of the pool. I didn't want to stay in the water anymore, so I turned around and tried to climb out. My wet hooves had trouble getting a grip on the slippery surface around the pool, but after some effort I managed to lift my rump out. Just when I thought I was safe, something wrapped around my hind leg and jerked me back in. With a surprised yell I disappeared beneath the surface and into the darkness. It was so dark that even after blinking several times, I wasn't sure whether my eyes were open or shut. After a short struggle I managed to breach the surface. While gasping for air I saw movement from the corner of my eyes. I jerked my head in its direction and was greeted by an abomination. The creature seemed to be made out of the water of the pool, it was impossible to tell where the liquid ended and the thing began. That was made even harder since it shared the darkness of the water. Darkness was a lacking description actually, since it implied that the creature still had a color. Rather, when I looked at it, all I could see was the world behind it, but not the creature itself. For me, it was a hole in my vision, and I could only determine its outline by looking next to it. I noticed that the water had turned into the same undefinable stuff as the creature. I could still feel it, and see how high it was based on the sides of the pool, but my legs seemed to be cut clean off underneath the surface. I looked back up at the abomination. Another annoying thing about not being able to see it was that I didn't know how far away it was. I could see that it was getting bigger though, but I wasn't sure if it was actually growing or getting closer. Either way, I wasn't keen on playing sitting duck and tried my best to scramble away. Panic and slippery surfaces don't go well together, making even harder than the first time to climb out. A brief glimpse over my back taught me that the thing had definitely grown as it now covered everything behind me in nothingness. I focused forward again, determined to escape this freak. As I tried to crawl my way out of the pool though, I slowly saw the world around me disappear until only a tiny speck of light was left. For as long as I could, I stared at that tiny speck of light. A voice in the back of my mind told me to stop struggling as it was utterly pointless. The voice was joined by more and more until they had formed a deafening chorus, forcing me to stop. Making me let go of the side to put my hooves over my ears. I shot a last glance at the light. I blinked and it was gone. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. I awoke with a loud yelp. Why did my dreams always turn out like that? I was just having a bath for Luna's sake! I let out a sigh and rolled ungracefully out of bed. Then, as I hit the floor, I remembered: caravan day! Quickly I grabbed the few possessions I had, the broken slave collar, the .32 pistol with some rounds, a couple bottles of water and some food I had prepared myself (under the professional guidance of Fixer of course) and a saddlebag into which I put everything. After getting ready to roll, I trotted outside. I was early so I sat down and watched my new colleagues assemble. With them came half of the town to wave them out, which was understandable since most of the caravan members had relatives here in Neighvac. After a while I saw Fixer and Piston join the crowd, standing close together. After spotting them I quickly waved and walked towards them. They saw me as well and we met half way. “Will you look at that,” Piston said with a big grin. “our baby girl is all grown up now. Finally she's spreading her wings.” His comment earned him a quick poke from Fixer who, I now noticed, looked pretty tired herself as well. I mentally shrugged, she must have stayed up late to take care of Piston. “Good luck Ember, I hope you find some answers in Saltash,” she said. “and you should know that you're always welcome in Neighvac, just look for the big dragon.” Her words made me smile, it was very comforting to know that I had a safe haven. These ponies had been nothing but friendly and understanding, they had helped me without even knowing who I was, but rather because it was the right thing to do. I drew both of them in a tight hug. “Thank you so much for everything you've done. I owe you more than my life.” They both returned the hug and we stood there for a minute, laughing and smiling, until a dark-green stallion, who I recognized as the caravan leader, interrupted. “Okay everypony, saddle up! We move in ten minutes!” All of the caravan members, who had also been saying goodbye to their families, trotted towards the foot of the dragon, where our saddles were neatly displayed. I broke the hug. “Well, goodbye then.” Fixer nodded. “Goodbye Ember, take care and remember those cooking lessons.” Piston gave me a wink. “See you later Ember, get back in one piece will ya?” “And you get better soon!” I grinned and walked towards the rest of the group. After putting on my gear, which was a lot easier now that I had good control over my magic, I stood in line with the rest of the caravan. We were standing in front of the dragon statue, neatly in a row. I counted a dozen water carriers, myself included, and four guards. Everypony was in a good mood, cheerful shouts were exchanged between us and the rest of the townsfolk. I looked up at the dragon's mouth and saw Fifty in his usual spot. He didn't bother to look down, instead he kept scanning the wasteland for threats. I admired his dedication to the town, the way he took his job extremely serious, never letting his attention slip. My thoughts were interrupted by the caravan leader's booming voice. “Alright colts and fillies, time to move!” Right on cue we started walking, though I had a little bit of trouble matching the pace at first. But after a while I matched the leg motions of the mare next to me with perfect synchronization. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. Our first stop was the well, it was on our route to Saltash so we would stop there to fill the tanks.. Each of the water carriers had two large tanks on his or her back. They were to be filled to the brim and then closed, to prevent sloshing. The tanks were pretty big and it took a while to fill all of them. While mine were being filled, I was very glad that I had trained with the scrap metal, I hadn’t realized that water was so damn heavy? “Where does all that water come from anyway?” I asked nopony in particular. The pony next to me chuckled. “Can't handle some weight?” I was slightly startled to see a large, sand-colored stallion. The large rifle on his back indicated he was one of the guards. That made me a bit nervous as in my mind, guards weren't there to protect me, but to keep me from escaping. And on top of that my last conversation with a guard hadn’t ended very well. “No no, I was just curious, that's all.” I quickly said, doing my best to avoid eye-contact. Slavers considered eye-contact to be a form of disrespect and had taught me that lesson well, a painful lesson. “I mean, where does the water for the well come from?” “Oh, well that's a good question.” He came a little closer and pointed a hoof in the direction of Saltash. “See those mountains?” I nodded, a little uncomfortable from the lack of personal space. Still, I'd had worse intrusions, so controlling myself with an actually friendly guard shouldn't be a problem. “When it rains over there, the water goes into underground rivers, which lead here. So basically we're standing on top of an underground lake, or at least that's what the information of some old terminals showed us.” I nodded again. It made sense I guessed, I wasn't exactly an expert on underground rivers. “May I ask why you're actually interested in some dull, underground lake, Miss...” He had gotten even closer, so close in fact that I could feel his body heat, or was that my own? Seriously, did this stallion not know about personal space? A small voice in my brain got really uncomfortable with the short distance between us and screamed that I should run away. Luckily the rest of my brain was still sane enough to point out that firstly, I had to stay with the caravan. Secondly, the stallion, although being an untrustworthy guard, hadn't done anything to threaten me, and had actually been friendly. Thirdly and finally, running would be rather difficult and hilarious for anypony watching, now that I had two large, completely filled water containers on my back. While my brain was arguing with itself, my mouth decided that the voices in my brain were idiots and proceeded to answer the question. Unfortunately, without a brain to guide it, my mouth couldn't do a lot. “Em. Ember. Just curi, curi, curious.” Was all that came out. A small part of my brain got distracted from its internal conversation and wondered since when I had started stuttering. “Well pleased to meet you, miss Ember.” He said while shaking my hoof. “My name is Shield, Iron Shield.” He stopped for a moment, looking me over. I still kept my eyes fixed at the ground, yeah the ground was pretty. “I'm not making you feel uncomfortable, am I?” “No.” I lied before I knew it. I was a little disappointed in myself, already lying after one week of talking again. So I quickly corrected myself. “Maybe a little. But it's not your fault. I'm just not used to, uhm, friendly guards.” I was once again glad that my red coat made my blushes nearly invisible. Shield's voice got a bit softer as he inched even closer. “That's a shame, how could anypony not be nice to such a beautiful mare as yourself.” He gave me a small flick with his tail. “Okay, that's it.” The voices in my brain yelled angrily. “You're on your own now!” And just like that, it shut almost completely down. The only part that was left was the voice that had come with the 'run for it' plan earlier. Now, without the rest of my sanity to stop it, that part was left in control... While producing a high-pitched noise I didn't know I was capable of, I jumped and galloped away from him and the rest of the caravan. Luckily my hooves were carrying me in the right direction. Unluckily those same hooves failed me as they got stuck behind each other. That, combined with the extra weight on my back, caused me to topple over and land face-first in the dirt. What'd ya know, my brain had been right, running away with filled water tanks on my back actually was hilarious for everypony watching. Even the caravan leader couldn’t suppress a laugh as he offered his hoof to me. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, but next time, wait for the rest of us will ya?” Heavily embarrassed I quickly accepted his hoof and allowed him to pull me back up. Internally I scolded my brain for deserting me and putting me in this situation. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. The rest of the caravan quickly joined us and we set off to Saltash. My little run-away had apparently lifted the spirits even more as I noticed a lot of whispering and giggling between the other slaves... no wait, water carriers! They were water carriers, not slaves. I mentally facehoofed. After a while the whispering died out, I honestly didn’t care what other ponies thought of me. Well except for Piston, Fixer and Fifty. I wondered about Shield. Why did I become so nervous around him? Was my mind still not used to the idea of friendly guards? Or was it because he had come so close to me? Actually, why did he come so close to me in the first place? Did he plan to give me a flick with his tail? And why had I gotten so embarrassed by it? I got frustrated by my lack of social experience, it felt like I was missing something, but I had no clue what it was. “What are you hiding?” I thought as I looked him over. He was walking in front of me, next to the caravan, and gave me a nice view of his side. His walk seemed confident, relaxed. His ivory mane was well-kept, and his muscles strong. On his flank a large, reinforced shield was visible, big surprise there. Whispering from behind me distracted me from Shield’s flank. And made me notice that he had turned his head and was looking me directly in the eyes! My heart skipped a beat and so did my hooves, causing me to nearly tumble over. With some quick reflexes and a bit of magic to make the water tanks lighter I managed to stay on all fours though. I looked up to see Iron Shield shake his head and smiling look ahead of him again. Behind me the whispers had turned into a loud giggling. Normally I wouldn’t have been bothered by such a sound, but I blamed them for almost making me trip, so I angrily turned my head around. Behind me, two almost identical mares were walking side by side, both making very poor attempts at holding in their laughs. The only obvious difference between them was that one had a turquoise coat and a dark blue mane, while the other had those colours switched around. Upon seeing the most intimidating look I could produce, both nearly choked with laughter. I remembered being distracted while walking often ended in a meeting between my face and the ground, so I decided to focus back at where I put my hooves. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. After a day of walking through the wasteland, we arrived at the base of the mountain range. Nighttime was falling, so we set up camp on top of a small hill. We didn’t bring any tents or mattresses with us, though some had brought blankets. Me? I didn’t mind sleeping on the dirt. It was actually a bit nostalgic. With some wood from a long dead tree, a campfire was made. After having dinner, which tasted a lot better than the glue-like substance the slavers made, I chose a spot right next to the fire. The warmth made me feel safe and the dancing flames calmed me down. Soon, I was feeling drowsy and had trouble keeping my eyes open and I fell asleep not long afterwards. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. I was in a room. Not the usual dark and dreary room, but a brightly lit one. It was a large room, filled with burning candles which made dancing shadows. All feelings of uneasiness left my mind as I walked towards a large table in the centre of the room. On it were fancy plates and all sorts of foods. I wondered why there was so many when I heard somepony knock on the door. I walked to the front door and opened it. On the other side was Iron Shield. I asked him to come in and we went to the table. Somehow I knew just where he was supposed to sit and led him there. Just as I wanted to sit down, another knock on the door sounded. Again I opened the door and this time Fixer and Sticky Piston were standing there. I was very glad to see them and after some quick hugs I led them to their respective seats. Then I noticed there was still one chair unoccupied. Right on cue, a third knock sounded and I left my guests behind to answer the door. Crying, I fell on the ground as I saw my mother. Smiling, she picked me up in a long hug. My tears became of joy as I led her to her seat, practically bouncing with happiness. I sat next to her and all of us talked, laughed and ate. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. “Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!” I quickly put a hoof in front of my mouth, but the screaming didn’t stop. Which made sense, since for once it wasn’t me who woke up everypony with my screaming. It became a lot less amusing when the screaming noise was joined the sound of gunshots. The whole camp turned into one chaotic mess. Ponies were running all around, screaming incomprehensible slurs. The only thing that was clear was that we were under attack. Immediately I jumped up and started to look around to find the source of the sound. That was made rather difficult difficult by the complete lack of light, save for the campfire. Curse the darkness of the night! What didn’t help either was that the gunshots seemed to be coming from everywhere around our hill. Without wasting any more time I levitated my pistol in front of me and galloped to the edge of the camp. There was a nice, big, convenient boulder behind which I could take cover. Carefully I peeked my head out of cover in an attempt to spot my targets. The darkness hid their bodies, but the muzzle flashes from their guns betrayed their positions. It was pretty convenient that earth ponies held guns in their mouths, all I had to do was shoot at the flashes until they stopped. I was so occupied by the shooting that I didn't notice that the gunfire and screaming behind me had stopped, at least not until I felt something hard and cold being pressed against the back of my skull. "Drop it." A raspy voice told me, so I dropped my gun and slowly stood up. When I turned around I had the familiar experience of staring into the barrel of a shotgun. I gulped. The shotgun pony led me back to the campfire. There, the rest of the caravan was gathered on the ground. Another pony was putting something around their necks. Slave collars, I spotted with fear and disgust. Quickly I sat down in the middle of the group. This was not good, not good at all. I had no intention at becoming a slave again, but if I didn't think of something quickly, I would be in a lot of trouble. Once a slave collar was put on, it was impossible to remove by yourself. Oh! That gave me an idea! As quickly and stealthily as possible I pulled out my old collar and put it on. It was a risky move, if they would notice, I would be in a lot of trouble. It was a risk I was prepared to take though. There was no way anypony would take my freedom again. Once I got the collar on I slowly moved my way around the pony who was putting the collars on. I was almost there when the unicorn mare called for me. "And Where do you think you're going?" I put on my most innocent and fearful eyes and pointed at my collar. Silently I was praying that the small amounts of light would disguise my bluf. She looked at me for what felt like an eternity before muttering "Strange, I could've sworn I hadn't done that one yet." and walking away. I let out a deep sigh. Close call. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. Once everypony had gotten their collar one of the slavers who I presumed to be the leader gave us a small speech. I didn't pay any attention since I had heard it all before. Instead, I started looking around to see if there was any chance of escape. I counted nine guards, seven earth ponies and two unicorns. Most of them seemed either tired or injured, which was good for me. After the speech we were allowed to go back to sleep. Most of the caravan members and slavers did so. I only pretended. Before we went to bed I had chosen my sleeping spot carefully: at the edge of the group, near the boulders. I also took great care to make myself stand out as least as possible, every time I saw a guard look at me I made myself as small as possible and never looked them in the eyes. It was pretty easy for me actually. I just acted like I always had, but even more submissive. Now it was just a matter of sneaking out unnoticed. Though most of the slavers had went to bed, there were still four awake. The one with the shotgun was one of them and he didn’t seem to think I was harmless. I got a bit nervous, the sun was getting up and if I didn’t move soon, there was no way I could escape unnoticed. But with the shotgun pony watching me I wouldn’t get far either. In short, I needed a distraction. My gaze fell upon one particularly drowsy mare on the opposite side of the hill. She kept falling into sleep, only to wake up again when her head fell down. In her mouth she loosely held a small pistol. Perfect. After making sure that none of the guards were looking in my direction, I focused on the gun’s trigger. It was tricky to try to manipulate something so small from a large distance, but eventually I was rewarded by a loud bang. The gunshot sent the mare flying backwards and made her the focus of attention for a couple of seconds. That was all I needed. While the camp was in disarray I dashed as quickly and silently as equinely possible towards the boulder. From there I made sure that nopony had seen me leave before galloping towards the mountains. The first daylight was already filtering through the clouds and if I ran back to Neighvac I would make myself an excellent target. My only chance was to reach the mountains before they realised I was gone and find a place to hide between the rocks. I was almost there when gunshots from behind me indicated that they had found out about my escape. A quick glance over my back told me that there were three shapes in hot pursuit. They provided some extra motivation for my legs to carry me as fast as possible. Soon enough I reached the a tight canyon, it featured steep cliffs on both sides and was apparently the only way through. I made a mental note when I saw a large boulder precariously resting on top of one of the sides. After working my way through the canyon I found a way up the cliff. I grinned as I formed a plan in my head. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. Once in position, I patiently waited for my pursuers to enter the canyon, giving myself the opportunity to catch a breath. Several minutes passed before I heard voices echoing from below. My initial count had been correct, there were three guards, one unicorn and two earth ponies. I was actually a little bit disappointed when I saw that the shotgun buck wasn’t with them. I wanted to give him some payback for surprising me, but he could wait. First I would have to deal with these four. “Hey you! Looking for somepony?” I yelled at them as I stuck my head out of cover. All of them instantly stopped and stared at me in utter astonishment. Once they had recovered from the shock they turned their guns at me. The largest earth pony yelled back. “Yeff! Ge ouwn eer!” I gave him a confused look. “What was that? I couldn’t quite understand you.” His face got red as he yelled even harder. “GE OUWN EER EIGHD OUW!” I tilted my head. “You really need to learn how to articulate.” Putting emphasis on every syllable of ‘articulate’. He spat out his gun, his face was almost as red as my own as he yelled at me once more. “I SAID GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!” “Oh OK.” I replied and pulled my head behind cover again, leaving behind three extremely confused ponies. I didn’t make my way down though. I only pulled back my head so they wouldn’t see the glow of my horn as I took away the support for the boulder. The large boulder on the opposite side of the canyon, now directly above a stunned group of squishy ponies. All I heard were a dull blow and a scream of pain. I quickly trotted back down into the canyon, wondering how I ever could have lived without my magic. The result of the impact wasn’t very pretty and made me struggle not to vomit. It was effective though. Two of the slavers had been spread out over the canyon floor. The third only had his lower body crushed. I felt a tinge of compassion for him as I imagined how it must have felt like, but quickly dismissed that feeling with pretty much every memory of the past years. Determined to not stay any longer than necessary I quickly looted anything lootable. The side-effect of my boulder-to-the-face tactic was that the boulder didn’t discriminate between target and loot, effectively making the gun of the half-squished pony the only thing still recognizable and useful. It was a laser pistol, and in pretty decent condition as far as I could tell. A quick check of the magazine showed that it was filled with a total of thirty energy cells. I had no idea how much damage I could do with it as I had never seen one in action, so I decided to test it out. Taking careful aim, I shot one laser at the half-squished pony, who spontaneously burned to a pile of ash. Wow. Okay, I didn’t expect it to do that. The small pistol’s destructive power astonished me. I looked it over again, growing more and more confident. With this weapon I would be practically unstoppable! It would be a piece of cake to take on the slavers and free the caravan, if the only thing I had to do was to hit the bad guys. Now the only thing I would have to do was to actually find the slavers. With the cliff as a lookout post that was an easy feat. The caravan was slowly moving alongside the mountain range, apparently to give my three pursuers the opportunity to catch up. I followed the cliff in their direction, if I could overtake them I might be able to set a trap. The prospect made me smile. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. Setting up a trap proved to be more difficult than I had first anticipated. They stayed too far away from the mountains to use the rocks as cover, making it impossible for me to sneak up on them. This meant that the only way for me to get into range would be to wait for the night to fall. It was difficult to control my eagerness for testing my new toy, but I managed. The waiting was pretty boring though, and I had trouble staying awake. Fortunately the night eventually fell and I could put my plan into action. My plan was simple: kill the guards one by one. The awesome laser pistol would reduce them into piles of ash before they would be able to alert the others. All I had to do was make each shot count, since if I missed, I could just as well shine a bright spotlight at myself. My heart pounded in my throat as I snuck as close as possible to one of the guards. Because the slavers were faced towards the caravan members, and the camp was on a hill, I couldn’t take a clear shot at his head. It shouldn’t matter though, my awesome gun would kill him no matter what. It did make me wonder though, why weren’t there more of these laser pistols? I shrugged, it didn’t matter if there weren’t any more of them as long as I had this one. I lined up a shot and silently prayed for Celestia and Luna to guide the shot. I pulled the trigger and watched as the laser beam struck the slaver right on his flank! The guard then did something completely unexpected. I fully anticipated him to burn up into a pile of ash, melt into a puddle of goo or even simply drop dead. What I did not expect, was for him to jump up in the air, screaming and rubbing a large scorch mark on his flank armour. Incredulous I stared at my pistol. “Why did you fail me?” I felt the urge to yell at it. My disappointment in the pistol become less of a priority as the screaming slaver woke up the whole camp. Well, shit. There went my plan of being all sneaky. It was time for plan B: figuring out a plan C. Luckily my brain was helpful and pointed out that the gun still had 28 shots left. Thanks brain! As quickly as I could I fired as many shots as possible. I only stopped after I was completely sure the slaver was dead, his armour and hide still smoldering from the shots. Phew, that was one problem solved. With the three slavers I had killed earlier that left six problems unfinished. The sound of bullets whizzing past my head indicated that those six problems now knew where I was and that they weren’t glad to see me. My brilliant brain didn’t take long to fabricate a plan D: tactical retreat! As fast as my legs could carry me I ran back towards the mountain, passing a nice, big boulder along the way. Oh how I loved these boulders! Without hesitation I ducked behind it, feeling a lot safer now that I at least had some cover. Now that I was safe(ish) I peeked back, only to be greeted by a loud bang and a stinging pain in my left ear. The second time I levitated my pistol with me and fired at the two dark shapes that were running towards me. One of the dark shapes had a faint glow by his head, the same glow that enveloped a floating shotgun next to it. It looked like I would get my chance of revenge after all. The second pony didn’t have a faint glow, but bright muzzle flashes from a submachine gun to light her head. The bullets she fired were chipping away at my boulder and grazing my mane, so I made her my prime target. I fired the laser pistol at her. The red stripes of doom illuminated the area briefly like a stroboscope, almost putting me in a trance as if I emptied the last energy cells. When my ammo was depleted I snapped out of it. The fact that a certain somepony’s shotgun blasted pieces of rock in my eye might have had something to do with it as well. While my right eye was blinking and tearing like a maniac I now had to face the shotgun unicorn with an utterly disappointing and, more importantly, empty gun. Well, I still had my horn with awesome unicorn telekinesis, so why not use it? With all my might, I threw the pistol at the unicorn, who was about five meters away. He simply stepped aside and fired another round at me, which I barely managed to evade by ducking back behind my trusty rock. Time for plan E, or F, or G, or... you know what? Screw it! Time for plan One. That was much less confusing than using a letter, and if it actually worked I could pretend it had all been part of my first plan. But first I would actually have to think of a plan One. My watering eye wasn’t helping. Wait, eye! That was it! All I had to do was to surprise the Mr Shotgun and make sure he couldn’t see anymore. I peeked my head above the boulder, levitating a rock the size of my hoof next to me. As soon as I saw Mr Shotgun I threw the rock at him. Laughing, he stepped out of it’s path and fired his shotgun at me again. Perfect. After quickly ducking behind my boulder to escape the deadly shotgun blast, I rolled beside it and sprinted towards Mr Shotgun, picking up small pebbles on the way. He frantically tried to load the next shell as he saw me coming. When I was about halfway his grin showed that he was ready to pump me full with lead. That’s where the pebbles came in. With all my might, I threw the small cloud of tiny rocks at his face. I didn’t expect to actually hurt him, they were just intended as a distraction. Plan One was almost flawless; the incoming pebbles broke Mr Shotgun’s concentration and forced him to shut his eyes. However, he still managed to pull the trigger, causing pain to erupt all over my left side. Unfortunately for him, I had already built up too much momentum and when he opened his eyes again, he had a perfect view of the back of my head. The front of my head was invisible though, as my horn was completely embedded in his chest. We stood there in complete silence for a while. “You bitch,” he finally muttered with his raspy voice. “Surprise.” I said, my voice slightly trembling. As he fell to the ground I quickly pulled my horn out, causing blood to spurt out of the wound. I could also feel the warm fluid running down my neck, probably from Mr Shotgun’s mouth. I would do anything for a bath now. Or a healing potion. A brief inspection of my left side showed multiple wounds, most of them seemed shallow though. Still, it hurt to breathe and my left back leg had trouble carrying my weight. The sound of gunfire and screams put me out of my misery. Were they shooting at me? The shots were coming from the camp, but they didn’t seem to be aimed at me. I quickly grabbed all the gear from Mr Shotgun and the other slaver and limped my way back to the camp. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. By the time I arrived, the gunshots had stopped and the only slavers in the camp were lying on the floor, leaking from multiple holes. Happy that the caravan members had apparently managed to free themselves, I walked into the camp with a big smile. Nopony smiled back. Out of the seventeen ponies the caravan had started with, myself included, only ten were still alive, most of which were crying over the bodies of the dead. I recognized the caravan leader as one of the ponies still standing. “What happened here?” I asked. “What does it look like?” he snapped back. “While you drew those two away and got the other slavers distracted, several ponies had the brilliant idea of taking them out. They succeeded, but at what price.” He gestured his hoof around the camp. “They fought for their freedom,” was my response. What else could I say? He sighed. “I know, I know. But the price is too damn high.” He sighed again. “Look, we’re grateful for our freedom but its ju-” He was cut of by a voice from behind me. “YOU!” I spun around and my face got introduced to a turquoise hoof. After rubbing my muzzle I looked up (with my good eye) and saw that the hoof belonged to the turquoise mare with a dark blue mane. Her eyes were filled with tears and her look was murderous. I briefly wondered where her sister was when she started talking again. “She died because of YOU!” Stomping her hoof on the dirt to make her point extra clear. Oh. Oh shit. I looked behind her, where a mare with a dark blue coat and a turquoise mane peacefully lay on the ground. I wanted to say something, let her know that it wasn’t my fault, that this was all because of slavers. But nothing came out of my mouth. Instead, she punched me again. And again. And again. On my head, shoulders, anywhere where she could hit me. I let her. Eventually her punches became weaker and weaker until she was hanging around my neck, slowly lifting her foreleg and letting it come down on my back again. I put my own foreleg around her, letting her cry on my shoulder. I desperately wanted to help her, to make it up to her, to make things better again. But I couldn’t. No matter how hard I would try, I could never bring her sister back. “I’m sorry.” I meant it. I felt truly sorry for her, but still the words were just words. We stood there for a long time. Eventually my legs collapsed and we fell down. There we fell asleep. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. The next morning the mood was somber. The first thing we did was bury the dead and treat the wounded. The caravan members received a proper funeral, complete with named graves. The slavers were burned in the fire, after all of their valuables were taken. Out of the seven caravan ponies that had died, three had been water carriers, the rest were guards. I tried to feel sad about Iron Shield, but my heart was already hollowed out. Without ponies to carry the water, we used the surplus to wash ourselves of the blood. After we were done we went back to our path in a solemn silence. I walked next to Lazuli, the turquoise mare. The caravan leader had told me her name, Lazuli hadn’t spoken to me since the night before. That was okay though, if anypony would understand that, it would be me after all. I understood she had to cope with the loss of her sister, and I knew she blamed me. So I stayed with her, in case she needed a punching bag. If there was anything I had learned in the past weeks, it would be that emotions weren’t supposed to be suppressed. And so we walked. Without guards, we were more vulnerable. Therefore everypony who wanted had taken one or two weapons, be it from the late guards or the dead slavers. I still had the single shotgun and the submachine gun, though the latter had little ammunition. After throwing the laser pistol away, I had lost it and didn’t bother searching for it again. Luckily we made it through the mountains without having to use them. Behind the mountains was a large plain; the bottom of a former lake. The salt layer gave Saltash part of it’s name. The other part came from an old, sleeping volcano that ponies could no longer identify, although they diid know that it was part of the mountain range. Despite the somber mood, I still got a bit excited at the sight of the distant town. It all seemed so familiar, the shape of the houses, the calm smoke coming from several chimneys, the billboard, the pony hanging from the billboard. Okay, that last part was new. And disturbing, definitely disturbing. But as I read the town name on the billboard, I knew I was coming home at last. ./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\./^\. 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, Hawk281 and Nyerguds for proofreading and pointing out some things to improve!