Fallout Equestria: Fragments

by Dawn Flower

Origins

If I'm going to tell you about the adventure of my life -- explain how I got to this place with these people and why I did what I did and what I'm going to do next -- I should probably start from the beginning: when I was born.

I opened my eyes slowly and there was a bright light shining down on me from the ceiling. After a few seconds, my eyes adjusted to the light and I was able to make out a pony standing over me. It was a male unicorn, wearing a white lab coat and a doctor’s mask. I couldn’t make out his mane or coat colour from this angle, with the light shining down on me and where he was standing. He then moved to speak. “Let’s see now; are you a filly or a colt?”

Just then, another male unicorn walked into my field of vision on my left. He poked his head in close to get a better look at me. This close up, I could see that he had a dark blue coloured coat and his mane was an even darker shade of blue. His mane was short; just reaching down to his ears and curled slightly at the top of his head. His eyes, unlike the rest of his body, were green.

He then lifted his hoof up to me to examine me closely. He then pulled away from me and turned his head to the side. “It’s a filly; a filly, Daffodil. We have a beautiful, healthy baby filly.” He then turned back to look at me, a big smile on his face. “She’s… she’s…” His facial expression changed a bit to a look of surprise. “She’s a pegasus.” After a brief moment, he then smiled again and let out a small chuckle. “Well would you look at that; there hasn’t been a pegasus in my family for generations.” His expression changed a bit again. “Not since before the war.”

I then heard another voice that sounded like it was coming from right behind me. “Oh Evening, she’s beautiful; a daughter. Our beautiful daughter.” It was definitely a mare talking. She sounded like she was tired, but she also sounded really happy as well.

Suddenly, I felt myself being lifted up into the air, although nopony was holding on to me. I was levitated a few feet back into my mother’s open hooves. She lifted my head up so that I could look at her. She was a beautiful, unicorn mare with an amber coat and blue eyes. She also had a long, brown mane with red and orange streaks, tied back in a ponytail. I really like her mane. I always had.

She was currently sitting up in a hospital bed with me in her hooves, a look of pure joy etched into her face. My father then walked into my field of view on my right, standing next to the bed, with the same look on his face. He briefly looked over at my mother, who looked over at him and then they both looked back to look at me.

“She’s beautiful,” my father said; the happy look on his face never changing.

“Yes, she certainly is,” my mother responded. “She is the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen in my life.” She was incredibly happy as she spoke; however, her expression and tone of voice suddenly changed a bit. “Although… I certainly wasn’t expecting her to be a pegasus.”

My father suddenly looked over to her in response to this. He remained silent for a few seconds, but then he moved to speak again. “Yeah, I know. The last pegasus in my family was my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, and that was before the war.” He then lifted his head up and looked at the ceiling. “Blood does start to thin as time goes by…” He paused for a moment before continuing. He then closed his eyes briefly and smiled. “But despite that, it’s all still there. Our connections to the past are always there, no matter how much time passes.”

My mother smiled at this. “Yes, you’re right.” She suddenly dropped her smile again. “But the Wasteland is a dangerous place; and it’s much easier for a unicorn to defend herself than a pegasus.”

My father looked over to her and responded, “Actually, this may be blessing; in more ways than one.” My mother suddenly looked at him strangely. “When she gets older, she can just fly above the clouds and be with the rest of the pegasi and be free of the Wasteland and all of its dangers.” He spoke with a straight face the entire time, but then he gave a small sigh and he smiled. “She would be safe there. Forever.”

My mother just stared back at him for several seconds, eyes unblinking. She then smiled back at him. “You’re right.” She then turned down to look at me again. “That is all I would ever want for her.” She continued just staring at me, lovingly. She then ran her hoof through my mane.

My father’s eyes wandered back to her and then he turned his head fully around. He then looked down to look at me too. They both stayed that way for several seconds, but then suddenly, my father’s eyes widened for a second in realisation and he let out a soft chuckle. “I almost forgot; we don’t have a name for her yet.”

My mother soon followed suit. “You’re right.” She then turned her attention back to me and thought. “What’s her name?”

My father then turned to her and said, “Well… if it’s alright with you…” He hesitated slightly before continuing. “I would like to name her after my grandmother; the pegasus.”

My mother turned to him immediately. “I see. Is it because she’s a pegasus too?”

My father turned his head away. “Well, yes; but that’s not the only reason. My great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother was an amazing pony. She worked at the Ministry of Peace, alongside Fluttershy herself. She worked hard every day to try and bring peace back to our world after so much bad had happened. No matter what, she always put others before herself. She was one of the most kind and generous ponies there ever was.” He then smiled and chuckled a bit. “She even survived the war, and it was because of her that my family has survived this long.” He then looked down at me and smiled again. “And when I look at her, I just know that she will do great things for the world. I just know it.” He then let out another small chuckle. “Also, from what I heard about my grandmother, she also looks a lot like her.”

My mother looked back at him and smiled. “Well then, I don’t think that there is a more noble reason than that.”

My father looked back at her and smiled. He then looked back to me. “Well then, it’s settled. From now on, her name will be…”

“Lightning.”

I grew up in a small pre-war settlement; calling it a village is a stretch. It was just a collection of about ten houses, as well as a clinic and a store, all grouped close together. The settlement was surrounded by a large fence made of old scrap metal, which ran along the perimeter of the settlement to protect us from the Wasteland. The area within the perimeter was less than three acres in size, including the buildings. The ground underneath was all barren soil where nothing grew, just like the rest of the Wasteland. The settlement survived by bartering with the local caravans that passed by and by sending trained parties out into the Wasteland to scavenge for supplies. Inside the buildings, there was old pre-war furniture and appliances that had been partially restored over the years that ponies had lived here for. The plumbing still worked, so we had a continuous water supply, although the water was very dirty. However, the unicorns in the settlement knew a spell that could clean the water and make it safe to drink. The spell couldn’t do anything about radiation, but it could still get rid of all the dirt, making it safe to drink. The water was still slightly irradiated, although it would take at least a year of drinking it before it started to affect you, and even then it was easily treatable with some RadAway. All in all, our settlement got by very well in the harsh, unforgiving Wasteland. We all functioned as a community, and the fillies and colts were able to play together happily and without fear of the world outside our fence.

Meanwhile, inside my own house, I huffed and threw myself on the floor. My father noticed this and walked over to me to ask me what was wrong.

My father’s name is Evening Star. It’s a tradition in my family to name the males after times of day. It’s a tradition that goes back generations, even back to before the war. At first, I thought it was strange to keep up such a silly tradition from so long ago; but I guess it reminds them all of happier times. In a world like this, you’ve got to hold on to something, right?

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

I lifted my head up and looked him in the eye. I had an annoyed look on my face. I remember being very angry, but I don’t remember why. I wasn’t angry at my dad or anypony else. I was just angry. “Why am I so different? Why am I the only pony around here that has wings?” I then turned my head around and pointed at my wings on my back.

My dad just stared back at me for several seconds, with a blank expression on his face. Then suddenly, he smiled and started laughing. “That’s easy, sweetie; it’s because you’re a pegasus.”

I lowered my hoof and turned my head back around. “But why am I the only pegasus here?!” I barked back at him immediately. “Why are none of the other ponies here in the settlement or in the travelling caravans pegasuses?”

“Pegasi,” he corrected. “And the reason that there aren’t any other pegasi around here is because they all live up above the clouds. They’re all able to live above the clouds and don’t have to worry about the Wasteland and all of its dangers. They’re all able to live comfortable lives, without having to fear for their lives every day. To them, it’s almost like the war never even happened.”

I stared back at him for a moment before responding. My anger had faded slightly and now I was just annoyed. “But if they’re all so well off up there, then why don’t they try to help the ponies who are suffering down here? They must surely have the resources to help them; so then why do they just ignore the rest of us down here and only worry about themselves?” I then briefly squeezed my eyes shut and screamed out, “Why are the pegasi so selfish?!”

My father was taken aback by what I just said, and he hesitated for a moment before responding. He then let out a small sigh. “I realise that the situation is not perfect for everypony; but you must understand that in the world in which we now live, the most important thing is surviving; at all cost. In order to do that, sometimes we have to be a little cruel. In fact, your mother and I were even hoping that one day you will fly above the clouds to live with the rest of the pegasi and be free of the Wasteland forever.”

I took a step backwards and my angry expression started to fade. I looked down at the ground and then looked back up to look him in the eye. “And abandon my friends and family here?”

“If it means that you’ll be safe, then yes.” He responded immediately and with a straight face. “That is all your mother and I ever wanted for you.” I just stared back at him. I had no idea how to respond to that. He then smiled again, as if our conversation had never even transpired. “Now then, why don’t you go out and play with your friends?” He then opened the front door with his unicorn magic, pushed me out and closed the door behind him.

I just sat there on my haunches, in front of my house, thinking about what my father had just told me. I then looked up at the perpetual cloud cover that covered the entire Equestrian Wasteland. My face then went stoic and blank and I simply said, “I’m not going anywhere near those clouds.” I then closed my eyes and lowered my head. “Not now and not ever.”

This was the worst day of my life. As much as I don’t want to, I still remember it clearly: The day that raiders attacked our settlement. The day I lost my parents. The day I lost my fillyhood. The day I lost everything.

I don’t know why the raiders decided to attack us. We never attacked them or even had any contact with them at all. We were only a small settlement; mostly mares and foals, so we posed no threat to them. If they wanted our supplies, then they could have just bartered with us. If they didn’t want to have to pay, then they could have just held us up and taken what they wanted; but no. They didn’t have to kill us, but they did it anyway. They had another choice but they still resorted to murder. This is exactly what makes raiders the biggest blight on the Equestrian Wasteland. This is what makes them so evil.

They quickly descended on the settlement. We were unarmed; we had no warning. In a matter of seconds, they had overtaken the settlement and were killing ponies left and right. We didn’t have any weapons with us, so we couldn’t put up any sort of fight to protect ourselves. However, this didn’t matter at all to the raiders. If anything, it was even more fun for them. They still shot at us left and right. Everypony was running for their lives. We begged and pleaded for them not to kill us, but they wouldn’t listen; they just shot at us. I just stood there, in front of my house as I saw a raider shoot and kill my mom, dead. I was only ten years old at the time and a part of me died in that moment. My fillyhood died with my mother in that moment.

My father had rounded up all of the foals and led us into one of the houses. When we were all inside, he immediately closed the door and set up as many barricades as possible. Every filly and colt in the settlement was in the house, but my dad was the only grown-up. When he had barricaded the door, he then turned towards us. His horn started glowing in a green aura and he lifted up a manhole cover in the corner of the room. He then turned to face us and said, “This leads to a tunnel that leads out underneath the settlement and into the Wasteland. Take it and make your way to the nearest town. I’ll stay here and hold them off for as long as I can.”

My eyes widened as he said this. I then stepped forward and yelled at him. “No, I won’t leave you!” I had a terrified and angry look on my face as I spoke. “You’ll die if you stay here; and we would stand a far better chance out there with you anyway. Choosing to die is something only an idiot does.”

My father closed his eyes tight, while desperately trying to hold back tears. He let out a sigh and simply said, “I’m sorry.” His horn then started glowing again and he picked me up and lifted me off the ground with his unicorn magic. I started wiggling my feet, desperately trying to break free, but I couldn’t. While maintaining his telekinetic hold on me, he looked over at the other fillies and colts and simply nodded. Nothing else needed to be said. What was there to say anyway? They just nodded back and started climbing down the ladder. When the last of the foals had climbed down the hole, he lifted me over to it, dropped me down and quickly covered the hole again.

I quickly regained myself as I fell, and I flew back up and tried to lift the manhole cover back up so that I could be with my father, but he had already locked it with chains. I was only able to lift it up a quarter of an inch. I was just about able to see him. The raiders kept pounding against the door, trying to get in.

My father then ran over to the door at the other end of the room. He opened it slightly, but he didn’t go through it; he just stood there. “What the hell is he doing?” I thought. After about ten seconds, the raiders had finally busted their way into the room. My father then closed the door without going through it. He then turned around to face the raiders. I then realised what he was doing: he was creating the illusion that we had escaped through the back exit to buy us some more time to escape. At that point, I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to call out to him so that he could escape with us, but at the same time, I didn’t want to give away our position after he had basically given up his own life just to keep us safe. All I could do was just sit there and watch these raiders kill him, while there was nothing I could do to stop them; and that’s exactly what happened. They gunned him down in cold blood right there. He hadn’t drawn a weapon on them, moved any closer to them; he hadn’t even done anything to antagonise them; they just killed him, like the rest of the settlement.

I lowered my hooves and dropped the manhole cover as quietly as I could. I pulled my face away and closed my eyes. I had let go of the ladder and I was just hovering in place. I fought back the desire to cry. If I did, it would only slow me down and the raiders would catch us for sure; which would mean that my father died for nothing. I would not let that happen. I then opened my eyes and looked down at the other fillies and colts making their way down the ladder. I then pulled my face back into a more serious expression. I had to be strong. If I didn’t, then my father died for nothing. I then flew down the hole and made my way along the escape tunnel.

As I flew along, I passed by all of the other fillies and colts from the settlement. There were twenty in total. I met up with Blitz at the front of the pack. Blitz was a unicorn colt, with a crimson coat and a short, lime green mane, similar to mine. He was the only pony in the settlement that I ever really considered a friend. He had a sniper scope for a cutie mark. His special talent was being a sharp shooter. He was the only pony (left) in the settlement who was a better shot me; and that’s saying something. He walked along silently, facing forward as I flew beside him.

We eventually reached a small room at the end of the tunnel, just before the exit into the Wasteland. This room was where we kept all of our guns that the grown-ups used for when they went out into the Wasteland to scavenge for supplies. All of these weapons have been specially crafted so that they could be operated by hoof, without the need for unicorn magic or battle saddles.

I picked up a hunting rifle and strapped it around my back. I then picked up a sniper rifle with my hooves. I had only used guns a few times before and my specialty was sniping, so I can’t exactly use guns that I have to hold in my mouth. Not many guns in the Wasteland have been altered so that they could be used like this, so I have to make do with these weapons for now.

I then turned to face the others and said, “Take as much as you can carry.” I then cocked my rifle. “We won’t be coming back here again.” Everypony than grabbed as many guns as they could carry and made their way out into the Wasteland.

The tunnel had come out of a rock formation, about a hundred yards from the settlement. We all turned back and we could only hear the cheers of the raiders. Our parents were all dead. They hadn’t prompted the attack or done anything to fight back. They even begged them to spare their lives, but the raiders still killed them anyway; and they were cheering because of it. I wanted to scream, but that would just give away our position.

Blitz turned away in the opposite direction to the settlement and then he moved to address us all. “Alright, we’re heading in this direction.”

We all turned around to look at where he was pointing. “Where are we going to go?” asked one of the fillies in the group.

Blitz lowered his head and let out a short sigh. “I don’t know,” he said. He then lifted his head up again. “But we can’t stay here anymore.” He then faced forward again and started walking along.

The rest of the group soon followed suit, but after just a few steps, I stopped and lowered my head. The others in the group noticed this and they also stopped and asked me why. “Lightning?”

After a second, I lifted my head up and simply said, “We can’t leave; this is our home. We have to stop these raiders now.”

The others all looked at me in confusion, but Blitz had maintained a straight face. He then turned to face me. “Lightning, I know how you feel, but there’s nothing that we can do.” He then closed his eyes and turned his head to the side. “We just have to keep moving forward.”

“No!” I responded immediately. “This is our home. We’re not leaving.” Blitz’s eyes shot open and he turned back around to face me again, along with everypony else. Blitz’s expression now matched the others. “If we don’t stop these raiders now, then they’ll just repeat this again at another settlement and cause even more chaos there. We have to finish this.” I spoke with a fierce determination in my voice. “We don’t have a choice.”

Everypony around me was left speechless. After ten seconds, Blitz finally decided to break the silence. He still wore a worried expression on his face. “But Lightning… what can we possibly do?”

Everypony turned to look at me and I just stared back at Blitz with a stoic expression on my face; I didn’t even blink. “You just leave that to me.” I then unfurled my wings and flew up into the air.

I flew about a hundred feet into the air and looked down at the settlement below. All of the raiders were now out in the open. All of our parents had been killed and now they seemed to be stacking their bodies together in a pile. They would most likely bring them back to their camp, eviscerate their bodies and hang them up around the camp. It’s what they did. There was absolutely no reason for why they would this; they just did it. By all rights, these things weren’t even ponies anymore. They were monsters. At this point, I was angrier than I had ever been in my life, though my face did not show it. It was completely blank.

I drew my sniper rifle and looked down through the scope. The raiders had all gathered in the centre of the settlement. My hooves were completely steady. I had one of the raiders in my sight and I pulled the trigger. The bullet had gone right through his head and he died instantly. As soon as the first one was dead, the rest of them started looking around frantically to find where the shot had come from. I took another shot and killed another raider. They continued looking around to find out where I was. They looked everywhere, except the sky. A pegasus was probably the last thing that they would ever expect, so they didn’t even consider looking up into the sky. I wondered if these raiders even knew what a pegasus was. I continued taking aim and shooting at them, whilst they were completely helpless to stop me. The irony was so thick I couldn’t even shoot a bullet through it. The same was not true for the raiders themselves. However, unlike them, I had a reason to kill them and I had no other choice. That is what separates me from the raiders. I kill in order to survive and nothing more. If there is any other choice, then I will take it. I realised then in that moment that being the only pegasus around here wasn’t so bad; but at that moment, anything like that was the last thing on my mind. After one minute, all of the raiders were dead. I then simply lowered my rifle and descended to the ground.

I touched down on the ground again, with my back to all of the fillies and colts behind me. They just stared at me. I then spoke to them without turning around to face them. “Come on, let’s head back.” I then closed my eyes and lowered my head and the volume of my voice. “I want to bury my parents.”

After a few seconds of just standing there in silence, Blitz stepped forward and said, “Uhhmm, Lightning?” He then pointed his hoof at my flank.

I turned around to see what he was pointing at, and I saw that I had just gotten my cutie mark. It was a dark storm cloud with three thunderbolts on it; two to each side, behind it, and one down the centre, in front of it. I just stared at it for several seconds, my face not changing since I had touched down on the ground. I then simply said, “I thought I’d be happier.”

After the whole issue with the raiders was over, we continued living in the settlement. This was our home and nothing was going to change that. The first thing we did after we got back was dig a hole just outside of the wall and we buried our parents. They deserved a proper burial. The raiders, however; we simply took all of the weapons and ammo that they were carrying, as well as any other supplies and dumped the bodies in a ditch on the other side of the settlement; downwind of course, so we didn’t have to smell them. They deserved nothing less.

Things became very difficult for us after this. We were just young children and we were now alone in the Wasteland, without any grown-ups to protect us, armed with nothing but our wits and weapons with a limited supply of ammo. We didn’t have any unicorns who could clean the water, and so now we didn’t have a clean water supply. Word of the raider attack had scared off the caravans that usually came our way, so now we didn’t have a trade route. It was tough for a long time, but we managed to get by, albeit barely.

Blitz and I were the ones in charge and we had to grow up quickly in order to survive. We had to train in combat and learn how to scavenge from what our parents had taught us and what they had left behind for us. We made regular trips into the Wasteland to scavenge for food and supplies. We occasionally had to fight off and kill hostile ponies; however, we still never lowered ourselves to the same level of savagery as the raiders. We only killed to survive, when we had no other choice.

Shortly after the attack on the settlement, after we had managed to rebuild slightly, I took two colts with me to scavenge for supplies in the Wasteland. We eventually came across two ponies after a while. We didn’t know if they were raiders, so we didn’t approach them directly and we hid behind a large rock formation close by.

The two ponies were both just standing there, talking to each other. They were both earth pony stallions. One of the colts briefly popped his head out to look at them and then turned back to face me. “So what are we going to do?”

I briefly threw my glance over to the two ponies and then turned back to the colts. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. First, I’m going to fly up there to get a good shot at them. Then, you two are going to step out and reveal yourselves to them.”

They both shouted, “What?!” at the same time and I had to casually shush them to remind them that those two ponies were still within earshot. Thankfully, neither of those ponies had heard us. Everything was silent for a few seconds. When we were sure that they hadn’t heard us, one of the colts spoke up again, quieter this time. “You want us to reveal ourselves to them?”

“Yes,” I replied. My calm expression never changed as I spoke. “This way, we can figure out if they’re raiders or not. If they are raiders, then they’ll likely see us as easy prey and want to capture us as slaves. Then I’ll put a bullet in each of their heads before they can even figure out where I’m shooting from.”

After a brief pause, one of the colts fidgeted at the ground and then looked up again to speak to me. “Okay, but what if they’re not raiders?”

I stood there for a second, silently, but then I responded, “If they’re not raiders, then we just barter with them for whatever we need and be on our way. We aren’t killing unless we have to.”

The two colts both nodded at me and agreed with my plan. I nodded back and then flew up into the sky. When I was about a hundred feet in the air, I drew my sniper rifle and gave them the signal to move. They then walked out from behind the rock, into the two ponies view.

“Hey, Buckshot, look at what we got here,” one of the two ponies said.

Buckshot looked over at the two young colts in front of them. “Yeah, I know.” He then smiled devilishly. "Easy meat. We’ll take them back to Appleloosa and sell them for a heap of caps.” He then smiled even more devilishly. “It’s a shame they’re not fillies, but beggars can’t be choosers. Maybe they’ll at least earn us a spot in the town.”

That was all I needed to hear. I quickly put a bullet through the first one’s head, and then did the same to the other one before he even knew what was going on.

I then flew back down to re-join the two colts. We then walked over to inspect the two raider’s bodies. “Okay,” I said. “Strip them of whatever guns, ammo, food or medical supplies that they’re carrying.”

They both nodded in agreement and then they went over to inspect their bodies. When we had taken everything of value that they were carrying, one of the colts lifted his head up to look at me and asked, “What about their barding? It could be useful if we run into trouble.”

I turned my head to face him and simply said, “Leave it.” I then turned my head to the side, but kept talking to him. “If somepony saw us wearing that blood covered barding, they’d probably shoot us on sight. It would be pretty stupid to approach a friendly settlement looking like that.”

The two colts stared back at me for a moment and then they burst out laughing. “Yeah, you’re right. That would be pretty stupid.” They then decided to search their bodies one last time for anything useful.

As they were searching, I turned away from them and I couldn’t keep myself from thinking about what I had just said. “Who would be stupid enough the approach a trade caravan, wearing raider barding and covered in blood?”

As the years passed, we became much more adept at scavenging for supplies. We had also set up a trade route with several caravans that came by once a month to trade with us. We were slowly rebuilding our settlement back into a place that we could call home.

One day, I took several of the colts with me and we went scavenging for supplies in the area underneath, but not directly below the cliff that held the former capital of Equestria: Canterlot.

The area that we were scavenging in was a relatively flat expanse of land, with several piles of rubble on the ground. There was surely something of value to be found here since this was an area that ponies generally avoided. As I was searching the area, I looked down at the ground and I found something half buried in a pile of rubble. It was a type of gun, but it was unlike anything that I had ever seen before. It was some sort of magical energy pistol, but not like any I had ever seen before; which was only ever in the possession of caravan owners who had come by them while travelling. Those ponies were merchants, not soldiers, and they needed powerful weapons that they could operate with ease in order to protect themselves. However, this one was completely different. It had a grip that wouldn’t fit in any pony’s mouth. This was lucky for me, since that’s exactly the type of weapon that I used, and such weapons were very rare in the Wasteland.

I pulled the weapon out of the ground and held it in my hooves. It both looked and felt amazing. I remember thinking that I was glad that our settlement operated by the ‘Finders Keepers’ mantra. That meant that this energy pistol was mine.

I remembered hearing from my father that it was because of my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather that Equestria had energy weapons in the first place. Maybe this was one of the weapons that he had created. It was like a small piece of him was with me now. If I had been on my own, I probably would have cried tears of joy, but I had to keep up appearances in front of the guys. I couldn’t look soft.

I turned around and placed the weapon into my saddlebag, and then turned my attention forward again. Scattered around the area where I had picked up the energy pistol, there were shards of reflective glass everywhere. Close by, there was what looked like a mirror frame, half buried in another pile of rubble. It was shattered in a way that looked like the glass shards all around it would fit perfectly. From the part of the mirror that was sticking out of the pile of rubble, it looked like it was in the shape like a horseshoe. The outer frame of the mirror was purple and it had small gems embedded in the side.

As I stared at the mirror in front of me, I was suddenly pulled away from my thoughts by a loud crash from behind me. I casually rolled my eyes behind me to see what it was, while I kept my head facing forward. My eyes immediately widened at what I saw. It was a large pony with a dark green coat and a messy mane. However, what I found most surprising was that it had wings. I then turned my head fully around to look at it. This was the first pony I had ever seen that also had wings; and that fact alone almost kept me from noticing that it also had a horn. When I had recovered from the shock of seeing this thing, I started thinking clearly again. This thing wasn’t a pegasus, but it wasn’t a unicorn either. It seemed to possess the traits of both a pegasus and a unicorn. What was this thing? Was it a ‘Pegacorn’?

Suddenly, this ‘thing’ snarled back at us angrily and raised some sort of shield around it. Seeing that it was about to attack us, we all drew our weapons and prepared to fight.

I drew my hunting rifle with one hoof and fired at it immediately; however, the bullets just seemed to bounce harmlessly off its shield. Nevertheless, we all kept shooting at it, trying to get through its shield and kill this thing that was attacking us for no reason.

As we fired at it, it charged at us with its shield up. When it reached each of the three colts that I was with, it charged right into them and knocked them all down. They fell to the ground, separated from their weapons and they were unable to move.

I looked over at them. They had all been badly injured and knocked to the ground. The creature then turned back to face me. It looked like it wanted to finish me off before it killed the others. The creature then turned fully around and charged right for me.

I didn’t hesitate at all. I took my hunting rifle in one hoof and shot at it. The bullet simply crashed against the creature’s shield and it didn’t even slow it down. However, I didn’t falter. I simply reloaded my weapon and shot again. I reloaded and shot again. I reloaded and shot again. I reloaded and shot again. The creature was coming closer, but I simply reloaded my weapon and shot again.

Eventually, the creature had reached me and it crashed into me with its shield still up. The force of the blow knocked me back and sent me tumbling backwards several times, before I finally came to rest several feet from where I was standing. After about three seconds, I raised my head up and grunted in pain, just in time to see my hunting rifle land directly in front of me; split in two.

The creature reared back and snarled at me again. It then started charging towards me again.

Seeing my broken hunting rifle right in front of me, I quickly looked around to try and find my sniper rifle. It had been knocked off my back when the creature crashed into me and it was now lying on the ground several feet away from me. I tried to stand up so I could quickly dash over there and grab it; however, I immediately fell back down. I had badly sprained both of my hind legs and one of my wings in the crash. I wasn’t moving anywhere quickly anytime soon.

I looked back at the creature charging at me and it was approaching quickly. It bared its teeth at me as I wracked my brain, trying to think of something, anything that I could do to get out of this alive. Suddenly, I remembered the strange gun that I had picked up and placed in my saddlebag. I quickly reached back into my saddlebag and pulled it out. I wasn’t sure if this gun would be of any use against that creatures shield, but right now I didn’t have any other choice, but more importantly, I did still have a choice; a chance to survive, so I took it.

The creature was now just a few feet from where I was lying down. It then jumped into the air to pounce on me. It was now or never. I quickly closed my eyes tight, aimed the gun out in front of me and fired.

I just lay there for several seconds with my eyes closed, expecting that thing to finally hit me; however, I instead felt something soft blow against my face. I slowly opened my eyes and I saw that ash of some kind had just been blown against my face. I just lay there, with my front hoof stretched out in front of me, holding this alien weapon, with a confused look on my face. I then threw my glance over to the others, who were staring back at me with equally confused looks on their faces. That creature was nowhere to be seen and there was now a pile of ash in the spot where it had just been. I didn’t need to have seen it to know what had just happened. Somehow, this weapon had gone through that thing’s seemingly impenetrable shield and completely vaporized it with just a single shot. I didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say. I just lay there on the ground, with my hoof stretched out, staring at this incredible weapon. There were no words.

We had each taken a restoration potion to recover from our injuries. On our way back home, the guys behind me kept going on and on about how powerful that weapon was and that with a weapon that like that, there wasn’t anything we had to worry about.

After about five minutes of listening to them, I eventually stopped walking and turned back to talk to them. I reached into my saddlebag, pulled out the mysterious weapon and held it up. “Hey geniuses, in case you haven’t noticed, this thing only has a limited amount of ammo.” I then lowered the gun again. “And ammunition for this thing, if there even is any, would be incredibly rare.” I then turned back around, briefly closed my eyes and sighed. “We’re only going to use this as a last resort; nothing else.” I then placed the gun back into my saddlebag and continued walking forward. The colts behind me all looked between themselves, with defeated looks on their faces.

By now, we were all grown up and we had become experts of surviving in the Wasteland. Our settlement was now back to the way it was seven years ago. We regularly had traders that visited our settlement for rest and supplies. We occasionally had an attack by raiders, but now we were much better at fending them off and with no casualties. We had fixed up the fence surrounding the settlement and now it was stronger than ever. By now, we were a full blown trading town, like New Appleloosa.

There weren’t any more specially crafted hunting rifles left for me to use, so I had to make do with just my sniper rifle and energy pistol. A sniper rifle isn’t the most ideal weapon for close combat encounters, but I generally avoided fights like that, or even fights in general and just sniped enemies from a distance, so everything worked out. I still hadn’t fired my new energy weapon once, since that day four years ago. I had figured out that it had nineteen shots left, but I still hadn’t used it since. I swore that I would only use it as a last resort, when I had no other choice. It didn’t have anything to do with fearing the weapons power; it was purely for ammo conservation. However, I still kept it with me at all times, just in case I did need it. That was, until that day.

When I was just a little filly, growing up, my parents had told me all about my ancestors. My great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, Lightning Flicker; a pegasus, for whom I was named (first name only), worked with the Ministry of Peace. My great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Dawn Flower, was the vice president and second in command of the Ministry of Arcane Science; and his younger brother Dusk Shine, who worked at Stable-Tec. Growing up, these three were the ancestors of mine that I knew the most about. I was also told that the memory orb containing my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather’s last moments was apparently still located in the MAS hub in Fillydelphia. I had always wanted to retrieve it someday, even if I couldn’t watch it because I wasn’t a unicorn. It was the last connection with my family that I had left.

When I was seventeen, and I saw how well things were doing here in our town, I finally decided to head off to Fillydelphia to retrieve it. Before I left, however, I met up with Blitz at the town gate to say goodbye.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked me.

I looked back at him with a straight face. “I know that it won’t be easy, but this is something that I have to do.”

Blitz closed his eyes and smiled. “Well alright then.” He then opened his eyes again and looked at me.

As I looked back at him, I could tell that he was sad to see me leave. He had been my best friend my whole life and now we were separating. I wanted to tell him not to worry and that I would come back, but I didn’t want to worry him in case I didn’t come back. Let him live the rest of his life thinking that I was still alive. That way, he wouldn’t be distracted and could continue on without a problem if I did die. People die every day in the Wasteland, and if we spend our time mourning everyone’s loss, then nothing would ever get done. This way, everything would turn out fine for everypony.

“Before I go,” I suddenly spoke up, as I reached into my saddlebag and pulled out the strange weapon and handed it to him. “Here; you’ll need this more than I will. I also don’t want to risk it being taken from me in Fillydelphia.”

Blitz stared blankly at the weapon in my outstretched hoof. He then looked up to look me in the eye and said, “Are you sure?” I didn’t respond; I just kept staring at him with a straight face. Eventually, Blitz’s expression became more serious and he nodded to me. “Right.” He then reached out with his own hoof and took the weapon.

“Remember,” I said, as I lowered my hoof to the ground again. “Only use it as a last resort. Don’t waste it.” He nodded again.

I then closed my eyes briefly and breathed out. “Alright then.” I then took one last look at Blitz, turned around and walked away from the town, towards Fillydelphia.

Fillydelphia was a long way from our town; however, being a pegasus, I was able to fly there very quickly. When I was close to the city, I took some bandages from my saddlebag and wrapped them around my wings to hide them from sight. From my experiences, my being a pegasus always caused a big commotion amongst other ponies in the Wasteland and always attracted a lot of attention. I didn’t want this to happen in Fillydelphia, so I decided to hide my wings. Once the bandages were firmly in place, I made my way towards the city again, on hoof.

When I got close to the city entrance, I was suddenly surrounded on all sides by three of those ‘Pegacorn’ things. They seemed to just come out of nowhere. I instinctively reached back into my saddlebag to grab my energy pistol, but I quickly remembered that I didn’t have it with me anymore. I did a double take and looked back at my current predicament. I was now facing down three, nearly invincible creatures, that I needed an energy weapon just to get through their shields; armed with only a sniper rifle.

“Oh sweet, merciful Luna. Fuck me up the ass with your horn.”

However, as they activated their horns to put up their shields, I noticed that they had instead put a small shield around me. They were now standing completely still, just outside of the shield. I tried to get out of the shield, but I couldn’t get through it no matter what I did. A few minutes later, several soldiers from Red Eye’s army came and apprehended me. This things; apparently called ‘Alicorns’ (I wasn’t far off) were working for Red Eye too. The soldiers stripped me of all of my possessions and dumped me in a slave area, behind a chain-link fence, along with all of the other slaves.

You already know how things turned out for me after this. Realising that I had no other choice, I volunteered for The Pit to win my freedom. I eventually won my freedom and then I made a deal with Stern. I would join Red Eye’s army in exchange for my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather’s memory orb. She retrieved it for me and even threw in a recollector so that I could watch it. They had more than held up their end of the bargain, so now I had to hold up mine. I now had to serve Red Eye until that debt had been paid; and that is exactly what I was going to do.

Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: A True True Friend -- When speaking to someone that you have a high affinity with, your Charisma is temporarily increased by 5. This effect only lasts while you are talking to that person.