//------------------------------//
// Chapter Four: Stalliongrad 
// Story: Fallout Equestria: Rainbow Rises 
// by Starlit Skies 
//------------------------------//

	"They really do have everything at the Trader's Exchange!"

I had barely made it halfway down the long, white hill lined with broken structures before I was stopped by a quintet of ponies, armed and dressed like a patrol for the town below. They were heavily cloaked, presumable to ward off the cold, so I couldn’t tell if any of them were pegasi. The unicorns were obvious though, as I could see horns poking up over snow goggles on two of them.

“Halt there stranger!” One of them shouted in a voice that was unmistakably male. The patrol behind him stood at attention, not moving. Obviously well trained soldiers, I noted. But I did as he asked, as I had no desire to get into a fight and get off on the wrong hoof with the only real civilization I had seen. I drew to a halt, tilting my head to the side with an air of nonchalance, and the pony spoke again.

“State your affiliation and business in New Stalliongrad.”

I paused, not exactly sure what to say. Was Dashite an affiliation? Or would it be better to say unaffiliated? I decided to go with the latter, and my business was easy: trade and knowledge.

“I am unaffiliated and seek to trade my salvage.”

Though hidden behind goggles and cloth, I saw the expression of the pony in front of me change slightly, almost as if he was raising an eyebrow at my answer. He went back to his four companions and they discussed something, obviously what to do with me. It only took a minute, and I stood there waiting the entire time. There was a slight breeze blowing, cooling my already cold wings. Eventually, the one that I assumed was their leader turned back to me.

“You may pass on to New Stalliongrad. Pay the toll and turn over your weapons as normal.”

I walked on past them semi-awkwardly, snow crunching under my hooves. I thought I could feel their gazes on my back as I walked down the slope, but I turned around and saw no sight of them. Curious, I paused and searched the hill for where they could have gone to. Nestled up against one of the ruined buildings was a small fire that I assumed was where they waited until they saw a pony like me. Quite clever really. Though where they got the wood from was yet another question; it most likely came from forests growing around here.

I turned back around and trudged down the snowy slope, looking ahead to the gate that barred my path. It was a gate of immense size, stretching from one side of the road to the other and blocking entrance any other way. It was made of wood and steel and seemed quite sturdy. It must have stretched at least twenty-five feet high, the top lined with sharp steel. The only way in seemed to be a grey metal gate set dead in the middle, currently open and guarded by two ponies holding rifles. It seemed overkill on defenses to me, but I had no idea of what might seek to attack the city.

“That’s quite the impressive feat of engineering. It seems that earth ponies haven’t lost their knack for building to last.” I heard the robotic voice sound in my helmet, my attention still fixed on the gate ahead.

“Agreed Core,” I said under my breath, loud enough for him to hear me but not loud enough that the guards ahead thought me crazy.

I continued walking, the guards barely batting an eye as I walked past. The gate turned into a tunnel, slots in the walls and ceiling providing light. It only lasted a few feet before I reached the other side. There, the gate was guarded by a single pony.

“Please pay the toll of five caps to enter. If you can’t pay, go scrounge up some money until you can.” He sounded bored, as if this was all he ever did. Five bits wasn’t much compared to what I had, though I was slightly perplexed as to why he referred to them as caps. Slang changes with time I guess. I got my sack of bits out and counted out five. I held them out, not sure where to put them, and he levitated them in front of his face. He looked at the bits oddly, then shrugged and put them in a metal box he had slung over his back. “Please leave your weapons in the bin. You may ask the Quartermaster to send them to the gate you are exiting from when you’re ready to leave.” He paused, then looked me over again. “I don’t think I recognize you. First time here?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded, then levitated a small plastic card out of the bin I he put my money in. He scribbled a number down and gave it to me. “What’s your name?”

“Firefly.” I responded confidently. He wrote it down on the card, then looked up again.

“Don’t lose this, you’ll need it to get your weapons back. The card will be yours for as long as you don’t lose it. The Parliament Security Council would also like to inform you that a replacement card costs twenty-five caps, so do try to hold on to it.”  He sighed and looked at me with a facial expression that showed his boredom. I took it looked at it. It had the number on it—31409— and a circle that had an emblem in it. I assumed it was meant to be the symbol for the city Parliament. With some regret, I unholstered Loyalty and Lightning and placed them in a small bin next to the pony that had a sign of a gun, then an arrow pointing down. I started to take off my hoofblades when he stopped me. “One melee-only weapon is allowed in the city if you so desire for self-defense purposes. Ponies can get stupid sometimes.”  I gave him a nod and walked past as he telekinetically opened the gate. I couldn’t wait to get my first view of the city. 

My first view of the city was rather astounding.

It was a city of wood and metal and canvas. Close to me, almost as soon as I stepped out of the gate, there were tents arrayed. Most of them were small, only one or two pony tents, but others probably held as many as twelve. While almost all were made of canvas and there didn’t seem to be any permanent housing, I let my gaze travel further along the road that lead directly to the center of the city and its wood pile. 

The farther down I looked, the more complex the buildings got. Tents gave way to structures of wood, then structures made of steel, then made of all three materials I had seen. I even saw a plume of smoke rising up from a tall building that towered over the rest, probably some high-ranking official’s house or a tavern. I started walking down the road in front of me, heading straight for the heart of the city.

I could see a wall ringing the city, as massive and uniform as the gate that I arrived through. Now inside, I could see that it had a platform running all along it, slightly lower than the top of the wall. It had to stop every now and then to give way to a building, but it disappeared out of sight behind the buildings that rose up in front of me.

As I walked, I saw tents stir and shake, signs that their occupants were waking up and getting ready to do who knows what for the day. Every so often, I saw paths leading off to the left and right. They curved away from me, leading to other roads. As the side roads became more frequent and got shorter, I got closer to the middle. I ignored them, preferring to head straight into the center. As I got closer and closer, the buildings around me grew even more colorful as various merchants were setting up and trying to ply their wares to any living creatures that passed by. I thought I even saw a merchant trying to sell life insurance to a cockroach. 

“Quite the organized little town here. I sincerely hope that the parliament or council or whatever isn’t absolutely corrupt. A little corrupt is to be expected since it is politics, but totally corruption just gets messy. Stalliongrad has a bad history of that.” I saw Core’s blue AI face pop up in the corner of my faceplate and I silently agreed with him. A dictator never made things easy for anyone but himself and his friends. At least from what I could tell, trade was abundant and flourishing. That was always a good sign. I saw several griffons, more than I would have thought, selling their wares or acting as bodyguards. They weren’t the only non-pony creature, as I saw a minotaur and more than a few zebras advertising various potions. 

As I came upon the center of the wheel that was the city, I saw the six colored tents that were visible from high on the hill over the wall. They were massive, but they only served as the front of whoever they were representing. The tents stretched back until they reached a sturdy building. Why that was their design I had no clue, but I assumed that they were the six most powerful factions in New Stalliongrad. 

The two directly across the route I came out were the lavender one and the one that pretty closely matched my old coat color. A wooden sign hung from that one labeled “The Brethren,” though its tent flaps were drawn shut and tied to prevent anyone from peering in. I gave an involuntary shudder and tried to look at the other tent instead. Inside it, I could see a few ponies wearing what looked like lab coats. It too had a sign, but it was in some strange written language.

“It says ‘The Academy.’ What possessed them to write it in Ancient Equestrian is anyone’s guess.” I guess that worked. They were probably the scientists and researchers.

I turned to see the two tents to my left, the yellow and orange ones. The yellow one didn’t have a sign with writing; instead it just had a pink butterfly on a red cross. Simple enough for those who can’t read. The orange on too lacked a sign, instead manned by two ponies wearing heavy steel armor that masked their faces and all other parts of their bodies. Things kept getting weirder and weirder.

“Those ponies in armor are called the Steel Rangers. Applejack, Applesnack, and the Ministry of Technology worked together to help make them. They’re fully functional suits of armor that come equipped with weapons and whatnot. I’m surprised to see them still around to be honest.”

“Yay, two of six things have a known purpose,” I muttered.

I turned back to my right to see if the remaining two groups would make any more sense. The white tent, the one farther from me, had its tent flaps drawn shut as well and there was nothing that would give away what it had inside. The pink one on the other hand, finally gave me some answers. 

It was arranged as an office building almost and advertised itself as “Parliament.” It was obviously the place where the government of the place was stationed. I peered into the tent, catching the attention of one of the mares in there.

“Welcome! What can I do for you?” she asked, quite cheerful despite most ponies still sleeping or barely awake. 

My mind went blank for a second, not computing her words. I had someone not trying to kill me or ally with me for once and the sensation was weird. I recovered swiftly though, and knew what I wanted. “Do you have any brochures for new traders?”

“Of course! That’s what we’re here for after all.” She hoofed me a rather large pamphlet, then held up a rather sturdy book. “Do you need a copy of The Wasteland Survival Guide as well?”

“Does it cost me anything?” I had quite a few bits, but I didn’t want to go spending them frivolously. I’d never turn down free stuff on the other hoof.

“Nope, not for your first one. Ditzy’s really good at getting them everywhere. She’s the one who insists on giving them out for free and who’s to argue with the author?”

At the name Ditzy, an image of a grey pegasus in a mailmare’s uniform flashed through my mind, but was gone in less than an instant. It couldn’t have been the same mare, but my gut was telling me that, no matter how absurd the idea, no other pony would have named their child Ditzy. If I survived two centuries, why couldn’t she? “Tell her thanks for me then. Also, do you know of anywhere I could get a bed for tonight?”

“Of course! Let’s see, there’s The Rusty Bucket, The Cracked Flagon, The Green Dragon, The King’s Head, The Prancing Pony—quite an odd place that one—, and The Traveler’s Rest.”

“Are all of those pubs?” If they were, I wouldn’t be all that surprised.

“Inns, actually. But yes! I’d recommend The Traveler’s Rest. You can find it over in the fourth sextant.” She pulled out a map of the city (which was perfectly circular) and a pen, then circled a spot in the southern part of the map. “They’re mostly tame. Usually.” She gave me the map and smiled again.

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Can I ask one more question?” My curiosity had been burning at me ever since I saw the subject of my question.

“That’s what I’m here for!”

“What’s with that giant bonfire outside?” 

She let out a large gasp, her mouth stretching to almost comic proportions. She recovered herself with a wave of her hoof and proceeded to give me an answer. “It’s for Winternights of course!” She must have seen the clueless expression on my face, as she continued. “You know, the big feast and celebration for the beginning of winter that happens in a fortnight? It’s been around forever. I think it goes all the way back to the Neighse Vikings that lived in these parts. You must be from faaaarrr out of town then.”

“Yeah, I come from way down south. I was hoping things were better here,” I said distantly, slightly lost in thought of what a celebration would entail in the Wasteland. “Thanks for your help. I’ll go find that inn you talked about.”

“See ya! If you ever need anything else, just come here and ask for Sunny.”

“Will do. Thanks!”

I turned around and walked out of the tent, rather satisfied with my encounter. “Now that wasn’t so hard; she was rather helpful for a pony living in a wasteland”

“Oh hush it Core, I’m in a good mood.” And I was. Ponies were beginning to come into the center of the city, either using it as a place to meet and chat or just as a way of getting to another area of the city. I saw several ponies stopping by the tents, talking to the occupants and engaging in friendly conversation. The white tent still had its flaps drawn shut, but ponies walked past it without giving it a second glance. Of the tents, it was the one that held my curiosity the most, closely followed by the mysterious Brethren. I shoved my curiosity aside—something I had become quite adept at—and walked on. 

“Regardless, you might as well explore the city. The inns probably aren’t open yet; they’re probably dealing with the drunks from last night.” 

“Yeah, might as well get rid of all this salvage scrap.” I picked a random direction and headed to it, confident that I would find somepony who wanted the random metal I managed to collect. I walked out north on the path in between the white and pink tents, wondering what I’d find.



It wasn’t too long after I began walking that I heard the distinctive sound of hammers against metal. Curious, I let my ears guide me and headed towards it. I weaved in between several tents and buildings all selling different wares to find a large pavilion-like structure. It had a wall on one side and the two shorter ends, but left the other side completely open save for a few support beams. Inside, I could see several tools and tables, though the most obvious thing present was a forge. In front of it, hard at work, was an earth pony wearing a heavy vest to protect himself from the heat. Even as I watched, the pony removed the item he was forging from the intensely hot flame and moved it to the anvil behind him. He then picked up a hammer and another tool and worked on flattening and shaping the glowing object until it cooled too much for him to work with. At that point, he returned it to the forge to heat up again. He repeated the process over and over again, continually pounding and shaping the object until he was satisfied. He must have started early that day, as he finished rather quickly after I arrived.

Brushing his hooves off on his vest, he looked up at me as the object cooled for the last time in the barrel of water. “Can I get you anything?”

I was shocked out of my dazed passive watching, almost forgetting that I stood in his workplace. “No. I was just wondering what you were making.”

“This?” He pulled the piece from the barrel. I could see that it was probably supposed to be a piece of armor, probably for the shoulder. “One of the Steel Rangers needed a repair for their armor. And they all know that I’m the best one for the job.” His voice was low and gruff, matching his strong appearance and steel grey coat. His mane was tied back to keep it out of the way, but it was an almost pure white color that suggested he was older than he looked. “It’s rather tricky to forge the metal they need to withstand the hell they put it through."

I nodded as if I knew what he was talking about. Then, a thought crossed my mind. I removed one of my hoofblades and held it out to him. “Do you think you could tell me what kind of quality this is?”

He took it, looking at it curiously. He removed an oddly shaped tool from his belt and struck it, then attempting to scratch it. Even from my position, I could tell that it didn’t leave a mark. His eyes shot up in surprise as he pulled a few other items out and tried the same thing. When none of them worked, he turned and set my weapon on the anvil behind him. Before I could do anything, he grabbed a hammer and swung it, hitting my hoofblade squarely and knocking it with enough force to have it hit the wall. He went over, picked it up, and inspected it again.

“Not a scratch. Not one bucking scratch. Where in Equestria did you find this?”

“I found it in one of the Ministry hubs.” Which, technically, was still the truth. 

“Which Ministry?” I was tempted to lie to him, but decided to tell the truth based on the dead serious expression on his face.

“The Ministry of Awesome.”

I heard him curse under his breath and hand me back my weapon. I slipped it back on as he spoke again. “I knew that when it opened again it’d be bad news. What you’ve got there is most likely some form of starmetal alloy that they were developing. Bloody expensive and almost as hard as diamond. It won’t break on you, but if it does you are royally screwed. Anything that can break that is not to be trifled with. If it was made into anything other than a weapon, I would have tossed it into the ocean.” He scowled again and turned back to his forge. “Zebras say it’s cursed and I tend to believe them. Get it away from my forge.”

I took a step back, his hostility surprising me somewhat. I briskly nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “It may please you to know that no one else is going to be able to get in the Ministry where I found this.” He grunted, but still didn’t turn around. I turned and left without another word, going back the way I came.

“Core, what do you know about starmetal?”

“Not much. I know that the zebras believe it led to Nightmare Moon’s fall due to the fact that her armor was made of starmetal. And I know that it can only be found in meteorites and asteroids that fall to Equestria, so it is extremely durable. But other than that, I don’t know much more. Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, it’s past me’s fault for not giving you the knowledge. Now let’s see about getting rid of this salvage.



After I left the blacksmith, I went around the city in a clockwise fashion, searching for various merchants and traders offering to buy and sell salvage. I was only able to sell a bit at every place, but all of my leftovers were bought by another blacksmith, this time a much nicer one. The strange thing was that in exchange for my salvage items, they didn’t give me any bits. Instead, I got bottle caps that said Sparkle-Cola on them. There was a little bit of variation amongst the brands, but that didn’t seem to have any effect on their value. After I sold my last bit of salvage, I stopped and leaned against a nearby building to talk to Core.

“Why do you think they use bottle caps as a currency?”

I saw his smiling blue face appear as he answered my question. “My guess is that when Equestria fell, there weren’t too many physical bits around here because of banking and all that. Soda was everywhere though and bottle caps seem hard to mass produce. They were similar enough to a bit that most ponies would have no problem switching over. But still, that’s just my guess.”

“That makes sense. It is rather interesting that life seems to be rather normal here despite Celestia knows what happening down south.”

“I wouldn’t be able to tell you what happened, but trade seems to still be going fairly well. I’ve seen quite a few things that were only manufactured in the south.”

“In any case, I’m sure this Wasteland Survival Guide will explain quite a bit once I finally get to read it and those documents from Icepony. Let’s go find us an inn.”

I pulled out the map Sunny had given me and looked over it. I peered up from it to glance at my surroundings to try and get a landmark, but I couldn’t find one. While I would normally have flown up, it was an earth pony map and, as such, only suitable for the ground. Trying to fly up would have gotten me disoriented and reduced the effectiveness of the map. Luckily, an older stallion walking by noticed my map and searching.

“Hey zere, searching for anyzing in spezific?” I noticed he had a rather noticeable accent that cause his words to sound different. Some of the other traders I encountered had an accent similar, but not nearly as thick. A definite native in that case.

“Yeah, can you tell me where the Traveler’s Rest is?”

He pointed west with his hoof and smiled. “Please, give me somezing hard.”

“That’s all I needed, thanks!” I went in the direction he pointed, weaving my way through the various buildings and tents. Many of the merchant buildings had tents attached to provide extra room or for their own sleep, but they were just more to go around for me. It wasn’t too long before I saw a plume of smoke twisting up over the buildings. With a fixed destination in mind, I flew over the buildings, finally feeling the cool air under my wings instead of freezing them. There was a gentle breeze blowing and I was tempted to just soar around the city, but I had no idea how their defenses would react. Besides, I really didn’t want to miss on getting a room at the inn.

I landed and sent up four small puffs of snow as my hooves connected with the ground. Stepping up to the entrance, I removed my helmet and stowed it in my saddlebags. I shook my mane out, getting air in it and freeing it from its long confinement in the space, not to mention exposing it to the brisk air of the north.

I pushed open the door to the wide two-story building and trotted in. The fireplace lay off to my right, a pleasantly large fire burning inside that had produced the plume of smoke I saw from outside. It warmed the room, making me feel better already. A thick and soft-looking rug lay in front of it, glowing dully from the bright firelight. Clustered around the area was a scattering of chairs, no two of them the exact same. To my left were about eleven or twelve tables, two roughly hewn benches at each one. The three on the far left wall were smaller, probably meant for only two ponies. They reflected the light of the fire, seats and backs worn smooth by years of use. The fire did a good job of lighting the room, but I could still see torches slotted in their holders used to light the dining area and bar. In addition to that, there was a chandelier that hung above the middlemost table, though it wasn’t lit yet. Against the back left corner I could see the spiraled stairs that led up to the second floor rooms.

There were only three ponies in the room at the moment, two of whom were dining on a late meal at the same table. They gave me a look as I entered, but quickly returned to eating their obviously hot food. The smell alone made my stomach growl, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten in a while. The third pony was a tan-ish unicorn behind the wooden counter that separated him from the rest of the room; instead of being in the corner, it was in the center of the wall and a bit to the left of where I came in. I half expected him to be idly polishing a glass with his magic, but he instead was seated upon a stool that seemed quite unsteady. Then again, all of the stools at the bar seemed to be unsteady.

I took in the view for another moment and headed up to the bar. The innkeeper, as that was what he presumably was, hopped off his stool.

“What can I do for you today?” He had a pleasant enough voice, lacking the slight Stalliongrad accent I had heard. I could see his cutie mark, a tankard of beer over the silhouette of a house, and was glad to see my assumption correct.

“I’d like a room for the night, preferably the cheapest one you have,” I replied, removing the bag of caps I had accumulated as I did so. 

“All of our rooms are the same price, twenty-five caps a night. That includes two meals mind you, and a mug of drink for both.”

I thought for a moment, considering my fairly good sized supply of caps, before I nodded and got out my supply of caps. I counted out twenty-five onto the counter and pushed them towards him. He nodded, satisfied, and levitated them into a machine behind him. In exchange, he levitated a key over and dropped it in my hoof.

“You’ll be in room 2, up the stairs and on your left. Not too many people have rooms here right now, but it can get a bit rowdy at night with Winternights coming up.”

I gave him a smile, amused that a drunken stallion was going to be the worst of my problems here. “I think I can handle myself.” 

He chuckled, then turned around and disappeared through a door behind the bar that led to the storeroom. 

Holding the key in my teeth, I turned and went up the stairs. The door to my room was made of sturdy wood and locked. I inserted and turned the key, pressing open the door when I heard a click. The door swung open, letting me see the inside of the place that would be my home for a few days. 

It was plain enough, a basic rectangular bed taking up half the space. It had a table next to the head of the bed where three candles sat in separate holders. Across the room, a sink lay next to the window, a pipe running through it into the wall. Pausing to slip off my saddlebags onto the floor, I looked at the sink. Turning on the sole nozzle and running my hoof through the water that resulted, I could tell it was fed by rainwater. Cold rainwater. Or snow water. So much for cleaning up with hot water then. The only other object in the room was a table with a single chair pushed under it, once again made of wood.

I gazed around the room again, looking over the simple furnishings. I shed my armor, carefully setting it off to the side next to my saddlebags, and locked the door. As a second cautionary measure, I took the chair and wedged it so that it would hopefully prevent a less determined individual from entering or warn me as it fell. Security set up, I flopped down on the bed and was asleep within minutes. 



I awoke to a knocking on the door, my body tensing up at the sudden noise. My eyes snapped open and I rolled over, two of my hoofblades on before my brain took prevalence over instincts I didn’t even know I had. I paused, waiting to see what the knocker wanted. 

“Miss, dinner is being served downstairs now.”

I heard the pony move to the room across from me, knock on that door, and repeat the sentence, then proceed to move down the hall. My room was much darker now, the sun having set already. The only light shining through the window was flickering torchlight from outside, though I could also see a strip of light coming from beneath the door; the area around me was also alit with the pale green glow of my PipBuck. Shaking my head to clear it, I went over to the sink and splashed some cold water in my face to make me wake up even more. I wiped off the remaining water droplets with my hoof and looked at the hoofblade on it, eyes traveling up to the PipBuck also attached to it.

“So Core, ready to go socialize with ponies that probably won’t want to kill us?”

“Seeing as I’ll just be sitting back and watching you most likely make a fool of yourself, sure.” I rolled my eyes and took off the two weapons that were only half-attached. I moved the chair and unlocked the door, stepping through it out into the hall. I squinted my eyes against the sudden change in light, the hallway being well lit by enclosed torches mounted on the wall. Unicorn magic was obviously at work to make sure they stayed constant instead of flickering.

I heard movement from behind the door across from me and almost paused to see who the occupant was, but my growling stomach prompted me to go downstairs instead. As hungry as I was now, I would most likely eat anything that was put in front of me.

I trotted downstairs into the warm and half-full room, the fire I had seen earlier blazing even brighter. A large pot hung over it, most likely containing the meal for the night. My assumption was correct, as I was able to make out the shape of a servingpony standing by it with a ladle and a stack of bowls once my eyes finished adjusting to the light. I made my way over, nodding to the mare serving the food. She was a unicorn, which was unsurprising. I hadn’t seen very many pegasi in the city, but there were a few. I only caught a few glimpses, but they all seemed to have my cutie mark on their flank. I guessed that they were more of these Dashites. The servingpony snapped me back to the present, handing me a bowl of stew on a tray. She had added a hunk of bread obviously torn from the loaf.

“Thank you very much.”

She smiled, a small smile that was most likely the result of never being thanked. “You can get your drink from Tap over at the bar.”

Tap? A rather suitable name for a barpony. As I crossed the room to the counter, I could tell that I was getting a few curious looks from the small crowd that was eating, but I ignored them. The pony serving the drinks was different than the innkeeper there earlier, but that wasn’t too surprising. He placed a mug down in front of another pony sitting atop a stool and turned to me.

“What can I get ya tonight?”

“Well, what do you have?” I responded. I decided not to trust the water all too much, but it really all depended on what was available.

“Well, tonight we have water, locally made vodka, various kinds of beer, apple cider from New Appleloosa down south—“

I held up a hoof to stop him, careful to keep my meal steady on my back. “I’ll take the apple cider if you please.” I didn’t know why I picked it, but it sounded like the right beverage for me.

He grabbed a mug that looked like it had seen much better days and turned around to fill it from a barrel close to end of the ones lined up on the wall. “We don’t get too many requests for it, so feel free to come back and grab another mug if you’d like, no charge.” 

I nodded my thanks and added the drink to my tray. I peered around the room, searching for an unoccupied table. I spotted an empty one of the small tables on the wall and headed for it, placing my tray down and sliding into the bench seat. I finally got a better look at the food that I’d be filling my stomach with.

The stew was a brownish color, still steaming. I could see small chunks of meat floating in the liquid, but I couldn’t tell what they were. Normally I might have been apprehensive about the meat, but I had no idea what life was like in the world now. Even so, I decided to just sip the broth and ignore the meat. Some part of me felt like eating the meat, though I was hungry, would be crossing some sort of line.

I brought the bowl up to my mouth with my hooves and sipped, always glancing around the room. It was highly flavorful, a fact that surprised me. Whoever the chef was was an excellent cook. While I wasn’t the greatest epicurean from what I thought, I could easily taste onion, kale, and the slight flavor of carrot, not to mention the other subtler flavors that I had no idea what they were. I closed my eyes, my tongue enjoying the satisfaction of my first excellent meal since awaking from a frozen sleep.

“Enjoying the stew, are you?” I somehow managed not to jump as an earth pony stallion slid into the bench across the table from me. “I know something that you’d enjoy more. Not from around here, are you?”

He waggled his eyes at me, an expression that immediately won my disgust and ire. “I recommend that you go ahead and leave before I upend this stew in your face.” Stallions like this would most likely be in every place that I visited, but that didn’t make them any less annoying and disgusting. I wasn’t going to toss the stew in his face it was way too delicious to waste it on him, but there was no need for him to know that. Regardless of the fact that I was bluffing, he got the message and left without another word, no doubt off to attempt to seduce another mare. I set my still nearly-full bowl down and glared around the room, almost challenging any stallion who thought they could seduce me. To my annoyance, I saw one or two drop their gaze from me. It did make me smile when I saw the stallion that attempted to seduce me thrown out—literally—by the innkeeper a few minutes later. It seemed that hitting on his wife was not a smart idea.

The encounter helped remind me that I wasn’t safe even in a city. I took a sip of the cider and froze, the taste bringing back memories from the past.

“Come on Fluttershy! Cider season’s about to start!”

“Won’t somepony please think of the cider?!”

“What’d ya say, one last drink between friends before the endgame begins?”

I slammed down the mug, shaking and staring blankly into space. The memories lasted longer than before and they left me stunned and weak. I stared at the mug of cider, wondering how such a small sip could have flashed me back to the past. The physical taste brought back more than a simple name, but what scared me the most was that a few of the memories stayed. I could dimly remember flying into a small cottage and shaking a yellow pegasus, Fluttershy, awake. Collapsing on the floor of a library in a tree for some strange reason and shouting. Meeting in that same library with five other ponies and cider. They were snippets of memory, but they were better than the empty void that my memory had been.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and glanced up, hoping that it wasn’t another stallion come to hit on me in my vulnerable state. To my surprise, it was the pony who had served me the stew.

“Miss, are you all right? I saw you drink the cider and start trembling. Did it taste bad?”

I shook my head, smiling slightly at her innocence. “No, the cider was excellent. It just brought back some memories that I wasn’t ready for.”

“Oh.” She seemed at a loss for words for a moment, then regained her composure. “Well if you wish to talk about, I’m always working here.” She gave an awkward bow and turned to dash back to the fire. I looked after her, wondering what her name was. I’m sure I’d find out eventually.

I set the cider off to the side and resumed sipping the stew. As I ate that, and then the bread, I studiously watched the room fill up with patrons as the night grew. Even though the amount of ponies grew, nopony tried to fill the bench across from me. It wasn’t long before I finished my meal and placed the dishes in the bin marked for them. I headed back up the steps to my room, not caring to socialize and not wanting to encounter the drunks and do something stupid that I probably wouldn’t regret. 

Once I reached the top, I heard the door across from mine unlock and saw it start to open. I paused, curious as to who the occupant was. When she stepped out, I froze, preparing for a fight. Standing in front of me was one of those ghoul ponies, though in somewhat better shape and well maintained. She was a pegasus as well. The only reason I hadn’t tried to fight her the moment she stepped out was the fact that she looked almost as surprised as I did. 

“Oh, hello.” Her voice sounded familiar for some reason, prompting me to take a closer look. Her hairstyle was similar to mine, though either greyed with age or natural I couldn’t tell. Her coat was a light brown color that again seemed familiar. I tilted my head and saw her cutie mark, only to have a rush of memories hit me again even harder than the cider. They came in such a flow that I couldn’t distinguish any of them, only picking out a single detail.

She saw my expression and groaned. “Don’t tell me it’s another fangirl. I tried to avoid those this trip. Hello?” She waved a hoof in front of my face, looking somewhat annoyed.

My brain wasn’t working straight, telling me that there was no way the pony in front of me was who I thought she was. But still I whispered her name, the only consistent thing amongst my memories.

“Daring Do.”

The pony froze, surprise, confusion, and curiosity all present on her face. “How do you know that name?” she whispered, almost as if she was scared of the answer. “I haven’t used it for two centuries. Who are you?”

The fact that I was right shut my brain down and I promptly fainted in front of her. The last thing I saw was her worried and shocked expression, eyes still filled with confusion. 

Footnote: Level up
New Perk: Trader - Whenever you engage in trade, you maximize your profits. +10% to bargaining