• Published 27th May 2012
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Fallout Equestria : New Roam - Delvius



The city of Roam is tortured by ambient and open hostility. Finally, a Praetorian arises to protect the city like the Legionnaires of old, and nothing will stop him. Nothing but himself, that is.

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Chapter 9 - Searching

Chapter 9
Searching
“That’s what I’m here for, to deliver unpleasant news and witty one-liners."






If there’s one thing that watching miles and miles of empty wasteland pass underneath you, with nothing to do while you’re riding a sentient APC -- except a certain something which I do not want to do want to do while in the presence of others -- it’s bored. I tried, and by that I mean I REALLY tried to find things to do. I checked my pipbuck, read the copious amount of notes I had taken down through the years, cleaned my gladius, made sure all of my weapons were prepared, and even tried hovering inside the vehicle just to pass the time. Me crashing into the back of the APC was all I needed to know I shouldn’t try it again.

“I’m. So. BORED.” I said aloud as I lay down on the seats opposite of Myst. For a few moments, I just stared up at the ceiling of the APC, staring at it blankly with wide eyes.

Well, there is always the option of giving yourself physical pleas-“ Zaita started, but I so did not want her to finish that sentence.

“Not. In front. Of you.” I said slowly, making sure to emphasize every single word. The white line on the screen arced upwards, and the cockpit camera turned to face me. It just stared at me… watching me… “Yeah… I’ll just find something else to do, thank you very much. Something that I don’t mind doing while being watched by a camera for the entire duration of the activity.” I said as I looked up at the camera. It shifted from me to look over the rest of cockpit, then back to me.

Like what?” She asked, and I scrambled my mind to think of something to do. At last, I had it; the one thing I could do for the entire duration of the trip.

“I… will do…” I said slowly, dramatically. Zaita’s camera zoomed in, the mini-speakers next to it waiting for the rest of my statement. “…absolutely NOTHING.” I finished, and slumped against the seats in boredom. The camera looked at the floor disappointedly, then turned back to look out the window.

‘Come on, there’s got to be something I can do. ANYTHING.’ I thought, and I looked around the cockpit again. When I turned up with nothing, I just sighed and looked out the window idly.

Goldwreath… I would like to talk to you. About your offer.” She said slowly, and I immediately snapped my head to face her. Well, at least it was something.

“You mean the one about your former operators, right?” I asked, remembering it immediately.

Yes. You see, there was another reason I wanted to go to the Zebra Scientific Institution’s HQ.” An image, a map, appeared on the screen. I took a look, seeing things like ‘ZSI HQ’ on the top-left, a red ‘X’ named ‘Verge’ on the bottom right, and a yellow circle marked ‘Camp Thermopylae’ somewhere near the middle.

My former operators and I once used Camp Thermopylae as a base of operations. It is where most of our missions were given to us, and also where I was based for about two years. I wish to…return there, to see what has happened to the place. It is not far off our path, and at most would only take an hour to provide me with sufficient…closure.” The camera turned to face me, and zoomed in. The vehicle also slowed down a bit, enough so that I could see the rocks outside as rocks and not as blurry objects.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” I asked, mildly annoyed. Why couldn’t she have told me before? For all I knew, this could have been the only reason we were going out here in the first place! Could she actually lie?

I am sorry. In truth, I did not want to return to that place at all, there are… many memories, and not all are good. But when I remembered that the camp was along the way… I simply must go there. I feel… like the place is dragging me back towards it. Like I have unfinished business there, despite the fact that I only associated myself with my crew.” The camera looked down again. In shame this time? Maybe.

“Ugh… you really should have told me before. Every hour we’re out here is another something might happen to Skyfire, and I can’t let anything happen to her.” I looked down at the floor sadly. "Not after what I let happen." I looked back up at the screen, and the white line broke into two segments, both of which arced downwards.

I am sorry. Perhaps it is best to not go there, anyway.” Despite that, I could almost hear the disappointment in her voice. I could…sense it. Maybe I’m crazy, but I’ll even go so far as to say that I felt it. With an annoyed sigh, I spoke up again.

“You really need to go there? Now of all times?”

Well, logically, I don’t ‘need’ to go. After all, the place is more than two centuries old. So, in a sense…” Oh, no. You’re backing away from this now.

“Zaita. Yes or no?” I asked with a serious tone, cutting her off mid-sentence.

Well… I would like to go. If we have time.” The camera slowly turned to face me, zooming in with… anticipation?

I placed my hoof over my face, groaning in annoyance. She seriously couldn’t have told me this sooner? And if it took longer, if we got delayed there for any reason, what then? Then again, it was a military camp. Maybe we could find something useful there, if the place wasn’t looted completely. Lowering my limb, I sighed.

“Alright, fine. Maybe we might find something useful there. Let’s just hope the place isn’t just blasted to the ground.” The screen gave off a soft little beep, and the camera zoomed in so much I thought it would have popped out of it’s slot.

Really? We can go? Thank you. I truly hope visiting this place will take care of some of the questions forming in my consciousness.” The camera zoomed out, then turned to look back out the window. The world outside was passing under us in a blurry haze again as the vehicle resumed it’s pace, and the hum of the engine became louder in response.

“What do you expect to find there, anyway?” I asked, hoping to find out just why we were going to this place. The vehicle stopped completely, almost sending both Myst and I flying forward. The camera once more turned, even slower than last time. The camera zoomed in even more closely than before, and my closer position to it almost allowed it to touch my muzzle.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

I was standing on the edge of a small cliff, Zaita and Myst several dozen feet away. The vehicle had to save whatever energy it had left, waiting for the sun to rise. It was also emitting the signals again, analyzing them to see what exactly they were. I had to wake Myst up and tell her she had to sleep a little but away from the APC if she didn’t want her head to feel fucked up. Before she went back to sleep, she took the time to lay the last of her explosives around us, just in case.

I was watching the city, it’s hellish glow of orange, rather than weakening, was now even more intense than ever. The fiery orange streaks pounded on the city en masse, visibly leveling what must have been several blocks worth of concrete with every few shots. The lightning had not stopped, instead stabbing down even more than before from the roofs of buildings. The blasting of anti-aircraft fire caused much more mayhem, as well; blowing up even more aircraft out of the sky.

“What have I gotten myself into?” I asked myself, watching as another building was reduced to rubble.

‘Meh. It isn’t that bad. At least you’re all the way out here.’ Thought Tod, his voice in my head for some reason weaker than it was before the bridge.

‘Well, at least you’re going in with friends. Imagine what it’ll be like if you went alone.’ Tom came up, his voice weak as well.

‘Yeah, but look at that place! They want to go with me into there, but look at it! The place is a Goddesses-damned deathtrap. It might be better to just drop a balefire bomb on the place and end it.’ I thought, looking sullenly at the ground.

‘Well, it would save you a lot of trouble.’ Damn you, Tod. One thing I hated about myself right now… I actually wanted to. I really did. The place looked so hopelessly irreversible that it probably would have been better to just level the place. To remove the city entirely and let people move to less crazy places.

‘But what about all the people? Those that would be killed? And isn’t that basically what the ponies and zebras back then did? Well, look what it did to the world.’ Tom asked, and I immediately grabbed my head in between my hooves.

“Stop talking! I… just let me think. Come on…” They both fell silent, letting me think this through properly.

‘Damn it, what should I do? I want to help, to make the place better, but how? How can I stop a war that seems like it never really ended?’ I asked myself, and I closed my eyes and sighed.

“Maybe I can try asking Myst. I need another voice in all this aside from my screwed up brain.” I began trotting back down the small hill. As I reached the corner that I had to turn to get back to them, a bright and slow-moving streak erupted in the sky and flew over me. The streak struck something, and there was a bright explosion. It wasn’t as loud as I thought, but it was big. Really big.

Or really close…

The aircraft began plummeting towards the ground, seemingly still struggling to maintain control over itself. All that managed to do was make it spin around in the air as it raced towards the earth. It crashed, sending a pillar of fire rising into the air and pieces of itself flying off in all directions. It dragged itself several dozen meters, leaving flaming debris and an impact crater in it’s wake.

“Whoa… what the shit?!” I began gliding towards it, forgetting my earlier problem entirely. Either Myst was a damned heavy sleeper and Zaita was really busy analyzing, or they just didn’t care. Either way, I found myself racing towards it alone, approaching it’s burning and mangled remains with Vengeance ready, just in case.

I reached the fallen transport. I knew it was a transport because the back of the vehicle was slightly open, and a few bodies were scattered around the crash site. I circled to the front, seeing a dead pilot through one of the broken windows. There was another window, though. One that wasn’t broken and seemed like another cockpit. I climbed onto the front, my metal hoof-plates saving me from being burned. I was about to break open the window, when it gave off a hiss of pressurized air and swung upwards.

The pilot tumbled out, landing on the ground with a groan of pain. He was Legion, from his uniform. He began rummaging through his clothing, and pulled out a small device. He brought it to his mouth and spoke.

“Labyrinth, this is Icarus 8. We have… ugh… crashed near…” That was all he managed to get out before the device fell apart in his hooves. He looked at the pieces with a look of disbelief before he simply dropped them onto the ground. He looked around for a bit, and spotted me.

"You! I need your help. These civilians need to be brought to the Forum before..." I trotted closer, and the pilot's eyes went wide in terror. "You..." He grabbed a low-caliber pistol from his side and opened fire. In his state, he probably wasn't able to aim properly for my head. His rounds struck my vest with no effect, and finally the pistol clicked on an empty chamber. I went over to him and picked him up off the ground, then threw him against the vehicle.

"What are you doing with them? Recruiting? Enslaving? Answer me!" I pushed him against the burning metal, and I heard his coat singe from the heat. He hissed in pain, but managed to look me right in the eye.

"I won't talk... to degenerate scum...like you!" I heard the sound of a metal pin, and I looked down to see an apple-looking explosive in his hooves. I immediately threw him hard against the vehicle and ran, diving for cover behind a rock.

The explosion was barely audible among the sounds of the flames, but the flying body parts I saw overhead told me all I needed to know. I got out of cover and ran for the back of the vehicle, seeing the bloody remains of the pilot's body smeared across the ground. As I reached the slightly opened dual doors, I looked inside and saw smoke, as well as hearing the coughing and gagging of people. The smoke coming from within irritated my eyes, and I had to blink hard to get the tears out.

I looked up, seeing two fuel pipes above the metal door. They was breached, and little jets of flame erupted from them. The pipes went to the side of the vehicle, and then disappeared somewhere near the front. Fuel dripped and fell from the pipes in rivulets and fell inside the vehicle, feeding the flames inside.

"Is anybody there? Anybody?" I yelled, trying to force the hatch to open a little wider. I don't think even a foal could have squeezed through this gap! The coughing remained, but a few managed to stand out as whoever they were approached.

"Please! You have to help us! The fires are getting into the fuel!" A zebra mare managed through all her coughing. Beneath her a little pony filly put her hoof through the gap and tried to squeeze through, to no avail.

"Please, I don't want to die!" the filly wailed, reflecting all the sobbing and crying and coughing I was hearing in the back of the vehicle. The filly managed to get her hoof to touch my chest, and she scraped against my chest plate as she began to cry.

The sounds came closer, the majority of the people inside finding out that I was here. As I stood there in horror, more hoofs appeared around the metal door as more people tried to squeeze out. They must have been piling on top of each other, as there was no way they could have been trying to get out through the top of the hatch. The smoke and flames intensified, as did the struggling of the people within.

"Ah...fuck...um... j-just hold on!" I managed to get out, but the crowd most likely didn't hear it. They just continued screaming and struggling, and the filly I saw earlier was pulled away from the opening and replaced by another child, who then gasped for air.

I began to gallop away back towards the others, the crowd screaming after me as I ran. I felt horrible, turning my back on people like that. I could just hear them scream, screaming for me to help them… Screaming for their lives…

But I couldn’t help them on my own. I didn’t have the tools for the job. But maybe Zaita or Myst did. I couldn’t do this by myself. As I started across a small field that lead back to the others, the crowd suddenly screamed even louder.

“You, please help us!” Yelled a mare.

“We don’t want to die!” Shouted out several young fillies and colts in unison.

The rest screamed similar remarks, asking for me to help. But…were they actually talking to me? They sounded like they were calling someone else… I stopped; an action that made me feel the importance of each second that passed by. I listened carefully, straining my ears to hear them over the sounds of the fire.

The screaming resumed, this time even louder. The tone of the yelling also turned from pleading to one of… horror. There was the sound of a small detonation, followed by the sudden ‘fwoosh’ of an even larger and brighter flame. I looked at the fire, it’s size making it visible even from behind a pile of huge rocks. A cold chill ran down my spine as I suddenly realized what happened.

“What are you doing?! Please, don’t go! Get us out of here!” Yelled the mare again, and I bolted back towards the aircraft. I drew Tankbuster and prepared it to blast away the supports of the door to let them out.

‘Come on, come on! I have to save them! They can’t die like this!’ I told myself, and I galloped faster towards the crash site. I felt so helpless, but all I could think of now was to do something, anything, to get them out.

I reached the vehicle again, and I saw just what I had feared. The flames were even larger than before, and the fuel pipes above had blown away. The fuel poured down into the passenger cabin, and I saw a huge fire coming from within, reaching out of the hatch like the very people it was now consuming. The screams were now barely audible through the sounds of the chaos, but right now it seemed like the only noise I heard.

I ran over to it, heart racing and mind scrambling to think of…something! I just had to save these people, I couldn’t let them die. I pulled out the heavy shotgun, and aimed it at the supports locking the door in place. Damn it, why didn’t I do this earlier?!

I fired, blasting away the majority of the first support. My aim was shaky, just like my breathing. As I aimed once more for the same support, one of the fillies from within came close to the opening. She screamed; a blood curdling scream of pain and horror. Her eyes looked at me with pained pleading, and her skin was peeling off in burned chunks.

“Please…” She reached out a burned, charred hoof and tried to squeeze through in futility. That was all she had the strength to say before the flame inside grew even more and consumed her. I had to jump away from the opening to keep myself from getting caught in the fire.

As I sat there, watching the vehicle burn like a pyre in front of me, the screaming and wailing eventually receded. I looked at the ground, eyes wide in disbelief at what had just happened.

Their screams had stopped minutes ago, but I could still hear them in my head... It made me shiver, despite the heat emanating from the blackened carcass. But I didn't care. My mind was too occupied thinking about what had just happened. How those people had suffered a slow, agonizing death. How I had failed to save them, when they needed it most. It was then that I finally turned away, tearing my face from the smoldering remnants of the downed transport. I began trotting away slowly, head hung low as I thought of how I was going to tell the others about this. How I was going to tell them how I failed to save all those people.

This was exactly why I shouldn't have brought my friends with me. All I had to do was shoot away those supports, just SHOOT them away. If there was one thing I was at least decent at, it was shooting. And yet, when that was all that was needed to save dozens of people from a terrible death, I failed at that too.

The DJ was wrong about me. I wasn't the Defender of Roam, as he made me to look like. I wasn't the Praetorian, and I didn't deserve to have people call me that. I wasn't worth the trust and faith that people put into me, believing me to be some hero. I was a failure, an absolute failure. All those people, burned slowly in a flaming metal deathtrap. And it was all my fault.

"I'm not cut out for this job. I can't protect these people. I can't..." I said sullenly as I continued trotting, passing the rock that just a moment ago I had used as cover from an overzealous and suicidal Legionnaire.

That was when I felt a... presence, if that makes sense. It just felt like... like someone was watching me. Despite the great effort it took, I managed to bring my head up and look around at the rock formations and hills around me. At first, nothing. No sign of any living soul in this dreary landscape. Not even my E.F.S showed any signs of life.

Then I looked beside me, at one of the small cliff walls less than a dozen feet from me. The light coming from the still burning aircraft came as far as my position, but the light that touched that particular bunch of rocks looked... distorted. Like it was passing through a thin veil or something.

There was a flash of blue, and blue-glowing flakes drifted off the equine as if they were being blown away by a soft wind. In a moment, the zebra that I hated so much sat before me. His armored gas mask had not been replaced, but he seemed to have welded the shattered pieces together.

"Really? And here I had hoped that you'd be more determined than ever to save people." He rasped gravelly, getting up and casually trotting towards the still burning wreckage before continuing, "I have to say I'm disappointed. I had thought you'd put those people out of their suffering with a grenade or something. Would have been a lot better."

"Y-you! You did this, didn't you?!" I yelled, stomping after him at a brisk pace. "You did all this! You... you killed all those people!" Their faces were still implanted in my mind, screaming and writhing. Oh, if only I could remove those images. It was the stuff of nightmares.

"I did. And I'm disappointed. You realize how much rockets cost? And I was really expecting to see you put those people out of their misery. But it seems you haven't learned from our discussion on the bridge." He sighed disappointedly, getting close to the doors and looking at them. What, was he going to pry them apart?

"Wait... y-you did ALL THIS, just to see what I WOULD DO?!" I yelled in disbelief as the anger I had put away began flooding my mind. I gritted my teeth and continued, "What kind of sick fuck are you?"

He reached in and placed his hooves against the doors, then ripped them off their hinges with a soft grunt. "Hmmm... maybe the kind that kills people without thinking?" He responded calmly, tossing the doors aside with such ease that he was either on mega-steroids or he was wearing power armor underneath that vest of his. He looked inside, leaning his head forward as if getting a better view.

"You're... you're a fucking monster!" I yelled as I charged at him, not caring that my brain was completely against the act. He took one look at me, and as I got within hoof range he placed a quick but unbelievably strong punch against my abdomen. I fell down, clutching my stomach as I struggled to gain some breath.

"I know, I know. Honestly, when will I hear something new around here?" He picked me up and threw me away like a ragdoll, and I smacked against a rock. He shook his head once before he said, "You're not the first to tell me that." He said that sentence without any emotion whatsoever, except perhaps boredom. Then again, even boredom didn't sound as dead and lifeless as he did. He entered the slightly burning cabin, leaving me gasping as I leaned against the hard surface.

There were disgusting meaty sounds coming from inside, with the occasional sound of a wet crunch. The flickering of the flames inside told me that the last of the fuel was burning up. I had finally gotten up, and I drew the revolver and pointed it at the entrance. The moment he came out of there, I was going to place a shot right against his face.

I was really about to pull the trigger the moment he came out, when he tossed a small... lump onto the ground. "Care to take a look?" He asked, and took a few steps back. Against all my desires to end him, my curiosity somehow managed to overcome my anger.

It was the burned, charred body of a filly. Not the same one that I saw engulfed in the inferno earlier. This one, while obviously severely burned, was at least not burned to a crisp. I looked at the Specter with disgust, contemplating how he could do this to a body. "What about it?" I asked with a growl as I once more pointed the revolver at his head. He didn't even flinch.

"Hmph. I thought you wanted to save people. Well, here's your chance." He pointed a hoof down at the charred body. "She's still alive."

"WHAT?" I asked in disbelief. How could this... mass of burned, crispy flesh be alive? I kept the revolver pointed at him as I approached, looking for any signs of life. Sure enough, over the sounds of the remaining flames, I managed to make out the soft sounds of raspy breathing. "That's not... possible..." I looked over all her burned flesh. I may not have been a doctor, but I was sure that with those burns she shouldn't even have been alive.

"Well? I don't have all night. Are you going to do something about her or not?" He asked, sounding annoyed as he paced from one end of the doorway to the other. "Come on, she's the only survivor. I want to see just what you'll do."

I shot him a hateful glare, and I began rummaging through my saddlebags for a healing potion. One was definitely not going to be enough, so I pulled out all the ones I had. Come on, just save one! Forget about that sick bastard and just save one!

He threw a cheap, low caliber pistol onto the ground, then a clip. I looked at him with confusion, wondering what the hell that was about. He canted his head sideways and said, "Well? When are you going to kill her?"

WHAT?!

"What the fuck do you mean by that? I'm not going to kill her, she's still alive! Alive and..." I was about to continue, before he cut me off.

"And in pain. Not just physical, but psychological and emotional, as well. Her family was in there, her mother and father. Even if she lives, she'll be in pain for the rest of her life. As much as she may deserve to live, she deserves to be free of pain more." He said it with such a tone of certainty that I almost wanted to just punch him then and there out of sheer disgust, if I weren't holding the healing potion to her mouth.

"What the fuck do you mean? YOU did this, to her! You killed her parents! If anything, you should be HELPING to save her now!" I began pouring the restorative potion down her threat, and the zebra responded with an angered growl.

"And what will she live for? There's nothing she can do, no one who'll take care of her, and she'll have no reason to live! She should be put out of her pain now before she goes through more!" After all his dull and lifeless words, his tone of anger almost sounded... feral. Like a wild animal that somehow got the ability to speak.

"I… I can take care of her. I can help her get over her pain. And I can find her a life somewhere, away from the wasteland. And I won't let her die because some delusional idiot like you thinks everyone should be dead!" I finished pouring the healing potion down her throat, and at once her wretched breathing became significantly smoother. Her coat and hide were still burned to hell, though. She'd need medical assistance if she was going to live.

"No!" He yelled, and bucked me away from her with such force that I thought my ribs would have cracked. "You won't bring this foal to pain! I know the path you'll being her on will only result in suffering!" He pulled out a revolver, almost completely identical to Vengeance, and pointed it down at her. I pulled out my own revolver and aimed for his face.

"I won't let you take another life. And I won't fail another person who needs help. I'm going to save her, and you can't make me think otherwise." I fired all six rounds at his helmet, the bullets piercing or ricocheting off of the armored mask. He staggered away slightly, new holes in his headgear.

"And I won't let you bring her with you into the city. Not like what you're doing with those idiots you call your friends." My eyes went wide for a moment, and I looked away from him. He laughed a little, a sadistic and malicious laugh, before he said, "Oho! That's right! Little Praetorian says he wants to save people, yet brings his friends along to die with him in the city!" He laughed aloud, obviously enjoying the look of uncertainty on my face.

"Shut up! It's not like that. They want to come with me. It's their choice. And they're at least better people than you! At least they want to help make this place better!" I yelled, hoping I could convince myself as much as him.

I may have hated the guy, but I'll admit that he knew just what to say to get at me. Those words of his stabbed at me like little poisoned daggers, injecting doubt into my mind. It already sucked that I already wasn't convinced of my own words, and the low chuckle he gave afterwards told me he wasn't, either.

"Oh really? Well, keep telling yourself that. Heh, at least they can be with you right? That's what they said, wasn't it? That they'd want nothing but to be alongside you when you charge into the city like some damned hero and save the day?" I looked away, not wanting him to have the satisfaction of seeing my doubt. Still, I guess he didn't need to see it to know he was getting to me as he said, "Pffft, thought so. What a bunch of bullshit."

The filly gasped, and we both turned our attention to her. She screamed, perhaps feeling the pain of her burned hide on the ground. Her eyelids were melted together slightly, and she had to tear them open. When she did, she let out a little whimper and looked around. Her eyes landed on the zebra, and she immediately crawled away.

"Muuu! Mfay amfay frum mme!" Was the only noise that came out of her melted together lips as she crawled, eventually bumping into my legs. She turned and looked up at me with wide eyes, but didn't run away screaming. Rather, she shakily crawled behind me and held onto my hindleg, whimpering and crying. She looked up at me with wide, helpless eyes, with the flesh on her face still freshly burned. She shuddered, and she closed her eyes and held even more tightly onto my leg.

"Don't worry." I said as I glared at the zebra, the flame reflecting off his visor. "I won't let him hurt you." The little filly shook before she let go and slowly crawled away, whimpering and crying in pain as she took cover behind some rubble. I hoped she wouldn't try to run away. Not now, at least.

"You're a damned fool. If she lives, she'll be subject to horrible pain. It's better to put her down before she does." The zebra began trotting to her cover, the revolver still in his hooves. As the revolver was out, and Tankbuster was much too heavy to keep up with the speed this guy had shown, I instead drew Lighthouse's gladius.

"Not one more step." I said in the most threatening tone I could muster, and he stopped just in front of me. Even if it wasn't the same person who killed Lighthouse, this guy had murdered dozens of people in just under a few minutes. For that, I could find some satisfaction in drawing this blade against him.

"You're joking, right? What makes you think you can stop me? You're using a blade against a gun, and wearing cumbersome gear that'll get you fatigued. You may be a gods-damned idealist, but I heard that you were sensible." He gave off a snicker, and I was just sure that under that helmet of his he was smirking. "And you're alone too."

"Not alone, you motherfucker." Myst said from her perch on top of a small cliff, and the sound of her rifle echoed across the landscape. The bullet struck the zebra right in the face, but again he wasn't dead. Still, I guess even he had to see. He staggered away, muttering obscenities in zebra. A light came up from behind Myst, and Zaita came hovering down at great speeds.

The zebra had regained his balance, and he once again pulled out a blue-glowing cylinder. Just like last time, though, his attempt failed as Zaita rammed into him at full speed. He was sent crashing against the wreckage of the aircraft with a heavy thud, then slid down into one of the flames.

The chances of completing your objective are now 3%. Surrender now or be crushed to a pulp.” Zaita said to the burning zebra as she hovered closer to the wreckage. The zebra got out of the fire, his garments either fire-proof or he just wasn’t in the flame long enough to be set ablaze.

“Of course he isn’t alone.” The zebra said, now very much agitated. He let out an animalistic growl, and his heavy breathing was audible through his respirator. He even let out a jet of hot air out through the helmet, like a bull preparing to charge. “You’re all fools. That filly will suffer because of you, and when she does you’ll blame yourselves. And when you do, you’ll be open to manipulation.” He took a quick look around, as if in search of the little foal.

“Shut up and die.” I swapped the blade out for Tankbuster, then fired all ten rounds as the zebra slowly backpedalled to the edge of the cliff this whole scene was playing out on. I finally ran out just as he reached the edge, and he took a look at me with what must have been angry eyes. Zaita hovered closer, canting forwards in preparation to ram him. Myst stayed where she was, but had her scopes on the zebra. The filly was nowhere to be seen.

“I’m not that easy to kill.” He turned around, and looked at the bottom of the cliff. Oh, what? Was he going to jump off or something?

He took one last look at me and said, “Next time we meet, Praetorian. Next time, I’ll have things my way.” He looked around at Zaita and Myst, then back to me. “And next time, your ‘friends’ won’t be there to help you out.” Then he jumped off, and I ran to the edge just in time to see a blue glow light up near the bottom.

“Zaita, we have to stop him!” Myst said, getting off her perch and galloping towards our APC. “We can’t let him get away, not after what he did.”

“No, Myst. He’s gone.” I got away from the edge, contemplating what he would do next. Nothing good, I just knew it. "We have more important matters to tend to." I looked around the area, but turned up with nothing. "Where's the filly?"

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

"No, no no no! Zaita, Myst, help me out over here!" I yelled as I held the unconscious and barely breathing body of the filly in my hooves. She had tried to crawl away from what happened earlier, but she must've gotten exhausted along the way. As it was, her life was now hanging on a very thin thread as I hurried up to find whatever healing potions I could get my hooves on.

"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!" Myst stammered as she galloped to me, a healing potion in her mouth as Zaita hovered over to us. She handed me the potion as I abandoned my own efforts, and I immediately shoved the vial into the filly's mouth.

"Come on, don't die on me! Don't die!" I shouted, pouring down the healing potion down her throat. Come on, just save one! I failed to save several dozen, so just had save one! The filly barely showed any signs of recovery, even after several potions later. She did, at least, breathe a little more. Her coat also showed the barest signs of re-growing, especially on the less burned portions. But she would need more medical attention that we were capable of giving her...

"Zaita, I need you to do something." I said, and immediately the APC approached. The engine's propulsion systems blasted the sand beneath it away, sending small clouds of dust at us. "I need you to take her back to Zeneta. She isn't going to survive on healing potions alone." The vehicle shook a little in the air, and I saw the camera turn to face me.

"Are you sure about that? I can get there and back, yes. But what will you two do while I am away? The trip back will take several hours, and I do not have enough energy to come back immediately." The camera looked to the sides, as if in thought. After a moment, Zaita said, "And... will this affect the trip to the camp, by any chance?"

What? This filly was dying here, and all Zaita could think of was going to that camp? Was the place really THAT important? Ugh, for the love of...

"No, Zaita, we're still going. Just… just get her there, okay? I couldn't save all those people from a slow painful death, but I can at least save her. And I intend to do everything I can to." I said, annoyed, as I turned to Myst, and earth pony looking like she didn't know what to do. "Myst and I can go as far as the camp, we'll meet you there. I have it's location on my pipbuck, anyway. So, what do you say?" I asked her.

Myst’s eyes shot wide, like she wasn’t expecting me to ask her for her opinion. "Well, um... I don't want her to die. So, yes, Zaita should bring her there." She replied softly as she tapped her hooves together in a nervous manner. What she could be nervous about, I didn’t really care for at the moment. She was Myst after all; being nervous about things was pretty much an irremovable trait. Right now, though, saving this foal from dying was my number one priority.

The vehicle looked around a bit more, and once even turned around and looked off into the night. "Very well. I will take her back, and I will meet you at the camp. But, as I said, I cannot come back for you immediately. I will have to spend some of the early hours of the day recharging." The vehicle hovered closer, further blasting dirt and sand at us.

Myst and I got the filly inside, and we made sure to take anything we might need for the trip to the camp. When we finished, we got out of the vehicle. "Hurry to the camp when you're done, Zaita. We'll be there, don't worry. We might even get to clean the place up a little or something." I gave a small smile, and I saw the camera zoom in on me.

"I would like that. Hopefully, the place has not been desecrated in any way. I would not like to see a gang or a group of raiders in my former home." I don’t know why, but she sounded… relieved. Relieved or thankful, maybe both. But I didn’t care much for that right now, either.

“Alright, alright. You really should get started now, and we’ve got a long way to go. The camp’s about…” I looked at it’s icon on my pipbuck’s map. “… twenty-two miles away.” I groaned quietly, taking in the distance we would have to walk on our own. Twenty-two may not seem so much when you’re in a vehicle, but on your own hooves it was VERY different.

‘Just think of the filly.’ I thought, and that eased my anxiety a bit. Just a bit.

Very well.” Zaita said as she began turning around, facing the direction of Verge (whose lights, even from this distance, lit up a large section of the black night). The engines hummed loudly, and they glowed a soft blue from the heat they emitted. “I will see you two there.” Then, with a blast of force and heat that nearly knocked us off our hooves, Zaita thundered off into the night.

With a soft sigh, I turned to Myst. “Well, we should probably get going.” I noticed just at this point that the clouds overhead were dark and thick, and they let off the occasional distant rumble of thunder. “I really hope it doesn’t rain.”

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

If there’s one thing that really sucks about hoping, it’s that when you hope something doesn’t happen, it does. And, in this case, the hope of it not raining died the moment the clouds dropped their heavy, irradiated downpour of water on us. My pipbuck clicked ever so slightly, and I didn’t really need to look at the screen to know that the radiation was at least negligible. For a time, at least.

“Fuck you, rain.” I muttered to myself as Myst and I trotted along the open plains of the wasteland. The wasteland may have been hot and dry during the day, but right now the cold rain coupled with chilly wind were freezing my nuts off!

“You think we should look for shelter for the night?” Myst asked in between the chattering of her teeth, and I could hear the obvious tone of desire in her voice. As much as I really wanted to just keep going, the slippery mud and freezing atmosphere really wasn’t making this trip any easier.

I was hungry, too. While the food we packed may have been good, opening the cans in this rain would’ve just ruined them completely. So, I settled for chomping down on whatever dead or dying grass or vegetation we came across. All of it tasted like shit, though.

With a small sigh of exhaustion, I said, “Yeah, sure. But where can we find shelter here?” I gestured around us at the miles of flat, empty wasteland. We may have passed by the occasional ruined house or shack, but nothing substantial enough to keep the rain out.

“We could look for an old town or something. Someplace with buildings.” She looked around for a bit, then spotted the dark, forlorn figure of a hill amidst the rain. We had left most of the cliffs and hills behind us over an hour ago, so any such formations were scattered and few. “We might be able to find something from there.” She pointed at the dark form of the hill with a hoof.

‘I doubt it. I can barely see my hoof in front of my face in this rain!’ I thought as I felt all the water drip off me in rivulets. My coat and garments were soaked beyond doubt, and I really hoped that all my weapons would still work. Still, I won’t deny that we really needed to find a place to stop for the night. “Alright, let’s get to it.”

We trotted the short (but really cold) distance to the foot of the hill and then we began climbing up. The small rivers of water running down the hillside coupled with the strong and chilly wind nearly blew us off the hill many, many times. If it weren’t for the dead plants and bushes that still clung to the hill, I think that we would have been sent off the side many minutes ago.

After what felt like hours, the two of us finally reached the top. I fell down from exhaustion, leaning against a dead tree. I didn’t care how cold the rain was or how muddy I was, I just couldn’t keep moving like this for much longer. Myst though, not wearing heavy gear like I was, still had enough left in her to look around us with her scope. She moved around, peering into the night. How she could even expect to find anything was beyond me.

“I… think I see something. It looks like a light.” She said as she returned to me. “It may be a raider camp or something. Or maybe even a town. I think it’s worth checking out.”

I got up and looked around for a bit, occasionally having to wipe the water from my face to see. “Are you sure? I don’t see anything out there…” I narrowed my eyes, straining them to make out anything that resembled a light. Nothing. Nothing at all but the heavy drops of rain.

“You can’t, maybe. Then again, I’m the one with the scope.” She said with an uncharacteristic tone of smugness. I turned to her, catching her smiling smugly. Immediately, her smile disappeared. “Well, it’s worth checking out at least. It’s not like we can just stay here all night.”

“Alright, fine. As I can’t see it, you’ll have to bring us there.” She nodded, and we started back down the hill again. It wasn’t as hard as going up, but it was a lot dirtier. We had to slide down the side to get down quickly, and that got mud into just about every possible space in our clothing. Still, at least it saved energy.

We went across the open plains again, Myst in the lead. As we walked, we heard the occasional roar come from somewhere above us. But every time we looked, we saw nothing. Once, though, Myst said she saw a dark, winged form that disappeared before she could make out any more details. I wouldn’t have believed her, as I could barely see anything, if I didn’t think that those roars had to come from somewhere. Oh, I seriously hoped that they were just local wildlife trying to look for shelter. I did not want to be hunted by hungry animals when we could barely see each other, much less them if they were flying.

At last, our hooves touched down on solid road. Considering that what we had to walk through for several hours was knee-deep mud and dead vegetation, the feel of solid ground beneath me was almost orgasmic. Now, though, I could make out the lights Myst was talking about. They were lamps, hung down from inside the windows of buildings. The buildings themselves were nothing but dark silhouettes, but there was no denying that we were in some of kind town or settlement.

My E.F.S showed a ton of red bars, but none of them were moving. We walked around cautiously, relying on the rain to conceal our movements, and eventually found a building with only a few bars inside. It was about five floors high, and the windows were boarded up. Above the door, I saw the remains of a sign showing a logo of a flame burning within a circle. Unfortunately, the text was illegible after hundreds of years of decay.

I tried to open the door. It was locked, and I didn’t trust myself enough with a bobby pin to try the lock, especially not in this weather. Instead, I just used Tankbuster to blow the lock away. If it were any other situation, every single bar here would have heard that shot and swarmed on us. But I don’t think even Zaita’s chaingun could be heard over this downpour.

“Get in.” I told her as I monitored my E.F.S carefully, just to make sure. After she had gotten in, laying a hidden explosive near the entrance, I got in as well. I closed the door, and Myst gave me an old office chair to block it.

After I propped the chair up against the door, my pipbuck gave off the sound of a cash register, and I saw a small notification on the screen:

‘Roam Pyro Kinetic Inc. Office’ it said.

“Pyro Kinetic Inc., huh?” I said, wondering just what sort of things a company called ‘Pyro Kinetic Inc.' would have done during the war.

The inside of the building was only mildly ruined, with the floor still maintaining some of it’s shine and the wall’s paint only partially faded. The lobby was spacious, and a large counter with several terminals dominated the area in front of a wall. There was also the faint sounds of a high-pitched ringing noise along with a dull humming; the sounds of the two signals Zaita picked up.

There were also lots of burn marks. They varied in intensity, some looking like a huge flame had made them, while others looked like someone held a lighter too close to the wall for a few minutes. Either way, the floor was absolutely thick with ash, some of it in large piles. There were metallic stumps on the ceiling, the burn marks looking particularly intense around them. Perhaps they were turrets that exploded?

“Myst, I’ll look around for a bit; see if there’s anything in here that’s interesting.” I looked around at the terminals, some of them still glowing an electronic white even after two centuries. “Maybe I can learn something about the war in here, too.”

“Okay. I’ll go check upstairs. Maybe I can find something valuable.” She trotted away with a little grin of delight. Apparently, Myst liked to scavenge. Speaking of scavenging, that was still a skill I should develop. It’s not like I could always rely on her to provide us with caps or salvage to sell to get caps.

I trotted to one of the old terminals, and the sounds became much more distinguishable. It even started to give me a small headache, though not enough to grab my attention. The screen of the terminal was dark, but still glowed. When I moved the mouse, though, it lit up even brighter, like it had been waiting for some kind of user input. On the top left corner, I saw a name of a zebra.

‘Hello, Mrs. Raidan.’ It said, and next to it was a small logo of an envelope with a red number ‘3’ above it. I moved the cursor over to the envelope and clicked, and immediately I saw a list of old messages.

‘Customer Report #46’, ‘Transaction With Olympus Energy’, and ‘Attention All Employees’ were the titles of each message, respectively. With nothing much to do at the moment, I clicked on each one and read them.

The first message was basically a small complaint from some military personnel that a flame thrower unit wasn’t working. Nothing interesting, really. The next report just said that ‘your transaction with Olympus Energy has been approved’, and was also of no interest to me.

The last one, though, actually caught my attention. It was from the president of Pyro Kinetic Inc.

Dear employees of Pyro Kinetic Inc.

The new ‘Inferno’ series of vehicles are now cleared for testing. Please ensure that during the hours 8:30 AM – 3:30 PM of July 5th – 15th that all fireproofing measures are in motion. This applies to all maintenance staff, as well.

Also, the Military’s 5th and 8th Legions have generously decided to purchase a large supply of surplus equipment from us, and as such all salaries are to be increased by 3%.

Lastly, and this is STRICTLY confidential, and any staff who reveal this information will have their memories erased and will be fired, the Shadow Corps of Legate Autherius will be conducting a background check on all personnel and their families. This is to ensure that each and every employee of Pyro Kinetic Inc. are still, and I quote, ‘loyal to the interests of the Nation’. Please remain within facility grounds on evenings of the 18th of July until the 20th for said background checking. Any staff who attempt to leave, for whatever reason, will be dealt with appropriately.

Pyro Kinetic Inc. HQ

Huh. So Autherius was conducting loyalty checks, then? I wondered if any of those traitors Decarius spoke about in that video were from this company.

All the other terminals had similar messages, and none of them interested me in the slightest. Moving away from them and roaming around on the first floor, I eventually came upon stairs leading down. As I took several steps down, my pipbuck began clicking slowly. ‘3 rads per second’ it said.

“Radiation? Down there? What could that mean?” I asked as I went down further, the clicking increasing in frequency with each step. My body began to itch a little, and my headache worsened. All my suspicions of having radiation sickness were confirmed by my pipbuck, and apparently my torso was crippled. Maybe from that zebra’s buck earlier. Still, I didn’t feel that bad.

After several flights down, I began to notice all the burn marks on the walls and on the steps of the stairs. There was ash everywhere, like someone had covered the whole place in paper and set it on fire. Why, though, I couldn’t imagine.

The radiation had also reached a point where it didn’t increase further. Still, I’m guessing that ’10 rads per second’ was not a good number. Deciding to hurry up finding out wherever all this radiation was coming from before I grew a fifth limb, I went down the stairs at a speed just short of galloping. It was also at this point that I noticed that all the red bars in this building were coming from down here.

Eventually, I reached a large, armored, metal door. It had lots of scorch marks on it, too. The stairs near it were just lousy with ash, the stuff flying around the still air with every step in it I took. The door itself marked, in big bold text, ‘SHELTER’. The red bars were directly behind the door, moving around at random. There was no way to open the door, though. All it had was a sleek glass surface, similar to Zaita’s screen when I first encountered her, to the left of the door.

‘This seems really fishy.’ Thought Tod.

‘Yeah, this place feels… strange. And dangerous.’ Yes, Tom, it does. Then again, the entire wasteland was dangerous.

I sighed as I looked at the door disappointedly. "Well, that was a waste of time. They're probably just radroaches, anyway." I sighed one more time, and removed my hoofplate and placed my hoof on the screen in a futile attempt to get inside. I glanced at my pipbuck's warning notification. "And now I've got... ADVANCED radiation sickness. Great." I still didn't feel that bad, but I wouldn't doubt that I really did have rad sickness.

I removed my hoof from the screen and turned away, disappointed. I was just about to take a step back up the stairs, when the door gave off a little beep.

"ACCESS GRANTED." The door's voice said in a low, rough voice. The door slid down with a clang, and immediately the air inside burst out in a strong gush that reeked of decay and... other indescribable things.

"What the..." I said, taking a step inside. I had to cover my muzzle and breathe through my mouth to avoid the stench, but that didn't really help as the air itself seemed to have 'taste', if that makes sense. "Okay, this is some weird shit.” I said as I took a few tedious steps into the room. I also wondered why the door had let me in. Maybe decades of disrepair had screwed with it's systems? Yeah, let's go with that.

‘Yeah, I don’t really think this is a good idea…’ Tom started, when Tod suddenly cut him off.

‘Aw, come on! What could possibly happen? He can take care of a few radroaches.’ Well, I won’t deny that.

I stepped further in, stepping in pools of irradiated water that flooded in through a huge crack in the metal ceiling what led all the way up to the surface. My pipbuck clicked madly, indicating the immense amount of radiation that flooded the area. Metal pipes formed a maze overhead, and some of them dripped water through cracks on their surface, as well. Looking around, I spotted a few skeletons in one corner and trotted over to them.

They were… a mess. Not that the whole wasteland wasn’t a mess, really. But these people, whoever they were, looked like they had died in agonizing pain. They had old blood stained all around them, all over the floor and on the walls. One skeleton had all it’s limbs torn away, scattered around it. The others had ripped open ribcages, as if something had forced it’s way into their bodies. On the ground near them, I found an old pistol with several empty casings scattered around the floor. Perhaps they had committed suicide? So, what? Did they tear their limbs off and rip their stomachs open before they did? I really doubted it.

What was worse, the red bars on my E.F.S started moving, fast. “Okay, that’s it. This place is creepy, no doubt. Well, time to go back up!” I said in nervous cheer as I started to make my way towards the door again. I didn’t care that I hadn’t explored the rest of the room, I did not want to stay down here!

Then I heard a sound. A… sort of… scream. Well, not really a scream. More like growl, or a snarl of some sort. It was the sort of noise that only monsters in nightmares could make. My blood froze in my veins, and I could just stare at the doorway in front of me with wide eyes and listen as the noise was followed up by more noises. First more snarls, then slow, steady trotting. Then more trotting… then more…

I turned around slowly, heart pounding in my chest. My blood was circulating again, but it still felt cold in my veins. I pulled out Tankbuster as I stared at the darkness before me, watching, waiting. I gulped, preparing myself to face whatever was going to come out of there. The red bars were far more numerous than I thought, and now they formed a solid wall of red on my E.F.S.

“Whoa, come on… come on… You can do this. You can do this. Y-you faced down a giant octopus and tanks and a crazy zebra dude on steroids. You can take on a few radroaches.” I tried assuring myself, but it didn’t work. I just stood there, waiting as the noises came closer.

Then I saw dark forms appear. They were zebras, for the most part. A few ponies, maybe three or four. They all emerged from the darkness one at a time, as if the darkness itself was revealing them to me. They formed a wall of bodies that slowly trotted to me, and all I could do was watch.

And yet, against all logic and sense, I suddenly felt immensely relieved. They were NOT monsters from nightmares after all! They were just ponies and zebras! Maybe they were raiders of some sort, or maybe they were diseased, but they weren’t monsters! This was great! I felt so much more confident now.

I felt a small smile form on my face, and some of the fear cracking down on me fell away. “Come on, motherfuckers.” I grinned like an idiot, feeling like I had gotten all worked up for nothing. Come on, they were just regular equines, right?

Then one of them let out that same snarl, and all relief and confidence that I had in me was crushed immediately. THEY were making those sounds? But… but they were just regular ponies and zebras! They couldn’t, just couldn’t, have been doing all that! ...Right?

I activated my pipbucks’ lamp and looked at them more closely, and I saw that they were not regular equines after all. Their eyes were dead and hollow, almost literally. Their bodies were rotten and deformed, like they had their hide melted with acid, then they cut it open and let all their wounds get infected until their skin was nothing but a maze of disgusting scars and tumors and unnatural looking marks on it. Their bodies had whole sections of flesh stripped away, revealing disgusting pinkish flesh beneath.

Suddenly, I realized just what was going on. It may have been a little late, as the creatures had begun galloping towards me on unsteady legs as they snarled again and again. It took me a few seconds to realize that, though. And when I did, they were only several meters from me. But at least I finally realized what was going.

“FUCKING ZOMBIES?!” I yelled as I ran back up the stairs, speeding up the staircase as the zombies swarmed through the doorway after me. “Just when my life couldn’t get any more fucked up, I face fucking zombies?!”

‘I told you it was fucking dangerous!’ Shut up, Tom! I need to focus on not getting my flesh ripped off right now!

“MYST! WE GOT A SERIOUS PROBLEM OVER HERE!” I yelled as I bolted up the stairs, like an animal running from a predator. “And there’s a LOT of them!” I saw two blue bars, one of them moving significantly faster than the other, coming over to my position.

Wait… two?

As I cleared the staircase, the zombies only several meters behind, I turned around and readied Tankbuster to face the oncoming hoard. With a quick glance to the side, I saw Myst emerge from the stairs going up, accompanied by… a strange, floating… orb? Well, no time to think about that now!

“Oh shit…” I muttered as the zombies cleared the stairs as well and then began charging to both me and the other two. I opened fire, Tankbuster sending a storm of lead pellets that tore off limbs and blew heads off into the mob of zombies.

Myst opened fire as well, sending shots that, against all odds, always landed a fatal hit. As one of the zombies that managed to survive my initial barrage charged me, she sent it’s head blasting off in all directions with a well placed headshot.

Still, this was really bad. Not only were there far too many of these things for our guns to handle, they were also, to my complete surprise, quite nimble. They scaled over the furniture as we fell back, firing whenever we could at the crowd. When Tankbuster ran out, I quickly switched to the gladius as the creature’s closed in on me. Myst was on the far side of the room, getting much less attention from the mob than I was. As much as I envied her of not being swarmed, at least she was still pulling off shots.

One of them jumped at me, and was met with a slice that severed it’s head from it’s body. The rest continued towards me as I backpedalled towards the door. They trampled over the dead body of their fellow zombie as I stood my ground, ready to slice and stab my way through them all.

Like a wall of meaty flesh they slammed into me, biting and scratching and pummeling me until I nearly fell onto the ground. They tore at my vest and my armor, both of which, I am sure, were the only reasons I even survived this attack. I lunged every opportunity I could, stabbing deep into their torsos and cutting off whatever seemed vital, like their heads.

As I continued on like this for several seconds, fighting against an overwhelming and outnumbering force, they did eventually manage to bring me down. As I lay there, uselessly trying to block their savage attacks with my limbs, I felt all their bodies ripping off my own flesh with their teeth. They were tugging savagely at my wings, and a mental image of that dream I had in my stable conjured itself in my mind. They were going to tear my wings off! Already, I could feel the muscle and cartilage underneath ache from all their savage mishandling of my appendages.

I suddenly came upon a dreaded realization: I was going to die. And it would not be a peaceful death, as I am sure everyone wants. Instead, I was going to die resting in pieces, literally, in the stomachs of about twenty zombies.

My mind processed all that, and the response was immediate: I began to panic. I thrashed around desperately, hoping to somehow kick them off me so I could escape. My breathing became erratic as I searched around like an animal for a way to survive. I spotted an opportunity when one of them slumped to the floor, it’s head gone, and revealed a path to the stairs obstructed only by a few of the creatures. With a burst of adrenaline, I forced myself up and began slicing and stabbing my way through them towards the stairs. A few of them clung onto any exposed flesh with their teeth, then eventually let go as I broke free and bolted for the stairs.

I was just about to reach it, when three of them caught my rear legs and began dragging me back towards the rest of the swarm.

“No! Let me go, you fucking…” I freed one of my legs from their grip and kicked it again and again into their faces. As I managed to kick one of them away, the rest caught up to me and once again resumed their savage beating.

‘Well, it was nice knowing you.’ Said Tod, and I immediately felt a very strange feeling: a part of my head shut down. Well, not really. It just felt like… like parts of my brain were suddenly… sluggish.

‘Bah, coward! Don’t worry, Goldwreath, I can help you out…’ Said Tom, and at once the slow parts of my brain woke up again. And this time, they felt a lot more… mine. Almost like for the last few days Tod had owned these parts of my brain, and when he left I was able to reclaim them. What, was my own head a war zone?

Even with my brain feeling like it was mine again, and with the headache almost completely non-existent, I was still in a very bad situation.

Then suddenly an orange light lit up the back of the room, quickly spreading towards me. I began to feel heat, getting hotter and hotter with each passing second. After a while, an orange flame passed over my face so close that the bits of my mane that hung out from under my helmet were singed just by it’s mere presence. It was really hot, and I could even feel parts of my legs being exposed to the flame. Perhaps not directly, but it definitely hurt.

But there was something good about the fire, of course. The zombies began burning, running around snarling as they slammed themselves against the walls in a futile attempt to extinguish the flames. Even the ones holding onto me caught fire, and I kicked them away with as much force as I could muster before they set me on fire, too.

I struggled about halfway up the first flight of stairs, fighting for breath and clutching at my many bleeding wounds, before I collapsed from pain and looked back down at the first floor. It was a blazing inferno, with the flames flickering up to reach about halfway towards me before they dissipated. As I watched, the orb from earlier passed near the foot of the stairs, and I saw that all the flames were coming from two cylinders on it’s side. The zombies were utterly consumed by the inferno, only occasionally becoming visible through the fire.

About a minute later, the flames died down. Anything flammable, such as any furniture, was probably burned to ashes at this point. The noise and light made by this whole event would’ve been enough to wake up every red bar around us, if the rain outside had subsided in the slightest.

Myst appeared at the bottom, unharmed and unscathed save for a few scratches and only a little ash on her coat. She slowly came up the stairs, looking at me worriedly. When she reached me, she pulled out a healing potion. Just then, the orb from earlier appeared as well. It slowly bobbed it’s way up, and now being better illuminated I could see just what it was.

It was a small metallic orb, floating on four flapping wings. It had been rigged with two flamethrowers on it’s sides, and what looked like a shotgun on the bottom. The machine itself looked like it had been through hell, what with all the scratches and dirt and bullet holes and general disrepair that marred what would have otherwise been a shiny orb.

“Wha-, um… who are you?” I asked, and the look Myst gave me afterwards suggested she already knew. She just remained silent though, and after a while the machine spoke in a small, tinny, mechanical voice.

“You can call me Watcher.”

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

"Watcher, huh? So... could you, I don't know, explain what you are... 'watching'?" I asked, hoping to get an explanation as to just what (or who) this thing was. "And are you actually, well, a robot?"

"What? Oh, no, of course not. I use the robot to communicate with people such as yourself. As for what I am watching out for… well, I’m looking for certain people.” The machine responded in that tinny voice as I downed the potion Myst had given me. At once, the immense pain I was feeling and the copious amounts of blood I was losing both reduced, and she handed me another potion. I took it in my hooves.

“Gah… really? And, uh, who are searching for?” I asked, letting out a sigh of relief as my wounds began closing. The soreness from all their savage jerking and pulling and stomping remained, though. Well, at least I wasn’t losing blood.

“As I said, certain people. People with… values.” The machine said, floating slightly closer to me and Myst. “People that are better than the rest.”

“Yeah, well, you’ll have to search elsewhere. Roam’s a damned warzone, if you haven’t noticed. Try Equestria, I heard that someone named the ‘Stable Dweller’ is there.” I responded, downing the second healing potion. Myst herself took out a third and drank about half of it, just enough to deal with her relatively minor injuries. “Other than there, and if you’re really determined on searching here, try some place called Road Town. It has some good people, at least better than most of what I’ve seen out here.” I grimaced, thinking of the zebra who not more than several hours ago killed several dozen people.

“Um… Goldwreath…” Myst started nervously, as always, when Watcher interrupted her. His interruption, though, seemed to be to the liking of Myst, who smiled at the little bobbing robot.

“Ah, yes, about that…” There was the sound of throat clearing; a noise that sounded strange coming from a machine. “You see, this unit has been here in Roam for… I don’t know, a year? I know what’s going on, more or less, and I’ve been to most ‘friendly’ places.” The machine turned to face Myst. “And I have made a few friends here since.”

I looked to Myst questioningly, and she responded with a smile and a nod. “I’ve known Watcher ever since. He appears from time to time, usually every month or so.” She said with a fond smile and closed her eyes, as if thinking back at their first meeting.

“Wait, I thought you said the only friend you were leaving behind was Kira?” I asked, slightly offended that Myst lied to me.

“She was the only friend I left behind. You see, Watcher moves around a lot. You can probably see that.” She gestured at the machine, at it’s battered and broken external plating. “When I left with you, I knew he’d be able to find us.”

“She’s right. And if it weren’t for her and a few other kind people around the city, this unit would have died here long ago. And then I would have had to send another unit to search, and I’d have to maintain the signal…” The person voicing the machine shuddered. “You have no idea how hard it is to maintain the link with this thing from where I am. Why, in fact, this thing nearly bla-…” The machine gave off a little noise of powering down, and dropped to the floor.

“Watcher?” I asked worriedly as I poked the machine. It didn’t respond.

“Oh, that happens a lot. He’ll get back on it. Let’s just bring this thing upstairs and treat those injuries of yours.” She helped me up, keeping me steady as my sore and painful legs nearly gave out from under me. When I could stand and walk on my own again, she picked up the metallic orb in her forehooves and walked up with me on her hindlegs. Just like zebras.

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

I was shivering, holding tightly onto whatever blankets Myst had managed to find. My insides felt gooey, like they had melted into some sort of sludge. I felt light-headed, and I was sweating profusely all over my body. My insides churned, making a weird noise, and immediately a whole mug’s worth of bile and acid shot out from my mouth and onto the floor around me. My hide looked pale under my coat, and I saw that my wounds from earlier still had openings in them. The openings were a sickly grey, and whenever I touched them they would sting so badly that I nearly screamed.

“D-d-d-damned radiation s-s-s-sickness…” I chattered in between my teeth, and I closed my eyes in a futile effort to alleviate some of my pain.

‘Oh, so NOW I start feeling bad.’ I thought, and my head ached in protest.

“Shhh, this should help…” Myst said, and she put a rubbery tube next to my muzzle. I opened my eyes, and I saw a plastic pack filled with a strange orange fluid. Not wanting to ask what it was and deciding to just trust her, I took the tube into my mouth.

The fluid was flavored a rancid orange, the taste clinging to my mouth even after I had swallowed the liquid. As much as I wanted to gag and spit the stuff out, I managed to get in a few gulps. Any more than that, though, would have resulted in me just puking it all back out. I spat it out, a few drops of the stuff dripping down onto my blankets.

“You need to rest. You were exposed to a lot of radiation.” She looked at me with an expression of annoyance. “And I thought I told you that I was going to go with wherever you went. Damn it, after the bridge, I promised myself I’d go with you so I could help you out.” She punched my helmet softly, making my head swirl from the impact. “Next time, I’m going with you. No more splitting up.” She said sternly, then she trotted out, closing the door to the room behind her.

“Heh… she’s starting to become like Skyfire…” I let out a little chuckle, before I closed my eyes. “I wonder if she’s awake yet…”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I was floating in the air, literally. My wings weren’t flapping, I was just floating. How, I couldn’t even imagine. Clouds moved about, either above or below me. The moon’s light reflected off their puffy grey forms, making the sky look like a place of alien beauty. But that wasn’t what caught my attention.

I was high above the city of Roam, above what was obviously the Forum. The tower stabbed up from the ground like a spear, nearly reaching me at my position. I could see the signs of activity all over the ground below me; moving tanks, flying aircraft, hundreds of little specks moving around near the bottom in a surprisingly organized fashion… But again that wasn’t what caught my attention.

Everything was… colored. And not in the conventional sense, either. Sure, I could see the colors of the buildings, their faded paint and the color of the materials beneath it. The dull and depressing colors of the wasteland were everywhere, sure, but somehow what I saw before me made it look even more strange than it already was.

This… this wasn’t natural. Everywhere I looked, there was a… something I can only describe as a fog, everywhere. It was colored green, like some kind of biochemical weapon or something. It flew in all directions if it wasn’t piling up in great clouds somewhere on the ground.

And yet there was also a light blue mist floating all around, contrasting the sickly green of the other fog. Just like the green cloud, it too flew about and piled up. However, the blue fog was significantly more active, jumping and spreading around more erratically than the green one.

I descended, an action that I still wasn’t able to contemplate the possibility of without using my wings. I reached the ground and landed, looking at hundreds of Legionnaires all marching around. They were doing lots of things: training, talking, exercising, eating, and even digging. Among them, power-armored juggernauts walked around guarding the metal-clad centurions.

And all around them the fogs were there. The two different mists would surround each individual person, seeming to engage in a battle as they swirled around each other, attempting to get the majority of the pony or zebra. Around me, though, only the blue mist approached. It came around me, and though I wanted to, I didn’t run away from it. When it touched me… nothing. No pain, no sense of relief, no vision of the future or something. Just nothing.

‘What is going on here?’ I asked mentally.

I continued trotting on the ground, everyone acting like I wasn’t even there. Either I wasn’t visible, or nobody really cared. When I tried to touch them, my hoof passed straight through them. What, was I a ghost?

I ascended again, flying high above the Forum once more, and looked around more carefully. It wasn’t just the Forum that had the two fogs, it was the whole city. Everywhere, the two mists would visibly engulf entire buildings and enter into combat, making the whole city look like some kind of misty warzone between two sides who’s agendas I couldn’t even begin to understand.

I looked towards the mountains, which is where the two fogs seemed to be emanating from. The two seemed to be battling their hardest there, covering the entire mountain range in their colors. For some reason, I decided to float towards them. I could feel parts of my brain desiring to go their, but each part felt like they wanted me there for different reasons.

That was when tendrils of green fog erupted from the ground and surrounded me, and began circling around as they slowly closed in. I watched as they slowly formed a ring around me, the circle slowly tightening until my body was stuck in place. I tried wiggling out of it, but the ring only tightened further.

Unlike the blue fog, this one really did hurt. It caused my thoughts to scatter, replaced instead with ideas of destruction and killing. Thoughts of violence and power, the likes of which made me shudder from their mere presence in my mind. I was disgusted, but that was nothing compared to what I heard next. It made me mentally cower, like I wanted to find bunkers in my mind and crawl into them.

“You… you’re the one I’ve been searching for.” A sinister, evil, raspy voice said in my head. It was loud, dominating my entire mind with it’s words. Whatever thought passed into my head immediately vanished, as if this entity wanted only itself in my head. “You’re the one he’s trying to protect.” The voice laughed, making my head explode with pain. Even more frightening, I could feel… it rooting itself in my mind. Was it trying to mind control me? Oh, hell no!

When it had tightened so much that I could barely move, the ring then began flying at great speeds towards the mountains, dragging me along for the ride. I struggled to break away, but, against all logic, it’s grip was extremely tight. I couldn’t break free!

We moved so quickly that the miles of ground below us passed by in mere seconds, and already I could begin to see the details of the mountain range. We passed over a body of water, but, despite it’s obviously large size, we passed that quickly, as well.

We had barely left the body of water behind, when two massive tendrils of blue crashed down on us from above, slapping away the green fog and taking me into a much more gentle and kindly grip.

Come, we must get out of here.” Said a deep, benevolent voice that came from within the mist. “We must escape before it attempts to wrestle you from me.” This fog, just like the one before it, then began flying off at great speeds towards the mountains.

“What… what is going on here? What's ‘it’?” I asked in a demanding tone. I looked at all the blue fog around me cautiously, and I tried to break free. Once again, I couldn’t.

We have much to discuss.” The voice responded simply, and the tendrils then began flying at even greater speeds. Behind me, I could see an army of green and blue tendrils battling. The green tendrils seemed desperate to get at me. They tried to close in on me, but the blue ones then intercepted them, causing them to plummet towards the ground.

To the south, though, I could see an area completely untouched by the fogs: the area beneath the black clouds. The two fogs seemed to avoid that place entirely, leaving the mysterious and ominous land alone. Looking at it, I guess I couldn’t really blame them; the ground there, even from this distance, looked so… chaotic. Entire lakes of red liquid lurched up into the sky, spreading it’s red and orange glow to every corner of the black land. In the distance, I saw huge moving forms as silhouettes, lumbering around and towering over the terrain like titanic monstrosities.

‘You’re shitting me. What the fuck are THOSE?!’ I mentally asked, completely dumbfounded by the sight I was seeing.

Bad things. Very bad things.” The voice said ominously, as if it knew my thoughts. Considering that it was a fog that could talk and physically take me off the ground, I guess it wasn’t very weird if it did know my thoughts. Still, that statement made me wonder just what exactly was going on over there. The mere images of the place that came into my mind made me shudder.

Suddenly, red lightning struck the ground beneath the black clouds, and that familiar otherworldly noise sounded over the entirety of the city. It was significantly more deathly now, making the sound I heard it make about a day ago sound warm and inviting.

AHH!” The voice screamed, and the tendrils released me from their grip. The rest of the fog, both green and blue, began to scatter. They would abandon whatever conflict they were engaging in before and scurry around, creeping into whatever crevice or nook they thought could protect them from the noise.

I flew up, just as the fogs of both sides were beginning to come out of hiding again, once again covering the land in their colors. I flew as fast as I could, but when I looked down I saw two massive spires of green and blue form. They were forming much faster than I could fly up, and as they neared me they crashed into each other again and again.

Just as they were directly below me, each sent out a gigantic tendril to grab me. Suddenly, though, I began to feel the whole world shake.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I woke up quietly, opening my eyes wide and staring at the room around me like I had seen a ghost. When I saw no green or blue fog around, I let out a sigh of relief and let my head once more rest on the cold, moist walls of the structure.

The rain outside had softened quite a bit, now being no more than a drizzle. Lighting flashed outside; natural, non-red lighting. Through a window pointing south, I could see the ominous red glow of the land beneath the black clouds through the haze of the rain.

“What the fuck was that all about…” I asked, my head feeling even more sluggish than before. Seriously, what was that all about? If it was just a dream, then it was a damned scary dream. It just felt so real, like I was actually there. But that wasn’t possible, right? I wasn’t being chased by weird fog creatures, right?

No, no I wasn’t. And I intended to stay that way for as much as possible. My life was weird enough without being chased around by air.

Ugh… the headache was back.

‘Oh, I see you’re awake.’ Said a familiar shitty part of my head.

‘YOU’RE BACK? Aw, fuck…’ Well, that explains that, I guess. Perhaps hoping that Tod would be gone permanently was a little far-fetched. The wasteland just loved having this guy in my head, for some reason.

I shook my head, and looked around at the room I was in. It was once an office, by the looks of it. Everything inside was broken, though. The terminal and accompanying desk were dusty remains of their former selves, looking like the slightest touch would be enough to break them. The floor was dusty, and any movement I made stirred the incredibly thick layer of dust into the air. I covered my muzzle with the blanket, thinking that air wasn’t healthy to breathe.

The door to the room was open, though. A soft yellow light, like that of a candle, flowed into the room and was the only real illumination aside from the pale moonlight coming in from the windows. There were voices, obviously Myst’s and Watcher’s, coming in from the room beyond. They were talking about something, but what I couldn’t tell.

I moved closer as quietly as I could, placing my still metal-plated hooves on anything that wouldn’t make too much noise. After some time, I found myself right next to the doorway, looking outside at a small light bulb attached to a wooden plank with wires connecting it to a spark battery. I saw Myst, looking beside her at a floating shadow. I was about to go outside to see what was going on, when they continued their conversation.

“So, how’s the searching?” I heard Myst ask, sounding genuinely concerned about Watcher’s… 'searching', as he called it.

“Honestly, it’s been better. Sure, the chances are still really slim, but they’re better now. As much as it seems strange, the wasteland suddenly becoming more active has brought out more people. Some are good, some are bad. But with more people, I have better chances.”

“Like that… ‘Stable Dweller’ that I heard about?”

“Yes, exactly. I’ve talked with her and her friends, and they’re good people.” The operator sighed, then said, “It’s just kind of hard to keep track of so many events. I mean, remember half a year ago where practically nothing interesting was happening?”

“Well, there’s always something interesting happening, but yeah. The wasteland kind of went into a rut for a while.” Myst responded.

“Yeah, well, now it’s different. If you’ve been to the places I’ve been, seen the things I’ve seen, you’ll find that the wasteland is suddenly… I don’t know, ‘waking up’?”

“I... guess so. DJPON3 said something about how nothing good happened in the wasteland for a really long time. He also said something about stuff suddenly happening.”

“That’s exactly what I mean.” Watcher said, and the shadow approached Myst.

“Well, not much has happened here in Roam that you probably didn’t already know. Except maybe Goldwreath suddenly appearing. Everything else… well, you know.”

“Goldwreath, huh? So that's his name. He’s that Praetorian guy I heard about on the radio, right?” Watcher asked, and I instinctively found myself sitting against the doorway and listening. It just felt like this was the sort of conversation you have about someone when they aren’t around, and I wanted to know what they were going to say about me while they thought I was out.

“Oh, yes. Though, really, I think he’d have people call him by his name instead of that title.” Myst said, sounding a little unsure of herself. “Although, come to think about it, he has used that name to his advantage in the past, so I’m not quite sure.”

“Heh, and he’s smart for using that name to his advantage. The Stable Dweller and Security in Equestria don’t do that much, and their lives are only made harder by it.” The person voicing the robot sighed, and said, “And he’s going to need all the help and respect he can get when he goes into the city. That place is a damned deathtrap.” The person sighed again, and took longer to speak up this time. When he did, he said, “I feel sorry for him, going into the city alone. I wish I could go with him, but I’ve got more people to look out for than just him.”

“Well, actually…” Myst started nervously, and the shadow shifted. I assumed that the robot turned to face her. “I’m going in with him.”

“WHAT?” The robot asked loudly, but with a voice without emotion. Just like Zaita. “You’re going in there? But… but you haven’t even seen what it’s like. You haven’t seen what goes on in there. It’s far more dangerous than it looks, and that’s already saying a lot.”

“I know, but…” She paused, as if thinking of just what to say next. I strained my ears to pick up every last detail of the conversation. “… well, it’s just that…” She paused again, and I found myself a little annoyed that she was taking so long to just say it.

“Just that?” Watcher asked, the machine bobbing into view to float directly above Myst.

Myst sighed deeply, preparing herself to finally just say it. I swiveled my ears, getting them into a position to best pick up what she said next. The anticipation was killing me.

“I actually want to go with him.” What? That’s it? I already knew that! I thought she was going to give some long speech or something! So anticlimactic…

I began to disappointedly move back towards my spot, when Watcher spoke up again.

“What? Why? Why would you want to go in there? Chances are you’ll get killed on the first day. And if you aren’t, then everyday you spend there will depress you more and more until you commit suicide. It’s what I’ve seen far too many others do, and I don’t want you to be tempted to.” Watcher said. Despite the toneless voice of the machine, I could just imagine what the person was feeling.

“Oh, Watcher. I’m not going to commit suicide, and you know it. And you haven’t spent the last week with him, but I have. He’s a good pony, better than most, at least. It would be a crime to let him go alone.” Myst said sternly, looking up at the machine with conviction in her eyes.

Whoever was voicing watcher gave off an annoyed sound, followed by a little grunt of exasperation. After a few moments of that, he sighed and said, “Damn it… There’s no talking you out of this, is there?”

“Nope. I already promised him, myself, and our other friends that I would go with them. No matter what.”

“Wait… ‘other friends’?” Watcher asked, a tone of surprise somehow finding it’s way out of the machine.

“Oh… yes. Well, I’m not the only one going with him. There are two others, but one of them’s kind of… injured.” She said in a soft, slightly hurt tone. Maybe I wasn’t the only one kicking myself for Skyfire’s situation?

‘Bullshit. I’m the only one to blame for that. Myst had no part in it, aside from saving our lives.’ I thought.

“Oh, I see. And the other?” Watcher asked.

“The other is currently bringing a burned filly to Verge for medical treatment. She was stable the last time we saw her, but Goldwreath didn’t want to take chances. And neither did I.” I thought of how I failed to save several dozen people from a fiery death, and I mentally berated myself.

“How’d the filly get burned like that? I mean, I know Roam’s seriously screwed up, but it’s not everyday that someone survives something like that.” Watcher asked.

“Well… um… I’d rather not talk about. Let’s just say some bad person appeared.” Myst said, a hint of hatred in her voice.

“Okaaay then.” He drawled. “At least it sounds like you’re going in with good people.” The machine pointed down, a motion that seemed equal to a person hanging their head, and sighed once more. “Although, I doubt the city will allow them to stay as good people.” Watcher said, and I hung my head in depression. That was such a lovely statement, I could just think about it ALL day...

“Watcher!” Myst yelled, standing up and pointing a hoof at the machine accusingly. “They’re good people, okay? They may have had… bad times, but they’re good people. And they’ll stay that way.” She said stubbornly, standing on her hindlegs and crossing her forelegs while she looked at the machine hard.

“Well, if you think so. I’m just trying to be the voice of realism.” The machine bobbed closer to my door, and I began scurrying back to my spot as quietly as possible. As I went back to my original position, hiding my face with a hoof, the robot appeared through the small opening of the door. “Speaking of that, has he found his virtue yet?”

‘My what?’ What the heck was a 'virtue'? Oh... don't answer that, stupid question.

“Oh, no, not this again, Watcher.” Myst said, now sounding like the one who was annoyed.

The machine turned to face her. “I’m serious, Myst. If he’s going into the city to make this place better, and not get turned into a monster in the process, he’s going to have to know his virtue.” The machine turned back towards me and sighed. “I knew too many people who became monsters because they charged head on without knowing their virtue. I won’t let that happen again if I can help it.”

The machine turned and bobbed away, disappearing from my line of sight.

“The rain’s gone. I guess I should leave now, Myst. There are a few things I need to do here. I’ll try to catch up with you later if I can.” Watcher said, and there was a long pause. Through the slightly open door, I saw the machine float over to a half-opened window, open just wide enough for the machine to get through. Maybe that was how it got in here in the first place?

Myst opened it, allowing the machine to pass through easily. Just before it went through, though, it asked one more question.

“And speaking of virtues… well, you sound like you know him, what do you think it is?” At that, my ears once again strained themselves to listen.

I saw Myst frown a little, taking in a deep breath, before saying, “I don’t know yet. But I’ll find out, don’t worry.” The machine didn’t move for a moment, but then just flew out the window without saying a word.

Myst trotted back and sat against a wall. Focusing my hearing, I could make out her saying words to herself softly.

“Hmmm… honesty? Well, not really… Maybe… no… how about…Hmmmm…”

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

"...Son, I need to tell you something. Something really important. You're mother and I have been talking about it, and we think it's time you know the truth. It's... not going to mean a lot to you at your age, and I wouldn't expect it to even when you get older. But it's really important. Trust me.

"We'll be in the room in the evening, so you'll have to wait a little longer than usual. The Overmare says there are problems with the exhaust vents, and your mother and I are going to fix it. You just wait a little, okay buddy?

"But before we do, could you do us a little favor? There's a cake we had Icing make, in the topmost shelf of our drawer. Could you give it to Earphone's mother, please? I would, if we weren't doing this job.

"You stay safe, okay? We won't take long, not like last time. I promise. Hehe, and don't even check the calendar. It isn't April Fool's yet, and even if it were, we wouldn't trick you like this.

"Alright, we have to go. Don't be late for class, okay? And make sure you submit that overdue project of yours; you're mother's absolutely outraged that you haven't yet.

"Bye son. We love you."

That was the last thing my dad ever said to me. The last thing I ever heard from them before they burned to a crisp in a fire. The joy of having recently gotten my cutie mark turned to bitter sadness that day.

In truth, I had always wondered just what it was they wanted to tell me. Was it related to my… ancestors? Or my relatives? Or maybe even some secret about one of my friends? They never got to tell me, so I’ve been wondering ever since.

I shook, feeling tears roll down my cheeks. I wasn't shaking from the cold; it was already early morning and the rain had stopped. And I wasn't shaking even from exhaustion; I guess all those years of physically bettering myself was paying off. Rather, I was shaking because I knew just how much of a disappointment I was.

When I woke up that morning all those years ago, I saw the recorder on their bed and listened to it. It seemed so simple back then, when my life was carefree and happy. It seemed so benign; just one of those 'talks' parents always did with their children. Just something about how it's 'natural to start liking mares' or 'it's fine to start to want to do things'. Puberty, I thought.

I had forgotten to submit that project, and I was late for class. I nearly failed in a very important quiz that day. Nearly. Even still, I suspected my parents wouldn't have liked it. I did manage to bring the cake, though. It was the only thing I did right that day.

I played the note on my pipbuck again, hoping to find some comfort or guidance from it. Instead, it just made me think of what I was becoming and whether my parents would approve of it or not. Somehow, I didn’t think so.

And now here I was, sobbing like the foal I was all those years ago, as I thought of what it was they were going to tell me. I held onto the nearest object like I had with my teddy when I felt sad or scared. If my parents saw me now, they'd be ashamed. I wasn't their little kid anymore. I wasn't innocent anymore.

I'd killed. Killed in the name of protecting others, or killed in self-defense. I hate to say it, but I scared myself. Scared myself because I barely felt anything when I killed those people. Nothing, nothing but the recoil of the weapon I was holding. Nothing but the heat of their blood on my hide. Nothing but the wounds I felt afterwards, which I quickly healed with a healing potion. I had given myself another chance to live again and again. Like when we attacked the Legion’s base near Road Town.

But I couldn't give people who were dead a second chance. I couldn't, as much as I wanted to, bring back those people I'd killed and let them have a chance to do better. I couldn't revert death, only cause it. Even if I could, I couldn't force them from their ways. I couldn't make them change.

I couldn't save people.

That thought dawned in my mind, and it made me shudder in depression. I couldn't save people, not just from death, but from pain too. I couldn't make sure just one person was free of pain, much less the entire city. Much as I would try, there was just no way to save people. Not even when I tried my best.

I thought of the zebra, whose words echoed in my mind. Was he right? Was all the fighting I was doing, and all the fighting I had yet to do, really for nothing? Were all my efforts doomed to fail, in one way or another? He was right about one thing, everything had to end eventually. I couldn't deny that.

I began to doubt myself again. Just recounting those words and associating them with an event the past week was all that was needed to make his words seem all the more true. And, as much as I tried to look for a lie or false statement in his speech, I just couldn't. All of what he said was true.

'No, there are things worth fighting for, Goldwreath.' I thought to myself, and I slapped myself out of my sulking and forcibly shoved my doubt back into storage. I had already set my course, no backing away now.

I wiped my face, promising myself to not let that damned zebra get into my head. The last thing I needed was to let the words of a killer screw around with my thoughts.

"There are things worth fighting for." I reassured myself, and I felt a little better as I got up. With my sickness as low as it could get from a night's rest, coupled with the little burst of confidence I felt, today wasn't looking so bad after all.

The rain had stopped, and the sun was already in the sky. Myst was asleep, huddled in the corner she sat in last night when she said a whole slew of words that apparently described me. I disagreed with most, but there were some that, I suppose, couldn't be denied. Call it vanity, but I slept with a smile last night after hearing those words.

My breakfast consisted of a can of old peaches, and later some more biscuits. (I was actually very tempted to just eat all the biscuits, but I decided to save some for later) The windowsills had gathered some water, and after collecting the water from all the windows of the floor I was on, I had filled my canteen. The water didn’t taste good, and it was slightly irradiated, but it was still water.

Finishing it up, I began exploring the rest of the building for anything worth caps. Myst had a sack filled with junk, and her saddlebags were visibly stuffed with various items that she, I assumed, intended to sell.

Still, she had left stuff behind that I picked up. I went back down to the first floor, past all the ashes of the zombies from last night, and went back into the shelter. The door was still open, and so I ran in and took the pistol I saw the night before. It may have been old, but it was still worth something.

The rest of the building, though, had not been looted. In the building's clinic, I found several healing potions and a few syringes of pain killer that would help replenish our pathetic stock of medical supplies. I stuffed them into my saddlebags with the rest of my stuff. The offices mostly just had old papers and folders and other office material that were far too old and frail to be of any use to anyone, except maybe for starting fires.

The manager's office, on the other hoof, had a safe that seemed within my skill of lockpicking. Although my last pin nearly snapped thrice, I managed to get it on the fourth try. Inside was a nice amount of caps (what he was doing with those caps, I couldn't even imagine) and some more papers that made no sense to me.

His desk had few interesting things on it, as well. On the center, right beside the manager's terminal, was a metal sign that read 'Mr. Minadro'.

Next was the terminal itself, which, just like the ones downstairs, was still functional. Getting onto it, I saw yet more information that didn't interest me in the slightest. One group of files, though, caught my attention because the last entry was dated at last night. Clicking on the file stack, I found out that they were security reports. The most recent ones were dated and timed for the night before.

'Security Report #2465467, July 24th, 11:23 PM
- Number of individuals: 2
-Manner of entry: Forced
-Threat estimation: High
-Suggest calling for security'

Thinking about that, I concluded that the individuals mentioned in the report were me and Myst. This was also backed up by another report that said that at 11:28, a 'metallic orb' entered through the second floor. The next report said the same orb left the building through the same window three hours later.

The rest of the reports were much more interesting. The ones right before the report about us was dated a week back. It said something about a ‘large number of wild creatures’ within the building. In fact, that same report was repeated for every day for the past several decades! However, the very last one before our intrusion said something about ‘flame-thrower armed individuals’ entering the building, which caused the number of said creatures to reduce drastically over the course of a few minutes. The last line of the report said the last of the creatures were ‘sealed away’.

"Maybe that's why the..." I shivered, the very thought of the creatures scaring me. "...'zombies' were down there? It seems so. But who were the guys with the flame throwers?" I looked at my E.F.S., at all the red bars that formed a nearly solid wall of red around us.

I suddenly realized that we were in great danger. We had come here out of desperation to get out of the rain, but the rain was over. If anything, we should have left the very moment the downpour had stopped. Worry flooded my thoughts, and I raced back down to the floor Myst was in. To my relief, she was already awake. Her blue bar was moving, after all.

Reaching the second level, I turned around the corner quickly and spotted her against the wall near the stair's railings.

"Myst! We should probably go now. I don't know if you know, but we're kind of surrounded by..." I stopped short after noticing that she was crouching quietly against the wall, ears sticking to it as if listening for sounds. She looked at me and brought a hoof to her lips, then made a quiet 'shush'.

My eyes went wide, and I immediately reached for the E.F.S. once more.

This was not good at all, not in the slightest.

Four red bars were approaching, the sounds of their gear audible even from our position up here. Through the wooden planks against the windows, I saw the four figures trot up to the door. They were talking in muffled voices, and I had to get to Myst's position to understand what they were saying.

"I'm telling you man, I saw something last night." Said one of the voices.

"You're fucking crazy. I could barely see my hoof in front of my face last night! Besides, this place has been locked up since last week, if you forgot. What, you still having nightmares about those ghouls? Pfft, what a pussy..." Another voice said with a laugh.

"Hey, man, it's not funny! The ghouls ate my brother, of course I get nightmares!" Said the former voice, now sounding both offended and scared.

I looked to Myst questioningly, and she responded with a half-annoyed, half-questioning look. I sighed. I guess I'd really need to ask her.

"What the fuck are 'ghouls'?" I asked quietly, and she looked at me with an expression that seemed to say she thought I was an idiot. "Hey, I was out here for only a week, okay?" And that goes for you too, readers. I didn't have much experience yet, alright?

"Ugh... of all the times..." She let out an exasperated breath, then turned her head to face me. "Ghouls are those things you saw last night. They're basically ponies or zebras that have been exposed to a lot of radiation, and have mutated because of it."

"Sooo... they're not zombies?" I asked, feeling a great sense of relief. Okay, so they were just mutants! Not zombies that carried some deadly virus and would spread it all over the world. Good, because I was actually really worried that I might have turned into one. How horrible that would have been...

Myst responded with the same look, coupled with her shaking her head in disbelief. "What?" She asked, now clearly both confused and annoyed.

"Uhh... nevermind. Not zombies then." I guess now really wasn't the best time to be asking. I couldn't help but smile, though, as we turned our attention back to the argument.

'Zombies... what a bunch of bullshit.' I thought.

The argument had heated up, that one person who brought up his brother being eaten (yikes) by the ghouls now shouting. Two other voices just laughed at him, calling him a coward and a weakling.

"Alright, that's enough." Said a voice that I hadn't heard before. "Janix is right. Look at the door..." There was a short pause in their conversation, and I heard something tap against the door. "Someone broke in last night. Used the rain to hide so we couldn't see them. Whoever is inside didn't even bother to hide the damage they did."

I facehoofed, berating myself for not thinking about that. Damn it, why didn't I try to conceal the blasted away lock? I knew that it would have been spotted eventually, so why didn't I? Was my brain really slowing down THAT much?

"Oh..." One of the voices that laughed at the other voice, Janix, said. "I guess we should go call the boss. He'll need to know." I heard two of them gallop away, leaving only the other two outside.

"We need to get out of here." Myst said, now worried. "You want to try going out the windows? You can fly, after all." I thought about that, and nodded. If we were quick, we could get out of here before more of them showed up.

We started backing away, when the door was kicked open loudly, sending the chair I had propped up against it last night flying into the room. We both got flat on the ground, my armor making more noise than I was comfortable with as I hit the deck. I crawled slowly towards the railings, and took a look at the two now in the building with us. I also wondered why the hidden explosive Myst had placed next to the door last night didn't go off. It was probably for the best, as we should have been getting out of there instead of fighting.

Both were armed with a flame thrower that they swung around as they swept the floor beneath us. Both wore some kind of gasmask, but only one wore, from the looks of it, a fireproof suit. The other only wore an old shirt. Both also had secondary weapons, a shotgun and a submachine gun. They had big gas tanks on their backs, the word 'FLAMMABLE' that was painted on them making it obvious that that was where the fuel was kept.

Myst had taken the time to get to the stairs, while I was still observing them. She called out to me quietly, insisting we leave immediately. I got up quietly and did my best to make as little noise as possible as I moved the short distance to her.

"Alright, let's check the top floors." Janix said.

"Yeah, just hold on a moment. I see something in the water..." My ears perked up at that, and I found myself getting up for just a moment to see what he had found.

It was a... transparent object, submerged in a pool of water near the door. It looked like glass, and it would have been completely invisible if it weren't for the distorted sunlight that came from it.

"What the shit is this..." One of them said as he picked it up, turning it in his forehooves as he shook it dry. He turned it once more, and I saw a small glow coming from within the transparent border of the object. It was flashing red, and on it there was a large black text that was probably some kind of warning. “Whoa, shit!” The zebra yelled as he threw the bomb at the door. His partner reacted reflexively, pulling up his flame thrower and blasting the object with a pillar of bright orange flame as the other zebra got clear.

With a sharp detonation, the explosive Myst had set up exploded. The blast shook the whole first floor and blew the door away, and sent all four of us staggering around from the force of the detonation. Myst hit the wall, while the zebras, being closest to the blast, were blown away and crashed against the building. I, being the third closest, staggered forward and struck the railings, making a lot of noise as my metal armor made contact with the metal railings.

The two on the floor below me recovered quickly. They looked up at me as I leaned against the railings, and brought their weapons to bear.

“Hey!” Shouted Janix, and he started running up the stairs to get at me. His partner tried to get up but slipped, having been sent into a pool of water.

For some reason, I wanted to fight them. Maybe it was just me, or maybe it was my screwed up brain, or something else. I didn’t want to run, I wanted to pull out my weapons and face them. I was confident I could face the two of them, especially with Myst nearby to help me out.

I began to pull out Vengeance, when Myst called out to me, “Goldwreath! We have to go, now! There are more coming!”

I thought of that quickly, thinking of my odds against more than just two flame thrower armed bandits. Okay, now the odds didn’t seem good.

I turned and ran, just as Janix’s flamethrower sent a blast of flame that incinerated the spot I was at just a moment ago. I felt heat behind me as I ran up the stairs, the zebra chasing me while sending a jet of flame to turn me to ashes. Myst was waiting at the top, peering down her scope. She sent out a shot, but Janix managed to dodge it as he got down on the steps just in time to avoid getting a hole in his head. He got up immediately, once more sending flames after me.

As we reached the third floor, the jets of flame erupting from the stairwell as Janix nearly cleared the steps as well, we ran into the nearest room and slammed the door behind us. A moment later, the door caught fire as the zebra’s flamethrower sent out an unrelenting blast of fire.

“Okay, come on!” I yelled at her as I broke open a window, making sure there was no glass or any other obstruction in the way. The strong wind coming from the outside suddenly blasted into the room, nearly pushing me back.

Myst approached and got in front of me. I wrapped my forelegs around her, and stretched my wings in preparation for flight. I hovered above the windowsill, and took a deep breath.

‘Let’s do this,’ I thought.

The door was kicked open, and the two zebras appeared, flame throwers blasting burning death into the room. Janix stayed behind at the doorway and flooded the whole room with fire, while his fire-proof comrade charged through the flame and towards us. As he neared the window, he sent out a jet of flame after us.

I flew out, just as the flame reached our former position. Even still, I felt my entire backside burn from the heat of the flame. My tail did actually catch fire, but the strong wind coupled with my flight put it out before it spread further. Leaving those two behind, I got my balance as I glided towards the roof of another building. I guess I should have flown us away from this whole area, and from the look I got from Myst she thought so too, but flying in heavy metal armor wasn’t easy, and it sapped my energy really quick.

“I just need to catch some breath,” I told her. “A minute and I should be good, and then we’ll get the hell out of here.” I was flying over the streets, and was nearing the roof of the building.

Then the air around me whizzed as bullets flew nearby, clearly with the intent of shooting me down. I looked at the ground, and saw that the streets below were filled with almost every single red bar in this whole area. They were shooting wildly, barely even aiming, which made dodging their shots easy enough. Still, I wasn’t going to risk Myst getting hit. I may have been able to take a hit, what with all my protective gear and all, but she couldn’t. She was just wearing a hoodie, after all (it was at that point that I thought of getting her barding of some sort).

I neared the roof, dodging more shots from automatic rifles as I prepared to touch down. The roof had another structure on it: some kind of makeshift lookout post, from the looks of it.

I realized too late that there was a red bar on the building.

Just as I was about to land, another guy with a flamethrower appeared from the cover of the roof’s ledge. I tried to dodge him as he sent out a massive arc of flame that, had I realized his presence just a moment later, would have engulfed both me and my companion in fire.

Unfortunately, dodging him involved getting away from the roof. And getting away from the roof exposed me once more to the gunners on the ground.

As I tried frantically to avoid both the large jet of flame from the building and the heavy fire coming at me from the ground, more hostiles burst onto the roof of the building, wielding all sorts of weapons.

“Oh, fuck me…” I said as I dodged a storm of lead coming from the ground. I flew upwards, hoping to not get shot down by the suddenly large number of people on the building. As I ascended, they opened fire. I had turned my back to them, so any shots that hit struck my armored body instead of Myst, who seemed very uncomfortable with what I was trying to do.

From my height, I had no fear of getting shot down anymore. I turned, flying in the direction of the camp, it’s icon on my E.F.S. guiding me to it’s location. I released a breath I didn’t know I had been holding, letting myself relax. I smiled as I looked down at Myst, and said, “See? We’re getting out of here.” She looked back up at me with a nervous smile, then looked back at the ground with a small frown. I continued flying, hearing only the occasional bullet come anywhere close to our position. I smiled again, feeling like I had left them behind.

Then I heard the sound of two rockets launching. I looked behind me, and I saw their trails of smoke trail behind the bright point where the combustion took place. The rockets shot straight up, and for a moment all my worry of getting shot with rockets disappeared. I smiled confidently, believing myself to be out of the threat zone.

That feeling of confidence left me as the rockets turned, now speeding towards our position. My eyes went wide as I suddenly realized that they had been locked onto me. Myst gasped, and looked at me with wide, worried eyes.

“Really?! Heat-seeking rockets? Aww, fuck me!” I yelled as I flapped my wings as fast as I could, hoping to somehow outrun the incoming missiles.

Of course, that was impossible. No matter how hard I flew, the rockets were catching up to us far quicker than I had thought. My heart started to pound, and I scrambled my head desperately to think of something, anything, to save us from getting blasted to pieces.

Then an idea hit me. I didn’t like it, but it was all I had. I licked my lips, and looked down at Myst.

“Myst, I have an idea!” I yelled over the roar of the wind and the sounds of the rockets, which were quickly gaining on us. She looked at me with a hopeful expression. “But you’re not going to like it!” At that, her expression turned to one of horror.

“W-what are you going to do?!” She asked. I put as much effort as possible into my flying, trying to gain as much distance as possible from the incoming rockets. As I strained my wings, I looked down at her with the most apologetic smile I could form.

She suddenly realized what I was about to do. “Oh, no. Don’t you...”

Then I dropped her.

“…DAAAAREEE!” Her last word echoed through the wind as she fell towards the ground.

“Sorry, Myst! But it’s the only way!” I yelled after her. Now, with my forehooves free, I pulled out Tankbuster. I turned to face the missiles. “Come on!”

The missiles, as I expected, were locked on to me and not onto Myst. I could tell because not a single one of the two followed after her. Good thing, too. If one of them had, this whole plan would have been a disaster. It may have been kind of stupid, but as I watched the missiles continue their flight towards me, threatening to spread my bloody bits over a very wide area, I was actually very relieved. After all, I would be the only one blown up if this failed...

'Yeah, but won't she smash to a pulp on the ground?' Asked Tod.

'Yeah, yeah, I know! That's why I have to make this quick.' I thought back at him. Worry was beginning to flood back into me (thanks in no small part to Tod) as I held my ground... metaphorically.

"Oh, I really hope this works." I drew in a deep breath, and began flying towards the missiles.

I flew forward, preparing Tankbuster to fire. As I closed in on the missiles, I dove straight down, the missiles taking a moment to orient themselves accordingly. I stopped flapping my wings, relying completely on my momentum to get me the needed speed. The wind slapping against my face was quite painful, and it also dried my mouth as I breathed.

As I continued to descend, I began closing in on Myst, who was still falling. I looked behind me at the two rockets, which were a fair enough distance from me. As one of the missiles closed in, now probably just a dozen feet from me, I pointed Tankbuster at it and fired.

'VUJ-JING!'

The first missile exploded, sending fire and shrapnel blasting off in all directions. The force of the blast had no visible effect on the second missile, which was just a little behind the first, but was enough to push me downwards with even greater speed.

Pain exploded in my chest and from my wings, removing whatever focus I had managed to get together for the second missile. A large piece of the missile canister had struck me, piercing into my chest through my armor. It had most likely cracked a rib, maybe two. As for my wings, the smaller pieces of shrapnel and the concussive force had blasted away feathers and sprained the joints.

Blood trickled down onto my neck from my chest wound and was separated from my body by the wind, letting me see the drops of red liquid fall along with me. Some of the blood got onto my face, obscuring my vision.

'Why do none of my plans ever go the way I want it?!' I thought as I struggled to focus through the pain while using a hoof to wipe the blood from my face. Seriously, in the last week, every single plan I had thought of always went wrong. Couldn't I get a break for once? In fact, why was I the only one coming up with plans?

As I removed the hoof from my face, coated and soaked with blood, I opened my eyes. Sometime during my descent I had oriented myself downwards, allowing me see that I was almost level with Myst, and that we were only about another hundred meters from the ground. Ignoring the pain from my chest, I turned to face the last missile.

'Fuck me.'

The last missile was literally less than five feet from me. Firing on it would result in what was most likely going to be a fatal explosion, even with all my protective gear. It was suicidal, and the missile was coming closer with each passing second.

But if I didn't shoot, it would impact with me just as I reached my falling companion, and that would result in both our deaths. And, judging from our distance from the ground, if I didn't gain enough speed to reach her before we smashed into the pavement, then we would both die.

Ok, so I had to choose. Don't shoot, and we would both die. Shoot, and the explosion just might kill me. But if it didn't, the blast would at least get me to Myst before we crashed and died. If I could at least get to her, which I could not achieve with my injured wings alone, then I could at least make sure she got safe.

"Aw, fuck me!" I yelled, making my decision. I drew up the shotgun and fired.

Just as I had expected, the blast did indeed push me down with the speed necessary to get to Myst with enough space between us and the ground to fly to another position. The blast knocked the wind out of me, too.

Of course, now I was very injured and had more than one large piece of shrapnel jutting out of my body. Blood soaked my gear, and flowed out in large amounts through my armor segments to the ground below. Another piece of canister struck me and pierced into my hide just between my ribs. My breathing became hard and painful, confirming that the second blast had injured my lungs. I grunted and winced, doing my best to focus on the task at hoof.

Myst looked at me with wide, worried eyes. Clearly, I did not look very good right now. Ignoring that, I once more wrapped my forelimbs around her. After I did, I spread my wings in preparation for flight. Big mistake.

The sudden force of the wind smacking my wings made me scream in pain, and I heard a sickening crack from the joints where my wings met my body. In fact, I even felt my wings tilt in an angle that wasn't possible unless they were broken. With my wings ineffective, we continued to descend at an astounding rate.

But I wasn't going to let us die, not like this. Not because of yet another one of my plans that went wrong. So, against my painfully protesting body and my slowing mind, I forced my wings to spread. The effort from that action coupled with all the pain coming from the rest of my body nearly knocked me unconscious.

Hissing and grunting from the immense pain that flooded my senses, and from the increasing sluggishness of my mind due to blood loss, I did at least manage to get us into a glide rather than a direct fall. I steered myself towards a river that surrounded the group of buildings we were in earlier, specifically beneath a bridge if I could get us there, then we might have been able to avoid the zebras for a long enough time to heal at least some of my injuries.

"D-d-don't do that again!" Myst said as she shook, still trying to recover from the shock of falling nearly a thousand feet.

I drew in a deep breath, and managed to say, "Yeah, sorry about that. But it was the only way to make sure we both didn't get blasted to hell!"

"By getting YOURSELF blasted all to hell?" She asked. I looked at her with a pained smile and gasped.

"Yeah... okay... maybe that wasn't part of the plan. But at least only one of us is shot up, right?" I replied with an exhausted smile as I panted.

"'At least'? Goldwreath, look at you! I don't even know how you're still flying!" She yelled out at me. I didn't respond, deciding to focus on my breathing. I was exhausted, and above all, in a lot of pain. She looked at me with a worried expression for a moment, my heavy panting seeming to get the message over to her, and she fell silent.

I was nearing the bridge, and began a slow, painful descent. My wings nearly gave out many times, and only my immediate response saved us from falling. My wings felt like they would have torn off at any moment. Every flap hurt, and holding up all my weight plus Myst was only serving to make every second a painful struggle.

I had gotten us directly above the bridge, maybe several dozen feet up, when the crowd of angry flame thrower armed, assault rifle wielding zebras appeared around the corner of the nearest building.

"You're kidding me," I said in disdain and exhaustion as I looked over the crowd. The moment they spotted me, they opened fire again. I struggled to dodge their shots, and now I REALLY felt like I couldn't get us any further. I tried to get us away, much to my body's protest, when the crowd swarmed onto the bridge beneath us, yelling and screaming after me. I flapped painfully, breathing so hard and so quickly that my inured lungs couldn't handle it. Every breath hurt, like I was breathing in hot sand. I hovered, tilting my body in such a way that there was less chance of Myst getting hit by any of their shots.

And that was when one of them, a sniper most likely, shot off a round that struck my back. There was a crack from my spine, just where I felt a dent in my armor pressing in between two bones on my back. I screamed, feeling the huge dent of my armor pressing painfully and stabbing into my spinal column. The pain was paralyzing, and though I tried, I just couldn't focus through the agony of it all. I stopped flapping my wings, and we both began falling through the air.

It hurt so fucking much. I couldn't move, couldn't think straight. I couldn't even align myself straight. I could only cringe, and the dark thoughts of imminent death crept into my mind.

All I could do now was watch as Myst fell into the water with a splash. I was still falling when she did, and so I noticed something about where I was falling: the water there was shallow.

'Fuck me.' That was the last thought I got out before I crashed into the shallow water and smacked my head against a rock somewhere on the bottom.






Footnote: Level Up
New perk gained: Strong Flyer -- Your wings can carry weights that other pegasi couldn't even hope to bear. You can fly 20% longer, and you can carry ten more points of weight while flying.