• 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 4 - Skyfire

Chapter 4
Skyfire
"Out of all the worst things that could happen, this is the! Worst! Possible! Thing!"








Everyone was gathered around the fallen sky tank, worried murmurs and grave expressions being the norm of the crowd. The need to ask the pegasus mare (if she was still alive) or Conductor what the hell just happened was making its way to the very top of my mental priority list. The guards were regrouping from where they were during the battle; Myst appeared out of nowhere while the drunken blue pony was being carried to the security crater by his fellows.

Conductor himself stood several feet from the wreckage, eyeing the worried crowd. He stood tall and confident; things I did not expect to see in him after what had just occurred. Upon seeing my approach he called for every one to settle down and listen.

"Alright," He said aloud, standing on a piece of road that had broken off. "I want security to compile a casualty list and do a sweep of the area. Make sure no Legionnaires are still snooping around." He faced the crowd and began addressing their worries and concerns in a tone both certain and confident, "Do not worry, cives Via Oppidum. The Legion will not take this town while I am still your appointed representative. Rest assured, I will do everything to strengthen our security and make sure our supplies are equally distributed to each and every one of you." He looked over at me and smiled, then looked back at the crowd. "It is fortunate that the Praetorian was here to help organize the guards, otherwise we may have been overwhelmed."

He looked behind him at the wreckage. "Now regarding this... strange occurrence... what do you think we should do? I am not aware that such things even existed, but I am sure they can be quite... dangerous." He tapped one of the multi-missile launchers on the side of the tank as if to prove his point. "Of course, afterwards there is also the matter of the survivor..." He gestured for one of the guards to take the pegasus mare to the medical station. The guard complied and began dragging her over to the fissure.

The crowd's response was immediate, and they started yelling out for the immediate investigation as to the identity of the pegasi and who they were affiliated with. Conductor simply agreed to all their demands, and the crowd began to disperse, returning to their abodes or helping the guards clean up the mess. After that he approached me, only now letting his shock and uncertainty show through his expression.

"Well that was... intense, wasn't it?" He asked slowly, shaking his head and blinking. Then he sighed, "Expect to see more of this if you go into the city. And don't believe the Legion; they may preach all that crap about helping the inhabitants of Roam and bringing us supplies and stuff -- though, to be fair, they HAVE -- but the truth is they are quite simply the largest and most organized group of bandits to trot these ruins. Be careful around them."

Then he looked to the ground and dug a hoof into it, looking nervous. "Now, uh... regarding our previous conversation..." He gestured his hoof at the destruction around him. "As you can see, we really need some help. Via Oppidum is one of the few independent towns here in the outskirts of Roam, and serves as one of the few safe, secure, and relatively friendly access points into the city through this side. The Legion's been cleaning up small settlements all over the place; they just can't stand that we exist in 'their city'." His breath quickened to a tense, continuous rhythm; clearly, he had remembered something that angered him. But then he relaxed, and continued calmly, "And as for your last question, Myst is our town's sniper. Damned good shot, that one. You probably saw it for yourself. She knows the layout of the surrounding area and has info regarding the attacks, so you should ask her about it. She's shy, though. As in REALLY shy; stays away from us as much as possible."

"Thank you for the context, Conductor," I replied. "Now, may I ask a few things?" The dam holding back the growing flood of inquiries was breaking, and I seriously needed to have some more... specific details about more specific topics.

He nodded, "Alright. Shoot."

Okay, NOW I could ask my questions. Took long enough.

I let out in one quick, breathless barrage, "First off: who exactly are those pegasi? I saw them yesterday afternoon, but I couldn't make out who they were fighting. Legion? Bandits? Random wastelanders? Any hostiles in particular? What will you do with the pegasus mare?" I breathed in deep, and continued, "And as for Myst accompanying me... well, she doesn't seem like the type that likes company. I've spent a little time with her, and I don't really thing I'm the type of person who'll get along well with people who won't even talk to me without cringing or looking away at the ceiling."

He thought for a moment, scratching his chin and looking away, before turning back and answering, "As I said, I don't know who the pegasi are. I've never seen them around her before, though I have heard on the radio from DJPON3 of some group called the -- what was it? -- ah yes, the 'Grand Pegasus Enclave' or somesuch. Never really cared for it, but if they're here... well, Legion might have competition." He shuddered, "Oh great, the one thing this city needed was another group with a lot of muscle." He shook his head, as if disapproving of the mere thought of it. I knew I was. "And yes, Myst is rather... shy. But she can get over it if the reason is important, and in this case it is, don't worry. She'll take to you as long as you're... not too... prodding; just don't ask too much, that makes her uncomfortable. And regarding the pegasus, since no one made a comment regarding her, I can assume that they are fine with me patching her up so she can answer some questions. They were before with some other individuals, some of which were far more... questionable in motive."

His reply seemed reasonable enough, and I just nodded and replied, "Well, I guess I should find Myst." I needed to process all of that new information. An Enclave, huh? That sounded rather... well, rather strange, to put it lightly. Why were the pegasi the ones with a government in Equestria? What of unicorns and earth ponies? What, was political structure there organized enough that, perhaps, the pegasi could have usurped all of Equestria? Oh, how that thought churned my stomach.

I blocked those thoughts out for a moment enough to give a respectful little bow, and turned, letting my unease onto my expression.

He stopped me with a hoof. "Already? You don't have to go now, you know. You just saved my town, the least I can do is give you some supplies and some time to rest. You should take some time to relax before you go." He seemed to think for a moment. "You could talk to people, like Bane. He may be drunk almost all the time, but he likes to talk."

Who the heck was Bane? "I'm sorry, but who's that?"

He elaborated, "Bane. The drunken blue earth pony you slapped across the face and somehow got to fight? Yeah, that's him."

Oh. Him."Oh yes, I see. I must say, he seemed very... incapable of fighting when I first saw him. You just allow him to drink all the time? Isn't that, well... dangerous? What about his health?" I may not have known much about alcohol, but I was pretty sure that too much of it could kill someone...

He just shook his head in disapproval, and then answered, "No, I don't approve of his drinking habits. But we each have our own ways of drowning out our hardships. Bane drinks, I write derivative stories of other stories, Kashi walks, Myst..." He paused, and seemed to be having a revelation. "Huh. I don't know, actually. She spends most of her time alone in her outpost. Huh..." He scrunched up his face in thought, then asked, "What do you think she does to deal with the stress?"

I actually didn't know. But just then, a little... 'thought' entered my head, and never, EVER did I regret having watched that sensual scene in that movie weeks ago. Now I had... quite a few ideas as to what she did when alone, and I didn't know how to feel about them.

'D'OHOHOH! What are you thinking, Goldwreath? Those are some REALLY interesting thoughts...' Thought a very familiar part of my brain. At this point, I already decided to name this part of my brain. That way, I would have a name to tell to shut the fuck up. I shall call him... Tod. Ah, Tod, how he played SUCH an absurdly large role in my life...

'Shut it, Tod. I have my own interests,' I thought at him, then looked back at Conductor's questioning facial expression. "Oh, I don't know. Talking to imaginary friends? Who knows?" At that, he just gave me a look that almost screamed 'Oookaaay' before trotting off for his office, seeming unconvinced with my answer.

Well, that was an awkward interaction. Still, it WAS social interaction, and I had gotten so little of that in the Stable. So, while I stood there for a moment, I took a moment to just let that thought settle in, and somehow I smiled; the outside sucked, but I was interacting with people more.

Then, when my thoughts drifted back to reality, I found myself with nothing to do and no one to talk to, and started wandering idly. I saw a structure on the other side of the street, with a concrete ramp leading down into it, two lamps on the side of the entrance. I made my way to it, with no particular thought in mind.

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

I was in the bar, which is where most of the male, and some female, members of the town were gathering at that moment. Either this town had a large stock of healing potions or most of the people simply weren't shot, because the few I could see who were bleeding seemed only to have minor wounds. Now, you're probably wondering, 'Goldwreath, at a bar? Well I must have fallen down a rabbit hole and into the land of madness ' or something along those lines. Truth be told, the bar wasn't my first choice, but I decided to stay here because most of the people were here. Ah, the Roamans sure loved their alcohol; though, I would have thought they would have more wine, as most of the alcoholic drinks being served here was beer.

At my appearance most of the townsfolk decided to stand up and thank me. I replied to each of them, doing my best to ignore the strong scent in their breaths. That aside though, the people of Road Town were quite civil. Eventually, this one VERY familiar zebra mare went over to me...

"Thank you for saving our town, Praetorian. We would have been killed had you not been here," She said in a voice I had heard before; now it was EXTREMELY familiar, yet I couldn't place my head on it. Most zebras looked shockingly and at times comically similar -- and I mean no offense to any zebras out there. Still, for all I knew, she could have been a Legion spy or something! Still, no one seemed to mind her, so I supposed she really was a resident.

"Yeah, sure. It was, uh... no problem," I said tediously, gathering a strange look from the mare. She looked at an approaching zebra stallion, who was balancing two glass mugs on his back. When he reached us, he gave the mare one of the mugs and sat down next to her on one of the bar stools. Both of them looked at me, smiling...

'I know these zebras!' I thought as I took two steps away from them, pointing a hoof at the stallion.

"Y-you two live here? In Road Town? But... but how did you get in? I thought the Legion blocked off the entrance!" I yelled as they both just stared at me with an easy smile.

The stallion just took a heavy gulp from his mug before wiping his muzzle with his hoof and answered, "Yes, well, the Legion isn't in control of the whole city. Mostly just the Forum, the dam, the inner city, and the River District. They made a foolish decision to expand to the outer city too quickly, and some friendly groups still controlled that bridge before you arrived. Unfortunately, now the whole city is a warzone, with the Legion forcibly trying to take over the towns and remaining districts. However, they do not yet know of the secret entrances. And, so long as our allies are loyal, they never will."

The mare just nodded in approval, before adding, "Not to mention, the Legion are too few to occupy the whole city -- or their even more ridiculous goal of occupying all the other ones. They are dangerously thinning their numbers with this little show of theirs. In fact, most of the remaining groups in the city have allied against them. I didn't know a pegasi faction was involved in this conflict, though."

Yeah, where was that pegasus anyway? "I'd like to know who those pegasi are, too. Maybe when the mare wakes up, she can answer some questions. Where exactly is the aid station?" I asked as I began making my way back out. They opened their mouths to answer as I reached the doorway.

That was when a blue blur of a hoof grabbed me and yanked me away, much to my shock and surprise.

Bane said through drunken hiccuping, "Hey, look! It's HIC Praee-, Praeter-... uh... ah whatever. YOU my friend deserve a HIC a drink!" He turned to the bartender. "Hey! Get this guy, MY FRIEND, a Wild Pegasus!" He continued as he wobbled unsteadily on his hindlegs, leaning against me. His breath smelled of an even greater concentration of alcohol than before -- of course; if he's drunk while fighting, he's DEFINITELY drunk while he isn't.

The bartender just looked at him with an astonished look, then at me, before he trotted over to a shelf and pulled out a bottle. He placed it on the table, right in front of me.

"Bane, could you, uh... I don't know... GET OFF ME?" I said as I shook him off of me, which wasn't difficult at all. He fell flat on his face onto the floor like a sack of potatoes, and as he scrambled back onto his hooves, he wobbled over to a table in the corner which had what looked like a dozen empty bottles of beer. As he slumped onto the chair, mumbling something about what a good friend I was, the bartender slid a glass of the drink over the table at me. I looked down at it, and took in the scent. Well, it didn't smell that bad. Ah, what the heck?

I grabbed the bottle between my hooves and poured the whole drink down at once. Bane hurried over to me and watched me intently, a drunken smile on his face. I gulped, and immediately, the strong taste of the drink caused me a fit of coughing and hacking as I fell down on the floor. Bane laughed maniacally as he stood over my feeble form, while I was took weak to push him off as I continued choking on the alcohol. Everyone in the bar stared at me as my coughing finally subsided. I slowly got myself off of the floor, but Bane jumped over to me, pushing me down again as he leaned on me.

"Hahaha! Stallion can't handle his liquor!" He laughed, though due to his drunkenness it actually sounded more like 'huhhuhu, star-on cank handle his lick-or'. I got out from under him and shot a glare at his face. His eyes began looking in separate directions as drool dripped off his muzzle. My irritation was immediately replaced by concern, and I poked him on the forehead. He didn't move.

"Uhh... Bane?" I said as I gave him a little shove, causing him to fall over and lay on the ground. I stared at that for a moment, wide-eyed and shocked. "Ummm..." I looked to every one else in the room, and saw all their looks of unease. An unbearable silence filled the whole bar.

The tension was finally broken as I heard several of the patrons try to conceal their snickering, then eventually they failed altogether and burst out laughing. Soon, everyone joined in; even the two zebras that I had saved from the slavers. Two of the guards who were with us dragged him over to their table as I approached the pair again.

"Well, where is it?" I asked the two, whose laughs began receding as the stallion fought to get himself under control.

"Next to the, Hehe, th-the," He said shakily around his laughs. Then his efforts failed altogether and he blurted out, "Th-the... THE SECURITY CRATER!" After that he fell off the chair and rolled on the floor, laughing like a maniac. I rolled my eyes in disbelief at how one pony's drunkenness could possible be so hilarious, and started for the door again. Still, I couldn't help but smile. These people had just been attacked, and yet they found the time to laugh together. That was probably the most uplifting thing I've seen people do since I got out of the Stable, and I welcomed it completely.

Only Roamans could find the time to drink and laugh even after a battle, after all.

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

I was making my way over to the aid station, when I saw Myst pacing back and forth outside of the security crater. I trotted over to ask her why, when my eyes caught several young zebras grab some shovels, sheet metal and a few planks of wood and went over into a crater. They muttered something about 'their own personal card-game crater' as they started digging the dirt out with more eagerness than I could ever summon for my work back in the Stable.

I reached Myst and stepped in front of her, breaking her pace route. "Uh, why are you pacing? Something wrong?" She stopped in front of me, eyes darting to the sides.

"Umm, nothing's wrong. I...um, I just can't believe Conductor took that mare in! Nobody even knows where she's from! What if she's a spy or something for some super-secret pegasi civilization above the clouds?!"

Despite her tone, she was obviously not disconcerted ONLY by the pegasus mare. There was clearly something else going on, but for the sake of not forcing an answer I just gave her a bewildered look, then said in as sensible a tone as I could, "Ookay, let's not go off into fantasy here. If Conductor thinks she should be left alive, then that's what we should do. Would you have preferred we just kill her? Or to let her bleed out?"

She seemed a little ashamed at that, hanging her head and taking a tedious step back. "Well... no," She said softly, though her tone wasn't convincing. I sighed as I approached her.

"Look, Myst, what's wrong? And try not to lie to me." She looked back up at me, eyes still darting away in different directions.

Her reply came slowly but steadily. "I don't like new people, or crowds, or groups, or anything that includes me being in the company of others. Why do you think my outpost is so far away where no one will want to get to me?" She scraped her hoof on the cracked asphalt, hanging her head again.

"I see. So let me get this... you don't like new people, you try to keep away from others in general, and you want to be alone." Come to think of it... that was actually a lot like me, though I DID try to make some friends; I couldn't say the same for her. "I understand the anxiety, but you can't go through life without making contact with others."

She just kept her head hung as she responded, "I know. And I don't like being lectured, too. It's another reason I don't like being with others." I just took that in for a moment and sighed, and turned to face the direction of the aid station.

"Alright, have it your way then. But I have to go now; I need to see if that pegasus is awake yet."

I started trotting off, but a thought came up. "Oh, wait," I called back, and turned to see that she was already attempting to move away from me. She squeaked in fright, but I just looked at her blankly for a moment. At last I said, "Did Conductor tell you that we're partnering together in taking out those bandits that keep hitting the town?"

At that she looked up at me with a look of utter bewilderment and her mouth hung open. "We are?" She asked, disbelieving. "Oh no, no, no!" She repeated the last word over and over again as she ran off to Conductor's office. I just watched as she reached his building before I turned back and continued trotting.

"I guess not."

I finally reached the large fissure within which the medical station was constructed, and was surprised to see only about six wounded. My relieved heart was about to bring this matter up with a cheery 'well, at least only a few were hurt' when a zebra mare looked up from a table -- on which was a bleeding unicorn -- with sad eyes. She glanced to the side, just long enough for me to notice, and I saw the dozen or so cloth blankets with blood stains that took vaguely equine forms. I frowned at that, and the relief died away.

'Still better than the entire town,' I thought to myself, hoping it would make me feel a little better. It didn't really work. My sadness was replaced by concern, however, when saw the pegasus mare in the corner, unconscious and with her wings cast in plaster. There was a zebra stallion with a white doctor's coat and glasses was taking down notes on a piece of paper. I approached him.

"I need to speak to her, and Conductor does as well. When will she wake up?" I asked, and he stopped taking notes and faced me.

"Shouldn't be too long. She suffered minor physical trauma to her head and lost some blood, but nothing a blood pack and a few days of rest can't fix. She'll probably be awake tomorrow, at least."

Well, good. That did mean that I would need to stay until the next day, though, which meant that I could get to familiarize myself with the town better. Who knew, maybe there was something that would interest me here.

"Okay, thanks. When she wakes up, could you notify me? I'll be... uh... somewhere," I said, and a quizzical look crossed my face as I wondered just WHERE exactly I would be for easy location.

"Eh, sure, I guess," He replied uncertainly, and resumed writing his notes. As he did so he glanced back up at me, a look of discomfort in his eyes. Clearly he didn't like having me around, and I could understand and respect that. I had, after all, been a sort of a recluse back in my Stable. Besides, there was nothing here that was actually obligating my presence. The sight of all the dead was beginning to depress me, too.

"I'll take my leave, then," I said, and made my way back outside.

Once on the streets again, I came to the conclusion that I didn't have anything to do at the moment, and I was actually rather bored, despite everything. I didn't know anyone here well enough to talk to them comfortably, and while the people were hospitable enough to see me walking around without casting me suspicious glances, it simply didn't feel right to go around just talking to them.

It did occur to me, though, that I needed some fresh gear and perhaps another weapon. Tankbuster was good, but it would probably suck at longer ranges. What poultry caps I had were in my saddlebags, and so I went over to the security station to pick them up. After that my mind decided to take me to Conductor's office. Surely he knew where the town's store was. Myst had gone there too, and if I was doing this little assignment with her then I would need to see to familiarize myself with her.

I did, however, have to question just where in the world this throbbing minor headache had come from.

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

I pushed the door open and saw Myst sitting on a chair, looking at the floor with a small frown. Conductor saw me, and he invited me to sit down as well. I complied, even though I felt a little out of place; Myst sure as hell didn't seem like she was comfortable around me, and I didn't want to increase her anxiety.

"Myst is just nervous about the mission you two will undertake. I guess I should have broken it to her sooner. Still, she has agreed to accompany you," He said as he looked over at her with mild contemplation.

I nodded. "That's good. For a moment there, I thought I was going to have to go alone," I said with a sigh of relief. Myst looked especially uncomfortable in the presence of more than one person, cringing on the chair as she tried to avert her gaze from both me or Conductor. We both just watched her, waiting for her word on the matter; surely she had something to say. She didn't say anything, and I found myself grow increasingly bored at the lack of anything that could be called 'conversation'. Conductor tapping his hooves on the table only served to accent the uncomfortable quiet.

I was actually about to excuse myself, when Myst finally said with in a soft voice, trembling with anxiety, "This... um, mission is important. I... I think I can, uh, be less shy when we leave." Her eyes swept over the floor, and she lifted her head up to the same level as Conductor. He nodded thankfully, and she slowly turned her head to look me in the eye. I did my best to give a friendly smile, but she gulped and looked away again.

I looked over at Conductor questioningly, but he simply shrugged, "I Told you she could put being shy aside aside if the goal was important."

"Yeah, you did," I replied blankly, my thoughts dwelling on how exactly I was supposed to work with a mare that couldn't even look me in the eye for more than a few seconds. My thoughts did drift to more practical matters eventually, and I found myself thinking about what I might need for the mission. "Well, Conductor, do you have a place around here where I can get some supplies? I need to get stocked before I leave tomorrow." If I was going to do this, I would need a fair bit of new supplied; what I came out of the Stable with and what I had scavenged wasn't exactly good enough for a battle, if it ever came to that. I hoped it wouldn't go to that, but I knew what needed to be done. If those bandits didn't stop, their existence served only to hamper. That could not be tolerated, definitely not in Roam.

He perked up at my inquiry, then ducked under his desk. He made some noise as he bumped his head against the table time and time again, and at last he pulled out a small box filled with a few healing potions and some shotgun shells. "This was all the spare healing potions and shotgun shells I could get from a collection. If you want more, you could buy some at our local vendor. Her store is in the building across from here." He pointed his hoof out a window, at a small, two story building with a pre-war sign above it that read, 'Yosho Gravius' Spare Electronic Parts. WE SELL APPLIANCES NOW, TOO!' "Watch out though; she's a little shy as well," He said with a quick glance at Myst, who seemed to be almost hyperventilating from anxiety.

My attention remained on the box, though. "You collected these for me?" I asked, flattered. "Thanks for the thought, and I hope that this didn't inconvenience anyone." I looked down at the free supplied, when a thought came up. "Who'd you get these from, anyway?"

He shrugged, "A combination of some of the dead Legionnaires outside, and some guards and citizens who decided to help you out, considering what you volunteered to do."

"Ah," I nodded, thankful for the help. I also felt pretty good with having myself appreciated enough to warrant this kind of generosity.

"I... put some stuff in there, too..." Myst said quietly, almost in a whisper. That got both of our attention, and she immediately seemed to regret having said it at all.

"Well, um... thanks," I replied evenly. "Anyway, I guess I should see what the vendor has to trade. Thanks, Conductor," I said as I dumped the box's contents into my saddlebags. Afterwards I excused myself and began making my way downstairs. As I got out the door, Myst got off her chair, head hung low as she walked after me.

"You're coming with me?" I asked, a little surprised. "I thought you didn't like being around others."

She lifted her head, and spoke in a soft, barely audible voice, "I don't have anything to do yet." She hung her head back down, looking anywhere but at me.

"Eh... right," I murmured awkwardly. Well... at least she and I were getting to know each other, right?

I trotted down the stairs with her behind me. The zebra guard down here nodded at me with a smile, which faded and morphed into a confused grimace as he saw Myst behind me. Clearly, he was wondering why she was with me. I wondered that too, but said nothing nor showed any signs of discomfort. She just tried to be inconspicuous and continued following me across the street to the shop.

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

The shop's door was closed, and I couldn't see anyone inside through the screened window. A few calls for attention yielded no result, and it was beginning to annoy me. This place was a store after all; stores had clerks, and clerks were supposed to be sociable people.

At last I tried knocking at the door, and that at least go me a nervous and soft whine from inside, "Who is it?" It was another zebra mare, from the sound of her voice. She seemed like she wanted to be left alone, and her tone just dripped of discomfort and anxiety.

Myst approached the door and said, "Kira, it's me. Our... um, guest just needs to buy some supplies." After a moment's delay, I heard the sounds of the door's many, many, MANY locks unlocking.

When the door opened, a young zebra mare slowly poked her head out, looking at me with wide, curious eyes. As I stood there, Myst went over to her and they had a whisper of a conversation. As they talked I just waited, sitting down on the carpet outside the door. It was taking a while, and soon I grew bored and started tossing pebbles around. I guess it wasn't in the town's doctrine of hospitality to NOT keep visitors waiting.

After about five minutes, they finished whatever it was they were talking about and approached me. "Please, eh... come inside," The zebra said as she gave a wide, nervous grin while sweat dripped off the sides of her head. Myst took one look at her, then gave her a gentle shove.

I quickly turned my annoyed expression into a gentle smile as I turned around. "May I? Well, thank you." I was never a gentlestallion, but considering how nervous she was to keep me waiting for such a long time, I guess I could at least try. How the hell did people even buy from this mare? As I said, didn't shop owners and clerks need to have a bit more... sociability?

The inside of the store was rather dusty, though not particularly broken compared to the majority of the buildings I saw. In the corner, there was a staircase leading up to the second floor. I assumed that Kira slept up there, seeing as there was nothing on this floor that resembled a sleeping area. There was a backdoor, though it was broken and rubble flooded in through it. The walls and wooden ceiling were heavily cracked, though, and it seemed as though Kira had attempted to use a ludicrous amount of duct tape to fix them. Still, barring the damage and the nervous clerk, the place did resemble a shop well enough, mostly because of the considerable amount of merchandise she had on display on some shelves and small tables near the back, close to the broken backdoor.

As I entered the store, Myst took a seat near the door while Kira trotted over to the counter. I looked over at her merchandise. All the weapons were laid out on a table covered with a brown cloth -- some of the guns were of... ridiculous power, origin, design, or otherwise just plain weird and unexpected. The weapons themselves looked well maintained, and looked of considerable firepower, especially the really unexpected ones. Honestly, I was surprised to find some of these weapons at all. I had assumed that something like a minigun would be found in much larger or more prestigious markets.

Still, I had a possible selection, and I wasn't going to let the opportunity to get something better slip. And so I started thinking...

'Bolt action rifle? No thanks. Sniper rifle? Not my style.' The first two had power, sure, but they were too slow in fire rate. The ponies in the First Global War may have been attuned to such weapons, but I sure as hell wasn't.

'Submachinegun? Too much ammo use.' Submachineguns were good, sure, but they were too focused on close combat. I needed something more... general in usage.

'Assault rifle? Yes, much better! Oh, what's this? A shotgun? Hmm... nah, I doubt any shotgun I can find is better than mine. Revolver? Packs power, but too little ammo.' Of course, revolvers were awesome too. The only problem was the damned reload speed and the scarcity of bullets.

One particular weapon really caught my bewilderment, though. 'Is that a missile launcher? No!' I may have loved powerful weapons, but short of having power armor, I doubted even I could muster up the strength to use that'

And at last the minigun from earlier. I actually put some more thought on this one before rejecting it outright, just because it was a weapon of beautifully destructive power. At last though I decided to just get the assault rifle and stop ogling the massive weapon. I grabbed it and took it over to the counter for purchase.

I trotted over to the counter, bringing the rifle with me, and asked for the price. She tapped her hooves nervously on the table, eyes looking from side to side and said in a nervous stammer, "Th-three hundred caps."

"Three HUNDRED?" I asked in disbelief.

'THIS IS MADNESS!' Thought Tod.

'Madness? Look, it's her store, and she can charge whatever price she wants, alright?!' I thought back at him angrily. Of course, that didn't change the fact that I had nowhere near the amount she charged. I had exactly twelve caps on me at that time, and I was pretty sure that wouldn't even get me a single magazine of rifle ammo.

"Oh, uh is that too much? I'm sorry! I'll bring it down!" She started stammering frantically, but then I stopped her. People were reducing prices for me now? Acknowledging my potential threat was fine, but I wasn't comfortable with indirectly robbing people.

"No, three hundred is fine," I said with a sigh. "But I'm a little broke right now. I don't suppose you handle trade?" She perked up at that, looking a lot less nervous.

"Oh, yes!" She said enthusiastically. "In fact, I highly encourage trade. I have all these caps and I don't even need them. So instead I just share it with every one else in the town so they can buy things from the travelling merchants. Direct trade is so much more convenient." Maybe it was. Looking over the general lack of things to spend on in Road Town, I just HAD to wonder what these people could even spend their money on aside from drinks and food. Surely even in the wasteland there had to be SOME leisure, right?

"What weapon could I get if I give you three mags of assault rifle ammo?" I asked. She pondered that for a moment, then went over to the table and got a pistol and two clips of ammo.

"This is the only thing I can get?" I asked, a little bit disappointed. Pistols were fine, but they didn't pack enough power (except for revolvers) to suit my tastes. Still, I suspected she was already giving me a discount, and for that I should have been grateful. Not to mention I didn't even HAVE an assault rifle, so the mags were just dead weight in my bags.

"Y-yes..." She stammered nervously once more.

"Look it's fine," I assured her, but then frowned skeptically at the magazines. Then I said slowly, "But I don't suppose you know anyway I can get some more caps in this town? I'm terribly short on that stuff." Where did all these people get caps, anyway? They were BOTTLE CAPS, and yet I barely saw any bottles ever since I was out here. I highly doubted there was some kind of magical entity shoving random caps everywhere. Considering the wasteland, it would have made more sense if people used shaped, polished rock as a currency; MUCH more abundant.

Back to the thought of caps for a moment... I think I remember that the thought of bottles and caps shoved a mental image of a fat pony drinking hundreds of soda bottles just to get the caps came up into my mind.

'Ugh, damn you Tod!' I thought in disgust.

She seemed to think about that for a while, closing her eyes. I suppose she did have an inner haggler in her after all. Good, there was some hope for her not getting robbed blind. I can only imagine what would have happened if I DID rob her when she offered...

Finally, she opened them and gave me her offer, "There are these bandits that have recently hit one of the few supply caravans that pass this fairly desolate part of the city outskirts. Conductor talked to you about them already, I think. Take care of them, and I'll give you one hundred-fifty caps, plus another weapon." Her eyes went wide from surprise at her surprisingly stern and cold tone, and she added in her much more shy demeanor, "That is, if you're fine with that."

I thought of that for a moment. One hundred-fifty caps was already a lot, and she was giving me another weapon... and I supposed that, if I was going to live out here and further my little ambition of saving Roam (it WASN'T a 'little ambition'), I would need to hone my combat skills. The thought of killing again brought some guilt and disgust to my mind, but I supposed it wasn't possible to evade that. Not in the flawed society of the wasteland, at least.

"Well, what are the choices for the weapon?" I asked, not wanting to risk being able to pick only between a few more pistols, even if one was a revolver. Sure I wanted to help, but not if there was absolutely nothing in it for me; my LIFE was on the line, after all.

Thankfully, she seemed to have thought of this already, as her answer came out immediately, "I can let you choose between an assault rifle, a sniper rifle, a submachinegun, or a shotgun." That was actually a nice set of choices, considering the weapon of choice was free. Of course, they also could have been old and broken, but surely she wouldn't have tricked me like that. Especially because I could have confronted her, and she already seemed so nervous at my mere presence that she would probably have melted at a confrontation.

"Alright, I'll do it," I said as I grabbed the pistol, which came with a holster, and strapped it on. Then I loaded one mag inside and placed the other into one of my vest pockets. "Thank you, Kira. And you as well, Myst." Myst was looking flatly at the wall opposite of her when she cocked her head to face me, a questioning and slightly baffled look on her face. I shrugged, took my leave and left the store. Myst got up and started following me.

It was at that point that I had run out of things to do in Via Oppidum. I wasn't going to visit the bar again; Bane would probably give an impassioned speech on 'how much of a good friend I was'. The aid station was just depressing, Conductor's office was boring, and the shop's owner couldn't talk without a five-minute chat with Myst. That left me with the option of either talking to the town's residents or just trotting aimlessly.

And the choice was obvious, as portrayed by the thought: 'Oh well, I'll just settle for walking around.' Remember, I was NOT a very socially capable pony and was sort of a recluse when it came to talking to people I didn't know.

As I passed by the card game crater that the zebras from earlier had made, I saw several of the guards scavenging the sky tank for any supplies. From what I saw, they had gotten a hell of a lot of missiles, several suits of the black carapace armor, four very strange guns with an evil looking green glow coming out from some fragile-looking glass components, and some other miscellaneous materials -- mostly notes or little items that were worth probably a cap each (that is if anyone actually bought such things; I later found out there WERE.).

Myst nearly froze in place like a statue when I heard a familiar pony's voice call out.

"Myst! I wanna tell ya HIC something!" Bane's voice called out. He was stumbling over to us from the bar, beer bottles taped to his side as he wobbled over us to us. When he finally got close, he collapsed.

Approaching him very slowly, Myst poked his muzzle with a hoof. "Yes, Bane?" She asked in a rather friendly, if shy, tone.

He looked up from the ground and said as he tried to get up again, "I just wanted to tell ya HIC that your aim during the fight was HIC impecabble! HIC And that you..." He pointed at me. "... were quite formidable as well! In fact, I even got HIC a song for you, just to lighten up the mood!" He cleared his throat, and let out in a drunken -- yet strangely catchy -- jingle:

'When I was a little colt and the sun was going doo-oown!'

'Aw, hell no...'

'The Legion and the bandits they would always make froo-oown!'

'I'd hide under my beer can, from what I thought I shot'

'But grandpa Beer said that wasn't the way'

'to deal with fears at all!

'He said "Bane-y you gotta go to the bar!'

'Learn to drink away your fears!'

'You'll see they can't hurt you at all!'

'Just drink to make them disappear!

'Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!'

I approached Myst as she cowered in embarrassment on the asphalt. Some of the residents were coming out to see what all the fuss was about, and Bane didn't show any signs of stopping anytime soon. I pitied her, and so wanted to get her out of there as soon as possible.

I nudged her and said, "We should probably go before he sings something about Luna's icy nub or something." She blushed as she looked at me from the floor, her forehooves in between her hindlegs. Then just nodded like she was trying to create shockwaves with her neck. We moved away from Bane as he continued to sing.

Good thing too, as a small crowd was already gathered around the drunken stallion. Myst would have been tortured.

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

I spent most of the rest of the day just wandering around, getting myself familiar with the immediate vicinity. For lunch I settled for one of the apples in my saddlebags. Boredom had reached its peak around that time, and so I spent the next hours actually trying to talk to the people. Strangely enough, it wasn't as hard as I thought. Probably because they actually seemed like they were glad I decided to speak to them; I guess they were still thankful to me for saving their town. I got about two hours of the late afternoon for talking to them, and it was a great symbol to me because that time represented, what I believed, was an ACTUAL growth in social ability. Myst had, predictably, not joined in the conversations save if I had a question regarding the town.

Still, early evening came and I had to excuse myself from their company. I still needed a place to stay where I could think thoroughly, after all. I decided to trot outside of the town, just for a change of view. I considered asking Conductor where I could stay, but I decided it may be an invitation to more legionnaires if I stayed in the town for too long. They could have had some spies out, I couldn't disregard that possibility.

'So where exactly can I stay that I could be found by the doctor in case the pegasus wakes up?' was the question I kept asking myself. Well, Myst knew the layout of the surrounding area well. I decided to ask her.

"Hey, uh, Myst? You know where I can take the load off for the night? I don't want to risk the town with my presence in case Legion survivors saw me kill their comrades. Know a place?" She actually didn't seem shy or cringed at my question; she just pondered at my inquiry. I had to wonder if Bane's song or his compliments banish her shyness to the moon.

"Weeell..." She drawled, putting her hoof to her mouth as she looked up. At one point, her eyes widened and her ears folded back, not to mention her blush. She had obviously thought of her answer already, but was just pretending to ponder. After a moment, she put her hoof back down and said, this time in her familiar shy and nervous voice, "Well, um... only place I know that's close and every one knows is, well... my outpost."

WELL, alright then. She... uh, well this WAS a little awkward at the time, especially considering how I had thought of her for an instance or two. At the moment I simply hoped that there would be a place to discharge in case my urges... wait, why am I even talking about this? Oh boy... wings, please, not now, not while I'm recording this.

I turned to face her, and she looked even more embarrassed and nervous than when Bane had gathered a crowd directly behind her. I was a little nervous too, but there was no point in arguing or rejecting her offer.

"Well, only if you don't mind. If need be, I can ask Conductor if he has a place for me," I offered, and she gave a little nervous smile. I glanced behind me at the town, but apparently it was time to close the gates (although, the entrance from where the Legionnaires had broken in was blocked off with rubble instead). I frowned disappointedly. As the fence gates closed, I decided it was probably better to just take up Myst's offer. The seclusion would give me some time to think, anyway.

"Well, I guess I'll have to take you up on that offer." She deflated at that; apparently it was an offer made out of courtesy instead of desire. Of course, that left me to question the blush she had earlier.

As I trotted through the familiar street, Myst still taking the lead, I took advantage of what little daylight remained to examine my surroundings more closely. I could have died any day, so I decided to take in as much of the sights as I could before I did.

Most of the structures here seemed like they were once small business offices or service shops. Their paint was peeled and faded and flew lazily in the air as extra large specks of dust, which only served to make the area drearier than it already was. Many different signs, all of which were so faded that they were almost illegible, seemed to proclaim that they had another product or that they were on sale. Collapsed as some of them may have been, many of them could probably have been put into service with some cleanup. The particular building that Myst's outpost was next to dominated the physical landscape; it was several dozen feet taller than the tallest five-floor building in sight. It was walled off by two collapsed structures, though. I remembered it: I had passed by it yesterday, after all.

I was growing more curious about that building the closer we got. 'Why was it so tall?' I asked over and over again. Questions kept popping up into my head until I just couldn't take it anymore. I just had to know what this place was.

"Hey Myst, what is that place? What, was it some government official's home or something?"

She just took in a breath before turning to me, a forced smile on her face, and answered, "Well, er... yes. It was the home of a legion Legate during the war, so said some of the zebras back in town. I forgot his name, though; something that started with 'D'." She gulped and continued slowly, "I... well, I tried going into that place once, but the security gate required a code. And I don't have any equipment for scaling the walls."

I nodded thoughtfully, my curiosity piqued all the more. A security gate that needed a code... high walls... At that point, I really wanted to investigate, but it just didn't seem right to leave Myst alone or to go off exploring so late in the day.

"Why'd you try going in there?" I asked curiously.

Her response came tediously, as expected. "Well... I was interested. You know, places like that usually have something interesting. It can get boring in town, sometimes." A small smile of anticipation crossed her face as she murmured, "Maybe we'll find out more when we go there tomorrow."

“Wait, why would we go in there? What about the job?” Well, I wasn't disappointed, that was for sure. Now I had something to look forward to, and I wasn't going to be exploring it alone. But for the sake of caution and prudence, I just had to ask.

She didn't answer immediately. We were only a little way off from her outpost, and it was right before we reached her porch that she responded simply, "That's where the bandits are, actually."

Well, that was--wait, what?

I galloped hastily in front of her, stopping our advance. I looked her in the eye as I asked, “What? Are you telling me that these bandits -- or raiders, or whatever you call them -- live right next door and that they haven’t even noticed you -- the sniper with a VERY loud rifle -- who lives right next door? And even more importantly, whydidn’t you tell me about this sooner? Is it even safe to be in this outpost; what if they attack?”

She nearly galloped off in surprise at my interruption, but she tripped on a concrete black and fell on her belly. I slowly approached her as she rolled onto her back. She looked frightened, and yet mildly annoyed. I guess I shouldn't have reacted with such rash annoyance, but I wasn't able to hold it back. I sighed as I helped her up.

“Sorry about that," I apologized. "It’s just that I would have liked to know, BEFORE taking up your offer, that we were less than a hundred yards from a raider base. And I would also like to know how they got to the town without running into you.”

She relaxed a little as a few seconds passed by, before answering timidly, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I thought that you would have found it convenient to be right next to the place you wanted to be." She scraped a forehoof nervously on the ground." Oh, and they didn’t notice me because of all the rubble..." Then she smiled sheepishly and continued,"... and because I shot any of them that bothered to climb up.”

“Alright. Well, thanks for considering where I wanted to be," I replied as I shook my head. "Still, you should have told me so I could have prepared a little more. I don’t exactly have a great plan in my head, and I’ll probably have to think of one in a rush.” She just looked ashamed as she slowly nodded twice, before pushing open the door and trotted in. I went in after her, trying to formulate what little bit of the plan I could before the next day.

I honestly believed that we were so screwed. Truth be told, we nearly were.

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

I stood next to the mattress from the night before after having taken off my helmet and the Kevlar vest. I found out just how difficult removing the armor was, as I had to untie more than six knots and remove the mesh beneath in order to take it off. Still, having all of the weight off felt pretty damned good.

My skin was riddled with marks where the chain had rubbed and pressed against my coat roughly, and some of the marks even had cuts while most had some of the fur ripped off. “I should really wear some cloth under this…” I muttered as I observed the patches of my skin that were now exposed. I noticed several small scars where the shotgun pellets had pierced into my flesh. Apparently healing potions didn’t remove the scars you get from wounds like these. Ugly things, really.

I lay down on the mattress and let out a long, deep sigh. I had had no idea how exhausted I was until now. My legs were sore from walking around In the weight of the armor. I also found the lack of noise, save Myst’s occasional movement downstairs, rather disturbing. What can I say? I’m used to the constant, distant humming of my Stable’s generators and hearing the voices of my friends. Even having been the social enigma who didn't get much social contact, I thought best when there was some noise.

And right now, this was an appropriate time to think.

First, I thought about my Stable. Questions swarmed into my head just at the mere thought of it. 'What's going on down there?' 'Were they able to find new department heads, or is that still going on?' 'Is Wonderglue okay or was she arrested for helping me escape?' 'And who exactly IS the killer?'

Oh, the killer. The mere thought of who he was sparked anger in my head. I still wanted to cut the fucker's head off and throw the body in the incinerator for killing one of the few people I cared about. I grit my teeth in frustration, knowing that whoever he was still prancing around like nothing happened. And how the hell had the killer impersonated me? Was it a tailored outfit or something? Because I knew that Silkthread was a damned good tailor. Or maybe it was one of the security staff? Only they had access to the Stable’s weaponry, and anyone else would have been punished for even trying to get a weapon. And I still had a lot of unfinished business to take care of in that place.

But I wouldn’t ever get to go back to that place... so I thought.

‘Well, then you’ll just have to think of what to do next,’ Thought the not-Tod part of my brain.

'I should probably think of a name for this guy, too...'

Next I thought about what I was going to with this quest I had, this ‘Glory of Roam’. 'What the hell did that mean?', I wondered. Would the Legion be the saviors of Roam and bring to it an era of peace or something? Pffft, yeah right. From what I saw of them so far, they were nothing but bloodthirsty, aggressive, organized and well equipped raiders. They even had most of the city allied against them! Still… they were the only ones with plans to rebuild. I would have to meet the Legate before I came upon my conclusion.

The next thought caught me by surprise, with the not-Tod part of my brain asking, ‘And what about you, Goldwreath? How are you coping?’

Well, I didn’t really know how to answer. How exactly was I coping? Sure the whole ‘sky’ thing had gotten me grounded for most of a day, but I was mostly over it now. I had to get used to the air around here too; it smelled like shit. The non-Roam terrain was... barren, drearily so. But just what was the highlight of my experiences outside so far? Was it seeing Roam? Certainly, yes. This place was giving my life out here a purpose. But that was the GOOD highlight. What was the BAD highlight?

I had killed people.

‘Oh boy, I knew this was coming,’ I thought just before my scumbag brain decided to turn against me.

‘Did you really have to kill those zebras, Goldwreath? Did you try hard enough to try to find a bloodless solution?’ Thought not-Tod.

To that I mentally screamed in reply, ‘They didn’t deserve to live! They were Goddesses-damned rapists and slavers! The only reason I let that one mare live is because of… of…’

‘What? Because of her whole ‘I needed to' speech? Perhaps. Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t. You may be a killer, but not a butcher. That much is clear, at least so far.’

‘Shut up! Just… just let me sort this out on my own, dammit! I just had to kill them! If I didn’t they’d have taken those slaves to who knows where and stripped their freedom from them! If I let them live, they would have just gotten more slaves! Jus- just let me handle this, alright?’

My mind went blank for a while, but not-Tod showed up again.

‘Okay, so what about tomorrow?’ Well... I'll admit I was a little suspicious about the sudden change of topic, but it was a valid point.

Well, so far the only significant plan I had was to scope out the place before I attacked, leaving Myst behind as sniper support. I would take them out, scavenge the place, then return to town before leaving for the Forum. For certain complications would arise, but I just to find a way around them.

‘Are you really going to the Forum alone? That’s pretty dangerous, don’t you think?’

'Yeah, well, I can't force anyone to join me. I’ll just have to find a way.' It was tue; I HAD thought I was going alone. And it made me feel... well, alone. No companions, no friendship, no one to care for me... it was all enough to make me feel very, very screwed.

Before I could continue lamenting over how very screwed I was if I went alone, one particular thought came into my mind:

'What the heck's that outside?'

There was a strange, low, menacing growl, something I could liken to the faint rumble of a crashing building if it sounded more animalistic. It wasn’t really loud, but I could hear it clearly from up here. I got up and grabbed the pistol. My gladius was still strapped to me; I wouldn’t want to part with it again. I left Tankbuster behind, which, now that I think about it, was a bad choice. What can I say, the thing weighed like five pounds.

After making my way downstairs, I saw Myst leaning against the door, sniper rifle in her forehooves (well... I did it too, but she just seemed so practiced in the tecnique). As the growling approached, she gestured for me to come closer. I quietly made my way over to her, and the growling became suddenly more menacing and louder. Myst glared at me, as if I had done something wrong.

“What?” I whispered, and a rough, long, sniff came from right outside the door. Myst’s glare hardened before she put on an expression that I was SURE said ‘idiot’. Yeah... she was shy and all, but I guess everyone had a dark side. In her case, a prick side.

There was a pause; absolutely no noise came from the outside. Myst listened for a moment, ears on the door, before her body stiffened. I tried approaching the door, but she just darted to the other side of the room like a mare hours late for her job.

“Run!” Was all she said.

Of course, her warning didn’t help in the slightest as the door immediately shattered in my face, a piece of it flying past me and cutting a gash right below my eye. I staggered away from the blast of wooden splinters.

Before I could try to recover, a huge, furry, feline form pounced on me and pinned me to the ground. It’s claws were digging into my shoulders as I tried to kick it off of me. I winced from the pain, but managed to open my eyes long enough to look upon it.

It was a large creature, perhaps twice my size. It had large feline eyes, with and a snout that protruded out of its head, with whiskers on both sides right beside its pinkish nose. Its fur was similar to that of a zebra's -- it had black stripes extending all the way to its tail -- however its fur was instead a dark grey instead of a white. Its tail, however, lost its fur halfway to the end and from then on was a sleek, black tentacle-like appendage that ended in a sharp tip. Its claws were clawed, and with each passing second they dug deeper into my shoulders.

Before the creature could bite my head off, a resounding shot rang through the lower floor, and the creature's shoulder erupted with its blood. It howled and rolled its monstrous eyes over to Myst, who then galloped like a maniac up the stairs. It pulled its claws out of me, eliciting a a pained grunt from my mouth, and ran like the predator it was after Myst. I got up despite the pain and ran after it, hoping it hadn't reached her already.

As I reached the stairs, an explosion shook the building as the creature fell back down the steps from the blast. As it fell, it tried to bury it’s claws into the walls, but that only left large scratch marks tearing their way down all the way to the foot of the stairs. It growled fiercely as it rolled into its belly, and I had just enough wits to draw my gladius and go for its neck.

However, before I could, it rolled on the ground and I struck the wooden floor, and the very force I put into my strike stuck the blade where it was. I yanked like a madpony at the hilt of my blade, my heart pumping thunderously in my ears. It gave a fierce growl as it lunged at me, pinning me again.

It was damned lucky that I had managed to dislodge my sword right before it did.

I slashed at it’s paws as it tried to rip my flesh, which caused it to start using it’s mouth. I threw the blade into my mouth as it started tearing at me with its claws, which I only barely deflected. I was forced to use my forelimbs to stave off its mouth. Of course it didn’t really work, and I screamed in pain as it’s fangs sunk deep into my forelegs, literally pulling my flesh from the bone.

It lifted a paw and tried to rip out my throat, but I managed to block it with my blade. After a few moments, in which I was sure my forelegs would have been ripped off and eaten, Myst came back down and put two shots against into it’s skull. The creature finally slumped against me, blood trickling off of it’s head as it’s bite on my forelegs froze in place.

Myst approached and pushed the corpse off me and helped me pry open it’s jaws wide enough to pull my hooves out. Drool dripped of its fangs and onto my wounds as I pulled my mangled limbs out.

“Oh, that’s so not good,” I hissed as I looked at the eviscerated, ripped flesh of my forelimbs. The blood dripping off of them was covering up the exposed bone, and quite a lot of my flesh was still within the creatures mouth. I really hoped that healing potions could handle this level of injury, because I did NOT want to be trotting about like a lame person.

I just stared at my ruined leg for a moment and, as I watched, a portion of flesh connected to me by a thin strand of skin fell off and hit the ground.

“Oh my…” Myst gasped as she took one look at me with all my injuries. Then she hurried over to the corner of the room and opened a trap door hidden beneath a carpet and jumped in. I didn’t really care what she did at the moment; I just stared at the ruined mess of my limbs until she came back up, carrying a small box in her mouth. Her hood was down for the first time, revealing her mane to be slightly messy but beautifully well taken care of.

She put the box down in front of me, then said in a gentle, concerned voice, “Please take these. I keep them stocked in case of bestial attack.” She pulled out a syringe filled with a thick clear fluid and a healing potion. I tried to get up, but she just stopped me with a hoof. “Let me do it,” she said, and then jammed the syringe into my shoulder and brought the healing potion to my mouth.

As I drank, I felt the numbing sensation of the fluid in my shoulder easing the pain. It was delightful. Soon after that I finished the potion, and then she pulled out another syringe, this time filled with water-like fluid, and jammed that into my other shoulder. Soon all of my wounds began healing and closing (though I suspected that there would be quite a lot of new scars) and I managed to get up on my hooves.

“What the hell was that?” I asked.

“That was a bestial; one of the predatory animals that prowl through the ruins of Roam. Mostly just the outer portions, like here. Don't expect to see them often. However, they aren't the largest nor most dangerous. Still, the creature’s saliva contains a poison which, if left unattended, can be deadly. The second needle I injected you with was the anti-venom.”

Well, at least I wasn’t going to die from poison. I took a look at her shattered door, and the explosion wounds on the creature’s body. “Well, thanks Myst. So what now? The door’s gone, and they’ll likely have heard that explosion.”

She smiled a confident little smile I hadn't seen on her before before trotting out the door. “Leave that to me. I know more than one way to distract and lose pursuers. Just block the door with that table or something.”

After watching her disappear in the darkness, I went over to a rotten wooden table and pushed it to the open doorway. Lifting it up was a bit more difficult, what with my still-healing limbs and all. Still, I finally got the doorway blocked with the table. As I went back upstairs, I heard a two distant explosions, and a few muffled yells.

For just a moment I was frozen with panic. Was Myst in danger? I hoped that she wasn’t captured or dead, because she happened to be an important part of my plan for the next day. Well... she had said she could take care of herself.

I made my way back to my bed and put on my armor (I didn’t want to be unprepared in case another one of those things came), then put on my helmet and readied my weapons. Then I sat on the mattress and faced the doorway. Slowly, fatigue overcame my senses and I fell asleep.

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

I was on the side of a hill, hurrying up the slope. Loud, thunderous explosions shook the earth as I continued to gallop up the hill. A massive metal casing tumbled down the rocks on the hills beside me, hurtling into the rocks and taking them with it as it slammed into the dirt path behind me.

I continued until I reached the cannons: The biggest damn cannons I’ve ever seen, dozens and dozens of them lined up on flat-topped mountain range. They continued to fire as I tried to get to a slope that lead to them, but about six automatic turrets popped up and began shooting at me. I dove for cover as they continued for another minute, their ammo reserves seeming endless. I heard a great metallic groan, unnervingly like that of my Stable’s door, as two of the cannons turned to face deeper into the city. They fired one after the other as the massive shells created huge columns of fire in the distance. I don’t know why, but I screamed.

“NOOOO! You fucker! I’m gonna open a hole so wide in your ass, shove those barrels in, and set those cannons off!”

As I watched, an army of Legionnaires ran up to the cannons in a plain below me, but the cannons simply turned to them and fired. After a few moments, there was nothing left. And nothing to do but charge the turrets and get shredded by the gunfire. I checked the ammo in Tankbuster. It had a full chamber. “Okay, let’s do this…” I thought aloud as I turned to face the turrets.

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

I woke up to Myst and the zebra mare I saved shaking me and yelling for me to get up.

“Huh? Ugh, what is it?” I grumbled as I turned away from them, still wanting to sleep. Myst grabbed my pistol and shot it at the roof, making my eyes snap open and nearly made me jump up.

She threw the weapon back at me, saying in a rushed and worried tone, “Goldwreath! Wake up! The pegasus mare is awake!”

I grumbled as I got up onto my hooves, placing the pistol back in it’s holster. “She is? Well, what’s the problem then?” I asked as the zebra paced back and forth near the doorway.

“She’s threatening the town, that’s the problem!” She snapped at me in a very un-Myst like tone. I hurried up gathering my gear and we bolted back to the town together.

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

As we arrived at the town's gates, the guards watching the roads asked us to hurry over to the medical station. Approaching the station, I saw seven guards and Conductor surrounding the fissure. The orange pegasus mare was visible through the doorway, holding a knife to the doctor's throat.

"Please, calm down! We don't want to hurt you!" Conductor said to her, but she didn't buy it.

"Yeah? You'll just throw me outside and let those bastards who shot us out of the sky get me, then? Or maybe you'll sell me to Redeye? We saw his outpost as we got here, so I am not risking it!" she replied in a rough, semi high-pitched voice.

"Please listen to us! We don't even know who Redeye is! Just let the doctor go and I'll guarantee you will be left unharmed." Conductor pleaded.

"What just happened here?" I asked as I got right next to him, Myst and the zebra following close behind.

"She woke up about an hour ago. She knocked out the nurse and got hold of the doctor since. We've tried negotiating, but she's completely paranoid. Every time we tell her she's going to be fine, she just thinks of some way she thinks we'll betray her. I'm not quite sure how to get to her." He sighed, hitting the ground with a hoof in frustration. "Her disruption is causing me quite a lot of time. If we don't get this resolved soon, I'll be forced to put her down so that my guards can get back to their jobs and the doctor can continue treating the injured. Can you think of anything?"

I shifted to face him, but the mare just let out a loud "AHA! This is proof right here! You've got a Dashite with you!"

"What the hell is a 'Dashite'?" I asked as I instead turned to face her. She was injured more than she let on; I could see the signs of concealed limping in her left hindleg. She was also bleeding from an only partially closed wound on her side. Still, she wasn't letting that get to her.

"What do you mean 'what's a Dashite?' YOU are a Dashite! This just proves this town is some kind of anti-Enclave operations post of some sort!" She yelled, accidentally drawing a little blood from the doctor's neck. Several of the guards switched off the safeties on their guns.

"Wait." I told them, and I came closer to the pegasus. At my approach, she pulled the doctor closer and pressed the knife closer to his neck.

"Stay back." She didn't yell, but her tone was serious and I had no doubt she would kill him if I forced it. Myst circled around to the other side, aiming her rifle. I just shook my head at her, and she pointed her rifle away.

"Look, you have to believe me when I say I am NOT a Dashite, whatever that is. And it was the Legion who shot you down, not us!"

"Yeah, and they killed my whole squad while they were at it! I can't trust any of you!"

"Oh yeah? Well we lost a dozen people to save your ass! Several more are dying in there right now while you're pulling off this little stunt of yours. You owe this town for saving you and sacrificing for you instead of just letting the Legion have what they want! Now this place is likely on the list of towns the Legion considers it's enemy! So don't bring up what you lost, cause I'm pretty sure it's less than what they did." She stared back at me in shock, then glanced off to the sides.

After about a minute of tense silence, there was a gunshot. The bullet pinged off the metal table and the pegasus jumped back in surprise, thankfully not slicing the doctor's throat in the process. As she staggered, Myst fired off another shot next to the pegasus' legs, making her stagger in another direction as she dropped the knife from her mouth.

I took the opportunity and charged her, slamming her against the ground as she fell. As she lay there, she tried to pull off the same trick Kevlar Vest had done to get me off him. But I knew that trick this time, and as she reached the 'punch me away' stage of the move, I blocked them both and smacked her across the face.

The guards entered, pointing their guns at her. At the sight of them, she stopped struggling and just lay there. I got off and the guards pulled her away to her bed and started to strap her down; something the doctor had not done. As they finished, they went over to the doctor and helped him to clean his wounds, while some of them dragged the unconscious nurse to another bed in the fissure. He just shooed them away, taking a sip of a healing potion as Myst entered the fissure through the other entrance. Conductor entered as well, huge relief clearly visible in his expression, and he approached me.

"Another instance where having you with us has saved us a lot of trouble. I really should try keeping you around, we could sure use someone like you."

"Thank you, Conductor. But we should really get to the matter at hoof." I pointed at the pegasus glaring at me from the bed, she was tugging against the straps with no success. She tried harder as I approached; she looked almost as uncomfortable around me as Myst was around... well, anyone.

"What's your name?" I asked her cautiously. She didn't answer, and Myst was beginning to look uncomfortable again as she backed out of the station.

"Look, if we planned to harm you, then last night while you were out was the best time to do it. Now, what's your name?" I asked again, and this time she answered.

"Skyfire. Service number 35628505. Sergeant and second-in-command of the scouting party sent here by the Enclave. Is that good enough, Dashite?" She spat in my face. I wiped it off, feeling mildly pissed off at this mare right now.

"Alright. Look Skyfire, these people are NOT your enemy. The Legion, the guys who shot you down, are your enemies. I am not your enemy. And not even the one who shot at you. She is not your enemy, either." I saw Myst poke her head in, then quickly pull it back. "In fact, I highly suggest you get used to these people. You aren't exactly fully healed yet, so you'll have to stay here for a few days. Just don't cause a commotion and you'll be fine." The doctor approached her again, but stopped several feet from her. He watched her with worry, as if wondering whether she would hold him hostage again. I just nodded my head, and despite his expression he approached her again.

At that, Skyfire seemed personally uncomfortable. Not at the doctor wrapping her wing in a cast, nor at me standing in front of her. No, this was different. In fact I couldn't tell what was causing her discomfort, until finally she said, "I don't like being in a single place for too long." There was no anger in her voice, just anxiety and... pleading?

"Soooo? I can't actually take you anywhere, not that you'd want me to or that anyone else would, so I'm afraid you'll just have to deal with it for now." Seriously? She just held the doctor hostage and she was already asking to be let go? Wow, talk about expectant.

She deflated completely, slumping on the bed and offering no more resistance whatsoever. She closed her eyes and sighed, burying her head in the pillow underneath.

"Why? Why would you want to start walking around already? You're wing's busted, you're bleeding from at least one area I can see, and I'm pretty sure you've got at least one broken bone in you. Wouldn't moving around in that state, in the wasteland, be suicidal?" I asked reasonably, hoping to dissuade her from trying to get out there.

Of course, it didn't work. She looked up at me from her pillow, "Yeah, it would. But I got a team to avenge, and those... eh, 'Legion' bastards are gonna pay. The sooner I make them pay, the sooner I can feel better. The medicine's good, but aside from my wings, I ain't hurt that bad."

"It's true." The doctor said. "She may look banged up, but aside from her wings, the only injuries she has are two cracked bones in her right hindleg and that wound she has on her side. Honestly, one or two healing potions and she's good. Aside from the wing, that'll take time."

She continued, "And I don't want to wait around, strapped down, while I'm being told what to do. If I could, I'd bust myself out of here and kill as many of those fuckers as I can." I could relate, I still wanted the piece of shit who killed Lighthouse to be incinerated. But I wasn't going to let that cloud my judgement now.

I looked at the doctor. "Are you sure? I'm no medic, but that was a serious crash. Hasn't she 'lost a lot of blood' or 'has major internal injuries' or anything of the like?" I thought doctor's were supposed to keep their patients until they recovered! What, was he doing this out of spite or something?

"Nope. As I said, wings aside, two healing potions and she's good to go." Skyfire beamed up at that, a huge grin forming on her face at the news.

I still had one more trick up on my hoof. "And what would Conductor think? He wouldn't want her to be killed, now would he?" I looked over at Conductor with a slightly smug smile. He was sitting on a chair next to the entrance.

"No I wouldn't. But it's her life; if she wants to go out there and take out some Legionnaires for us, then why not?"

'What? I need to hear that again...'

"Seriously? You're okay with her leaving? In this state?" I asked, both surprised and disbelieving, as I pointed a hoof at her.

"Well, not 'okay.' Really, 'forced to' is more like it. You may not know it, but everyday we get hit by raiders, slavers, bandits, and the Legion." He approached me and said, "There's also been talk of fire raining down from the mountains. We don't know how or why, but the Legion seems to. They've been trying to get to them, but all their efforts have ended in failure. Couple that with the sudden wave of wildlife coming out of their homes and the gangs getting bolder, and you've got a recipe for disaster. So, as you can see, if it weren't for people such as yourself giving us help from time to time, we'd all be dead."

Fire raining from the mountains? That seemed familiar... very familiar... but why?

I ground my teeth in frustration. I couldn't believe both Conductor and the doctor were fine with this! What next? Was Bane going to come in and start singing another song? Oh, and maybe he could include a dance number while he was at it!

Then Myst entered, eyes on the ground as she averted her gaze from every one in the room. As she got close enough to me, she lifted her head and gave a little half smile.

"Oh, please don't tell me you're fine with her going too!" I said loudly out of exasperation.

'Celestia, please don't let her agree with this!'

"Well, um, no. I don't really like it." Oh, thank you! This pegasus was going to get herself killed...

"Oh, good. At least SOMEONE agrees with me." At that, her pupils became small as peas, before she put on another nervous smile.

"Myst? Is there something you're not telling me?" I asked suspiciously.

"Yes, well, I don't WANT to. I really don't, promise! But... we may have to."

'Of course. Celestia, wherever you are, I just want to tell you how much of a let-down that was.'

"What could you POSSIBLY mean?" I just couldn't get my way with these people, could I?

Her response came slowly, maybe from her being in the presence of... four people. Goddesses, how shy was this mare?

"Well, I just got a report from the guards that about another seven bandits arrived at the base. So, we're outnumbered at least ten-to-one. We'll need all the help we can get."

"Well, can't we ask the guards to come with us then?" Yeah, why couldn't the guards come with us? Wasn't it their job to protect this place?

"Well... we're kind of low on them right now. Plus, if they leave with us, then some gang is probably going to come along and try to raid the town." She said with slight sympathy with my plight.

I looked around at the four gathered around me. Each one of them either wanted the pegasus to go or was forced to let her go. Skyfire would probably have been jumping around in joy, except she was tied down. Was I really going to let this happen? This mare could get killed doing this!

'You said last night that you couldn't force anyone to join you, and that's true. However, you also can't force anyone to NOT join you as well.' Thought not-Tod.

'You know, you're becoming almost as annoying as Tod.' Great, even my own head was against me. Stupid scumbag brain.

Finally, I just let out a sigh of defeat and said, "Dammit, peer pressure. Fine."

The doctor untied her straps, and Skyfire immediately got off the bed. Well, at least she wasn't making this more difficult by trying to escape.

"Awesome! I still can't believe I'm working with a Dashite, but... meh. I don't really care about that anymore, I just wanna kick some tail! Now, where are my guns?"

"Your guns?" Conductor asked, cocking his head in confusion.

"Yeah, my guns. My twin mark II Plasmabolt rifles? I had them on me last time I remembered. And I was wearing my armor, too."

"Ooooh, yeeeaaah..." He drawled. "...about that..."





Footnote: Level Up
New perk gained: Immunity, Level One -- You're immune system is now 20% cooler. You are resistant to natural diseases and toxins, as you take 20% less damage from them. They also don't last as long.

Author's Note:

Note as of 2/8/2013: The last few paragraphs of this chapter are almost finished in the editing phase.