Fallout Equestria: Overture

by SoundOfImpact

Chapter Four: Baltimare According To MD

Chapter Four: Baltimare According To MD

"Once upon an apocalypse, so better make the most of it."

---

The day started earlier than normal, and I had the pleasant sensation of well rested to boot. I guess not getting plastered, a proper meal and exercise will do that to a pony.

I'd been sleeping better the last couple of days. It probably helped that I was actually out of the house and doing things. After the first foraging/training session, Make Do had been sure to get me outside for further lessons. We'd been going further afield with the foraging, enough that I'd kind of gotten used to seeing the city ruins in the distance. Still very unpleasant, but bearable.

I was kind of beginning to grasp what I needed to look for food wise. And at one point Mr. Goldwing's lesson did come in handy, traipsing through the woods by the old Barnyard Bargains we ran into five or six disgustingly enormous cockroaches, which came at us. I managed to take some of them down myself with the pistol, though I was a little queasy when Make Do started harvesting the bodies for bug meat. I could do without that, no matter how useful she said it was.

Things had slowly started to make some sense, I suppose. A basic grasp of the world around me was better than none at all. Still though, I had essentially spent the last couple of days alternating between self-pity and ignoring the problem.

I sighed and looked out the window. It wasn't too early, it wasn't dark outside or anything, but I think it was still earlier than I was used to waking up over the last few mornings. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and sat up with a yawn. I'd become so used to waking up late with a headache and a horrible racket that a quiet morning was a little odd.

The sky outside was grey, as it had been every day I'd spent here so far. Was this a part of the whole 'end of the world' thing? Because it definitely used to be a lot sunnier before. One of my favourite things to do was to visit the park on a sunny day, any season, they all looked beautiful in their own way. That was another thing I'd probably not get to do again.

Fantastic, not even 5 minutes into the day and I'd already managed to depress myself.

I kicked the sheets off and sat on the edge of the bed, yawning again. I wished there was a working clock somewhere in this shack, but if there was I was yet to find it. My mouth was dry, but after yesterday I wasn't really in a hurry to find anything to eat, because I knew full well that it would just be more eggs.

Rather than sit in silence any longer I decided to turn the radio on, for background noise if nothing else. Make Do had explained to me that it was very temperamental and seemed to switch itself on and off as it pleased, but on the occasion that it was dormant, a swift smack to the top while playing with the volume knob was enough to jolt it to life. One knock later and the thing was happily chirping away. Or really more like lethargically crackling, but it was producing sound nonetheless.

"-reported exodus of zombies out of the Z Quarter and into surrounding areas, so be wary out there, we wouldn't want any of you dear listeners getting hurt! And finally, the Super Seal infestation around the old Merriweather dock has been taken care of by the fine folks from Eclipse, with creative use of nets and flamethrowers. The results have been described as 'delicious'."

Ew.

"That's everything for this hour, this is Tremolo for Radio Bayside, and coming up we have the twangy sounds of Jet Shadow with the slickly titled 'The Mare With The Golden Hoof'. The sleeve says this was a movie theme, anypony ever seen a movie before?"

The mare finished her chirping and the song began to play, it was twangy as promised. I wasn't really paying much attention to it, I was bemused by the whole thing about zombies? On top of everything we had zombies now? As in the dead walking amongst the living? What in Luna's name was all that about? That couldn't be real. And I didn't even know where to start with these 'Super Seals'.

Point proven: even if I was getting used to it, I still didn't have a proper understanding of what was going on. I was still a relative stranger to this Equestria, I didn't know all that much about anything yet. All I had to go on so far was what I'd seen and heard myself, and the few things Make Do had explained to me. If I was really going to be stuck here now, it would be more than worth putting the work in and finding out for myself, rather than roaming around blind. I reasoned that if Make Do wanted to acclimatise me to living in this wasteland, she'd probably be the one to ask about, well, everything. That was at least something to do, so I shifted off the bed and out the door, looking for the unicorn in question.

There was no sign of her in the living area, and the table and kitchen looked as they had at the end of dinner last night. There was no sound coming from the workshop either, and a quick look inside revealed that it too was empty. Unless she was in the storage room, which I doubted, that only left the one door on the right, the only one I'd not opened yet.

I didn't know what it was, but I deducted that it was probably the mare's room, unless she was sleeping outside with the scrap metal every night. I raised my hoof to knock only to be caught off guard by a renegade drop of water falling from the ceiling, ice cold and following down the nape of my neck, startling me and causing me to yelp in surprise. I angrily looked up to find the source of the leak, only to be hit square in the eye by another drip. I don't know what it had mixed with, but it stung, and again caused me to yelp, leaving me sat on the floor trying to blink any trace of the offending drip away.

My ears snapped forwards as the door opposite me creaked opened. From the darkness of the room stepped forward a tired, dishevelled looking Make Do, unsteady on her hooves, trying and failing to suppress a yawn.

"Silver? What's going on? I heard yelling." She asked blearily, blinking a couple of times as her eyes adjusted, looking at me in confusion. "Uh, you okay there?"

"Fine! I'm fine!" I said, still trying to clear my eye, and rubbing my neck to try and get rid of the trail from the first drop. I'm sure it wasn't a very strong look. Likewise, it was evidently clear that Make Do had just woken up, and that was probably my fault. "Sorry to wake you, I wanted to talk about some things, but it can wait."

"Well, I'm up now, no point in going back to bed." She said, running a hoof through her mane, causing it to stick up at odd angles in odd places. She trotted to the kitchen and lit the stove, putting what looked like a crudely fashioned kettle over it. I noticed she still wasn't walking right, limping, not putting as much weight on her injured leg.

"Leg still bad?" I asked, not so subtly looking at her bandages.

"It'll take more than a few mangy dogs to keep me down." She said with a smirk before grabbing two old and chipped mugs, putting them on the counter. "And I'm sure you didn't wake me up to ask about my leg, so, what did you want to talk about?"

I watched as she pulled out a battered looking tin from under the counter and scooped some brown powder into both cups. I could tell by the smell already that it was coffee. Instant coffee, but coffee nonetheless.

That was most welcome indeed.

"Well, um..." I started, keeping an eye on the mugs as the kettle started to whistle. "I've been here for a few days now, and I've been listening to the news on the radio, and, well, I guess it's just- I don't really understand anything, nothing they're talking about sounds familiar, nothing outside looks like how I remember it. I'm still confused about everything."

Make Do filled both mugs with boiling water, stirring with a small spoon. The smell was getting to me already, I was very, very ready for some coffee.

"Hmm, that does sound confusing."

She floated the cups over to the table, setting each down at a chair. I followed her over and took a seat, lifting the mug to my lips and taking a sip. It was very hot, and definitely the cheaper kind, but I'd not had coffee in days and the warmth was a nice sensation. I needed something to wake me up some more anyway.

Just how long did this stuff keep for?

Make Do was contemplating, looking into her drink. I took another sip of my own. Even after all these decades, it still didn't taste any different from the quick and easy, cheap instant granules that I was very well acquainted with from college.

Seriously, how long did this stuff last? It wasn't just coffee either, a load of the food I'd seen was stuff I'd see in stores. Just how many preservatives did they manage to cram in to everything for it all to still be consumable? That thought kind of put me off my drink a little. Not enough to stop me from still drinking it, but now I was drinking it with reservations. It's different that way.

"Okay, uh, I guess I should start from the beginning?" She said, sounding unsure. "I'll do my best, but I wasn't there, so take everything with a grain of salt."

She took a long sip from her mug, I watched her expectantly.

"So day one. Day zero? The day everything happened. Basically a load of Zebra Megaspells went off all over Equestria. Mostly Balefire bombs, but there were some different ones in some places, not really sure why. But the point is that pretty much anywhere that was important got blown up, and the radiation from those bombs is the reason a lot of places are still dangerous now. It also helped to mess up a lot of natural life, but we'll get to that later."

She paused to take another drink. It was weird to hear anypony talk about such massive devastation so casually.

"But basically, that was it." She continued. "The war ended, because there wasn't anypony to fight it anymore, really. Obviously though not everypony died. Some smaller towns and villages managed to escape being wiped off the map, and a lot of ponies made it to Stables too, so after a while communities started to form and new places were built."

I sipped my coffee again. This was interesting to hear, but none of the information was really new, I could have figured most of what she'd out by my self.

"After that, though, I'm not really sure what you want me to explain?" She asked, looking my way.

"Well, I guess I'd just like to know what all these things I'm heard but not seen are. Like, what's up with all these weird creatures? What's Red Rein? Where is Merriweather Pavilion?" I elaborated. "Stuff like that."

"Okay then, let's start with nature. The Balefire bombs weren't just big explosions, there was more to them than that. They left behind ridiculously high amounts of radiation too, and over time that changed animals, plants, ponies, pretty much anything alive, if they stuck around too long. Most things just died, but some changed. Take the Radhogs, at some point long ago, used to be regular pigs, but radiation changed that, and I'm sure Taint didn't help either."

"Taint?" I inquired.

"More nasty stuff. Don't really know what it is, but if you see any barrels leaking rainbows then stay as far away as possible." She elaborated. "Anyway, what I'm getting at is that most of the animals and plants you'll see out there are just the messed up descendants of ones that have always been around."

That was not reassuring at all, although the phrase 'nothing new under the sun' seemed quite apt. Maybe. She did say 'most of' and not 'all'.

"Moving on, Red Rein are awful awful ponies and with luck we'll never have to cross paths with them." She hurriedly stated, not really explaining anything.

"Merriweather Pavilion is trading post on the coast, I think it used to be some kind of promenade or something before the war, but now it's basically the hub of Baltimare trade." She paused, contemplating something or other. "Hey, I know! The quickest way to answer your questions would be to show you, right? We'll go to the Pavilion today! There'll be tons of stuff on the way that'll explain!"

This isn't what I signed up for. I tried to tell her this, but I was too slow, she'd already gotten up and had trotted back into her room.

"Maybe we'll find a way to earn you some caps, too." She called.

To be fair I guess I kind of dug myself into a hole with this one. I sighed and finished off my coffee. There was going to be a lot of walking today.

What's a cap?

---

"Your dad's not coming?" I asked, waiting outside the front door. I'd gotten back into my jumpsuit, and with Make Do's help now had a makeshift holster to carry the pistol around with. It wasn't much more than a glorified rag holding the weapon to my chest, but it did the job.

"Nah, he's going out later anyway, and he said there wasn't anything he needed in town." The mare replied, filling a saddlebag up with assorted junk and slinging it over her back, gun hung around her neck. "Good to go?"

"Yeah, lead on."

Make Do called out a goodbye before stepping out the door. The ground was damp, but it wasn't raining so that was a bonus I guess. We walked in companionable silence down the path, onto the road, and into the tunnel that was by now starting to get rather familiar. It was uneventful up to there, but internally I was preparing myself for a good look at the city up close. I didn't think we'd actually be heading into Baltimare proper, but we'd be getting much closer than I'd been so far. It would be an experience, shall we say, and I was already pre-compartmentalising my feelings about the matter.

I had kind of been onto the path of accepting ruined Baltimare's place on the horizon, but I wasn't really sure I was ready for all the gritty details.

"H-hey, Make Do?" I called out, voice reverberating off the tunnel walls.

"MD, remember. Only my dad calls me Make Do, it's weird to hear it from anyone but him."

"Right, MD." I corrected. "We're not actually going into Baltimare, are we?"

"Nah, that'd be like a baptism by fire for you, closest we'll get is coasting through the outskirts." She said, looking back at me. "City centre's full of all kinds of nasties, both ponykind and others. It's quicker to cut through the outside anyway."

"Is it really that bad?"

"Well, it depends." She continued. "Most of the settlements around here, good and bad, are in or near the city. It can be a dangerous place if you don't know where you're going, so until we can get you a map you're going to want to stick with me. Some areas are fine, but there are places even the ballsiest mercs wouldn't go, the place is a deathtrap if you don't know your way around. We don't have to go through today, but sooner or later you'll end up in the city. For the time being, just remember to stay close, I know what I'm doing." She finished, winking at me and carrying on forward. I just rolled my eyes at her.

Internally though, I was digesting what she'd just said. That all sounded pretty heavy, but it felt odd because what she said wasn't entirely unexpected. This place was beginning to rub off on me, for better or for worse.

At least I still knew my way around the city streets. Well, probably. If the skyline was anything to go by then there was some serious damage done, I wouldn't be surprised if many roads had been blocked by debris, or even just flat out buried. A melancholy thought.

We exited the tunnel and rounded the corner to the shopping cart strewn entry road to the old Barnyard Bargains. The view of the city from the decrepit store was one I'd seen a few times since that first day, Make Do had insisted the shop would make a perfect introduction to scavenging 'pre-war items', though only once we'd arrived did she remember that there wasn't really anything left to scavenge.

Unlike the other times I'd been there though, we kept moving past, heading downhill and towards the city. The trees thinned out and I got more of a look of the open countryside, but it wasn't really all that different from the land around Make Do's house. Off to the right I could start to see the coast in the distance, though the sea looked a rather unpleasant shade of greyish-green. Still, it made for a change from the scorched grassland that seemed to be everywhere else.

Was 'scorched grassland' just a big thing here, or was this how most of Equestria looked now? I couldn't believe that a few crafty Earth ponies wouldn't have gotten to work getting the land living again. Even I could feel how sorry it was, and I didn't even work with plants! I get that living in a place like this gives a pony different priorities, but the earth was calling our for some serious TLC, and I couldn't be the only one to feel it.

Maybe if I knew what I was doing then I could have done something, but as much as knowing the land was in my Earth pony nature, my talents lie elsewhere. I was pretty sure I'd be useless.

We marched onwards, closing the distance to the city. The number of wrecks on the road had started to increase, burnt out carts, trashed carriages, even one caravan which rather gruesomely still had a charred skeleton inside. I tried to hurry past that one as quickly as I could.

I had come face to face with a skeleton inside a storage room at Barnyard Bargains. Scared me half to death, Make Do found the whole thing hilarious. She said after seeing so many skeletons around, they just become part of the scenery. I thought that was absolutely dreadful, everypony deserves a proper burial. I suppose to be fair, everypony who would care would be dead and gone by now, and anypony around now, again, probably had more important things to worry about.

It still didn't make it right, though. Not that there was much I could do about it, I was only one mare and as horrible as it might be, there were a lot of bodies scattered around.

On that chipper note, we turned off the road and onto a junction that joined the main road into Baltimare. It was really the same state of affairs, but wider. Make Do said we'd be on this road for the next few miles, since it was the most direct route to the outskirts.

I could see things getting closer. We were drawing into a little roadside rest stop that appeared to be boarded up and crumbling. Make Do said we'd be stopping by and started veering towards it, with me in tow behind her. There was a steady stream of grey smoke billowing out from a small campfire, and behind a little makeshift table, was sat a short-ish, plump looking bat pony mare with a muddy brown coat and slate grey mane. I'd never seen a bat pony before, so this was a surprise for me.

"Heya, Ms. Fowl!" Make Do called out. The mare glanced over and waved happily.

"Good morning, MD, thought I heard you coming! How's the leg? All okay, I hope." She said, large tufted ears folding flat. This must be the Ms. Fowl whose fence Make Do had fixed.

"Don't worry about it, it'll be right as rain soon enough." Make Do answered, giving said leg an experimental flex.

"If you say so, dearie, just don't push yourself." Ms. Fowl replied, giving Make Do a warm look before glancing to me. "And who's your friend here?"

"Ah, Ms. Fowl, this is Silver Sterling!" The unicorn said, gesturing to me. "She's, uh, she's new here."

"Hello." I said, nodding to the new mare. "It's nice to meet you."

"Oh, so polite! The pleasure's all mine!" She replied with a smile which showed off two little fangs, and a pair of very vibrant golden eyes. "My name's Tawny Fowl, but most folks around here just call me Ms. Fowl. My family run a little chicken farm a mile or so east of Make Do's house, but I spend most of my time here selling my produce, you're welcome to stop by any time!"

"I'm showing Silver around town, tryna keep her from getting lost." Make Do explained, before turning to face me. "This is the Coastal Junction Rest Stop, a lot of ponies heading Baltimare way stop here for food and supplies and stuff."

I nodded, that made sense, I supposed. It wasn't the prettiest place, but Ms. Fowl seemed pleasant enough, and I already knew all about her produce. Honestly I didn't think I could take much more of it, several days worth of fried and scrambled eggs will do that to a pony.

"Well, since you're new in town, how about an omelette for the road? My treat!" The bat pony mare asked, looking at me with the sweetest, most genuine smile I'd seen in a very long time. My reason faltered, I was sucked into her gaze. I couldn't say no to this mare.

"Th-that sounds lovely." I croaked through a forced smile. Even thought I'd just met her, I had a feeling I'd feel like a terrible pony if I let Ms. Fowl down in any way, she was just too nice.

"No pony can ever say no to a Tawny Fowl omelette!" She beamed, walking over to the fire and setting up a pan. "I'll fix you one right up, it'll be ready in a jiffy!"

I grimaced as she cracked an egg on the rim of the pan. I'm not sure I ever even want to see an egg ever again after this.

---

It was light, it was fluffy, it was made from eggs. Have you ever had eggs? They're bucking incredible.

It shouldn't really be possible for somepony to make something so delicious with such rudimentary equipment and ingredients in a place so run down, and yet Ms. Fowl had done it. I think Make Do was a little bit jealous, Ms. Fowl insisted that my 'first one's on the house', and I think she wanted a free omelette too.

If the ponies around here are anything like Ms. Fowl, maybe things wouldn't be as bad as I was expecting them to be. Granted the scenery wasn't holding much promise, but the ponies here so far had all been fine. Make Do was... odd, but seemed to be dependable, Mr. Goldwing was fine, I suppose, and I've already spoken a fair amount of Ms. Fowl. There had been a couple of other ponies I didn't catch the names of at the rest stop too, selling water and odds and ends. All amiable enough really.

We'd left the rest stop and had carried on down the highway. The journey had continued to be pretty uneventful, other than a brief altercation with a very large, dark, sickly looking bird that Make Do had called a 'Knifebeak'. Upon passing the carcass, I decided that it was pretty aptly named, I certainly wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of an attack from one of these things. Make Do had said that on their own they were easy to take care off, but got dangerous in flocks. I had no reason to doubt. I made sure I stayed ready to go for my gun after that.

We'd left the highway as it transitioned into a bypass, following another road into the very southernmost outskirts. We'd be cutting through the streets and heading east to Horseshoe Bay, which Merriweather Pavillion overlooked, so I had been told. After that it didn't take me long to work out that we were actually talking about Sea Spray Promenade. No idea why it'd been renamed, but at least I had some kind of mental map as to where we were heading now.

Speaking of a mental map, I was starting to get my bearings back a little. I'd never really spent much time in the south of the city before, but even in the state Baltimare was in, I could follow the roads (street signs permitting), and there were still a few landmarks I could recognise. The Bronco Seltzer Clock tower still stood proudly to the north of us, even if it was looking a little worse for wear. I wonder if any of the clock faces still worked? I doubt it, but things like that were built to last. Paying more attention to it, there was something on the roof of the tower too, some kind of shack or tent. Guess somepony had decided to call it home, for whatever reason.

Most of the buildings were what I was expecting. Row after row of ruined shops and business, torn up roads, piles of rubble. At least the streets were clear enough to walk along without much issue, but it was very eerie to walk through a place I knew should be bustling yet was so cold and empty.

We were approaching a place Make Do had told me was called Fortune, it was a little community built up in what was the Saint Augernon neighbourhood. I assumed we were coming up to it anyway, because all I could see in front of me was what I could best describe as a junk wall cutting through the road. It was about four times as tall as I was, and was made nearly entirely out of old billboards, road signs, girders, beams and rubble. There was even some razorwire spread out along the top to stop anypony trying to climb over. Not that it'd do anything to deter pegasi, though.

"Okay, stick with me through the gate, they know me here so you should get in with me no problem." Make Do said as we drew closer. "Try not to wander too far, this place is busy and not everypony is all that friendly."

It wasn't long before we came up on the entrance. It was basically just a big wooden gate with a couple of guards on the outside, an Earth pony and a Unicorn, both stallions. They were wearing crudely made armour that looked to be mostly scrap metal and some kind of thick bluish fabric.

Also for some reason they were both wearing old, worn out police caps. I couldn't make head nor tail out of that.

As we approached the guard on the left pointed us out to the guard on the right. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but after a moment they both started smoothing out their uniforms and adjusting their hats. The one on the left leaned on the wall nonchalantly, the one on the right began inspecting his gun. I looked at Make Do. She shrugged and carried on walking up to the gate.

"Oh, hey there MD, didn't see you coming." The guard on the left said. He was an earth pony, soft lavender with a blonde mane, and his eyes were half liddled. "What can I do you for? Come all this way to see little ol' me?"

"Pfft, in your dreams, why would she waste her time on you when she could have a real stallion?" The unicorn guard retorted, flexing a foreleg and waggling his eyebrows. He had a creamy white coat and a two tone green mane. "Like what you see?"

Where they for real?

"Shove off, Twinkle." Make Do said, causing the unicorn to frown.

"Hey, that's Officer Star to you." He said. The other guard snickered.

"Oh, so cold now?" Make Do feigned hurt for a second, before turning to the earth pony. "And you can quit giggling, we're just passing through, but I've got a little business to take care of while I'm here."

"You're way less fun when you're sober." The earth pony complained, standing back upright. "Maybe your pretty filly friend there is more fun?"

Oh Celestia no.

"Hey there, beautiful." Officer Star said, attention now solely on me. "Not seen you around here before, what's your name?"

"Do you guys ever get laid?" Make Do said with a flat look. "Just open the damn gate."

"Spoilsport." The earth pony replied. Regardless, they did as she asked and opened the gate with us. "Just be sure to spend some more caps while you're here. If the 'business' you're taking care of is anything like the last time, the mayor'll be thrilled."

"Can we not talk about that?" Make Do asked, ears flat. Odd.

"Whatever."

"Have a great day, cutie." Officer Star said to me as we walked by, giving me a wink. "I'll see you around."

Well, that was an uncomfortable exchange. The less of that the better.

"Asses." Make Do mumbled to herself. The gate closed behind us, and I took a good look around.

This place was strange. It looked like it was essentially just a few city blocks that had had some of the streets walled off. However, it seemed to be thriving. It was packed with ponies, there were vendor stalls all over, and even the buildings looked in a better state than any of the others I'd seen so far. This was a place where ponies where living, not just surviving.

That was good. Fortune was the first settlement I'd visited outside of Make Do's house, and it was promising. I was glad to see that, contrary to how the city looked, ponies had actually taken the time and care to found real communities. It made me think that maybe things weren't quite as bad as I had painted them out to be. I hoped so, anyway. Progress was good.

"Okay, I've got a little work to do, shouldn't be too long, and we can leave out the other gate, saves us backtracking." Make Do spoke. "Just keep up and stay alert, not everypony here is friendly, there are muggers and pickpockets around."

Well, that was sounding less promising. I stepped in closer to the mare, for my own security. Safety in numbers and all that.

"I've not got anything to steal, Make Do." I intoned.

"That won't stop them trying." She replied. "And I said call me MD."

This part of Fortune was bustling, we seemed to have walked right into some kind of open market area. We were weaving between ponies and around stalls. There were small crowds gathered around a couple of the stands, but I couldn't see what they were selling. There were yells and shouts and jeers, it was nice to have some actual city noise for a change, it certainly made for a better mood than the incredible silence I'd been hearing everywhere else so far. It was like an echo of what Baltimare was like before all of this, to an extent. I wasn't so hot on the sounds of broken glass and swearing, but no town is perfect, right?

We pressed on further, past the initial market area and into the open street. The crowd thinned out here, and it seemed more like ponies were just going about their business. Most of them, anyway, I couldn't help but notice a few just loitering or hanging around a fire pit, but I wasn't one to judge, I didn't have a job either, anymore.

Just what did ponies do for money now, anyway? I know Make Do- MD said she was a scavenger, and there are evidently ponies still running shops and trading, but something told me that there weren't exactly a lot of 9-5 office types around anymore.

Now that we were past the initial clamour of the market the tone of the town seemed to change a little. Yes the buildings were cleaned up, but a lot of windows and doors were still boarded over. I could hear hushed conversations from the alleys between buildings. It felt like every pony we passed was watching us or it might have been more accurate to say watching me, since I was the new comer here. That's assuming everypony here already knows MD. The gate guards seemed to know her, anyway.

Most of the buildings were in a liveable state, and if the signs on the outsides were anything to go by, a lot had been re-purposed as businesses. We passed a couple of bars, a weapons shop, a place labelled only as 'chems', and apparently several casinos. On both sides of the streets. A lot more casinos that a place this size really needs.

Actually, now that I was paying more attention, there was something off about this place. Glancing down an alley as we passed, I could spy a group of ponies all sat around a barrel fire, playing some kind of card game. Further along the street there was another group throwing dice on the pavement, one of them eyeing us warily as we approached.

"Hey MD, what's the deal with all the gambling here?" I asked, frowning. "Isn't five casinos on one street a little excessive?"

"Vice economy." She answered simply, turning to face me with a smile. "Fortune's built off of gambling, as the name implies. It's a fun place to be after dark."

"That's... interesting." I knew Las Pegasus was built off the same idea, but that was a whole city. To try and execute the same idea in a place so small was just ridiculous. "Does it work?"

"Well enough to keep them going I guess, town's been around since before I was, so it can't be all bad." She replied. "Why, you wanna play? 'Cause it'd probably cost you less to just let me kick your ass at poker."

"Um, no thank you." I said, shaking my head.

There were a lot of ponies milling around outside the buildings. The ones that weren't engaged in games were slumped against walls, I could hear the sounds of a fight echoing off the walls of a nearby alley.

"Hey, spare a cap?" Came a ragged voice from behind, we both turned our heads. There was a scraggly looking old unicorn stallion behind us, grey coat with a salt and pepper mane, sporting a rather large beard. He looked malnourished, and was caked with dirt.

"Sorry pal, can't help ya." MD said, moving swiftly on.

"Bullshit, moneybags! We all heard what happened, so fork 'em over!" He shouted, horn lighting up and pulling out a large looking metal pipe from somewhere behind him. My eyes went wide, but MD just grumbled.

"You really wanna try this, old man?" She asked, aiming her rifle at the old unicorn. He held his ground, scowling at her for a few seconds. She raised and eyebrow, and he let the pipe clatter to the floor, not once breaking his gaze.

"That's what I thought." She said, lowering the gun.

He stayed still for another moment, before muttering something under his breath. Raising his head, he spat at us and walked away.

"Yeah, fuck you too!" MD shouted after him. He didn't turn back around.

I was a little shaken at that. Was that an attempted mugging? Was MD really prepared to shoot a pony? She'd pointed a gun at me a few times, but never actually fired. I had a hope in the back of my mind that it was only a deterrent, I don't think I could handle seeing anypony getting shot. I had paused in thought, but she had carried on walking. I trotted to keep up with her, noticing the stares we were getting from the locals.

"What was all that about?" I pressed, keeping a lookout for anypony else who might try and approach us.

"Desperates." She answered. "What I was talking about when I said to stay close."

"Wasn't that a little public for a mugging?"

"Eh, some of them aren't classy enough to wait for you to wonder down a dark alley." She shrugged. I double checked that I still had my gun.

I really didn't like the looks we were getting, I was hoping that we could get whatever it was MD needed to do out of the way so we could get out of here. Luckily for me she diverted course towards a shabby looking, nondescript, squat concrete building. I was happy to be getting off the street, at least.

MD nosed the door open and I followed in after her. The interior was messy, not quite as 'thrown together' looking as MD's place, but it had definitely seen better days. The wooden floor was very well worn and covered in stains, pits and splits. The walls were dirty and the ceiling was flaky, but at least it looked like somebody had tried to keep the place clean. There was a large wooden counter in the middle of the room, and a couple of old looking chairs under the storefront windows, which were miraculously intact, if well past due for a cleaning. Behind the counter was a very large noticeboard covered in scraps of paper, but I couldn't make out anything written on any of them.

"Hellooooo?" MD yelled, tapping a hoof on the counter top, which I thought was exceptionally rude. It seemed to have done the job though, as I could hear something stirring from the room behind the counter. The side door swung open, and a small, very vibrantly purple unicorn mare stepped out, looking very unimpressed.

"Oh. It's you." She said, kicking the door closed and trotting to the counter, leaning on the surface and resting her head on her hooves. "What do you want?"

"Uh, to finish the job? I got all the things requested in here." MD said, gesturing to her saddlebag.

"Oh, goody, hopefully you'll be out of my mane quickly then." The mare said flippantly, bringing out a worn looking binder from under the counter and flipping it to a marked page. "Vacuum tubes?"

"Yep." MD nodded and pulled the flap of her saddlebags open, levitating out a load of pretty shiny and fresh looking glass things. "Two 12AT7s, four 12AX7s, and four 6L6GCs, all tested and working. What are these even going into, anyway?"

"Don't know, don't care. Just give them to me, then you can get paid and go away." The mare said, tapping a hoof impatiently.

"Fine, whatever." MD rolled her eyes and placed the tubes down on the counter, the mare picked them up and put them below, along with the binder.

"And the other contract you have open? Ministry data retrieval?" She asked, looking over her snout.

"That uh, partial on that one. Wasn't able to get all the data requested." MD replied, giving me a very sly sideways look. I smiled a sheepish smile in apology.

"Fucked it, alright then." Violene sighed, crossing out an entry in the binder. MD stared flatly at the ceiling.

"Okay, the vacuum tube job is all paid out, 200 caps total, your share is 125." She said, fishing out a small paper bag labelled '100', and open a small tin with her magic. She floated out a load of bottle caps? They looked like bottle caps to me. "And there's the 25."

I tilted my head in confusion. This had to be some of the wackiest bartering I'd ever seen. What good were bottle caps? I could only assume that MD had a use for them because she seemed more than happy to take them.

"Got any more jobs for me before I go?" MD asked, packing the paper bag into her saddlebags. The mare sighed and pulled a piece of paper off of the noticeboard.

"Had this one come in earlier, asked for you specifically, don't ask me why." She floated the sheet to MD for her to inspect. "Are we done now? Don't you have money to burn? Or are the casinos no open yet, high roller?"

"Hey, screw you!" MD growled angrily.

"I'd rather not." The mare said, trotting back to the door and disappearing behind it, kicking it closed as she went.

"That bitch." MD grumbled under her breath. She scowled at the piece of paper, scanning it over before crumpling it up and shoving it in her saddlebags too.

"She seemed... catty." I meekly pointed out.

"Me and Violene do not get on. Like, at all." MD explained, rubbing the back of her head. "But this is the only place that dishes out all the going jobs. Can't be helped if the pony who runs it is an insufferable ass."

There was a very muffled 'Bite me' from behind the wall. MD smirked.

"Anyway, that new job seems easy enough, it'd probably be a pretty good introduction to junk scavving, actually. They want some computer bits out of an old factory just north of Merriweather, we can swing by there afterwards." She explained. "I can show you what to look for and stuff, you'll be earning caps in no time, no sweat!"

"Caps?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh right, uh, we don't use bits anymore. Most ponies tend to trade in bottle caps now." She shrugged as we headed back out to the street. Truth be told that sounded really dumb, but I really didn't think an explanation would clear things up any more, so I let it be. More so, I had something else I wanted to ask about.

"High roller?" I continued. MD groaned.

"Look, a few weeks ago I came into a load of caps and went on a bit of a bender." She explained, ears again splayed flat. "I kinda, sorta gambled all of it away here and now everypony in Fortune thinks I'm loaded."

"That must've been a lot of money." I pondered aloud. If the whole town knew then it'd must've been pretty hefty. Nopony wants to hear gossip on pocket change.

"Yes. It was. Thank you." She replied, getting snippy. Definitely a sore subject.

We had carried on down the street, presumably in the direction of the other gate that MD had mentioned earlier. The ponies seemed to have dispersed a bit more, the streets looking rather less crowded, which was nice as I now wasn't constantly scanning for the next potential attacker. I didn't like that I felt like I had to do that, no pony should be on edge from just walking down the street.

We were coming up to the perimeter wall again, and I could already see the gate. Not as big as the one we came in through, but still hard to miss. There was a rather bored looking guard sat in the crumbling ruins of an old store with some kind of wooden scaffolding on the roof, and across the street there was an old stallion sat next to a table, he must have been selling something or other. The guard's ears perked up as we approached, she stood up and trotted out to meet us.

"Well well, if it isn't MD, how ya doin'?" She asked with a thick, southern drawl.

"Tacit." MD nodded.

"Ah ah ah, I'm on duty, it's Officer Blue, even to friends." She replied with a smile. She was a large and well built earth pony, and had a pale sandy coat and a grey mane with a muted green streak running through it. Her eyes fell on me as she finished talking. "And speaking of friends, who's this?"

"Silver, Tacit. Tacit, Silver." MD said, gesturing between both of us.

"Howdy, I'm Officer Blue, can't say I've seen you 'round these parts before." She said, adjusting her cap.

"Yes, well, I suppose I'm new to the area." I smiled. It wasn't technically a lie.

"Well, it's nice ta' meetcha." She grinned. "I'm usually posted on this here gate, so you'll probably see me around."

"And on that subject." MD butted in. "Mind opening the gate up? We got places to be."

"Sure, sure, you just make sure to come back and splash some caps around again!"

MD groaned. Officer Blue tilted her head in confusion, but didn't press any further. Instead she walked back over to the gate and swung it open for us, waving as we passed. Now back outside the walls of Fortune, I didn't know if I felt any safer or not. Yes, we were technically back out in the open, but so far the only actual encounter we'd had had been inside.

The gate closed behind us with a clunk. There were no exterior guards on this entrance, for whatever reason. I could see Officer Blue's head peak over the top of the wall, apparently for one last wave from the wooden frame. Makes sense that they'd have some kind of viewing platform if they weren't going to have anypony outside.

We set off again down the street, turning off at a crossroads and making our way southwards. It was in noticeably worse shape than inside of Fortune, but that was to be expected, really. Just ahead of us was a group of ponies coming the other way, presumably heading into Fortune. There were four of them, two out in front with weapons, one behind them, and another pulling a cart. The cart was stacked with something or other, a tarp over the top didn't let me see what they were carrying. MD nodded to them as we passed. The side of the cart had a rather crudely painted logo scrawled on it: Amber Caravan Trading Co.

"Hey, maybe we could get you a job with a caravan!" MD says. "Pretty stable work, if you can stick to a route."

I wasn't so sure about that. I was still working this place out, the last think I needed right now was to start trekking across the country. Granted, it'd probably be a quicker way to learn about this wasteland, but I wasn't really all that eager to jump head first into wading through Celestia knows what.

We slipped into silence again, the clacking of out hooves reverberating off the city walls, echoing. The only things around were the birds, it seemed. The only thing of note was passing the occasional business that I recognised, a chain restaurant or post office or something. Their empty, broken facades a rather morbid reminder that everything had changed. Not that I needed to be reminded, of course.

The road started to head down hill, and we'd just crested the top. I could see the sea again now, and off in the distance I spied the old Promenade. Merriweather Pavilion, as it was now. We couldn't have been any more than a mile away. Even now, it was still hard to miss, the grand black and white marble checker floors spanning along the sea front, the Romane style architecture still looking resplendent, if a little worse for ware. Only slightly ruined by the rusting hulk of an old ship lodged on the shore, and the addition of some kind of barrier around the place, but those were really minor details.

I'd not really taken the time to visit the Promenade in ages. Well, obviously I mean before this whole 'Cockatrice spell' ordeal. It was a shame really, I always loved visiting on a hot summer day. I hoped it hadn't changed too much.

The street got decidedly more residential as we got closer to the coast, shops giving way to homes an apartments. Or what used to be homes and apartments, just crumbling shells now. After seeing Fortune, being out here felt very lonely, very empty compared to the hustle and bustle. I wonder just how many ponies weren't lucky enough to make it to a Stable, or to find shelter? It must have been a high number, as right now it didn't look like the population had recovered very much at all. It made me feel very isolated.

An echoing gunshot reminded that we weren't all that alone. I scooted in closer to MD as I heard a different gun fire back. I couldn't tell where the sounds were coming from, they were all bouncing off the walls, but I really didn't like how close it sounded. I looked at my own gun, and cast a nervous glance at MD.

"Just keep moving." She reassured, not looking one bit shaken.

After a few seconds a final shot rang out, and then silence. Either one of them had gotten away, or...

I hurried along after that, not wanting to be around just in case one of these armed ponies was roving around. I hadn't had a gun aimed at me in a few days now, I didn't plan on having that streak broken.

Luckily, if anypony was heading our way, we didn't cross paths, and we made out approach to the Pavilion without any real further incident. I could see as we drew closer that the place was packed, it was heaving with ponies of all shapes and sizes, it was like the market of Fortune amplified tenfold.

It seemed that we weren't the only ponies heading to the Pavilion, along the way the road became busier, which certainly perked me up a bit, made me feel a bit more comfortable. Safety in numbers, I suppose.

We overtook a queue of what I guessed must have been traders, judging by the amount of carts, caravans, and piles of assorted crap they were bringing with them. There was some kind of security checkpoint on the road ahead, and it looked like they were checking any incoming goods for something or other, which must've been the hold up. Thankfully, we weren't here to sell, so I hoped we'd be able to get through relativity quickly. Maybe.

The guards here looked much better equipped than in Fortune. For a start, they had actual armour, not just silly hats. Black plates of something-or-other attached over military looking overalls, with helmets to match. They had bigger, scarier looking guns too.

Sea Spray had always been a particularly ornate promenade, with a lot of decorative columns and half walls marking off the boundary of the park before the actual seafront path, and it seemed that they'd basically filled in all the gaps with sheet metal to create a wall around the place. I could see watchtowers poking over the top, too.

Reaching the entrance, we were just waved through along with everypony else not bringing goods in, which was nice, because the line for traders looked like a long wait. After being funnelled through, we came out into what was once a nice, open park, as I remember. However, now it had totally changed. It seemed that the flat, soft ground and large open space had now become a place for livestock trading. I could hear the chirps of chickens over the din of the crowd, bids being shouted to and fro. In a gap between ponies, I caught a glance of a bizarre, two headed cow looking thing.

I blinked, but it was still there. I looked back to MD, but she had stopped to chat with somepony about something or other. I cautiously moved in to get a better look at the creature. It was in a wooden pen, and seemed to be grazing on what little grass there was. Well, one of the heads was, anyway. The other was looking at me. It was rather off putting.

The thing was huge, and like most of the creatures I'd seen, was covered in strange lumps and bumps. The second head was still looking at me, we had a sort of staring contest going on. Not that the grazing head seemed to notice or care.

"What are you?" I thought out loud.

"Excuse you?!" One head yelled at me as the other stopped grazing to look up. That was very, very unexpected.

"You can talk?!" I yelped back, shocked.

"Of course I can talk, do I look like some kinda retard?" The first head asked, frowning.

"I-I um, n-no-"

"Speak up!" The first head demanded.

"What's your problem?" The second added.

"Sorry!" I yelped, backing away from the pen.

"Yeah, you better run!"

I quickly backpedalled my way to MD, eyes fixed on the cow thing until I was back next to the unicorn. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't for her to be chuckling at me. The stallion she had been talking with didn't look very impressed.

"Please don't agitate my livestock." He said flatly.

I just nodded.

"So Silver, I see you've made friends with a brahmin!" MD laughed, before turning to face the stallion. "Sorry about that, she's new here."

He didn't reply and trotted back over to the pen. I looked back at the two headed thing again, before shooting MD a questioning glance.

"Brahmin?"

"Brahmin." She repeated. "I think they're a descendent of cows?"

"It has two heads." I pointed out.

"Yes. Yes it does." She replied. "Anyway, unless you're planning on becoming a rancher, there probably isn't a whole lot in the livestock section that'll be useful to you right now. Follow me, we'll head somewhere else."

She started to trot away, and just for a moment I glanced back to the brahmin. Both of it's heads were staring me out, which was insanely creepy. I slowly started to head off, and it tracked me as I did so. I caught up to MD, the brahmin was really putting me off, so I was happy to be getting away from there.

Also, the place smelled like a farm, which was less than amazing.

I followed MD down the well trodden, muddy path. We headed away from the livestock pens and into more of a farmer's market kind of area. It all seemed to be produce for sale here, though from both plant and animal alike. I only shuddered a little.

The space was a little more open, but was just as hectic. There were vendors and stalls set up all over, small crowds gathered in front of most.

"Alright, keep your eyes peeled, 'cause there's gonna be a lot to see here!" MD harped, looking back at me with a small smile. I followed her as we entered the throng of market ponies proper.

---

MD wasn't exaggerating when she said there'd be a lot to see. There certainly was a lot to see, far too much in fact. It was a total information overload. Thankfully some of it was stuff I recognised, carrots and potatoes and stuff like that was easy. It was when we got into things like Rad Apples, Crab Fruit, a million different kinds of Mutfruit, things I'd never seen before, that's when it got tricky to remember what was good. And don't even get me started on things like scorpion meat, eugh.

We were still working our way through the produce. MD was still trying to familiarise me with new foods, but at this point it was just coming in one ear and out the other, I couldn't process all the information she was presenting me. We were currently stood a row or two back from a mushroom stand, peering over customer's heads to get a better view at what was for sale.

"...So if you see any fungus like that, it's fine to eat. Don't touch it if it's glowing though, unless you want radiation sickness." The unicorn prattled.

"Um, MD, I don't suppose we can take a break? Not that this isn't great, but it's quite a lot to take in all at once." I ask.

"Aw really? Fruit and veggies are easy!" MD countered.

"Maybe when you've had time to pick it all up, but trying to cram everything in at once doesn't work so well." I pointed out.

"Ah, fine." MD relented. "Whatd'ya wanna do then?"

"I... don't know." I admitted. "I only really know what used to be here. Not very useful now."

Wow, that certainly came out as much more of a mood killer than I'd intended. Still, it really was true.

"Ah, yeah. Uh... shit, I dunno." She said as we ambled aimlessly through the market. "You hungry? We can grab something to eat?"

"Not really, but I guess I could eat."

"Oh, I know!" She exclaimed. "I have that job Violene gave me. It's only in Sewer Side, should be quick, we could do that and come back after! Should give you some hooves on experience too!"

"Uh, Sewer Side?" I ask, having had to mentally double take at the name. Neither connotation was particularly pleasant.

"Yuh-huh, it's a little town a bit north from here, not far at all." MD explained. "Somepony wants some data from the old auto-farriers for some reason. The building's right next door to town, and with my Pip-Buck it'll be a cinch!"

"Sewer Side."

"It's not as bad as it sounds. C'mon, it's real close, we can just head out the north side here." MD said, trotting at a more brisk pace.

"Are you sure? Because it sounds pretty bad. It's literally called Sewer Side."

"Okay yeah, I get it, dumb name, whatever." MD said, rolling her eyes. "Now let's go, we can get something to eat for the road."

"Earth pony here, kinda hard to eat and walk at the same time."

"Oh, right." She smiled sheepishly. "Maybe we'll just grab something to eat when we come back."

"Well, it's not like I've got any better ideas."

I followed MD as we navigated our way through the market space. We were heading a different direction from before, and it wasn't too long before we were in a different section of the pavilion. Most of the vendors here seemed to be selling weapons and accessories, and as such this area seemed more heavily guarded.

I'd never seen so many guns in one place. I'm actually pretty sure I'd never seen so many guns ever. Much like the farmer's market, this armoury, for lack of a better word, stretched on for ages. Loads of stalls, throngs of ponies. That said, we were passing through much quicker than the produce area, on account of the fact that we weren't stopping to look around. The crowd had changed too, I was seeing a lot more ponies in armour, and a lot of them seemingly had a default mode of pissed. I tried not to make eye contact.

Slipping through, we ended up in another section. I guess these stalls must have been the apocalyptic equivalent of street food, if the smell was anything to go by. This area was loud, everypony was yelling about samples and orders and whatever ponies yell about.

I hadn't lied about not being too hungry, but some of the smells here were actually very tempting, even if I had no idea what they were. I'd have to make a point of making sure we did come back here once the job was done. I'm pretty sure I caught a whiff of something pizza-esque, so I already knew what I was having. Well, I knew what to look for anyway. Kind of.

I guess it goes to show that any pony with enough skill can make edible food out of questionable ingredients.

The food stands gave way to a ramshackle seating area, which was mostly just a collection of various tables and chairs rammed together. It was about half empty at the moment, and was just organised enough that we could cut through it without having to awkwardly shuffle in between chairs. We got through that part fairly quickly, and MD led us towards a gate.

This one was much smaller than the one we came in through. There wasn't a queue waiting to get in, either. This probably wasn't a trade entrance. A guard nodded as we approached the gate, letting us pass through, and just like that, we were outside again.

It was an almost night-and-day transition. All the vibrancy and liveliness of the Pavilion just stopped, and we were back into the cold (metaphorically), barren ruins. Sounds of life spilled over the tops of the Pavilion walls, but other than that all I could hear was the wind, and the sea in the distance. I already felt way more exposed and alone, even with MD here. The Pavilion was almost like being back in my own time. Yes, it was totally hodgepodge, and the wares were way different from what I knew, but the spirit was there, the mood and the atmosphere.

Plus it was easily the busiest place I'd seen so far. That's pretty much a given for emulating city streets.

For now, we pressed forward, drawing into whatever this charmingly named Sewer Side place was. It struck me that I could've just asked MD if we could explore a different section of the Pavilion, but I guess it was too late for that now.

We were walking along what was once a coastal road, but was now just a massive collection of potholes. Somewhere off to my right was the beach, but the weather had taken a turn for the murky and it was difficult to see down to the shoreline. This must have been a scenic route because there weren't nearly as many buildings lining the road. The city still loomed over us to the left, but we were just far enough away that you could really make out the skyline. I'm sure it would have been more impressive before everything was destroyed.

I assumed that this was a path less travelled, because I couldn't see anypony else on the road. Although to be fair, I hadn't seen all that many ponies outside of settlements at all.

We walked in amiable silence, and it wasn't long before we came upon a little bridge. However, rather than carrying on over it, MD veered off the side of the road, heading towards the embankment. I followed her cautiously, paying extra attention to where I was stepping, I really didn't want slip and roll down the slope.

After a little while the muddy ground gave way to old concrete. It looked like were were walking into a storm drain, for some reason. There were a few little scrappy shacks set up under the bridge. It became clear that the middle of the bridge had collapsed, explaining why we were coming down here in the first place. The shacks were set up surrounding the pile of rubble from the fallen roadway, and a little crudely painted wooden sign read 'Welcome to Sewer Side'.

"See, told you it wasn't as bad as the name sounds." MD chirped.

I spared a glance around. Make Do wasn't exaggerating when she said it was a little town. I'm not even sure you could call it a village. There wasn't really all that much here, four or five small shacks, a larger one on the far side, and a small pen full of mud. It looked like they were growing vegetables or something. There wasn't anypony around at the moment. It was a little depressing to be honest.

"I suppose it'd be hard for it to be as bad as it sounded, because there's nothing here." I comment.

"Yeah, there's not a whole lot to look at. Wicked bar though."

I wasn't convinced. Not that I'd be opposed to finding out for myself. Maybe we could stop for a drink or two on the way back?

"Anyway, building's just on the other bank there, should only take me five or ten minutes to get what we need." MD said, gesturing to a building on the other side of the storm drain. It was a bland, beige-ish building, four storeys tall. Apart from broken windows and chipped paint, it didn't seem to be in that bad a state. There was a billboard on the top, but whatever it was advertising had long since deteriorated to the point of being unreadable.

MD started scaling up the bank, I stuck close behind her. It was pretty hard to get proper purchase on the concrete, but we just about managed.

We came around the front, revealing the shopfront. 'Steady Step Auto-Farriers' the sign over the door read. There was a huge rusted horse shoe hanging from the roof, and I didn't entirely trust it not to fall off. It really didn't help that it creaked in the breeze. The sooner we were out of it's potential way the better.

Luckily for me, it didn't seem like we were going to hang around, MD had already made her way to the front door.

"This place was mostly picked clean ages ago, so there's not a lot to hunt around for. Still, might be worth having a look around while I get the data off the terminals, test your scavenging skills!" MD explained as she shouldered the front door open and trotted inside. "I'll head up to the offices, you- ACKH!"

I jumped back in shock as the butt of a floating gun made itself acquainted with MD's face. She splayed out on the floor, but she wasn't down and out just yet. She grabbed her own gun with her magic, but a large, uniformed stallion delivered a swift kick to her temple that knocked her out. At least, I hoped it'd only knocked her out.

He turned and looked at me, the gun he used to hit MD swinging around in his magical aura. I was frozen to the spot. What was I meant to do? MD said this was supposed to be an easy job!

"Hey, there's somepony else with her!" He bellowed.

"Shit, grab them too!" Another voice called back.

He took this as a cue to actually aim the gun at me, and then he started stomping towards me. Oh fuck, oh shit, what was I supposed to do?! There was a big pony coming to get me, and he really wasn't far away. This was very, very bad!

Gun! I have a gun too!

I craned my neck down and shakily grabbed the pistol out of it's holster, but by the time I looked back up, he was right in front of me. The gun he was carrying raised up over me. My eyes went wide and I shook my head 'no', but he ignored me, and the weapon came down on my head.

Everything went black.

---

Level up!
New Perk (Silver Sterling): Forager - You know your onions! You have a higher chance of finding edible food in the wild.

New Perk (Make Do): Bullhead - You've got a thick skull. Chance of a critical hit to your head is reduced.

---