> Fallout Equestria: Reminders
>  by Lusaminia
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1 - My name is...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Come on, work you stupid piece of shit!”

I hit the helmet of the rusty suit of power armor that sat broken in front of me. It had happened again, my suit of power armor had broken down a week ago and it still wouldn’t open up. I was getting sick and constantly having to fix the damn thing. The power armor was the only thing I still had from my father, and the only thing that allowed me to walk. The suit breaking down wasn’t anything new, as age showed just how rusty and under maintained it was. It was a pain to get the thing back in order, but whenever it did work, it was miracle.

Sorry, guess I forgot to introduce myself. The names Dead Hooves, and yes, that is my real name. When I was born my spine had twisted strange and I ended up having the entire lower half of my body paralyzed. That was my explanation as to what happened, my parents didn’t really have a doctor around when I was born. It sucks, especially when you bring into effect that bandits or ghouls can attack any day. Honestly, I’m surprised as to how well I’ve been able to survive by myself these past five years. 

My dad was once a member of the steel rangers, but left when I was born. The power armor was a symbol of his rank as a paladin, and he was one of only five paladins that had been made since the last day. He was a really kind pony, we use to bake and sing together. Sometimes he acted a little strange after a meal, but he was still the same father I knew and love. He never told me the real reason he left the Steel Rangers, saying that it was unimportant and to not worry about it. I really wish I knew what that reason was, but if he wasn’t going to tell me I wasn’t going to push it.

I remember how my dad reacted when I was little, seeing that I wasn’t able to stand or walk like he could. He hated seeing me unable to walk, so he decided to take his piece of power armor he had kept from his time as a Steel Ranger and tampered. He gave it to me for fifteenth birthday, and showed me what he had done by helping me inside. Basically, whenever I move a front hoof, a piece of metal attach to the back hoof on the same side of my body would force the leg to move. That was one of the happiest days of my life, the day I actually walked for the first time, even though it wasn’t really me but the power armor that made me walk. I remember calling my dad the mechanical genius, though age has since shown the side effects of that tampering. Tampering with it was the main reason it broke down a lot, it was already really old and my dad really wasn’t a mechanic to begin with.

As for my mom, I never got to know her or who she was. My father told me that she had died in childbirth, and how much he had cried when it happened. I remember that dad had always described as a roughless yet kind-hearted pony with a love for the wasteland. She would never want me to venture out there, that’s for sure, but dad said it was her love for that grand expanse that brought the two of them together. Even with all the bad I knew about it, I still had to thank mother nature for bringing the two of them together.

That being said, they're not around anymore. My dad died protecting me from a ghoul attack five years ago and I only lived through that because I was inside of his power armor. I defended myself from the ghouls with his shotgun and I’ve kept it by my side ever since. Just a few days after the battle I scratched the word “Remember” into it in remembrance of his life. The only other thing I had left from him besides the double barreled shotgun was a half broken PipBuck he ripped off a dead pony. The only parts of that PipBuck that worked are the Radio and holotape player, and were really the only two parts I ever needed. My dad had recorded some of my favorite recipes onto tapes and used the PipBuck to play it when he had needed to. We would also use the Pipbuck to listen to the radio every morning, even though no one really cared back then.

If you wanted to know exactly where in the Equestrian Wasteland I live, it would be the middle of nowhere. My parents had found an old house one day and turned into what it is today. It’s more of a shack then a house, only having enough room for one bedroom and a small kitchen. That being said I still considered it as home, and I was never going to leave it. If the power armor never worked again, that is.

“Stupid power armor,”  A yelled from my bed, punching the helmet again. “Why the hell do you have to do this to me?”

I get stressed easily, I always have. My dad believed it was because of the paralysis, but I honestly believed I have low temper. We learned early on that singing was the best way to calm me down, and my dad would sing to me every night when I went to bed. Since he’s passed away I’ve had to sing to myself, even though it doesn’t have the same effect it use to. I even made a song up in time. It wasn’t long, but it helped me calm down quickly. That was what I needed right now, and knowing that I layed back down on my bed as I sang to myself.

Oh little angel, can you hear my voice.
I’m sorry to see you all alone.
For many things you have lost, and many thing as well gain.
I can’t help but here you cry

Oh little unicorn, why can’t you be free.
To conquer the world high and low.
Yet your body doesn’t let you, and you can’t leave your cell.
You think it’s all over when it just begins.

So listen to my song, the song of hope.
That one day it will change, and things will be great.
For this song I made to help you find peace.
This beautiful song of hope.

The lyrics use to be different, but ever since my dad past this is the version that I’ve sung. It had a personal connection that only me and my dad understood. I guess it was kind of a metaphor for my life. Even if I wanted to leave, my back hooves wouldn’t let me. It was impossible to leave, and without being able to quickly moving I was a goner.

I sighed, only to hear my stomach rumble in response. Getting up out of bed I pulled my lower body behind me like I was carrying iron chains, sluggishly moving to the kitchen area to find something. My dad taught me how to garden, so we had grown our own for most of our lives. However, with my power armor broken for at least three weeks, I haven’t been able to plant or harvest anything. That wasn’t all, I was starting to run low clean water as well, and if I couldn’t get that power armor working soon I would probably run out. I knew I had to preserve it for as long as possible, and my first thought turned to a cupboard at the corner of the small shack. After a few seconds I decided it was time that I had one of the emergency drinks that my dad told me were off limits. I searched the cupboard for the bottle that my dad had kept hidden for special occasions, finding a single bottle that was half full.

“Ah, there you are,” I say as I pull out a bottle of hard cider. “Sorry dad, but it’s about time I tried this. I am twenty after all.”

I felt like my dad was yelling at me to put it back, but it was too late for that as I poured myself a small cup. I looked at the dark orange liquid for only a second before taking a sip. It tasted like apples, and I love apples. The only problem is that I didn’t know how much was enough, and continued to gulp it down without any realization as to what I was really drinking. I put down the cup, looking to see a know empty bottle of Sweet Apples Cider, and licked my lips to get any that hadn’t made it into my mouth. I felt slightly woozy from drinking it, but there was no mistaking how tasty it was. I could hear a imaginative moan that I could only assume was my mind telling me what my dad would think.

After that I headed back to my bedroom power armor, and examined it quickly even though I knew the problem wasn’t on the outside. Usually when it needed fixing all I had to do was open it up and see what was wrong on the inside. This time, I couldn’t even get the power armor to open, which obviously meant that I couldn’t get inside it. What the fuck is the use of having power armor if it isn’t even usable? I hated having to walk around by dragging my hind legs behind me, I felt so stupid and made me feel useless. The power armor felt like a piece of me, and whenever it broke down I did as well.

Knowing that thinking about it was only going to frustrate me, I turned away from my power armor and to my half-broken PipBuck. I turned it on and tuned the radio in, deciding that listening to the news was the only thing that would keep me from thinking about my current problem. Usually there wasn’t that much interesting on the news, as most ponies didn’t really care to bring it to the broadcast station, wherever that may be. However, there was one story over the past two year that has gotten everyone's attention.

“I am here to report that the suspect raiders had believed was the Bloody Angel has been confirmed to be false,” I heard the radio pony announce with only slight static in the PipBuck “As I reported two months ago, a group of raider reported that they might have found the murderer known as the Bloody Angel, who has been reported for killing large numbers of ponies in the past two years. . Survivors of these attacks have offered rewards for the capture or death of this wanted criminal. That is all we have in terms of an update for the hunt to turn that pony in, we will continue to keep you updated as the hunt-”

“So they still haven’t caught her yet?” I said to myself as I layed down on the bed and turned it off, “Starting to wonder if they ever will.”

It was crazy the hunt that was going on to find this pony that has been nicknamed as the Bloody Angel. Even in these times of anarchy, ponies banded together to take this monstrous killer down. I didn’t know much other than what I had manage to catch since I first heard about it a year ago. The Bloody Angel is suppousedly a murderous pony who buries their victims where they had died. Many rumors were caught over the news that the pony had been sent to deliver our death and was immortal. That’s how she got the name she currently had, but the part that made it so difficult to catch her is that nopony knew what she looked like. Anyone who has gotten a good enough look at her was killed by her.

Not long afterwards, I heard the sound of the door open behind me. I looked behind me to see the hoof of a pony step through the door. I quickly grabbed my dads shotgun, which I always made sure was loaded, and pointed it at the door. I backed myself into the quarter of the room, not knowing who or what had just opened the door.

“Come out murderer, we know you're in here,” I heard a voice from outside say.

I didn’t need another word to tell why they were here. They thought I was the Bloody Angel? Is that what they thought? Or did they just come here to kill me and take everything I had? Either way I wasn’t letting them kill me or take me prisoner. I shuffled myself away from the door and behind the power armor which was still not working, and when I needed it as well. I looked out a window to see that they had set up shop behind my house. They had automatic rifles, which means I would have to rely on luck in order to make it out of this. I waited for the raider's head to come into view before taking a shot. The impact was a direct hit, splitting the raider’s head open with little effort. I watched as blood splattered over the floor and walls as well as on me, and I quickly tried to get it off. You can probably tell how well that when. The floor around the raider was soaked in blood from the wound the had taken.

“Oh shit!” I heard a voice from outside shouted, most likely belonging to the raider leader “Surround the house, no one leaves until we got that son of a bitch knocked out okay. Just remember the rewards we are getting for doing this.”

I watched from the window as raiders surrounded the house, making me realize how little of a chance I had at escaping. There was no way I could take them all out since I only had one bullet in the shotgun left. I couldn't run away unless I had the power armor, but even then I would be too slow to outrun them. All I could do was sit there and pray to Celestia that they went away. I listened as I heard the voice of a pony talk to one of the raiders.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I heard a harsh voice say to the leader. “You don’t go and shout to the entire fucking world what you are going to do, you’ll let her escape.”

“I… I’m sorry mister,” The voice of the raider trembled in response to the pony. “It won’t happen again.”

“You bet it won’t,” The harsh pony said again, “Because I’m taking over. You two, come with me,”

I once again readied my shotgun, knowing that they were going to come through that door again, mainly because it was the only entrance. My hooves were trembling as I looked down the sights of the gun. I only had one bullet left, if I killed the pony with the harsh voice, who I thought was the leader, I might be able able to frighten them away. They didn't know exactly what weapon I had, except that it was a shotgun. Maybe they would turn away, thinking I had more than just the one bullet I had.

I watched as something flew into my vision, and shot it thinking it was the pony. It wasn’t, it was a damn rock. How did they know I only had one bullet? My face was drained of color as I realized that this pony somehow knew me. That, or they knew my father. I heard the hoof steps on the steps outside my house as I tried to hide myself behind the power armor I had. As the door opened, I closed my eyes, hoping that they would turn away and leave when they didn't see me. It caught me by surprise when they knocked the power armor down and trapped me under it. I fell to the floor and watched as the picked the power armor up off of me and pinned me to the ground.

“We got her.” I heard the pony yell from above me “We got her,”

They turned me around as I took a look at the pony who had knocked the power armor over. He was a unicorn and had a light green mane and a dark brown coat. A machete was attached to a belt across his waist and he carried what looked like a normal 10 mm Pistol in a magic grasp, something I never learned to do. He looked at me and smile as the raiders tied me up and gagged my mouth.

“I finally have you,” He whispered to me “Don’t worry, I won’t kill you, but you will wish I had once they get ahold of you. Hope your father is happy I’m doing this, because I've been waiting to do this for so long.”

I tried to speak, but couldn’t. Was this pony tricking the others into thinking I was the Bloody Angel? He claimed to know about my father, but I had never seen him in my life. I tried to squirm away from them only to have one of the raiders step on my chest. I fell to the floor, conscious, but in great pain. I looked onward as what must of pony the raiders leader come inside.

“You got what you want,” He addressed to the harsh voiced pony “Now it’s time for you to hold up your end of the deal. That the power armor and PipBuck you promised us.”

“Yep,” He said, looking at the power armor that had been knocked on the floor. “I’ll give you the other things when we get back, thanks for helping my little… Problem.”

“Anything to help a friend,” The raider turned to the door and exited, but I could hear him say “Knock her out and will be on our way.”

The pony nodded out of the window before coming over to me. He raised the end of his gun to my face, and gave a villainous smile before whacking his gun against my head.
> Chapter 2 - Willow Wisp (Rewritten)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I could feel my head hammering as I regained consciousness, and I rested my hoof on top of it. I couldn’t smell the cider I had before those raiders came. Those raiders, and that harsh voiced pony who had set me up. As my head stopped hurting, I could focus on exactly what happened, and the sinister smile that the harsh voiced pony had. He knew my father, and as far as I knew that was not a good thing. Still, this didn’t make any sense to me. Why bother with me, a pony who can’t even walk? I didn’t have much of value, he couldn’t have been after anything I owned. No, he wanted revenge for something. Something my father knew.

Unable to draw a sure conclusion, I looked around the dark space I resided in to try and get an idea of exactly where I was. It took a minute or two for my eyes to adjust to the darkness surrounding me. Once I could see, I found that I was at the end of a small alcove in a cave. At the of the other end of the cave was a door with steel, rusting bars blocking the way out. I tried to crawl my way over, only for the clinking of metal to stop me after only a few inches. Looking behind myself, I saw that I was tied to the end of the alcove by a chain which attached to my hind leg. There goes my plan to escape, but I should have expected it, considering they thought I was some mass murderer. The rest of the cave was rather empty, only the grey rocks around me being anything worth noting. 

I sighed, sitting up as I realized I was not getting out. I could help but shiver at the very situation I was in. I was trapped in a raiders camp, and the radio had given me a pretty good idea of what raiders were like. Horrible ponies who embraced the anarchy that we’ve found ourselves in. Killers, slavers, cannibalists, those were just a few of the terms I had heard ponies on the radio use for them. That was the kind of company I had found myself in, and no doubt I was in for one hell of a beating. The more I thought about it, the more fear that built up in me as I looked desperately for an imaginary secret exit. Then I heard the tap of a hoof, one that was not my own. My first instinct was to look at the door, but as I heard the sound again I realized it was in the same alcove I was in. I darted my eyes to the left, where I had heard the sound resonate from, and my eyes dilated in fear at what stood before. If there was anything that answer my questions about what the raiders planned for me it was this.

To my left, I saw a pegasus tied up to the wall just like me. Her mane, tail, and coat were all white, or at least they would have been. The feathers on the ends of her wing were burnt horribly, but seemed to have been much older then the rest of her injuries. She sat still, blood below her in a puddle and smeared on the cave walls around her. Her body looked even worse, drenched in her own blood to the point that what white there was of her coat was nearly unseeable. Injuries scared her entire body, most notably across her stomach and on her legs. A part of her left ear was cut off, blood still dripping down it to add to her already blood stained body. There was giant scar across her neck, not bleeding, and didn’t seem to be the same size as the other injuries. If anything, it was bigger, stretching across the entire underside of her neck. With how much blood she was covered in, and the amount of injuries she had obtained, you would think she was dead.

She wasn’t. Her eyes looked toward me, turning her head to show me just how much worse her head looked. Her bright blue eyes glowed compared to the rest of her body, and her mouth hung open as if she tried to muster words she could. The terror that gripped my body couldn’t be explained, as I looked back her her. She looked like a walking corpse, not a ghoul but a zombie reanimated after just dying. The look of desperation on her face made me want to shed tears, but I found myself unable to. I’ve seen some things, but nothing could compare to this. In fact, nothing came close to how she look. This… is this what was going to happen to me? Was I going to die in the manner she is right now?

I got my unwanted answer as I heard the door open to see a three raiders enter the room. Two took guard at the door, closing it behind them while the last one looked at me. His creepy smile was only made more terrifying by the scar that he had bared across his face. I watched as he walked up to the pegasus to the left of me, and I was left with an impression that I had made up her looking at me. Her body sat there like a statue, head hanging and her mouth still open. He examined the pegasus, lifting her head up and giving a slight chuckle at her condition. My heart pounded thunderously as I looked at the raider. After a few seconds he let go of her head, and I watched as it fell bobbed in place. Was she dead? Was I just seeing things when she was had looked at me? At didn’t know at this point, but it was her that I was scared of now.

“Poor pony,” The raider said with what I thought was joy. “We thought we had the Bloody Angel when we caught her, but she kept on denying it. We didn't believe her when she said she wasn't the pony, and tortured her to the point of death,” I looked at the pegasus, now sure I was a dead mare. “In the end we learned it wasn't her. That’s what that Twister pony said anyways. He said that the Bloody Angel was the daughter of one of his friends, and led us to you. She didn't have a chance at living, and we were having way too much fun to let her anyway, but you do. All you have to do,” He pulled a plank out and hit me over the head with it. “Is admit that you are the murderer.”

I looked the raider straight in the eyes. He didn't know I couldn't walk, he never saw me move behind my broken down power armor. This Twister pony, the harsh voiced one. I knew he had tricked them, but that explained why they actually believed him. If he had known that, that might have let me go, but that was wishful thinking. Considering that he spoke so happily about killing the pegasus to my left, I knew he was lying about letting me live. Still, it wasn’t going to just admit it.

“I'm not your Bloody Angel!” I yelled furiously at him.

“It’s no use lying to us,” He said, delivering a kick to my face. My head rang from the blow, and I could feel something roll down the side of my face “You saw what happened to this young pegasus here for not telling us. She may have been innocent in the end, but that doesn't mean we won’t do the same thing to you if you continue to deny it.”

“Don't you know the difference between the truth and lies?” I asked, punching him with my front hoof to no effect. He swatted me with his hoof, his joy turning to rage in an instant.

“Do you think I care if you are lying or not?” The raider barked, and suddenly I realized I was wrong about them not being told about my condition. “You know what Twister gave us all for capturing you? Food, bullets and guns, drugs, and even power armor. He payed us to make your life a living hell, and that's what we intend to do,” He knocked me to the floor, and started pressing down hard on my neck. “Of course, I could always be nice and put you out of your misery. Either way I’m solving his problem and saving you the trouble of a fate worse than death. What do you say, shall I put you out of your misery? Or would you rath-”

His response was cut short of the sound of gunfire in the room. I watched as blood flew from the raiders chest, coating my lower body as he hit the ground. I look up, and to my surprise I saw one of the raiders at the door had pulled out a strange shotgun. Before the other raider was able to respond, the one with the shotgun shot him clean in the head. I saw what must been his brain spread across the floor, and I held in the urge to hurl. I look to my side to see the pegasus they had supposedly kill look up, blood dripping from her mouth as she looked at the raider pony who had saved us.

“I should never have agreed to this,” The raider said in a deep, gruff voice.

I took a look at him, as he put his gun away and searched the bodies on the floor. His coat was pitch black, making him slightly blend into the surrounding cave. He was bulky, looking as if he could flip an entire house on upside down. His mane, or what there was of it as it was almost completely cut to the point it look like a mohawk, was a dark gray. His eyes were dark brown, and in them I could see fury and anger. As I looked to the shotgun he carried, I mentally laughed. The shotgun he carried was colored a light purple and had a pink pump reload. For a stallion like this to have a gun that looked like it was for a filly was kind of amusing.

He grabbed keys off one of them, which jingled in his mouth, which must have been the keys to our restraints. I watched as the tortured pegasus to the left of me tried to stand up, only for one of her wounds to open even more. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. She was mute! Wait, then these raiders had targeted a helpless mare who could even prove her own innocence? My blood boiled at the realization of this. The deep voice pony walked over to the mute pegasus, who again tried to stand up. Once again she silently yelled out in pain.

“Stay still!” The deep voiced pony commanded, his voice filled with hatred that I couldn’t understand. “I don't want you bleeding out on me,” He unlocked her cuff and turned his back to the mute pony, “Get on.”

The mute pony did as requested and slowly climbed onto his back, blood from the cut on her stomach smearing blood on his back as she did. He didn’t grimace at the feeling, in fact he seemed to swear under his own breath. At the point he walked over to me, and I looked at him. The rage I could see in his face was as clear as day, but he unlocked my chains. I was glad to see he wasn't doing this just for the other pony, even though she needed help more than I did. I tried to used the wall as support to stand up the best I can, only to fall to the ground and hit my head. I groaned in pain, and heard the deep voiced pony growl unsatisfied.

“What the hell is your problem?” He asked in a disgruntled manner.

“I can't stand up well without my power armor,” I explain to him, even though I doubted he really cared. “My lower body is paralyzed and I have power armor that is modified to help me move. Until then I have no choice but to hug the wall here.”

I felt a hoof grab around me and watched as the deep voiced pony effortlessly put me on his back. I felt kind of sad, having to rely on this pony that I had just met. Not that he seemed to care about me. In fact, I am honestly surprised he cared at all considering how he talked. Despite that I still felt happy to be able to get out of here. I was safe, or at least I felt like I was safe. I looked to see the tortured pegasus underneath me. She was sleeping, blood flowing down her hooves onto the floor in small drips. If there was any pony I felt the worst for, it had to be her. How in Celestia did she survive?

“Call me Dread,” The deep voiced pony, or Dread, introduce himself with a little less anger than before. “As for the other pony, we don’t know her real name but every pony calls her Willow Wisp.”

“Dead Hooves,” I reply. “I think you can guess the reason behind the name.”

Dread let out a “hmph” in response. It was kind of hard to get a read on him and exactly what he wanted. Sure, the way he spoke and the look of dissatisfaction on his face said one thing, but his actions said differently. It seemed like he wanted to help me, but I felt like there was something else on his mind as he opened the door. I took a look at his gun, giggling slightly. It certain was very colorful considering Dread’s darker coat color and damper attitude.

“Got a problem with the gun?” His cold voice caught me by surprise.

“Oh sorry,” I apologized, “I just haven’t seen a gun quite like it. Did you make it?”

“That’s not up for questioning,” He replied, “Instead, could you take it for the minute until I get you to your power armor. I need somepony backing me up and since I don’t want to cause more harm to Willow then what they already have, you got to do it.”

He floated the gun up to me, and dropped it in my hooves. He never told me he was taking me to my power armor, not that I thought it would matter. It was probably broken like before. However, I never really knew how long I was out for, so it’s possible that they might have been able to fix it. Not that I had much hope in that. I was a paralyzed pony in the wasteland with no knowledge of magic or how it worked. I didn’t know how far I was from home, or if they had even left it standing.

I looked down at Willow Wisp, who was still fast asleep. See just how bad of shape she was in, I couldn’t help but wonder how she had managed to survive for this long. I mean, she looked as if she had been shot by a minigun from less than a foot away a thousand times, but yet still managed to cling to life. I was amazed by how tough this pegasus was, even if she was in so much pain. I don’t think I could have taken that kind of treatment and lived through it, that's for sure. Honestly, I felt like I was the weakest of all of them at the moment. Willow had managed to live through raider torture, and Dread, being an earth pony, could easily kill me or most others.

“You wanna tell me what you did to piss of a pony like Twister?” Dread asked.

“I have no idea,” I told him, my mind clinging to the idea of how weak I was. “He told these raiders that I was the Bloody Angel when there was no way I could be. In fact, the only pony I ever knew before this was my father, who passed away five years ago. The only thing I could think of is that he knew my father and hated him for some reason. I don’t know why.”

He stopped walking, and I could see him pull his lips back in a snarl. “Son of a bitch,” He cursed with a growl. I could see rage burning in his dark brown eyes “Then allow me to tell you something you don’t know: Never trust Twister! I don’t know much about him but from what I’ve heard he plays off of other ponies weaknesses and is the reason this entire search for the Bloody Angel is so damn hard. He hates everypony, but no one ever realizes it because he claims to ‘help’ them before turning his backs on them. If you ever meet him, shoot him before he can you, got it?!”

I nodded my head as we made a turn into a small room at the side the cave. The walls were lined in cupboards that made the room seem more like an armory. A workbench filled with scrap and other things stood at the left wall, covered in scratches and dents from excessive use. Dread set me down, and I looked to the end of the small room in joy. There, waiting at the end of the room was my power armor. I crawled my way to it and used it as a table to stand on. I looked to the button in the center and pushed, which managed to work. I fell to the ground as the power armor opened up. I don’t know how they managed to fix it, but I wasn’t going to complain. I lifted myself inside and watch as the power armor closed around me, letting out a sigh of relief. Everything was working, and it seemed to have a brand new fusion core inside of it as well! Was that the reason it wasn’t working? No, I already tried to put one in and the thing was jammed. I’m not going to complain however. They gave me a weapon, and I was going to gladly use it against them.

I took a step with my front left hoof and watched as my back left did the same. It hurt at first, but it was nothing I wasn’t use to. I was forcefully moving a part of my body that usually isn’t able to, the pain is something I was use to. I let out another sigh of relief, this power armor made me feel free, and this was the first time in two weeks I’ve felt that way. I watched as Dread picked up some things from the tables and the workbench to the side of me and stuffed them in a saddlebag that he had grabbed from the same place. Among the things we're repair tools like a wrench and screwdriver as well as some shotgun shells and a shotgun. I took a look at the shotgun to realize it was mine.

“They took everything you had of use in your house,” Dread explained to me, handing me my dad’s old double barreled shotgun. “Your gun and power armor as you can see were among them.”

I handed him back his gun and nodded in thanks as I checked mine. How much had they taken? I looked around the room, able to move much more normally now. I sighed when I saw the broken PipBuck sitting on a desk on the right side of the room. I put it on, even though the usual display that shows up when you do is as broken as the rest of it. They hadn’t bothered to fix anything on it, but that was okay considering that the power armor could do the same thing. Besides, the PipBuck was more of a reminder than anything else.

“We better get this place cleared out,” Dread explained. “Willow needs some medical treatment but it’s too dangerous to do that with all the raiders around.”

“Gotcha,” I said, slinging my shotgun over my shoulder, which I was able to do thanks to the strap that had been added.

We walked out of the room, guns at the ready as we made our way towards the exit of the cave. The light blinded me for a second, making me have to put my hoof up to block it. I wasn’t in the dark for that long, and it’s not like I could see the sun all the much anyways. That being said, when my eyes had adjusted I gulped as I realized was outside. The raiders had set up a pretty large camp, as in you could probably call it fair ground if it wasn’t full of creeps. There was a pretty good number of them from what I could tell, and all of them looked like they wanted to kill something.

We took cover in a small area near the cave’s entrance and Dread set Willow Wisp down on the ground as we started discussing our plan of attack. All we had were shotguns, mine only having two shells. Given how there were around three dozen raiders, which we both thought was huge considering the numbers I usually saw, we realized we would stand no chance at taking them out with our current weapons. We couldn’t just run in, especially with Willow Wisp. She was my biggest concern, considering how bad of shape she was in. I didn’t want to see her die, and I wasn’t going to let her. I peek out of the entrance to find something we could use to get out unscratched.

“One of us should stay here with Willow Wisp,” Dread addressed, “If anything happens to her then I feel like this was pointless.”

I didn’t respond, scanning the camp that they had made. Everything was laid out for display, showing guns, ammo, and medical supplies. We couldn’t damage some of this stuff, as we would need it to survive, but maybe if I could grab a high power weapon of some sort. That's when my eyes caught onto a minigun on the racks in the far left corner of the camp. How the hell did they get something like? It must have been one of the weapons that Twister pony had given them but… how the hell.

“Dread,” I said, getting out of my power armor, “Stay here with Willow Wisp, I got an idea.”

“The fuck are you doing!” His voice in shock as he got out and started crawling my way outside.

“You’ll see,” I replied, “I can’t bring the power armor because I’ll be an easy target, watch over it for me will you?”

I don’t give him time to respond as I round the corner of the cave, shotgun hanging on my back. I start crawling my way across the canyon, looking to make sure that no one had spotted me. The shadow gave me cover, making me a little harder to spot, my tan coat also helping out a small amount. My heart was racing as I slowly made my way across the side of the canyon. It would have been easier if my father had told me how to use magic, but he didn’t know much himself.

I watched the raiders go by as I inched my way along the side of the canyon. They look like they had themselves a life's worth when it came to things such as food and medical supplies. Most of it would probably go bad in a few months or so, maybe the radiation would do something to it. I’m going to say it right now, I don’t know much about the events that lead to the mega spells or whatever the heck they were called, I don’t know. It’s been a long time since any of that stuff happened, and it was mostly in the past now being around seventy-five years since the war ended. I didn’t have anything to do with that time, which means I have no reason to care about it.

It seemed like just getting a good five yard away from the cave entrance took forever. In truth, I had gotten much farther than that but the canyon was so big that it felt like I was making no progress. Curse these stupid legs and what little they’ve done for me! I didn’t want to think about how long it would take until one of the raiders spotted me or Dread. I would probably be spotted first of course, considering I was much more out in the open. Of course, that would also give Dread and Willow Wisp enough room to escape. As long as she was safe, I would be happy.

After what felt like an hour, I had finally made my way across to where I had seen the minigun, or at least to the side of the canyon. It was still a good couple yards away from me, but I had at least made some progress. The sun had almost disappeared from the sky (of course it was already pretty low to begin with) and I found myself rushing to make it before the sun completely disappeared. This was mainly due to something telling me that trying to shoot a gun in the dark was probably not a good idea, must have been common sense.

When I reached the little stand that held the minigun I was after, I realized that their was a raider inside of it. My guess was that he was suppose to give weapons to those who would need it. You know, these raiders seemed pretty smart and organized considering how retarded the first raider that tried to capture me had been. I shrugged and waited for the pony to turn away before sneaking behind him. I slowly started to take the minigun down from it’s place, trying to be as quiet as possible. When I did manage to get it down, the weight of it made me fall down to the ground, attracting the attention of the raiders that had been behind me.

I smiled as I slowly took my shotgun out from under my back. “Thanks for the guns,” I said teasingly before aiming my shotgun at the two closest to me. “Now go fuck yourselves.”

Without another word I fired a bullet at the raiders, hitting the first one square in the chest as it passed him and into the second one who gut a pretty good hole in their neck. Turning around I tried to pick the minigun up, realizing it was too heavy for me to carry. Great idea Dead Hooves, you had an absolutely great idea.

I looked up as raiders started forming a semicircle around me, guns pointed at the ready. I found myself in a very familiar position, and not one the last time I would be either. I inched up against a wooden desk, getting ready to defend myself. If I could grab one of the other weapons in front of me, or an automatic rifle to be exact, I may be able to stand up against them. That being said, I would probably be shot before I could even load a single mag into it. I closed my eyes, expecting to hear a thousand bullets heading in my direction.

What I heard instead was the sound of a single bullet and several screams of terror coming from behind me. I didn’t look but I could take a guess that it wasn’t a raider who fired that bullet. I listened to the sound of several bullets going in the direction opposite of me, and I opened my eyes to see that I was still alive. Taking the chance, I grabbed a rifle from the wall across from me, loaded it with a cartridge, and peeked my head outside of the wooden desk that had been my cover.

What I saw at first was multiple raiders firing at nothing behind another wooden desk across from me. Then I saw the three raiders lying on the floor a couple yards away from me, a pool of blood forming on the ground. That's when I saw power armor, my power armor peeking out of the wooden desk. Once the raiders had fired most of their bullets, I saw the pony in my power armor holding up a familiar purple and pink shotgun. I sighed with relief, realizing it was only Dread that was occupying it. That being said, I still didn’t like another pony using my power armor. I would make sure to have a chat with him about that when this is over.

Dread fired a bullet to three raiders standing next to each other, and I watched as the first one got hit. That’s when the strange part of this happened. The two raiders next to him somehow got hit as well piercing the side of their bodies and collapsing to the floor. I guess there must have been more to Dreads girly shotgun then I had originally thought.

Not taking the chance of getting hit any longer then I had been, I quickly started firing at the raiders. I felt a bullet go through my shoulder but shrugged it off, not letting them get an opportunity to hit me. I had probably shot a good four of five of them before ducking back under the wooden desk, listening as Dread took another shot, claiming two more raiders. If I was correct, we must have been down seventeen or eighteen at this point.

I took a look at the bullet that had hit me in the upper left shoulder, watching as blood dripped down from it onto the rocky floor of the canyon. I was breathing hard, almost hyperventilating from the intensity of the past half an hour (probably more, but I couldn’t tell). At least it was just the shoulder, and it wasn’t bad enough where I had to worry about blood lose. I listened as I heard another shot from Dread, bringing the total down one more.

I decided to use my last shotgun shell before going back to the rifle. Looking around, I counted sixteen raiders still alive. I ducked down and dragged myself across my cover before looking back up. I looked at two raiders who were almost lined perfectly, which would allow me to get rid of two at the same time. I waited, watching as the moved closer together, calming my breathing to get a clear shot. Just when I thought I had it, gun fire from raider came from behind me, hitting me once again in the shoulder before ducking. I listened as Dread took another shot, taking down the three raiders that just shot at me, bringing the raiders still alive counter down to thirteen.

With that taken care of I pulled myself back up and aimed down at the two raiders that were still in front of me. I once again managed to calm my breathing as I waited to take a shot. A couple seconds later, I finally fired, hitting one pony right through the neck and the other through the head. I quickly ducked back to cover and through the shotgun back over my shoulder. With another kill from Dread, we were just under a dozen raiders left.

Inching my way back over to the rifle, I looked around to see if any raiders had taken aim at me. I managed to get back to the rifle in one piece before looking up to see one of the raiders standing right over me. I leaned back as he fired, hitting one of my back legs (thank Celestia I didn’t need them) a few times before I took the gun and yanked it from his hooves. Now disarmed, I pointed it back at him and fired, leaving one more dead.

I looked down to see blood dripping from my right hind leg. They had gotten it pretty badly, but if I lived through this I was hoping we would be able to fix it with some medical supplies in the camp, Celestia knows how much we would need them. The pain in my leg was worse then in my shoulder as I clenched it with my hooves, trying to stop myself from yelling.

This wasn’t going to get any better, I knew that for sure. I took the rifle in my hooves and reloaded it as another bang came from Dreads shotgun. We must have been down to five at this point, since it was starting to get less noisy. I slowly and painful brought myself and my rifle up over the wooden desk that was still acting as my cover and started shooting. I only killed two this time, the wound in my leg hurting due to the gun's recoil, causing me to drop back out of site. Luckily for me, I only heard one more bullet fire from Dread as everything after went silent.

I looked as Dread walked up to me, carrying Willow on his back once again. He set her down as he got out of my power armor and walked over to me.

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” I yelled at him, unable to believe the danger he had put Willow in “When everypony is looking the other way your suppose to run. Besides, what you did put Willow in greater danger than she is already in. Why the fuck did you try playing the hero?!”

He got down and looked at my wounded hoof, not caring to answer my question. He was really starting to get on my nerves. Sure, I guess he did save my ass, but that heroic action he took wouldn’t have met anything if he had been killed as well. 

“Did you really think you could carry that?” He glanced to the minigun that I had taken down while looking through his bag. “You were acting just as stupid, if not more stupid then I was.”

I simply looked away, not caring about what he was saying. It was better than just sitting there like we had been doing, that’s for sure. I looked over to see him take out some wraps. He took it and wrapped it around my injured hoof to stop the bleed before getting up and walking away. I looked up to see where he was going, only to see him walking to a path out of the canyon.

“Where the hell are you going?!” I yelled at him, not believing that he was just going to leave us here.

“I have something I need to do,” He said, looking back at me, “There’s something you’ve brought to my attention that I have to deal with. Besides, I prefer to work alone.”

“Where am I supposed to go?” I asked, desperation on my face “I have no idea where I am, or what to do. What about Willow here? What am I supposed to do? I’ve never gone this far away from my house before. I’ve never even left it in my lifetime.”

Dread looked at me, his eyes cold and furious. “Go west to Manehattan,” He ordered, the fury in his voice telling me just how done he was answering my questions. “You’ll be the safest there. Look for a pony named White Light and tell her I sent you. She’ll help you and Willow Wisp out. She’s already bandaged up due to how long it too for you to screw up your brilliant plan. I was planning to leave after we got out of the canyon, but seeing how we killed everypony besides us, you should be safe for some time.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but realized that it would probably be useless asking him for any more advice. Giving how he had barely given me a good answer to any of my questions earlier that day, I bet the only reason he told me as much as he did was because of Willow Wisp. I was furious to say the least. He saves our ass and then decides to just leave? I wasn’t going to take my chances in fighting him but I was angry nonetheless. I watched as he walked away, leaving me with a bag full of food, medical supplies, and ammo as well as Willow Wisp.

I sighed as I lowered myself to the ground, and watched as Willow Wisped opened her eyes to me. Just like Dread said, she was covered in bandages that was covering up her injuries. Not that most of them would heal up, considering that she was already covered in scars. She walked up and looked over the wooden desk, probably wondering where Dread was. I urged her down, seeing her wince in pain from doing so.

“That friend of yours abandoned us,” I explained, still angry “He told me to take care of you, okay?”

She dropped down besides me and nodded to me, not seeming to care at all. I wonder if that was because she couldn’t argue back, or if she didn’t really care about anything that was going on. On the bright side, it seemed like she could at least walk a little, meaning I wouldn’t have to worry about carrying her that much. That made me feel a little better, but I was still pissed that Dread had just left us without a real reason.

I felt my temper rising from just thinking about what he had just done. I simply shook my head and turned my attention to my PipBuck. I was still on radio like when I had left it, but was turned off because I didn’t hear anything playing. Nothing else was working, like usual, and I simply laid down on the ground and curled up into a ball, or as much of a ball as I could.

“We’re leaving for Manehattan first thing tomorrow,” He told Willow, this time a bit softer “If there is anything you need to do before that, do it before then.”

I fell asleep before Willow was able to give me her response, reliving a familiar dream of the last night with my father. It was a very sad dream, we were working in our little garden outside, I was in my power armor. We hear something behind us, even though I truly didn’t hear it in the dream, and turned around to see ghouls jump at us. I watched as the killed my father, who could barely get his shotgun out in time. I took it and shot them, both running away at the sound and sight of me. I had ran to my father side, watching as he died there. I only ever heard him say one thing in this dream.

“Remember...”

I was awoken to the feeling of Willow Wisp nudging me awake, looking at my with discomfort. I felt a tear flow down my face, realizing that I had been crying in my sleep. Seeing this I quickly wiped the tear away and shook my face.

“It’s nothing,” I said to Willow, forcing a smile onto my face “Don’t worry about it. It was just a dream.”

I turn around so Willow could see my face anymore. I was crying because I never planned to my house, because I was far away from so many things. All I had was the power armor, shotgun, and PipBuck to remember my father by. I felt alone, like I was on an entirely different planet. That was the night I realized, nothing was going to be the same.
> Chapter 3 - An unknown world (Rewritten)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I didn’t sleep well that first night away from home. Maybe it was the cold, muddy ground of the canyon that made it difficult, but it was really just the surrounding in general. The canyon walls reminded me of the world I was in; a world I had never seen before. Fear clung to me like a dagger. I didn’t know anything about the wasteland, and that Dread pony expected me to know exactly where I was suppose to go. I never wanted to be out here to begin with, I wanted to be back home. I wanted to think this was all a dream, but knew that was wishful thinking. That being said, I couldn’t just pretend this was a dream, especially with Willow Wisp around. I wasn’t about to leave a pony as injured as Willow Wisp without any treatment. I needed to find somepony with medical experience if I was going to keep her alive, and I was going to make sure Willow lived.

Of course, that was not the only thing I was thinking of. There were so many things I didn’t know and so many priorities that organizing them all was difficult. I knew what I had to do first, and that was getting Willow Wisp to Manehattan, wherever that was. Without a functioning map on my PipBuck, I would be wandering the world blind with no idea of where to go. I wasn’t going to leave Willow Wisp out here alone however, or else I would be just as good as Dread. She needed to be brought someplace safe, and this White Light pony was the only pony I could really go to at the moment. Even if I don’t know how much I trust Dread, where else did I know to go?

The second priority was more personal. I wanted to give that Twister pony a piece of my mind. He knew I wasn’t the Bloody Angel, he said it straight to my face. Yet for some reason he still sold me out as this murderous pony. I wasn’t okay with that, my dad wouldn’t have been either. That was the reason sold me out in the end, because something about my father must of made him mad. What makes it even more concerning was that he somehow knew my father was dead. Twister wanted my father dead, a realization that burned inside me because of how angry it made me. I was going to make him pay. I was going to beat him within an inch of his life, and that’s final.

There were so many things I needed to know, but right now my main task was getting Willow Wisp out of here. She was mysterious, that’s for sure. Considering her state, the fact she managed to survive all that torture was an incredible. I wanted to know more about her, who she was, why she ended up here, but I couldn’t. She couldn’t explain it to me, even if she wanted to she couldn’t because she’s mute. It must have been a hard life, not being able to argue against anypony and gettin caught in something you don’t want. I understood what it was like to feel helpless, to feel like you didn’t belong. We were outcasts in this strange world whether we liked it or not.

As the sun came into view I finally decided to get up. I could hear the sound of dirt moving behind me, a slight pause before the sound repeated. I looked around to see Willow Wisp wasn’t in the little stand that had been our camp for the night. I got up and crawled over to my power armor, placing my shotgun and the rifle that I had used yesterday around them with the straps. As I got in, I saw Willow Wisp with a shovel in the clearing of the canyon. She must have found the shovel nearby, and I realize the sound of moving dirt was coming from her. There was a giant hole in front of her, and the bloody body of a raider as well. She looked over to me and waved, which I had returned even though I was worried. I could see blood on the ground around her as well as a trail leading to her position. She must have opened up some more wounds doing whatever she was going to with the hole.

I walked over and watched as she fell down exhausted. Seeing this I rushed to her side in a moments notice to check on her. The bandages from yesterday were covered in blood, and a trail going down her face as well. I shake my head at the young pegasus, wonder what was so important that she was risking her well being over it. I look into the hole with curiosity, and saw the body of multiple raiders in it. She was burying them! I guess even these assholes deserve some kind of burial, even if it was a canyon in the middle of nowhere. Was this what Willow Wisp did before she came here? I couldn’t see her cutie mark so I couldn’t be completely sure.

“You should get some rest,” I told to her in a motherly tone “You’re hurting yourself more than necessary. I’ll finish this one up for you but we’re leaving after that.”

Willow Wisp nodded in responce, moving away and quickly falling asleep on the ground. She couldn’t see it through the helmet, but I was looking at her great concern. I couldn’t understand what her thought process was, and why she was burying them to begin with. Not that I had a problem with it, but she shouldn’t have been doing anything when she is so injured. It was like some sort of duty she had to do, something that just made her do this. The only explanation was that it was responsibility she had before they captured her.

I look at the hole she had dug and then the shovel. Picking up the shovel, I started filling back up the hole she had created. As I did, something about it just felt different; something I couldn’t explain. I never really thought about it, but I had just killed ponies. Feral ghouls, radroaches, and things like those didn’t really have hopes and dreams, but ponies do. There was some sort of burden I felt filling up this grave, unable to believe what I was doing. Yet Willow Wisp had done it without any thought, like a machine.

I finished it up before going and grabbing the bag that Dread had left us. I wish I had some saddlebags, but I was going to have to carry it on my mouth. I took the helmet to my power suit off and through it to the side and pick the bag up in my mouth. I wouldn’t be able to bring the helmet with me because of this, but leaving everything in here would be a stupid. Lastly I nudge Willow Wisp onto my back, making sure not to wake her up. She was out like a light from the shoveling she had been doing, which must have been all night now that I think of it. That must have been why she saw me crying in my sleep.

Before heading off, I turn to the radio on my Pipbuck and turn it on. Traveling meant music, and I wanted some for the journey ahead. After fiddling with it for a few seconds, I manage to turn to a station.

“I don’t want to set the woooorld ooon fiiiirrre-”

I turn the radio off, instantly regretting having ever turned it on. It was the only radio station I could get from here and the song gave me a feeling that could only be described as… weird.

Turning to the path out of the cliff, I took a deep breath as I made my way towards it. This was it, I was about to go into a world I didn’t even know to a place I might not even find. Okay, technically I was already in that world but this time I didn’t have a gun constantly aimed at me. Everything was going changing before my eyes, and these very steps proved it. Every step of a metallic hoof filled me with something I never felt. Fear, but it was different kind of fear. This was the fear of entering a world I knew almost nothing about. It was the fear that I was getting involved in something bigger than me. Yet that didn't bother me as much as the lack of a path ahead; the fact I had nothing but a name to guide me.

As I walked out of that canyon, I looked out to a much different Equestria then I had ever heard of. Around me thousands of dead-looking trees, bare from the cold winter weather. There was a lack of plants and flowers, and grass everywhere I looked. Where was I? This didn’t look like anywhere I had read or heard on the radio. I shook the thought from my mind headed straight forward, know standing still wouldn’t answer my question. The world seem bare and quite. I start to think those raiders were the only ponies for miles. All I could do is hope. Hope and pray to Celestia that I meet so pony willing to help me.

I look around myself as I walked, taking in that blandness of the world. There was no road in sight, and despite the time of the year, there was no snow on the ground. Maybe that last one was because of those mega spells all those years ago. Maybe one had been misfired and landed here, or the air was to irradiated to let snow fall to the ground. Then again, I probably would be dead walking through here if either was right. Besides, the mega spells didn’t affect me. I shouldn’t worry about them.

After some time I finally found my way out of the small woods at the canyon’s top, and was greeted to that of a open field. There was much fewer trees here, and because of that I was able noticed a road in the distance with something on it. Narrowing my eyes I made out the shape of a pony, a unicorn to be exact. It was another unicorn! My face seemed to light up in as I realized what it was. Maybe they knew the way to Manehattan, or could help Willow Wisp out. Either way I was saved.

“Heeey!” I yelled to the pony hope filling my voice. They looked at me as I spoke, watching as I ran at them. Thank celestia, I’m saved.

Than the unicorn took out a gun as I got closer and pointed it at me. I stopped in my tracks as I saw this. Maybe I was wrong about being saved. The unicorn started walk toward me at a slow pace. His large gun grasped in magic, probably ready to fire at me. This was perfect, I manage to find a pony and the first thing they do is pull a gun out and point it at me. Well Dead Hooves, I hope you enjoyed this adventure, because it was most likely about to end before your eyes. Way to go you idiot.

“Don’t Move!” He commanded, his voice sounding harsh and authoritative, “Just tell me who you are and what you want and I may consider sparing your lives.”

Not taking any chances, I responded. “The names Dead Hooves, I’m new here in the wasteland. I need to get this pony here to Manehattan fast. She’s injured and in desperate need of a doctor,” I paused for a second before adding “And could you PLEASE lower the big, scary gun.”

Slowly the pony lowered his gun, allowing me to get a better look at him, or at least the attire he wore. He wore old goggles, probably pre-war, and a dusty jacket with a few old blood stains. His muzzle was covered by some sort of neck warmer that seemed to be tattered, showing some bullet holes in them. His mane was covered but his tail showed being short and yellow. The gun he held was long with a scope, it was nothing like the my shotgun, obviously built for long range. It had a zebra like paint design but with a red coloring to it. This must have been one of those zebra rifles dad had told me about, though I don’t remember zebras being red.

“You’re a stable dweller?” He asked me, throwing the gun over his back.

“What’s a stable?” I replied back him, tilting my head in confusion.

“You’re kidding right?” He chuckled. “I thought you said you were knew out here?”

“I am,” I whined with annoyance “I didn't live in a ‘Stable’ or whatever the hell it is. I lived with my father until a few years ago, and never traveled this far from my house. I was dragged out here by somepony named Twister.”

The pony once again started laughing, first soft before growing much louder. “You…  you met Twister?” He said, taking heavy breaths between his laughing. “You met Twister, and lived? That’s a first for me.”

I looked at him with a straight face as he fell to the ground laughing. If I could have, I would have held my hoof to my face in disbelief. Sadly the way my power armor was built kept me from being able to do this. I just looked on, unable to believe that this was the first pony I encounter out here. After what felt like forever, he finally recover from his little laughing fit. This was the pony I was asking directions from… will isn’t that just great.

“Never thought I would see the day someone survived Twister,” He managed to say, seeming to have recollected all his thoughts. “Let alone meet the pony who did, but I believe you. If you don’t know what a Stable is, then you probably don’t know that Manehattan is on the other side of Equestria, and you're heading away from it.”

My eyes were the size of the moon having heard that “What!” I shouted in utter disbelief. “I thought I was closer to it than that. How long is it to get there?”

“Calm down,” He said, rolling his eyes at me. “Listen, I hate to tell you this but if you’re heading to Manehattan then it’s a good fifteen day journey at the least. If she needs medical attention I know someone at a small settlement nearby. I was just leaving from it but I wouldn’t be better than anyone else than.”

“You don’t understand,” I said to him “It wasn’t that I know where Manehattan is, I don’t even know where my house is anymore. I was kidnapped and taken to a raider camp because Twister tried to sell me out as the Bloody Angel.”

He looked at me like I was insane, a sure sign he didn’t believe that. “You fucking with me? Or were those raiders so dumb they couldn’t tell the difference between a mare and a stallion?”

“Well, they fell for it,” I replied, looking off in the distance and shrugging my shoulders “He knew I wasn’t the murder. He said something about my father, which means my father is responsible for something else. I don’t know what pissed him off, but I want to know what it is and fuck him up for what he did to me.”

He walked to my side and looked at Willow Wisp. There was some sort of sympathy that showed in his eyes as he looked at her. He put a hoof on Willows back and closed his eyes before turning back to me. He must have known something about her. He wouldn't have acted like that otherwise. What was it that made him worried?

“You found this poor slave tied up where again?”

I looked at him with rage, his question making me boil. Slave! Was he trying to insult Willow? Because if he was he was doing a very good job at it. I wouldn't have been this angry otherwise. He seemed to noticed my anger and took a few steps back before clarifying.

“I-I didn't mean it like that,” He tried to assure me, but I kept staring angrily into his eyes. “You didn’t know she was a slave, did you?”

I soften my gaze, seeing that I had taken him to harshly. I softened my gaze and looked back at Willow Wisp. I knew that pony had been through a lot, but was that the reason she seemed to listen to me without arguing? Was that the reason she was mute? Did some stupid slavers rip her voice out or something? If that was the case, how did she end up in the raiders camp? Was she in a similar position that I was in? I looked at the unicorn seeing that he was waiting for me to answer him.

“No,” I replied shaking my head. “I didn’t know. Sorry about that.”

“Apologizing is for foals,” He said, “Out here, there is no reason to apologize for anything. I’ll take your apology for now and say thank you, since this is your first time out here, but remember that for that future.”

Apologizing is for foals… That's something I wouldn't forget. This pony didn't seem to have any care what he said, and he certainly didn't seem to regret anything. Then again he probably didn't need to considering that gun. That didn’t stop me from noticing the occasional glance back to Willow Wisp. I didn’t say anything, but considering the way he has acted it felt rather odd.

“So why are you out here?” I ask, deciding it was my turn to get some answers. “And how did you know Willow Wisp was a slave?”

“I’m just a lonely traveler wandering the wasteland,” He told me. “Ponies around here call me the Sharpshot, and it's a name I've taken. If you want anything to call me, call me by that. As for the slave thing,” I once again saw him glance back to Willow. “I had some traveling around the Ponyville area not so long ago and ran into some slavers. Took them down pretty easily, but the slaves they had were pretty well beaten. This Willow Wisp here definitely got the worst of it though. Never seen those assholes ever go this far.”

I look back at Willow Wisp, wondering if it was really true. Was she a slave? That answered part of my question about who she was, but it didn't keep me from wondering how she ended up like that to begin with. To think they were treated that badly, and for what reason? I guess I shouldn't have been all that surprise with a title like ‘slave’ but you think that whoever she was a slave for would take at least a little respect for her. I mean seriously. Imagine being a slave and the slaver coming up to you and whipping you. Not because you did anything, but so you are kept for doing anything. That was the kind of torture I saw Willow having to go through.

“What the hell was Dread going to do with you?” I whispered, not knowing what Dread had planned for this pony. I turned back to Sharpshot, taking a deep breath before speaking. “Well if you know a place we could get medical help I would love it if you showed us the way.”

Sharpshot sighed heavily before looking at me. “I guess I gotta help you somehow, considering I made such a bad introduction,” He said somewhat angry. “But before we do that, have you done anything to tell Willow Wisp there that she's free? I'm not sure if she knows or not.”

“She stayed up all last night burying the raiders I had to killed,” I explained to Sharpshot. “I want her to get some sleep, it doesn’t look she has gotten much in the past few days,”

Sharpshot let out another sigh and looked at me. “Guess you got a point. If that’s what you want it’s what she wants, that’s all slaves know. Just a warning for the future: until you tell her she is free she’ll do anything you ask her to, even if it’s to kill herself. No joke, I saw a slaver do that before,” He put his weapon around his back and started walking away. “Come on,” He motioned me to his side as we started making our way to wherever it was we were going.

“So tell me something,” He said curiously “I get that you got captured and everything, but why didn’t you ever think of leaving home? Don't tell me you weren't curious about whatever was out here.”

“Never really had the opportunity to,” I explain to him. “I was born with a paralyzed lower body. The only way I’m able to move is with this power armor, which my dad had modified to help me move.”

“Huh,” He said quite intrigued at the fact. “I guess that could definitely be a setback. Not many ponies like you survive out here in the wasteland with conditions like that. Usually ponies leave them to die or something along those lines. You should consider yourself lucky that your father kept you around.”

The anger once again built up inside me, hearing those words about my father. My dad would never abandon me, I know it. He always told me how much he loved me, how much he cared. I was the only thing he had left, and he alway complimented me about how much I was like my mother. Stubborn yet kind with a good eye for killing. We had relied on each other to survive, and I’m surprised I have lasted as long as I have without his guidance. He always told me stories about my mother and him, sometimes I thought he saw me as my mom more than her daughter. I didn't really care, and that was important. He deserved to live, considering what I did.

“I have you know my father is the sweetest pony in history,” I explain to Sharpshot, holding my head high. “You would think the same thing if you ever knew him.”

“Yeah yeah, I’m sure,” I could hear the sarcasm dripping in every word he said. “Let me guess, he told you he was part of some great group that helped keep the wasteland safe. I won't deny the power armor, but usually those kind of things are made up to make foals think of their parents are heroes. I'm telling you, any stories your dad told you probably aren't true, and he ain’t a hero,” I opened my mouth to protest but he spoke once again. “Let me guess, you’re going to tell me something like ‘my father knew the elements of harmony’ or ‘my father saved a town from nuclear devastation,” I closed my mouth. While not exactly as exaggerated as that, somehow he read into exactly where I was going with it all. “It’s just a big fucking lie okay? The ministry mares have been dead for more than sixty fucking years and the mega spells hit seventy-five years ago. If you have a problem with it, take it up with father fucking time, understand!”

I simply looked away in sadness. Not any of the things he said were exactly what my father said, but he had a point. Were all those stories he told me lies? Were they all just to make me love you more? No, I didn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe my father was a pony like that. He was a good pony. A pony who helped others, and a pony who loved his daughter. Sharpshot didn’t know anything. He didn’t know a damn thing about me far.

“Shut your fucking mouth you… you BITCH!” I yelled back at him. “You don't know a thing about my father. He was kind, brave, maybe had a little bit of an ego but still. He was more of a pony than you’ll ever be! So shut the hell up you INSUFFERABLE BITCH!”

I heard something scratching the power armor behind me, and looking back I saw Willow Wisp completely awake. My yelling had apparently woken her up, and she was looking at me scared. Oh… oh no. That wasn't what I wanted. I never wanted Willow Wisp to hear me talk like that, but she just had. We all stood in silence for several seconds. I look at Willow Wisp, ashamed of how I had just acted in front of this poor mare. 

“Sorry you had to hear that,” I apologized, not caring about the fact that Sharpshot was rolling his eyes at me.

Willow just slid her way across the back of my power armor and hugged me. I looked to Sharpshot, who was in amazement at the sight. It was clear he had never seen anything like this between a pony and a slave... or a traveling companion would probably be a better choice of word. He didn’t understand what I had seen her like back at the camp. She had looked even worse back than, but I could see the stains of blood on the back of my power armor. At least she wasn’t opening up more wounds like she had been, but what there was open was still very fresh.

“Maybe you shouldn’t set her free,” He joke. “You two may need each other.”

I looked at him, still furious “She isn’t my slave,” I corrected him “She’s my friend and traveling partner, and we're going to beat that son of a bitch named Twister till he can’t breath, got it?”

He sighed. “Whatever you say, but you two are in no shape right now to take him on. First thing to do is get your “partner” fix on up for the road ahead, which means we need to head to somepony who knows how to fix someone up. So can we please just get going? The long she sits the worse it will get.”

I got to admit, at least Sharpshot knew where he was going. I still didn't forgive him for what he had said earlier about my father, but I guess he probably had his reasons for saying that. Must have had a hard foal hood or something like that, probably lost his parents when he was young. That said I wasn’t going to take the chance to find out. He seemed like the kind of pony who would kill because of something simply such as a question, and I didn't want to learn if that was true.

As for Willow Wisp, she seemed to be happy just hugging me for the moment. Than again she must have been happy that I hadn't abandoned her, or it could just be the fact she was a slave… again. I hated thinking about the idea of her being a slave. I didn’t need to know how she was treated so horribly by somepony, or how she had come bared such a cruel title in the first place. I wanted to be as happy as her at the moment, but I couldn't get my mind off of the idea. I wanted to make her life better, and if I find the pony that had owned her, he was in the same boat as Twister.

“Alright,” I finally say, trying to act as courageously as possible. “Lead the way Sharpshot.”

He nodded and start headed off towards the settlement, Willow and I following close behind. Everything was changing, I knew it at that very moment. I was going to find things I would have rather have been kept secret, and meet ponies who would end up becoming great allies and die for the safety of us. It’s a law of the wasteland to me, that you either survive or you die. I learned it from all those years alone, and in the end you have to take every step necessary to live. I was going to live. I was going to survive. I was going to show the entire wasteland I'm more than just a paralyzed pony. I was going to show them the truth.
> Chapter 4 - Stables and Doctors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I walked on silently, still carrying Willow Wisp on my back and Sharpshot in the lead, I started to wonder what settlements out here were like. Were they nice and glamorous, I surely hoped so. Anything to spice up this sad, dead world that I had never fully payed attention. It was surely interesting seeing the world as a traveler for the first time, you don’t realize exactly what devastation was caused by the mega spells until you truly step into the unknown. It did make me start wondering about what happened, but not enough to make me put it at the top of my list.

Sharpshot proved himself to be a much more successful navigator, somehow able to know where to go without a map of any kind. Guess it probably a normal talent when you live out here all your life, having to know where you are trying to go and that stuff. It wasn’t the hard of a walk honestly, we barely ever made turns and anything that got in our way Sharpshot took down before they could even get near us. Guess that’s why ponies call him what they do, he has some incredible aim.

As for Willow Wisp, she spent most of her time playing with my mane. She acted very much like a little foal, despite being somewhat older than that, I’d say around fifteen to sixteen at the most. To think that this pony was plagued by such a terrible past, I really did want to just find father time and give him a good punch in the face for showing how cruel destiny was.

That’s not something you hear somepony saying often, destiny being cruel. Honestly, it is, knowing that somewhere out there, thousands upon thousands of different versions of the same event might just be getting created as we speak, and with a sad and tragic fate in most of them. The thing that sucks about destiny is that once something happens, it can’t be fixed and you know that beyond all those other sad alternate universes there is on happy one where those events didn’t happen. One where pony kind lived in a happier place full of sunshine and rainbows maybe.

Nah, I actually think that would be dull and boring. The wasteland had some perks to it beyond the nuclear devastation, radiation, strange beasts, raiders, and everything else. It definitely set a nice tone for adventure, which is something I always wanted inside of me. The wasteland made life more interesting, even if it took lives as well at least things are staying suspenseful. Call me a crazy pony for thinking that, but opinions only matter to the pony with it… right?

“We should be at our destination in a few minutes,” Sharpshot announced, Willow taking a good tug at my hair as he did. “I think you should feel at home, it isn’t the nicest looking town, but it’s small and comfortable. Once thought about settling down here, but decided it was more fun traveling around to great exotic places such as the ruins of Canterlot,” He shivered as he brought the name up “That was the worst idea I ever had.”

“Why?” I asked curious.

“Canterlot wasn’t hit by your ordinary mega spell,” Sharpshot explained “It has some sort of weird cloud thing around it, and I ended up having these goggles fused into my skull because of it.”

My eyes widened in shock at this information. There was a place like that out there? “I thought the mega spells were suppose to be deadly.”

“Oh trust me it's deadly,” He said, “This is honestly the least of your worries, and I never really took them off anyways. A slight benefit if you ask me, but it’s not a risk I would want you to take, got it?”

I nodded in response to this, not really wanting to deal with anything like that. Sure, I liked the power armor I had, but it certainly wasn’t the most comfortable or flexible thing in the world. Besides, if there was a chance of me dying, I didn’t want to really take it. If I was to die, it was going to be in from gunfight, not a mega spell. That didn’t mean I wasn’t the least bit curious, I thought that there was only one kind of mega spell out their in the world. Guess I was wrong.

“So tell me Dead Hooves,” I’m snapped back to reality as I heard Sharpshot speak. “How exactly do you plan to find Twister? You certainly shouldn’t just wander around the wasteland hoping to find something. It’s a dangerous world, and anything that can kill you most likely will.”

“I haven’t really thought about that,” I replied, not really think about it beforehand. “Right now my main objective is to get Willow Wisp some medical attention and head to Manehattan. I don’t really know what’s waiting for me there, but it’s the only place I really can think of going after this.”

“If you’re going to go to Manehattan, then I would like to come with you,” Sharpshot said “You need a navigator and someone who knows the land, and at the moment I’m the only one here that really has that skill. Look, I know what I said about your father might have been a bit harsh,” Well that was an understatement “But I have some business in that area and was planning on heading there once I’m finished up over here.”

“What kind of business is that?” I was curious about what he wanted.

“It’s a personal matter really,” He explained “Nothing you need to worry about, got it?” 

I nodded my head, understanding what it meant. Hopefully that “personal matter” didn’t involve me being used as bait. Even if that was the case, I didn’t really have a choice but to say yes to his offer. He surely was the only one that I knew that seemed to be friendly at the moment, and I probably won’t meet many ponies like that. Besides, he was a good shot with that rifle of his, how could I say no to somepony with such accuracy.

“Consider yourself hire.”

“Don’t think of it as hiring me,” He said “Think of it as a personal thing, it’s not like I’m doing the job for you. In that case, I only have one requirement, and that is that you help me with my personal job in return. Do that, and we’re even.’

“No objections,” I replied. “But if you try to kill me, I will pull the trigger on you.”

“To be expected,” He said before turning around. “We’re here.”

I look up to see the figure of a few small buildings in the distance. As we got closer, I was  able to make the town a bit more. It wasn’t as pretty as I had expected, but I guess Sharpshot had explained that to me. It was small, just like he said, with only four to five buildings, only one of them had a second floor. There was only two ponies outside, one was an older looking earth pony sitting on a somewhat broken down rocking chair while the other was a small earth pony foal sitting on the swing next to her. They must have been grandmother and... grandcolt? I think I got that right. This was the first time I had ever really said that word.

The windows on the buildings seemed to be in very bad shape, most of them having a few holes or just being completely smashed. I estimated that there was only two windows that were actually in good shape, which both belonged to the two story building. All the buildings were made of wood, most of it looking old and ready to fall apart. Only one of the buildings had a porch, which belonged to the one older pony and younger pony as well. One had some old swinging doors, which I heard a fair deal of ruckus coming from. Must have been one of those bars that dad had mentioned, a place where irresponsible ponies go to drink alcohol and waste their lives. My dad said they were dangerous places, and I certainly didn’t want to experience what was going on in their.

We headed a building near the edge of town, which seemed to be in better shape than the others in the area. It had a plus symbol hanging on a wooden sign being held by a rusting chain. The wood seemed to be in much finer shape than any of the other buildings, must have been a very important place for the town if they kept it in such good conditions. Their was small spots of red paint on the sign, which must have faded away as time went on.

“This is our stop,” Sharpshot said as he opened the door and we saw a pony inside. “Nice to see you again Stitch.”

The pony, a pegasus, looked at Sharpshot with a grin “Well, if it isn’t good old Sharpshot. Did you come to finally have those goggles removed from your face.”

“I told you I wasn’t letting you touch them,” He said, obviously frustrated by what this pegasus named Stitch had said. “And I’m not the one who needs help, they do.”

He pointed back at us and I finally got a good look at the pegasus. She had a blue coat with dark grey eyes, which was definitely interesting since it made her iris blend into her pupils. Her mane and tail shared the same zigzag like pattern and had a two green streaks of hair going down them with the rest being purple. She wore a small necklace with a metallic sun on the lower part of it as well some saddlebags which held some strange tools I have never seen before. She had what looked like needles and thread as a cutie mark, but I was exactly sure what it meant.

“Well this is knew,” She said very calmly “I’ve seen bits and pieces of power armor before but never a full set, let alone a pony using it,” She held her hoof out in welcome “Call me Stitch, I’m the doctor in this here settlement.”

“Dead Hooves,” I said introducing myself before turning to Willow Wisp, who was looking around amazed. “This is Willow Wisp, I found her badly beaten in a raider camp and I was hoping you could help her. She’s got some pretty bad wounds.”

Stitch nodded “Okay then, put her on the bed right there and I will take a look,” I did as instructed and slowly lowered Willow down onto the bed, which was just a wooden table that was attached to the walls of the building. “Let’s see here.”

She unwrapped the bandages and gasped at how brutal the wounds were. Most of them were still bleeding, which you could tell from how bloody the bandages were when she took them off. The injuries were mostly along her back and legs, but she had a few across her stomach, one on the left side of her neck, and one on her left cheek. I hated to say it, but she looked like she had risen from the dead.

“My word,” She said looking at them “Well miss Willow I hate to say it but I’m impressed that you have managed to survive like this. By a first look the don’t seem to be infected luckily, which could be a big problem considering the radiation pockets around here. The worse ones seems to be the ones right on your front hooves here,” Willow turned to look at it and tried to move it, but Stitch kept her from doing so. “Stay still sweetie, you’ll make it worse.”

“What do you need?” Sharpshot said next to me.

“I have most of the stuff necessary but I need alcohol to clean up these wounds and that’s the only thing that’s close enough to help,” Stitch explained to me “I also need something to soak up the blood, which shouldn’t be that hard as long as long Granny has some cotton still.”

“Granny?” I asked tilting my head “You mean that old mare sitting on the rocking chair?”

“I may be a pegasus but she raised me when my mother and father died from some stupid hellhounds twenty years ago,” She explained, “You tell her it’s for a patient and she should give it to you without hesitation. Don’t worry she’s a sweet lady, just don’t go saying anything about her Dash addiction and you should be fine.”

Dash? That was a new thing for me. Was it a drug of some kind? Guess it was probably better if I didn’t, considering it was something sensitive to this Granny of hers. I was still curious as to what it was, maybe if I asked nicely she would give me some… or maybe I should play it safe and assume that the “addiction” thing was a bit of a sign. Yeah, probably best to just leave it at that.

“I’m guessing you need use to get it for you?”

“I would do it myself but I really need to start working with Willow Wisp here,” Stitch explained. “If it wasn’t as bad as it is, I could go and get them myself, but these are terrifying injuries and need much more immediate treatment. Anything I should know about her before I get started.”

“She can’t talk,” I explained. “She’s also a former slave. Tell her that I told you to do this and hopefully she should cooperate.”

“Okay then,” She said understanding what I had told her. “I can’t started treating the injuries directly until you get me that stuff, so please get it back here as soon as possible.”

Me and Sharpshot made our way outside before deciding to talk. That had honestly gone a lot smoother then I had thought, but I was still somewhat worried. I was putting Willow Wisp’s life into the hands of a pony I just met (Sharpshot is helping me and Willow Wisp get to Manehattan so I trust him a bit more). It didn’t feel right to me, and I honestly felt scared. I don’t really know what it was, but I just felt some dire need to protect Willow.

“You can trust Stitch,” Sharpshot assured me. “I’ve never met a injured pony she can’t save, and that’s no exaggeration. She has a true gift for this kind of stuff, so just worry about getting her the stuff needed.”

I took a deep breath before looking back at Sharpshot. “Your right. So, would you not mind getting the alcohol.”

“You do know there are no drink laws around here, right?” Sharpshot asked me.

“It’s not that,” I reply “I just don’t think it would be best for a pony who has never had to do this before to do the more dangerous of the two assignments.”

Sharpshot lifted his hoof to his chin in thought. “Guess that’s true,” He agreed, “Okay then, I’ll get something at that bar. You go and ask Stitches Granny for the cotton, got it?’

“Got it,” I said confident as we headed to our destination.

It wasn’t that far of a walk to the house with the old pony I had seen before. I looked at the Stitches Granny, find that she was fast asleep on her broken rocking chair. The young colt from before wasn’t on the porch anymore, and I figured that he must have gone inside. The porch seemed to be really old, as in before the war old. Was this small town being built during the war? I guess it would explain something, considering that I had just realized that the two story house wasn’t fully finished. The bombs must have hit before they could finish or something like that. Stitch did say that there was a lot of radiation pockets around here, so it wouldn’t be surprising if that was the case.

Granny Cotton, as I decided to call her since I didn’t know her name, was an earth pony with a yellow coat which seemed to have lost its glamour due to her age. Her mane was completely white, and didn’t seem like it had been cared for in years. I didn’t realize it before, but she was actually missing her left ear, and by that I mean her entire left ear was gone. Nothing was left of it, maybe she was born without a left ear then. Her cutie mark was cotton, or at least that’s what I thought it was. I had never seen cotton before so I couldn’t really tell.

I took a step onto the porch, hearing it squeak loudly as I did. I heard Granny Cotton snort loudly as I did, and I felt kind of bad waking her up in such a bad way. Perfect, I find a settlement and one of the first things I do is disrupt the elderly. Please be as nice as Stitch said you were, please.

“Is that you Stitch,” She said, her voice high and rusty sounding. She creaked her eyes to open just enough for me to see her pupils “Whaddya want? Can’t ya see I’m trying to take a nap here?”

“Sorry,” I said, not caring what Sharpshot would have said, “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“Well ya wouldn’t have if that piece of metal you’re wearing was so heavy,” She said, cranky. “I’m guessing your a raider. Go away, I won’t hesitate to shot ya and I have nothing of value to you anyway.”

“That’s not why I’m here,” I said, scared as she pulled up a rusty old revolver. Clearly nothing in this tiny town has withstood the tests of time. “I’m Dead Hooves, and I was told by your granddaughter that you have cotton. We need it for an injured friend.”

She put the revolver down on the arm of the rocking chair and looked at me smiling. “Well why didn’t you say so? How did she react to the wounds?”

I didn’t know why she needed to know, but it didn’t matter. “She gasp and said that she was amazed my friend had survived.”

She got down and made her way to the door. “Stay right there, I’ll get ya your cotton,” She opened the door and went inside, slamming the door hard behind her. I didn’t have to wait long thankfully, as she came back outside not long afterwards with a handmade basket filled with cotton. “Here ya go,” She said as she handed it to me, which I didn’t hesitate to take from her. “If the injuries are as bad as you say they are, then you’re going to need a place to sleep. There's no inn or anything but we have a spare room in the back. Your welcome to stay here if you want.”

“Thank you,” I said turning away to leave.

Guess that solved the question of where we were staying. I wasn’t leaving without Willow Wisp, and Sharpshot knew that. If we had a place to stay, that would make me feel a lot safer than sleeping in the open out in the wasteland. Of course, as soon as Willow Wisp was able to walk we would leave. We had a personal thing to attend to after all, and the sooner we left the better.

I arrived at the building Stitch was treating Willow Wisp in to realize that Sharpshot was already there waiting for me. In one of his pockets he had a bottle of alcohol, and another gripped in magic which he was drinking. He lowered the bottle to show his coat, which I was seeing for the first time due to how covered up his body was. It was red from what I saw, but he quickly covered up again, only letting me see it for a couple seconds.

“I can’t believe you're not freezing in all that metal,” He said as I walked up to his side. “I would never be able to wear that in this kind of weather.”

He simply shrugged and pushed the door open, seeing Willow lying on the bed as Stitch tried to stop her from bleeding so badly. When she saw me and Sharpshot she was relieved, quickly taking the basket and bottle and running back over to Willow Wisp. I simply watched as she washed the blood off of Willow’s body and cleaned up the wounds. Willow was clearly in pain, she didn’t need a voice for you to see that. Her body twitching as Stitch applied the small bit of cotton dipped with alcohol onto the wound on her stomach, soaking up blood and allowing me to get a much better look at how bad it was. I won’t describe it fully for you, but let's just say it was the most disgusting and bloody wound I have ever seen.

“Thank you,” Stitch said, “I know you want to be here to comfort Willow but I need to have some privacy for this. If you wouldn’t mind waiting outside while I take care of this.”

I didn’t want to leave, but I guess it was probably for the best. Me and Sharpshot did as requested and waited outside. I got out of my power armor and took a seat next to Sharpshot on the ground, deciding to mess with my PipBuck a bit more.

“How did you find that?” Sharpshot asked, “Not everyday you see a wastelander with a PipBuck out here.”

“It’s my dad's,” I explained. “We use to listen to the news together and sing. The only things that work on it is the holotape player and radio. It’s one of only two things I still have from my dad, the other being this.”

I lifted my shotgun off of the power armor and held it in my hand. Sharpshot looked at it with wonder. “Remember,” He said, reading the words on the guns. “Remember what?”

“Remember the day my dad died,” I said, holding the shotgun close to me. “He was killed by ghouls five years ago. This was his before then, and it’s the only true reminder I have. It reminds me of his voice, his smile,” I started crying as I continued “I treat this gun with as much care as he had me. That’s why I was so angry when you said what you did, even if it was true. You got to understand though, he loved me as much as he did anyone else. Just because I’m paralyzed doesn’t mean nobody cares for me. I’m not a criminal, just a pony who got started walking in the wrong direction.”

I felt so stupid crying there, like I was useless and hopeless, but I had to say what I did. I had to make Sharpshot know that I my dad really did love me. I looked to him to see him crying, the tears going through a small crack of his goggles that weren’t fused to him. That wasn’t him crying about what happened to me, but rather something he remembered. Something that made him sad.

“Two years ago,” He started “I was just like you. I didn’t know anything about the wasteland, and I had never seen it before. I was a pony born in one of the stables, stable fifteen to be exact, which is located near the Frozen North. We never had heat, it was always freezing during the winter time, and we were told to never show our faces. That’s why I wear all this clothes on me, because I would be killed otherwise. I don’t know why it was a rule, or why it even mattered. I grew up the first few years of my life with those rules, my parents telling me stories of the ministers and of Celestia and Luna. There was an old stallion who would sing on the radio. I loved his music, it was dark and depressing sure, but it was beautiful to me. I didn’t want to leave stable fifteen, and I thought I never would.

“Then, on my birthday, the stable was breached by an Ursa Major. I watched as it ate everyone, leaving only me alive. I hid under a pipe full of frozen water as he slaughtered everyone I knew, and then fell asleep for hibernation. All that was left from the other ponies at the stable were bits of bloody skin, bones, and organs. I don’t know how I survived, or why I am today, but I remember hearing that old stallion sing my favorite song. It was about the truth behind war, that there was no heroes and that fighting was meaningless. Even after the war ended, we weren’t safe. War spares no one, affects everyone, and never leaves a single thing intact. I learned something that day, as hard as it is, and it’s that war never changes.”

I looked at him, not realizing what he had gone through. I felt bad for yelling at him now, and worse for calling him a moron. This was not about war, at least not to me. Destiny once again left a bloody mark on pony kind. Could this have been avoided? Yes. However, it wasn’t his decision that caused it, it was the Ursa Majors decision. I remember dad telling me things like that are called the butterfly effect. It all happened because the Ursa Major chose to sleep where he did, and because of that he ended up killing hundreds of ponies.

“Do you remember that song?” I asked him.

“Some of it,” Sharpshot replied. “But not much. For the past two years I’ve been trying to get stronger so I could kill that Ursa Major. He’s still there, I can feel it in my bones. I know that as long as he’s alive, all those ponies who died would not rest. They need to be comforted, they need to be put to rest.”

I looked at him, trying to hold back tears. “That's the personal thing you had to take care of,” He nodded his head, telling me I had gotten it right. “Then let’s get him.”

He looked at me shocked. “But what about Willow Wisp?”

“Don’t worry,” I said reassuring him. “We have plenty of time to prepare, and by that time Willow will be all better.”

He looked down at the ground, obviously hesitant on the decision. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready.”

I wasn’t going to let him be like this, not after we had agreed to help him already. “Sharpshot, listen. I can tell you're scared, and I am to honestly, but sitting here on our asses isn’t going to do us any good, is it? If that Ursa Major killed everyone in stable fifteen two years ago, don’t you think you're strong enough?” He didn’t respond. “Look, I may not be familiar with how things are around here, but I’m pretty sure that we can take down that Ursa Major. I understand that you’re scared, but I know you can do it. We said we would help you, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

Sharpshot looked at me, a smile across his face. “Thank you,” He tried his best to wipe the tears away. “Manehattan is close to where the stable is, since we’re already heading there, we can won’t have to worry about going that far out of the way.”

The door to the building opened and we watch as Willow Wisp and Stitch walked out. Willow Wisp was looking a lot better, her wounds being held closed by… Stitches. Well, that was a little funny, but it was clear that those wounds would open up as easily as before. You could still see the wounds to an extent, but over all she was looking a lot better, which made me happy.

“Willow should be able to walk now,” She explain. “But if you are planning on leaving, you should wait a few days. They may be closed now but I can’t guarantee that they will stay close. I’m guessing my Granny has already told you that you can stay.”

“Yes,” I confirmed. “And thank you, I don’t know what I would have done otherwise.”

Stitch rubbed her back in embarrassment “You don’t need to thank me, but glad I could help,” She looked up at the sun and I followed her gaze to see that the sun was getting low in the sky. “Guess we should be heading back, it’s getting late.”

We all nodded in agreement and followed Stitch to her house. The entire way, I looked at Willow, who was happy to be walking again. She looked at me with a smile, and I did the same thing. We were in this together, and we didn’t need to talk to know that. In a few days, we would head out and make our way to Manehattan. I knew something then, that pony Dread was sending us to, White Light, he knew something about Twister. He was how I was going to my revenge, it was as simple as that.
> Chapter 5 - Blood is spilled
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The inside of Stitches house was about as decorated as you would expect from home in the wasteland. There wasn’t a lot of things that were just for show, except for maybe a flower pot and an old worn picture. I tried looking at it to try and make out who was in it, but I couldn’t. It was old, that’s for sure, but time had not been as kind to it as anything else in the small house.

There were only a few rooms as well and you could them all no matter where you were in the house (except the bathroom of course, because that would have been stupid). It gave off a very peaceful vibe, making me feel safe and secure. I guess that’s because it somewhat reminded me of home, not in how it looked but just being in it. It was an entirely different world outside and I would rather it stay outside if it could, which wasn’t really that possible. I learned that the colt from earlier was in deed Stitch’s adopted brother who was named Mud Swirl. He had a white mane that was somewhat messy from all the dirt and stuff he had in it. His coat was just a few shades short of being completely black, and he didn’t yet have his cutie mark.

Then again, even with how old I was I didn’t have my cutie mark. Not that I really cared considering I never thought I would get one, it was just strange because every pony I met had one or I at least assumed had one. I was able to see Willow Wisp’s cutie mark now with all the blood on her body mostly cleaned up (she was still a little bloody, but it was improving) which was a tombstone. Guess that might explain the burial thing back at the raider camp in the canyon, and why she felt like she had to do it. I assumed Sharpshot had one, but it was impossible to see under all his cloths. It felt kind of weird not having a cutie mark now, considering everyone else did.

We had all gathered up in the dining room, which was really just a room with a few cabinets, chairs, and tables, and sat down while Granny decided to get. Willow Wisp looked like she might be humming a tune in her head, but I don’t need to tell you why I’m not absolutely positive. Sharpshot was simply sitting back in his chair with his back hooves on the table, which made me kind of jealous. I was out of my power armor and sitting as comfortably as possible, which wasn’t really comfortable to begin with. Stitch was helping her granny with diner and Mud Swirl was… sleeping on the table. He was sleeping on the fucking table. Whelp, I guess they did mention they were one bed short.

I decided to turn the radio on, which was a lot better then last time. I was singing along and every once in awhile Sharpshot would join in with me, but he said he didn’t have a good memory when it came to lyrics. I was just happy that the stupid song from earlier didn’t come on (just my opinion, if you like it I have nothing wrong with that) and I had something to keep me company.

After what I think was the fifth song I had sung along to, Sharpshot tossed me a beer from across the table. I just barely managed to catch it before it fell onto Mud Swirl, which would have been a big disaster. I took sniff at it and realized that it smelled like apples, and my eyes widened. I quickly took off the cap of the bottle and drank close to three quarters of it, not caring at how quickly it was happening.

“Guess you liked it,” Sharpshot said with a grin on his “I smelled some old apple ale on your face when we met earlier and thought that I could at least try to get you a drink as a sort of apology letter. Next time, you're buying me a drink, got it.”

“Yeah sure but,” I thought about how to say this for a second before asking, “Do ponies still use bits?”

“Well if you have any then you got yourself some serious luck,” Stitch said, coming to sit down “Pre-war money can get you a lot of bottle caps around here, that’s what ponies have started to use for money around here.”

I looked at her curiously. “Why bottle caps?”

“Some drunk probably had some bottle caps stacked on a table and showed up at one of those meetings in friendship city. That’s the biggest settlement in the wasteland at this point and any thing that happens probably started there.”

I wasn’t really sure he was correct, but at the moment Sharpshot seemed to be the only one giving me answers. Most of these ponies, including me, have probably never been all the way over in that area before. Not surprising though, if there are worse things out there then ghouls and bloatflies… Or was it bloatsprites? Yeah, I think it was that last one.

“If you're planning on going in that direction it’s a good thing you have Sharpshot here guiding you,” Stitch said, “He’s spent a lot of time over there and knows the area better than anyone else, including Canterlot. Seriously Sharp, are you sure that those goggles aren’t going to cause a infection or something; I don’t know if it’s bad but it certainly doesn't seem okay.”

“I’m fine Stitch,” Sharp (that’s what I’ve started calling him) replied aggravated from being ask the same thing for what I’m guessing was probably the third time today. “Seriously, I’ve been like this for one and a half years and it hasn’t yet cause any major problems. If it was a danger to my health I would have known by now.”

Stitch rolled her eyes and looked at me with a face that said “good luck”. Guess the unknown was playing with her, she seriously was concerned about Sharp’s health. Was the pink cloud really that bad? Hope I never end up in Canterlot, probably infested with tons of ghouls because of the radiation. Then again, anywhere that I haven’t wanted to go I end up going to. I didn’t want to end up out here in the wasteland, but I have already spoken about how cruel destiny had played with me there. I would sooner or later probably end up in Canterlot and have something stupid stuck to me for all I know.

“Don’t worry about her,” Sharp tells me seeing the worry in my eyes. “She can be a bit of a health nut sometimes. It’s the only thing I hate about her most honestly, and is the another reason I didn’t settle down here.”

I realized something as he said this. “Say, does this settlement have a name or anything?”

“Manechestar,” Stitch answered, trying to wake her brother up. “The town was so early in development when the Mega spells hit that it was never really named. Most of the families who live here, including Granny, settled down because they had found that their homes had been obliterated by zebra Mega spells. Those ponies are the ones who ended up naming this small place.”

“Zebra’s?” I say to myself, it took me a moment to figure out what it meant. “Oh, so that’s who we were fighting in that great war seventy five years ago. Say, do you guys know if there are any Mega spells remaining? Disarmed if you would please.”

They all looked at me as if I was crazy for saying what I had. Hey, just because I don’t care about the war doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like a souvenir when this was all over. Maybe I could pay the Zebra nation my gratitude if I found one still armed… okay, now I am starting to see why they were staring at me. Seriously though, if we have an extra mega spell missile laying around that has been disabled, give it to me to put on a wall or something.

Sharp was the first one to speak up about this. “You are one fucked up son of a bitch.”

Guess I maybe shouldn’t have said that with a smile on my face. Probably made me look a bit too psychotic for all I know, and giving what I was asking for it certainly didn’t help. Now I know how I was making for a first impression on this family right here, and it certainly wasn’t that good.

“Sorry,” I apologized again, rubbing the back of my neck. “Little too soon?”

“Way to soon,” I look at the table to realize that Mud Swirl had heard the entire thing. “Aren’t you the mare that had walked into town with mister Sharpshot earlier?”

“Hey kid,” I hear Sharp reply nonchalantly “I didn’t realize you were awake. I didn’t want to interrupt your nap. My bad.”

“It’s okay mister Sharpshot,” He replies not seeming to care. “It’s nice to see you again. Will we have time for me to try the Flash Fire?”

“Will see.”

It wasn’t that hard to tell that the kid and Sharp had a bit of a friendship with each other, but what was the Flash Fire thing Mud had mentioned. I look at the gun on Sharps chair to realize that it had streaks of red, orange, and yellow on it as well as a red ring near the shoulder rest. It was pretty obvious to tell it wasn’t an assault rifle or shotgun like I have mostly seen so far. It was much longer and had a scope. Not to mention Sharp’s didn’t fire it in as quick of bursts as I did my repeater or shotgun, making it seem like it wasn’t for close quarters combat.

“Is Flash Fire that weapon right there,” I decided to ask, somewhat curious as to what it was.

“Yep,” He replied “It’s a typical zebra rifle, but the color scheme was so different that I felt like it needed to be called something else. I came up with the name Flash Fire because of it’s colors, but I honestly don’t know how the whole enchanting bullet thing works with it. It’s the only weapon I have and it’s what managed to keep me alive as long as I have.”

“So that’s a zebra rifle?” I say studying it more closely. I look at my dad’s shotgun for a second thinking of something “I guess if you named your weapon I should name mine something to.”

“How about remembrance?” Sharp asks me “You have it to remember your father, so it would be fitting to name it something around that. Since I don’t know your father’s name, that's the best idea I have.”

I think about it for a moment, wondering whether or not to stick with it. I never knew what my dad's real name was, so that idea was out. Sharp had a point though, I had sketched the words “remember” into the side of the gun and it was really the only true thing I still had from my dad. Me and my dad always considered the power armor mine and it was hard to really remember dad with the PipBuck when it was pretty run down and broken. Guess I only had one choice of what to call it.

“Remembrance it is then,” I say agreeing with Sharp. “It’s not special or anything but it's a fitting name.”

Granny Cotton suddenly came in with a salad. “Well if you are all done naming your pet guns I have dinner ready. Not much but it’s the best harvest I’ve had in a long time.”

“The radiation makes it hard to grow crops around here,” Stitch explains to me as I look at a half empty bowl of lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. “It still surprises me that we can get anything to grow at all around here.”

“Last year we almost went starving it was so bad,” Mud continues. “This year our luck was much better, probably because mister Sharpshot showed up and cleared all those radroaches and raiders out of town.”

Sharp laughed nervously as Mud Swirl brought up the event. I guess he must have had a pretty big impact on this town (if you could call it a town) if the kid was speaking to him in the way he was. Must have idolized the stallion because of it. Guess I could see why it was such a big deal considering how small the town was and how little much have happened around here. I was use to that kind of atmosphere, given my paralysis.

“I guess I do seem to have a ray of good luck wherever I go,” Sharp said nervously “But it wasn’t anything that special.”

“That deed help save this town from starvation,” Granny said. “Stop being so damn stubborn and take a compliment for once in yer life.”

I looked back to Willow Wisp who had already finished eating. She looked as if she hasn’t eaten in awhile so it was good that she got something in her stomach. She looked at me and rubbed her stomach, probably trying to tell me that the food was good. I decided to have a bite and found that indeed was rather tasty. It didn’t go along well with the ale, so I put my drink to the side while I ate. It wasn’t anything really filling, but I guess I must be a bit fat compared to them if this was shared with the entire town. Even if it wasn’t very big that was a lot of mouths to feed.

“So when do you plan on leaving?” Stitch asked. “I know that you are heading to Manehattan for something but I don’t know when you actually plan on going.”

“As soon as you think Willow Wisp is able to,” I explain. “I want to get there as soon as possible but I don’t want to risk Willow Wisp’s health at all. Whenever you think it will be fine to leave I’m okay with it.”

“In that case you could probably leave the day after tomorrow,” Stitch suggested. “I heard that ponies are looking for a pony like you so the sooner you leave the less damage that could be caused.”

I looked at her worryingly “A pony like me?”

Sharpshot stood up and walked over to me. He messed with my PipBuck’s radio for a second and turned the music off before going to sit back down. Guess it must have been a little too happy for his liking, but I also know that there was something else to it. Both me and Willow Wisp look at everyone, who all looked at the ground in shame.

“Two days ago Twister, the pony you're looking for, put up a bounty for a pony he said was the Bloody Angle,” He explained to me “That pony matched the same exact description of you. A tan coat with a wavy red and grey mane living out in the middle of who knows where with power armor. He offered a pretty hefty reward for your death, offering ten thousand bottle caps, which he probably does have. The minute I saw you I knew you were the pony he had described, but I could also tell that he was lying just like every other time he has put a bounty on someone's head. If you’re on his bad side, you probably did something that made him real mad.”

I hadn't done anything to him, I didn't even know who he was until the day he kidnapped me. However, I knew this had less to do with me and more to do with my father. They must have known each other, and my father must have done something that had pissed him off. I feel like I'm repeating myself saying this but it's very clear now that this is the case and that it has nothing to do with me. What had my father done that was so terrible, but considering that Sharp had just said it’s always been a lie with this pony, I guess it could have nothing to do with my father and I just happened to end up being a poor unfortunate soul who got caught up in this mess.

“I don't get it,” I look at the ground not able to look everyone in the face. “What did my father do that could have done something like this? I never knew this pony and father never mentioned his name. Is it possible that I simply just happened to have the same colors he was describing?”

“I guess there always is that possibility,” Sharp said agreeing with me. “But it did seem like he had a bone to pick with someone when he said it. If he really did manage to get the wasteland to listen to him then it’s possible that we would have to go to someplace other than Manehattan to stay safe.”

“What if you found the real Bloody Angel?” Mud Swirl ask “If you brought them in wouldn’t that stop everypony from chasing you?”

“That is true,” Stitch agreed.

A thought suddenly popped into my head. If he had gotten the word out to the entire wasteland he would need a radio station. If he had a radio station then there might be a possibility that we could use it against him. We could make him the target instead of me!

“Where do you think he would have broadcast from?” I ask. “The only way to spread the news so rapidly would be through radio so if we took the radio station he broadcast from we could send out a message saying that he had lied. He already has a bad reputation by the sounds of it, and this could wreck it even more.”

Everyone looked at me curiously. “That might actually work,” Sharp said. “The radio station he would have most likely used was Tenpony Tower in Manehattan. If we could get into Manehattan without too much trouble and infiltrate the tower then we might be able to use it against him.”

“The only question then is getting into the city and getting through the wasteland unharmed,” Stitch said. “We would need to take a route that would-”

“Wait a second,” Sharp said interrupting. “We? As in you're coming with us?”

“Do you really think I was going to let you go up against Twister without me,” Stitch said “I want to know what happened to my parents. All I know is what Granny told me, and that is that they were enclave and that I fell out of the clouds early in my life. If Twister knows something he’s going to tell me, just like he’s going to tell Dead Hooves here what happened with her father.”

Sharp let out a long sigh, before looking back at Stitch. “You want to monitor my health.”

“Okay that to,” Stitch rolled her eyes, my guess was that she couldn’t believe how stubborn Sharp was being about his health. I kind of agreed, “But I still want to know what happened. If I really fell from the sky then I should be dead; splat on the ground with my body scattered. There is something more to me being down here then we know about and I’m going to find out. I spoke to Granny about it earlier today and she agreed that it was time we learned what happened.”

Sharp looked at Granny surprised, not believing what Stitch had said. Granny simply nodded and Sharpshot was kept silent. Guess he really didn’t want Stitch coming along, and considering she had no weapon I wasn’t so sure about it myself. I mean, you're going to send a mare out into the cold unknown of the wasteland at this time of year with not a single weapon to defend herself with.

“I’m giving her the rusty revolver that I kept over these years,” Oh, I guess Granny already knew about that thing. “I want you to take her and Mud Swirl away and help them figure out what happen to their parents. I never got to see mine when they past away, and I didn’t know what happen to them. To lay that on a child when they are young is a hard thing, and they deserve to know what happened. I’m getting too old to take care of them anyway,” She laid back relaxing in her chair. “So please, take them with you.”

I looked at Sharp who simply looked away at me, causing me to go to Willow Wisp for help. She simply shrugged at me, telling me she didn't know. what to do. Probably not the best idea to turn to a former slave in this decision. I guess I had no choice, they certainly weren't giving me the option to say otherwise.

“Okay,” I said “You two can come with us.”

“Really?!” Mud Swirl said, his eyes showing signs of excitement in them

I nodded to him and he quickly ran over to give me a hug, causing Willow Wisp to awkwardly do the same thing. She clearly didn’t know much about common things like this, so I just let it happen. She would realize sooner or later that there are certain times for certain things, and that included when you were suppose to hug someone. Hey, as long as she didn’t go hugging a feral ghoul everything’s okay.

Stitch walked over to me happily. “Thank you so much,” She said “You have no idea how much this means to me and Mud Swirl. I’ve been wanting to leave for a long time but didn’t have the courage to ask until recently. I may not be that handy with a weapon but I’ll do my best to back you up.”

I nodded to her and watched as Granny slowly got up. “Well I don’t know about the rest of ya but I’m falling asleep over here. If you guys are going to stay up please be quiet.”

“Got it Granny.”

We wave goodnight to her before we continue discussing our plan. “Since I’m now coming with you we might be able to leave tomorrow,” Stitch says “This way if anything happens to Willow Wisp you won’t have to worry about her injuries.”

“I guess the only thing we have to worry about now is how we will get to Manehattan,” Sharp replies. “With the entire wasteland most likely on high alert it would be wise to avoid areas like Las Pegasus and Ponyville.”

“But doesn’t that leave us with the only path being Canterlot?” Stitch asked. Sharp cracked a smile and she started nodding her head back and forth. “No. No no no no no no-”

“Yes,” Sharp’s smile grew menacingly as he said it.

“We are NOT going to Canterlot,” Stitch said, “No way in hell we are going to Canterlot. You want to die, go ahead. I say we head through the Everfree forest and go from there.”

“Oh sure, that seems like a good idea,” Sharp said back. “Would you be the pony willing to end up in patch of poison or killer joke? I don’t think so. Look, if you want we can go through Ponyville. As long as you know how to fire that revolver of yours it should be fine right?”

Stitch smiled as she heard a slightly less deadly route. “I can fire a revolver just fine thank you very much,” She retorted. “I guess it’s settled then, we head through Ponyville and go up from there.”

Willow Wisp grasped onto my leg and I looked at her to see her shaking her head wildly back and forth. She must have been the only one who didn’t approve, but it seems that everyone was set on going to Ponyville. That must have been the big problem with being mute, no one noticed you and you could never voice your opinion. I know how it felt to be helpless, and being outside my Power Armor is always a scary feeling for me, even long after I had gotten use to it.

I simply hugged Willow Wisp to try and comfort her. “Don't worry Willow,” I whisper to her calmingly “I won't let any pony harm you okay.”

She looked up at me, her eyes flooding with tears for some odd reason. She squeezed me tightly around the neck as she tried to hold back the tears. Ponyville must have had a big impact on her, probably where she grew up. I would have told Sharpshot and Stitch but I knew that it would make a difference. They had already set their minds on Ponyville and it wasn’t likely I was going to be able to do anything. The best I can do is protect Willow Wisp from whatever she was scared of.

Suddenly I heard gunshots coming from the other room. We rushed to the bedroom, where we had heard the gunfire, Sharpshot grabbing Flash Fire preparing for a battle. I did the same, grabbing the repeater I had since I didn’t want to take the risk of hurting someone with Remembrance. Sharp was the first to enter the room, and we looked as we saw Granny lying in bed, a small hole leading through her heart. She had been shot by somepony, somepony who was probably looking for me.

“No!” Stitch pushed me aside as she went to Granny Cotton’s side, shaking her. “This isn't right. You can’t be dead, you can't be dead, why would you be…” She collapsed onto Grannies cold body, tears falling down her face. “Why would somepony do this to you? You were so sweet and kind to me and Mud Swirl. This makes no sense, why are you dead.”

I looked down at Willow Wisp who was looking in shock at the scene before her. After a couple seconds the shock faded away and she looked at me. She knew why this had happened, we both did. Granny was never suppose to be the victim, I was suppose to take that bullet and die. Yet here I am, still somewhat standing, and somepony took it for me. This death was my fault, wasn’t it?

I heard another gunshot as I looked to see Sharp fire at something outside. He pulls lever (or at least that’s what I think it is) that was on Flash Fire with magic causing an empty bullet to fall to the floor. He shifted his stance to the left and took another shot before putting Flash Fire to the ground. He made his way to the door only stopping to motion me with him.

“Get in your power armor,” He commanded. “I got the murderer down.”

I did as he said, motioning to Willow Wisp to stay here. I got in my power armor and followed him outside and around the house. One the ground I saw a zebra slow inching away from us, a small carbine on the. There was a trail of blood on the ground leading to the zebra’s back right leg. I grabbed the carbine as Sharp rushed forward and flipped the pony on her back before stepped on her. He motioned me over and told me to point my gun at her.

“Please don't kill me,” The zebra said squirming to get away. “I’m sorry. I was only doing as told.”

“If you want live then I suggest you answer our questions real quickly,” Sharp said, his voice harsh and cold. “Answer them for our friends and the two of us here and we might consider only taking you prisoner. Got it.”

I could see that the Zebra was scared of Sharp, frantically nodding her head. Honestly, I was also scared of him at the moment. He obviously wanted answers, and didn't seem to care if the Zebra died or not. She was young, much younger than Willow that was sure. Her eyes were brown, and that’s all I have to do to describe her. I don’t really need to go into too much detail about what she looked like, she looked like every other zebra you would ever see. Black stripes on white… Or was it White stripes on black? That part confused me a bit.

Sharp forced her up onto her feet and roughly dragged her along the ground. She probably couldn’t stand, but I still expected a little better treatment. Guess since Sharp was considering her a prisoner at the moment he didn’t care how she was treated, which was pretty cruel. We brought her inside and Sharp asked Stitch to help him tie her up, explaining who the zebra was. She happily tied the zebra up to a chair, at some points squeezing it hard probably as a bit of revenge for killing Granny. Willow Wisp and Mud Swirl stood back as they did this, not wanting to interfere.

“What do you want to know?” The zebra asked “I’ll tell you anything, it doesn’t matter anymore. I fail anyway.”

“Start with who you are,” Stitch yelled at her. “And why you killed her. What did Granny do that caused you to kill her.”

I could tell that the zebra was scared “The names Zoey, and never meant to kill your Granny,” She said hastily “My family lived in Zebra town near Canterlot. I only have my mom left, my dad died from the pink cloud. A few weeks ago some pony named Twister came to town with a bunch of ponies, I thought I saw a few alicorns along with them.”

“Alicorns?” Sharp said questionably. “You mean you've seen ponies affected by taint?”

“If that’s what caused them to be Alicorns then yes,” Zoey answered “When I saw them me and my mother tried running away, but we were caught by alicorns. Twister let us live and said we were to be sold to slavers for money. I begged him not to do it, and he said that if I killed the daughter of an old friend of his he would let us free.”

I was correct, she never intended to kill Granny. “You thought that I was in bed,” I said, “You meant to kill me. You thought I was asleep so you killed Granny thinking she was me.”

Zoey looked down saddened. “Yeah,” She said “It was so dark in the room I couldn’t see who was in bed and assumed it was you. Twister knows I failed him, he’ll kill me if I go back to him. I watched you escape that raider camp, and I honestly never wanted to kill you. He said he would leave your death in my hooves, but he was obviously lying to me. I should have known better.”

I could see Stitch was steaming with anger at the pony, even after what they had said. I know Zoey did it because she want her freedom, but it still didn't stop the fact that she had killed Granny. I walked up to Zoey’s side so I could answer some questions I had as well as keep Stitch from doing anything too drastic. We didn't need more ponies dying right now, I had seen enough of that the last few days.

“Do you know what my father did that pissed him him off?” I asked.

“No,” Zoey replied. “I only know that you're the daughter of a former paladin of the Steel Rangers. Other than that I know nothing, he told me what you looked like but not your name. He said it wouldn't be important once you're dead.”

I felt a tap from behind me and turned around to see Willow Wisp looking at me. She once again had the shovel (Dread had packed it in the bag) in her hooves and I knew exactly what she was trying to ask me. Granny definitely deserved to be at rest, so I nodded my head to the pegasus and she walked into the room Granny had died in. Stitch looked at me confused.

“What did she just ask you?” She asked me.

“She want to know if she could bury Granny,” I replied “It's like a responsibility she has to fulfill. She did it to the raiders back at the raider camp I met her in, that’s how her wounds opened back up. She was an absolute mess back there, but she still did it for a reason I don’t know.”

Stitch was about to talk but Willow then came out of the room struggling to keep Grannies limp body on her back. Instead of asking me whatever it was she was going to ask she turned to Willow and took Granny from the pegasi's back and placed it on her own.

“Allow me to help you out a little,” She said to Willow, who simply nodded back as they headed out of the house. Mud Swirl followed them, probably wanting to make some final remarks and say goodbye to Granny. It must have been hard seeing that happen.

“Two days ago Twister made a broadcast over the radio announcing a big reward of Dead Hooves death,” Sharp explained as we were left to continue questioning. “Do you know where he most likely broadcasts it from.”

“I think you already know the answer to that,” Zoey replied. “Tenpony Tower. It was the place we met a week ago to discuss how we were going to get… Dead Hooves?” She looked to me to make sure she was getting the name right. I nodded, “Thanks. We were discussing how we were going to find you when Twister broadcasted to the entire wasteland what was going on. I was on a time limit to save my mother now so I left as soon as he made the decision final. I was his assassin as he like to call me and I had already earned my freedom with another job. My mom was the only one I still needed to free.”

“Do you think you can get us in?” I ask her.

“Could you get my mom out off the slavers hooves?” She asked me back. I nodded my head. “Then yes, I can.”

I looked up to Sharpshot for his approval, and he nodded his head. He knew that Zoey was our best chance at getting into Tenpony Tower or even getting into Manehattan. She didn't have the survival skills and experience Sharp had, sure, but you have to admit it’s nice to have another good marksman with us. It's not that I thought Stitch was a bad shot, I just haven't yet seen her fire a gun.

“So uh,” Zoey said feeling kind of awkward. “If that nod is what I think it meant can you please untie me from the chair.”

“Oh right,” I quickly untied her and watched as she fell to the ground.

“Mother of Celestia,” She said, and I looked to see that the wound she had was still bleeding. “Can someone get me some help over here.”

“One second,” I run out of the room to grab the bag of supplies I had. 

I grabbed what bandages we still had left (most of them had been used to try and stop Willow Wisp's bad bleeding) and walked back to Zoey. I had to get out of my power armor to get down to her (she was pretty young as I said early) and she watched as I foolishly tumbled out of it like an idiot. Sharp was try to hold back a laugh, putting a hoof to his face to try and block me from seeing it. Zoey on the other hand was actually quite concerned.

“Oh my goddess are you okay!” She said to me as I crawled over to her.

“It’s okay,” I assure her. “My legs are paralyzed that's all, something I’ve dealt with since birth.”

The look on her face read that she was terrified. She wasn't terrified of me, rather what she had planned to do to me. I could tell that there was some major regret in her eyes for having tried to kill me earlier. I don’t blame her, it wasn't that likely that she was told I was paralyzed, and the sympathy seemed to be taking effect. Seeing what Twister had made out of this poor pony and what he was forcing her to do was just cruel.

“I’m sorry about your legs,” She said feeling guilt. “I guess you were being played just like I was huh. Stupid Twister, he says things only to go back on them.”

“It okay honestly,” I replied having finished up the bandages. “That should do for the time being. Stitch probably won't be in the mood for doing anything medical wise for the rest of the night.”

“Guess I should probably go apologize for what I did huh?” Zoey said before walking out of the room and though the door.

“Why don’t we do the same?” I say turning to Sharp.

Sharp shook his head. “Trust me when I say this, but I’ll only end up making it worse,” He turned to the bedroom. “We leave first thing in the morning. If I were you I would get to sleep soon as well.”

In many ways, what he said would probably go the same for me. I may have lost my father but I had a hard time dealing with it. If I were to go out there I would probably only make things worse for them. I decided to do the same as Sharpshot and head off to bed, we were leaving tomorrow so it would be a good idea to get some rest.

“Mind if I put some music on?” I asked to Sharpshot as I put my PipBuck on a small nightstand.

“Don’t mind at all,” He said, “I like going to sleep with music, it always helps.”

I turn the radio on hoping for something good.

“I just want to start-” I turn it off for a second, then checked again to see if it was what I thought it was “a flame in your heart”

I turn the radio fully off. “Nope,” I mutter to myself. “Fuck the irony, I’m not taking part in any of that."
> Chapter 6 - Leaving Manechester
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up to the lingering of last night's events still in my head. I had learned the lengths that Twister would go to have me killed. In many ways Zoey was being treated just like a slave, used for something in order to stay alive. I wonder how horribly the poor zebra had really been treated by this stupid pony. To make a filly of any kind do something so bad was beyond my understanding honestly.

I rolled over in my bed to fine Willow Wisp sleeping next to me. She looked as if she was snoring loudly, but her lack of voice luckily saved me that. Seriously, she would have been neighing right into my ear. I watched a fly slowly go into her mouth and she woke up swallowing it. Her head jolting up looking completely baffled at whatever had just happened. I did my best to contain my laughter, but in the end I wasn’t able to. She spit onto the floor trying to get the fly out, which I’m sure she had no idea she even swallowed.

After a few seconds she gave up a looked at me, seeing me covering my laughter into the frame of our bed. “Sorry about that,” I said. “I just couldn’t help myself.”

She didn't seemed bothered by it at all and simply hopped out of bed, looking at the one Sharp had slept in. I looked at it to realize it was empty, meaning that he must have already gotten up and was ready to leave. I slowly got out of bed, Willow Wisp waiting for me patiently as I did. I reached for my power armor only to not find it near my bed, realizing I didn’t wear it coming in. It was still out in the dining area most likely. I remember I had to get out of it in order to bandage Zoey on up the night before.

“Mind helping me a bit over here?” I asked Willow Wisp, not wishing to look like I was injured coming out of the bedroom.

Willow Wisp nodded and took my left hoof throwing it over her neck. I slowly managed to get up and Willow offered some support carrying me out of the bedroom. She carried me out and I looked to see that my power armor was indeed waiting for me near the dining table. Remembrance was also waiting for me strapped over it. Willow Wisp removed my hoof from one around her neck as I got into the power armor. The only part of my body showing was my head of course, since I had to leave it behind at the raider camp due to not having any saddlebags and needing to carry our supplies.

“Look who decided to wake up,” I turned around to see Sharp leaning up against the wall. “Good morning princess.”

I look at him with a face that said “What the fuck”. Princess, out of all the things he decided to call me, it was princess. I don’t know about you but I honestly don’t think I was in anyway a princess, hell I don’t even have wings to be an alicorn. Sharp looked at me with a smile on his face.

“Don’t know what a joke is?” He said holding back some laughter I could here in his voice. “Did you never joke around with your father before,” I shook my head, and he looked at me surprised. “Guess you don’t get much of a childhood out here huh? Well everypony's waiting outside for you and Willow Wisp.”

“I’ll be out in a second,” I tell him. He nods and leaves the room and I turn the repeater I obtained back at the raider base and hand it to Willow Wisp, who looked at it unsure. “You need something to defend yourself with,” Willow shook her head and pushed it away from her. “Look, I know you think I can defend you but I’m just as lost and scared as you are honestly. I have no idea where I’m going or if I’ll even make it there. So please, even if you don’t use it, take the gun.”

Willow looked at the gun for a few more seconds before finally accepting it. She looked at it, and I could see she was shivering as she through the strap over her shoulder. She was afraid of it, wasn’t she. She was afraid of guns, or rather of holding one in her hooves by the looks of it. Despite this she tried to show me that she wasn’t scared. It was to late to convince me otherwise, I had already seen that.

We walked outside together and I looked to see Zoey waiting in a bench on the porch, humming something to herself. Sharp was showing Mud Swirl how to use a gun (a small pistol, most likely a 10 mm.), which was probably a good idea. I think neither Mud Swirl or Stitch had ever fired a gun before, which didn’t shock me honestly considering they only ever had one gun. Walk down the steps to see Stitch standing in front of a grave, Granny’s grave.

I walked up to her side and looked at the grave as well. I couldn’t help but feel bad, it was because of me that she had died in the first place. No, it was Twisters fault, he framed me as a pony I could never be and made Zoey hunt me down. Why, I found myself asking that over and over again. Why did he do it? What did he have to gain from this? Was it for respect? Revenge? Was it out of hate? I didn’t know the answer.

“I remember the day I met her,” Stitch said. “It’s the oldest memory I have. She was much younger then, I was only six. She saved me from something, I don’t remember what it was but she saved me from something. My parents dead bodies were there, and a suit of enclave power armor was as well. We never brought it home, Granny said told me later on that she knew who my parents were and that they were old friends. They were being chase by somepony, but she was never told exactly who. She took me in and treated me as her child, and I could never ask for any pony better.”

“Guess most of us have lost family then,” I said “You, me and Sharpshot have all lost family. I think Sharp had the worst time out of all of us.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m surprise you accept Zoey as part of our team,” I continued. “I thought you would have wanted to rip her to shreds because of what she did.”

“You know just as much as me that she isn’t the one fully responsible,” She replies, I could try that she was holding back tears. “It’s Twisters fault she even ended up out here,” I nodded my head in agreement. “I have one more reason to make him pay now that this happened.”

“Alright everyone gather up,” I looked up to see Sharpshot waiting. “We have a few things we need to discuss before we leave.”

We all headed on up to the porch, Stitch grabbed the revolver that had been sitting on Granny’s grave and made her way slowly up. She was clearly depressed about the death, even though she was trying not to show. I was worried, dad had told me that one of his old friends in the Steel Ranger’s was driven to suicide because of depression. When my father died, I had to remind myself that that wasn’t the answer, and that I had so much ahead of me in life. Back then it simply kept me alive, but this time it was actually true, I did have more ahead in life.

“Before we leave there is something we must discuss,” Sharp said concerned. “And that is the matter of the alicorns Zoey mentioned yesterday night.”

“That is true,” Stitch said concerned. “Zoey, would you know anything about the Alicorns Twister had?”

“A little,” Zoey replied. “Their names are Payday and Scythe. They were part of some war experiment called project Ultima. Twister pays them to do his side work which would involve things such as slave trading and settlement raiding. I got to know them for a time due to my work as Twister’s assassin. I tended to work together with Scythe, who seemed to do the dirtier work and usually involved blood on my hooves.”

“They might cause some problems for us then,” Sharp said. “In which case we should take them out whenever we see them. I don’t want to know what they would do if we gave them the opportunity to kill.”

“That will be hard,” Zoey stated. “Haven't seen a lot of ponies able to touch them, let alone cause them to draw blood. You deal with an alicorn you're going to have to think outside the box. We’re honestly better avoiding them all together.”

“But I don’t think we could run from something like an alicorn,” I argued. “They would notice us before we even noticed them.”

“We should head through Las Pegasus then,” Zoey said. “If we head through there I doubt they will follow us. It’s kind of like they're scared of the place honestly.”

“Then I guess our destination has changed,” Sharp announced. “We go down to Las Pegasus and follow the train system up there through to the Ponyville and Manehattan. Due to the Ponyville train station being somewhat far from the town it's possible that we could avoid contact with the large slaver post in that area completely. We want to keep out of trouble, I say we take that route,”

“What about the Enclave,” Mud Swirl said. “Don’t they have some occupation of that area. I heard that’s where Stitch here was found.”

“In that case maybe the Enclave will be nice and let us in for bringing back one of them,” I said.

“Doubt it,” Sharp said, shooting down what I had said. “Those stupid fuckers think that they are the only “pure race” left out here, and there are so goddess damned head strong that will never happen. They are an impossible group to work with, unless you're a pegasus you better hope they decided not to put some holes in you.”

“That’s not the only thing,” Zoey said. “They have raptors, something I’ve encountered with a few times. The only reason I survived was because Scythe didn't want her backup dead or bleeding out.”

“Makes since.”

“So not only do we have to avoid alicorns, we also have to avoid the Enclave,” Stitch said. “This will be fan-fricken-tastic.”

“As long as we keep away from those S.P.P. Towers of theirs we should be fine right?” Zoey wondered.

“True,” Sharp said agreeing. “In that case we have to be very careful not to cause to much of a ruckus once we’re down there. Don’t want pegasi coming from the sky to kill us.”

We all nodded our heads in agreement. We now had a solid idea of exactly what we were going to do to get to Manehattan. Those Enclave bastards that Sharp mentioned didn’t sound like a group to mess with, and I honestly never knew that they would be that bad. “Pure race?” What the hell kind of nonsense was that. Not anything I think I could honestly fix, but I’m sure that the fake news Twister has spread around is enough to grab even their attention and make them potential enemies. Great, the entire damn wasteland might as well be after me at this point.

“Let's get moving then,” Sharp shouted. “The farther we get the better.”

We all shook our heads and started making our way out of town. I could could tell Stitch was acting very hesitant about the current situation. She keep looking back at the Granny’s grave as we continued to get farther and farther away from the small settlement of Manechester. Thinking about it, she was acting in much the same way I had when I lost my father (although she was taking it better than I had honestly).

“Everything’s going to be okay Stitch,” I say trying to comfort her, “You know staying is going to do any good.”

Stitch let out a long sigh as she looked at me. “You’re right,” She said putting on a fake smile. “You know, for a pony who spent their life stuck in a shed out in the middle of nowhere your entire life, you seem to know a few things.”

“I doesn’t take survival to learn common sense,” I tell her, trying to feel smart. “Honestly you lose common sense in places like this. Any that you have you need to make sure to keep or else you’ll probably end up making a very stupid mistake.”

“That couldn’t be more correct,” Sharp said. “I can blame Canterlot honestly for being my first giant mistake out here. Seriously that smoke smells awful.”

“That’s the thing you managed to pick up out of that location?” Stitch asked, she sounded furious. “You learned it smelled bad? Should you be more concerned with something like the health it could cause.”

Sharp stopped and looked at Stitch. “I’m fine Stitch seriously,” I could tell he was frustrated. “I told you it’s been over a year, don’t you think it good to call me safe?”

“But what about other medical conditions, like cancer?”

“WHY WOULD GOGGLES GIVE ME CANCER?”

Well, this was a great start to our journey. If these two kept bickering like this we would probably get nowhere. I started thinking of a question to ask Sharp to try and draw their minds away from the medical issues.

“Hey Sharp,” I said, managing to get his attention. “How do we plan to get to Las Pegasus?”

Luckily, it seemed my idea had worked. The two stopped fighting and Sharp looked at me with a smile, which he was most likely using to hide his anger against Stitch. “We’re going to had through the Smokey Mountain,” he explained. “It has had some dragon activity recently, but it’s the quickest way down to the White Tail Woods. Once we get through there Las Pegasus should be see able in the horizon,”

“I’ve face a dragon or two,” Zoey said, “There tough, that’s for sure. Almost lost my head to them. If you ask me the most dangerous thing isn’t their fire breath or claws but rather their tails. You can end up so focused on the things you can see right in front of you that you don’t see there tail coming. It can break bones, that's for sure.”

“Makes sense,” I replied. “What about the white tail forest, anything to worry about there?”

“Not really,” Sharp answered. “It’s one of the few areas not incredibly affected by the mega spells which is nice. That means that more natural things grow there and things aren’t really all that mutated. There is still slight radiation in the area but as long as we stay away from water we should be fine.”

I nodded my head, and Sharp took the lead as I stayed back to talk to Stitch. “Guess it really makes you worry,” I whispered to her. “Don’t you think you might be overreacting maybe just a little bit?”

“I know,” Stitch admitted looking down. “It just scares me is all. I’ve never seen the pink cloud before, and Zoey confirmed that ponies are able to die from it. He’s so stubborn I don’t think he knows the risk he might be getting himself having gone there. You can’t really tell if you have cancer cells or not until much later on and I don’t to see him suffer from something like that. Stallions are just way to stubborn when it comes to that kind of stuff,” I nodded my head in agreement, even though I wasn’t really sure what she meant. “Would you mind telling me about your father a little?”

I look at her confused. “What would you like to know?”

“Just who he was as a pony,” Stitch explained. “I never had a pony to call my mom or dad, the only ones I ever had was Granny and Mud Swirl. What kind of pony is a father really? Are the mean or nice, strict or free willed, loving or cruel. I don’t really know what they are like.”

“Well I guess it’s different for everypony,” I said, trying to make sense of it. “Some can be strict and sometimes harsher than others, but I don’t think cruel is really something to call them. All moms and dads should love their foals just as much as they love each other right? But I guess if the two are unhappy then there is a possibility for hate. However, my dad was never mean or cruel. He loved me just as much as he would anyone else. He may have been strict at times, but I know it was all just to keep me safe, and considering what I’ve seen in only two days I could see why.”

“I see,” Stitch said. “Granny always said my mother loved me, but I was never quite sure to be honest with you. This revolver was hers from what Granny told me,” She held the revolver to her face, you could clearly see the rust that had formed on it. “I was always amazed by the fact this thing is still able to work,” She put it back into one of her saddlebags as she looked at me. “Dead Hooves, have you ever found that name kind of insensitive?”

I never really thought about it that much, but she was right in a way. My dad always did seemed ashamed of calling me by my name, he said that my mom came up with it just before she died. He wanted her to decided my name, and he said he wouldn’t go against what she decided. I never realized that it was kind of insensitive, but it was. That brought up some questions about my parents. Why did my mom name me that? Or rather why did she want to name me that? Did she love me like my father had said?

“Hey Sharpshot,” I yelled up to him. “What’s your real name?”

“I don’t want to say it,” He told me. “It brings back to many painful memories of the final day in stable fifteen. I guess it makes sense that you would want to know that, but please understand I have a reason for not telling you.”

“Hey mind if I ask something?” Zoey said, sounding curious.

“Go ahead,” I reply.

“Once you broadcast to the wasteland about Twister, it’s obvious that you are going to be going after him as well,” She thinks a minute before speaking again. “How exactly are you going to take him down?”

“I’m honestly not in this as much for Twister as it is that I’m just helping Dead Hooves and Willow Wisp get to Manehattan,” Sharp explains. “We’ll worry about that when the current objective is done, which is get to Tenpony Tower.”

“What’s Manehattan like?” I ask interested.

“It use to be the biggest city in Equestria,” Zoey told me. “But it had the most amount of megaspells detonations because of that. It’s a giant pile of rubble now, with some ponies still living in the older ruins of the city. Then there is Tenpony Tower, the recently established Friendship city, and Ironsburg, which has been established on a ship in the old harbor area. The Steel Rangers also have a hideout on the Bucklyn bridge. You want to get into friendship city you have to go past them,”

“That shouldn't be a problem,” I say. “My dad was a member so they should let us through.”

“You're a wanted criminal,” Sharp pointed out to me. “I don’t think it’s going to be as easy going up to the Steel Rangers and just saying “hey, my father was one of you, let me in,” You will probably have to prove yourself to them. Even then you are still thought to be one of the most dangerous ponies in the wasteland.”

“You don’t have to remind me,” I rolled my eyes at that last sentence, I knew that part all too well. “That’s why we are going to find the real Bloody Angel. Do I really have to keep saying that?”

“You probably will a dozen more times before this is over,” Stitch said. “Think of all the ponies you are going to have to explain this to.”

“Manehattan isn’t going to be as big of a problem as just getting there,” Zoey told us. “Compared to the Enclave we have little to nothing. Hell, they have dragon killing tanks for goddess sake.”

“Another reason we need to avoid them,” Sharp responded. “If all goes well we might make it through without any trouble, stupid old Lady Luck will probably be against us for all we know.”

“Sorry to interrupt” Mud Swirl said bored of the current topic. “Could you get back to telling us about Manehattan.”

“Okay,” Zoey said. “The ministry of morals is located in the city and there are monorails in the city. Ponies have somehow manage to fix them and keep them running, but only a few ponies are allowed on each day. Traveling in monorail is safer however, as Ghouls still roam the city pretty freely. The two biggest monorail stations are Luna’s line and Celestia’s line, which are located at the west and east end of the city. They even play music for you while you're on it.”

“It’s really hard to get on one though because of the limited number of ponies allowed per day,” Sharp said. “I’ve been in the city a bunch and gotten on it less than a dozen times. It’s an absolute bullshit system that’s for sure, even if they have a reason for it.”

“That’s really all there is to the city,” Zoey said ending her long explanation. “And I agree, it really is a bullshit system.”

I watched as Stitched stop moving and looked behind her. We all stopped and decided to follow her gaze. Manechester was no longer in view, and we looked around to see the wide expanse of the wasteland around us. It was amazing that the grass still somewhat grew out here, and that trees still managed to produce air. The fact that once, this world looked so much different, that smog didn’t once show in the sky, that some of these things never even existed until recently. It’s a strange thing, knowing you grew up in a world that was once so different.

“You really got to wonder what keep pony kind alive,” Stitch said. “I honestly sometimes wonder if we were all suppose to die back in the war. If unicorns and earth ponies should have follow the pegasi and abandoned it.”

“I can see what you mean,” I reply. “But destiny had a reason for letting us live, no matter how good or bad it is. We all survived for a reason, and we can’t put that to waste.”

“Agree,” I heard the others say behind us, Willow just giving a nod.

I saw something on Willow’s face that I couldn’t really explain. Everyone else looked in awe or wonder at the world around them, but Willow seemed depressed about it. It was like this wasn’t the world she wanted, like it wasn’t what should have happened. I could agree, but I like the wasteland to a degree. Not many ponies could say they enjoy exploring the unknown, but I certainly have found myself enjoying it. It is a dangerous world, but you have to trade something for what we have, and this is fine by me.

To think this is what I was being kept from all those years. I finally felt free, free to do whatever I want and go wherever I wished. Didn’t think I would ever want to leave home, but now I’m glad that I’m out here. Sure, I may be getting chased by a good thousand ponies thinking I’m some mass murderer, but something just made it more exciting. It was like I was living life on the edge, maybe I truly was. What would I face? What enemies and allies will I make? So many great questions about the future was filling my head.

“We should get moving,” Sharp said to me. “It’s a day's walks to Smokey Mountain and I would like to get there before it gets too dark.”

“Right,” I reply. “Let’s keep moving.”
> Chapter 7 - Angel Hunters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time we had reached our destination of Smokey mountain, the sun had started to set in the sky. What I saw in front of me was a giant tower of rock, with a path leading up it into the mountain itself. It was intimidating, that’s for sure. We had already agreed to doing this however, and we weren’t going to turn back now. Besides, there was nothing I could turn back to.

“We make camp in the mountains,” Sharp announced to us. “First cave we see we use as shelter, just make sure to check for dragons.”

“Why don’t we just sleep down here?” I asked “Wouldn’t it be safer to make camp down here and travel in the morning?”

Sharp looked up at the top of the mountain, and I did the same to see a weird stream of clouds covering the top of it. “You see that right there?” Sharp asked, I nodded in reply. “That’s an ash cloud, they started forming some time after the war. Probably a result of the Las Pegasus mega spell. They start up at night and let down flaming ashes that burn anything it touches. We stay outside, will be burned to a crisp. Sleeping outside isn’t an option, okay?”

That was a scary thought, being burned alive. Guess I could see why Sharp wanted us to find shelter, that would be a terrible way to go. I nodded my head in agreement and he started on up the mountain. Willow Wisp was shaking next to me, Sharp must have gotten it through to her, and probably scared her half to death. She was very tired, this must have been longest walk she had taken in a long time. I wonder how long she was held up in that raider camp, being cruelly tortured.

“Here,” I lifted Willow Wisp onto my back and she looks at me with a smile. “Get some rest, you need it.”

She nodded and quickly fell asleep on my back Stitch and me looking at her happy. Stitch seemed to feel just as bad for the poor slave as I did, the injuries she use to have spoke volumes about what she had endured. We were both impressed by this amazing little pegasus, and how she could endure such pain without dying.

“Come on,” Sharp yelled to the two of us, “We gotta get shelter before nightfall, remember?”

I nodded to him and we quickly rushed over to the others. The clinking of the power armor’s metal hooves sounded more clearly in the mountains. The solid rock underneath me not doing anything to stop it from echoing around me. It was a strange world, even the raider canyon from earlier had a little bit of flora, but it was so barren around here. There was giant burn marks everywhere along the mountain. Those must have been do to the ashes Sharp had mentioned earlier.

“Um, Sharp,” I look at him a little worried. “Do you think the power armor will wake up any dragons?”

“Their hard sleepers,” Sharp told me. “The only way we could wake one up with that is if the echo was loud enough. In other words as long as we don’t find a dragon den we should be fine.”

“You’ve obviously been through here a bit,” Zoey said in realization. “Have you ever seen a dragon around here?”

“Yes, I have,” Sharp said. “I’ve only been here once but I almost lost my life to one. Like you said earlier the tail is the most dangerous part of the body. Almost smashed my ribs to pieces because of that, it’s fucking terrifying,”

“More terrifying the Canterlot?” I asked curious.

“No, nothing will ever top Canterlot,” Sharp answered. “Trust me, that place is a hell hole. Go to zebra town if you want, but never go to Canterlot. That is a bad idea.”

“Says the pony who almost made us go through it,” Stitch said.

“Don’t remind me.”

“Um… Mister Sharpshot,” Mud Swirl said. “Did you hear something?”

We all stop a listen to the area around us. At first we didn't hear anything except the sound of the wind blowing through the bland mountainous terrain. Then, I heard something else under that, a faint booming sound in the distance. Was it thunder? No, there wasn’t a single storm cloud as far as I could see. What was that sound?

I heard it again, this time a little louder, and then again, and again. I catch Sharp out of the corner of my eye look in shock as he heard it. That was the first time I had seen him truly terrified of something. I heard the sound again, this time shaking the ground around me and putting me in the air for a few seconds.

“Sharpshot!” Zoey yelled, but I wasn't looking at her. I was looking at the giant scaled mouth that had just rounded the corner. “In here.”

I finally looked where Zoey was motioning us to, seeing a cave nearby. Every pony started running towards, and I did the same, not wanting to learn what giant I had just seen. I heard the sound of my power armor get louder and louder as I got into the cave, echoing of the walls freely. It was nowhere near as loud as the beast outside. We all huddled up against a wall, hoping that we would stay hidden. I removed myself from my power armor, not wanting to make to draw the attention of whatever was outside.

“Sharpshot, what is th-” Sharp cut of Stitch as the sound of the booming creature got closer and closer, until I realized something.

The creature made a turn toward our cave and made it’s way inside. I finally got a look at it, and learned just how terrifying the reptilian beast was. It’s back and the upper side of its tail and head was covered in blue scales, while the underside of it was more white. It walked on all fours just like a pony, but unlike us, it didn’t have hooves. It had gigantic knives, no, claws instead, looking as if it could cut diamond without work. It’s amber eyes were made scarier by the slit like formation of its eyes, showing just how feral it is. I caught a glimpse of it’s teeth, my heart skipping multiple beats as I saw them. This thing wouldn’t just slice diamonds, it could probably eat them as well. It had no ears, but it could clearly hear things. It had gigantic wings, looking like it could topple over a city with ease. This, this was a dragon, I somehow knew it.

The worst part about this is all was the fact that it didn’t head deeper into the cave. It stared at us, it's eyes piercing into my soul, causing me not to move anymore. I simply stared at it, with it staring right back at me. Suddenly, Canterlot wasn’t sounding like such a bad option anymore. I had nowhere to run without power armor, and even then this thing would probably rip it to shreds.

The dragon took a step towards us, my body flying into the air for a second from the force of it. It gave me a good look at it’s teeth, and I thought I was going to die. We were all going to die, weren’t we? It was hungry, and we seemed to be on the menu at the current moment. I slowly started inching away from it, not caring about getting back into my power armor. Most of the others followed my leave, Willow Wisp had woken up and was following my lead. She seemed more terrified than I was right now.

Only two ponies didn’t move, Zoey and Mud Swirl. Who the dragon was looking at with clear interest. I saw it’s head start to lower down and I watched as Sharp pulled Flash Fire out from around his back and aim towards it’s neck. At this point, it was mere inches away from Zoey and Mud Swirl, and Sharp knew he had no time to aim the shot. He quickly fired at it’s neck, doing something that I had never seen it do before. The bullet turned into a small fireball and hit the dragon with full force.

As the bullet hit, the dragon looked at us, and Zoey and Mud Swirl took the opportunity to try and escape the cave. However, it didn’t completely focus on us, looking to see Zoey and Mud Swirl running away. We watched as the dragon picked up it’s talon and started quickly close in on the two. I closed my eyes as I waited for the sound of the talon crashing to the ground. I heard, and opened my eyes to only see Zoey escape, falling forward as the dragon dragged its talons along the ground and looked at it’s front leg. I didn’t see a body, but I saw blood, and watched as the dragon wiped it on into it's mouth. I saw small bits of meat on it’s teeth, and suddenly I couldn’t hear a thing. Mud Swirl, he was dead, wasn’t he. That beast had eaten him.

Zoey had managed to escape the cave, and Willow had follow Stitch outside as well, but me and Sharpshot stayed inside. “We need to get you to your power armor,” I could barely hear Sharp say over the screams of agony in my head. “That’s the only way you're getting out of here.”

I was terrified, but I was somehow able to move, and nodded my head at Sharp. He put my left hoof around his neck and he brought me over to my power armor, the dragon taking notice of this. He once again fired, this time the bullet going straight into the dragon's eye. It stumbled back a bit, looking down at the ground. I couldn’t my eyes of it, and the more I did the more scared I was. I just wanted to run, run and never look back. That’s what we were going to do, we were going to run for our goddess damn lives.

I heard a muffled roar from the dragon as I got into my power armor, and looked to see small bits of blood falling to the floor from where Sharp had hit him in the eye. Once the power armor had closed up, me and Sharp made our way outside the cave, Sharp taking another shot at the dragons wounded eye. I was breathing hard, and all my attention was drawn to the exit in front of me.

I exit the cave, and suddenly all my hearing returned to me as I search for signs of the others. They must have ran ahead of us, and I didn’t blame them. I wonder how Stitch was reacting right now, having seen his brother get eaten by the monster. The sun was falling into the horizon, which meant we only had about an hour or two to get away from the dragon until we would ultimately burn to death anyways.

I looked over to see Stitch and the other hiding in a small cave to the side, not big enough for the dragon to get into. Sharp must have noticed the same thing, as he banked to the right and headed toward the small cave. I did the same, looking to see the dragon right behind me, and watched as it took a swing at me hitting me across the neck with it’s claws. It didn’t dig deep enough to kill me, but it hurt enough to cause me to fall over on my back and look straight up at the beast. I was sure right then and there that I was going to die, that this was the end of me.

But it didn't happen, I look to see something explode against the dragons back and watched as it stumbled to the side. It roared off at the distance, my neck hurting to much to turn and see what it was. I watched as it rushed off at something in the distance, and felt someone grab me from behind and pull me into the cave. I felt like I was going to pass out from what just happen.

“Stitch, we need you here,” I heard Sharp say, realizing he was the one dragging me. “Dead’s injured.”

“Got it,” I heard, as the darkness of the cave surrounded me. I looked to my right slightly to see Willow Wisp looking at me scared. “Oh shit,” Stitch said as I looked to see Sharp staring in front of me. “I’ll need something to numb the pain, do we have rad-x or anything,” I looked to see Willow search through the bag we had brought (how we manage to keep it I don’t know) and brought out something I couldn’t make out. “Dead Hooves, eat it, I don’t want you to be in a lot of pain.”

I did as she said and took whatever was in Willow's hoof and showed it in my mouth, chewing it. I really did start to feel the pain go away, or at least lessen a bit. I listen to the sound of gun fighting outside and watched as Sharp got up and looked outside at what was going on. I felt something creep into my skin and winced a little at the pain, but it was as bad as what it probably would have been without it.

“Who is it?” Zoey asked. “Do you see who it is?”

I could see a cringing look in Sharp's face, telling me whatever it was wasn’t good. “It’s the fucking Enclave,” He said. “They found us.”

“The Enclave?” Zoey said surprised. “I thought they never left the clouds.”

“Think again,” Sharp says, this time holding back some laughter “I recognize the pattern of attack and the Raptor though. Wait, it’s the angel hunters. We're saved!”

“Angel hunters?” Zoey said, “Who are they.”

A smile crossed Sharp's face, replacing is grimace from earlier. “Old friends actually, helped them out a while ago. Guess they must be returning the favor.”

I heard the sound of the dragon roaring, this time in agony instead of in anger. I heard a massive thud on the ground, and heard no more gun fire coming. It was dead, the dragon that had killed Mud Swirl was dead. I let out a sigh of relief as I felt a tug against the back of my neck.

“That will have to do for now,” Stitch said. “It’s not as good as when I did it with Willow but it can work for the moment. How are you feeling?”

“Like a thousand needles are poking me in the back,” I manage to say, finding my voice. “Hey Sharp, whose captain Bleak?”

“You can come out Sharpshot,” I heard a voice say, sounding like the military voice that my dad use to us on me whenever I was bad. “Everything is fine.”

Sharp motioned us outside, and we followed him out to be greeted by ten pegasi and a warship in the sky. One of the pegasi stepped forward and Sharpshot ran towards him, both of them giving each other hugs. For someone who had speaking so angrily about the Enclave earlier, he sure was being friendly. I stared up at the warship in amazement, how did something like this exist in the wasteland without me knowing.

“Been sometime hasn’t it,” Sharpshot said to the pegasus in front of him “See they have given you a few more members since the last time we met.”

“And I see you finally found some traveling partners as well,” The pegasus replied in a much friendlier tone than before. “We saw you in our patrol area and decided it’s about time we returned the favor from two years ago. Whose your friends here.”

Sharp turned to us for introductions. “This is Willow Wisp, Dead Hooves, Stitch, and Zoey. We’re heading to Manehattan to give some payback to Twister. Everyone, this is captain Bleak, the leader of the special Enclave group known as the angel hunters.”

“A pleasure to meet you all,” He said dipping his head in formality before turning to Sharp in . “Sharp, isn’t that-”

“Don’t you think I would have shot her if she was?” I heard Sharp whisper to his friend, they must have been talking about me. “He lied like he was does.”

“I see,” Captain Bleak said. “Well in that case allow me to apologize. We were going to kill her, but we should have known better than to trust Twisters word. That being said, the Grand Pegasus Enclave still think that this young miss right here is the Bloody Angel.”

“Mud Swirl!” I turned around to see Stitch yelling around for her brother. She didn’t know he was dead, she never saw what happened. “Mud Swirl where are you!”

I was about to step forward and tell her but Zoey motioned with her hoof to stay still. She moved toward Stitch and put a hoof on her shoulder to get her attention. I didn’t hear what they had said, but I could tell what was going on. Stitch looked at Zoey as she told her what happened, and I could see the look of terror in Stitches eyes as Zoey stopped talking. I watched as Stitch fell into Zoey’s hooves crying, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the pegasus. In less than twenty four hours she had lost the only family she had ever known. I looked to Willow Wisp who simply sat there, she knew that there would be no way to bury Stitch’s brother, and I could tell that upset her.

“Poor mare,” Bleak said coming to my side. “I saw what happened to her brother. He sacrificed his life to save that zebra. Many out here know the feeling of losing family, but that has to be the worst way to not only learn about it, but to die as well.”

“I should have done something,” I said to myself. “But instead I stood there like a fucking retard while her brother got killed.”

“This isn’t the time to blame yourself,” Bleak replied, I could tell he was trying to be the voice of reason. “If you're heading to Manehattan I assume you plan to head through the remains of Las Pegasus, am I correct,” I looked at him and nodded. “In that case allow us to take you to our hideout. Ash will start falling soon and it will be impossible to travel then.”

I nodded my head and watched as he told the raptor to come down. I saw a door open and he explained to Sharpshot what he was doing. Sharp didn’t hesitate to agree with him and he motioned us to board. I watched as two of his soldiers helped Stitch up and told Zoey the plans. I watched everyone got up onto the raptor, and I followed them, knowing that it was worth waiting around for another dragon to pop up.

“I don’t mean to be rude or anything but Sharp told me that the Enclave were Assholes,” I said to Bleak. “I guess he was wrong.”

“Well most pegasi in the Enclave can be considered that title to earth ponies and unicorns,” Bleak said, proving Sharp's point. “But the angel hunters are different. We were made to assist with the hunt for the Bloody Angel. That pony has caused damage to the Enclave to, and because of our systems we believe that the Bloody Angel must be a pegasus. Only pegasi and griffon can access things such as terminals and whatnot belonging to the Enclave so we have had to take this into our personal effort.”

“Can Unicorns and Earth ponies join?” I ask him “Cause if so sign me up.”

“Listen miss,” I hear a soldier from behind me say. “We're only letting you on because you know Sharpshot. We are still pro-pegasus so don’t think that they will let you in just because we are as much.”

He shoved me to the side and walked up a flight of stairs at the end of the hallway. “What the fuck’s his problem?” I ask angry.

“That’s our newest member,” He explains. “Code name: Breaker, was our little gift from the Wonderbolts I guess you can say. He’s pretty one sided, I don't recommend trying to talk with him. He’s a selfish bastard, but a good eye and great shot,” He started walking down the hallway but turned to me before hand. “Here,” He through what looked like a key card at me. “That’s the key to the reserve room. Feel free to explore, just… Don’t mess with the engine okay.”

I nodded to him and watched him walk on up to the bridge. I found myself not really knowing where to go, and decided to do what Bleak said and just explored. I started down the left hallway, looking through the windows to see the landscape below us. We were moving slow, but we were definitely making more progress than we would have on hoof. I looked to see a open door on the right, and peeked in accidentally on one of the soldiers. He looked at me with greens and I felt a little intimidated. She was white like Willow Wisp but the tips of her wings and the top of her mane and tail were yellow.

“Oh sorry,” I say feeling ashamed of walking in. “I saw the door was open and I assumed no one was in here.”

“It’s okay,” He says to me, “This is the first time we’ve ever let a unicorn on a raptor, or even talk with one in a way so I don’t blame you. Besides, I can tell that you don’t really know where you are.”

“Haven't known for the past three days,” I tell him. “The names Dead Hooves. You?”

“The code names Feather,” He tells me. “We don’t call each other by are real names here. Nice to meet you Dead Hooves,”

I look at the gun he had been cleaning, not seeing something like it before. “What is that?”

“A Novasurge rifle,” Feather says. “It’s a special weapon that members of the Enclave only have access to. It’s not high maintenance but I like to keep it looking good, seems more professional,”

“Makes sense I guess,” I say agreeing. “So, are you all elite soldiers or just drafted randomly.”

“We’re some of the best I guess,” Feather shrugged as shoulders not really knowing what to say. “I’m our engineer, anything breaks down I have to fix it,” He looks at his Novasurge gun and puts it down. “Is that Steel Ranger power armor?” I nod, not caring to hide anything. She walked up to me and looked under me “Looks like it’s been tampered with.”

“My dad made it so I could walk using it,” I explain to her. “Does have a tendency to break down though, honestly surprised it hasn’t already.”

“Paralysis huh?” I nod in response to the question. “I could make something that could help you walk without it. The main problem is that he had to rewire almost everything due to the fact it's not built to do something like that. If you want I could also make a new helmet - Enclave design of course - And fix it up for you without hurting it further,”

“Really,” This time she nodded to me. “But, we are probably going to leave tomorrow morning so you probably won’t have time.”

“I could make the walking device in one day,” She says, “And I can convince Sharp into making you all stay longer. Besides, we could use some help finding that stupid killer.”

“But I’m a unicorn!”.

"And I’m a Dashite,” She says, not realizing that I had no idea what a Dashite was. “The only reason I’m working here is because Sharpshot broke the engine to the raptor here and they needed someone to repair the engine. I’m still a Dashite to the end of my life, but if the Grand Pegasus Enclave are actually willing to help the wasteland I’m willing to help. Of course, the Enclave don’t know I’m part of the group,”

I had no idea what she was talking about, but I simply just said “Guess that's true,” I thought of something, since I wasn’t going to convince her how we wouldn’t be able to stay, I might as well take advantage of if. “Say, is it possible you could fix this as well,” I show her my PipBuck.

“Of course,” She took it into her hooves, looked at it for only a minute, and then spoke to me. “I might be able to fix it, but the model is pre-war, the fact that it works at all is amazing. I understand it probably has sentimental value, and I like that, but if it’s as bad as it looks I might not be able to. I could always ask Bleak to give you a new one, will let you keep that one of course but a PipBuck is useless without it’s main feature. Even the S.A.T. Is broken,”

“Sorry if it’s too much work,” I apologized,

“Don’t worry about it,” Feather replied to me. “I enjoy working on this kind of stuff, and I can do it rather quickly because it’s my talent,” I looked down to see her cutie mark, it was gears with a strange cloud and lightning over it. It was a weird thing, “The cloud and lightning are a symbol of me being a Dashite,” She points out, but I still had no idea what it was.

“What’s a Dashite?” I finally decided to ask. “Why do you say it like it isn’t a good thing?”

“It’s honestly a symbol of bravery to me,” Feather explains. “A Dashite is a pony who has defied the Enclave, made a crime against them, or has left to the surface of the wasteland on their own will. I luck they haven’t found me yet, and hopefully they never will. Most Enclave see Dashites as a danger and they have tried to hunt us down in the past. I have to thank Bleak for taking me in allowing me a home.”

So Dashite was both a symbol of bravery and danger? Or was it just a symbol of bravery to her? I didn’t know honestly, but I didn’t agree with it. It seemed like such a mean term to call someone, and I didn’t like that. I don’t think she realized the full extent of what it meant, but if she was fine with the term, I wouldn’t keep her from using it the way she did. As long as it didn’t cause a pony to turn a gun on us.

“Feather, we need you at the bridge,” I look to see a lime green pegasus with white eyes and a purple mane and tail waiting at the door. “I don’t think I need to tell you why.”

“Celestia damn it Sharpshot,” She muttered to herself before turning back to me. “Looks like your friend might be messing with some more machinery, I have to go.”

“Wait!” I manage to stop her before she goes around the side of the door. “Could you tell me where the key to this room is, I’m kinda tire,”

“Last door in the hallway,” Feather tells me. “No way you can miss it.”

“Thanks,” I got in my power armor as I gave that last reply before she ran around the corner.

“So Twister lied to us yet again,” The lime green pegasus said to me. “Go figure. Code names Rocket by the way.”

“Nice to meet you,” I greeted. “Thanks for helping us out back there. Just wondering, why is Sharp messing with machinery not a good thing?”

“Guess you haven’t known him as long as we have,” Rocket realized. “You heard how he messed up the engine one and a half years ago right,” I nodded in response. “Well he doesn't really have good luck when it comes to anything very technical. Considering how curious he gets around technology, it’s hard to keep him from messing anything up really. Guess he did give us Feather though, and that’s something we all consider to be good.”

“Wow,” I was shocked at this. “And here I was thinking he was the smart one."

I got a bit of a laugh out of Rocket with this. I wasn't trying to be funny though, I really thought Sharp would be better with things like that considering how much he knows about the wasteland.

“So your goal is find the Bloody Angel huh?” I ask, even though I already knew the answer.

“Well, that’s what they claim,” Rocket said. “We do have the job of taking them down, whoever they are, but we also are tasked with trying to make the wasteland safer for the time the Grand Pegasus Enclave decides to join the others down her. Extermination of anything that could be possibly harmful to us, that kind of stuff.”

“Oh,” I said surprised. “Guess it makes more sense than,” A yawn escaped me, reminding me of the room I had free to me. “I think I’ll be off to bed now, will chat later okay.”

“Fine by me,” He say heading off down the hallway to what I assumed was the place he called the bridge.

I walked down the hallway till I saw only one door remaining. I pushed the key card Bleak had given up to a small pad and watched as the door next to it opened. I was greeted by a room that was much nicer than any other I’ve seen so far, at least in terms of it being my bedroom. I actually had blankets and pillows, which I hadn’t really had before. I looked to my left and realized that the room had a spare Novasurge rifle in it, every room here must of had one (or at least every quarter). I took it, not willing to give up such a great gift from the Enclave.

I got out of my power armor and laid Remembrance and the Novasurge rifle next to me in case of emergency, and quickly found myself falling to sleep in the comfiest bed I had ever slept in.
> Chapter 8 - Las Pegasus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey, you awake?” I awoke to see Stitch next to me, I could see the sorrow on her face. “I um… Have some stuff I want ask you about.”

She must have been taking the lost of her brother very hard, I could see that she hasn’t gotten any sleep since we’ve arrived here. I remember how I felt after the loss of my father, I didn’t eat or sleep for two whole days until I realized what was going on. At least Stitch seemed to realize that she was acting this way a little sooner than I had.

“What is it?” I ask her, moving forward in my bed.

“I… Had something I wanted to know about you and your father,” She told me. “You said you lost him a few years ago, and I wanted to know if you had any advice with dealing with loss.”

I thought about what she was asking me for a second before responding. “The first thing you have to you already have done. You realized what’s going on, and I know you don’t want to be this way. You opened up to me as well, which means you're addressing the problem, another step. After that is really a thing I don’t even know, but my advice is to stay positive and think about what you still have. You have me, Willow, and Sharp all still with you, remember that you're never alone, got it,”

Stitch nodded, and looked away for a small time before looking back at me. “You wanna take a walk with me?” She asked, “They said we would be docking soon anyways.”

“Don’t mind at all,” I get up and get into my power armor. “Where do you wanna go? I’m interesting in seeing the bridge if you don’t mind.”

“No, not at all,” Stitch replied. “I was actually thinking the same thing, besides that stupid Breaker pony you mentioned isn't awake right now.”

“In that case you lead the way,” I say, “You’ve probably explored a bit more since you have been up longer,”

She leads me down the hallway, and I closed the door to my room to make sure nopony got in there while I was away. We made our way down the hallway and I looked to see Stitch being hesitant as she stepped. A couple times she would stop a paw the ground before moving further and stopping again. I could tell she wasn’t really sure about being out here.

“You wanna talk about it some more?” I look at her with worry. “It helps, it really does.”

She rushed into my hooves, giving me a hug as her face swelled with tears. Wow, this was worse than I thought, wasn’t it. I simply stood there, not knowing what to do as she hugged me watching as Zoey came out of a room and saw the two of us. I wanted to speak out to her for help, but she shook her head at me and pointed at me. She was trying to tell me that this is something I need to take care of, and she was right.

“Dead Hooves how did you handle it so well?” She asked me. “How did you manage to keep a smile, or not get scared when you saw what happened? I want to know. I’m a coward when it comes to fighting, and I didn’t do anything to stop it. Can you please tell me, take me as an apprentice or something and teach me how I can be as strong as you?” She started hyperventilating as she spoke. “Can you teach me how to be brave?”

I simply looked at her in shock, didn’t I tell her that I had lived in a small cottage in the middle of nowhere all my life. I didn’t know what bravery was, or what being a coward was. She wanted to learn how to be strong, but she came to me instead of Sharpshot. Was it because of his stubbornness and thoughts of living; turning down apologies and not giving sympathy to those who had just seen family killed. He knew what it was like as well but he acted like it never happened.

She wasn’t going to get better though if I said no. I was told what happens to ponies who end up with depression by my father and I wasn’t going to let Stitch die as well. She may have already lost so much, but she still had a life to live and places to go and see. If taking her under my wing was going to somehow help, then I was will to take it.

“Sure,” I say to her. She looked to me as I give her the answer. “I’ll help you be stronger, if that’s what you wish, but just consider me a friend and don’t tell anypony about this, got it?”

She backed up and tried her best to call herself down, wiping the tears away from her eyes in the process. “Thank you,” She said, her eyes watering. “Thank you so so much. You have no idea what it’s been like for me the last few hours. I’ve felt so useless and angry at myself and like you said I need someone to talk to. You're the only one I can honestly go to for aid, Willow Wisp has simply been hanging out in the engine room staring at it and it isn't even worth talking to Sharpshot in these kind of situations,”

“No kidding,” I said agreeing with her. “He’s got no sense of respect. Hell, you should have heard how he acted when we first met. Doesn’t give a good first impression that’s for sure.”

“Attention everyone,” Stitch and I look up to the speaker just above our heads, “We will be landing in home base in one minute, I repeat we will be landing in one minute. Prepare to leave.”

Hearing that, I looked down to the ground below us to see the ruins of a massive city. This must have Las Pegasus, the city we were heading to in the beginning. I looked around at the giant ruined buildings of Las Pegasus in amazement. I looked to see one building in the distance that was highlighted with small beams probably to show the “raptor” as these soldiers had called where to land I wasn’t as big as other buildings in the area but it was much newer looking. I could obviously tell that was where we were going to land if my earlier statement didn’t say anything.

“That’s a view,” Stitch stated, speaking for me as well. “I wonder how many ponies use to live here and how beautiful it was. It’s so hard to imagine the terror that has been wiped from those seventy-five years.”

“You can say that again,” I tell her before realizing something. “But please don’t.”

She laughed as she heard me say that, and I looked at her wondering why. “You do know that’s a figure of speech right?” She says managing to hold her laughter in.

I simply smiled and rolled my eyes, it was just the way I was use to saying it. I wasn’t use to a pony questioning me on it but I guess it was only expected. I wonder what other habits of mine ponies would question, hopefully it was nothing fun or exciting, not that I had any like that.

“Hey! Stitch, Dead Hooves,” I look to see Zoey finally step forward, having heard the entire thing. “How’d you two sleep?”

I heard a yawn escape Stitch’s mouth before either of us was able to reply. “I think that kind of sums it up for me,” She said giggling, she seemed to be doing better already.

“I slept well,” I said smiling. “Did you know they have those cool Novasurge rifles in the reserve rooms?”

“I didn’t bother taking it,” Zoey said, “They were short a room so I ended up having to sleep with somepony named Rocket. Kind of funny that they use code names here huh?”

“I think it’s interesting,” I respond. “I would love a nickname of my own, and since I had a bit of a chat with some girl named Feather and plan on stay a little longer to have some things repaired, I might decided to take a nickname myself.”

“Then I’m staying as well,” Stitch said, “Now that… Well you know what is going on I’m not leave your side.”

“I heard the entire conversation.”

Stitch looked at Zoey with surprised, not having known she was there the entire time. Her ears flattened in fear as it settled in her, “Please don’t tell Sharpshot about this. I don’t want to deal with him bickering me at the moment.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Zoey replied in reassuring manner “Besides, I plan to stay as well. You and me Dead Hooves have a similar objective, and I don’t plan on leaving your side until my mom is free again, got it,” I nod my head and move out of the way as Zoey looks through the window. “Looks like we’re starting to descend.”

I follow her gaze and watch as we start getting closer to the ground, watching as we came into the giant field of lights below us. My ears started clogging up and popping uncontrollably as we got closer and closer to the ground, causing me to open and close my jaw in order to feel a little better about it. I watched as we suddenly came right to ground level and watched as the raptor slid along the runway until it stopped only a few feet from the end of them.

“I got the chance to learn that this raptor is designed a little differently from Rocket,” Zoey explained “It’s powered by a more advanced engine then a normal raptor due to the fact we are lower to the ground and the pegasi have to stay closer to it in order to be able to search around here. They also added wheels on the bottom of it to keep it from landing roughly on the ground. It was made especially for this here group and is the only one they have, which is why it was such a big deal when Sharpshot apparently broke it.”

“Please don’t talk about that,” We turn around to see Willow Wisp and Sharpshot looking at us. “I hear from captain Bleak that Dead Hooves is planning on staying due to a little talk you had with that mare Feather earlier,” I nodded in response, expecting him to look at me in an angry manner. “Well I’m here to let you know that he has convinced me to stay as well. Since you are a client in a way to me and you have offered to help me with my 'personal problem' so I had no way to get out of this,” Willow Wisp quickly walked to my side as Sharp cracked an unexpected smile. “Bleak wanted me to say to you 'welcome to the Angel Hunters'.”

My face lit up with excitement, he was making us members of the Angel Hunters. I’m guessing he did something in a similar method with Feather where he simply just didn’t tell the Enclave council or whatever kind of system they had we were joining. I was mainly happy about this because I wouldn’t have to worry about my power armor breaking down and having to crawl across the wasteland thanks to Feather upholding her promise, at least I hope she did. This also gave me a chance to find the Bloody Angel and any traces of it would be sent to us probably. I had my chance to track down this criminal and take him down once and for all, and if it so happened to take me to Manehattan then that was a double bonus.

“Hey rookies!” I look to see a new pegasus coming towards us that I hadn’t seen before. She had a yellow coat with a red mane and tail with a streak of black going through the middle of them. Her cutie mark was what looked like a map, but with all the wavy lines on it I couldn’t really tell. She wore a grey suit with a patch on it with a halo and wings covered in blood with the crosshairs of a zebra rifle on them (at least a zebra rifle was the only thing I could think of) “Came to congratulate a certain few of you for being the first unicorns and zebras to join any group of the Grand Pegasus Enclave, whether they know it or not. The name's Nav and I came to give you some uniforms. Now that you’re members this is what you will be wearing, that includes under your power armor. Welcome to the Angel Hunters.”

“Thanks Nav,” Sharp said, surprising me and everyone else next to me that he had actually manage to say that. “Oh, did you speak to Bleak on the whole keeping my current nickname thing.”

“He’s fine with it,” Nav said, handing the uniforms to the unicorn in front of her. “He didn't know that you had stopped going by Icecap until a year ago just like most ponies.”

Icecap, so that was Sharp’s name. Made sense considering the stable he came from he told me was really cold. That must have been why he changed his name when he got the chance. It probably bothered him because of what happened at Stable fifteen two years ago, I know it still troubled him. It was one of the few signs of weakness that actually showed in him, the only others being his unapologetic manner and his… Apparently bad luck with using, fixing, or just being around machinery.

“We should be getting off,” Nav said. “You have to do some stuff before you're free to wander around the facility. Captain Bleak will be waiting for you outside, just make sure you have your uniforms on first.”

We nodded and Sharp handed out the uniforms to us to get them on. I got out of my power armor to put it on, and I soon realized that this wasn’t made for a unicorn like myself. There was nowhere to put the horn at the top of the uniform, and both me and Sharp were forced to make a hole of our own in order to get fully into it. This was actually the first time I had seen Sharp's body, and I looked at his flank to see he had crosshairs for a cutie mark. Guess the nickname Sharpshot made since as well now. I didn’t want to call him Icecap because I didn’t know if it would bug him or not, and it most likely would.

I put the goggles over my eyes (Sharp ripping his off and throwing it to the side) and looked around in them. The uniform and goggles over my face felt weird, everything looked darker but also more clear somehow. The uniform itself felt weird just for the fact this was the first time I had worn anything other than my power armor on my body and the feeling of leather over my body was weird. If this is what they wore, however, I wasn’t going to bother complaining.

“So this is what it is like to wear goggles,” I look to see Zoey completely dressed, “Definitely feels weird.”

“You get use to it when it’s forever attached to your face,” Sharp said, “It’s nothing new to me, and you don’t have to wear those unless you're on missions I pretty sure,” We looked to see the other members getting off, “Guess it’s time to disembark.”

“Give me a second,” I quickly rush into my room and grab Remembrance and the Novasurge rifle from yesterday before coming back out. “Okay I’m ready,”

We follow Sharp outside and look around to the destroyed city around us. It seemed so beautiful by itself, I wonder what it was like before the mega spell hit this place. The building to the right of us, which was definitely the base of operations for the Angel Hunters since we landed right next to it. Every pony was wearing the same uniform we were, except for Captain Bleak who sported a brown jacket with a stetson hat which he didn’t have on before. Must have been more casual wear for him.

“Two years and you still have that thing,” Sharp said looking at him “Applejack still your idol.”

Bleak put on a smile at this. “She will always be,” His voice of tone changed as we all stood in front of him. “Well, I can see that you have all decided to stay, and I think Nav and Sharp here has already told you that you are one of us now,” He looked at me as he continued. “And I can see someone took the spare room they had to their advantage,” I got nervous as I swung the Novasurge rifle. “Don’t worry miss, you can keep it. We always have a few extra in case of emergency. Now I’m pretty sure some of you have noticed the whole code name thing going on around here. That’s simply just a safety precaution that we have to take since most of us, including me, had originally worked under the Shadowbolts. As such it is required that you must take one on as well.”

“Guess it makes sense,” I hear Zoey say next to me. “So are they just made randomly or is there a process behind it?”

“All codenames have a meaning behind them that coordinates with the pony that bares it,” Bleak answered. “We will assess you in a small training operation first to see your abilities and assess it from there, but for those of you who I was told have talents outside of that field you will be given yours right now,” He looked to Stitch. “Miss Stitch, I know you’ve been through some hardship recently but I’m glad to see have decided to help us.”

“Thank you sir,” She says nodding her head. “I’m glad to be here.”

“Sharp here has told me about your impressive medical skills, especially since there self taught,” Stitch blushed a little as she heard this. “Your codename miss Stitch will be Pin, okay?”

“No objections,” She replied.

“Step to the side, I will tell you where you are to go after I’m finished with the others, that goes for you as well Sharpshot,” The two ponies stepped away. “They may have proven what they're made of but you will have to do more in order to show us you belong here. I know that sounds harsh but if we don’t have good soldiers we can't be expected to find that hideous killer or preserve what we still have of our old home. If you would follow me please.”

Willow Wisp, Zoey, and I all followed him as he took us around the building to a fenced off area of the city. It seemed to be some sort of training ground from the looks of it, and there was someone waiting at the side of it. Once again, it was a pegasus I haven’t yet seen and could really see him in too much detail because of the uniform. He had a light blue coat with a darker blue mane and tail. His uniform was different then the rest of ours, being blue with a yellow underbelly. He looked very elderly from the looks of it, even older than Granny Cotton had been.

“You awake gramps?” Bleak asked jokingly, the old pony steering awake as he heard the names. “We got some new special recruit’s that need to be tested.”

The older pegasus took one glance at us and smiled in amazement. “Have to say grandson, you surely do seem to be full of surprises,” The old pony got up and walk over to us in a friendly manner. “Nice to meet you all, the names Soarin, retired member of the Wonderbolts, now known as the Shadowbolts.”

“Soarin here is a veteran from the war,” Bleak told. “He was the reason we were able to form in the first place, giving us full control of all operations here on the ground. We may be Enclave in origin but in many ways we're a group all our own.”

“Guess that explains the nicer manners,” I said, both of them nodding in agreement, Soarin looking at me curiously. “Is something wrong mister Soarin?”

“That power armor reminds me of an old friend,” He said. “It was Enclave of course instead of Steel Ranger, but looking at you reminds me of her,” He must of realized he was getting off track because he turn back to Bleak, who I guess was his grandson, and spoke to him. “I can take things from here, you go do whatever it is you do when you're not on duty.”

“I’m actually going to be observing them,” Bleak told Soarin. “Someone is going to need to see what they're made of, and considering you are only here as requirement of the council I’m going to leave the explaining primarily to you.”

Bleak walked off and left us with Soarin. So this was a pony from during the war? He sure seemed like he had seen his fair of battle, but he surprisingly seemed to be fine for the most part. Despite that, it was pretty interesting meeting a pony that had survived it all, after what Sharpshot said about the ministers I thought they were all dead.

“So, I guess I better explain the training assignment,” Soarin said turning to us. “What you see here is a part of the portion of the old city of Las Pegasus that has been sealed off for the purpose of training new recruits like yourself. The main objective is pretty simply, find the target and eliminate it. The target in question is a cardboard cutout of a raider, but that’s the only enemy in there that isn’t real. You will have to battle through Hellhounds, Ghouls, Radroaches, and other things, but the main enemies you have to worry about are these nasty beast called Living Fossils."

“I’ve heard of those,” Zoey said, “They’re old bones held together by an unstable balance in the magic left from the mega spells. They can be anything from pre-historic Equestria to bodies of ponies from the war.”

“Well I can see someone here knows her stuff,” Soarin said impressed. “You’re right though, that’s exactly what they are. Every Living Fossil looks different from the other because they are made of multiple creature or ponies, but the one thing that they all have in common are these things we have called fluxes. It’s a bright white light in them that keeps them together, but it’s also a physical object. You hit enough, it will explode and fall to the floor once again lifeless. Now remember, nothing in there is friendly, so anything that moves feel free to shot, got it?” We nod our heads in understanding.

“Good,” Soarin said as he continued his explanation. “Now any personal weapons and things are allowed, it won’t affect your assessment. In fact, we encourage that you use any special or personal weapons of yours as it will help us place you in a spot of our crew. Also, anything of interest you find in the city is yours to keep and remember that it’s important to use the Environment to your advantage. That’s all, when that light turns on, you will enter the city.”

I look up to see an old light bulb hanging attached to some wires. I watched where the wires went and realized it led to a building outside of the training area. I looked more closely to see Bleak sitting down doing something. I would have to impress him, that’s for sure, but as long as I kept my mind on the mission it wouldn’t be that hard. At least that’s what I hoped.

I looked up to see the light bulb turn on and watch as Soarin opens a gate in front of us. “I wish you all the best of luck,” He says, and I give him a nod of thanks before I enter.

Me, Willow Wisp, and Zoey looked in awe at the giant buildings that surrounded us. Some of them were falling apart with gigantic holes in them while others were completely leveled from the devastation that must have been caused around here. The area we had seemed pretty big, but I think that was the point. It was just a small part of a bigger world that surrounded us.

I of course had Remembrance and the Novasurge rifle and my side, Zoey had her carbine from when we met, and Willow Wisp had the normal repeater rifle from the raider camp. All in all, I feel like we were very well prepared for this, even if we had left most of our medical supplies with Stitch and Sharpshot. Zoey had luckily packed some in her saddlebags (wish I had some myself honestly) so I was hoping that was enough to get us through this.

The farther we headed into the city the more I realized just how bad it had been hit. Like Stitch said, you have to wonder what life was like before the mega spells here. Did the sidewalks once line up with ponies of all kinds? did those buildings once housed them and earned them bits? If that was all the case, I couldn’t imagine the terror of the Mega spell when it landed here. All the ponies that must have died here, must have been the reason those Living Fossil things were around here.

“So exactly where should we start looking?” I asked interested. “Zoey, you probably know the area better then me, anything you can tell me I should know.”

“That Novasurge rifle of yours and this Carbine of mine have scopes,” She pointed out. “We won’t be able to really tell what we are looking for until we can get a scan of the area. I haven’t been in this area of the city before so the best idea would be to get as high up in the air as possible.”

“Willow Wisp,” The mute pegasus looked to me as I spoke to her. “Can you fly?” The pegasus shook her head, looking at the ground in disappointment. “Hey, don’t worry about it,” I look up at the buildings around us. “If we get up to the top of one of the buildings here we could get a good scan of the surrounding area."

Zoey looked around before nodding. “Most of these buildings are probably unstable, but it’s the best idea we currently have so what the hell,” She points to a fancy looking building still mostly intact. “I say we take that one, it looks like we can get a higher vantage point if we took it then any of the others."

Willow and I nodded in agreement and Zoey took the lead. We followed her into what might have once been a fashionable hotel lobby. The sign above the door read “Calm Trot Hotel” and the metal doors were rusted and smashed, glass from the inside of it everywhere. The carpet of the hotel has clearly seen better days, being torn up and burned by the looks of it. The wallpaper wasn’t any better, in fact I would saw it’s worse than the carpet. It made some major peeling to reveal the brick behind it. The couches and chairs in the lobby also weren’t that good, showing major wear and tear. I saw sparks coming from a small square shape room to the side.

“Looks like the elevator is out,” Zoey said. “Guess we're taking the stairs.”

Willow Wisp and I followed Zoey into a small door next to the so called elevator she mentioned. As we get in, I look up to see the gigantic amount of stairs that lead up, some parts of it falling off. We… are going to climb that? Why? Why the fuck does the Wasteland want to do this to me? 

“Looks like we'll have to weave in and out,” Zoey explains. “Be prepared, just in case there are feral ghouls in here.”

We nodded and I place Remembrance up next to my chest as we start climbing the stairs. Willow Wisp and Zoey had it easy, I on the other hand had to lug around this giant goddess damn piece of metal without fall on my ass too many times. It was stupid, who builds a building this high with this amount of stairs. We didn’t stop walking until around what, thirteenth floor? Worst part, we weren't even half way up the damn thing. I didn't have my PipBuck to calm me down and Zoey and Willow Wisp would probably think I’m weird singing out of the blue so I was forced to stay in a miserable mood until I was by myself.

The stairs had fallen apart on the thirteenth floor and we had to head on into the hallways of the hotel. It was fucking creepy, as in the wall and floor looked more moldy then cheese that’s been left out for five months, that’s how bad it was. It didn’t help hearing the creaking doors and floorboards under us. Seriously, why did it have to be like this?

“You okay Dead Hooves?” Zoey ask looking back to me in grave worry.

“I’m just really pissed off right now,” I tell her. “Why does this place have to look creepy? I fucking hate it.”

“Do you wanna wait?” She asks me. “Me and Willow can move up to the top and you can wait, it won't take super long.”

“You’re not leaving me here,” I tell her, she clearly didn’t get that it would only make this creepier. “I feel like a pair of creepy twins are going to come out of nowhere and murder me. I’m stay right next to you, got it?”

“Whatever you say,” Zoey responded, rolling her eyes at me. “Just know that the option to head back downstairs is only a few feet away right now.”

Shit, I didn’t think about going down. How was I going to get down in this thing, for all I know I would probably fall over and not be able to get back up. I would just have to be really careful, like making sure not to find a certain song on my PipBuck careful. That was still going to suck.

I followed closely next to Zoey before she stopped us next to a corner. I heard the sounds of ghouls around the corner and I peek around to see that there was three of them feeding of some old corps. I almost puked seeing that, but I managed to hold it in. I had seen worse things, not that I took it better but I had seen worse… Okay this was probably just as bad now that I think about this.

“I take the one on the left,” Zoey said. “You take the one in the middle. Willow, take the one on the right. We aim for the head and get this over with as quickly as possible.”

We nodded and I switch Remembrance out for the Novasurge rifle while the other two merely aim there Carbine and Repeater at the ghouls. I slow my breathing as I put my hoof on the trigger like the other two. I focus on the middle one, just like Zoey said and wait for Zoey to give the word. I watched as the ghoul on the right got up and looked at us, growling, and I looked to see Willow start shivering.

“Now!”

The two ponies next to meet let loose rounds into their targets but I wait as I realize something. The ghoul started running at me as I realized the gun need to charge in order to shoot. I start slowly backpedal as it got closer and closer before the Novasurge finally fire, putting a decent hole in its face as it fell to the ground lifeless. I was breathing pretty heavy but was pumped and in awe at what I had just done.

“Okay, I’m definitely keeping this,” I charge up my gun again and fire it at the door in front of me as I yell. “NOVASEURGE!” Blowing a hole in the door.

Willow Wisp was clearly laughing at me based on her facial expression and Zoey smiled and rolled her eyes at me. What could I say, something about saying Novasurge with a little bit of an accent was a little fun. I decided that’s what I would say whenever I fired it, not for convenience, but because it was fun.

We walked down the hall and opened the door to another flight of stairs. We were definitely much closer to the roof then we were before, but still had a good ways to go before hand. This time though we managed to get all the way to the top without any detours which was great. As we entered onto the roof, we were met by a roaring wind and the surround city. It's really amazing just how big the area we were in was. I looked around to see nothing but ruined buildings and the distant wilderness behind us.

We went up to the end and I got out of my power armor as me and Zoey scan the area using our rifles. The scope was really weird to us, I had to keep it very steady in order to get a clear glimpse of what was around me. I looked down at the streets to see things like ghouls and what I believed was hell hounds around us.

“Poor things,” Zoey said, looking at the same thing I was. “Most hell hounds are intelligent, but these things have had their brains melted or something by the radiation. Not that it would have mattered, they seem to have a bad reputation considering the raid on Tenpony five weeks ago.”

“I heard about that,” I told her remembering hearing the shaky voice of the news anchor. “Guess the scene must have been pretty gruesome.”

“You can say that again,” Zoey moved her carbine to the left before speaking again. “Dead Hooves, over here.”

I look through her gun to see a raider stand motionless in a building a few blocks away. That had to be the target Soarin had mentioned, no way it couldn’t be. Hard to believe he was still alive after looking through it and not seeing him move in anyway shape or form. I looked away as Zoey looked at me.

“We have sights of the target but my weapon isn’t able to reach that distance,” Zoey explains to me as she put it away. “I don’t think that Novasurge rifle would be able to either. We have to get closer to it in order to hit it. Be prepared to fight when we get back down,” Me and Willow nod our heads in response as we start making our way back inside.

“Got your back,” I tell her as we once again enter the building.
> Chapter 9 - Silver Gunner
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After some… Minor difficulties, we managed to get back down to the lobby. My mind was currently wondering what kind of cool pre-war material I could find in here. They said whatever I found I could keep, so I was wondering what kind of stuff might still somehow be useable. Willow Wisp seemed more settled being back down here, guess she had a fear of heights. Zoey on the other hand was more concerned about getting this over with.

Not that I blamed her, if these Hellhounds were even more deadly than the ones in the raid, I wouldn’t want to be near them. Of course, we also had those Living Fossils to deal with, and that scared me. I didn’t see any from the top of the building, but that was probably because they blended in so naturally to everything else. I had Remembrance held up at the ready, preparing for anything and everything that could come at me. This was a clear hostile environment, but that was already pretty clear if you ask me.

I looked around at all the broken down carriages at the sides of the road. Some had skeletons on them of ponies, others were just broken down, and others were somewhat disintegrated. That being said, the damaged seemed more recent than most other places. It seemed to still be slightly radiated and there was still some rotting corpses in the streets. I was to curious, I had to ask Zoey about this.

“Hey Zoey,” I drop back to her side as we continue walking through the rubble. “Was this place hit by a mega spells more recently or-”

“This was the last place hit,” She said interrupting me. “It wasn’t my home country that did this though, pony kind launched one on itself,” My eyes widen in surprise at this. “Fifty-three years some pony in this country launched the mega spell Nebula one, it was never fired during the war due to faulty design. It was one of five different Nebula mega spells, and all of them had the same problem. Nebulas two, four, and five were all deactivated, however Nebula one and three weren’t, and three is still yet to have been fired.”

I managed to keep myself from saying “Do you know where Nebula three is? I want to give the Zebra’s a taste of their own medicine,” but managed to keep myself shut in order to keep myself from offending Zoey and her kind. Instead I asked, “What created the mega spells?”

“Mostly the Ministry of Arcane Science which was run by Minister of Magic Twilight Sparkle, but Nebula was actually made by the princesses themselves,” Zoey explained before looking ahead. “Oh shit.”

I looked where she had, at a small intersections in front of us. The building we were heading towards was only two blocks away and I looked to see what was troubling her. I looked to see three Hellhounds standing there in front of a carriage full of a pile of bones. What were they growling at? I didn’t see anything. Zoey got us all behind a nearby carriage as we looked at the situation. I was all for avoiding the fight, but then Zoey pointed something out to me.

“You see that metallic thing right there,” I follow her gaze to see what looked like metallic shaped figure beside them. “It’s a robotic pony, most likely pre-war. If we could grab that imagine what we could do with it. If it still works we could power it on and possibly use it, if not we could always scrape it,” She turned to me as she said the next one. “Or you can have that pre-war trophy Sharpshot was telling me you wanted so badly.”

“Was it made in the ministries?” I asked her.

“I don’t think so,” She says to me. “I’ve seen pre-war ministry stuff before and that looks nothing like what I've seen. It’s definitely pre-war though, the rust shows it loud and clear,” She moved behind me and made her way around the carriage as she tried to get a better look at it. I followed her, telling Willow Wisp to stay hidden while we inspected the situation. “Looks like there's some kind of metal door on the back, maybe used for storage or something? No, there wouldn’t be enough room to put in the hard drive and mainframe. Must serve some other purpose…” She looked at me. “I want to see what it is but I don’t think we could deal with all four of those creatures.”

I look at the Hellhounds wondering what she meant by four. “I only see three,” I tell her. “What do you mean by four?”

“Look really closely at that pile of bones,” She said, and I did what she said. I looked to see a glowing circle in the middle of it. “The thing is sleeping,” Zoey tells me. “But as soon as we start firing that thing is going to wake up. That influx can only be broken by overloading magic into it.”

“I don’t know any magic,” I tell her.

“But the Novasurge fires magic,” She explains further. “Unload a few shots into that thing and it should fall. I can’t do anything to it because this carbine isn’t magic, in that case I'll leave the Living Fossil to you. I’ll deal with the Hellhounds and draw them away while you take care of it.”

She started moving away from me and across the streets, motioning Willow Wisp over while doing it. She whispered something to Willow, my guess was that it was our plan for taking it down. She nodded to whatever it was Zoey had said to her and she looked to me and nodded. They dissapeared around the corner of the nearby carriage and I waited to see them move away.

I heard gunfire fly in direction of the Hellhounds and watched as one fell to the ground, looking as if it took a entire cartridge to take it down. It watched as they dissapeared and the light in the center of the piles of bones got brighter and they started rising. When it had fully risen, it looked like a bone giant, indestructible.

I looked down the scope of the Novasurge rifle as I saw it start moving in the direction I assumed Willow and Zoey were in. I pressed the trigger as soon as possible and heared the sound of the magic inside the rifle come to life. It was slow, but it took a few seconds for the Novasurge to fully charge putting me on a bit of a clock. I could feel the magic in the weapon as it reached it’s max charge and I let it loose.

“NOVASEURGE!”

I was shot backwards a good few inches by the recoil of the blast. Even with the power armor it was powerful. I don’t think it was that the shot was to much for me a pony to handle, it was more like I wasn’t strong enough to handle and I probably would have flown through the air if it wasn’t for the power armor. Note to self, don’t ever fully charge it.

The good news was that I heard the sounds of bones coming towards me instead of away from me. That being said I was still busy finding my footing after the blast by the time I saw it. It wasn’t really describable, it was a mix of bone from no single kind of creature. It was as if the thing wasn’t so much a fossil as it was an influx of magic… Which I kinda just realized is exactly what Soarin and Zoey said they were.

I watched as a bone from the thing (I wasn’t even sure what to call it anymore) comes flying towards me and I slowly shuffle to the side as it does. I realize I won’t be able to defend myself against this thing in power armor. It was to slow and I wouldn’t have enough time to dodge even if I wanted to. Knowing this I got out of the power armor, grabbed the Novasurge rifle, and crawled under the cartridge next to me.

If I was correct, it couldn’t see or hear me, but considering it is basically an influx of magic it could probably sense magic in the area. It was to close to me for me to get away, so I would have to cause a magical diversion to get away from. I had never done magic before, so this would be a very hit or miss situation. If I just left it here, I could escape, but I didn’t want to know what trouble it could cause if it stumbled into the Angel Hunter camp.

I focused on a small pile of trash off to the side and focused my mind on it. If this went off right, my plan was to fling the pile of trash away from me and down the road. That way I could fire the Novasurge rifle again and hopefully end this. I watched as I slowly found myself succeeding, watching as a glow started enveloping the piece of paper off the ground and suddenly went into full on rage mode and flung it into a building to the right of me.

It seemed to have worked, the Living Fossil moved away from me and I crawled out from underneath and watched as the giant stepped on into the building. It had thankfully not detected me and focus on the place that was being effected by magic instead. Thank Celestia for undead stupidity.

I slowly got on up and climbed on into the carriage behind me before taking the chance to look down the Novasurge’s scopes and calm my breathing. I found it a little easier to fire the weapon doing it, but considering I had to hold my breath still as it charged up as well was a pretty hard thing to do. Luckily, I had the patience and the breath to take care of this and waited for the Living Fossil to give me an opening to it’s influx.

When my gun was fifty percent charged, I finally got an opening, and fired directly at the beast, tumbling backwards out of the carriage before I had a chance to shout my battle cry. I heard an explosion come from inside the building and lifted my head through the carriage to see the Living Fossil gone. That could have honestly been a lot hard then it had if I didn’t realize it can only track magic, thankfully I had figured it out by that time.

I walked over to my power armor, which was still thankfully in one piece. I looked to see Zoey and Willow Wisp walk over to me, and I look behind them to see the Hellhounds they had fought dead on the ground. I look in terror at one of them, seeing the corpse of a Hellhound ripped apart by something. Then I looked at Willow Wisp to see on her smiling while covered in blood. Not knowing what the hell Zoey had told her, I looked at the zebra in hopes of a response.

“I can explain,” She said reading my mind. “I told her we were going to rip the Hellhounds to shreds and well… I guess she took it kind of literally.”

“I think kind of is a bit of an understatement,” I reply not completely agreeing with the use of words. “But it looks like you don’t mind at all,” Willow Wisp nodded, which honestly scared me seeing what she had done to the Hellhound.

“This mare here definitely knows a thing or two about fighting hand to hand combat,” Zoey told me. “This probably isn’t the first time she has been in a situation like this, which is weird considering most slavers don’t usually have a problem with things like ponies taking their “property” if you know what I mean,” I didn’t really think too much of it, I was just surprised how gruesome that Hellhound killed. “Ready to see what that robot was about?”

I nodded my head and we walk over to the robot. Despite the bit of rust it had, I was surprised at how it must have withstood the test of time. Like Zoey had said, there seemed to be some sort of hatch on the back of the pony, but I couldn’t open it because there was no handle. Hey, just because I could now use magic to fling a piece of paper doesn’t mean I could open a robot up.

I watched as Zoey searched around the things body before finally finding something. “I think this much be a switch or something here,” She said, and I heard a flick sound as the spot where eyes usually were on a pony lit up red.

Zoey jumped back a few centimeters as this happened. It was actually still working! I honestly didn’t expect it to, but it would have been a win win either way, this was honestly though much then what it would have been other wise. It got up and stared at me blankly, and I stared right back, not entirely sure what was going on. I saw Willow slowly step back as I continued staring at it.

“So uh…” I felt completely confused on what to say right now. What would a robot say? “Hello there? I’m Dead Hooves and…” My sentence trailed off as I looked at it, not knowing what was going to happen. It was just staring at me, blankly. 

Did it even speak? 

“So do you wanna talk first or should I?”

“What is the core value of friendship?”

My eyes went wide as it spoke those words. WHAT! Out of all the things I was being ask by a robot, it was a question about friendship? I looked to Zoey for help on this but she shrugged her shoulders. I was obviously not the right pony to ask this question to. I had no idea what friendship really was, so I just had to take a guess.

“Being nice, kind, generous, loyal, honest,” I stop to think about it for a second before speaking again. “In Sharpshot’s case sometimes being an insufferable bitch.”

“Wow, he’s that bad.”

I looked at Zoey disappointed. “Really?” I say to her. “You haven't noticed at all?”

“You seem to show knowledge of the friendship,” I look back to see the robot talk. “I am Silver Gunner, a robotic pony created during the war.”

I hugged him and he simply stared at me, probably wondering what the hell I was doing. “Can I keep him,” I asked, finding Silver Gunner kind of cute… Which I think is kind of weird not that I say it. “Pleeeease.”

“Guess you got more than just a trophy,” Zoey said happy, smiling at me. “You know what Soarin said, you can keep it.”

I hugged it for a few more seconds, not really caring that it’s red eyes were glaring at me. I guess I should have been slightly terrified of Silver Gunner, but something about him just said differently. I don’t know why, but he seemed like a metallic teddy bear, standing there motionless at me. I suddenly found myself being pulled away by something and looked to see multiple arms come out of Silver Gunners back. Guess I maybe hugged him for too long.

“What can I do to be of assistance to you fine soldiers,” Silver Gunner said in the same monotone voice as before. It must of thought we were soldiers from the war due to the Angel Hunter uniforms we were wearing (of course mine didn’t show under my power armor).

“The war ended seventy-five years ago,” Zoey said in a deadpan voice. “We aren’t soldiers from the war. We lost, we all Celestia damn loss. No pony or species won because of the megaspells.”

Silver Gunner didn’t seem affected by this at all. “What could I do to be of assistance?” Silver Gunner asked again. “A uniform means an army, and if there is an army there is a war.”

I looked at Zoey, who looked at me with the same face. In a way this entire search was starting feel like a gigantic one versus a thousand war. I never really thought about it that way before. Silver Gunner was right. The uniform meant we were part of an army, one fighting a war to stop a gruesome killer in the wasteland.

“We’re on a training mission of sorts to take down a raider,” I explain to Silver Gunner. “We spotted it in the building right here,” I point at a building a block down the street. You could actually see the cardboard raider from the streets, but it seemed almost impossible to hit from where I currently was.  “It’s not a real raider, it’s just painted onto a piece of cardboard.”

Silver Gunner looked at me still seeming completely unfazed by the world around him. It was kind of like he didn’t even see it. “I shall assist you on your mission then,” He said looking at me. “I require a weapon to help. I suggest handing me the Novasurge rifle you currently hold.”

I look down at it and then back at him, wondering if I should give it to him. Sure, he would need a weapon if he was to help us (not that I think we needed much help at the moment) but the Novasurge rifle was so cool I didn’t want to give it to him. Of course the only other weapon I had was Remembrance, which I wasn’t really sure I wanted to be parted from, even if it was for only a few seconds.

“Here,” I said holding the Novasurge rifle in front of me. “But I expect it back by the end of this okay.”

He took it in one of his hands or whatever those thing were on his back and I swung Remembrance around. Zoey motioned us with her head over to the building that our so called target was in. At least it wasn’t that far, or on the roof. I was still angry about the amount of stairs I had to climb in order to even see it.

I do have to say that it was nice that this wasn’t overly challenging. If I wasn’t a unicorn or didn’t have a weapon in my hand like the Novasurge I wouldn’t probably have to worry about that Living Fossil thing earlier. I wonder if Zoey was even the thing that set it off, she was a Zebra and had no weapons like the Novasurge. Was something else nearby causing it to wake up?

The building that the cardboard raider was in seemed to have been under construction by the time Nebula One hit. It didn’t seem that stable, you could tell that age wasn’t being kind (then again, was age kind to anything here?) and the rusty steel beams that held it standing up would probably soon collapse. No way we were stepping onto that thing.

“Guess will have to hit it from another building,” I said.

“Or,” I look to see Zoey dash off behind I me with her carbine and take a look up at the building.

I watch as she takes aim and starts firing shots off onto the building, each time the bullet seemed to get higher and higher as she did. She was barely even holding the trigger down to do this as she continued to shot, each time getting closer and closer to the target. We stepped up next to Zoey in case she fired a low shot and accidentally hit one of us, Silver Gunner simply standing there not seeming to worry about it.

After what must have been a complete magazine worth of ammunition I heard the faint sound of a bell in the distance and watched as the target fell forward. “You can tell you were never meant to climb up that building,” Zoey said. “This was made for Enclave soldiers, which make up most of the Angel Hunters group besides from us, Sharpshot, Stitch, and your Dashite friend Feather.”

I looked at her confused. “And the point you are trying to prove is?”

“That thing is meant to be shot down from the air,” Zoey explained. “We all know that so much as a hoof on that building would have caused it to fall. Since most Enclave soldiers are taught to fight from the air — don’t ask how I know — you are suppose to find another way to shot it from. In our case it was from a better position on the ground down the street. You learn a thing or two about shooting when you are forced to work with a crazy pony for the past couple months of your life.”

I felt something strange behind me and I turn around, expecting to see a Hellhound. Instead I saw nothing, at least not at first. In the distance I see what I can only think is a pony in the distance staring at us. I narrow my eyes and look at it to try and get a better look at it, only for what I assumed was a pegasus to suddenly disappears without trace.

“Dead Hooves,” I look behind me ready to speak before Zoey put a hoof on my shoulder. “I’ll explain later, for now let's just get on back to the base okay.”

I look quickly up at the direction to see if it was there again only to see nothing. Whatever it was, it knew I spotted it and fled when it did. Still, for a pegasus to disappear from sight, I wondered what exactly happened. Zoey was right, though, it was time to head on back to base.

“Okay,” I said slowly nodding my head. “Lead the way Zoey.”
> Chapter 10 - Murderers assistant
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I owe so much to Dead Hooves, I really do. In many ways, I saw her as the one who saved my life back in the raider camp and not Dread. If I could’ve told her how happy I was that she had saved me I would… But you already know I can’t. I never really will be able to tell her how much she did for me, because - as you know - I can’t talk. All I can really do is go along with the wind and hope things turn out right, but they never do that way.

Dead Hooves must have known it as well, how much I care for her. I can never tell though, and she never has fully told me. She has no idea what I’ve seen, what I’ve done, and who I’ve worked for. She will though, because she is doing something I never had the guts to do, hunt them down. I wanted a simply life in Manehattan, it was one of the last things I said with my voice before that stuff took it away.

I remember it was one of the few kind things that pony was ever going to do for me. He said he would take me to Manehattan and bring me to a “friend” of his. Then I got capture, and those damn raiders brought me to the brink of death. I could stand it, but they wouldn’t stop until I told them, so I got rid of my voice my own way I could think of. I had once said that to that stupid stallion that I might listen better if I had no voice at all. Then a few days later he showed up at the raider camp, force fed me something called poison joke, and then left. Next thing I knew, I couldn’t speak, and I played dead with the raiders for who knows how long.

Then came the day when Dead Hooves showed up, a day I still think of as the greatest day of my life. He showed up again that day to, Dread, I wanted to give him a piece of my mind but my injuries kept me from doing so. Then, he unlock my chains and told me to climb on his back, afterward telling Dead Hooves to do the same thing. I fell asleep there, his back being the comfiest bed I ever knew up to that point. When I woke up I didn’t see Dread anywhere and Dead Hooves told me what happened.

“You’re friend abandoned us. He told me to take you to Manehattan, okay?”

Those word were the best thing I’ve ever heard, not just because it meant I was free, but I had someone else to look up to. Dead Hooves to me was as much a master as she was a friend, and that’s something most ponies like me don’t have. Someone to call a friend, that will be there for you in times of trouble, that treats you like a pony and not an object or stranger, a pony that cares about you tell the very end. That’s what a friend is to me, and Dead Hooves was the first pony I was ever able to call a friend.

Then she lead me into meeting Stitch and Zoey, who both seemed to care about me. I couldn’t really tell with Sharpshot if he cared or not, he probably did on the inside but was to proud or stubborn to show it. I had a lot to owe to Stitch, I honestly didn’t realize how bad those injuries were until she showed them to me. I had been hit a good number of times, so the feeling of pain wasn’t that noticeable to me anymore.

“You okay Willow,” I look to see Dead Hooves looking at me concern. I nodded to her. “If there's anything you need, please tell me, okay?”

I felt similar to Dead Hooves in a way, the fact that we both didn’t have the ability to do something so simply as talk or walk. I missed talking, I tended to make talking motions with my mouth to make me feel like I was still able to when in reality I knew I couldn’t. Never again would I be able to hear my voice, and it was something I was still getting use to. I know Dead Hooves wanted to understand me, but she had no idea what I have seen or what I have done.

I knew that there must have been a way for me to get back my voice, there must have been. How though, did that White Light pony Dread point us to know how to get it back? I was okay staying with the Angel Hunters, it would help me get my revenge on the way he treated me. Yes, I knew who the Bloody Angel was, and you can probably guess who he is, or who they are.

The fact that ponies think he was meant to deliver our deaths is in a way my fault, because I was the one who buried the bodies. I didn’t do it to cover our tracks, I did it because I felt bad about the ponies he killed. I thought of it as giving peace to those he had wrongfully ended. He never got angry at me doing it, in fact I think he rather liked it after hearing what ponies were calling us over the news. He encourage me to do it, and while I wouldn’t have done if he asked me to otherwise, I did want to put the murdered ponies to rest. So I kept doing it, he kept killing and I kept burying, it was just the way things were for us. In fact, I even got my cutie mark by doing it, something I considered a burden more than a gift at the time.

However, I dug graves for a different reason know. I didn’t feel that bad doing it anymore, mostly because it was more out of respect for the ponies and the family they had. I felt so bad not being able to bury Mud Swirl back at the smokey mountains. I could tell how sad Stitch was about that, she had lost the only family she had ever had in the span of twenty-four hours, and that’s something I can’t imagine. I didn’t to bury Mud Swirl just because I felt bad, but rather because he had ponies who cared for him and they won’t ever see him again. I could tell how much it was affecting her, even if she didn’t want to show it. I could tell when a pony felt regret, and I wanted to do something to help.

We came back to the gate to see that those Bleak and Soarin ponies from earlier were waiting for us. Along with them was two other ponies, one was Sharpshot but the other one was a pegasus with the tips of its wings and the top of it’s mane and tail yellow. I remember seeing her remove Sharpshot from the bridge after he tried to “help” them pilot the ship. Guess he wasn’t that good when it came to machinery.

“Well this is surely a surprise,” Soarin said excited. “I send in three ponies and they bring back a fully functioning robot. There surely are a lot of surprises today,”

“That’s also the second fastest I’ve ever seen someone clear it,” Bleak said, less surprised. “Feather here is the fastest pony to have ever cleared it. Maybe we should consider hiring more ponies from the wasteland considering how efficient you have been. Congratulations,”

I saw Dead Hooves walking proud as exited the ruins of the city, and I was happy for her. I mean, we had already gotten entrance to the group before doing this but as far as it goes, she did a good bulk of the work I think. I don’t think I would have been able to take that Living Fossil on, especially considering how shaky my hooves are with a gun. I’ll be honest, I had a bit of a better time ripping the Hellhound apart then shooting the ghoul before that. My hooves were so shaky back then I was worried I might accidentally shoot Dead Hooves or Zoey.

“You can rest for the day, I’m going to look over the footage you gave me and decide what you section of the group you will be part of,” I nodded, but I could tell that the other two were confused.

“Captain Bleak hides cameras in every corner of the city,” Feather explains. “It’s how we keep an eye on everything in here and decide where you will go. I think you can tell what section Sharpshot didn’t end up in,”

She cast a grin at Sharpshot standing next to her, who simply rolled his eyes at the pegasus. “Anyway, I have to say I’m pretty impressed at how well you did. Just one thing,” He looked at Dead Hooves as he said that. “I can hear what you're saying through the camera’s and am I really that much of an insufferable bitch to you?”

“Think back to when we first met,” Dead Hooves told him. “Think back to then and what you said about my father, then think about how little you seem to take apologies, I think I know an insufferable bitch when I see one, and that is you,”

I heard Feather muffle a laughter as she heard how. Dead Hooves respond. I had to agree though with Dead Hooves, Sharpshot so far had a lot to prove in terms of being reliable. He may have saved her during that entire dragon incident yesterday, but I still didn’t feel like I could trust him all that much. Like Dead Hooves had said, he kinda insulted her family when they first met and I had awoken only a few seconds before hearing it started.

“Anyways,” Feather said. “I want to talk to you about you power armor and that stuff,”

Dead Hooves nodded and looked to me. “Guessing you want to come as well,” I nodded in response, not wanting to go too far from her. “Alright then. Lead the way Feather,”

“Shall I accompany you three?” I look back to see Silver Gunner still standing there. He has been… Uncomfortably quiet since we had first seen him.

“Stay with Sharpshot,” Dead Hooves said, “I’m sure he will have something for you to do,”

Silver Gunner nodded with his metallic head as Dead Hooves and I followed Feather into around the building and to a door. “So first thing first your PipBuck,” She start, as she opened the door to the inside of the facility. “We can fix most of the primary components such as the item storage, map, and that stuff but we can’t fix the more… Magical parts of it. We also decided to add a vehicle damage display, in case anything useful is out there in the wasteland for you to use. I’ll explain how it works once you get it back. We’re still working out a few bugs though,”

“Okay,” Dead Hooves nodded her head understandingly. “But how about the device you were going to make for my legs,”

I saw Feather hesitate at the question. “Well, that’s a more complicated manner,” She said as we made a turn down the first hallway we saw on the left. “Your father may have been able to use the power armor to help you walk but it’s hard to make anything like that without it being that flexible. In the end the best thing to do…” She trailed off, I could once again see her body twitch unsure. “Is to replace your legs with mechanical ones. Sorry, but as it goes we don’t have as good of technology as the normal Enclave, mainly because they’re all too scared to come to the ground down here. We can help you move by yourself, but you would have to give up your normal legs to do it,”

Dead Hooves didn’t seem that sure, and I honestly wasn’t either. “And you have the technology for that?” Dead Hooves said.

“We keep some extra in case of bad injury. In most cases soldiers would be sent home if they lost a leg, but we try our best to allow them to keep walking as well. Most medics and technicians have to know how to make them if they are to work as part of the army. It was an absolute necessity during the war, and we still hold in very high regard today,”

So Dead Hooves chances were keep her current legs and not be able to walk, but also not have to deal with the excruciating pain that it would cause her, or basiclay doing everything vise versa. I knew how much Dead Hooves wanted to walk, but was this really worth doing it for. Feather obviously wasn’t so sure about it either, all I can hope is that she didn’t promise Dead Hooves that she would do anything she would have said.

“That’s the only way I will be able to walk?” Dead Hooves asked.

“Yes,” Feather said. “At least the only way from us. There might be others to do it that other ponies know of out in the wasteland. This is the only method we really have that can help so-”

“I’ll do it,” I looked at Dead Hooves surprised, and somewhat scared as well. “I do have to admit that it isn’t that easy moving around in this piece of armor. It’s not the most comfortable thing as well, so I don’t mind taking the choice you have given me. It probably will hurt a bit, but that’s to be expected right?”

I couldn’t do anything about this, even if I did have my voice. This was Dead Hooves choice, if she wanted to take this chance I wasn’t going to stop her. Besides, it’s not like anything bad will happen out of it… Except maybe a week's worth of pain. Still, I wasn’t going to do anything about it if it was what she wanted. This was her decision after all.

“I think a bit is an understatement,” Feather states. “You ask me it's probably going to hurt like a cactus had just thrown ten thousand needles into your skin. Strange metaphor, I know, but the point is that I’m saying it's going to hurt a lot,”

“You think that’s any pain to deal with,” Dead Hooves said kinda braggingly. “Willow Wisp here managed to survive for who knows how long starving in a raider camp with some of the worse injuries I have ever seen. If she can handle that then I think I can handle this,”

I could hardly agree with that, and she has no idea how much pain I was really in. It felt more like I was being teared apart in a black hole, which is honestly worse than ten thousand needles. That being said, I couldn’t help but think Dead Hooves was thinking about this a little too happily. Her back legs might not work, but they could sure as hell feel pain, and the pain she was going to feel was going to be even worse then I think even Feather wants to say. Please Celestia, please say they have some sort of pain medication.

Feather opened a door, and so far I wasn’t getting an answer back from Celestia. Not that I really expected to, I just mean that my prayers weren’t answered. I looked to see Stitch and one other pony I haven't seen before in the room. Like almost everyone else she was a Pegasus wearing the same uniform as all the other soldiers here. His mane was hiding under his uniform and his tail was so short I couldn’t see it. He didn’t look like he had a single strand of hair on his… Oh, wait a second.

“Cross Eye,” Feather says gaining the ghouls attention. “These are Dead Hooves and Willow Wisp, two of the new recruits. Dead Hooves and Willow Wisp, this here is Cross eye, our doctor. Just because he’s a ghoul doesn’t mean you should treat him any worse than you do the rest of the soldiers here. We owe him a lot,”

“Feather, stop bragging about me,” Cross eye said stepping away from a small table. “Not everypony needs to hear your constant bickering about how good I am. Still, as Feather mentioned my name is Cross Eye, one of very few pegasi ghouls who actually have manage to land a spot in the Enclave. I’m not the first, but definitely the longest one to have survived in it,”

He held out his hoof to Dead Hooves for greeting, but she didn’t take it. She turned her head away, occasionally looking back at Cross Eye before looking back down at the ground. She pawed the floor with her hoof and I could see the increasing discomfort in her face, biting her lip for some odd reason. Stitch looked to see this and didn’t know what exactly to think

“You okay,” Cross eye asked, seeming worried.

“Sorry about this,” Dead Hooves said. “It’s just… My father… He was, well, killed by ghouls… Sorry,”

“Oh,” Cross eye put his hoof back on the ground. “My apologies, I guess I must be making you feel very uncomfortable. Those were feral ghouls, but it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between the feral and tame. I can understand, how bout we skip introductions then a get straight to business,” Dead Hooves nodded “Now I know why you're here but I don’t think it would be a good idea for Willow Wisp or Stitch to be in here. Stitch you would mind waiting outside would you, you can take the files,”

Stitch put the files Cross eye was talking about in a box and balanced them on her back. “Thank you, and good luck Dead Hooves,” She said before slowly making her way over to the door. I held the door open for her as she made her way out, following her as she did.

We exited the room and watched as Stitch slowly lowered the box full of files off of her back and onto the floor. She slides down the wall as she takes one of the files in her hooves and starts looking through them. I was getting a bit curious at what she was looking at, and decided to peek over her shoulder to see what was on it. I saw a list of names as well as things I didn’t understand, most likely medical terms or whatever.

“I’m looking for anything that could be connected to my mom and dad,” Stitch said to me. “They were part of the Enclave, so I was hoping the ponies here might know something about them,” She dropped the file in her hooves and curled up on the ground holding back tears. “But I don’t even know there names, how do I know I can find them when I ever don’t know basic things like that,”

I sit down next to her and give her a hug in comfort. I knew what it was like not having parents, but most ponies who had been in my position would know that. He killed my parents when I was only a few years old, I don’t even remember them at all. Stitch must have been feeling the awful not being able to know them. I gave up a long time ago trying to learn who they are, the wasteland is too vast for something like this, and no pony would care about what a slave had to say.

“Maybe if I found the power armor they left I could learn something,” Stitch said through her tears. “Maybe you and me could put them to rest together, even if they are just a pile of bones that would mean so much to me,” She got up from off the floor and looked at me. “Would you be willing to come with me? I mean, I know that Sharpshot and Zoey are currently free but it just doesn’t feel right asking them. I think I remember Granny saying it was here in Las Pegasus, it wouldn’t be that far of journey. So, will you please come with me?”

She was disparate to learn what happened to her parents, was this because of what happened to Mud Swirl and Granny? I couldn’t tell, but the fact that she was asking for my help was a brand new thing to me. I always felt like I was the one being told what to do, how to do it, and why I was doing it, but now somepony was turning to me. I looked back at the room Dead Hooves was currently in, I didn’t want to leave the door but it would probably be a long time before she came out. I looked to Stitch and gave a confident nod to her, and I watched as a smile slowly grew across her face as tears continued to fall down.

She gave me a hug as she started crying. “Thank you,” She said as she hugged me. “Thank you so so much for this,” I simply smiled back, even though she couldn’t see it from where her head was on my shoulder. After a small bit she let go and wiped the tears from her face. “Guess we should probably grab some stuff before we go. I know where they keep the weapons. Cross eye showed me,”

She started walking off and I followed her as she did. I wasn’t that interested in getting a weapon, but if she wanted me to have one I wouldn’t complain about it, mainly because I couldn’t. We came to a door after going down a few hallways and she opened it to see what must have been the armory. There was a lot of normal weapons here, considering that I heard that the Novasurge was the main weapon of the Enclave I was surprised to not see many of them here. Most of the weapons were rifles, with a few smaller ones such as pistols.

“She wanted me to take the revolver with her even though it’s broken,” I heard Stitch whisper. “If I could find something like it I would be happy. We should also maybe bring one of the Novasurges,”

“I would agree with you there,” We turn around to see Feather close the door behind us. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anypony about this. I knew as soon as I saw you walk out with those files that something else was happening. Oh, and the location you're talking about, it's in Ponyville not Las Pegasus,”

I was a little suspicious of this. “Why are you telling me this?” Stitch asked, voicing my concern. “How do you even know where it is I’m talking about?”

“You know about the population cap that the Enclave have right?” We both nod our heads. I was never part of the Enclave but I knew about from my travels with the Bloody Angel around the wasteland. Not hard to tell when you’ve killed a few of their soldiers that they have one. “Well believe it or not, you and me are actually sisters. Before you go saying anything like “your talking bullshit” how about I prove it to you. The three of us leave for Ponyville and I show you where they died. The entire reason our parents even came down here was because they didn’t want to be punished by the population cap. Our mom was pregnant at the time and they knew we were about to exceed the limit, so we left. Of course, then they got killed,”

I still wasn’t all that sure about what Feather was saying. How did she even know she and Stitch were sisters? Something about it all just didn’t fit. Of course, she was willing to try and prove it to us and if she tried I guess it was worth following her. Besides the way it is Stitch’s was at this point a Dashite herself considering her parents and that she was already born before they died.

“Won’t Bleak wonder where you are?” Stitch asked.

“He won’t mind,” Feather replied. “I do stuff like this all the time and he’s okay with it. Breaker has been trying to tell him how disloyal it is and that I shouldn’t even be here but he never listens to him. Honestly Breaker can go fuck a Hellhound for all I care,”

Stitch looks at me for my thought and I gave a nod. Neither me or Stitch really knew how to use guns, or at least liked using them. We would need someone to help us there, and Feather probably had more experience than we did in terms of fighting. The only thing I was really worried about was going to Ponyville and seeing him again. I knew he would be there waiting for me, and I knew that would definitely be a bit of a problem.

“Welcome aboard,” Stitch said, allowing Feather to come with us.

“Thank you,” Feather said nodding her head at us. “We head to the edge of the city and take the train to Ponyville. We had reset the entire railway system so that the only ones who can you us are us of the Angle Hunters, meaning that like everything else only pegasi can access it. Oh take this as well,” She throws a PipBuck to me and Stitch. “Standard issue material for us here, just be glad I got you one before they handed them out, it seems like everything is just one short these days,”

“Thanks,” Stitch said. “In that case, let us just grab some weapons and will be out of here. You better hope you aren’t lying about us being sisters Feather, or else you are in for one hell of a surprise,”

“I understand,” Feather said. “Oh and don’t bother calling me Feather sense this isn’t exactly a formal mission. You want to call me something then call me by my real name: White Light,”

> Chapter 11 - Denial
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    To say I was terrified of going to Ponyville was an understatement. I had bad memories of that place, all of them surrounding him and the time that I was traveling with him. To go back was one of the most terrifying things I could think. I never knew how, but he somehow knew everything that was going to happen. He knew where his victim would be, if anyone would be with them, and where was the best place to kill them and how. It seemed like I was always the one on the baiting end of the murder, and after he was done he would tell me to bury them to make sure no one knows we were there.

I grabbed a small knife from the wall, melee seemed to be his biggest weakness for what I could tell. He always expected the pony to carry a gun, as it was always to him more useful than any blade or blunt object, and whenever they didn’t have one he seemed to be in for a much bigger fight than he intended. In the end he always blamed it on Celestia and Luna, just like with everything else he hated.

I never really thought about how much he hated the princesses, I just assumed it was his excuse for everything that went wrong. Now that I think of it, and how Dead Hooves had responded to that raider that tried to kill her back at the raider camp, he talked about it so much there must be more to it. Why exactly did he blame Celestia and Luna for everything that happened? If I somehow ever found the chance to speak again, and was able to ask him, that would be it. Even if it's the only sentence I ever say for the rest of my life, that’s what I wanted to know.

I put the rifle Dead Hooves gave me and put it on the wall in front of me. It was to much using a gun, it reminded me of him and when I killed that ghoul I felt like I was killing a foal. I simply took the small knife and a single saddlebag, hoping that would be enough. I put the knife in the saddlebag and waited for the others to grab their weapons.

I didn’t show it, but I was surprised to see White Light here of all places. I don’t know if she remembered me or not, I never really had the opportunity to talk to her when she lived in Manehattan. It shouldn’t be that surprising though, considering that I never really was given the chance to talk to anyone unless it was to take down a “target”. I didn’t know she was a Dashite, guess that must have been why he killed those Enclave soldiers all that time ago. Guess he at least had some heart.

Even just saying that, I could tell somehow that she was telling the truth about being Stitch’s sister. I never know how, but I guess you can say I got a knack for find lies. In many ways I used that in the past to help make things seem really. I didn’t act smart or smarter than anypony else, I always made sure a situation was possible before stating something, in many ways I’m the reason most of those ponies ended up dead. I didn’t want Dead Hooves or anyone to find out, I had no way of defending myself, and I didn’t want to ruin the first real feeling of friendship I had.

He would do it though, all to get me back, and then probably kill them all. I was the only one who knew we would be walking straight into his trap. He wouldn’t spare anyone, and he knew exactly who would be there. He wouldn’t need to hide himself, we would be easy targets compared to Sharpshot or even Dead Hooves. Still, why did he spare her all the way back then, why did he let Dead Hooves live. I didn’t feel sorry, he never felt anything about anyone but himself, all he wanted to do for some reason was kill.

“You know just as well as I what's waiting,” I turn around to see White Light talking to me, she did remember who I was. “You better hope that knife will be enough. No one's coming to help us,”

Somehow I doubted that sentence, somehow I knew that was a lie. Somepony would come to help us, but how come she didn’t tell us? It was most likely because she didn’t want to make Stitch worry anymore then she would be. Having somepony show up unexpectedly to save her sure is better then having that pony in the same position we would be in. It didn’t feel right not telling her, but if White Light wasn’t going to tell her I surely wasn’t going to.

“All ready,” I look behind me to see Stitch carrying a 10 mm. Pistol in a saddlebag on her side.

“You really sure that’s all you want to carry with you?” White Light looked at her worried. “Sure you’ll be very light and won’t have to worry about being weighed down but bringing just a pistol is not a very good idea, especially such a weak one like that,”

“I’m not just going to stuff my saddlebags with loads of guns,” Stitch said not getting the point. “That’s inconvenient, a waste of space, and there are more useful things to carry such as medical supplies,”

Stitch might have been right, but White Light wasn’t going to let her argument go. She saw something I didn’t in Stitch’s words, it wasn’t a lie, since what Stitch say was true, but she was hiding something in those words I didn’t see. White Light walked up to her sister and stood there in front of her, examining her face by the looks of it. I had no idea what was going on but I was going to quickly find out something told me.

“When working on machines you have to focus on the small details,” White Light says. “You don’t know when something as small as a single bad wire or a loose bolt can make something explode or fail. The thing about it though, is that you can also see those kind of things in living beings, whether it be ponies, griffons, or ghouls. In your face, I see the look of my sister scared of the thought of her killing another intelligent being. I see the face of a pony who has had someone close to them die without knowing it, and a pony die in a gruesome way. Your rushed words, the look of fear and angst in your eyes, and the tension in your muscles all speak things that lead me to that clue,”

Stitch looked down at the ground in response to this. “You don’t have any idea what the last seventy-two hours have been like for me,” She tells White Light, wanting her sister to think differently. “I saw the two ponies I know the most die right before my very eyes in the span of two days, and these last few hours a lot has been going through my head. I don’t know what to do, I thought that coming out here was the right decision… But suddenly I’m not so sure if I should have ever left. I never thought anything could be harder than saving lives,”

“Many ponies like to think that we are done with wars after what happened seventy-five years ago,” White Light says. “Many ponies don’t see the Bloody Angel as a one stallion army, but I know how he acts and why he’s doing this. Even when you aren’t fighting a war with guns and swords, you are still fighting to stay alive. You want to know why ponies say war never changes, I think it is because everything we do is to fight against death. The never ending battle to survive and live forever, even though we know we will never when,”

She didn’t realize it, but I sure did. The realization on Stitch’s face as she heard those words. The fact that she called him a one stallion army, the fact that she said she knows how he acts and why. I saw Stitch’s head rise and looked as her eyes locked onto White Light’s. Her expression seemed to change from fear to anger as White Light looked at her confused.

“What?”

““One stallion army”?” Stitch says repeating her sister’s words. ““I know how he acts and why he’s doing this”? Tell me something White Light, how do you know this stuff? No one in the wasteland knows his gender or why he is killing all these ponies, but yet you claim to know it from the words you just said. We know that every pony that has ever gotten close to that monster has died, yet you are trying to tell me somehow you didn’t. Why do you know this stuff, and I want answers now,”

White Light didn’t run from the question, in fact she didn’t seem to move or change expressions. It was if she didn’t care that she had might have just jeopardized Stitch’s trust in her, or had expected Stitch to find out. She wasn’t trying to hide anything, even though her earlier “What?” would have said otherwise.

“I will answer that,” White Light said understandingly. “But while I know you want me to answer right here I can’t. It’s not safe for me to say anything about that here, but trust me when I say that as soon as we get on out of here and into Las Pegasus I will willingly answer and explain everything,”

The two were completely silent for a moment, simply staring at each other for what felt like an hour. I started to see the look on White Lights face grow more and more serious as time went on, starting to scare Stitch. Slowly, Stitch backed away from her sister, and looked away from her after getting a bit more distance. She took a glance at White Light after a second and then looked away, sighing as she did.

“Okay,” Stitch finally said. “But don’t think I’ll forget it, I’ll tell you that I still have a very good memory and I intend for it to stay that good for a long time,”

“Don’t worry,” White Light replied assuringly, her tone and face changing, becoming more calm as she did. “I have no intentions on hiding it, I never did. You would probably find out sooner or later no matter what I said, I just decided that it’s better now than later,” She walked back up and in front of me, stopping and turning around as she came right up to the door, “If you really don’t want to take another weapon I won’t make you, just remember I warned you when you end up with a hellhound ripping you apart,”

I could tell what White Light was trying to do, and it seemed to succeed as I saw Stitch’s eyes widen at the image of her being ripped apart. She looked at the pistol, and then at the wall of guns behind her, and quickly ran to it. She grabbed what seemed like an old fashioned rifle, probably made for hunting rather than killing ponies. She put it in her saddlebags and walked back up to us smiling. I looked back to White Light to see her shaking her head at her sister, but didn’t say anything. She simply opened the door and walked out.

Stitch and I followed her out and down the hallway. For such a big base, the crew was definitely somewhat small, at least as far as I saw. Not including those of us who just joined there was around eleven or twelve pegasi that was taking part in it. It might sound strange, but considering the groups I’m use to seeing it was clearly much smaller than usual. Most ponies form groups or stay together as a family in order to survive out here, in a way this was much smaller than the groups or even families I’m use to seeing. This was one thing I remember my old “traveling partner” actually praising instead of getting annoyed at. He always said that there was strength in numbers, and then he would probably kill about twenty or so ponies in the next hour making me wonder if he was right.

No one seemed to care that much about what we were doing or where we were heading, most of them probably summing it up to White Light’s background and everything. We got outside of the base very easily and at that point nopony was around. It was getting somewhat later in the day, so most of them were probably inside eating. Still, we didn’t stop moving until we were a good distance away from the airfield. Once we did, we stopped and Stitch turned to White Light with an angry look on her face.

“Time to spill the beans,” She say. “I want to know everything: why you know him, why he’s doing this, and who he is. You said you would say everything so I expect you to,” At first White Light didn’t respond, she simply looked at the sun setting into the sky around the destroyed city.

“The Bloody Angel is an earth pony going by the name of Dread,” She says. “We met a couple years before he started this mass killing spree, but even then I know he has a reason. He’s not the kindest ponies you would ever know, with what he did to stay hidden for this long, but he kept me alive from the Enclave soldiers pursuing me,”

“So he’s a friend and you just let him kill innocents who did nothing wrong?” Stitch said not able to believe what she was hearing.

“It’s more complicated than that,” White Light explained. “I don’t know exactly why he wants to kill all these ponies, but I know that they all had something in common. He has a list, a list with more than one hundred names on it, and they are all offsprings of former members of the ministries, or the ministry of arcane science to be more exact,”

“What is it he has against them so much?” Stitch asked, her previous disbelief turning to confusion.

“In order for the mega spells Equestria had made to be built they had to run through the ministries and the princesses,” White Light continued “Without the consent of the princesses especially the project would illegal and to some it might seem like terrorism. They needed the princesses to agree on the idea of making them in order to have the mega spells legally built. In other words, I think he’s killing all these ponies because he believes they are alone responsible for something related to the mega spells. I’m not exactly sure what, but that’s definitely why he’s doing this,”

Stitch seemed to lose her anger as she heard this. “So not even you know the full reason behind why he’s doing this?” White Light nodded in response to the question. “But at least we know something. We know who he’s targeting and that is a good spot to start, not to mention the fact that we have a name,”

For some reason, White Light didn’t mention anything about me and how I was involved with him. Was it possible she didn’t know I had any involvement with the murders, I guess that could be entirely possible considering the I hadn’t seen her for two years. In truth, I actually knew less about why he was killing than White Light did. Dread never really told me anything about it, and trust me I tried to ask him. That didn’t really go over well.

“I know you probably don’t trust me all that much,” White Light says after a few seconds of silence. “But I wouldn’t be part of the Angel Hunters if I wasn’t trying to stop him. I don’t want to kill him, but I do want to know fully why he’s doing this. What he’s doing isn’t right, it isn’t right, it never was. I want to stop him, I need to stop him,”

She may have been against the idea of killing Dread, but I surely wasn’t. After everything that’s happened to me, after what he did to my parents, I want to see him dead. I was never brave enough to confront him all on my own, but know that I have some ponies beside me I wasn’t so afraid to take him on anymore. At least I feel that way, I truly don’t know if any of us were prepared to take him on, but I wanted to believe we were.

“Don’t worry,” Stitch said. “I don’t know why but… I know you're on our side. I don’t know how or why I know this, but I do. I still don’t know wether to believe you're my sister or not, but I guess for right now I will believe you. You're the only one I think may actually know what happened, but why weren’t killed like mom and dad,”

“I was never there to begin with,” White Light answered. “It was… about twelve years ago. I was five and you were only two I’d say. I wasn’t at home when you left, I came back to see soldiers standing in front of your door, and told me how my family had left for the surface or something like that. I ended up as an orphan, and after a couple of years I couldn’t stand being separated by my family. I told them I was leaving, and most of the next twenty-four hours is blank in my mind. I found myself on the surface in an unfamiliar world, it took me five years to find you, and by then you were all dead. That’s when I met Dread, he told me you were still alive but he didn’t know where you were. He said that you had been stolen from you mom and dad and that the mare who took you killed them,”

I remember that day, the day we had met White Light for the first time. She was standing in front of two skeletons crying uncontrollably. A few days earlier, we had seen an earth pony, the same earth pony that Stitch had called Granny, enter that exact same cave. I remember her coming out of there not long afterward with something in a basket she was holding in her mouth. I don’t remember hearing gunfire, but when we came back and saw White Light standing there a few days later, both me and Dread knew exactly what had happened. When she had mentioned her younger sister, and I saw that only two full grown skeletons were in the cave, we realized that the basket might have contained her sister. It seems we were correct.

Suddenly, I realize something about this, and I look to Stitch to confirm what I had realized. Her eyes were wide in horror as she heard the words that White Light had just spoken. I never really gave thought as to what would happen if she found out what Granny had really done. She had just learned that the pony who had cared for her for as long as she can remember had just killed her parents.

“W-what?” Stitch stuttered. “Granny killed… no. No!,”

She suddenly darted off towards the ruins of the city, White Light and I running after her. I watched as White Light leaped onto Stitch, both of them tumbling onto the ground. Stitch was trying to escape, but White Light held her down to the ground putting all the strength she had into holding Stitch’s front hooves. However, that didn’t keep her down. Stitch used her back hooves and kick her sister’s stomach, White Light falling down to the ground in pain.

I looked to Stitch to see her get and start running away, but she had forgotten about me. I quickly dashed after her, aim to get close to her tail. I wasn’t as strong as White Light and I’m pretty sure Stitch was stronger as me to, but that didn’t me I could turn her strength against her. I slowly got closer and closer to her tail, waiting until it was close enough for me to grab ahold. I finally get close enough and smile, this is the first time I’ve done this in a while.

I bite onto her tail, seeing Stitch drag my hooves along the ground as she continued running. Without a second though, I turn around - tail still in my mouth - and yank her tail in the other direction. I saw as she fell forward in pain a few feet in front of me, some of her tail hairs gripped in my mouth, separate from the rest of it. I had managed to stun her for a moment, as she stood up in pain. I ran up to her side and pushed her onto the ground, putting my front right hoof on her neck. I didn’t apply a lot of pressure but if she tried moving I wouldn’t hesitate to do that. With that, I grabbed her main in my mouth and held it to make sure she wouldn’t get away again.

“Willow Wisp!” She said surprised, I guess she must not have thought I was the one that did that. “What did you just-”

I pull on her mane a little bit, my much more cruel side showing to her. I had so much rage burning in me from my time with Dread, being able to let a little bit out was so relieving. Sure, I felt bad that I was taking some of it out on Stitch, but at least I was keeping her from escaping. I looked behind me as White Light got back up from the ground and staggered over, clearly still feeling a little bit of pain.

“Willow let go please,” I heard Stitch say “You’re hurting me,”

I held onto her a little more as White Light slowly made her way over to us. Once she was right next to me I finally decided to let go of her mane, Stitch’s head fell to the ground. She was breathing heavily, guess I may have overdone it just a little. She effortlessly got up and I fell onto the ground, unable to hold her down. She looked at me and then to her sister, I could tell that she was rethinking what she was trying to do.

“Sorry,” Stitch apologized, looking at the ground in shame. “It’s just… the pony you're talking about said my parents were already dead by the time she found me. She was the one who raised me and told me that it was time I learned the truth. I just can’t believe it was her that killed them, it doesn’t seem right. It feels like something straight out of a fairytale,”

“I should be the one apologizing,” White Light replied, “I didn’t think about that, and I should have been more careful about what I said,”

“Everything has just been one big surprise so far,” Stitch says, sitting down. “How did you even know I was your sister?”

“It’s too difficult to explain,” White Light admitted, showing that not even she fully understood it. “But part of it is the fact that I heard you talking about your parents to one of the other soldiers, and how they are did and were part of the Enclave. I know it’s a stupid excuse for a reason, but that’s the easiest explanation I have for it,” I suddenly saw her staring off into the distance, and I follow her gaze to see red clouds coming towards us. “Looks like we have an ash storm coming our way,” She announces. “We’re still somewhat close to the Smokey Mountains so they are somewhat common around here. Lets try and find some shelter for the night, will pick back up tomorrow morning and make our way to the train station. Hopefully the train will still be there,”

Stitch and I nodded in responce and followed her into a nearby building with a fading sign read “Misty Moon Apartments”.

> Chapter 12 - Misty Moon Apartments
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In the days I’ve spent without my voice, I have thought on some things I have never thought of before. The question currently on my mind was when did snow last fall. There were many days in that cave back at the raider camp where I sometimes thought I would freeze to death. It was near the beginning of December if I was correct and I had never seen a single spot of snow in my life. I knew why it never appeared, it was because of the radiation from the mega spells.

That wasn’t the main thing I was wondering at the moment, in truth what I wanted to know was when snow last touched the ground. I had never seen snow in my life, and I had the time to wonder about what it may have been like. I imagined something like ash, but colder and maybe even edible. Maybe it glistened like a new piece of metal, I really didn’t know. It was a mystery, and one I wish would be able to see one day.

As we entered the Misty Moon apartment building I took a glimpse behind me as I saw the ground literally light on fire. Sharpshot wasn’t kidding when he said that it would burn you alive, one of these small pieces could probably burn down any wooden building with ease. I closed the door behind me as I saw more and more ash fall to the ground and burst into flames. It was kinda pretty in it’s own unique way.

I took one step forward, accidentally bumping into White Light in the process and falling to the ground. She held out a hoof and I grabbed it as she pulled off of the floor and she walked into the next room. I went to go follow her but then looked behind me to see Stitch simply laying down in the hallway. Her face turned away from me, but yet I could somehow see the sadness that was plaguing her.

She looked at me to see me staring, hiding her sadness under a weak smile. “I'm fine,” I looked at her completely unconvinced by those words. “I just need some time to think. Sorry to act rude but, if you wouldn't mind going somewhere else,”

I could tell there wasn’t anything I would be able to do in order to make this better, but that did make me feel bad for not being able to cheer her up. Things were really tough for her right now, two of the ponies she is closest to have died, and she learns that one of them had killed her parents and taken her. It sounded like something out of a really depressing story book in many ways… Don’t ask.

I’m gotta say, this building was definitely in better shape than any of the others around. The wallpaper may have been peeling sure, but other then that it was in terrific shape. I walked into the room that White Light had entered earlier to see her put down a shutter on a nearby window. The glass had completely blown out, and from what I know it’s probably from that Nebula One mega spell that Zoey had told us about earlier. Then again this entire city could have been leveled by that thing.

Then again, what wasn’t there that the mega spell didn’t do. It destroyed a functioning country, killed thousands of ponies, brought down once great cities such as Manehattan, and ruined the culture we had. In my heart I had always wanted to see what so many of the things in pre-war Equestria was like. I would have loved to meet Celestia, Luna, and other members of the royal family. I would have loved to meet the ministry mares and work with them. Maybe, if I was there I could have prevented this.

During the walk Dead Hooves had told me about something called the Butterfly effect. I had never heard of it before, but I found it an incredible thing, I feel like I heard it before. I believe I remember her saying that it was when one small change led to even greater changes down the line. That was what I remember at least. There was also something else about teenagers in a cabin in the Mountains but I hadn’t listen to that part.

Still, what if I was born before the war. Maybe that wouldn’t count as part of the Butterfly effect but it sure seemed like it to me. Could I have maybe stopped it. Could Dead Hooves have stopped it? Maybe I was thinking a little too much into this, but thinking that the world could have been so different is a hard thing to think of. The enemies that could have been friends, the ponies that wouldn’t have to die, the terrifying killing machines that we wouldn’t have had to make. It all came to mind.

The biggest reason though is that during this time of the year, in two weeks, there was a pre-war festivity called Hearth's Warming day that I had heard about. It celebrated the day that Earth pony, Pegasi, and Unicorn came together. I remember my parents telling me the day before they were killed all about it.
“Hey Willow Wisp,” I was snapped back to reality by White Light, “Is everything okay, you haven’t talked since you got here,”

White Light didn’t know that I had lost my voice. I thought for a second how to show her, but Stitch luckily answered it for me. “She can’t talk. Why?”

“Because I remember her being a big talker is all,” White Light said walking over to the door. “Are you sure you wanna sleep there? There’s a nice comfy couch in her with your name on it,”

I look at the couch in the room to see a spring poking out of it. Comfy my ass. “It’s okay,” Stitch said, “But how do you know she could talk, did you meet her sometime?”

I knew exactly where this was going, and I walked over to the two pegasi sisters. White Light looks at me, not sure whether or not she should tell her or not. As I approached, both turned their attention toward me. I turned to White Light who was looking at me with eyes wanting approval to speak. I nodded my head to her in response. 

“You gotta promise you won’t tell Dead Hooves when we back get from this, alright,” Stitch nodded, even though I knew she had no idea what she was in for. “Well, in that case, Willow Wisp knows Dread as well. She travel with him,”

I watch as Stitch quickly rose to her hooves “Wait you mean-”

“She’s responsible for some of those ponies deaths,” White Light finished what her sister had said, Stitch look at me in shock. “Yes, she is,”

“Willow Wisp,” Stitch looked to me, probably hoping that it wasn’t true. “Is that really the case? Did you kill some of those innocent ponies,”

I nodded my head yes, but if there was one thing I could tell you about the ponies that me and Dread had killed it was that they were not innocent. It seemed like they always had something about them that broke Dreads rule. He lived by many of the rules of old Equestria, and anyone who had so much as stolen a bobble head was on his bad side. The simplest of crimes were unacceptable, but yet he somehow praised the bigger crimes. I tried to call him out about that but each time he would alway have the same response.

“Tell that to minister Twilight Sparkle,” Is what he would always say to me. “If she praises smart criminals and is the apprentice of Celestia I can’t see what’s so bad about it,”

That kind of gave me chills when I heard it for the first time. I guess he must have had a reason on the inside, maybe he was trying to prove to Celestia the errors she let slip by, but I don’t really know. Could that be the reason he was specifically targeting the children of members of the Ministry of Arcane Science? No, there had to be more to it than that, I’m sure of it.

Stitch was staring at me for what felt like minutes when in truth it was probably only fifteen seconds. She couldn’t believe what I had just admitted. She slowly slid down the wall, a look of terror on her face.

“So, I’m surrounded by the friends of the most wanted criminal in the wasteland,” She said. “And my own sister is one of them,”

“We’ll I wouldn’t say Willow had a choice of whether to be with him or not,” White Light said, “He is the one that bought her after all, she really didn’t have a choice on what to do,”

“That doesn’t change anything,” Stitch replied. “She still killed them,”

“She was also the one that buried them,”

“That isn’t very surprising,” Stitch said. “She did the same thing to my Granny when she died, she didn’t deserve it for what she really did,” I stepped forward, wanting to comfort her but White Light held a hoof up in front of me. “Are you here to kill me?” I look to see Stitch directing the question at me. “Do I have any ties to that list he has?”

I shook my head in response. Dread never sent me away to kill anyone, that would be going against what he always. If I was to kill anyone, it would have been me or him that killed Granny instead of Zoey. Even then we never really worked together anymore. He told me I was free when I ate the poison joke.

“Willow Wisp isn’t that kind of pony,” White Light said. “Wouldn't I be dead if he wanted to kill you. Besides, the fact that she lost her voice doesn’t add up. Why would Dread do something like that?”

I knew why, so the raiders couldn’t get out of me that he was the Bloody Angel. It would make him an even bigger target, and he knew that doing something like that to a master was something a slaver would very likely do. He treated me more equally than most slaves I have met, but even with how much nicer he was he still used me as a tool.

“Yeah right,” Stitch was still in denial that I was on her side. “Tell me the truth, what really are you here for? Didn’t minister Applejack always say to be honest? I know something about this is off from the very moment you said I was your sister. So I’m asking you right now White Light, are you really my sister and why are you bringing me and Willow Wisp to Ponyville?”

White Light let out a sigh at her sister's denial. I could see why this was all so hard for Stitch to take in. In three days the two ponies she knew the most dyed, joined a group that most of the wasteland take as enemies, and had just found a sister she never knew about. I know it sounds stupid, but I believed what White Light had said about them being sisters.

“Fine then,” White Light said, her voice sounding more angry then I had ever remembered it being. “I still stand by most of what I said, but there is a bigger reason I’m busting you,” She looks at me, I saw a fire in her eyes. Not the kind when you are excited about something, it was one I hadn’t ever seen. “Or more specifically Willow Wisp out of there. I saw Dread a day before you all arrived, and he warned me about a insider for Twister working with the Angel Hunters,”

“Who is it?” Stitch asked. “And what about it is so important you’d help a killer esca-”

She was interrupted as White Light hit her hard with her hoof, slamming her head against the wall. It wasn’t enough to cause her skull to be damaged, but she was shut up from the pain she was experiencing. I had no logical idea as to why White Light would do that, it didn’t seem to make that much since. It seemed like she was punishing her for a reason she wasn’t even responsible for. Honestly, I felt like it should have been me on the receiving end of that.

White Light lifted Stitches up, who was on the floor groaning in pain, and they looked each other in the eyes. “I want you right now to do something for me,” She said coldness in her voice just peaking through. She was the White Light, but yet different from what I remember her like. “I want you to look Willow Wisp in the eyes and tell me the pony you see. Forget all about you just heard and say what you think about her based on your own experience,”

“Why?”

“Just do it,”

Without a word, Stitch did as she was told and looked at me. I was to embarrassed to look back at her, and she would never understand why. I occasionally looked up to see the look of anger upon Stitch’s face slowly disappear and be replaced by one of regret, sadness, and understanding. Tears started to fall down her face as she looked at me.

“I see a pony who has gone through some of the worst days of her life,” She says. “Who was forced to murder ponies she didn’t want to, and was brought to the brink of death,”

My body was still covered in the stitching that she had from how badly beaten I was beaten back at the raider camp. The thoughts of their torture still plagued my mind. It’s what I have been fallen asleep to, and it’s what I wake up from. There’s only one difference, in my dreams I end up dead. Shock, beaten, the methods they had used on me seemed limitless. I never asked how they had the stuff, it was something I’d rather not think about.

“Do you think she deserve to be treated like a murderous criminal with all she went through?” White Light asked, in my head I thought I did deserve it. “Sharpshot told me how you saved Willow’s life. You saw her as equal, or more then that even. You want to change that because of a past she had no control over?”

I could see the regret as it seemed to take control over her emotions. She was trying to act so tough, but yet at the same time she had simply broken apart. I remember all the times I had ended up broken like this. My first kill was especially… Gut wrenching let's say. I spent a good amount of time puking into a old toilet in the apartment where it happened trying to convince myself I didn’t do it. It was awful, the worst experience of my life probably.

“I guess you're right,” Stitch said, I could still hear a small amount of anger in her voice. “Sorry Willow, I guess I may have been a little too harsh. I should have known better then to think of you as someone wants murder. You were so sweet to me when Granny died, even if she didn’t deserve it. Just promise not to ever kill me, and break Dreads neck for me if possible,”

I was surprised at the hostility, but considering what he is known as I wouldn’t put it against her. He deserved it in many ways, sure he may have had a reason but even that was still a stupid excuse for killing ponies. None of the members as far as I know are still alive. Most of them are probably dead and Twilight Sparkle just simply… Vanished. 

It was weird, and just unnatural for the minister to disappear. I would like to learn what happened, but I’ve read all the old newspapers that Dread had given me (one of the few actions of kindness he constantly kept over the course of our time together) and they never found evidence of it. Then again, only one or two of the ones we obtained ever mentioned the event. It’s weird, you think all the only Equestria Daily newspapers would have talked about it, even some of the earlier Wasteland Journal. Yes, we have a newspaper, and yes no one reads it.

The door suddenly burst open from the outside, and pushed White Light out of the way to see who they were. I was in shock when I saw who and what the two ponies in front of me were. One was a familiar looking clothes covered unicorn with a rusty zebra rifle on his back. Sharpshot had followed us out here in an ash storm and survived? How was that possible, didn’t Dread say the flames also damage magic shields and barriers?

That being said, it was the pony he was carrying on his back that surprised me the most. It was an alicorn, and for what I know probably not either of the two alicorns that Zoey had mentioned. She was had silver coat and red mane, she seemed to be pretty young by the looks of it. If I was to guess her age, I would say probably thirteen. Still, what was an alicorn doing all the way out here?

“Sharpshot,” Stitch exclaimed, “How in the world did yo-”

“I’ll explain everything later,” He said, “Is there anywhere I can but this pony down, she’s killing my back,”

“Of course that’s the thing about this that worries you,” White Light says, rolling her eyes. “We have a couch in here, lay her down in there,”

In a rushing manner, he placed the young alicorn down on the couch in the room. I heard Stitch mutter something about how she had been lied to earlier, but that wasn’t my main concern. I took another look at the alicorn, her face had small specks of some sort of rainbow colored liquid. If I was correct, that must have been the taint stuff that Sharpshot had mentioned while talking to Dead Hooves and Zoey back in Manechester.

“What the hell’s an alicorn doing out here?” White Light mumbled to herself before looking at Sharpshot “Where did you find her?”

“She was just laying in the streets unconscious,” He explains to us “From the taint on her face I think it’s fair to assume that she turned into an alicorn not to long ago. That being said, where the fuck did she find taint in Las Pegasus, much less enough to have this happen?”

“I couldn’t answer that question even if I tried,” White Light respond “My best bet is that it could have been one of the buildings in the irradiated part of the city where we haven’t ever tried going to, but even that is a far fetch considering she isn’t a ghoul,”

“And I thought Willow here was the biggest mystery,” Sharpshot said impressed. “Do you know if there are any side effects to this, most notably anything dangerous,”

“I don’t know,” White Light responded almost frustratedly “I’ve never seen it before, and this is my first experience with an Alicorn,”

Stitch pushed her way up in front of all of us and put her hoof on the alicorn. She sighed after a small moment of time, taking for hoof of the pony. “She just seems unconscious,” She explains. “No fever by the looks of it, and without proper equipment I can’t tell if anything else is wrong. I just hope she wakes up soon,” Stitch stepped away and looked at Sharpshot. “Look I’m sorry to ask but how did you get through the ash storm? You seem completely fine by the looks of it,”

“It’s because your friend Icecap here is actually halfway to being a ghoul,” That was the second time I had heard Someone refer to him by his real name. I look at White Light confused. “Icecap old buddy, would you please explain to your companions what I mean,”

“Ghoul?” Stitch said confused “I thought you were a completely normal pony. I mean, you still have your fur coat and everything. Please tell me this is wrong Shar-”

“Stitch,” He says, “Remember how I had told you that we all had to wear clothes and cover our body so no part of it was showing,” Stitch nodded her head in understand. “That was because this clothes is specially design by the vault to keep out radiation. Something happened when the vault was being made, and because of that radiation lingered during the Last Day and caused some of the inhabitants to die,”

“Thankfully, they knew about this fault, and couldn’t fix it because of how high risk it was to mess with the water filter, and even the air filter. In the end they ask the head of the ministry of image, miss fashion galore as the foals called her in the stable, more normally known as minister Rarity,”

“Rarity?” Stitch said surprised “I have one of the statuettes of her in my saddle bag,” She pulled out a small figurine of a white unicorn with a purple mane, the base of it bearing the words “Be Unwavering” on it. “I kind of saw her as an idol, she’s the reason I wanted to become a doctor. I had no idea she was a fashionista,”

“Honestly I hate her the least out of all the stupid fucking Ministers,” Sharpshot explained. “And don’t say anything about Fluttershy okay, she was founded the minister of peace during a time of war. If that is the definition of “absolutely fucking retarded” then I don’t know what does,”

“Anyways,” Sharpshot continued on with his explanation from earlier. “This was a reasonably good idea, and Minister Rarity seemed to had succeeded in making outfits that covered the entire body, protected you from radiation, and seemed like normal everyday clothing at the same time. There was only one drawback to this,”

“The “suits” I guess you can say, were allowed to be taken off for certain reasons. One of the biggest ones was that you were allowed to take the suit off if you were going to take part in repopulate the stables, in other word if you were going to have sex it was allowed. Don’t ask me how I know, that’s a thirty-five minutes of my childhood I would like to forget about,”

“Of course you could see the problem in this since you are therefore being exposed to radiation for long periods of time. It was the only thing that wasn’t checked for because of obvious reason, you can’t check and clean radiation of a pony who wouldn’t have had radiation before. Everything else from food to water and even tools and weapons were check for signs of radiation. However you couldn’t check ponies without taking the radiation protection suits off, which was already dangerous as you expect since that means no pony is checked for radiation after entering the stable,”

“My mother got radiation while having sex and that affected me from birth. For the first few years of my life it was relatively normal, but even then you aren’t born with clothes. So for the first couple days of my life I was left exposed to the elements, and I was one of only four foals to have survived the radiation exposure. That being said it affected me in a different way than the others. They weren’t immune to radiation like I was, and when I was five my coat started falling off my body. I’m still not fully a ghoul, but I expect that in due time I will be. The least I can do is be thankful that I haven’t lost my fucking mind… At least not yet,”

He looked at Stitch, who wasn’t convinced by his story. Yet I somehow knew he once again he was telling the truth. He was a ghoul, or at least becoming one at that. It was weird, and at the same time I knew why he wanted to keep it a secret. He didn’t seem bothered telling anypony, but considering what Dead Hooves’ experience with them had been it was probably for the best to keep it secret.

“Still not convinced?” He asked Stitch, who nodded her head in response. “The allow me to show you something that will,”

He took off the neck warmer and face mask to reveal his face. What we saw was a stallion with a red coat and black mane going down in front of his right eye. However, there was many spots on his face that the red fur of his body simply disappeared, replaced by unhealthy looking skin underneath it. His mane seemed to still be fully intact by the look of it. He next took off the rest of his clothes to see most of the same result. Patches of his natural coat seemed to disappear with the same rough, dead looking skin that was on his face.

“Oh my…” Stitch started seeing that he was right. “Sharpshot, I’m so sorry I shouldn’t have asked. Please do hurt me,”

“It’s okay,” Sharpshot says reassuringly. “Honestly being a ghoul isn’t that bad once you get use it even with all the ponies who want to shoot your fucking head off. It happens more then you would expect. White Light almost did that to me when I told her about this, thank Celestia she didn’t,”

“Only four baby foals survived the radiation exposure?” Sharpshot nodded his head to Stitches question. “How many ponies were there in stable fifteen,”

“Not many, probably around thirty to twenty-five, almost all of them adults,” The half ghoul answered. “Including the other foals in the stable there was only around ten to seven foals that managed to survive the days after their birth. The stable would have to come to the conclusion that they would soon have to leave there home to survive out here. It all just came a little too soon, no one was prepared for the Ursa Major attack,”

“In that case I guess those goggles of your really are safe to keep attached to your face,” Stitch said, a bit of laughter in her voice as she spoke. Sharpshot rolled his eyes at this, and if I could laugh trust me I would. That being said I still didn’t see what was funny about this.

We were interrupted by the sound of groaning next to us, finding that the alicorn that Sharpshot had arrived with was waking up. Sharpshot and Stitch stopped their conversation to take care of the strange pony. I watched as her eyes opened, appearing to have a strange grey colored iris. It wasn’t normal, that was for sure, no ponies eyes should be that color.

“What the,” She spoke out, looking at me with her grey eyes. “Where am I?”

“Misty Moon apartments in Las Pegasus,” Stitch says in a calm and angelic voice, it was the same one she used on me. “I’m Stitch. Sharpshot here found you passed out in the middle of the street. Do you remember what happened,”

She laid there thinking for a second before responding. “No,” She said. “I don’t remember anything,”

“Your name perhaps?” Stitch asked hopeful. The alicorn shook her head, Stitch’s ears laying flat as she saw. this. “I see, amnesia. I was hoping you it was just short term memory loss or something along those lines. Truthfully I haven’t study enough into this in order to know what to do. Is there anything we can call you?”

The alicorn looked around in thought at what we could call her. She seemed to go into a trance as she looked out the window at something. I followed her gaze outside to see the collection of ash falling to the ground. The flames lighting the street looked as if they were dancing, I closer and swore I could see the spirits of dead controlling the flames. These weren’t just flames, they were left over magic from the Nebula one megaspell that wasn’t irradiated. That was why it didn’t affect Sharpshot like it would have me.

“Flame Dancer,” The alicorn said waking from her trance. “Something about the name feels… I don’t know, right,”

“Flame Dancer it is then,” Stitch said. “I guess it would be kinda bad leaving you out here with amnesia, but I have to ask you real quickly if you remember anything not limited to your memory,”

Flame Dancer closed her eyes, sitting up on the couch. “I remember names,” She said to me. “Alicorn, taint, overmare, Tea Leaf. I remember what looked like so sort of giant bomb… A megaspell! That’s what it told me. A number… Three, or was it the word free? I’m not sure. Something I’m suppose to keep a secret, but I don’t remember what it is. A time of day and a size as well. Twilight and little,” She opened her eyes. “I heard them in a dream before I woke up. That’s all I know,”

“Great,” White Light said sarcastically. “A fucking riddle, I absolutely looove riddles,”

“We know what a few of the words mean,” Sharpshot pointed out. “So let's start there. Alicorn probably is referring to the fact that your are know an alicorn, and the reason I say now is because of the taint on you muzzle,” As Flame Dancer here's this she puts a hoof across the sides of her mouth and scraped some of the rainbow onto her hoof. She looked at it curiously. “Taints a mystery to me, something I would like to research when we get to Manehattan. Overmare is the name of a female leader in a stable. Tea Leaf must be referring to the name of somepony, whether they are alive or not is a mystery”

“The megaspell thing is a slight mystery, but it’s possible that it could be connected to the secret,” Stitch added in. “As for the words twilight and little, I can’t think of anything they would be relating to. The only thing that twilight could mean besides a time of day is that it’s talking about minister Twilight Sparkle but she's dead as far as the wasteland knows,”

“How do we even know this means anything?” White Light asked. “Isn’t this just a dream,”

“The reason I had gone to Canterlot was because a friend of mine in Manehattan wanted to know about the pink cloud,” Sharpshot explained “Since he knows I’m immune to radiation he asked me to help and I agreed. I learned some interesting things there, such as the fact that there are ghouls who haven’t had their brain microwaved living in it. I found a memory orb while in there that put me in the body of Princess Celestia,”

Stitch was opening her mouth to talk before Sharpshot answered it for her. “Yes, it felt weird, off, and every bit as perverted as it sounds,” Stitch closed her mouth before opening again. “Trust me, you do not want to know what exactly was going on in the memory. Hell, why the fuck did Celestia record that, it’s the last thing a virgin wants to see,”

“Are you saying you lost your virginity to a memory orb?” White Light looked at Sharpshot in confusion. The look on his face told us all exactly what we needed to know. “Right, sorry I asked,”

“Anyways,” Sharpshot said, trying to get back on topic. “After the idea of vomiting got on out of my head I learned something interesting. Apparently Alicorn dreams are more like visions, they’re vague but lead to events in the possible future that could happen if things are done correctly. While the one Celestia had never came true, it might be possible to make this future possible,”

“What if it’s a bad future though?” White Light asked in concern.

“The only one that knows is the Alicorn who has it,” Sharpshot explain. “Since Flame Dancer here must have gained a side effect of the taint she lost her memory, but the dream she has she will keep on having until it is either fulfilled or the time it is suppose to happen passes. I am kinda worried about the mega spells part, but if we can find out what it means we can piece together whether it’s good or not,”

“Well we don’t seem to be getting anywhere with what she’s told us,” White Light examined from Sharpshot and Stitch’s earlier conversation. “Is there anything else you can remember off the top of your head,”

“Sorry,” Flame Dancer said, her ears falling back in embarrassment. “I wish I could be more helpful now that I know what this is but I don’t,”

“We have a chance tomorrow night,” Sharpshot announces. “I’m going to go on and explore the upper levels a bit. Anyone want to come with me,”

“I think I’ll stay down here,” Stitch said. “I want to ask a few questions to Flame Dancer here, but if you find anything that could be remotely useful bring it to me okay,”

“I know how to craft and modify weapons,” White Light says. “I would like to come along and see if there is anything that could be useful for enhancing our current weaponry. No doubt it’s all we’ll have for some time,”

“Willow Wisp?” Sharpshot looked at me for his approval. The sheer fact that he even acknowledged my existence was enough to make me nod my head in approval. “Well in that case we will bid the two of you farewell for the time being,”

“Ha ha very funny,” Stitch said, seeing how out of character it seemed for the half ghoul. “Next time you want to do that make sure it’s before you tell us you fucked in Celestia’s body,”

“Two things,” Sharpshot said, wanting the last word. “You were going to ask about it, and it was a fucking memory orb,”

“Still happened,” Stitch mumbled, and Sharpshot didn’t care do say anything about it.

We made our way out of the ground floor apartment and up the stairs. I quickly looked off into the distance, it was like the ground of the city was on fire. I couldn’t see that much, the smoke from the flames obscured my vision. What I did see down below me was the sound of an agonizing howl. I look to see a hellhound burning alive on the streets. The ash storm, it was so beautiful but deadly at the same time.

We walked up two flights of stairs before seeing a door on the my left closed. In front of it was the skeleton of a pony, half it’s bones burned off by the initial explosion of the Nebula One mega spell. What a bad way to go, I’m glad I wasn’t here twenty years ago. Then again I wasn’t alive twenty years ago.

Sharpshot pushed the body of the dead pony aside and used his magic to try and open the door. He got frustrated when all he heard was the sound of the door locked. He swore to himself silently before looking to us.

“I wouldn’t suppose you two would have brought something to open this door right?” He asked the two of us,

White Light stepped up and walked to Sharpshots’ side to open the door. I watched from a distance as she pulled out a screw and a sewing pin and placed the two into the door’s lock. I watched as she carefully moved the two around, using the sewing pin to find something in the lock while the screw slowly tried turning the doorknob. After a minute or two I heard a click and watched as White Light slowly removed the screw and sewing pin from the doorknob.

“Most ponies use a screwdriver and bobby pin,” She said. “I however have found that screws are more common around the city then screwdrivers and that a sewing needle is less frail and about the same size as a bobby pin,”

Sharpshot didn’t care to respond, opening the door. I followed him with White Light taking up the rear. The apartment looked like the one downstairs. We entered to a sad looking living room with a old coach and what might have been one of those TV things Dread told me about. The walls had holes in them, showing something, desperation maybe. Was someone trapped in here? I look behind myself to see that there was no way to lock the door from the inside. If anyone was left in here and the door locked on them, then they were long dead.

At the far edge of the room was what looked like an end table with a drawer in it, but nothing really stuck out about the apartment. It felt so normal, so quite and serene. The wasteland was sometimes strange when it came to beauty, what might have looked like a shit material back then was seen as beautiful. Anything that shined was almost otherworldly.

I walked down the hallway and into the kitchen, there was marks of burning all around the stove. Was somepony cooking here when Nebula One went off? The tile floor was covered in black from the possible burning that must have ended this ponies life. The kitchen looked like many from before the Last Day. If anyplace had supplies it would be right here.

“Willow,” I looked to see White Light toss a screwdriver and sew needle at me. I caught them in my hooves and looked to her in confusion. “Dread told me about how good of a lock picker you are, take them. I don’t need anymore then I already have,”

I nodded and put them in my saddlebag before going into my new Pip Buck for the first time. It must have been an unused model, as I saw lines of code go across the screen as I turned it on. Once the lines of code disappeared I was met by a start up screen, a cartoonish Pegasus wink at me as it finished. It was then I was met by the normal PipBuck screen. I watch as it calculated the conditions of my health. Everything seemed perfectly fine, but there was another message that came into my vision not long afterward.

Poison Joke detected in body

So it was Poison Joke that made me lose my voice. There wasn’t really any plants I know too much about that could do this, but I was so grateful it wasn’t Killing Joke. Then again, I don’t want to remember what I said that could have made it worse then losing my voice, probably good that I don’t. What it confirmed was that there was some possibility of me getting my voice back that Dread might have known about.

I switch over to the tab marked “INV” on the Pipbuck and put check to make sure it got the two items I just got. I scrolled over to the miscellaneous section of it to see both already sorted in. I put them at the top of my inventory, not expecting the need to fight in the upcoming future.

Before backing on out I check one last thing, switch back to stat screen. I changed the sub menu from status to SPECIAL and read what it said on it.

Strength: 5

Perception: 6

Endurance: 5

Charisma: 2

Intelligence: 4

Agility: 3

Luck: 3

I had to honestly agree with what it said. I wasn’t the biggest and most well fit pony in the wasteland by far. I had to roll my eyes though at the charisma thing, it was most likely based on the fact I couldn’t talk. I was a very sociable pony when I did have my voice, even if Dread was constantly annoyed by it. Hopefully I could somehow calibrate it once, or if, I manage to get my voice back. It was a strange goal of mine but a goal none the less.

Turning my head away from the PipBuck, I walked over to the fridge and opened it. Most of the food in there was rotten, flies crowding around it like an old political convention. Yes, it was really that bad, I was almost afraid to stick my hoof in there until I saw a bottle of Sparkle-cola sitting in the back of the fridge. I reach my hoof through the disgusting piles of mush that use to be food and grabbed it. I brought it out and put it in the saddlebag, If there was anything stranger than Twilight Sparkles disappearance it is the fact that Sparkle-cola stays good for who knows how long. It was as if the drink somehow managed to preserve itself, maybe some sort of strange magic protecting but I’m a Pegasus, what do I know about magic.

I look to the line of cabinet's on my right and see a holotape on the counter. Curious, I pick it up and study it closely for a second. I looked back at the PipBuck, and realized that it was able to play holotapes. I wasn’t sure whether I should listen to it or not. I didn’t want to listen to something overly private to a pony, I always had sympathy and respect for the dead. Then again, it could also lead to something like treasure. I mouthed the word “sorry” into the holotape before putting it into my PipBuck and listening.

“She’s acting crazier as the day goes on. Ever since those three ponies with that weird rainbow liquid came things have been weird. The landlord has gotten completely insane, we had no choice but to shoot her. I didn’t believe what I had just done, I shot another pony. Coco said it was what we would have to do if it happened to any of us as well,”

“They said it would let us live longer, and it indeed did. I still have my youth somehow, fifty-four years after the war ended and the world went away. The only reason I’m alive was because of Las Pegasus. It was a haven to anyone who left the comforts of their old homes. I’m not sure about it anymore,”

“I don’t have a lot more room on this but if you found this recording, then I am probably dead. My name is Amethyst Star, and something is very wrong with the ponies here. Some seem to be losing reason, and I think it’s because of that weird liquid. You got to leave, I am about to do the same. So please, save yourself,”

“So somepony has been distributing taint as some kinda drug?” I look behind me to see that White Light had been listening to the entire thing. “Why would they do it though? I don’t think they would be after money. I’ve barely spent a cap out here in the wasteland and have managed to survived,”

I look to the left of White Light to see a door open next to her. It seemed to be a bedroom, a queen size bed in the middle of it with blood covered flower blanket. There was a dresser to the left of it with a light knocked onto the floor. The bulb looked like it had been broken. On the right side of the bed was the skeleton of a pony. It was only one, meaning that either the Coco pony or Amethyst Star pony had escaped.

“She wasn’t killed by Nebula One,” White Light noted. “The blood on the bed as well as the skeleton meant that something killed her. Sweet Celestia, is this what taint does to some ponies,”

“Everything okay in here?” Sharpshot yells to us from behind. “Never mind, it obviously isn’t okay. Skeleton, bloody bed, seems like something out of a horror book. Anyways I say we keep moving on up, nothing of main interest down here,”

I take a look at the dead pony, I knew that whatever had killed her must still be alive in here. I knew this pony wouldn’t rest easily knowing the creature that did this was still alive. Even if I only had this knife, I at least had something to kill it. What if it attack someone else in the future? I couldn’t stand thinking that might happen.

With this in mind I nod my head to Sharpshot watching a smile grow on his face. “Glad to see you’re up for this, in that case let's get moving,”

I take one last glimpse at the skeleton, feeling horrible for what happened to this pony. The worst part about it was that I wasn’t alive to save her, or that she didn’t survive in general. I silently promised to find her friend, whichever of the two ponies had managed to escape. They were still alive, I somehow knew it.

“You can bury her later when the storms over,” White Light said before heading out the door. “We have something to do know,”

I followed her and Sharpshot out of the room and up the next flight of stairs. Most of the floor seemed to be in worse shape than the others. I watched as Sharpshot walked to the window on the far side of the hallway. I followed him over and looked out to see a gigantic chasm in the middle of all the tall buildings. It was obviously not natural.

“They say this was what Nebula One caused,” Sharpshot explains. “An entire half of the city destroyed by a single megaspell, leaving nothing but magic radiation and dead land where it fell. Imagine, this thing could wipe out all of friendship city in an instant and no pony would live to tell the tale,”

“The main question is how?” White Light asked “There is always some sort of trigger spell or something that causes up to seventy percent of the damage caused, the next thirty is after effect. How could a normal unicorn or even a group cause an entire half of a city to disintegrate in the matter of a second?”

Sharpshot seemed to ignore the question. “We have to head in that direction, the most irradiated area in the entire wasteland. It would take two whole days to go around,” He turned to us as he continued. “Even then it’s about a day’s trip thru the area, enough time to easily kill a pony. The only hope is that you turn into a ghoul, and that you still have a brain,”

Two whole days! That’s how big that area was, and I couldn’t imagine how bad the radiation was in the center. Did Equestria really build something that big and keep it a secret from the press? It seemed horrifying, the princesses we so treasured building something so destructive. What could have been going through there heads to build something that caused this.

“If we’re out here for two days then they will come find us,” White Light tells us. “They will most likely bring us all back, and right into Twisters hands,”

“Then we have no choice but to head through No Mare’s Land,” Sharpshot replies. “I’ll take Willow Wisp with me, the rest of you head around and meet up with us at the railroad,”

I took a step back at Sharpshot suggested me going into that area. Was he insane, I would die before we made it all the way through. I wanted to believe he was joking, but he wasn’t that was his actual plan. Why did I have to go with him?

“Are you insane?” White Light shouted at him, eyes wide with shock. “Icecap, she won’t survive out there, she isn’t like you,”

“Do you see any other option,” Sharpshot said rather calmly. “If Willow Wisp goes around they will find her just like you said, but what pony in there right mind would go through deep radiation. My blood is immune, and with some medical help from Stitch I could hopefully transfer it into her body to make her immune to,”

“You know what else that will do though,” White Light continued “She’ll turn into a ghoul just like you. The blood will become part of her system. She’ll live as long, lose her coat and mane, and will be seen as an outcast from society. Do you want to that to happen to her,”

I placed a hoof on White Lights shoulder, her gaze shifting from Sharpshot to me. I gave a soft smile to her as she looked like she was wanting to protest. After a second she closed her eyes and let out a sigh. She then put a hoof on my back she removed mine from hers.

“You are one crazy pony,” She says as she begins to walk away from us and over to one of the doors.

“Thanks Willow,” Sharpshot said with a smile on his face. “It’s going to be nice having somepony to hopefully stay with me over the centuries,” He came over and gave me a hug, in which I felt just how rough the skin under his coat was.

No one would understand why I wanted to do this, I still don’t think they do. In truth, I was afraid of dieing. That’s something understandable, as a species the last thing you want to do is to close your eyes and never wake up again. To me, I wanted to make up for all the bad things I’ve done, and that’s something I can’t do in one lifetime. Even if scars won't heal, I want to try and make them disappear.

My ears perked up at the sound of something down the hallway… Something slushy sounding. Whatever it was, it sounded like it was coming downstairs. I wasn’t the only one to hear it, Sharpshot took out Flash Fire as he heard the sound coming from the stairs. He held his hoof out in front of me and I stepped back behind him.

“If this fucking thing grabs ahold of me and does anything I want you to kill both me and it,” He told me. “Got that?”

I nodded my head as the the thing came closer into view. I saw what looked like a hoof hit the stairs, but something about it was wrong. It didn’t seem completely solid, in fact it looked like it was dripping down the stairs a bit. Then came something else, what looked like a tentacle of some sort come out of nowhere. That’s not the only thing, there was several of the from the looks of it, all squirming uncontrollably.

My eyes dilated when the things head came into view and with that the rest of it’s body as well. Before I could get a perfect glance at it Sharpshot let a bullet loose, going straight through the creature's eyes and through its brain. The eyes in question were bright red and looked like something you saw on a fruit fly, a hole now going through where the bullet had entered. It fell to the ground, and I could see that it’s entire body was enveloped in some kind of strange goo.

Sharpshot lowered the rifle and flung it onto his back. “The pony you found,” Sharpshot started looking at the creature as he moved over to the room where White Light was. “I didn’t want to mention this but her waist and pelvis was broken,”

I didn’t understand what he meant, and something told me I didn’t want to know. I followed him into the room White Light was in. She was actually making her way to the door, her face showing worry.

“I heard a shot fired,” She said as she looked at us. “Is everything oka-” Her voice trailed off as she saw the body of the creature on the stairway. “Holy shit. What the hell is that?”

“I don’t know what to call them,” Sharpshot said, rather calm considering what was going on. “But just be glad it’s dead. That seemed to be whatever killed that pony in the room downstairs,” He turned his direction from the room to the stairs leading downward. “This place isn’t safe, we leave as soon as the storm is over,”

I had no objections, and it was clear White Light didn’t either. She looked as if she was paralyzed in fear at the sight of whatever it was. I didn’t want to stick around if there was more of those things. I made my way of to the stairs, looking back to see White Light slowly make her way over, her eyes not leaving the creature's body.

> Chapter 13 - Before the Storm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    When we got back downstairs we Sharpshot told Stitch and Flame Dancer about what happened. He tried his best to describe the creature we had encountered with minimal details but ultimately failed. Both Stitch and Flame Dancer were disgusted by the thing Sharpshot had described to them. White Light had to step in and told them about how they knew where to head from the apartment.

We all agreed that it was best to leave as soon as the storm stopped, Sharpshot especially was happy with the idea. He said he would take guard with White Light while the rest of us sleep a little. Not that I could really get any sleep after seeing whatever that thing was. What exactly was Sharpshot trying to tell me when he mentioned that dead ponies broken waist and pelvis. I didn’t get it, and honestly I didn’t want to. The main problem was that it was the only thing going through my mind right now.

Well that and the fact I would probably be a ghoul in a few days. The entire idea was crazy I will admit but Sharpshot was doing this to protect me. White Light must have told him what was going on before we left, was he the pony that was following us. Probably not, White Light would have gotten pretty mad if he showed up with the job of keeping us safe. It must have been somepony else, but Zoey would have to stay with Dead Hooves while she recovered, if Dead Hooves wasn’t heading after us already.

It felt very uncomforting being this far from her side. Up to this point she’s always been right there next to me, but now I was with ponies I didn’t know I could trust. Part of me believed that Sharpshot would turn a blind eye for the right price, and I didn’t have any clue what to think of Flame Dancer. While Stitch has backed off a bit in terms of aggression, I could tell that she still was keeping a close eye on me. As for White Light, I merely didn’t trust her that much because of her background with Dread.

Then again, they were the only hope I had of getting to Ponyville, which they probably believed was safer the Las Pegasus. That was debatable, but if that Twister pony was here and searching for me then he obviously wanted me dead at the raider camp. The question is, how did he know I was here, and why did Dread want White Light to take me with her. I was never important enough to him to let someone risk their life for me.

“Sounds like things have been crazy for you all,” I look behind me to see Flame Dancer talking to Stitch. “You guys really killed a dragon,”

“Well, with some help of course from the Angel Hunters,” Stitch said. “That’s a hard story to explain, but if you want to ask anyone when you are able to walk Sharpshot could tell you most of what happened. Besides, I don’t want to relive that moment,”

“Oh okay,” Flame Dancer said, “I guess that bragging isn’t exactly right when you didn’t kill it. Still, that must have been thrilling fighting a dragon. I don’t think I could do it but that would still be amazing,”

She didn’t truly get why Stitch didn’t want to talk about that moment. She wasn’t there like the rest of us when Mud Swirl died, thinking of it still brought chills. I had seen what actually happened, just like Bleak said he pushed Zoey out of the dragon's reach so she wouldn’t be squashed with him. I remember the look of horror on his face the very second that claw crushed him, it was painful even to me. I had seen ponies die, but never in such a gruesome and horrible way. He didn’t deserve to die like that, no one does.

“So where is it we are heading again?” Flame Dancer asked. “Sorry, my mind is still trying to make sense of everything. I can’t get the weird dream out of my head, whatever it means,”

“Ponyville,” Stitch answered. “It was the home of the ministers before the war. I heard that a lot of raider and slavers go through the area,”

“If it’s so dangerous why are we even heading there?’ Flame asked in confusion. “No doubt there are safer places out here then that right?”

“Don’t you think we have already thought of all our options,” Sharpshot said as he turned to the Alicorn. “We didn’t go to Ponyville before because a pony named Twister is hunting near it, and everyone else here fucking hates Canterlot. The safest thing is taking the train to the outskirts of Ponyville and waiting there for the others,”

Getting up Stitch walked over to Sharpshot and slapped him across the face with her hoof. I stared in shock at what Stitch had just done, not long ago she was so against hurting anypony. Sharpshot was obviously thinking the same thing, his eyes wide with surprise. A small amount of blood dripped from where she had hit him. He felt the spot with his left hoof and blink. His head turned to Stitch who was looking at him with anger, her teeth clenched.

“Give her a break,” Stitch said in an unusually harsh tone. “She doesn’t know where she is, what her real name was, or even what brought her here and you go ahead and act like a smartass. Speak that way again and I will rip those goggles out of your head and beat you with them,” We had all taken a few steps back as we heard the words Stitch was saying. Sharpshot however just sat there as she look at him angry. “Insufferable bitch,”

Finishing her short lecture she turned around and walked over to a makeshift bed that was made out of some pillows White Light had decided to bring back from our short trip around the building earlier. Note to self: don’t ever push Stitch to far. I didn’t want to know what would happen if Sharpshot had done something worse. White Light on the other hand, recovered from initial shock, let out a small fit of laughter.

“Sometimes I think you like being called in Insufferable bitch,” She joked, managing to control her laughing fit. “Or is it that you like be slapped in the face,” Sharpshot didn’t reply staring away at the stairs. “Hey, how did you know we were here?”

“Got lucky I guess,” Sharpshot shrugged as he replied. “I was hoping to catch up with you when you reach the train station. The only reason I stopped here was because of Flame Dancer. It was only chance that we ended up in the same building. I wish it wasn’t though,”

“What was that thing?” White Light asked. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Was that the thing that killed the pony on the second floor?”

“Definitely,” Sharpshot answered with a nod. “Those things are mutated ponies, no doubt the results of taint. Usually you only see them in hospitals and very rarely you’ll see them out in the heart of the Wasteland. How the hell did they get ahold of taint though, and why is it even here in Las Pegasus?”

My mind was brought back to the holotape I had found on the second floor. That Amythest pony did mention something about a pony giving it to them, but who? What exactly did they have to gain through this? Maybe it had something to do with Flame Dancer, who was an anomaly all by herself. I was aware of how most Alicorns were close to completely barbaric, but the fact that she seemed almost unaffected by it… why? I found myself staring uncomfortably at the Alicorn, who had fallen asleep.

Who are you Flame Dancer? You showed up in the middle of Las Pegasus and claims not to know who she once was. Her words were true, but I felt as if there was something bigger about her. She was different from the other Alicorns, she wasn’t made by the goddess like so many others were. She didn’t have any urge to kill us and rip us apart like I have seen so many times before. What, or who exactly are you?

“Hey,” I looked up to see Sharpshot talking to me. He was holding the rad resistant suit in his hooves. “If you are coming with you’ll need this,” I tossed the suit carelessly to me. “The radiation is going to be pretty heavy in there, and while it can only isolate so much it should keep you of dying from radiation poisoning. I’m not that hard headed to realize you aren’t like me,”

I put a smile on as he turns around and heads back to White Light’s side. Looking at the suit, I decide to immediately put it on, even if it wasn’t needed right now. It was pretty big on me, the only part of it that even felt right was the neckwarmer and mask that cover my face. Thankfully it wasn’t loose enough where it would feel like I’m dragging it or that it was going to fall off me. I felt so isolated inside of it, like the world around me was miles away.

“What?” I heard Sharpshot suddenly say.

“Awe, your burning up,” I heard White Light giggle as she spoke. “Don’t even think you can hide it, you think she’s cute don’t you,”

I felt my cheeks suddenly starting to burn red as I heard White Light speak. Sharpshot thought I was cute? No, that couldn’t be right. He must have been talking about Stitch… no, she was definitely talking about me. Wait, this was Sharpshot she was saying this to, he thought I was cute? My face was practically melting it was so warm, I couldn’t believe it at all. Please say it wasn’t true, please say it wasn’t true.

“S-so?” Sharpshot stammered. “Why does it matter?” I looked to see Sharpshot’s eyes darting between me and White Light. Sweet Celestia, he actually liked me! “Just because I think she’s cute doesn’t mean I would date her,”

I watched as White Light intensified her gaze, just like she had with Stitch earlier. I could see the sweat starting to roll down Sharpshot’s face. How was she doing it, how did she manage to make Sharpshot of all ponies even flinch. If had been Dead Hooves red eyes it would have made more sense but as far as I could tell she had normal light blue eyes.

“Okay fine I like her a little,” Sharpshot said with a pout. “But that doesn’t mean she likes me back and you know that. Besides, I still hold everything I had said about Dead Hooves and have no reason to make a move. She hates me and I know it,”

He wasn’t wrong about any of that, I really did hate him. Sure, he may have saved our asses not once but twice now, but his words differed from his actions. What he said about Dead Hooves father faking everything he had told her, Sharpshot knew he was getting started on the wrong hoof with Dead and he honestly didn’t care. If he thought he had any fucking chance at me then he was obviously more retarded then he made himself off to be.

That really was the thing, he was a big smartass who didn’t watch his words and expected everypony to just go along with whatever he said. The fact that he even had friends surprised me, White Light was admittedly a little like him but at least she showed sympathy for others. Hell, the fact that he even had the trust of the Angel Hunters surprised me.

We were caught off guard by the sound of a sudden explosion outside. “The hell?” Without a White Light ran upstairs to find the source of it.

Me and Sharpshot followed after her as she went to the second floor and through a door we hadn’t gone through before. Racing down to a window on the other side we looked outside to see pillars of smoke rising in the distance. I narrowed my eyes to try and tell exactly where they were coming from. My eyes widen once I caught an eye of where it had come from, fear filling my heart. It was coming from the Angel Hunter’s base!

“no,” White Light said as she realized where it was coming from. “We gotta get back there now,”

“You won’t have to worry about that,”

Both me and White Light looked to Sharpshot with surprise. “What the fuck are you saying?” White Light asked furious, “Dead Hooves was back there, and so is Bleak and everypony else. They're going to die if we don’t do anything about it,”

“I said you don’t have to worry,” Sharpshot yelled at her. “Besides, Zoey knew this was coming no matter what happened,”

> Chapter 14 - Hunter's end
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I had awoken to myself pinned on the floor, still in the medical room from earlier. My vision was blurry, and I couldn't tell exactly what was going on. An alarm rang in my ears, filling my head with urgency, and I needed to move. I couldn’t move, something heavy kept me from standing up at all, and I was breathing hard, gasping for any air I could find. I felt blood on my side, and I felt woozy from everything going on. Despite that, I still had feeling in my legs. I couldn’t tell, however, if whatever they did to me was successful or not.

How much time had past since they left me with Cross eye? I didn’t know, I couldn’t see much around me except the body of a ghoul lying on the ground. What had happened since then? I tried to get up, but I felt so weak and couldn’t even make my head move trapped under here. Thoughts were going through my head like a hurricane. I didn’t know where Stitch or Willow Wisp was, I don’t know if anypony is alive, I can’t even tell if I am really able to stand. I single tear was all I could muster as I laid there helplessly.

Suddenly, I saw the hooves of two ponies standing in front of me. I was able to make out Zoey’s stripes through my blurry vision but couldn’t tell who the other pony was. I watched as their two front hooves disappeared and I heard the sound of rock moving above me. Then after a couple seconds I heard it again as my vision started clearing a little. My breathing slowed as whatever was holding my back down was tossed away. Then I felt yet another piece of rubble get removed from the top of my head, and I started to finally make sense of the two ponies helping me.

“Dead Hooves, speak to me” I barely managed to make out Zoeys voice as she left me off the ground. “Sweet Celestia, Grease get me some bandages now!”

I watched as the other pony saluted her and started searching the cabinets for bandages. I could feel and large wound on my belly, and I found myself unable to scream from exhaustion. Not much later the other pony, who she had called Grease gave her a blurry white object and set me on the ground. I simply stared at the flickering ceiling lights as I felt the bandages wrap around me wound. Was intriguing me the most though was the weird grey object that hung limply above me.

I tried to move my hooves to see one of the objects move as well, then promptly did the same with the other. Zoey looked to me and I could barely tell that she wanted me to stop moving. I didn’t respond, still trying to regain all the breath I needed to properly function. My heart was beating at the speed of a train and my head was blazing with pain. I simply wanted to scream, but once again I could not.

As my vision finally returned to its peak performance I was able to make sense of everything around me. There was a light hanging sadly from the ceiling and a giant pile of cement ceil shoved into the corner was once lying in. I was able to make out Zoey’s teal blue eyes as well as the pony she was with. He had a grey pegasus stallion with a black mane and tail. The color of his mane and tail hair seemed to get lighter as it went down. His cutie mark was a wrench and screwdriver.

I look up at where my once normal hooves had been to finally make sense at what Cross Eye had done. Instead over my old tan colored hooves I saw mechanical owns replace them in my vision. I could see the inside of them as well, all the gears and other pieces that made up of it. I studied them as I moved them little by little, getting a feel for them. It felt… natural! Unusually natural for what not even being a machine. I looked down at the rest of my body to see that my back hooves had been replaced as well, or at least one of them.

So let me get this straight Cross Eye, you only replaced one of my paralyzed legs yet had also don’t it to my two perfectly good legs as well. I went to move my back right leg, and looked with more curiosity than you usually would. It actually moved! I was able to use one of my back legs for the first time in my life, or at least one of them. Still, I had to be at least somewhat grateful for what he did. I was at least able to move somewhat better than before.

“What’s going on?” I ask looking to Zoey, the mare seemed deeply worried about me at the present moment. “Why is Cross Eye dead?” Zoey stayed silent for a second as she finished patching me up (how did I even attain the injury). “Zoey,”

“They found us,” She said as she helped me get up. “Or more specifically Scythe found me. She blew up most of the base and killed most of the members inside of it. I… I think she is looking for me, not you. She must have all the ruble to fall on you, the only pony she probably killed was Cross Eyed right there,” She points to the dead ghoul on the ground.

“Is there anypony else still alive?” I ask in a sacred manner. “Other than the three of us,”

“Nav and Rocket are on the Raptor, we are going to try and evacuate as many as possible,” Grease said in a rather high voice for a stallion. “So far you are the first survivor we have found, we don’t even know where Captain Bleak or Soarin is at the moment,”

“We need to get you onto the Raptor,” Zoey said as she started moving me forward. “You’ll be safe there while I go and save-”

I knock away Zoey's hoof, causing she staggers back. For once in my life I felt the sensation of standing without Power Armor. No longer were my back hooves a major set back. I’ll admit, it felt rather nice considering the moment it was during. Hearing the insides of my new legs actually seemed to fascinate me to an extent. I felt powerful, and I wasn’t going to let Zoey make me feel like less.

“What the hell was that for?” She yelled not able to understand. “I’m trying to save your life,”

“I’m coming with you,” I say with confidence making her gasp. “I’m not just going to sit her on my ass while you go saving ponies lives. I said I was going to show Twister who he’s dealing with and I intend to do this as a message,”

“You can’t be fucking serious,” Zoey said with frustration. “I’m trying to save your life right now, and you're already injured. Just do as I say and go with Grease to the fucking Raptor,”

I finally snapped, fed up with everything she was saying. “You want to know what my entire life was like. It was shit, all I ever did was sit on my ass all day while ponies stole from the weak and ignored the broken. I was one of those ponies, and I still am, that’s nothing these new hooves could change. I did this so I could help those who are broken, to try and fix Equestria and show those who are trying to destroy it who I fucking am. So if you think I will just sit there and do shit while the rest of you save others you're wrong,”

Zoey was left in silence at my outrage, meaning I had achieved what I was hoping for. I wasn’t going to act weak and frail, I wasn’t going to let others do the dirty work for me. I felt stronger now, more powerful then I have ever been. What Sharpshot had told me, about ponies with disabilities being left to die, I was going to stop it. This was more than just Twister now, it was becoming so much more than a revenge quest. I was fighting now for what I believed in, and if he was going to us ponies like me to destroy what little of Equestria there was left, I was going to stop it.

“I guess I should have known,” Zoey turned to Grease. “Head back to the Raptor and wait for us. Your aren’t leaving until Dead Hooves gets back. If an hour passes and we aren’t back, leave without us, got it?” Grease saluted her in response and made his way out of the door. “Silver Gunner is waiting for us out the door,”

I nodded and the two of us made our way out of the infirmary and into the now ruined corridors of the Angel Hunters home base. Like she had said Silver Gunner was waiting with the Novasurge at the ready. Many of the lights in the ceiling had been shattered, leaving a sinister feeling to the hallway in front of her. Compared to the rather encouraging place it had been before, the building now held an evil feel to it that I couldn’t explain.

“Where is Remembrance?” I asked Zoey as we entered the hallway. “I didn’t see it with me when I woke up,”

Zoey stood there silent for sometime, and immediately I knew something was wrong. “They placed it in the armory because they didn’t think we would need it,” She responded. “The armory is from what we know Scythes point of entry into here. She collapsed the entire thing, and all the weapons are buried under it,” She grabbed the Novasurge rifle from Silver Gunner and gave it to me. “Silver, see I you can unburied anything in the armory, we are moving out as soon as we deal with Scythe,”

Silver didn’t respond, he just walked down the hall to the right of us. I assumed he was heading to the armory, but I didn’t know this place well enough to be sure. Zoey still had her carbine and had also taken a few grenades with her. All I had was the Novasurge rifle and a small supply of fusion cells. If I was counting right, there was only about forty or so left, and a fully charge shot would take a quarter of that. Zoey was clearly more prepared than I was, but I wasn’t going to let that get in the way.

I followed Zoey’s lead as we went down the hallway. A path of destruction was left by something, and part of me almost believed it was done by multiple ponies. Holes adorned the walls leading to different rooms of the facility some of which were almost completely collapsed. In fact the only two rooms that I could even enter was the infirmary and a room with bunk beds in it. The bodies of two soldiers were found in the hallway, but not a single shot was fired by each of their carbines.

“The mags are completely full,” Zoey stated as she checked them. “Not a single cartridge on the floor is 5mm, it’s all 7.62mm which would fit exactly with Scythes anti-machine gun. These ponies didn’t stand a chance in this small space, not against something with that much spread and power,”

I picked up one of the carbines and studied it, checking to see if the gun was still in good condition. “I’ve heard on the radio about how tough alicorns are, do you think this will do anything to her?”

“I’m not going to bother sugarcoating anything,” Zoey said. “You have a better chance killing a Hellhound with that thing then you do an Alicorn, in others words you won’t do shit to her. The best thing to have is heavy ammo or explosives, and we don’t even have that with us. These grenades are only a last resort if…” She stopped there mumbling something under her breath. “I hope it doesn’t come to that point,”

“If what happens,” I asked wondering what she had said.

“It’s not important,” Zoey said with a smile. “With the best luck we will find Bleak and Soarin and can leave without even having to encounter her,”

I nodded in reply, that really would be nice if we didn’t encounter an Alicorn. Ponies dead before they fired a single shot, walls blasted out left and right, to think a single pony did this was insane. Not that it was beyond an alicorn, they were more powerful in every way to us and was one of the reasons Equestria was drifting away. That was, if there was any of Equestria left to even save.

We made our way down the hall and into what must have once been a lunch room of sorts. Lights hung by the wires, one even crashing onto the floor as we enter the room for a cheap attempt to scare us. A single body occupied the room, an enclave soldier who was… rather brutally killed. The blood had dried to the ground and already you could see flies were he was. Holes filled his body, and I held in vomit as I saw he was missing an eye, blood filling the area it should have been. I fell backwards as I saw this.

“This isn’t right,” I said unable to look away from the dead ponies body. “Why would somepony do this,”

I somehow managed to peel my eyes away from the body and looked to Zoey, who was standing next to it with her ears drooped. She knew it just as much as I did, this pony like everypony else that died here should have lived. This was at all the Equestria that I had once imagined outside my home. I wished for a shining city were ponies still lived and kept order, but that hoped was dash when I met Sharpshot. This was the nail on the coffin, the evidence that showed an Equestria struggling to keep itself from fading away for good.

“This is what they do,” Zoey said in a depressing demeanor. “This is what Alicorns have become, murderers that seem themselves as the superior race. A group that wants nothing more than to kill us ponies for their own personal gain. In my life, I have yet to see an Alicorn who truly cared about ponies and who they are… and part of me thinks I never will,”

She kneeled down before the pony and closed there eyes, letting them sleep. I felt rage inside me building but held it away, it would only make things worse. That rage, it's what cause ponies to become like this, I somehow felt it. Zoey said something that I couldn’t make out as she kneeled before the pony. It must have been some sort of prayer the zebra’s had, but I couldn’t tell at all. Still, it gave the two of us motivation to find anypony that is still alive in here.

We made our way down the halls of the facility until we came to a room on the left that was not collapsed. Inside it we say multiple pieces of machinery, a lot of them looked pre-war. Along with it I saw power armor, but they were different from the ones I had used. They had places for the wings on the side and it seemed to be lighter as well. I would have used it if I was an earth pony or pegasi, but I couldn’t use it unless I cut my own horn off, and I already have sacrificed more of my body than originally intended.

As we walked through it, I saw the body of a piece of power armor laying in pieces on the floor. It was heavier than the others and had no place for the wings on it. The metal was also denser than that of the power armors, making it much better for stopping incoming damage. It took me a second to recognize it, or more specifically the fact that it’s legs were broken. I knew it as I lifted it up with my metallic hooves, which were much stronger than my older ones and looked into the invisible helmet that I left behind long ago.

“Daddy?” I asked it as tears swelled into my eyes. “Daddy is that you, are you okay,” I had known he was dead long ago, but I always felt like he was there in front of me, holding my hoof through the good times and the bad. However, it was different now “You're gone aren’t you? You can’t hear me from Celestia's sun any long, the things that kept us connected, that had showed your love from me… is gone. The PipBuck was never fixed, your shotgun is buried away were I will never find it, and now your power armor. I can’t bring you back, I… I-”

I was awoken from my trance by the feeling of a hoof on my shoulder. I looked up to the figure of Zoey behind me who looked just as sad as I was. She knew what I was feeling, she had lost her dad and might even lose her mom because of the side she was taking. The tears didn’t stop falling as I looked at her, she knew exactly how I felt. I was paralyzed, only three of my legs had been ‘fixed’ and in front of me stood the only pony I knew for most of my life now gone. I could stop the tears as I embraced Zoey in a hug, who didn’t even hesitate to hug me back.

“I’m sorry,” She said as we hugged each other, “I know how you feel, losing something you loved even if it wasn’t physically there. My mother, she’s already in slaver hooves as we speak, I know it,” We finally let go of each other, my face stained with tears from the amount of crying. “Dead Hooves, if I don’t make it out of this… I want you to-”

“Don’t think that way,” I said through my crying. “We are both going to make it through this, and I will make sure of that. None more ponies have to die today,”

She looked down, I could tell she doubted my words but she still looked up me with a smile. “You're right,” She said with what little confidence she seemed to have. “And we won’t do anything sitting around here on our asses, we have ponies to save,”

I nodded and lifted myself off the ground as Zoey started making her way back to the door. I quickly turned back to my old power armor, looking at it for a moment before leaning down and give it a quick hug. After a kiss I made my way away from my old armor and back to the door, wiping tears off my face as I did. I never really thought of how much that piece of junk meant to me till now. Sure, it broke down a lot but it still kept me safe whenever I needed it and always made me think my dad was somewhere inside of it telling me how proud of him I am. To see that loved crushed by this attack, it was heartbreaking.

Our last destination was a rather empty room, it must have once been for the airport that had been out here in this area. The room was rather dark compared to everywhere else in the building, and I immediately knew something was wrong. I heard the muffled scream of a pony in the room and looked around frantically. Then I heard the sound of hooves on the ground, it sounded like somepony was pacing in this darkness. However, as soon as the door closed behind us the hooves stopped moving.

“Well this was rather unexpected of you dear,” I heard a voice talking in a rather royal tone of voice, almost as if they were mocking us. “Of course it’s so predictable, you coming hear to save these poor little souls,”

Zoey stepped in front of me talking to the voice in the darkness “Spare me your royal lecture Scythe, you know exactly why I’m here and exactly what I want,” Zoeys voice was more fierce than it had been before, and I felt myself unable to move at the mention of the name Scythe in the room. “Why don’t you stop putting on a show and make yourself known,”

I heard a sigh come from Scythes voice, “You really do like ruining the fun Zoey,” This time the voice was more normal, a low female voice came from Scythe this time. “Luckily for me-” The lights suddenly turned on, blinding me as I made out the figures of two ponies, one sitting in a chair. “-You didn’t ruin the surprise,”

As my vision cleared I noticed Scythe and Bleak, the later of which was being held at gunpoint in a chair. Scythe looked a menacing as her name suggested, and you could tell exactly how effected by taint she was. Her light grey coat glowed with a green aura, I could feel the radiation in her body from where I stood. Her mane and tail was completely black and waved in the air, almost as if for show. Almost as soon as I made her out I turned to Bleak who was trying to yell through a muzzle that had been strapped to his face.

Zoey made a single step before Scythe spoke again. “Ah ah ah,” She said as if mocking us. “You sure that’s a good idea sweetheart. Allow me to quickly explain what’s about to happen, if you make a move to try and save him, I will send a bullet straight into his skull, and we both don’t want that,”

I could see Zoey almost growl as this, immediately stopping her short advance. “What do you want from me?” She asked in a stern manner. “Why the hell has Twister sent you? I know you aren’t a coward, you would have killed him otherwise,”

Scythe smiled at this. “Glad to see you remember me well,” The way the alicorn said it seemed happy, her smile growing to show a slight softness in her. She started making her way towards Zoey, the gun held in her magic. “You already know what he wants my dear Zoey, no reason to even ask me. You had a deal, a deal that kept your mother free as long as you did his dirty work. We had some splendid times together, killing those stupid Steel Rangers, cleaning the targets on his death list,” As the Alicorn came right up to Zoey, she lowered her head down to meet the zebra. “Now usually betrayal would give him a reason for wanting you dead but you see he has seen you as an important aspect of his plans. Right now as we talk he is telling the the Enclave to withdraw all soldiers station on the surface, saying that the world down here is-”

She cut off mid-sentence as she looked up at me, and I heard myself scream inside my head. She jumped over Zoey with elegance, landing on the ground next to me. I looked up at her, seeing her tower over me. I felt like an ant being watched by foals, she was much taller then me. I have seen pictures of Celestia and Luna in old picture books I had at home, and while at the time it seemed silly for how tall they were, I no longer felt that way. I felt my skin burn from the radiation emitting from the pony, wondering how she was alive. She put a hoof under my chin and I thought my skin was sizzling from the radiation.

“Well you I wasn’t expecting to see,” Scythe said to me with curiosity. “So you somehow managed to make it out of that raider hell. I have to say I’m quite impressed, and I also see you have been properly rewarded yourself,” She glances down at my metallic legs and I feel a large discomfort growing. “I’m sure Twister would be impressed with this discovery, but he would want you dead all the same,”

“Why does he want me dead?” I asked, managing to get the question somehow through my stiff lips. “All he said was that it’s what my father would want, I don’t get it at all,”

“I don’t have the ability to answer that, and even if I do I wouldn’t know,” Scythe said as she pulled her hoof away, which didn’t stop the incredible heat the radiation on her body gave off. “I was simply assigned by the goddess to help him create a following and make a place free of the lowlife ponies out here. As we speak he is somehow making an Alicorn army, we are simply here to help with his messier work, which wou-” She stopped, sighed, and closed her eyes. I didn’t know what was going on until I heard a gunshot. “Really Zoey, I thought you were better than this,”

I looked behind her to see Zoey was mere centimeters away from Bleaks now limp body. The small pistol that had killed him dropped to the floor empty of bullets. Zoey was completely frozen as she realized she was caught, and was surprised Scythe even knew what she was doing. She had taken Scythes sudden focus on me to try and help Bleak, but in the end it didn’t even matter.

The Alicorn walked away from me and over to the zebra, who was look behind her now in terror. Her body was suddenly held in magic as she reached for her carbine, and was lifted off the floor. Scythe had complete control over her movement and I watched as the gun raised up behind Zoey’s head. Before I even let her reload I took out the Novasurge and charged it up to about a quarter. I aimed for the Alicorns head, and fire the shot with a more minimal recoil than before. I watched as it hit her straight in the head and her focus on the zebra disappeared as Zoey and the gun held behind her dropped to the floor.

“Guess I have no other choice,” Scythe said as she turned around and an almost an instant was on me.

Her hoof collided with my face and what little focus I had disappeared and I ended up dropping my gun onto the floor. Before I could even register what was happening I was sent flying backwards and onto the door, which didn’t help my healing stomach. I slowly got up, and puked from the amount of turning my stomach was doing at the moment. I managed to look up as Scythe took the Novasurge rifle in a magic grasp and aim it towards me. I couldn’t move, my legs clenched to my stomach as I tried in all my power to keep my lunch in.

Shots rang out, not from the Novasurge but from Zoey’s carbine and I watched as the Novasurge grazed my ear, causing more bleeding what I was already doing. I could still here, but the tip of my ear was completely gone from the shot. With all my might I tried to stand fully up, but immediately collapsed onto the ground again as my stomach disagreed with me. I should have listened to Zoey when she told me to leave, but I felt so powerful walking without armor that I had completely ignored what she was really concerned about. I had a wound across my stomach, and part of my ear was now gone. Not just that, but these legs didn’t feel fully connected to me, I had control to an extent but it seemed to now ignore my orders. If I made it through this I would talk to somepony who knew anything about it.

Scythe was back over at the Zoey an almost an instant, and the zebra was forced to lean to the side as a shot was aimed towards her head. Zoey fired more shots at Scythe, but the alicorn seem less fazed by them, almost as if it wasn’t even hurting her. As for the alicorn herself, I saw her take out a bigger gun, and seemed to have some sort of stand on the near the end of the barrel, and a scope. Under the scope was interesting designs with gold color paint on it, similar ones on the top of the scope in the shape of a flame. That must have been the anti-machine gun she was talking about. While the pistol still aimed at Zoey, the gun pointed in my direction.

I managed to move my mechanical legs again, and jumped to the side as a loud shot rang through the air. I didn’t look backwards, running in one direction as shots rang out. With a leaping dive I went for the Novasurge rifle grabbing it in my hooves. Gripping it I once again made off running, charging the gun as I remembered how Scythe had reacted to it. It was more powerful than the carbine Zoey carried, and it seemed to actually hurt her a little. That being said, with how few fusion cells I have I needed to make every shot count. I remembered the amount of ammo it used with a half shot, at least fifty percent of a fusion cell. If that’s true then a full one would take an entire fusion cell.

I kept circling the room as her anti-machine gun continued to fire at me. The recoil on the weapon seemed rather big, so I knew my window of attack. The only problem would be hitting her, she dodged out of Zoeys bullets with relative ease, and no doubt the only reason I even hit her earlier was because she wasn’t focused on me. However, she now had her eyes looking back and forth between me and Zoey, not letting each of us out of her sight. The feeling of running that would have otherwise been amazing continued to be shut down by the constant threat that kept firing at me.

After another shot I heard her gun finally click, and seeing a short opportunity I dive forward aiming at her. As I feel to the ground I fired off a shot, hitting the Alicorn square in the cheek. The damage wasn’t much, but I saw small amounts of her cheek fall off at the shots impact. Scythe simply wiped the blood away as shot from Zoey continued to simply fall off of her back. She looked at me with a distinct flame, one that showed great anger in her eyes.

“You're a nuisance,” She said, the words ringing in my ears. Those eyes, no matter how normal they looked, seemed to pierce into my soul. “Didn’t he tell you it was your father who wanted you dead,”

“My father would never do such a thing,” I shouted at her. “He’s been dead for five years, why the fuck wouldn’t he have killed me sooner,”

Suddenly, I found myself unable to move, a pitch black aura surrounded my body. I was lifted off the ground and was soon brought muzzle to muzzle with Scythe. Her eyes stared into me, I was terrified, but didn’t show it. She looked at the wound on my stomach and looked back up at me before the aura faded and I feel to the ground. As soon as I tried to get up, she put her front left hoof down on the bandaged wound, and I screamed as she did.

“Pesky little thing you unicorns are,” Scythe said. “You will all be dead soon enough, and Alicorns will be the only ponies in this land. Consider my next action a strange mercy,” As soon as she said that last sentence I found her other front hoof on my next, pressing down. “This death I’m about to give you may not seem like mercy at the moment, but let you know that it will be a much better death than any other pony on the rotten wasteland,”

I gasped for breath, I felt my courage slip away with each passing second. I wanted to scream from the pressure she was putting on my wound, but I couldn’t. Her other hoof kept me from any form of verbal communication as it pressed on my neck. I didn’t hear Zoey’s carbine anymore, had she left me? Was this really where I was going to die? Blood suddenly found its way out of the bandages and the floor around my slowly started to get stained.

“Get off of her!”

Zoey jumped on Scythes back and before the alicorn could respond Zoey bit her opponent's neck. The alicorn jumped off as Zoey clamped down and her front hooves went into the air. Taking the opportunity Zoey had given me I started crawling backwards to my rifle, Scythe trying desperately to shake the zebra off her. When I finally reached the Novasurge rifle I grabbed it in my hooves and waited for a clear opening. However, instead of charging the gun I found myself staring scared at Zoey.

I should have been happy that she was saving me, that I still had my life. Instead I found myself looking stiff at her now feral-like eyes. That wasn’t the Zoey I knew, the one who was smart and maybe even a tactical expert. What I saw in her reminded me of the raiders from the camp, the way they looked at me with savage eyes. I didn’t think about it back then because of how carried away I was with grabbing that stupid minigun. What I saw in Zoey’s eyes was the look of a raider, what this Twister pony must have made her.

I broke contact as Scythe finally shook Zoey off her, sending her flying to a nearby window. I had expected her to fall down before hitting it, but instead she was sent flying through the window. I got up and watched as her hooves managed to grab the other side of the window sile. I saw were Zoey had bitten Scythe as the alicorn turned to the window, a large chunk of her skin gone revealing some of the muscle underneath. The alicorn stepped toward the window and I didn’t need another second to tell what was going to happen.

“You see what happens when you let your instincts take over,” I heard Scythe say to Zoey. “I warned you that you would end up in a situation like this,”

The Novasurge rifle wasn’t fully charged, but I had to act now. Hoping to get her attention I aim the rifle at Scythe, and in only a second I sent the blast of magic out as it reached fifty percent. It hit her and she stumbled forward a little bit as it did. She looked at me with those same angry eyes as before and I soon realized the mistake I made. Once again she engulfed me in the aura of her magic and I found myself floating off the ground, unable to hold onto the Novasurge rifle. I was suddenly slammed into the floor, and I could hear my ears ringing. She lifted me up again and I was to dazed to see what exactly was going on. I was suddenly dropped unexpectedly to the ground, and with my vision less blurry I looked to see Zoey on the alicorns back, her body covered in glass from the window.

“What are you doing?” Scythe said as Zoey uncapped one of the grenades.

“Getting my fucking revenge,” Zoey shouted “For everypony you ever made me kill, and for all those who died in Zebratown,”

With her answer Zoey shoved the grenades into Scythes mouth and clamped the alicorns mouth shut. I simply stood there, knowing what was about to happen. Zoey forcefully made Scythe swallow the grenade and held the alicorns head in place. She looked at me with a frown on her face, her ears flat, and then closed her eyes. Before I was able to ask Zoey what was going on, I was met by the deafening sound of the grenade going off.

Blast blew the Alicorn out from the inside, and I soon found myself covered in her blood. Bits and pieces of Scythe flew everywhere as I simply stood there dumbfounded. Where the Alicorn had once stood was now a giant pile of blood, muscle, and other things that I didn’t want to see. Not a single part of Scythes body was left intact, she was now a mess on the floor which was now stained in blood and gore. I knew what was happening, but it still left me stunned. I looked at my machinicle hooves, which were covered in blood like the rest of me, with small bits of who knows what hanging off as well. My shock ended as I realized someone wasn’t present.

“Zoey!” I called out, running my way over to where the body of Scythe had once been. I looked out of the window and found her lying unconscious on the ground. I could see her stomach move, and sighed with relief that she was still breathing. “Thank Celestia,”

I took a single step before falling down in pain. I looked at the bandages that had covered my wound, or at least where they had use to be. A small rip in the bandage was visible and blood was dripping out slowly. I shook away the pain and put a hoof on the wound to try and stop some of the bleeding. With that I ran as fast as I could, holding in the wound as I ran down to Zoey. As I opened the door that led outside, I quickly made my way to her.

“Zoey?” I didn’t get a responce, and put my hoof on her checking for a heartbeat. I got one but it was faint and weak, and I was soon more scared for her wellbeing. “You're not dying today Zoey,”

I threw her onto my back and started making my way to the airstrip that we had arrived on. My bleeding was getting worse though, and the inside of my mechanical hoof slowly started dripping with blood that had been collected. I started running faster, hoping to get back to the Raptor before it got too bad. As I got closer to it, my vision started to give out on me, and I felt light headed. I watched as two blurs made there way over to me, and as they got to my side I made out Nav and Grease helping me to the distant Raptor. When we finally arrived, Rocket and Silver Gunner were waiting and I found Zoey being lifted off my back.

“Where’s Captain Bleak and Soarin?” I barely made out the words Nav said to me.

“The… They,” I was having trouble with words as I felt my consciousness slipping away. “B-bleak… Soarin… dead,”

I collapsed on the ground still slightly conscious, I made out the blurry image of a hoof as if lifted me up and I was put on some ponies back. They entered the flying machine and I was blinded by the bright lights inside. Somepony I couldn’t make out was trying to talk to me, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Everything was an echo. The last sight I remember seeing was the destroyed outside of the Angel Hunter's base before I finally slipped away.

“De… stay w… s. Do..”

> Chapter 15 - Disbanded
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I looked down at Dead Hooves, still lying unconscious from the wound in her side. I don’t know how she got it or even how she let it get this bad. According to Grease, it was already there when they found her in the infirmary. Me and Rocket did the best we could to help her, but without Cross Eye we couldn’t do much other then trying and find spare potions. Then again, we left so much behind at our now destroyed HQ that we didn’t have anything really at all. Almost all the medical supplies had been destroyed by the unknown attacker, whoever it was.

That doesn’t mean we didn’t manage to find anything, a single set of Enclave power armor had been left mostly intact with the exception of it’s front left hoof. A few weapons had been dug out by Silver Gunner, mostly small pistols and knives. He had also come back with a rather interesting weapon he said he found on our supposed attack. An anti-machine gun, or a Spitfire’s Thunder anti-machine gun to be exact. Rocket immediately called dibs on it, and considering he is our heavy weapons expert I expected it.

We also managed to find a few small healing potions, almost all were used on Zoey and Dead Hooves however. We managed to also find some rolls of bandages, which was once again mostly used to help Dead Hooves and Zoey. In other words most of our medical supplies had been used to help them out. We owed them, making sure they got better was the least we could do to start repaying them. They may not have brought Bleak or Soarin back with them, but considering the condition they were in I don’t think they could have.

Silver Gunner was standing with me, holding a double barreled shotgun with him. He set the gun down at the end of the bed, his mechanical eyes staring at Dead Hooves. He looked over to Zoey, whose hind legs were both in a cast. They had been greatly fractured, the healing potions had greatly improved there conditions but they were still rather fragile. I could help but think that Silver Gunner was feeling sadness, even though he was a machine.

“Mission complete,” Silver Gunner said to the unconscious zebra, “I will wait for further instructions.”

I finally had to ask, “Hey Silver,” Silver Gunner looked at me. “If you were built during the war, then why are you being so friendly to Zoey? It’s not that I have anything against zebras, quite the opposite actually, but most things during the war would have been to oppose zebras. So why are you so friendly?”

“An enemy is not judge by its species,” Silver Gunner replied. “An enemy is based on its actions and words. Zoey and Dead Hooves both show they know friendship, therefor they are an ally of Equestria. Same for you Enclave technician Nav, you show you fight the right war and you know where your friendship lies. It is for that reason I trust you and your companions,”

Friendship, that was a word you didn’t hear very often. These days most ponies in the Wasteland would tell you that friendship was a weakness. That anypony would backstab you if for the right reason or price. It was that belief of friendship that made me at times doubt the Enclave. We Angel Hunters were different then most of the Enclave, believing that it was possible to save the Wasteland. We held friendship differently, most of us Angel Hunters were friends from our time as normal soldiers. Sometimes, I think that the Enclave saw us as some strange danger to their cause.

I couldn’t help but let my eyes drift to the shotgun he had put down at the end of Dead Hooves bed. I saw the words “remember” carved into the side, slightly dented from debris that probably covered it. What did she need to remember? Was it something about her life that she couldn’t forget? Was it a memory that was dear to her? Those were the questions that came to my head, but I wouldn’t get any answers until she woke up.

Left Silver Gunner to care for Zoey and Dead Hooves and made my way into the halls of the Raptor. I didn’t make it far before running into Rocket, who had carried Dead Hooves on his back. This was the first time I’ve seen him without his uniform on, instead carrying it in his hooves. Blood stained part of the uniform, showing where he had carried Dead Hooves. I was surprised, we were never to remove them unless we were sleeping or washing them.

“How are they doing?” Rocket asked, rather casual considering the look that I had on my face.

“It seems like there fine at the moment but,” I point to his uniform. “Why do you have your uniform off? Never thought you were the type of pony to defy the rules,”

“I’m not,” Rocket replied “It’s just… are we still part of the Enclave?” I tilt my head in response to this. “I know it seems like a silly thing to say but… Grease can’t get communication up with anypony in the Enclave. It’s almost as if they shut us out or something, and now that Bleak and Soarin are gone-”

“So are you trying to say we’re Dashites?” I asked, somewhat infuriated. “Are you saying we should just abandon the Enclave. Didn’t you tell me that you have a family? A wife and child waiting for you at home?”

“I don’t like it anymore then you do,” He went over to one of the nearby windows on the side of the Raptor and opened it.

We were in the air at the moment, making our ways away from our old headquarters. We weren’t going very fast, considering we had no destination in mind at the moment. Feather and Sharpshot had left without telling us what they were doing or were they were going, leaving us to wander the wastes once we ran out of fuel. Rocket looked down at his uniform, closing his eyes as if he was contemplating something. Moments later he put the hoof holding the uniform out the window and it flew away. I took a step forward, but didn’t find words to show the rage I was hiding inside.

“We aren’t Dashites, but we aren’t Enclave either,” Rocket said, looking at me. “I won’t ever get to see my son grow up, and he might never see me die. I want the best for him however, and he is safe with the Enclave. Besides, I went into this not knowing the land, the ponies, or even the environment. I joined the army because I wanted to show my confidence, having fallen out of flight school and all. I knew this assignment might be my death,” He let out a small laugh. “I guess I should have expect this to happen.”

I didn’t want to believe it, I wanted to believe I was just hearing things, but it was true. The thing was, he was right. We came here knowing we may never go back home, to our families, to see my sister. I had a reason to join, one beyond self confidence. That Bloody Angel killed my brother, he died to make sure they didn’t find me. I felt partly fueled by the want for vengeance, in the end it was that which lead me to the Angel Hunters. I was a nopony then, barely made it through training. When Bleak picked me, they tried to convince him otherwise that there was better options. However he responded by saying that what I lacked in physical strength I made up for as a leader. It was that leadership that lead me here.

“Is it wrong Rocket,” I looked to him, “To want vengeance even when it won’t bring you anything in return?”

“I don’t exactly get what you are saying,” Rocket replied.

“The entire reason I’m down here is because I want revenge,” I shifted my gaze to the uniform I was wearing, “I want to make the Bloody Angel pay for my brother’s death, yet I know in the end it might not matter. No matter what I do it won’t bring him back, nor will it bring us home. So, does it really matter if we go after him or not? Is there any reason for me to want revenge?”

“Any other pony in the Wasteland that was affected by him would want the same thing, so no,” Rocket walked up to me shifted me gaze from me uniform back to him. “Revenge may not bring him back, but this isn’t just simple revenge we are doing this for. The entire Wasteland has been affected by that bastard, it’s our job to make him pay. Dead Hooves probably wants the same, why else would she want to join us?” 

I never really thought about why Dead Hooves wanted to join us, but no doubt she had a reason. Besides, she was made a target because of what the Bloody Angel has done. No doubt she wanted some form of revenge. Rocket was right, the Bloody Angel had cause great harm to more than just me, I needed to remember that. I wasn’t doing this for myself, I was doing this for the sake of everypony in the Wasteland.

“Rocket? Nav?” I look behind Rocket to see Grease, his face seemed concern about something.

“Something wrong Grease?” I asked him.

“Well I was keeping an on the bridge to make sure we didn’t hit anything, since we are still in Las Pegasus,” He explained, “And then the Raptors controls started turning on it’s own. I didn’t touch anything I swear it just started turning by itself.”

My eyes widen and I made my way past them and up to the bridge. Just like he said, the controls for the Raptor were somehow turning us to the left. I tried to gain control of the Raptor again, but it for some reason didn’t respond to anything I did. I looked back to see Grease and Rocket watching me. They were hoping I had an answer for what was going on at the moment, but I didn’t have any idea.

“Sorry for doing this,” I suddenly heard a low masculine sounding voice over the speakers. “But you have somepony important.”

I pressed a button to respond back. “Who the fuck is this, and why the hell do you have control of our Raptor?”

“Look, I can only talk for so long and I have a lot that I need to explain so if you would please just let me talk I’ll answer your question,” The voice replied. I fell silent knowing it would get me my answer. “You can call me Watcher, and as I said you have somepony that I need to talk to. I’ve been keeping an eye on her for some time now and she has stuff that she needs to know. I’m sending you to the place she will learn the answer, and the place your other comrades are going as well. I have the controls completely locked in over here, so if you want to get of the only choice you have is to jump.”

“You motherfucker,” I whispered to myself. I once again responded to the voice that called himself watcher. “You do realize you are messing with Enclave security, right? I can and will report you to my superiors if you do not give me back controls of this Raptor.”

“Then I guess you haven’t heard that they disbanded you a long time ago,” I didn’t believe him at first, that was until I heard what he said next. “If you don’t believe me, then tell me the last time you received a transmission from them? If I’m seeing things correctly, then it must have been at least one year ago, about the time that Breaker joined you as well. Am I correct?”

I opened my mouth to retort but found no words for what he said. Watcher, while I have no idea who he is, even though I had no idea how he knew, he was right. The last time we had received any sort of transmission for home was one year ago. That was the day they told us we were getting a new recruit, less than a day later arrived Breaker. Now that I think about it, Breaker actually left before the attack, did he somehow know we were going to be getting attacked?

That didn’t stop me from realizing the truth that horrified me, we were never part of the Enclave. They abandoned us, left us as Dashites one year ago thinking we would die down here. I didn’t need a mark to be one, not when the left us the way we did. Nopony knew, not even Bleak and Soarin. I felt Rockets green hoof on my shoulder, but I didn’t look at him. For the first time since being recruit, I felt worthless. We were rejects, all three of us, and I was most of all.

“Watcher,” I asked the voice. “I… I’ll do anything you need me to. Just please tell me what to do and I’ll do it. No questions asked.”

“If that’s true, then I would first ask you to not get angry at Willow Wisp when you learn the truth,” He replied, I had no idea what he’s talking about. “Of course, I would also ask you to help Zoey. She’s becoming something, and I want you to keep her from becoming what she that is.”

Rocket was the next pony to respond. “Sorry to interrupt Watcher, but I would like to know who you know all these things. I recognize your name, but how did you know about Dead Hooves and Zoey? How did you know about us in general?”

“Well when you're as old as I am you learn a thing or two,” He seemed to chuckle at his bad joke. “To tell the truth I simply use the Sprite-bots across the wasteland and get information through them. I’m just going to say your friend Dead Hooves is somepony I’ve been keeping an eye on for a long time and there are things sh-”

Watchers voice cut out, leaving us all wondering what had happened to him. I looked down at the uniform I was wearing, and something seemed to click as I did. I took it off and looked at the enclave emblem that was on it. Without a second though I took the emblem in my teeth and ripped it off the suit, leaving a hole where it use to be. I looked down at my my hooves, they were slightly stained in blood from some cuts that I had obtain getting out our old base. My red mane was hanging down straight.

“So, I guess we have time to do something else till we get to Ponyville,” I said, a thought hitting my mind as I realized we weren’t on duty anymore. “What is it this Watcher thing wants?”

“Well it seems like we are holding the metaphorical cargo he needs,” Grease said stepping forward. “I will admit that there is something about Dead Hooves, something special in her. Not like she's part of a prophecy of old Equestria but rather the fact that she seems to carry an aura of leadership in her. The same kind of aura I think Bleak saw in you Nav.”

I put a weak smile on my face as he said that. In truth I did see a leader in Dead Hooves. The way she didn't let her disability get the best of her for so long, and the fact she had pushed through all that pain to make it to us. Even the action of trying to save our captain, even though it failed, was a show of her leadership. She was ready to face danger, and she knew what it was like to survive. I was ready to give her leadership, she earned it, and I didn’t know if I really was able to be a leader. Even with all the trust Bleak had in me, I don’t think I was the one who should take his place.

“Dead Hooves is more of a leader then I am,” I announced. “As such I think it would be better if she took on the role of leadership. We may have been disbanded by the Grand Pegasus Enclave but that doesn’t mean we go our separate ways. Besides, none of us know what kind of battle we have gotten ourselves into, and we need to make the bastard who killed Soarin and Bleak pay.”

“Twister was the mastermind,” Everyone's gaze shifted behind us as we saw Dead Hooves was up and moving. Silver Gunner was offer his support to her. She was still not in peak condition. “He sent one of his Alicorn minions to kill you all and take Zoey back, she was the one who killed Bleak and most likely killed Soarin as well. She was all the one who blew up the HQ, and according to her they are making an army.”

I quickly rushed to her side. “What the fuck are you thinking?” I yell at her as I turned to Silver Gunner. “Silver Gunner, explain to me what is going on now!”

“Dead Hooves woke up not long after you left the room,” He said in his monotone, robotic voice. “She said that she had something to tell you and that she needed to tell you directly.”

“I know I’m being stupid right now,” Dead Hooves said, and I noticed she had one of her mechanical hooves holding onto her stomach. “I’m feeling a lot better. The wound hasn’t completely healed, but you need to know what’s going on. Whatever Twisters doing, it’s has something to do with Alicorns and some pony named the Goddess if I remember correctly. There making some sort of army and Twister is telling the Enclave to withdraw all activity from soldiers stationed on the ground.”

“Of course it’s Twister,” Rocket said in reply to Dead Hooves explanation. “It not very characteristic of him to send one of his Alicorn assassins after us however. He must have known the same things Watcher did.”

“Does that mean they’re working together?” I asked, my heart pounding as the thought cross my mind.

“No way,” Rocket replied. “From what I’ve heard this Watcher pony has been around since before the war, like Soarin. If he knows the old Equestria and has as many eye as it seems then I’m pretty sure he would go with Twisters belief of do whatever to survive.”

“I was actually hoping to ask you something else,” Dead Hooves once again spoke up. “Where is Willow Wisp and everypony, I haven’t seem them anywhere.”

“Feather took her somewhere,” She said. “Sharpshot went after them I believe, as well as Stitch. She’s trustworthy, next to Sharpshot she’s the pony I would probably put my faith in the most.”

Dead Hooves let out a sigh of relief and moved away from Silver Gunner. As she started moving towards me she fell down, holding her stomach in pain. It was very clear that while the wound looked better, it was still healing internally. I bent down to look at where she was holding her stomach and saw a small amount of blood on the bandages I had wrapped not so long ago. I quickly lifted her onto my back and looked to Silver.

“Whatever happens, until her wound is fully healed don’t let her out of bed,” I commanded to the robot. 

He nodded his head slowly and started making his way back down the hall. I followed not long after him after bidding a quick farewell to Rocket and Grease, making my way to the quarters we had turned into a makeshift infirmary. It really wasn’t much other then two beds and unsorted medical supplies, but we knew it would have to do until we found someplace to set down, which in this case was Ponyville. I set her gently down onto the bed and she looked at me as I pulled the covers over her.

“You really shouldn’t push yourself too hard,” I told her as she recovered from the initial pain she put herself in. “I know you must feel more powerful than before because of the new hooves but that doesn’t mean you're invincible. We barely managed to save your life, we don’t want to go through that entire process again until we have an actual doctor with us-”

“This isn’t the Equestria I hoped for,” She spoke up, causing me to go silent. When she realized I wasn’t going to speak she continued. “I knew it was bad but, in the past forty-eight hours or so I have seen so many good ponies die. I can still hear him in my head sometimes, Stitch’s adopted brother, hoping for someone to save him. Now Bleak and Soarin are gone because of Twister, and I don’t know if Zoey is alive or not.”

“Zoey’s alive, she was worse than you were,” I told her hoping it would make her feel a little better. The expression on her face told me otherwise. “She’s doing well, bones won’t be as strong as before but she will be okay. I know that she will survive, just like you.”

She simply stared at me before shifting positions on the bed, looking down at the pillow. “Something isn’t right with her. I hate to say it but it’s true, she isn’t acting like a normal pony. She ripped part of the alicorns skin off, her eyes looked like they were feral. It was like she suddenly turned into a hellhound with the way she acted. She,” She went silent as she spoke, almost as if she wasn’t sure what to say. “Tossed a grenade into the alicorns mouth. Not even the alicorn deserved to die like that. Twister did something to her, I know it.”

I looked over to the zebra. She seemed to look completely normal to me, but the way Dead Hooves described her was like one of those old propaganda posters we had tossed when we first set up shop in Las Pegasus. I couldn’t deny what she said however, it what happened was Twisters doing. Why did we ever even trust that backstabber? He has done nothing but cause more and more hate amongst the Wasteland. The fact he was even speaking to the Enclave made me sick.

“Everythings going to be okay,” I said calmly to Dead Hooves, completely ignoring the pounding of my heart. “Will do everything we can do help out, don’t you worry about it. What else are friends for? Besides, the worst is behind us now.”

“Actually,” Dead Hooves replied, she was started to fall asleep as she spoke to me. “I think this is still just the beginning. It’s going to get worse, much worse than it already is,” As her eyes closed she said one last sentence. “This is how Equestria is going to end, and how the world will now remember it.”
> Chapter 16 - No Mare's Land
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I felt exposed, probably the most exposed I ever been in my life. I had given my radiation resistant stable suit to Willow Wisp to keep her from dying due to radiation. I didn't have to worry about it, being the half-ghoul that I am, but that didn't keep me from continually swearing in my head. The wind in the so called “No Mare's Land” was extreme, and without my stable suit or a full fur coat I felt the wind hitting my skin roughly. Not like it made a difference, the skin was dead really, you could probably peel parts of it off without effort. In other words, being a ghoul fucking sucks out here.

That doesn't even account for the amount of times I hear those scaredy cats in Friendship City or the Manehattan ruins say “Look out, it's going to kill you” or “You aren't welcomed around here, turn away before I shoot your fucking head off”. Yeah, seems like the whole wasteland hates me if I so much as take the thing off. Not that I mind, the things comfy and shields from the wind but it does get to the point where it smells like shit if I don’t was it. As for the retards that played be off as a monster, I gave them what they had coming. It was a clear message saying “don’t mess with Sharpshot”.

Of course, those things alone didn’t help me feel any better about the situation. I’m aware of the fact that cloths are considered optional outside of stables, but it just feels weird. I swear some of the ponies in the wasteland, even the mares, live to be creepy stalkers. Mostly the raiders, and I despised those sons of bitches, especially considering that they had no sense of self control when it came to certain things. It made me made, especially considering what they had done to Willow Wisp.

Now I want to quickly say that I am not the romantic type, and I never will be. I like Willow Wisp not in a “pretty looking mare who cares for other” kind of way. I wouldn’t be lying if I didn’t at least suspect she was the Bloody Angel, but after White Light caught me up to speed on everything that happened I didn’t care. It honestly made sense, considering that this Dread pony was an Earth pony. If somepony really did kill members of the Enclave no doubt it would be another pegasus. I had a kind of respect for that, Willow Wisp was strong even without a voice. I hurt a little to hear the truth, but whatever sadness I feel I never showed.

Not that I said anything to Willow Wisp about it, hell no pony has said anything about it since we separated. I didn’t mind, it helped me think of a plan and take notice of the fear in the alicorn that had called herself “Flame Dancer”. She was lying to us about losing her memories, I knew it. That being said, if I said anything I would be putting the others in danger, and considering that Zoey had hired me to protect Willow from this thing I wasn’t about to do that. Besides, she was leading us right where I wanted her to, the place Zoey had mentioned before I left.

Currently we are in a place in Las Pegasus called No Mare’s Land. This was place of impact of the Nebula one mega spell. It leveled the entire city, turning building into rubble and most ponies into pills of ash and bone. Anypony who did survive and become a ghoul had lost there mind, there was too much radiation for the brain to not cook alive. This was also the sight of a stable, Stable 33 Zoey had told me. That was my true destination, and I had the prize that this Alicorn was looking for.

Allow me to explain what’s going, the only reason I’m out here was because Zoey hired me to do a job. This stable 33 that she was talking about, the location of it was in No Mare’s Land and no normal pony could reach it. I don’t know how she found out I was a ghoul, but if she was offering me bits to do this work then I wasn’t going to complain. Only two things were necessary for me to get in, and they were both at my side, a bait and an alicorn. I hated the idea of using Willow Wisp for bait, with all the shit she has already gone through. However, no way they would take me knowing I could probably take out half the stable. Trust me, I have all the right to boast about doing something like that.

Zoey wanted to know what was happening, and why these alicorns were so important to Twister. She hated that son of a bitch more than I originally thought, but I liked that. She stayed back to try and make sure Dead Hooves and the Angle Hunter's stayed alive, which I hope she upheld. Then again I was definitely the most experienced of our little “brigade of outcast” as White Light had referred to us as before she and Stitch started making their way around No Mare’s Land. I had a better shot than most ponies out here do, and I knew how to buy enough time for others.

We had walking for about an hour before Flame Dancer stopped in front of a small cave. I knew this was the entrance, why else would Flame Dancer be acting so hesitant. I stopped Willow Wisp as I saw her starting to advance on the alicorn, giving her a head shake to keep Flame Dancer from noticing. With almost complete silence I lifted Flash Fire out from over my back, something that was definitely harder then I made it look. I held the gun up to Flame Dancers head, purposely poking the back of her head as her muscles visibly tensed.

“What are you doing?” She asked, Willow Wisp backing away a bit. She didn’t know what I did.

“You can drop the act alicorn,” I told her. “Stable 33, that’s what in this cave isn’t? I assume it was no accident you were unconscious in the city streets. Now I could be completely wrong, but if you wish to prove me wrong you could show me what down there,” I tap the back of her head with Flash Fire while I took a pistol out and held it to her horn. “Trust me, nothing but the truth is getting you out of this, so unless you absolutely wish to die you better show me. Besides, surely you’re Overstallion has use of the Bloody Angle’s assistant and one of the most dangerous bounty hunters in the Wasteland."

I knew there was a danger in engaging her, which is why I had approached this the way I did. Simply putting a gun to her neck wouldn’t keep her telling me, but you put a gun to a unicorn’s horn and the threat becomes even more real. I’ve learn to do most things without the need of magic, but I still relied on it in many situations. You destroyed the horn of a unicorn or alicorn and the break down. We’re more fragile than both Pegasi and Earth Ponies, the only thing that keeps us in authority is our magic. That was why putting a gun to her horn was such an effective tactic.

She hesitantly started making her way down into the cave, slowly but carefully. I kept all my attention on her, only glancing back for a second to make sure Willow Wisp was following us. She kept her distance from me, which I had expected considering the current situation. When it started getting too dark to see I commanded the alicorn to use a light spell, which she used as I tapped the pistol against her horn. After a couple more minutes we finally came to the end of the cave, and I smiled as I saw what she had lead me to.

Usually at the end of a cave you would see a giant wall of solid rock, but this was clearly no giant rock wall. Instead I saw a gigantic metal door the size of a shed in front of me, clearly pony made. A giant metal gear stuck out from the rest of the door, which was the main entrance to the inside. There was a control panel next to it, with a speaker and a button covered in glass. I knew this all too well, and I looked to the alicorn angry.

“I’m… sorry,” She tried to apologize to me, but at this point she should have known it was useless.

“You fucking liar,” I hit her with the Flash Fire’s stock, knocking her to the ground her to the ground. I take her mane in my magic and pull it up, putting the pistol under her muzzle threateningly. “You better answer my questions okay, or else you're dead mare, got it?” She nodded her head as best she can. “First off, what exactly was your plan? You obviously knew we were coming and had some reason to come to us, so why?”

“I… saw her,” She answered me, pointing at Willow Wisp. “I saw her… earlier in the day… with a pony wearing power armor… and that raider zebra Twister likes,” She suddenly smiled as she continued to speak, the pressure on her neck making the words come slow but clear. “She sent you… didn’t she?”

“Why am I not surprised,” I muttered to myself, I had found it hard to believe Zoey’s story, but I trusted her enough to know she wouldn’t pull a gun on us. I shifted my attention quickly back to the alicorn as I continued questioning her. “So tell me, what about this place is so important to Twister? As far as I know it’s another stable in the middle of the wasteland."

“You want to know?” She asked continuing to smile. “Then how about I show you?”

I thought about my options real quickly, knowing that it would probably be best to get answers from the inside. Besides, the Overstallion would know better then anyone what was going on and I needed to know exactly what was going on. I lower my gun from her muzzle and pushed her up, she looked at me before walking over to the doors controls. I followed her, never putting my guns down as to make sure she didn’t try anything. She pressed a button on the controls and started speaking.

“This is 5-7-0 reporting in,” She said, “We have some visitors Overstallion, and I think you will want to meet them."

Not long after did I hear sirens come from the door, yellow lights glowed on the tops of the stable door. I couldn’t see it from the outside, but I knew there was a strange device on the inside latching onto the inside of the door. Slowly the giant gear on the outside started moving inwards as light started to shine through the cracks off the door. After the entire thing was detached from the doors frame it moved to the side and revealed the inside of the stable. What I saw didn’t shock me, in fact I knew exactly what to expect.

I looked in front of me to see at least three alicorns, all wearing normal stable suits with the number “33” printed onto the back and sleeves. The alicorn who was with us, who had referred to herself as “5-7-0” walked past us and into the stable. She came up to one of the other alicorns and hugged them, crying as she retold what I had done to her. The alicorn she talked to glared at me, but I didn’t give a damn about what she was thinking. Willow Wisp followed her inside, behind her and watched as a door at the left end of the room opened.

“Well isn’t this a treat,” An alicorn stallion stepped into the room and made their way to me. I simply stood there as he examined the two of us. “I sent somepony to obtain some new subjects and she finds not one but two of the most dangerous ponies in the wasteland. Of course one of you look like you need a little help in the social aspect of things."

“I take pride in being the pony I am,” I told the alicorn, “If you have a problem with it you’ve started a conversation with the wrong pony."

“Trust me, I”m well aware that I can’t change somepony like you,” He replied, as he held out his hoof. “I’m the Overstallion of stable 33, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” I didn’t take the hoof, knowing that there was something this alicorn was hiding from me. “Okay, guess a handshake is out of the question. Please mister Sharpshot and Bloody Angle, with what pleasure do I owe your visit to."

“An assignment if you really want to know,” I explained. “Twisters good friend Zoey sent me here, said there was something she wanted to know about this place."

A frown suddenly formed on the Overstallion’s face, and he turned around as he thought. “I sure wish we would have meet under more friendly circumstances but it seems you’re friend has sent you here for no reason,” I explained, “I will admit that we do have a bit of an arrangement set up with Twister, but Zoey should already know what we are doing,” He whispered something into one of the other alicorns ears before turning back to the two of us. “I would like to speak with you in private mister Sharpshot, if your friend here would please follow 8-2-1 here while we discuss in my office."

I felt a suddenly feeling of betrayal, one that I had not seen coming from the very beginning. Damn it Zoey, did she really know about what this place was about all along? And now I’ve walked myself and Willow Wisp into a trap without any idea what was going to happen. Willow Wisp’s fur was brushing against my side, she was scared. She knew just as much as I that Zoey was using us for Twisters own game. I didn’t freak out however, instead I played along, kneeling down to Willow Wisp.

“I need you to listen to me,” I told her calmly. “I know you don’t want to hurt any more ponies, but I need you to find out whatever these son’s of bitches are up to while I talk to the Overstallion. If they try and do anything to you, fuck them up. Hear me?” She nodded her head and I stood up, walking up to the Overstallion. “You better make sure she stays safe."

“Of course,” He nodded his head as the alicorn he had talked to showed Willow Wisp down a hallway on the left side of the stable’s entrance. As they left the Overstallion showed me to where his office was, which was actually directly above the stables entrance. After a slow walk we came to his office, and he took his seat behind a desk at the far end. “Please rest, I assure everything is going to be fine."

I sat down on the opposite side of the desk and got right to my questions. “I hope you wouldn’t mind me asking, but I does seem rather suspicious that everypony in here is an alicorn. I heard about what taint can do but this is clearly no social experiment conducted by stable teck. So exactly what is going on?”

He smiled at me as an alicorn walked into the room completely silent, almost as if she was unaware of my presence. She placed two drinks down on the table, the Overstallion giving her a nod of gratitude as she left as silently as she came. The first thought that crossed my mind was how oddly silent she was, the next was the realization we had never asked for anything to drink. I looked down to the two drinks and saw that both of them had a small amount of rainbow glow in them, just barely thick enough for me to see it. The Overstallion took his and drank it straight down, having noticed how I hadn’t pick up the drink.

“You got a clever eye,” He complemented. “We don’t get very many visitors, but your are one of only two to not fall for that trick. You’ve already meet the other one, Silver Bullet, or 5-7-0 as her protocol name is,” He floated the second glass away from us and near the edge of the desk. “Since I now know you aren’t dumb enough to fall for such a trick I will gladly share with you what we are doing. You are correct! This is no social experiment of any kind, not that I expect them to considering the horrors they have made out of taint. However, it is our goddess’ ambition that has driven us here to do some... experimentation."

I should have known the goddess was somehow involved in this, why else would there be alicorns. Still, he had given me another question, one I’m sure he was hoping to ask. “What kind of Experimentation are you talking about? Does this have anything to do with Misty Moon apartment?”

He let out a sigh as I mentioned the apartment complex, “I see you’ve already discovered part of our little project,” He said, my heart skipped a beat as I realized something. “That was… a mistake. A big mistake and one that I don’t want to remember. We wanted to see if simply stabilizing taint would allow us to change the form of a pony into an alicorn, as it has done in the past. Our results were... less than satisfying. Most of the ponies there turned into these strange creatures with red eyes, and we learned that it required not only stability but quantity."

“You drink too much you turn into an abomination,” I said, believing I knew what he was saying. “You drink too little and it simply extends your life. You wanted to find out how the goddess manage to turn into an alicorn, which means you are looking for the right amount of taint to inject into a pony's body,” A flip switch in my brain as a realized something. “The goddess is trying to turn ponies into alicorns?”

"That is correct,” the Overstallion replied. “Good to see were on the right track. You see, we’ve been trying to rise our numbers as of recently so we can have more control of the Wasteland. However, natural formed alicorns tend to be a little, how should I say it, messed up. Not exactly the nicest of terms to use, but most of them seem to have deformation or disability. We want to know how we can stop that."

I felt rage built in me. “You alicorns weren’t even suppose to exist in the first place,” I said, trying to remain somewhat under control. “How is this work helping the wasteland in any way? Last I check most of you were murderers and cannibalists, and you want to make more of those things?”

He frowned at my burst of rage. “I assure you our only goal is to help those we think should be allowed to survive in our new world. The thing is we’ve succeeded,” He suddenly took the second drink in his hoof and started drink. I kept myself from grabbing Flash Fire, which I was surprised they hadn’t taken. “Silver Bullet managed to be our first alicorn that didn’t come out acting like a complete slave. We’ve already sent the findings to our Goddess, did you know that we have hive minds like changelings."

“What does any of this fucking psychotic shit has to do with Twister?” I asked, still being left half satisfied by my first question.

“Oh, it was him and his two bodyguards that managed to help us break through,” The Overstallion said in a mischievous voice. It was at that moment I realized I had made a horrible mistake earlier. The alicorn stood and walked to my side “Listen, mister Sharpshot, as much as I admire your skill in this day in age there is no use for the ponies of the old world to exist. Alicorns are the future, together in unity under the goddess. Twister has offered us the ability to create a world where only we and the Enclave survive. I’m sure you would agree with me when I say that none of this would be the way it wa-”

The sound of sirens suddenly erupted in the room, interrupting the Overstallion in the middle of his talk. I didn’t need to hear the rest of what he said to know what this place was for, and why Twister has a connection to it. Not just that, but I realized who I left to keep an eye on Dead Hooves. Without another word I took out Flash Fire and rammed the barrel hard into the Overstallion’s neck, pinning him against the wall. Despite the obvious pain he was in he held a sinister smile on his face.

“What the hell are you doing to Willow Wisp!?” I yelled burning with rage, knowing that I had made a mistake leaving her with the stables occupants.

“You ponies are all the same,” He replied, “So stupid you don’t realize you had fallen straight into a trap. If I’m correct I say you have about fifteen minutes before her mind is connected to the other alicorns. Hate to say it, but looks like this will be the first job you ever failed,” I heard the sound of a shotgun behind me and turned around to see that Silver Bullet, the alicorn who lead us here, was holding a standard combat shotgun to my face. I slowly backed away from the Overstallion. “Perfect timing Silver Bullet, now do a favor and help me-”

Silver Bullet, completely out of nowhere, fired a shotgun shell into the Overstallion. His head evaporated as the shell hit, leaving nothing but a small amount of his spine that was part of his neck. I felt the unusual feeling of blood on my body, some splattered onto my goggles, once again making me happy that I didn’t have Stitch remove them. The front half of both my body and Silver Bullet’s was covered in blood. I looked to her with shock, the shotgun I thought had been for me.

“Get your friend out,” She said in a much colder voice then when we first met. “Security is after me and not you. I’ll meet you outside the stable if I’m still alive, if you don’t seem me then leave immediately,” She tossed a pair of keys to me. “That will open the pod that’s turning her into an alicorn. It’s too do anything to turn her back, but if you listen to what I’m about to tell you then everything will be okay. You’ll need the Hive-mind if you wish to know the moves of Twister and any of the other alicorns. There’s a meter on the control panel, when that reaches green pull the lever immediately. She will be an alicorn, but she will be the same pony you knew before."

“Not so fast,” I said closing the stable door as she tried to exit. “Why are you trying to help me? You were going to do that to us anyway, so why help if it’s what your goddess wants?”

“I… don’t know,” She said, clearly uncertain. “I never felt this way about working for the Goddess before. Something just told me to help you, something I can’t quite explain. Your friend is in danger of become a monster, they left her and I had to hunt down the keys and kill the main technician to get them. Please don’t make me waste it,” She manually opened the door, looking back to me one last time. “Besides, I’m not the one who brought you here. You put your trust in the wrong zebra."

With that she left, and for only a couple of seconds I stood there silently as the alarms continued to sound in the air. I didn’t need to think that long to know what was the most pressing matter, I had a soon-to-be alicorn to save. I put the keys rushingly into a saddlebag and rushed out of the Overstallions office. I kept Flash Fire at the ready, just because the alarms were set off because of Silver Bullet doesn’t mean she was the only pony they would kill. These alicorns would shoot me the minute they saw me, I knew it in someway or another.

I made my way down the hallways of the stable watching as alicorns rushed through, not seeing me as they did. I finally came to a strange room full of weird pod like things, this must have been the place Silver Bullet told me to go to. This was the first time since my last day in stable 15 I felt scared, I was glad that no one else was around to see me like this. I could see ponies inside them, all alicorns floating in some weird liquid. A shiver went down my spine, this is where they were holding Willow Wisp, I knew it.

I didn’t take long for that thought to be answered, as I heard the cracking of glass farther down the room. Quickly making my way to where the sound had come from I stood in shock at what I saw. It was indeed Willow Wisp, the blood on her fur was forever stained onto it, making her easy to make out. That wasn’t the part that had shocked me, it was how much she had changed. Two syringe pierced her front hooves, attached two tubes filled with that rainbow liquid. At first glance she seemed like the same pony, but then I spotted the horn on the top of her head. It wasn’t very big, but the tip of the horn was pointier than both mine or Dead Hooves. Not only that, but she seemed to actually be taller (guess it must have been an alicorn thing after all). Not as tall as Celestia during my unfortunate incident in Canterlot, but taller than me by probably two or three inches. A crack was formed in the pod she was contained in, she was trying to break out.

She stopped as she saw me, banging on the door mouthing words that I could only assume said “Get me out of here”. I looked to the right of the pod to see a control panel, looking to see that the arrow had just barely made it into the green. I wasn’t willing to take chances, considering that not only was this Willows life at stake but that I had a bad track record when it came to machines. Trust me, it was a miracle White Light managed to fix the Raptors engine after had bad I had messed it up. In the end I decided to wait until the arrow was in the middle of the green area, which would be a bit. I Looked back to Willow Wisp and soon realized that her wings had grown as well, she was flapping them wildly as she kept trying to kick the pod apart. They had to curve in order to fully extend, being wider than the pod itself.

“Willow listen to me,” She stopped as I yelled over the alarm. “I can get you out but you need to wait a little bit. Those monsters back in the apartment building had been created by taint, and if we don’t have a safe level of that liquid inside of you then you will become one as well. Trust me on this one."

I suddenly felt a bullet go straight into my flank, and I clutched my teeth as I looked to see two alicorns approach me. “Don’t think you're getting out of this one ghoul,” They said. “Like a weak thing like you could beat us."

I let out a short laugh at this, the pain was nothing new to me. These two have obviously never heard about what I was capable of. With that in mind, I watched as they both started firing at me. I quickly teleported out of the way, which only meant moving two inches to the left, and aiming down the sights of Flash Fire. I slowed my breathing only for a second as I got my sights at on of the alicorn's head, pulling the trigger only moments later. The bullet went straight through his skull, and the bullet ignited him in flames on impact. His buddy stopped firing at the sight of this, back peddling a bit at the sight. He looked at me with fear, realizing exactly where he and his now dead friend were wrong.

“Who's the weak one now you retarded motherfucker,” I said insultingly, not caring at all about what I was saying. “If you want to end like your idiot friend I’d be glad to put a bullet into your head as well, you have a tenth of a chance of surviving in case you are wondering,” At this he bolted out of the room scared, I laughed at the sight. “That’s right, you better run. No alicorn fucks with me, got that, none,” As I finished I made my way back to the control panel before letting out on last insult to the alicorn. “Idiot, should have faced me like the stallion he was."

I looked down at the gauge to see it was about halfway in the green, and decided it was safe to open the pod. I took the lever in my magic and pulled it up as quickly as possible, watching the pod to see the all the liquid in the tube starting to disappear as it stopped flowing. After another second the pod opened up, and Willow shakily walked out before collapsing. She was coughing up small amounts of taint, even though you couldn’t hear her due so. Seems like the only thing that it didn’t somewhat change was the fact she was mute. She slowly stood up, looking at herself terrified. I could tell that there was a lot going through her head, a lot of things that she wished she’d never had to think about. It was at that moment I realized she no longer was wearing the stable suit, or rather that it wasn’t with her at all.

I made my way to her as she seemed to be struggling to walk, as if the taint had messed with her brain in someway. I lifted her onto my back, surprised at how heavy she was now that she was an alicorn. I could still take the pressure it was putting on me, but this was going to kill my back in the long run. I didn’t care about my stable suit, it wasn’t as important as getting the hell out of here before. She looked at me with a face I didn’t usually see, or at least directed at me. She rubbed her head against my neck, and I had to bit my lip in order to keep myself from blushing or smiling.

“Don’t get use to this,” I told her as she looked at me with a smile, something I also didn’t have directed at me. “As soon as you can walk again your getting off my back, got it?”

She nodded, despite the events that had just happened she seemed overwhelming okay. Of course, she probably didn’t want to be seen as weak, which was perfectly fine with me. With that covered I made my way back through the stable, looking out for alicorns to make sure I didn’t have to do any fighting. Usually I would have killed as many of these idiots as possible, but considering Willow Wisp was laying on Flash Fire at the moment I had no choice but to sneak my way through the stable. After what seemed like an hour I finally made it back to the stable door, sighing with relief as I saw the exit. It was then I saw Silver Bullet running to the door as well, motioning me to keep going as she started closing the stable door.

I didn’t stop as I made my way out and to the end of the cave. As I reached the surface I let out a sigh of relief. I looked back to Willow Wisp, who I knew would be safe from the radiation now that she is an alicorn. Before I could get very far from the cave I heard the sounds of hooves running towards me. I looked back to see Silver Bullet running towards us, and I turned to face her. She looked behind, most likely checking to see if she had been followed before turning back to me.

“I think it’s time for me to explain why I’m helping you out,” She said, making me glad I didn’t have to threaten her. “The Overstallion probably told you this but my name is Silver Bullet, one of the last residents in stable 33. The alicorns took over it three years ago as part of some plan, and offered us the chance to live as long as we promised to help them in their plan. Most of the ponies in the stable didn’t want to help them, saying they would rather die than work for ‘false gods’, and they were killed."

“I don’t care about what your fucking deal is with the goddess,” I replied not wishing to hear her entire story. “Just tell me what this plan is and why it made you change your opinion."

“Oh, alright,” She said scared, her attitude swung so fast it shocked me. “I… well found out what the plan was… at least I think so. Not long after the Overstallion brought you to his office, I found this,” She shakily handed me a graph, or an elevation chart I realized as I looked at it closer. Silver Bullet pointed a hoof at a dot on the map, her attitude again changing to sound more serious “There’s something here that they want, I don’t know what but I believe it has to do with this plan of Twisters to create a world of only the Enclave and alicorns."

“Well that explains why they were doing experimentation to turn normal ponies into one of them,” I folded the map up and put it into my saddlebag before looking back to Silver Bullet. “You're coming with me and are going to explain everything you know about their plan once we meet up with everypony else, got it. I can’t read the map but if they escaped the Angle Hunter base then no doubt they are taking the Raptor to Ponyville like Zoey said,” Saying her name made the anger in my body build back up. “When I see that zebra again I’m going to give a piece of my mind."

“Then we better get moving before they open that stable door up,” Silver Bullet replied. “I’m still connected to the hive-mind remember, and they have been order by some other alicorn to hunt you and me down."

“Let's get moving then, I want to be as far from this place as possible once that door is open,” I said, Silver Bullet nodding in agreement.
> Chapter 17 - Nine O'clock Blind Ride
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s been at least three days since we saw the Angel Hunters HQ explode, and two more days since we last saw Sharpshot. To say things were boring would be an under exaggerating. Both me and my supposed sister White Light were itching for something to do, and I especially wanted to give Sharpshot another slap. We had both kept completely silent for most of the time, mostly because we agreed to not try and piss each other off. The only time I ever did talk was when things got way too quiet, as I was use to having somepony talking around me.

We were still in Las Pegasus, having gone the long way around instead of straight through like Sharpshot, Willow Wisp, and that alicorn had. According to White Light we would be at the train station in just a few minutes. That’s where we would most likely have to call the train from Ponyville (slavers used it frequently to transport and sell slaves) and wait for both it and the other group to meet us. We had a fair bit of time even when we got there, and that didn’t excite me a whole lot. This was mainly because I didn’t feel comfortable around White Light, who I saw as untrustworthy.

There was a lot of reasons I didn’t really want to be around her, and the main reason was because of her relationship with the Bloody Dread. I could take Willow Wisp being that way, as she had managed to knock some sense into me about that. However, that didn’t say anything about my trust in her. I didn’t know much about White Light as a pony, other than what she had told me about my Granny, and that’s what scared me the most. I didn’t want to believe Granny had would have killed my parents, yet there was a large part of me that believed that. That was the reason I took my anger out on White Light, because I didn’t want to believe it no matter how much I knew it was true.

Sadly, it was starting to get to that point once again where I felt like I needed to speak. I actually felt sweat starting to fall from my forehead as I thought about anything to speak on. What I’ve learned about White Light from my sparse (and rather short) conversations was that she liked Zebra’s, use to have an addiction to stamped that ended with her joining the Angel Hunters, and that Dread use to be a nice pony. That last one was definitely the weirdest one, considering that he is known as the biggest mass murderer in the wasteland. She did admit that he could be cold at some points, but the very fact that he had enslaved somepony seemed to be unthinkable to her. Apparently he had really high respect for others, which is why she found it hard to believe he would go on a murdering spree of any kind. That was her main reason of joining the Angel Hunters, so she could learn the reason why he is doing this and what these ponies did.

“If you want to speak go ahead and say something,” I looked up from the fractured road we were walking on as I heard White Light’s voice call in my direction. “If you really don’t trust me you could have gone straight back to the HQ and I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.”

I didn’t have an answer, and I simply ignored the question as we continued walking down the road. There was a large portion of me that believed that I was heading into a trap, yet for some reason I kept walking with her down the road. I guess it was because she promised to solve the mystery of my parents murder and show me where they died. Those were the only two reason I could think of, and I wanted to know what happened so badly that I didn’t want to turn back. As I looked down at the road I noticed that White Lights had stopped moving and that they were now standing horizontally across the ruin road.

I looked up to her and stared at into her eyes with as much intensity as I could. “Don’t think that I’m going to be nice just because you are apparently my ‘sister’,” I spoke stomping my hoof on the ground as I did. “I don’t hug and smile to the friend of a murderer, not even if it’s my own sister. If you really want to know then I’m here because you are the only pony who knows has any idea about what happened to my parents.”

“Our parents,” She said as if she was trying to correct me. “We had and lost the same mother and father. Just because I’m the friend of the Bloody Angel doesn’t make me the bad guy.”

She started walking back down the road as I talk to her. “I don’t care if we had the same mother or if the pony I grew up with killed her, that doesn’t change a thing about who you are,” I barked at her with all the hate in my heart “Dead Hooves was sent to you because somepony thought you were trustworthy and I learn that you are the friend of the most wanted criminal in the wasteland. How the fuck do you expect me to trust you?”

“I don’t expect you to trust me,” She answered as she stopped walking yet again and turned to me. “If you want to believe I’m the bad guy here then sure, go ahead and believe I’m the  bad guy,” She took her pistol and tossed it to me. The gun landed in front of my hooves in a loud clink. “If you really want to go through with this then go ahead and shoot me where I stand! Shoot your own sister in what everypony in the wasteland will see as cold blood!”

I took the gun and looked to White Light, who was standing perfectly still in front of me. She wasn’t going to anything about it, and at first I didn’t care. I checked to make sure the gun was loaded before aiming it down at her neck. It felt so tempting to shoot right there, to do exactly as she said. I had no idea why I was shaking as I did this, and why it took me so long to pull the trigger. Slowly I started pulling the trigger, ready to end this all.

“Stitches!”

My eyes went wide with shock as I heard the sound of Mud Swirl around me. I dropped the gun, my body no longer able to move as my memory turned back to what happened on the Smokey Mountain’s. I looked in front of me to see not that of White Light but my dead brother Mud Swirl standing in front of me. I knew he wasn’t there, but that didn’t keep me from shedding tears. I could see him coming closer, with every step more and more tears started falling from my face. I couldn’t kill him, I couldn’t even kill White Light. That was all that was going through my head as I suddenly collapsed to the ground, crying uncontrollably.

I looked as I felt the feeling of a hoof on me, seeing White Light above me. “W-what’s going on?” I asked her. “Why did you suddenly look like Mud Swirl to me?”

“When the mind of somepony sees tragedy the event refuses the leave there mind,” White Light said, almost like she was trying to be philosophical. “Mud Swirl. From what Sharpshot told me he was your adopted brother, and that you loved him with your heart. You never saw him die in that cave, and you blame yourself for letting it happen,” I curled up as she talked, my mind going back to the moment I realized he had died. “Killing a pony is different from saving one, as there is not only more consequence for success but you have to carry the burden and sorrow of those who loved them,”

I felt myself suddenly get picked up from the ground, the feeling of White Lights back on my stomach. I felt like a mess, I was a mess. She was right, as much as I didn’t want to admit it White Light was right. I never saw Mud Swirl die, I left that cave before it happened, and I didn’t find out that dragon crushed him until after it all happened. There really was a weight to his death, one that I hadn’t fully felt until I tried to pull the trigger against my sister. I looked to White Light who had started walking, carrying me on her back.

“He’s the only pony I haven’t managed to save,” I mumbled, not expect her to hear it.

“As much as his death is a bad thing,” She said in reply to my mumbling “Doesn’t the weight make you feel more willing to save ponies?” She looked to me as she continued once again “I know it’s wrong of me to say something that seems so horrible, but it’s true. Whether it’s our mistakes that lead to a future accident or something we were never prepared for, weight strengthens a pony. The death of a family member, whether the relationship with the pony is through blood or not, it’s the ultimate weight. Do you think Dead Hooves would have the same spark she has if her father didn’t die?”

I was angry at hearing what she said, but that didn’t make it any less true than it really was. As much as it pains me to think about it, Dead Hooves would have been very different if her father was still alive. I saw her as somepony who didn’t let anything, not even her own paralysis, get the better of her. She didn’t want to make a difference simply because of her father or Twister, she wanted to make a difference because she doesn’t believe in limitations. Dead Hooves’ father, as little as I know about him, seemed to be a pony who stuck up for anyone. She told me he was someone who wanted to make a difference and wouldn’t abandon her daughter for her disability like other ponies in the wasteland do. His death must have given Dead Hooves a reason to live on, knowing that he wanted the best for her and wanted to make sure she was strong for when she found herself out here.

“We’re here,” White Light said getting my attention. “Las Pegasus train station.”

I looked to see a rather small building with the front of it missing not far away from where we were. As I looked to behind me I could see what Sharpshot had called No Mare’s Land only two blocks down. I lost sight of the desolate field as we entered the station which really wasn’t that interesting. There was a small counter at the side where ponies most likely ordered tickets for the trains they would head on. I was able to see the rest after White Light let me off her back, and the first thing I saw brought both relief and fear to me.

“That’s odd,” White Light said as she saw the same thing I did. “The trains already here.”

On one hoof this was a good thing, as it meant we didn’t have to wait hours for a train to arrive. This way we could leave as soon as Sharpshot and Willow got back, which meant something would find us as we waited. On the other hoof, however, the train shouldn’t even be here since the only ponies in Las Pegasus were the Angel Hunters. They had no need for a train with the Raptors able to transport them from the air and could therefore avoid boarding a train with raiders or slavers. I looked to White Light, who was looking back at me just as confused as I was.

“Maybe taking the train isn’t as safe as we thought,” I said, no longer wanting to board it.

“Once we clear it out it will be,” White Light replied as she took her pistol out again. “Follow behind me, don’t think that your brain responded to me just because I’m your sister. It might respond to other ponies as well, even if you they are raiders and slavers.”

As I nodded the I heard a strange sound coming from the train, watching as the doors seemed to open by itself. It was rather clear somepony was in there, probably expecting us to be either be unarmed or idiots. White Light motioned me behind her as she made her way up to the train door, moving slowly but alert. As we enter the train we were both confused to see not a pony around. I kept my eyes on my sister as she made her way over to the left side of the train car. I turned to following her, not getting more than step before I felt the cold barrel of a gun against my back.

“A wise pony would have checked the seats of the train before turning away,” I heard the voice of a stallion behind me, White Light’s ears perking up as she turned around at the sound of it. I knew this wasn’t Sharpshot talking, as his voice wasn’t very deep or harsh sounding. “An even wiser pony would have left the train station at the very knowledge that every citizen in Los Pegasus is either dead, a grotesque horror, ghoul, or an experiment. It’s ponies like you that make my goal so easy.”

“Do you always monologue before you meaninglessly threaten an ally of Dead Hooves,” I heard yet another voice, this one a bit more mechanical, as if it was coming from a robot. “Or is this just fun for you.”

I could feel the barrel move away from my neck and I turned around to see the sight of an Earth Pony and Sprite Bot looking at me. The earth pony had pitch black fur with an almost equally as dark grey mane and tail. He was rather bulky as well, more bulky than Sharpshot or any of the Angel Hunter stallions I had seen. The shotgun he carried was, a weird as it looked, purple with a hot pink pump on the bottom of it. He looked at me with a cruel look in his eyes, yet White Light walked up with no fear of him whatsoever.

“Of all the ponies I expected you were the last pony I thought to meet in this Celestia forsaken city,” White Light said to the pony completely calm. “Nice to see you two here, Dread, Watcher.”

I couldn’t count how many heartbeats I skipped as I looked to the pony who had stuck his gun to my neck. The look he was given, it seemed like one I always imagined a raider having before the kill someone. I was in fear at the very sight of him, if this stallion was as strong as he looked he could easily take any of us down. This was stallion that had put Willow Wisp through torture, who had forced her to kill others or be bait. His name was exactly what I felt as I stared at him, Dread.

“I hope you can explain why Willow Wisp or Dead Hooves isn’t here,” Dread sneered at White Light. “I went through hell to keep the two of those alive. They better alive, because ally or not I will-”

“Dead Hooves is safe Dread,” The Sprite Bot supposedly named Watcher told Dread with a sigh. It’s kind voice took me as off guard considering the company it was in. In fact it sounded sympathetic. “Zoey, for what reason I don’t know, saved her life. She’s not in good shape, but with proper care she should be able to walk when we see her. As for Willow Wisp…”

Sprite Bot trailed off, mumbling to itself inaudibly. I was glad Dead Hooves was safe, as White Light and Dread (surprisingly) both seem to as well, but yet again my heart skip some beats. I almost fainted from the amount of heartbeats that had been skip over the past few minutes, but I kept conscious as I my thoughts turned to worry for the mute pegasus. The way Watcher just drifted off made me think that Willow had died.

“What the fuck is wrong with Willow?” Dread shouted at the Sprite Bot in rage. “She better not be dead, I still need her!”

“She’s fine Dread,” Watcher hastily reassured the enraged stallion. “It’s just… I only saw a few seconds of the camera feed in Stable 33 before that alicorn locked me out but she seemed... taller.”

Dread face hoofed at this, shaking his head in disbelief. “Sweet fucking Celestia suck on a pole that is what your so concerned about?” He yelled at Watcher. How did White Light get along with this Stallion? “Well tell me when that ghoul motherfucker shows up with Willow. We aren’t leaving until she is on the train.”

He walked up to me, stared for a second, and then shoved me to the side without a word. I landed with an “oof” into one of the seats, which for some reason were made of wood. I held my head with my hooves at the hard contact with the wooden seat. The pain wasn’t so bad I cried, but it wasn’t going to go away anytime soon. I opened my eyes, having had them closed during the initial contact, and looked to see White Light offering me her hoof. I took it in my hoof and used her strength to help me sit up.

“Sorry about that,” White Light apologized to me as she helped me up. “Other than the morality spectrum and voice the only other thing that differentiates Sharpshot from Dread is their way of communicating. At least Sharpshot tries to hold a conversation.” She looked to the Sprite Bot, who was floating towards us. As she let go off my hoof she pointed to the Bot that had been called Watcher. “Watcher, this is my long lost sister Stitch. Stitch, this is the Watcher, the Sprite Bot is only his way of communication to the ponies of the Wasteland. Nopony I know has ever met him muzzle to muzzle.”

I heard a soft giggle coming from the Sprite Bot. I raised an eyebrow at this, confused “What’s so funny?” I asked it, or him I guess considering that the voice of the pony controlling the Sprite Bot sounded masculine.

“Sorry,” He apologized to me still slightly giggling. “It’s just when I hear the name Stitch a pony isn’t usually the first species I think of,” He stopped giggling after a few more seconds, letting out a sigh. “Also, I think this might be the first time I’m actually allowing ponies into the cave. Of course this is also the first major threat in the Equestria Wasteland we are dealing with here, so I guess two and two go together.”

“So a mass murderer on board this train,” I looked behind myself to see Dread, who was seating in a seat far from the rest of us, looking at me with subtle rage in his eyes. I look back to Watcher and White Light, a shiver going up my spine “Who I’m promising to not shoot, harm, or anger in anyway shape or form, is not considered a major threat of any kind?”

“That’s a little hard to explain,” Watcher said, “To try and make this as short as possible considering that I’m going to loose connection so- Flash! Bam! Alakazam!” I jumped a little at the sudden blast of music coming out of the the Sprite Bot. It started to float away from us, which meant that Watcher had lost connection a lot sooner than he thought.

“Close the door,” Dread told us as I looked back to see him loading his shotgun “We need the Sprite Bot to keep in contact with Watcher until we reach his little cave,” I opened my mouth, prepared to ask the same question I had to Watcher before Dread looked to me a spoke again. “And if you want to keep a bullet out of your head I suggest you don’t ask me questions.”

I closed my mouth and looked away from the Bloody Angel, looking down at my hooves for a second as his threat rang through my head. I looked in front of me as I saw White Light walking up to the door, keeping the Sprite Bot behind her at all times. I watched as her jaw suddenly dropped as she looked outside the door. I got up to see what had managed to surprise my sister and found myself staring just as dumbfounded at the sight in front of us.

“Dread?” She called out to the pony, who didn’t even look up from his gun. “I think we know why Willow Wisp looked taller to Watcher.”

This caught the Stallions attention, looking out the window like me and White Light had been doing. His expression didn’t even change at what he saw, giving a interested “hmm” to the sight before him. The first thing I noticed was Sharpshot and that alicorn name Flame Dancer running towards us. The second thing I noticed was the other alicorn riding on Sharpshot’s back, who I only managed to make out as Willow Wisp due to the part of her left ear that was missing. Dread’s reaction was very under exaggerated, as my mind was going through various whats and hows as to why Willow Wisp was an alicorn.

What came out of Sharpshot’s mouth was probably the most unexpected thing, as he was speaking at bullet time. “Start-the-train-start-the-train-START-THE-TRAIN!” He exclaimed, not taking any breaths as he spoke.

Dread was the first to react, heading off to the end of the train cart, opening the door, and walking out. I looked back as Sharpshot jumped into the train, landing on White Light and the Sprite Bot. I looked to Willow Wisp and examined her, realizing just how different she looked. She was an alicorn, so the immediate thing that came to my attention was the horn on her forehead, which was at least an inch bigger then Sharpshot (that being said his horn was actually rather small for a unicorn). Then again, she looked bigger in general. When I last saw her she seemed rather young and scared, now she looked like she was a full grown mare. The only difference from a normal mare was her height, and the span of her wings. I’d say that at full length her wings could almost touch both ends of the train car.

“For Luna's sake Sharpshot,” White Light said as she pushed the bounty hunter off her. “You couldn’t wait for me to move before you-”

“No time to explain,” Sharpshot said cutting off White Light. He helped Willow Wisp up and moved her next to White Light. “Get her up to the front of the train and get this thing started. We’re leaving station now!” He turned to me and the other alicorn with them. “Stitch, Bullet, you two are going to help me take down that little mob following us.”

“What the hell is happening?” I asked him, my brain only somewhat making sense of everything that was currently going on. I looked to Willow Wisp, how waved to me weakly “Why is Willow an alicorn?"

“To make a long and complicated story short, Zoey betrayed us,” Sharpshot replied. “She tried to sell us out to a group of alicorns that were experimenting on ponies to try and create alicorns. To summarize what happened, Silver Bullet here killed the Overstallion, they put Willow and a tank and pumped taint into her bloodstream, I saved her from absorbing to much, and we stole locations to some sort of plan involving Twister.”

White Light was the first to react to this “Why the fuck did you kill an Overstallion?!”

“Didn’t I tell you to get Willow Wisp farther up the train?” Sharpshot asked, looking at White Light with fury in his eyes. White Light nodded, helping an exhausted Willow Wisp up and helping her over to the next train car. As soon as the Sharpshot closed the door that exited the train I heard the train whistle go off. “Who the hell… is somepony else on the train?”

I was more then obliged to answer his question. “Dread, the Blood Angel who enslaved your fillyfriend before we all meet, he’s on this train as well,” Sharpshot looked at me, his already red cheeks managing to get even redder as I called Willow Wisp his fillyfriend. He didn’t even have a reply, just turning away as the train came to life.

I could feel the train slowly but surely starting to move under my hooves. I looked in front of me as the train we were on starting leaving the station, gaining speed as we exited. After a few more seconds we left the station, and the train was up to full speed as it started down the railway. I looked to Sharpshot, who was looking out the windows as we left the desolate city of Las Pegasus behind. He held Flash Fire in magic, almost like he was waiting to fire at something.

“Silver Bullet,” Sharpshot turned his attention back to Flame Dancer, or I guess Silver Bullet at this point. “Head back with Willow, give your shotgun to Stitch!”

I looked to Silver Bullet, who through her gun at me as I did. Stumbled back and caught the thing in my mouth, it was a different shotgun then what Dread seemed to have, being the normal metallic color I usually saw from guns. I looked to the side to see the words “RM .50” on it. The only part of it that made sense was the fifty caliber, which was strange because shotguns used shells, not normal bullets. I look back up to where Silver Bullet was, about to tell her what happened with White Light earlier, but she was already gone by that time. With the shotgun strap flung around my back I walked up to Sharpshot.

“I got this side of the train,” Sharpshot said, looking at me through the corner of his eyes. “You take the other, we need to lock down both of them so Alicorns don’t barge in.”

“You're being chased by alicorns!”

“Let’s just say Silver Bullet pissed off an entire stables worth of them,” He looked back to me, his front right hoof resting on the side of the window. “Now do you want to die today or live longer.”

I wasn’t about to leave Sharpshot, considering I’ve patched him up more times then I want to count. I hopped onto a seat next to the the window across from his and looked down at the shotgun I had been handed. It wasn’t intelligible, but I could quietly hear Mud Swirls voice in my head as I stared at it. I had to forcefully look away from the gun to keep myself from tearing up. This wasn’t going to help, I had to keep my mind on what was really going on. With that in mind I looked out the window and… oh shit.

“Sharpshot?” My eyes darted to the ghoul, who didn’t turn back to address me. “Exactly how many alicorns would you consider a mob.”

“I’d say about fifteen or twenty,” He answered back, “Never counted the number because I was running for my CELESTIA DAMN LIFE!”

I had to catch myself as I took in the number he had just feeded me. At least fifteen alicorns were chasing us, and if I counted correctly then six of those were at my window. I looked back outside, and I could feel my heart racing as I saw just how fast they were flying. They were catching up to us and in mere minutes they would be at the window. I looked to the the shotgun, which I could only assume was called the RM. The instant I thought of raising it to the window my limbs collapsed, and I found myself unable to move as the gun feel out of my hooves and onto the floor in front of me. I couldn’t see him move but I could hear Sharpshot shifting his position on the train seat at the sound of the gun dropping.

“What the fuck are you do-”

He was cut off be the sound of the train ceiling exploding, something that I could see from my limp position on the left side of the train. I could feel small shards of metal scratch my skin, but the worst pain came from the a jagged piece of metal that flew into my right eye. My limpness suddenly as I felt the worst pain in my entire life, screaming at the top of my lungs at the very feel of it. I closed my eyes, only for my right eyelid to sting and open at the feeling of blood on it. Yet when I opened it I couldn’t see anything from my right eye. I saw blood slowly dripping from my face, and I didn’t need to think any more about where that shard had hit me. It hit my pupil, the very part of my eye that made it able to see had been struck, and had permanently blinded me in one eye.

My misfortune didn’t end there as I felt a sudden force against my chest, seeing a large blue hoof make contact with my stomach. I coughed up a little blood be looking up to the face of an alicorn standing over with three daggers floating in magic, all pointing at me. With the pressure applied to my body, I couldn’t help but watch as I saw an inevitable death approaching me. That was until the sound of the shot went off behind the alicorn, and I could see her eyes widen before collapsing onto me. I looked to see Sharpshot rush up to me and shove the now dead alicorn aside. He had a few scrapes on him, but nothing that could be as pain as what I was feeling. I couldn’t help but cry in front of him as I’ve never felt pain like this.

Blood was starting to flow down my face, and I watched as Sharpshot went to my right eye and pulled out the metal shard that had blinded it. I hoped that my vision would have returned once he had pulled it out but the entire right side of my vision was pitch black. I couldn’t believe what had just came to light. Almost as if hoping to prove me wrong I tried to looked down at my front right hoof, but didn’t see it. No matter how much I denied it, the truth was the exact same as it was before. My right eye had been left blind, leaving me half blind for the rest of my life. That didn’t keep me from seeing the alicorn rise back up, shocking me that it wasn’t dead.

“Sharpshot behind you!” I yelled to him as the alicorn got up as if she wasn’t even injured.

He turned around as the alicorn once again raised daggers in my direction. Another shot rang out and I watched as the alicorns next had gain a giant hole in it. Sharpshot hadn’t raised his gun, which I double check by turning so my left eye could see his full body, which meant the shot came from somewhere else. With that in mind I looked to the direction that White Light and the others had gone of to, seeing Dread holding a strange weapon. I didn’t manage to get an incredibly go look at it before he put it away. He looked specifically to me, and I could tell he wasn’t happy with having to help me.

“White Light and the others are five train cars ahead, only one car away from the head of the train,” He said, his voice specifically showing disgust. “A wimp like you has no use up here, get the fuck out.”

As if this couldn’t get any worse it actually did. Not wishing to see his reaction if I stayed around, I got up and made my way of the seat. It felt slightly unnerving to walk, not just because of the pain I was in but because half my vision has been permanently lost. I look to Sharpshot, who actually was looking at me with sympathy before motioning to the door of the train car. As I made my way to the car door I was stop by Dread, who was looking at me with a sinister look in his eyes. He moved in front of me so his shoulder bumped my the base of my neck and whispered into my ear.

“A few words of advice,” His voice sent a shiver down my spine, but I listened as he spoke. “You ever pointed a hoof at Willow Wisp and blame her for the shit I’ve done, and that other eye of yours will be gone as quickly as the first,” My body went cold at the suggestion of that, yet he wasn’t done just yet. “Secondly, you were a complete retard letting that fucking zebra travel with you all. She’s a backstabber, liar, skilled assassin, and while she doesn’t show it meant to kill your so-called-grandmother, Cotton Ball if I remember right. I knew her, she was a friend like everypony else Twister has killed. Your friend Dead Hooves is the only one still alive and if she dies this killing was all for nothing. I want you to chain her up as soon as the fucking raptor lands in Ponyville. You know what will happen if you don’t.”

With that he moved out of my way, and I quickly sprinted to the door and made my way into the next train car. He was right about one thing, we shouldn’t have let Zoey come with us. I tried my best not to show it, as I knew it was best not to argue with Sharpshot, but I could feel like that zebra couldn’t be trusted. I don’t know how much I trust Dread’s words, but considering what Zoey supposedly set Willow and Sharpshot on up for it was clear. She was not on our side, and we’ve paid the ultimate price letting her come with us. My brother died for her, and she repays us with a supposed trap.

I slowly made my way down the train car, only stopping as I heard the sound of magic out an open window. Looking outside, I saw an alicorn coming down the train with a magic laser, cutting the train from the windows up. I had to angle my head weird to see that she was only three cars away, and realizing this I quickly stammered back and run to the next train door. I opened it up, only to come face to face with another alicorn with a green coat and yellow hair. His gaze fixed on me as I slowly backed up, looking to my left to see that the end of the magic laser was getting closer to me. I watched as the alicorn pulled out a strange rifle, and by strange I mean the gun literally looked like a box.

I could hear the gun start up, and looking to my right I jumped into the train seat as the laser shaved the tip of my ears. The gun only fired for a second before I heard the collapse of the gun and something else. The laser hadn’t actually cut the iron as I realized, but I soon realized what it could when I saw the alicorns head cut clean off. I could actually see his spine, muscles, veins, and everything else in his neck. It was almost like the laser chopped him like a sharp knife chops an onion, clean and almost completely messless. Blood poured through both his head and neck, creating a puddle of blood in the train isle.

I looked at the gun he was firing, which was attached to a battle saddle. It had multiple holes on the end of its box shaped muzzle which looked exactly like the rest of the gun. It looked like a minigun, but the difference was that it fired shotgun shells instead of powerful bullets. As much as I didn’t want to, I rolled the alicorns body over and detached the battle saddle from him. I forcefully put on the battle saddle to my body, only to realize I couldn’t see the strange gun due to it being on my blind side. Turning my head left, I looked to it and fit an unintelligent scream in my head. It felt hard calling it that, but I needed to remember my life was on the line and that this thing would protect me. I read the print on the side to myself in curiousity.


MoA
Project Gatling


So the Ministry of Awesome designed this weapon, Project Gatling as it was called. Well, considering how I’ve never heard of this weapon it must have been a top secret project. Heck, the gun didn’t even have an official name, as far as I can guess this thing isn’t even fully finished. It would make sense, considering that the gun didn’t even have a handle, sights, fully muzzle, or a reload chamber as far as I could see. The name made sense considering how the base of it looked, which I assumed was all that was really there. It was completely function though, as there was a trigger and I did hear a few shots go off before the alicorn carrying it died.

I could hear gun fire in the train car, and decided it was best to move away. That is what Dread wanted after all and I wasn’t about to complain. I moved as fast as I could back to the train car’s door and reached for the handle on the door. As I reached where I thought the handle was, I was met with air. I stupidly pawed the air outside of my vision with my right hoof, searching for the to the door. After multiple failed attempts I finally gave up and turned my head so I could see the entire door with my working eye. I was at least an inch off from where the handle actually was on the door, and I felt even more stupid at my sad attempt to open a freaking door.

I finally opened the door and made my way to the next train car, having to turn diagonally to compensate for the gigantic gun strapped to me. As I made my way in, I heard the sounds of metal clink, and looked to see that three train cars down someone had detached the cars behind us. I honestly worry more about Sharpshot then I really should, but leaving him with the Bloody Angel seemed like a death sentence. I couldn’t help but pray for his safety before moving on up the train car, stopping as I heard the sound of cracking glass behind me.

I turned to my left, not seeing anything that could have possibly broken glass. Then I heard something shatter behind me, and a force kicked my back. I feel to the floor as I made out the shape of a hoof standing above me, and heard the sound of a gun go off. I felt a spray of bullets dart my right shoulder, and I winced in pain as I looked desperately for the hoof I had seen just a moment ago. It was then my flank came in contact with the back of one of the train seats, and I felt a small piece of metal push back against my right hoof. The sound of multiple shots could be heard in the train car as I Looked down at the ground. The sound of a body came not long after the shots faded, and I searched the train car for what it was. Then I felt something under my hoof, and I turned my vision to see I had stepped on an empty shotgun shell.

“Oh no,” I winced in pain as I looked for the body of the alicorn that must have broken the window. “No no no no. Please don’t tell me I did what I-”

I don’t think I need to tell you what I saw in front of me, but let me tell you a little about bullets. I’ve had a lot of ponies come to me over the years, and I can tell you that from a doctor’s perspective it’s more easy to tell what injuries came from what. When it came to things such as shotgun shells, the visible damage done to a pony tends to be much visible, and the survival chance is much lower considering they tend to leave a gigantic hole in a pony. Bullets such as .308, .45, 10 mm, and even 50 mm tend to have a better chance of injection due to them getting lodged inside a pony's body and show much less visible impact. Considering that my right shoulder wasn’t currently half on the floor, and the size of the injuries I had obtained from the bullets, this alicorn was using .308 bullets. Less damage overall, but more plentiful; More plentiful meant more infections seen from that type of bullet in my lifetime. A shotgun shell could not have done this, and that was clear considering that this so-called Project Gatling had left at least seven large holes in the pony. One in each hoof, two to the stomach, and one to the chest.

I felt the sudden rush off puke come to my mouth, and turned away from the aile. Killer guilt, a false guilt if you ask me; The feeling somepony gets when they first killed something, typically resulting in vomiting. That’s exactly what I had happened to me, but this was no false guilt as I didn’t even realize I had fired off Project Gatling. I felt like I was going to throw up my organs I was there for so long. Even when I was done I didn’t move for several minutes, the sounds of gunshots ringing out still a few train cars down. I simply stared down at the puddle of vomit in front of me. I had done the unthinkable, something no doctor should ever do. I killed a pony, it was by accident but I killed a pony. Even if they were going to kill me, I couldn’t help but think about what I had done.

“Oh sweet moons,” I heard the sound of an unfamiliar voice behind me, sounding sweet yet innocent. “Stitches, are you all-”

I turned around at the sound of the voice, and a gasp came from the pony standing in front of me. I would have been more shocked about the pony speaking to me if what I had just done didn’t outrule any shock I had ever felt. Said pony was a white alicorn, with blood stained skin. She was shorter than the other alicorns that were attacking us. It was then I noticed the wings, and if there was one thing I remember it was that Willow Wisp had half of the feathers on her wings burnt. Such a thing would have never allowed her to fly, and looking at the alicorn in front of me she had the exact same wings. They were bigger, but that didn’t help me realize exactly who it was the was speaking. Of course, considering everything I knew it couldn’t be Willow Wisp talking.

“Stitches,” Yet it somehow was. “Your eye… it’s-”

She didn’t finish before I heard the sound of the door opening in the direction I had been heading. White Light and the alicorn Sharpshot had called Silver Bullet stepped through, and ran to my side. Even with Willows earlier reaction, nothing showed the how bad my right eye must have looked compared to my own sister. White Light gave me a hug, and I could hear her crying behind my back. I returned the hug, any doubt in my mind that she was lying about being my sister was washed away as I did. The tears alone proved that, as I couldn’t think who she could have faked them.

“I’m sorry,” White Light apologized. “I should have told Sharpshot about earlier.”

“I killed a pony,” Was the only thing that came out of my mouth. I couldn’t pull my eyes, or rather eye, off of the alicorn that laid dead in front of me. Willow and Silver Bullet turned around and gasped as they realized what I had done. “I killed a pony, and I didn’t even mean to. It was an accident!”

I felt the weight of the battle saddle come off of me, and looked to see White Light had thrown it around her head, resting it on her back. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll take it.” I nodded my head, smiling the best I could. 

I turned to Willow Wisp, who seemed to predict what I was going to say to her. “Killing joke,” She told me. “Dread made me eat some not long before I broke out of the raider camp, and promised a remedy. Honestly I don’t know why he actually followed up on his promise, but I’m not going to complain about talking,” She smiled at me as she continued. “You want to know how painful it was for me to not be able to talk for so long? It sucked, well not as much as getting beaten to near death. Thanks for helping back when we first met by the way, I wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for you. Well, you and Dead Hooves since-”

“Duck!” Silver Bullet pushed us to the ground as another light green laser seem to teleport to through the walls of the train. As we lost vision of the magic laser, Silver Bullet looked to the once mute pony with surprised “For goddess sakes Willow can’t you wait till we're out of danger to talk? For a pony who was completely silent on the way here your lips move faster than a minigun spitting out bullets.”

Willow simply shrugged in response, almost completely unaware of the danger that we had just been in “What can I say,” She responded. “I like to talk. Being mute was absolute torture, not as bad as those raiders again but still rather bad. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made Dread wish he was deaf, or how many times I was slapped for doing it. Not fun but-” She caught a glimpse of the look Silver Bullet was giving her, and immediately motioned with her hoof that her lips were sealed.

“Why are you all not at the front of the train?” I asked them, remembering that Sharpshot had told them to stay back. “Did something happen?”

“Let’s just say we aren’t going to let Dread and Sharpshot have all the fun.” White Light responded. “We are just as capable at fighting as they are. Besides, we will need you to ‘stitch’ us up if you get what I mean.” 

She nudged my shoulder as I heard a groan Willow Wisp. She’s been saving that one, hasn’t she? Well, considering our current situation I thought that the best response was to look at her with a blank expression on my face and in the most monotone voice say “No. Just… no.”

“Before we continue moving Miss Stitch,” I almost didn’t recognize Silver Bullets voice. A moment ago it was low and gruff, or at least for a mare. Now it was higher pitch and she was talking quieter. “I... uh… saw your eye and… well after thinking about it I thought… uh,” She didn’t finish her sentence at all, holding out an eyepatch. “It’s… to cover up your eye.”

I simply stared at the alicorn, completely confused at what had just happened. After a few more seconds I finally picked up the eye patch, which I didn’t even care to ask about where it came from, and looked at it. I couldn’t see it, but considering the reactions I have gotten no doubt my eye looked rather bad. It wasn’t anything I wanted to ponies to see, but when you put on an eye patch it’s almost like wearing shades. Ponies think your suppose to be tough and strong, and considering I just hurled from killing a pony that didn’t feel right. Still, I guess it would help me look like a badass doctor, even though doctors usually don’t get there right eye stabbed by a train car. I put it on slowly, only realizing that my mane was getting in the way. After a minute I managed to get the eyepatch through my mane, and looked to my sister for approval on the look.

“Well talk about looks once this is over okay,” She told me. “Now do you still have that old-fashion rifle in your saddlebags, the one that you took from the Armory?”

The rifle! I had completely forgotten about the fact I had taken it. I nodded my head at White Light and handed her the saddlebags I had been carrying. After several minutes digging she finally found what she was looking for. Honestly, it was hard for me to see this thing actually being able to work. The thing seemed more like a toy pop-gun, like the one I remember Mud Swirl had owned. Despite that, White Light took it with a large grin on her face, and stared out the window. She used the butt of it to break the jagged glass that was still on the broken window.

“Silver Bullet. Willow Wisp. Head on ahead,” The two alicorns both nodded in response to White Lights command, Willow a little more hesitant than Silver Bullet seemed to be. After they left my sister turned back to me. “Stitches, as much as I know it’s hard for you to take I need your help. It doesn’t matter if we kill the other alicorns if that thing takes our fucking heads off,” She loaded a round into the underside of the, which I made out as a .30 bullet. “I got one shot and I can’t aim the gun due to the size of the window. I need you to go to the window behind me and help me aim the rifle.”

“So you need me to sight for you?” She nodded in responce to my question. She was right about one thing, that alicorn had nearly taken my head off twice, as well as one of it’s own. “Alright, but I’m not the one pulling the trigger.”

“Don’t worry,” She replied as she raised the old rifle into the air. “Just leave that to me.”

With that decided she turned back to the window she was looking out of before, and I hopped into the one next to her. She carefully brought her hooves and the gun out the window, and just like she said the window was nowhere near wide or tall enough for her to aim it. I did as she said and leaned outside the window. Not as many alicorns were surrounding the train anymore, but from the gunfire I could only assume most of them were either dead or inside the train. Of course, that wasn’t my job at the moment. I could see the alicorn who was firing the green laser in the distance. As she reached the end of the train she did an aerial roll and changed directions. I could feel the beating of my heart in my neck, and with my left eye I looked down the near invisible iron sights of the gun.

“Don’t aim for the head,” White Light explained to me. “Aim for the neck, or even better the spine. We hit her there we either paralyze her or she drops dead due to the veins running down her neck from her brain to the heart.”

Obviously I was the only one here who knew that disabling the brain with a shot not very likely. She was right about the spine, however. If I shot that the chance of survival was slim, and by slim I mean no one has ever come to me and survive such a shot. By that time they were already dead, and by that I mean I never saw someone with a broken spine around the neck come to me before. I kept that in mind as the alicorn made her way towards us.

My target was her neck “Up a little bit,” Which meant that I had to account for everything such as wind… “To the right about a centimeter,” and of course gravity, as bullets followed the same rules of physics as most ponies do. “Up a little higher,” Of course, the distance was a major factor as well, “Wait for it,” I was counting on what Sharpshot had told me to get out of this mess. “Wait for it,” Everyone's life was on the line…

And I wasn’t about to let another pony die from my mistakes. “NOW!”

The sound the old rifle made was more like metal clinking, but the recoil was as clear as light. I couldn't see where the shot went, but I could see the alicorn that had almost killed me twice suddenly fell to the ground. I saw a ray of magic shoot out of the alicorn's horn as the impact came, and watched as it gruesomely cut one of the alicorns behind it straight in half. Their inside literally start falling out, and I teared my eyes away, only to catch a glimpse back at the alicorn I had killed earlier. I felt ready to hurl again, and leaned out the window so that I didn’t puke on another seat. It didn’t come, and the only thing I felt was the comforting hug that White Light was currently giving me.

“It’s going to be okay,” She tried to assure me. “We’re trying to make the wasteland better, and as sad as it is that means some ponies are going to die.”

I looked at her, I didn’t know whether to believe my sister at the moment or not. “How can you be so sure?” I asked her. “Ponies haven’t learned anything from the war. Who would be willing to help us save the wasteland, if that’s even what we are doing?”

“The Enclave have always promised Equestria that they will bring back the world we love.” She said, reminding me of the goals that the Enclave have constantly reported on the radio. “Even the Steel Rangers, despite becoming rather brutal in the past few years, I believe that they might still be able to save Equestria.”

I was about to ask White Light what she meant by the Steel Rangers being brutal only for the train car door to fly open. Silver Bullet flew backwards, and slowly stood back up as she fired a few shots into the car she had just been in. Following her was Willow, who ducked to the side of the car. After that I saw Dread and Sharpshot step through as well, the former kneeling down and unlatching the previous car door. I could see hooves grab the bottom of our train cars door, only for them to fall back as Dread delivered a shot out the door.

“Guess my orders about staying at the front of the train wasn’t so clear was it?” Sharpshot asked White Light in rage.

“Doesn’t exactly matter since you're already back here with us,” White Light pointed out, “I’m going to take a guess and say there are too many alicorns to deal with.”

“We’ve been unlatching train cars to try and gain more speed, as well as give us time to prepare,” Dread explained. “Fucking alicorns don’t take no for an answer, and we only have so much train left. I one of you got some sort of plan.”

“Not really,” White Light replied, shrugging as she stood up and took her pistol out. “I think that ‘kill every alicorn before they kill us’ is as good of a plan as any at the moment,” She looked back to me, knowing that was the last thing I wanted to here. “Or I guess we could always try blinding them in some way.”

“If you think you can do that then go ahead,” Sharpshot said as another alicorn tried to fly in. Sharpshot simply shot the alicorn and she fell out of the train. “The only other option is to ‘kill or be killed’ so I’m willing to take any plans ponies have, no matter how stupid it might be.”

White Light nodded and helped me up from my seat. “We’re going to do this together. I’m not going to kill another pony if you truly don’t want me to. I’ll do it only if there is no other option,” She put a hoof on my shoulder. “And if your life is in jeopardy.”

“Can you to save the emotional drama for later and do whatever the fuck you plan to?”

White Light rolled her eyes at Sharpshot’s impatience, but he was right. She handed project Gatling to Willow Wisp and told her to put it somewhere safe, which the alicorn did by hiding it under a chair. With that, we left the others to to take down the alicorns incase this plan went south (which I really hoped it wouldn’t), and I followed my sister as she opened the train door. We went from car to car, thankful that no more alicorns had decided to come after us, until we reached the front of the stream. It was definitely one of the older trains in Equestria, as it still had an engine powered by timber and charcoal instead of whatever newer train were powered by. Seeing this made me realize exactly what White Light’s plan was, and flame of hope ignited. This might just work

“We’re going to overload charcoal into furnace and try to create a cloud of smoke around the tra-” The sprite bot that Watcher had controlled bumped into her, and she pushed it into the nearest train car and closed the door before resuming “-around the train. Hope you don’t mind getting a little dirty Stitches.”

“I’m a doctor what do you think I do? Overload drugs into ponies like other stupid wasteland doctors,” I reminded her. “I might not metaphorically having blood on my hands but physically it’s nothing new. Hand me the shovel.”

Admittedly this wasn’t the blood of an injured pony I was about to get on my body, it was the dust sute of the charcoal on the train. Looking back I can’t think of how stupid it was we didn’t bring Willow Wisp along. She was quite literally our ‘professional digger’ and considering the movement of the train it was rather hard to keep any charcoal we had in our shovels. Nonetheless it was rather easy work, even with only a box full of charcoal, to get a large cloud of smoke going. We had to make sure we still had enough for the long ride to ponyville, and the smoke wouldn’t go far enough to reach the others. Thankfully, my sister knew a few things about pegasi that I had never bothered to try, all of which was surrounding weather management.

Now, being a pegasus on the ground with little to no sun shining, weather management wasn’t that big of a deal. To the Enclave, however, weather was probably a much more important part of life because it seemed like second nature to White Light. She seemed to shape the smoke like a cloud, rolling it into fluffy looking balls and completely destroying my sense of logic. After she had at least four smoke clouds my logic was further broken as she slung the clouds with her tail at the alicorns. I looked back to see the clouds nail the alicorns, who seemed to run away from them after the initial four. Sadly, while it did work in some terms, about four alicorns still stayed and easily dodged the clouds.

Knowing that we had done all we could, we reported back to the others. During that time they easily managed to take care of the last few alicorns remaining, and I watched as Willow fill down exhausted. The only one that wasn’t tired seemed to be Dread, who simply put his gun away and looked at me. I could tell he wasn’t overly happy about having to pull my butt out of the fire earlier, but looked away not much later. I let out a sigh as he took a seat, acting almost as if the fight hadn’t happened.

“We… did it,” Willow Wisp said between breaths. “We... actually won against… an alicorn force.”

“Don’t take it like a victory,” Dread responded. “You know just as much as I Willow that those alicorns were turned, not created. They don’t have the same amount of power as others have, but if it had-” He didn’t finish and turned to Sharpshot, which pretty much spelled it out.

“Okay, I fucked up!” Sharpshot said throwing his hooves into the air. “You can’t deny the thrill of the battle, and White Light’s idea actually worked. You can say all you want Dread but great heroes aren’t always fucking masterminds.”

“Oh yeah sure,” Dread responded in a sarcastic manner. “Going into an alicorn filled stable because a zebra you barely knew told you to. Real fucking great idea isn’t it? You should get a reward, one that says ‘congrats! You fucked up and almost got us killed’. Of course, I don’t expect much different from your rotting brain.”

Sharpshots usual sarcastic and ignorant manner seemed to fall away at this insult. “The fuck you just called me?”

“Sorry ghoul, did I hit a nerve?” I could tell Dread was trying to get on Sharpshots nerve, as he kept on taunting. “Or do you even have those anymore? As far as I can tell you are nothing but dead skin with red fur glued to your body.”

I didn’t turn my eye back to Sharpshot, but I could hear what he was saying. “If you really want to know this is my actual fur jackass.”

“Oh isn’t that cute, you’re still somewhat alive,” At this point even I knew Dread had gone to far. Sure, maybe Sharpshot deserved some of his own jerkish attitude, but this was starting to go too far. “The same still stands however. No pony loves you ghouls, you will only get worse over time, and no pony will ever love you. To bad considering that you will be living for much longer than most ponies here.”

I didn’t need to see anymore for both me and White Light to take action as Sharpshot jumped at Dread. I went to Sharpshot as White Light went to keep Dread from shooting anyone. All Sharpshot was able to do before I pulled him back was slap Dread on the face. Turning back, I was actually surprised to see Dread was actually not pulling his weapon out at all, leaving even White Light confused. As Sharpshot looked in there direction, his entire body stopped moving and he fell limp but alive. I looked back to White Light, who was give a peculiar glare to the ghoul, one that I remember she had use on me a few days before. Something about that stare, it was almost soul piercing.

“Been a long time since I’ve ever seen a pony use the stare,” Our gaze turned to the sprite bot, who had stopped playing music and carried the voice of Watcher like it had earlier. “It’s even stranger seeing somepony other then Fluttershy use it, and in such an interesting way. I remember Fluttershy telling me that it could do things even she could never replicate.”

“Wait. You knew Fluttershy?!” I couldn’t help but ask. If there was a minister how I loved that wasn’t Rarity, it would very obviously Fluttershy. My mind seemed to click as I remember what granny had taught me about pre-war Equestria “Wait, if you knew what it was that most likely means you know her from a personal perspective. Not many employees in the ministry of peace had contact with Fluttershy due to her timid nature, if I remember correctly. If that’s the case, and since every minister is most likely dead now-”

“His real name is Spike if that’s what you trying to figure out,” Sharpshot finished for me. “Personal assistant of Minister Twilight Sparkle of the Ministry of Arcane Science. You're not the only one who had a mother for a teacher, or a granny for you.” Sharpshot got up, seeming to have recovered from this so called ‘stare’ “The same Twilight Sparkle who straight up abandon Equestria and disappeared without a trace.”

“I’ve told you Sharpshot that if I knew where she had gone I would have told you,” Spike said. “But that’s not why I’m here. Before this thing loses control again I need to explain somethings to you all. Things I haven’t even told Dread.”

“Let me guess, something about the fate of Equestria being in the balance or some bullshit like that?” Dread asked, even though it seemed he already knew what Spike was saying.

“As much as I would love to say that isn’t true, it is,” Spike admitted. “Equestria, the Enclave, and every pony on the surface is in danger whether you want to admit it or not, and Dead Hooves and Dread are the only two ponies who know anything about it.”

Silver Bullet was the first one to ask the question we were all think “What do you mean Dread knows what’s going on?”

Spike turned to the mass murderer as he responded. “Cider Hooves, member of the Steel Ranger, Paladin. If he was still alive he would be sixty-five year old,” I let out a gasp. That description sounded so similar. “Dread, also a former member of the Steel Ranger, and a sentinel. Your forty-nine.” I looked back to Dread to see him nodding. Where was Spike going with this? “Cider Hooves was Dread’s mentor, and the father of your good friend Dead Hooves. She is the last surviving offspring of an agent of the Ministry of Arcane Science.”
> Chapter 18 - Relations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

If there was anything that justified how useless I felt right now, it would be lying down in this bed with a stomach that wanted to fall out. My body had healed itself up over the last two days, but I still sat there quietly next to Zoey, who had been silent since she had gotten on here. Her body had also healed up, and she was awake next to me, but was complete quiet for some reason. The only thing she had actually sad was “I’m sorry” but didn’t give an context as to why. I would have gotten out of the bed I was stuck in, but Silver Gunner was waiting outside the door.

My thoughts were on Willow Wisp and the others, who had left before the destruction of the headquarters according to Silver Gunner. He was apparently assigned by Sharpshot to watch me, which I couldn’t help but realize was a rare show of kindness for the bounty hunter. Still, if he was with them I’m sure they must be safe, as I wasn’t going to judge his shot. As much of a jerk as he is you couldn’t judge something like that. Still, I wondered how Willow Wisp was doing, being so far away from me.

“I’m sorry,” Zoey whispered to me, rather unexpectedly.

“What do you keep saying sorry for?” I asked her, she seemed so sad. “You didn’t do anything wrong Zoey, in fact you saved my life back there. If somepony here should be say sorry it sho-”

“You don’t understand,” Zoey interrupted me. “I… I betrayed you and then was betrayed myself. I don’t think sorry even describes what I did.”

The look in Zoey’s eyes, or rather the one I remembered struck me. The look that she had when she tried to rip into Scythes neck, it was hidden inside her eyes now. It was a savage look, one of a raider or cannibalist, the latter of which more likely to describe. Yet it didn’t seem to be the same way it was back during the fight in the HQ, as it was now forever present in her eyes. However, behind the savageness I could see the sadness and sympathy in them. That sympathy, it put my fur and on end in a way that I never thought sympathy could. It was, frightening in a way.

“What did you do?” I asked her. She turned away from me, and the fear that her sadness gave me seemed to grow. “W-w-why are you sorry Zoey? Please tell me.”

She didn’t answer me, at least not in words. I heard her beginning to cry, and I knew immediately that something was off about the way she was crying. It was real, at least it sounded real, but behind those tears I could hear something strange. That sound grew as she continued to cry, and suddenly the fear I felt came to light. Was Zoey laughing at me? She was most definitely laughing, and the sounds of laughing and crying turned into a mixture of both. She sounded… happy.

“Oh you don’t really think I feel sorry for you, do you deary?” Her voice sounded psychotic as she spoke. “I feel sorry for you little friend, she’s probably gotten what she deserves by this point. I’m sorry about what pain she will have to feel to get it though,” She turned back to me, and my heart started beating uncontrollably as I saw the smile upon her face. “Oh I sure hope that lovely little unicorn stallion of his comforts her when this is over. He seemed so much tastier than any other unicorn I’ve seen before, she should be lucky. Cutie little Willow is going to have the time of her life so.”

I didn’t care if Silver Gunner was outside the door, the immediate thought that came to my head was to get as far away from Zoey as positive. This wasn’t the Zebra I knew before hand, the one who seemed to want Twister dead. This Zoey... was this the way she actually felt about us? Is that how she felt about Willow? No, that couldn’t be true. She seemed so nice, so compassionate, yet for some reason Zoey now seemed like murderer. I scrambled off the bed in fear, falling to the floor with a thud, and reached for Remembrance. I pointed the shotgun at her, something that only seemed to make her laugh even more.

“Let me guess, you're going to shoot me?” Zoey crossed her front hooves as she looked at me from the bed. “I know everything about you Dead Hooves, even though you never even saw me. You leaving home may have been the worst idea you ever made.”

“Shut up you… you psycho,” The words that came out of my mouth were ones I wished were lies, but that’s what Zoey seemed like. “You don’t know a damn thing about me.”

“On the contrary,” She rested her head on her hooves. “I know more about your father then you will ever know. I know that he was exiled from the Steel Rangers because of his own friends, your mother supposedly dying during your birth,” I aimed the gun at her, but within an instant of raising it she jumped at me and ripped it out of my hands. “I know about what you did to your father, and you can no longer deny it.” She pinned me to the ground with sinister smirk upon her face. She bent her head down to my ear. “You killed him, I saw it with my own to eyes.”

My heart felt like it stopped, and I looked at her with fear in my face. I heard the sound of the door open, but I was too busy staring into the zebra’s green eyes to see who entered. My thoughts went to my power armor, which had been destroyed mere days before. I couldn’t hold in the tears, not with the mention of my father and his death. Zoey simply laid next to me, that smile upon her face as she hugged me and I for some reason hugged her back. She hummed in my ear, turning to the door. I looked as well, seeing the face of Silver Gunner and Nav.

“What’s going on?” Was the only words that Nav could muster.

Zoey got up and walked over to the former Angel Hunter. She sat down and raised her hooves in front of the pony, looking away.

“Oh somepony so simple minded as you wouldn’t understand,” The zebra said gleefully. “But one must pay for their crimes and we have been very bad ponies. I know you have cuffs on the Raptor; you told me about the ship itself and it’s belong. Please, oh righteous pony, lock us up for our crimes.”

“What the hell?” Nav backed away. “Zoey, is something wrong?”

“Oh yes,” The zebra’s voice sounded like a mare flirting to a stallion, yet that sinister tone held. “Something is very wrong, somepony on this Raptor of yours blew up your precious base, killed your soldiers, and had a very delightful meal while you all ran screaming at that dimwitted alicorn,” Zoey got up, walking past Silver Bullet and then hugged Nav in a way that seemed almost seductive. “Oh deary that was no stupid pony, but me. I deserve to be in chains, like you think all us Zebra’s should. Would want my next meal to be you, would we.”

Nav shoved the zebra to the floor, and used her front hooves to pin her to the ground. “What the hell is wrong with you? Did your brain get damaged from th-”

I finally managed to pull myself off the ground, and as I did I heard Zoey chuckle. I couldn’t take my eyes off the zebra, who had before this seemed so kind and trustworthy. Instead of trying to escape, Zoey was rubbing Nav’s hoof. I looked to Nav, who was unsuccessfully trying to pull her hoof away from Zoey. My mind was having a hard time registering things, but I stepped backwards as I kept thinking about me dad.

“You pegasi are always so bony,” Zoey said as she let go of Nav’s hoof and laid out across the floor. “No meat on you ponies at all, and it’s been soooo long since I’ve had a full course,” She smiled at me, and I fell to the floor again. My mechanical legs didn’t seem to work right, and I tried my best to shuffle away, only finding the wall. “It was really hard keeping up that act, you know. Playing off as the underling of Twister for so long, making it seem like I’m a victim of his cruelty, and keeping me hunger for meat at bay. Oh Dead Hooves, your heart always seems to be in the wrong place, and with the most secretive of ponies. You have no idea how hard it was playing off as the innocent Zoey was so hard for me.”

When Nav didn’t answer, I found myself the only one able to muster words. “Zoey… who are you? What do you want from us?”

“Isn’t it obvious my dear,” She replied. “I’m not Zoey, I never was in the first place. The names Yeilta, and let’s just say I find that you all are a very tasty looking group of individuals. Oh, and I mean that in the most wonderful of ways.” She got up and turned to Nav, and proceeded to rub her front right hoof on the side of the former Angel Hunter’s face. The look of terror on Nav’s face was greater than my own “Oh, don’t worry my dears. I may be a cannibal but that in no way describes how I see you all as tasty. I know that may scare you but I could easily make any one of you mine in a matter of minutes.”

“Zoey, or Yeilta… or whoever the hell you are,” She turned back to me, not changing that strange smirk on her face. “You didn’t answer my question fully. What do you want from us? What… what do you mean by we look… tasty?”

She let a groan, most likely at my question. There was something about her that felt very off, yet at the same time rather charming. I was still having trouble getting me mechanical legs to work, something that struck me as odd. I simply sat there and watched as Yeilta, however that heck she really is, guided Nav into the room with no visible resistance. I tried to look tough on the outside, while inside I was feeling scared in a whole different way. She turned to Silver Gunner, who didn’t even seem to notice the difference in the zebra.

“Silver, would you be a dear and close the door?” She asked the robot. “Don’t worry, I have no reason to harm my dear Dead Hooves. I just want us to… have some privacy if you will. We won’t fuck, don’t worry.”

Silver nodded, and as soon as both Nav and Yeilta were in the room the door closed behind theme. I got a good look at the zebra that had replaced the strong and caring Zoey I remembered. So much about her seemed different, even though her looks really haven’t changed at all. The way she moved, talked, and how she treated others all gave me the feeling this was nothing more than a game to her. This… Yeilta character was like no other I’ve seen in my life. She laid Nav down next to me, who still had the same expression of shock as when she last spoke.

“Okay, my dear Nav,” She said to the former Angel Hunter, who seemed to be almost frozen. “Wake up.”

At the sound of those words Nav suddenly let out a gasp, like she couldn’t breath beforehand. She was alive, but her body was even more limp than mine as she fell to the floor. The pegasus looked as if she had seen a ghost, staring at Yeilta as she breathed heavily next to me. I finally found myself able to use my legs again, and with my front legs I tried to stand up, only for the all too familiar feeling of my back legs not moving. I only fell to the ground again, looking up at the psychotic zebra name Yeilta above me.

“Oh deary, you aren’t getting out of this one,” She told me as she lifted hoof cuffs into the air. “You got to be rather impressed by my acting, and considering how easy it was to befriend you I’m wouldn't be surprised. All I had to do was tell you how to get to that dumb son of a bitch called Twister and we were on our merry way. These are yours.”

“Z… Zoey?” I heard Nav’s exhausted voice behind me as she became aware of what was happening. I heard the sound of shackles and looked at myself to see that Yeilta had bound my legs with the hoof cuffs. I started panicking, trying without success to get these chains off me. “What… what is going on? Wh… Why is… Dead Hooves in… chains?”

“Oh, I’m not Zoey my darling Nav,” She said, as my continued to try and break the chains unrewarded. I kept glancing back, watching as Yeilta held Nav’s head up to hers “Your friend here, Dead Hooves, is hiding a little secret from us and she isn’t going to tell me. Oh, I don’t even have to ask her to know she’ll say no, so I figured it would be a good time for me tell you my little plan and my backstory what do you say.”

Her laughter interrupted me from my desperate attempts to escape. I knew what she wanted to know, but I was never going to tell her. No one could find out about what I did, absolutely no one. It was something I deeply regretted, something I had locked out of my mind for so long. I didn’t want to think of the horrible mistake I had made, and I would refuse to tell anyone. It seemed so simple to do in words, but as she decided to literally lay there on top of me, stroking my mane like I was her mate, it was so tempting to just straight up shout everything I had done wrong in my life.

That’s when she did something that neither me or Nav expected. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and pulled me up to her as our muzzles connected in a kiss. My entire body went completely limp as it happened and I was left staring at her, eyes closed from the kiss she was giving me. I tried desperately to move some part of my body but failed. What the hell did Yeilta do to me? It was like I had lost every bone in my body, yet I could still clearly feel them in my body. However, that wasn’t the most worrying part of the kiss I was being given.

As strange and unnerving as it was, Yeilta’s kiss actually felt rather good. While she used me against my own free will, it didn’t feel scared of her anymore. However, that didn’t stop my mind from fearing about that exact aspect. As nice as the kiss for some reason felt, as soft as her hooves felt as they rubbed my upper back, there was still a strange fear to be felt. I wasn’t exactly afraid of Yeilta or what she was doing, but rather the idea that I didn’t really care. I knew something was wrong, even though I couldn’t feel afraid, or now that I realize it even angry, against the zebra.

“I know you must be wondering why I would do something like this, especially to another mare,” The sudden sound of Yeilta in my head caught me off guard. “This is something I do feel sorry to you about, but somepony as naughty as you wouldn’t say anything otherwise. Now, you will tell Nav exactly how you killed that delicious looking father of yours, Cider Hooves. Trust me, you really have no option but to explain because… well, you’ll see. This is how I get ponies to do what I want darling, and just like I promised Nav everything will be explained when it is over.”

As soon as the kiss ended, I felt myself able to move again. What I didn’t understand was why I no longer felt the urge to run from my chains. I could move my body just as before, but I no longer struggled against the rusty feeling chains on my hooves. Yeilta, with a wacky looking grin on her face, sat down next to Nav and helped the mare sit back up. Nav was still incredibly out of breath, I could still hear it after the few minutes I had connected lips with Yeilta. The crazy zebra muffled a laugh as she stoked the former Angel Hunter’s mane, who was still quite unsure of what was going on.

“Well then,” Yeilta said she put her front left hoof around Nav. “I guess you have some explaining to do Dead Hooves deary. Don’t worry, me and Nav will be listening to every tasty bit of information you give me. After you finish explaining, I will explain my side of the story.”

“What’s… going on?” Nav managed to save through her harsh breathing. “Dead Hooves… What do... you need to... explain?”

For some odd reason, all my resistance against my dad’s death vanished, and I found myself spilling my own secret against my own will. “Five years ago,” I started. “On the day my father died, I was outside with him planting some potatoes for the first time in a few months. I always had fun doing it with him, but my involvement in actually planting was rather limited. I… I-”

I stopped for a few seconds, shaking my head wildly trying to get the thought of my father's death out of my head. Yet I couldn’t. Ever since I heard Yeilta’s voice during that kiss it was all my mind could think about. Why the hell could I not get it out of my head? No way this was just because of a voice, let alone one that I heard in my. So why was I explaining these things her and Nav? I was struggling against myself to keep from talking, but what grasp I had on it was weak as everything started spilling out. Tears started falling from my face as I unwillingly recounted the events. 

“Ghouls attacked us, okay!” I yelled at Nav and Yeilta, the latter of which had a somehow wider grin. “We hadn’t taken his shotgun outside because the last few weeks had been clear of attacks. We weren’t prepared, and without my power armor I wouldn’t have been able to grab the shotgun. My dad sent me to grab the gun, I swear. I didn’t mean to kill him just… The ghouls had grabbed him and… and were already t-trying to rip him apart. I swear it didn’t want to kill him… I SWEAR!”

“Calm down sweetie,” Yeilta told me, and I immediately felt my heartbeat slow down. “Don’t worry my dear, I know you didn’t mean to kill your father, but you still did it. Now, would you please explain to Nav here how it happened.”

I looked to Nav, who was staring at me in disbelief. Part of me wanted to believe she didn’t believe what I was saying. Yet, something also told me she believed every single word I was saying. I couldn’t explain exactly why I was saying these things, but it was too late to stop. I was an absolute mess overall, but after everything I had told them there was no reason to stop. I curled up into ball on the floor as I thought about what I had done.

“Like… like I said th-they had caught my… my father by the time I returned for remembrance,” I said, my crying had made me start to hyperventilate. “H-he was a-already on the floor, b-bleeding from… from the ghouls trying to rip him apart. He was still a-alive th-though, but with what they were doing he…” I stopped and took a few deep breaths to calm myself down before continuing. “I hate to say this but, I knew that he would be dead. It was what he said though that pained me.

“‘Take the shot’ He said, ‘I’ll be fine, sweetheart, just make sure your safe first.’ I tried to aim only at the ghouls that were attacking him, but something in my head took over,” I bit my lip and held my a hoof at my heart. “I… I didn’t mean to shoot him, but the voice told me he was dead anyway. So I took the shot… And pierced my own dads heart with it,” I look to Remembrance, the very shotgun I had used to do such an action. “‘Remember the mistake I made, so you will never make it again’ that was the true reason I had etched that word into the gun. That one shot, it killed my dad and left me alone for five years. I… I didn’t ever make a grave for him, how stupid could I be to never do that.”

“Thank you deary,” Yeilta said, walking over to me. She gave a light hug, one that felt so familiar for some strange reason. “I know how hard it was for you to do that. Oh, if only I could feel remorse in the same way you do, my dear Dead Hooves. Of course, I think you’ve turned out better in many ways still. I’m so sorry I had to put these chains on your feet, but I knew otherwise you would share that information with us. Again, thank you deary”

“Why do you keep calling me and Nav that?” I asked, it felt so unnerving to here her say what should be kind words to me. Sure, Scythe had said the same thing but the way she said it was full of sarcasm.

“Well,” Yeilta said, rubbing my left cheek with her left hoof. “Some secrets are harder to explain, my lovely little unicorn,” She stopped rubbing my cheek and sat down so that she could see both me and Nav. “You may not believe it, but I’ve had a deal of contact with this funny little liquid called taint. Disgusting stuff, taste like black liquorice and I should hope both of you know what that is. That was a long time ago, about eighty year now if I’m correct.”

“Eighty years?!” I stood there shocked. Yeilta seemed like she was only eighteen years old, how the hell is that possible.

“Quiet shocking isn’t it?” She asked us rhetorically, “You know, there is more than one side to the story of the war. The only reason I’m like this is because of the Equestrian military. Just in case you didn’t know, you actually attacked us before we ever attacked you.”

“I know what you are talking about,” Nav said looking at the zebra, and I look at her rather confused. “The Equestrian military bombed a college of yours, a religious college if I remember correctly. The pegasi had many reasons for leaving the war, the loss of Cloudsdale was one, the destruction of your religion was another. Nopony really knows why we did it, but the date is at least one week before the Wonderbolts massacre”

“Yes, you ponies definitely,” Yeilta coughed forcefully in the middle of speaking. “Like desecrating the sacred grounds of the high shamans we zebras hold so dear. Of course your fathers were all really sweet ponies, real tasty to. Hate to say you but your father Dead Hooves had no love for zebra charms.” She laughed, as if what she was saying was all a big joke to her. “I’m truly sorry, for some reason the taint in my body not only gave me eternal life, but for some reason all my sympathy comes in laughter. MessEs with the mind to. You just gotta love those government experiments, of course I ate all those motherfuckers after what they did to me.”

“So the Enclave’s reasons for leaving the war was at least more justified,” Nav said. “But, considering what you told me, then the reason you are this insane is because of your own government! Why the hell would they experiment on somepony as young as you?”

“Guess this must be the consequence of ending up your princess’s first bombing raid,” Yeilta replied with a slight giggle. “Darn things almost killed me one day, and it was my first year as a college student as well. Your bombs came in, blew up the school and a good chunk of my body, and then the government came,” She lifted her front left hoof. “You see all this is actually artificial skin, with just as artificial bones and muscles under it.”

“But why would they ever do this to you?” I asked.

“Oh, I was suppose to be some sort of infiltrator for them,” She answered in a rather casual tone. “As much as I love my country and kind, they were definitely rather crazy in there approach to these things. They used taint to try and make me more powerful than others, and apparently they planned on having me use my body for information rather than brute force. Oh, they had no idea just how wonderful that disgusting liquid make blood taste. Like candy on your ponies Nightmare Night.”

I had to think about everything I was being told right now to fully understand what happened. So Yeilta was in the college that Equestria bombed before the war, and was nearly killed at the time. Then the Zebra government came in, and decided to use her as a infiltrator and infused her with taint? And that taint is what turned her into the eternal, cannibalistic, and psychotic zebra that was currently in front of me? That was a lot to honestly take in, but it seemed to be correct. Something still worried my mind about all this, however.

“What happened to your classmates?” I asked Yeilta. “And how did you manage to escape them?”

“Oh, my classmates were part of the experiments as well,” Yeilta said. “Stupid government motherfuckers wanted an entire army of us. In the end all they got was cannibalistic zebra’s who ripped them limb to limb. For such a rotten bunch of zebras, those scientist were still tasty as hell. Oh, I can still remember the taste of their blood. They were so juicy, I can remember the entire thing fresh in my head. I ripped off a hoof of the pony who had tried to trap us back in there. His muscles tasted like-”

“Can you please not describe how the inside of a pony tastes?” Nav asked “What happened to them after you left, and how did you escape.”

Yeilta giggled at this, closing her eyes and looking as if she was fantasizing something. “Oh Nav, you're so much like your father,” She said, walking up to pegasus and stroking her “My backstory isn’t nearly as interesting as my history with your family. You see, that taint also gave me the strange ability to make anypony do what I want, as long as I perform a kiss on the lips. Release is done the same exact way.”

I let out a gasp, before touching my muzzle with both my hooves, trying to see if it felt at all different. I didn’t feel or see anything, but that did help me explain why she was able to get Nav in here so easily. It also explained why she had kissed me, and what the voice in my head really was. I’ll be honest, I don’t understand any of it at all. The idea seemed like a reasonable explanation, but it didn’t sound in anyway realistic. 

“That isn’t possible,” I said, unable to believe that a kiss would be the reason for me to tell the truth. “Not even this taint stuff should be able to do something like that.”

Her smile grew even more sinister as I said that, and I could hear my heart skip a beat. She turned to me so her back was facing Nav, and I could now see just how wide she was smiling now. I could tell that I had made a mistake in not believing her, but who could honestly blame me? How could a kiss control someone's mind?

“Oh that’s priceless darling,” She said, with a slight chuckle in her voice. “I would give you the usual command for not believing, but it wouldn’t be right since you're a mare,” She put her hoof to her muzzle in a thinking stance, and after a few seconds clapped her hooves. “I know. Dead Hooves, roll on your back like a canine, stick out your tongue, and wag your tail.”

I was ready to retort until something clicked in my mind. Almost instantly, rolled onto my back so my hooves were hanging in the air. My tongue flopped out the side of my mouth, in the same way dogs did and started panting. Finally, my tail started flicking back and forth, and any resistance in my mind left me as I realized just what was going on. I hadn’t meant to do this, and yet for some reason my body did exactly as she asked. This was real! What Yeilta had said was true, but looking at her I could tell from her smile she wasn’t close to done yet.

“Aww,” She said in a mocking tone of voice. “You look so cute like that, but something tells me someone still doesn’t believe,” She looked to Nav, who inched back as soon as they made eye contact. “Be still,” Nav’s body did just as directed, and all motion except for her breathing came to a halt. Yeilta put a hoof in front of Nav, “My darling, as much as the pegasi survived by abandoning Equestria, you betrayed your own country. Before I make you do anything, will you tell me who your mother is?”

“I… I,” Nav stood there, stuttering as she tried to think of her mother. “I don’t know who she is, but my father told me she died.”

“Oh sweetheart that isn’t true,” Yeilta said “Your mother is still alive, and I know exactly who she is. This kiss only gives me control over what you do, but not what you think. That being said, I can do anything I like with them under my control,” A sudden drain of emotion could be seen in Nav’s face. “You know, I’ve always wanted a daughter.”

“No,” I was barely able to hear Nav utter that word. “You're lying, you have to be. You… you didn’t.”

Yeilta kissed Nav on the lips, and as soon as she pulled away Nav shuffled her way back to the wall. I was still on my back down on the floor, but Yeilta kissed me next. I finally found my metallic legs to be working, but I didn’t run. I looked into the zebra’s eyes instead, and saw a gaze that for some reason felt familiar. I don’t ever remember seeing it, but at the same time I felt like I did. That look put fear in my eyes, as I realized it wasn’t just Nav’s father Yeilta was referring to.

“M-m” The word formed in my mouth, but it took me a few tries to get out the word that was forming. I had enough time to sit up before I finally spoke 

“Mom?”

Yeilta suddenly came in for a hug, and I was to in shocked to return it. The idea seemed impossible, but at the same time I knew it was true. That look she gave me wasn’t one that showed the same crazy pony I saw a few seconds ago, but that of a mother. A mother looking at her child, one that she loved so much. My dad never really spoke much about my mom other then the fact that she loved the Wasteland. This is who my mom was? No, not just my mom, but Nav’s as well.

A sudden realization came to me as I thought about that, and I looked to Nav, who had come back into view. “Nav, does that mean that we are-”

“I think it does,” She said, “Did your father tell you that your mom died in childbirth?” I nodded my head. “Then… the two of us our… sisters!”
> Chapter 19 - The Morally Grey
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was many things I thought I knew about life. I thought I knew how dangerous the world was, and where I was safe. Among the Angel Hunters, I felt like I finally belong somewhere. I felt safe for the first time in my entire life. Now, however, I wasn’t sure what was safe or what I knew. The Angel Hunters headquarter, the only place I had felt safe, was gone, and my belief about my mother being dead was wiped from existence. Not only that, but I had a sister; I have a sibling that was still alive.

Saying that word, sister, to a unicorn like Dead Hooves would have immediately expelled me from the Enclave. I could understand why my dad had kept it a secret. The fact that my mom was a zebra, it was something they never would have been okay with. Now, sitting with both my mom and Dead Hooves, it felt weird. My father had remarried some years after Yeilta had left him, and my brother was born only seven years ago. Not that I missed my father and step-mother, I was always treated like an outcast among those in the Enclave. Now, I can understand why.

Of course, that didn’t stop the silence that followed after Dead Hooves and I learned the truth. I lost track of time, sitting on the floor of what had been our Raptors infirmary. Yeilta had left the two of us to talk, and after how she acted in front of us I could see why she didn’t want to be in the room. Dead Hooves was staring at the ground, shock still very present in her eyes. I could understand how my sister felt, the overall shock of this was so sudden it felt hard to believe.

“Dead Hooves?” I finally managed to say, looking to my sister as she looked to me. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m… fine,” She said, the look on her face contradicting what she was saying. “Just… knowing my mom is alive after all this time, how do you deal with something like that?”

“Yeah, stuff like this is why I’ve started drinking recently,” As my brain registered what I had just said, I mentally looked to Dead Hooves who was now staring at me with wide eyes. “Um… I can explain. Rocket has a secret compartment of alcohol on here and I’ve needed a mental break as of recently because of Breaker. You see-”

“Does he have any cider?”

Dead Hooves question caught me off guard. It had been at least a week since I last had a bottle of alcohol in any form. Not that I’ve honestly needed it, for all I know Breaker probably died like most of the Angel Hunters did. He was the one pony I honestly didn’t care died, he was an asshole.

“He probably does,” I reply. “Been some time since I last had a drink, but considering the overall situation the last thing we need is to be drinking.”

“Oh,” Silence fell back over us for a few seconds before Dead Hooves spoke up again. “It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? I mean, the fact that we're sisters. You're a pegasus, and I’m a unicorns.”

“Yeah,” I replied. “And our mom is a crazy, cannibalistic zebra with the power to control somepony with a kiss. You're not the only one who’s unsure of the entire situation.”

“Now the fact of how weird it is that scares me, but how much she knows about the two of us,” Dead Hooves looked away as she spoke, I could see tears starting to form again. “I regret so many things, but my father... he’s dead because of me. The must of been a way I could have saved him.”

“You couldn’t have known,” I tried to say, walking over to give her a hug. “Emotions are quicker than thoughts, and reactions are even quicker. Sometimes, you react at the worst times, and your emotions can overwhelm you to do things that aren’t always so smart.”

“But that doesn’t make up for what I did.”

I tightened my hug around her. I couldn’t understand what she was going through, I had never lost family before. That didn’t mean I didn’t wanted to make her feel better, and I knew that if anyone was going to help her it had to be her sister. I looked into Dead Hooves eyes, tears falling down her face.

“There are many things we can’t fix,” I told her. “Life isn’t a rainbow in a field of flowers. Life… really has no true form. We can only accomplish as much as we know, and even then life isn’t always fair. As much as it pains ponies, sometimes you have to accept what seems unacceptable, and go in knowing that you have no true path. We have no destiny, no fate, no anything, and remember that hope doesn’t show in black and white,” I let my front hooves rest on my sisters shoulders, recounting everything I’ve learned from my time as a member of the enclave. “Hope, like every other emotion, is gray. I know we can’t bring your father back to life, but that is what the world is like. Don’t forget him, or forget what you did, but use it as your reason to bring hope.”

As I finished, Dead Hooves eyes got even more watery. As she began to cry, I was knocked over as Dead Hooves embraced me in a tight hug. Tears flowed from her face, and I started to wonder if what I had said to her was really right. In some ways, I knew what I said was correct, but I also felt like I had been emotionally wrong. However, that didn’t keep me from returning the hug. I knew that as her sister I had to be there for her.

“What’s your real name Nav?” Dead Hooves asked me through her tears. “If we’re sisters, I would like to call you by your real name.”

My real name, it has been so long since anypony has even asked me what it was. Yet, I knew it was wrong to keep it from my sister, so I told her.

“My real name is Star Chart, but most pegasi just called me Star,” I told her. It felt so weird saying my real name after so long. “That was part of the reason for my code name being Nav.”

“Do you know any songs Star?” She asked me. “I… I haven’t sung to myself in a long time, and I want to hear something different. Something happier, something that won’t remind me of my father.”

A song, how long has it been since I’ve ever sung anything? The enclave doesn’t really teach you to sing, and as it is most pegasi don’t seem to care for it. However, I do remember songs my dad sang to me when I was little, when he still seemed to care for me. I could only remember the lyrics to a few of them, but I knew enough sing on.

“I was so happy when you smile.
Your smile breaks through the clouds of gray.
Far from the sunny days that lie in sleep.

Waiting in patience for the spring.
When the flowers will bloom, renewed again
Knowing there's more beyond the pain of today.

Although the scars of yesterday remain.
You can go on living as much as your heart believes.
You can’t be born again, although you can be changed.
Let’s stay together always.”

I felt Dead Hooves body suddenly grow heavy, and I looked to see that she had suddenly fallen asleep on me. Her crying had stopped, and her breath had calmed down greatly. It was like she was a foal instead of a full grown mare. Her recklessness, her courage to prove herself, the way her emotions show, she was like me when I was a foal. Yet she was twenty years old, a full grown mare. I was only eighteen, but I felt so much older than her for some strange reason.

“Her father may have been brave, but he was no teacher,” I looked up to see that Yeilta (she had told us to call her by her real name and not mom) had reentered the room, a grin upon her face (of course that’s nothing new at this point). “Cider Hooves, as nice of a stallion as he was, had a sense of pride that seemed to make his ego bigger than most ponies. In many ways, he had only taught Dead Hooves so much from my help. He was the one stallion that I never took control of, the only one who saw me as not a monster but as another being. Even then, there are still many things she has never even heard of before.”

“So why did you leave him?” I asked.

She laughed in that same twisted way that she told us was sympathy. I didn’t care what it really meant, that laugh was still creepy as hell. “I was no mother, and both me and Cider Hooves knew that I could only go for so long before the need to eat somepony overwhelms me. I was a danger to her, and with her disability I knew we wouldn’t be going anywhere. I couldn’t keep myself from her forever, and for as long as possible I tried to keep myself from the overwhelm urge of blood that came everywhere. When Scythe destroyed your headquarters, what little resistance I had was gone.” She looked to Dead Hooves, fast asleep in front of us. “She takes after her father, ignorant and reckless. I tried to tell her it wasn’t safe, but in the end all I did was give her more courage to prove herself.”

“Why work with Twister then?” I said, a small amount of anger building within me. “The stallion almost killed us, why didn’t you do anything?”

“Oh, I had my reasons,” Yeilta said, “Trust me darling, I would have turned feral like most of the other zebra’s they experimented on if it wasn’t for him. He was a bitch, no doubt, but working for him gave me so much tasty ponies to eat,” At that point Yeilta licked her lips, and her face seemed to light up. “Their bones feel lovely against my teeth, their juicy muscles as lovely as ice cream, and the taste of their blood was like freshly squeezed orange juice from the ripest oranges. Oh, just thinking about it makes me want to rip apart that delicious looking pegasus you call Rocket and eat him.”

“Wait what did you say about becoming feral?” I asked. Out of everything she had said, that had proved to be the most concerning to me.

“Oh, don’t worry deary,” She said. “I keep myself well fed with dumb raiders and those kinds of ponies, never anyone ever worth keeping alive. Still, if we don’t eat meat and drink blood, we start going more and more crazy. That's what was starting to happen when I fought Scythe with Dead Hooves,” I looked down to unicorn, that’s what she had been so scared about. “Eating the meat of creatures and ponies keeps us from losing our sanity, and if we go too long the changes start becoming irreversible. You go for too long without the sweet taste of flesh in your teeth and you become a wild animal, foraging for food,” She let out a sigh, giggling. “Me and my friends found out the hard way, but no way any of us could deny just how delicious a zebra tasted. Much more rich than any unicorn, earth pony, and pegasi. Oh you pegasi, even the roundest of you, would never make a good meal.”

She licked her lips, but I could tell her thoughts were stuck to what she was seeing in her head. She stared out past me at something, but it was invisible to my eyes. I won’t lie, the fact that I had just learn my mother had to eat other things to stay at least somewhat sane was terrifying. To a griffon, smart hellhound, or other carnivore it would have made since, but this was a zebra. A zebra, just like us ponies, would never eat meat! We are vegetarians! Yet my mom had that crazed look in her eyes that I saw in hellhounds that had lost all normal instincts. That scared more than I wanted it to, coming from a mother of all ponies.

“Excuse me, Na-” The door opened again, this time Rocket coming on inside. The look on his face was full of shock, his eyes looking at Yeilta with great astonishment. “Um… well I just came here to tell you that the Watcher pony wanted to talk to you and… can somepony explain to me what’s going on, and why Zoey is looking at me like that?”

Oh crap, I completely forgot that they didn’t see what happened. Neither Rocket or Grease, the latter of which had disappeared into the engine room, had come out into the hallway at all since the last time we checked on Dead Hooves. I was about to explain before Yeilta put a hoof to my mouth, and shook her head. She got up and walked over to walk, standing next to him and putting a hoof around his shoulders.

“Rocket, good sir,” She said in a rather flirty tone, as she began forcefully pushing him out of my view. “I would love to explain to you everything, but let's do it somewhere more private. Besides, I’m sure my daughter could find her way to the bridge with little problem.”

Before Rocket could ask what was going on he vanished, and I was left with Dead Hooves sleeping in front of me. I went to go pick up Dead Hooves, only for Silver Gunner to come up and do it for me. With the way he acted when Yeilta helped me into the room, I had to wonder if Silver knew what was going on from the beginning. He softly placed Dead Hooves down on the bed before turning back to me.

“I would see it as wise to go talk to Watcher,” Silver Gunner stated, as if I hadn’t realized it already. “I apologize for not interfering with Yeilta earlier, but I could tell that she is of no threat to you or Miss Dead Hooves. I am still calculating the threat to Enclave soldiers Rocket and Grease.”

I thanked him quickly before heading down the hall of the raptor and up to the bridge. I saw the blinking light of the radio on the controls, and pressed the button next to it to reply. He knew, Watcher had to know something about Yeilta when he told me to keep an eye on her. I had to know what he knew, and it had to be right now.

“This is Nav, does anyone read me?” I said over the com.

“Good, I finally got a hold of you.” I heard the voice of Watcher over the speaker as soon as I had replied. “I know you probably didn’t expect to hear from me again, but I fear I’ve left to much unsaid to you. No doubt you... probably already know half of it.”

“So you did know?” I bit my lip at this. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Would you have believed me?” He asked, clearly rhetorical. “Who would believe that there mom was a cannibalistic zebra from before the war? What’s good is that you know, and now I need you to take Dead Hooves somewhere. Grease and Rocket already know there part in the plan, but Dead Hooves is the only pony that can still access the Ministry of Magic without setting of alarms. As far as I know of at least.”

“The Ministry of Magic?” I asked, tilting my head even though he couldn’t clearly see it. Only a few days ago Watcher had said to bring Dead Hooves to where he had set up camp. “Did something happen?”

“No, everything is still fine,” I let out a sigh at this news. “I still need to talk to Dead Hooves, but there’s a pony in Ponyville looking for her and I can’t have her dying. The Steel Rangers are looking for you, or more correctly Twister is.”

I bit my lip even harder as I heard that name. Twister, it was because of that unicorn we were stuck out here, that we almost died for no reason other then he wanted us to be. If that wasn’t enough bad news, The Steel Rangers name was more than enough to do it. Any Enclave soldier would tell you why that name was bad news. To put it simply it’s those assholes faults, just like it is Celestia and Luna’s, that the world is like this. If what they were like before the war wasn’t enough, then how they acted after is surely is. They claimed to protect ponies, to help those in need. In truth, all they care about is knowledge and old spare parts. While ponies are dying they send scouts out to collect little pieces of machinery that they do who knows what with. We’ve offered help plenty of times, but the answer is always the same ‘no’.

“What the hell do they want?” I asked, not hiding the anger building inside of me. “Why do the Steel Ranger want us dead?”

“That’s a rather complicated story, but it’s the reason Dead Hooves father isn’t one of them anymore,” Watcher started. “Dead Hooves father, Cider Hooves, use to be friends with Twister. Surprising, but it was true. I don’t know much about what really happened, but apparently Twister was doing some research into a forbidden topic. When Cider Hooves brought this to the Steel Ranger’s elder, Nightshade, he was exiled. I don’t know exactly what happened, but it turns out that whatever Twister is planning, Nightshade is helping him.”

I guess that somewhat explains why Cider Hooves was kicked out of the Steel Rangers, but that didn’t make since. As much as the Steel Rangers are assholes, they don’t turn there backs on somepony because of talking to the elder. I could tell what Watcher was hinting at, and he didn’t need to say anything for me to know. Whatever Twister was planning, it’s not good. Attacking the Angel Hunters, keeping the rest of the Enclave in the clouds, you don’t do things like that unless you have a bigger plan.

“So what are we going to do?” I asked.

“You’ll be descending into the outskirts of Ponyville shortly,” Watcher explained “And when you get out I need you to regroup with Sharpshot in town. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but kill the Steel Rangers. Once you regroup head to Manehattan and do whatever it takes to figure out what Twister is planning. As for the Steel Rangers… do something to get them on your side. I don’t know what but we can’t have them trying to shoot anypony. Is that clear?”

I nodded, even though Watcher couldn’t see it. “Yes.”

With that the transmission stopped, and I looked out the window on the bridge to see that we were slowly dropping in altitude. I could see the edge of a town in the distance, and it didn’t take long for me to know exactly where we were. After three days, we had finally arrived in Ponyville. I couldn’t see much of the town as it fell below the tree lines, but I’ve heard of what this place use to be. The home of the ministers and the heads of stable-tech, all of the lived here before the great war, before the destruction of the once beautiful world. I switch the coms to play over the speaker.

“Attention all passengers,” I announced “Gather your things and prepare to disembark from the Raptor. Gather any weapons, ammo, and supplies you need as we won’t likely be coming back. Once you're ready meet me by the entrance. Welcome to Ponyville.”

I turned comms off and made my way to my quarters on the raptor. The thought of leaving this machine behind hurt, as it was the only time I ever felt slightly useful. However, if there was ever a time I was to prove myself as a leader, it had to be now. Bleak had faith in me, I just need to have that same faith in myself. As I arrived at my quarters, I quickly grab my Novasurge rifle as well as a few cells and a knife. It wasn’t much, but it was all I had considering that the only pony in this Raptor at the moment who could cook was Rocket. Most of our medical supplies had been used up to heal Dead Hooves and Yeilta (which I am somewhat regretting considering what I’ve learned). To say the least, the first goal in my mind was to scavenge anything nearby for supplies.

As I made my way down, I was joined by Yeilta and Dead Hooves, the former having apparently woken up the latter. After a quick exchange of words that could be simplified to both carrying what’s left of the medical supplies, we started our way down to the Raptors exit. We arrived not long after Rocket, Silver Gunner, and Grease did, and I counted up what supplies we had. At least two days worth of food was counted up (considering some of it didn’t rot before hand). Weapons included three Novasurge rifles, a carbine that was owned by Yeilta, and the double barreled shotgun Dead Hooves called Remembrance. Medical supplies were incredibly low, being a single healing potion as well as some other things I didn’t real know about.

“So,” I said, everything looking to me as I spoke. “First things first, finding supplies. We are currently outside of Ponyville but it shouldn’t take us long to get inside. Once we are there, if we don’t immediately see Sharpshot and the others we search for anything that hasn’t spoiled. Food, medicine, anything that can possibly keep us alive out there,” I let out a sigh before continuing, looking to Dead Hooves. I knew exactly how she was going to respond to this next part. “Second, there are Steel Rangers in Ponyville looking for us, and they are not friendly. If you see them kill on sight.”

“What?” Dead Hooves asked, her mouth hanging open. “I thought the Steel Rangers were good guys. If anything should we be-”

“Miss Dead Hooves,” Silver Gunner cut of my sister, “You are a wanted criminal for a crime you didn’t commit. The Steel Rangers hunt down threats to pony society, which marks us as targets. Your father was exiled, you can expect them to open fire upon sight of you.”

Dead Hooves didn’t respond, instead she just stared there, taking in everything. I saw a tear fall down her face, which she wiped away. As much as I hated the Steel Rangers, I could only began to understand what Dead Hooves must be thinking. Her father was a paladin, a high ranking member of the Steel Rangers. It hurt to know somepony like that was exiled over something so simply as the truth, but for you to become an enemy of that same organization, it seemed unthinkable. She nodded her head, and looked back to me.

“I... understand,” She said, even though the hesitation in her words said otherwise. “Star… continue.”

“Star?” Rocket asked, tilting his head.

“That’s my real name,” I told him. “I know it will be a bit of a change, but I would prefer it if you called me by it now. If my sister is going to call me it, then you can start calling me by me real name as well. You know, to not get confused,” I cleared my throat. “Anyways, the Steel Rangers are not allies. They shoot you, you shoot them back. Understand?” Everyone nodded in agreement, but I could see Dead Hooves take a little longer than the others. “Grease, open the door.”

Greased nodded, walking over to the Raptors entrance and pulling a lever. As the door opened, I could gradually see more and more green outside. I could see that we were in a clearing, and as the door finally hit the ground I saw an old trail going through the woods at the edge of it. We left the Raptor, and for the first time in about three days I felt the sensation of grass under my hooves. Everypony was silent as we made our way to the middle of the clearing. I could feel the slight tug of wind, but most of it was blocked by the trees that surrounded us.

“Looks like this Watcher pony knew where to land us,” Rocket told us, pointing to the left of the trail. I spotted an old looking cottage up not far from where we had landed. “Must know the area rather well. Either that or it was just dumb luck.”

“You’d be surprised, sweetheart,” Yeilta replied. “Our little friend here knows more than any of us.”

“Please don’t call me sweetheart,” Rocket, for one of only a few times, was actually shaking in fear. Yeilta’s response was to smile sadistically, before heading off to the small cottage. Rocket came up to me, a look of concern on his face. “How in Luna’s name is that your mother?”

“Hey, I don’t get to choose who made me,” I whispered to him, “Neither does Dead Hooves, and she’s taken everything right now much harder than I am. Just… be careful talking about her parents or the Steel Ranger around her.”

Rocket nodded his head, looking at the cottage at the top of the hill. I motioned for everypony to follow me up to it, and as we reached the top of the hill we were met with fear at what we had seen. What stood around us was the remains of animals, and not just one or two, but dozens. I could see the bones of Squirrels and other smaller animals scattered around the house. There was chicken coup not far from the cottage, and I didn’t dare look inside at what I knew would be skeletons. This cottage… Watcher didn’t just drop us off outside of town. I looked to Dead Hooves, who was looking at the bones of the animals with terror. She didn’t know, nopony had told her according to Sharpshot.

“Star,” I looked to Grease, who was actually praying. Then again, he was more religious than the rest of us. “This place, you know just as much as I do what it really is. Would it really feel right to, not matter what we think, to ransack it.”

I nodded my head in agreement. I knew just as much as he did that it would have been wrong to do such a thing. This cottage was the home of Fluttershy, the element of kindness and head of the ministry of peace. These were her animals, the ones that she had cared for her entire life until she vanished into the Everfree. I looked to see that Yeilta, even with her insanity, was actually chanting something that I didn’t understand. She was trying to keep her composure around us, but I could tell even she didn’t like what she had seen.

“What… what did all this?” I turned to Dead Hooves, who was sitting in disbelief at what was going on around her. Right in front of her stood the skeleton of what I assumed was a bird “Did Equestria really do something like this to harmless animals? I-is this really what we did?” I walked over to my sister and sat down next to her, the tears flowing from her face. “I once believed the world could be better, that we could fix it. How am I supposed to fix this?!”

Before she had a chance to cry, I embraced her in another hug. She had seemed so strong before today, before she had learned everything. She had seen an entire city in ruins, but this was what in the end scared her. The sky was no longer red from the constant ash that fell over Las Pegasus, but now an eerie green from the radiation that had traveled here after the mega spells dropped. Somehow, that only made this feel more depressing than it already did. There was something about this that made Dead Hooves feel the way she did.

“Daughters,” Dead Hooves and I looked to Yeilta, who was looking at us with a smile. “We zebra’s have our own regrets for the war, just as much as you do. We had only realized till after the war what we have done, and it is for that reason that I apologize. I know it may be to much to ask for, but would you join me for a small lesson in zebra culture?”

Dead Hooves and I looked at each other, Dead Hooves giving a nod to me. She tried her best to wipe the tears out of her eyes with her hoof, and nodded when she had finished. From the look in her eyes, she was trying to show she was strong. Considering her reaction only moments before, it helped me understand how she really felt. That face, her courage and hope, it was all to keep her from the fact that she had been less able than the rest of us. No, she still was less able than the rest of us! That back leg, the only one that hadn’t been replace by a metallic one, it was still of sign of what she is. Not even her ability to walk without that power armor could hide it.

“What do you say sis?” Dead Hooves asked me with a courageous smile on her face. I looked to our mother, then back to her.

“Sure,” I replied, returning Dead Hooves’ smile with one of my own. Unlike hers, however, mine was out of sympathy.

I helped her up, seeing that shock still resided in her eyes from what she had seen. She nodded to me one last time before we made our way over to Yeilta. I saw her staring at the ground, smiling as she made a circle in the dirt. I sat down on the right of her, while Dead Hooves sat on her left, both of us looking at what she had in front of her. Inside the circle on the ground was a small, yellow orb and a statuette of Fluttershy. I looked to Yeilta, who was looking at me the way that now seemed normal. It was as if that smile had turned from unsettling to caring.

“We zebra have an interesting relationship with nature,” Yeilta told us, as she drew two diagonal lines in the dirt that were connected to the sides of the circle she had made. “In death, we return to the earth, like all others beings do. However, zebra souls carry on, searching the land as if looking for a new body,” Next, she drew two more lines, this time going up and down from the top and bottom of the circle. “If we could, we would journey to a place in my homeland called the soul tree; a sanctuary for the souls of those who have past.”

“Does it really exist?” I asked. She let out a chuckle at this.

“That’s the funny thing about things such as religion and whatnot,” She explain looking at the two diagonal lines she had drawn when we first arrived. “Truthfully, there is no right or wrong answers to the question. To those who believe it, you could find it. If you don’t, then you won’t,” She chuckled a bit more, this time loud enough to the point that I could see Rocket’s ears turn, hearing it. “It’s one of those things that you can really ask and be sure of. To some logic is the best answer, but to others they would rather believe in what is unbelievable. I guess you can call me one of those zebras.”

“So… what about this has to do with those two items and what you are drawing?” Dead Hooves asked, her voice stuffy.

“These two items hold the memory and souls of a great pegasus,” Yeilta replied, picking up the orb in her hooves, looking at it like it was photograph of a happy memory. “It is unsure what happened to the minister of peace, Fluttershy, but by now she would be no more. I can only assume, but this memory orb must be part of her, and the statuettes I’ve heard are the soul of a pony. I can only do so much, as I don’t know what the soul tree really looks like, but I can do what I can,” She put the orb back on in the circle gently, and stood up. “If she can’t find the tree, I will try to bring it to her. It’s not a huge part of our culture, but the soul tree can be found by anypony who believes it exists.”

Me and Dead Hooves stood up, looking down at the ground with our mother. To say I was intrigued would be wrong at the given moment. This soul tree, it was part of her country's history and her culture. I was to focused on her to see what she had fully drawn, but looking down I saw what looked like a tree with a hole in the middle. Looking down, I realized that this was more than just some part of zebra culture. Listening to what she had said about it, I felt sad looking down at the drawing. I couldn’t help but feel like this soul tree existed, and looking down I couldn’t imagine how many souls we had sent there. It wasn’t happy, at least not to me. The fact that so many zebras died and sent to this tree, it felt like there was a hole in my chest that couldn’t be filled knowing we had caused that.

We did that? We killed all those innocent zebras? Yeilta may be a one thing, but we are talking about thousands upon thousands of zebras and there foals dying. We started this with destroying a college, and we ended it by destroying their lives. We were suppose to be Equestria! A country of peace and harmony, who cared for one another even if they were different. We, the enclave, were the only ponies in Equestria that actually gave a shit that we had done this. Celestia and Luna started this, and they lead us to this. The zebra’s didn’t kill those Wonderbolts because of cold blood, like propaganda would have told you, it was out of revenge for the families who had lost loved ones. We know Littlehorn was an accident, but ponies made it look like they were monsters! How could we call them monsters?! How could I call my own mother that, even with the way she was?

“Mother,” I said, my voice starting to stuff up as I tried to keep myself from crying. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. We… we,” I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I ran into my mother, wrapping my hooves around her in a tight hug. I knew about this for so long, but know my mother was almost killed because of that attack on the college, it was unbearable. “HOW COULD WE! THIS ISN’T WHAT EQUESTRIA IS! WE… AREN’T WE SUPPOSED TO BE THE GOOD PONIES?! AREN’T WE SUPPOSED TO SPREAD FRIENDSHIP AND HARMONY?! DID WE REALLY DO ALL OF THIS OVER A STUPID TRADE SANCTION? I’M SORRY! I’M… I’M...”

I felt hooves brush the upper part of my back as I continue to cry, but I don’t stop. I know who they belong to, and I know everypony is watching my. I don’t care that they are watching me cry, I want them to see me crying. I’m not going to hide this, or the shame I feel in it. I want to cry, I want them to see me crying and understand. I want my mother to understand, and if it was possible the rest of Equestria to understand. Feeling my mother's hooves wrap around me in comfort, it was something Equestria needed to see. We should have been friends… we should have been, but instead two nations had to destroy each other for somepony like me to understand.

“I know you're sorry sweetie,” I heard Yeilta say through my sobs, her embrace the only thing keeping me from hyperventilating. “It isn’t your fault, nor is it Dead Hooves’. I hate the bombs as much as most ponies, no amount of crazy can change that. Besides, even with all the bad it’s done, it’s given me you and Dead Hooves. As much as I hate the bombs, I don’t want to lose you two.”

“I… I know,” I replied, tears continuing to fall down my face. “but how am I supposed to like something like this. We…. WE SHOULDN’T HAVE EVER LIVED IN A WORLD LIKE THIS! I WANT TO SEE EQUESTRIA! I’M SICK AND TIRED OF THIS CELESTIA FORSAKEN WASTELAND! I WANT TO…” I stopped my whining, knowing the truth. I just laid there on top of my mother, silent for what felt like an hour “We’re never going to have peace, we’re never going to have that place back. I… I’m not going to see the peace the Enclave promised me.”

“That’s only if sit ideally,” I looked to my mother, a goofy grin on her face. I wanted to think she didn’t understand, but I knew what that grin really meant. “I know you're unhappy deary, we all are. Dead Hooves, the other ponies in the Enclave, and maybe even the raiders even though they deny it,” She ran her front left hoof across my mane in a soothing manner. It felt myself start to calm down, but tears still fell from my face like a waterfall. “I was the same way when I woke up after what the empire did to me. That was the last day, we killed everypony in there out of rage for the monsters they turned us into. The mega spell hit mere hours before we woke up, and when we saw what the world had become…”

She stopped there the grin on her face growing into a large smile. Then I heard her let out a laugh. It grew in volume to the point where it was starting to ring in my ears. If this was any other pony, I would have seen them as insane. Yeilta on the other hoof was already insane, and she told us what the laughter really meant. What kind of messed up thing could the zebra empire had done to her to have sympathy come out as laughter? I know there are good zebras, but it’s so hard to believe when you see things like this.

“I’ve learned to fake a frown whenever I feel sad, and hope I can keep my laughter to a minimum,” Yeita explained looking to the sky and closing her eyes. “Sometimes, I just can’t help but laugh, even if it’s that last thing I want to do, but that didn’t make me give up hope. Nothing, not even the barren land that was once me home country, has made me given up hope,” She looked to me again as I got off her. She sat up, tilted her head slightly, and gave me a much more sympathetic grin than before. “You know what? I would have already gone feral if I had given up hope.”

“What kind of hope?” I asked, my voice cracking from my crying.

“Hope that we can bring Equestria back to the way it use to be,” Yeilta said in a matter-of-fact kind of way. “It may not have been my original home, but it’s yours, the home of my two loving daughters. Your home is mine, and in one way or another we can be the reminders ponies need to remember where they came from.”

I looked to Dead Hooves who was now sitting next to me, smiling. She gave me a nod, and as I turned around I saw Grease do the same thing. They agreed with her, and I knew they were right. What worth was it giving in, not like that was going to do anything good. In fact, it would do nothing to set the wasteland on the right course. I looked to Rocket, who walked up behind Yeilta and gave her a hard slap on the back. I saw my mother flinch, and look to Rocket as she rubbed her back. Through my tears I let out an almost silent giggle. To say the least, Rocket sometimes underestimates his strength, something my mother just found out.

“Haven’t heard to many ponies these days talk about hope, not even in the Enclave,” He said with a hard, forced laugh. “That being said, I agree with you. The only problem is that we aren’t exactly in the best of possessions to do that right now.”

“Twister,” Dead Hooves spoke weakly, pausing slightly before continuing “... the Steel Rangers, they want me dead. I need to prove to them somehow I’m the wrong pony, and I don’t think Tenpony Tower is the best thing anymore.”

“Then we expose the pony behind your father's exile from the Steel Rangers,” I said, wiping the tears off my face and looking as confident as possible. “Elder Nightshade, he’s the one responsible for the decision. Whatever Twister’s planning, he knows about it. Our current objective is to meet up with the others, after that we had to Manehattan and do everything in our power to expose the plot. Is that clear!”

Grease and Rocket both gave me a salute in response to this. With that they grabbed their things and started making there way away from Fluttershy’s cottage. Silver Gunner was still waiting at the bottom of the hill, looking at me blankly. A few seconds after Grease and Rocket, Yeilta started making her way away from the cottage, motioning me to Dead Hooves. She was sitting their, looking at the ground for a reason both our mom and I understood. The thought that the Steel Rangers were the bad ponies was still registering in her brain. If that didn’t show it, then the way she had paused not long ago did. As she got up, I wrapped my front right hoof around her chest.

“I know how much they mean to you, even if they don’t mean much to the Enclave,” I told her. “I’ll do everything in my power to stop that pony, don’t you worry. Cider Hooves… he seemed like more of a father then I ever had, that’s for sure.”

“Thank you,” My sister replied with a weak smile as we started after the others. “My father wasn’t the best father, that’s for sure. I remember when I was younger how bad he was at cooking. Not to mention during that time he seemed to be a bit more woozy then others,” I giggled at this, and she looked at me with a confused expression. Her head was tilted slightly. “What about that is so funny?”

“You don’t know what getting drunk is, do you?” I asked her. She shook her head in response. “That’s what happens when ponies have a little too much alcohol, and that includes hard cider.”

Her ears went up like a dog upon hearing that, concern on her face. “Wait… I had alcohol on the day I was kidnapped, and Sharpshot gave me some one day as well!” The worry in her as she said that was rather hilarious to me. “Does… does that mean… I’M DRUNK!”

I did my best to stifle the laughter that I felt from that, but I just couldn’t hold it in. I almost fell down from that, but managed to at least stay on my hooves. Yeilta wasn’t kidding about her not knowing some things. Seriously, how do you grow up in the wasteland without out getting drunk or seeing somepony drunk at least once? While this was amusing to me, a look to Dead Hooves’ face could tell you she wasn’t. She stared at me sternly, and I did my best to stop laughing after this. After I managed to stop, I looked to her with a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of my neck.

“Sorry,” I apologized to her. “No, you are not drunk. I don’t smell any alcohol on you, and you are acting rather normal. Trust me, you’d be acting rather different if you were drunk, and considering you haven’t had any cider in the last twenty-four hours we can say you definitely aren’t.”

She exhaled a large breath she had taken, her stern expression changing to one that was more. I felt a bit bad for laughing at her for something she didn’t know, but it was too much for me to handle. She was probably the first pony I’ve ever met who didn’t know such a common thing as getting drunk. In the end, maybe it was for the better that she didn’t know. I remember using the word drunk in situations it didn’t apply to when I was younger. Those were some of those times you would say ‘years from now I’m going to look back and laugh’. Whelp, I not laughing about it, that's certain. Still not funny after all these years.

“Na- I mean Star,” Grease said, remembering that I’m no longer using my code name before I had to tell him. “Hope you don’t mind, but as the only other pony among us here who can pilot and repair the Raptor, I would like your permission to stay with it. Besides, I have something I need to take care of. My part of the plan.”

I nodded “Do what you have to,” I replied. “Watcher has promised me the chance to clear my sister’s name and I won’t let Twister get any farther in whatever plan he is operating,” I gave him a salute. “For the Enclave, and the Equestrian wasteland!”

He returned my salute with a confident smile. “For the Enclave!”

We watched as he made his way back inside the Raptor, closing the door after we gave a final salute. With that, we started our way down the trail to Ponyville, the home of the ministry mares before the war. As we exited the clearing, I could hear the sound of the Raptor taking off behind me, taking a quick look back. For as long as I’ve been a member of the Angel Hunters, that Raptor had been my metaphorical baby. I was it’s pilot, engineer, and repair pony at many times in the past two years. I could see it’s metallic body rise from the ground and make it’s way out of my view. Watching it leave, it felt like a part of me had disappeared.

I turned around, galloping to catch up with the others still walking down the path. As I caught up to them, I looked up at the sky. The green stain the mega spells left in the sky was heartbreaking. Not even the clouds could go unscathed with the damaged done. Then again, part of me felt like we deserved everything we were getting. We may not have ended this, but we sure as hell started it. The war truly got worse because of what we did, and I couldn’t get the thought out of my head. The tree’s, while bare due to the winter whether (which was never as cold as it use to be), would probably stay that way when summer came.

“My father told me about Ponyville, though it wasn’t a lot,” Dead Hooves said, breaking the silence. “The ministry mares, they lived here. Stable-tech, the ministries, everything started here in Ponyville,” I could hear the sorrow that overtook my sister’s voice. “The Steel Rangers, they were originally stationed here before moving someplace else. I can’t help but wonder… mom, was my dad stationed here?”

“No sweetie,” Yeilta replied. “Trust me, this is one of my favorite places to grab a bite to eat. They don’t have a Steel Ranger’s base here, or at least not anymore. The town is mostly just raiders, slavers, and other unsavory ponies so delicious the only thing that makes them less satisfactory is there rotten attitude,” She let out a laugh at her own, twisted attempt of a joke. I felt a chill go down my spine at that. Seriously, how was Dead Hooves suppose to see her as a mother? “He was stationed somewhere ‘safer’. The reason I say safer is that what bad things there are in Manehattan are things you do not want to mess with, even if they are a delicacy.”

“Mom, please stop.” I requested nervously. How quickly she shift between normal and creepy was too much for me to sometimes handle. Actually, scratched that. I couldn’t handle it. No matter what I wanted to believe I just couldn’t handle it.

“If I may interject,” Silver Gunner said. “I have run a background check with what information I could about somepony by the name of Yeilta before leaving your base. The airport you had use as your base in Las Pegasus was Ministry of Awesome property. I assume that you knew that,” He nodded to him, which he seemed to register. “I can confirm your mom’s pre-war existence, as she had traveled to Equestria two years before the war as an exchange student. As such, I was able to delve deeper due to other connections, and I have some history on your mother the first few years after the war.”

“Wait, that shouldn’t be possible!” I exclaimed, taken back by this discovery. “The computers only contain flight dates, passenger information, and other things. How the hell could you find out things that wasn’t on the computer?”

“All Ministry of Awesome sites have a magic made connectors that are transparent, all of which connecting to the main computer in the Ministry of Awesome’s mane building,” Silver Gunner explained, intriguing me in this knew information. “If you are able to get back the various firewalls, you can retrieve any information you like. It would have proven useful for the Enclave’s cause, and due to such I apologize for not taken more information then I wanted.”

“So the robot knew who I was all along,” Yeilta replied, her tone of voice showed how impressed she was. “Yes, I did come here as an exchange student in high school. Only for a week, sadly, and I planned to go back as part of one the year everything went to hell. Well, you know how that story goes by now I assume,” As I made my way up next to her, I could see her roll her eyes at something. “Still, I am intrigued to see what you have found out about me. Do tell us.”

“I’m afraid that I must hold off for the moment,” Silver Gunner explained. “While it is against my programming to hold back any knowledge, there are still files being cleaned and deciphered. As a show of honesty, I will withhold my information until I can come to a clear conclusion as to why they have you in their system. I apologize for this inconvenience, but it shouldn’t take more than four hours to finish.”

I was about to open my mouth before I ran into the flank of Rocket, who had stopped at the edge of the path. Looking at him I saw a look that was a mix between shock and awe, his eyes looking straight ahead. Follow his gaze, I saw exactly what had caught his attention. Right in front of me stood an open field of grass, standing still as no breeze could be felt around me. I followed it up, and as my eyes looked onto the horizon, I saw a town in the distance. 

We’ve arrived. The houses and shops had lost their luster in the years, holes in the roof from what was likely rotten wood or termites. Windows were punctured with holes from what was raiders and other sorts of unwelcoming folk. I could see the thin line of a river at the edge of the town, a slight glow and green tint to it. I didn’t need to see a recognizable landmark to know where we were, or get any confirmation from my companions. Anypony would know this town just by seeing it, as it was as recognizable as the mares who had lived here,

“Ponyville,” I said, standing in awe of the history and state of this town. “Home of the ministry mares, CEO's of Stable-tech-”

“And myself, till seventy-five years ago,” The voice of a familiar pony interrupted me, and I turned around to see a Sprite Bot. “Soon to be seventy-six when the week is over. Tomorrow would have been Heartwarming day, and the finish of a project Twilight never told me about.”

“There was many secrets the ministry mares held Spike, and we both know how good some of them were,” Yeilta replied. So that was Watcher’s real name. Wait, that was also the name of… no. It couldn’t be.

“Spike, the assistant of minister Twilight Sparkle?” I asked, surprised. “But… that can’t be right. Spike disappeared around the same time Twilight Sparkle did, and considering how long it’s been no pony save for the obvious exception,” I shoot a quick glance to my mother as I said this. “Could still be alive.”

“Spike isn’t a pony my dear Star,” My mother chimed in, looking to me. “He’s a dragon, and a big one considering how small you were when I visited. Funny enough he actually slept through the entire thing if I remember correctly, and some time after,” She turned back to the sprite-bot, with a warm smile on her face. “So, how goes the search for your caretaker? Found anything yet?”

“Sadly not,” Spike said, a speck of regret in his voice. “Fifteen years and I can’t find a thing, doesn’t help that I can’t access the Arcane Science hub either. That isn’t what I found you all for, however,” He turned to Dead Hooves, who looked at the Sprite-bot unsure. “The others arrived a day before you did, and they set up camp in the Golden Oak library, my old home. Dead Hooves, I know it unsettles you, but the Steel Rangers that arrived yesterday as well are not friends. They want you dead, ordered to kill you on the spot. Twister has killed most of your father's friends, but two are still alive, one you’ve already met.”

I could see the light of hope in Dead Hooves’ eyes upon hearing that. “Really! Who are they?!” She asked, the remorse that was present since we landed had vanished from her face. After a second, I saw her expression rapidly change from hope to fear. “Wait, no. The only other pony I know besides from us and the others is… Dread! How is he friends with my father?”

“Some stories are harder to tell than others,” Yeilta replied as she put a hoof on Dead Hooves, “Dread is not one of the nicest ponies, but he has guts that most ponies don’t have. Part of me doubts the earth pony has emotions, or even understands them, but it helped balance out Cider’s ego. Not to mention he is one of the last ponies you would ever want to fight against,” She let out a sigh before chuckling. “If only the pony understood how to actually show that.”

“You want to know who the Bloody Angel is, right Dead Hooves?” Spike asked, my sister giving a nod in reply. “Well, what if I told you that they were not only on your side, but you had been traveling with them ever since you left that raider camp.”

At first, Dead Hooves didn’t react to this, but as it sunk in I could see something was wrong. Her eyes were huge, her lower jaw looking for words that she couldn’t seem to find. Her tan coat was on end, and I could see her starting to shiver. One thing was clear from this, Dread was the Bloody Angel (which only made me hate the Steel Rangers even more), and that he wasn’t the only pony. It took only a second for it to make since to me, and my heart pounded as I thought back to one of the ponies Dead Hooves was traveling with in the Smokey Mountains. It seemed so impossible, yet it was the only logically idea.

“No,” I heard Dead Hooves mutter, “No. That can’t be right, that couldn’t possibly be right. Willow Wisp would do something like that. SHE COULDN’T!” Her mutter’s turned to yelling, the disbelief clear in her eyes. “WILLOW WOULD NEVER DO THAT! WHY WOULD SHE?! HOW COULD SHE KILL THOSE PONIES?! SHE WAS…” She paused, a word stuck in her throat as she looked to the ground. “She was a slave. My father would never be friends with… he wasn’t…”

“Dead Hooves,” Spike said, regret in his voice. “This isn’t Willow’s fault, she never wanted to be a part of it all,” Dead Hooves looked up to the Sprite-bot. “You have all the right to hate Dread; he was exiled because of her slavery. Willow isn’t the killer. Why do you think everypony Dread kills is buried? She did it to give rest, to make up for what she let happen,” Silence followed as Spike finished, speaking up again after a few minutes. “Dread may have been a bad pony, but there was a reason and pattern to his killing. You can kill him if you want, but at least listen to what he has to say before hand.”

Dead Hooves stared at the Sprite-bot for several seconds, her teeth showing the anger inside of her. “Okay,” She said, turning around. “Let’s go see what the son of a bitch has to say.”

With that, Dead Hooves walk towards Ponyville, no one following her. I looked to the others, Rocket motioning for me to head after her. I didn’t need words to know what I needed to do as I sprinted down into the grassy plains after Dead Hooves. As I caught up with her, she stopped walking, looking at me with rage in her eyes. I was expecting her to yell at me, but instead her response was a sigh as she started walking. Watching her movements, I could see her body was tense, her steps heavy and loud. What was going through her head was something I didn’t want to understand.

“Dead Hooves?”

“I know what you’re going to say,” She said, a low growl in her voice. “Spike’s right, he’s the only pony who has any idea what’s going on. I need to know why he’s doing this, why he killed all those ponies. I want to know how a pony such as he... could EVER KNOW MY DAD!” I could feel something different in those words. This was rage, not the recklessness our mother had told me. “My dad, even with how self-centered he was, knew how to treat a pony. How could he be friends with somepony that enslaved a pegasus like Willow Wisp. I don’t care what reason he has, it doesn’t make up for what he’s done. I’ll kill that motherfucker, he deserves it for what he’s done.”

“I wasn’t going to change your mind,” I replied. Dead Hooves stopped again and turned to me. “I signed up for a reason, and that was avenge my brother and the other Enclave members that died. My dad didn’t love me like you did; he despised me. I’m doing this to prove to him I’m worthy of being a member of the Enclave, as well as avenge my brother.”

I watched as a smile crept onto my sisters face, a mix of courage and rage on her face. I wasn’t going to hide anything from her, and I wasn’t going to abandon my mission because my target was the friend of Dead Hooves’ father. Dread, the Bloody Angel, he was a criminal to both the Enclave and the Wasteland. The lives he ended greatly outweighed any sentiment for the murderer. I wasn’t going to let him go, and I was going to find out why he killed so many. With this objective, I smiled at my sister.

Dead Hooves turned around, looking at the ruined town in front of us. “Then let's give the bastard a piece of our minds.”
> Chapter 20 - The Feared and Afraid
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was only one way for me to describe the condition of Ponyville, depressing. My mother was not joking about this being a raider hotspot. As me and Star walked into town using a nearby bridge, we were met with horrifying sights. The decaying body of ponies stood on pikes lining the cobblestone bridge, skeletons leaning against houses. This is what pony kind truly was deep down inside, the only thing keeping it from coming out for so long was the princesses. Ever since that devastating day seventy-five years ago, dark parts of ponies truly started to show. I envied those who enjoyed stable life, as they didn’t have to witness the horrors of this world.

However, it was the stark contrast between Las Pegasus’ ruins and Ponyville’s that really got to me. In many ways, even though half the city was leveled by Nebula One, Las Pegasus had been left in rather reasonable condition. Ponyville was much more depressing, not in terms of destruction but just in the shape of it. Even walking across that bridge you could see the despair of the buildings that had so long ago been the home of pony. Old, faded posters were on the walls of building promoting dozens of things from the Steel Rangers to the ministries. Homes were either ransack or in a complete mess, disturbing graffiti of… things were written on the inside.

Of course, what fear and sadness at that moment I had was pushed into the back of my mind. All I could think about was the reason I’m seeing everything in the first place. Dread, one of the two ponies responsible for me being out here, was here in Ponyville. The Blood Angel, former ‘friend’ of my father, and the reason Willow Wisp's was a slave. It was that last one that got to me the most, remembering the horrifying condition the poor pegasus had been in back with the raiders. Twister had much to explain, but the rage inside of me was all on that criminal. I was going to beat him senseless; his punishment for the crimes he committed.

“Ponyville wasn’t even hit by a mega spell,” Star Chart said as we examined our surroundings. “All of this was from ponies. Raiders, slavers, and other bastards who didn’t give shit about the world ending.”

I didn’t respond, staring at the posters on the walls of homes of poles. If there was one thing my mother had made me aware of, it was who the really culprits of Equestria’s condition really were. I know it was only making more furious by look at the propaganda, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. I pulled my lips back in a snarl, my eye catching one poster of a menacing zebra standing over a dead pony. ‘They will stop at nothing to kill us’ the description read, words that stopped my in my tracks. I could see Star stop an inch or so in front of me as I made my way to the poster.

“Who are you to say such a fucking thing?” I asked, a low growl escaping me. “Are we the ones who blew them up? Or is the world you brought us suppose to be better?” I ripped the poster off the wall, staring at it with fury. “LIKE HELL IT IS! YOU THINK THIS IS THE WORLD I WANTED?!”

“Dead Hooves calm down, please,” I heard Star Chart say. “It’s just a poster; no part of it is true.”

“Do you think ponies seventy-five years ago knew that?” I asked. “It may not mean much anymore, but think about everything this caused. It’s because of things like this that we couldn’t obtain peace,” I threw the poster on the ground, stomping on it. I could feel the hoof of my sister wrap around my neck. Upon her touch, I stopped what I was doing and looked to her. I then looked back to the now trampled propaganda poster under my hooves, letting out a frustrated sigh. “Things such as this is the reason the mega spells ever dropped. The war is one thing, but the fear...”

“I can understand how you feel right now,” Star replied, gently hugging me. “Your thinking about mom, and no matter how crazy she is she never deserved what had happened to her. I understand that, but we have ponies after us, and getting angry will only make that worse. Just try and stay calm till we meet up with Sharpshot and the others.”

My heartbeat slowed to a steady beat as my sister’s words sunk into my head. She was right, this wasn’t the time or place to act angry. The Steel Rangers were after me for the crimes Dread had committed, and a squad of them were here in Ponyville. It was hard to grasp, but no matter how much I denied it their actions made sense. The Steel Ranger’s job was to keep ponies safe, and I had the unfortunate soul who had a fake bullseye painted on my back. I kept the anger I felt inside of me as hidden as possible, turning to Star with a nod.

Before we made a single step, I heard a familiar sound. Power Armor gave a particular sound when it moved, the sound of metal and rust from years of use and poor care. The last time I had heard the sound was in Las Pegasus, but it was to familiar to not recognize. My ears shifted to what I suspected was west, a building not far away being the only think muffling the sound. It was going to turn the corner, and considering my father’s explanation of battle saddles, I didn’t want take the chance of being seen.

I motioned to Star behind me, looking to the building that I had teared the poster off of. It had a hole wide enough to fit through at the corner, and I quickly ran to it and jumped inside. I put my back up against what there was left of the brick wall of the house in time to see Star jump over me. I slide to the side, my metal legs scraping against the wood floor as I made room for my sister behind it. I could hear the sound of metal steps getting closer and closer, until the obstruction of the building it had been behind completely disappeared. I could hear it clearly, the once so welcoming sound of power armor filling me with fear.

I looked down at the Novasurge rifle in my hooves, my first thought being to shoot the pony in the power armor. Almost as soon as the idea came to my head, a chill was sent through my bones. How could I ever think of doing such a thing? These were the Steel Rangers, good ponies who defended other good ponies. I couldn't get my head over the thought that they would be willing to listen. Listening as the sound of hooves came closer to us, I made up my mind.

“Stay here,” I told Star as I handed her my Novasurge rifle and Remembrance. “If things go south, run as far away from here as possible.”

Before she had a chance to answer I got up and jumped out of the building. It took me only a few seconds to spot the familiar Steel Ranger Armor the pony wore. There face was covered by the helmet which gave a menacing glare from the way it looked. As soon as I revealed myself, the Steel Ranger turned to my direction. I swallowed my spit, heart thumping like a drum as I prepared to speak. Luckily for me, the Steel Ranger didn’t rev the minigun that I saw on their power armor.

“Halt pony!” The muffled voice of the pony ordered as she spotted me. Even though I couldn’t see her eyes, I could tell she was looking over me “Tan coat, Black and Red mane, no cutie mark. The description matches perfectly, except for the legs,” My heart felt like it was about to burst. Twister didn’t know about my operation, meaning that my legs were currently my only saving grace. “Elder Nightshade was pretty specific in his description of the pony, he wouldn’t have left out something that important. Tell me pony, what is your name?”

“Dead Hooves,” I answered. “My father was a paladin of the Steel Rangers, left a few years ago to take care of me.”

What followed next was silence. A long, drawn out silence that resonated in the still town. I looked at the Steel Ranger, and she looked right back at me. I needed her to recognize me, I knew that my ancestors was my only hope of getting out of this alive. She walked up to me, and I stayed perfectly still save for my eyes. This pony was big, being at least a head taller than me, which was strange considering their voice was female. My eye caught onto a strange insignia on the collar of her power armor, a pegasus with a gear and sword behind it.

“Dead Hooves,” She replied. “Under the law, I hereby arrest you and your Enclave friend. You are charged for almost two hundred murders in the past two years, and the Enclave soldier will be dealt with as we see fit.” Hearing what she was saying, I looked behind myself to see another pony in power armor holding Star at gunpoint. “If you try to escape we will gun down you and the pony you're with. Action with the Enclave is seen as a betrayal to Equestria, unless you got a good reason she will be terminated here.”

I looked to Star, looking terrified. “She’s my sister, we're family! I have no relation to the Enclave, as our fathers were different ponies. My loyalty,” I gulped heavily as I continued. “... resides with the Steel Rangers, and my sister was doing nothing but help me get to Manehattan.”

“What you say is nothing short of a lie,” The Steel Ranger in front of me replied. “I’ve seen this same exact design for artificial limbs only on Enclave soldiers. Even if she is your sister, her and the other Enclave pegasus had abandoned Equestria in her time of need. No ponies with affiliation with the enemy, like she must be, is allowed to live,” The Steel Ranger took out a revolver, pointing it in Stars direction.

Bang

I closed my eyes as the sound of gunfire sounded, to scared to watch my sister die. That was until I heard the sound of metal hit the ground. I opened my eye, watching as the Steel Ranger who was holding Star dropped her, falling to the ground. A small, barely visible hole was visible in the soft material between the helmet and neck piece. Blood oozed out of the hole slowly, but I was more shocked that somepony had managed to make the shot. I turned to the Steel Ranger that I had originally seen, thinking she had turned the gun, only to see it pointing at me.

Bang

Another shot rang through the air, this time I could see the small streak of air it left behind as it pierced the same exact location on the Steel Rangers body as the last one. Without thinking I grabbed the gun pointed at me out of her hoof and unloaded several shots into her helmet. After the entire barrel was empty, she fell to the ground dead. I was breathing heavily, as if I had been holding my breath that entire time. Having seen where the shot had come from she saw the window of a large tree not that far in the distance. That must have been Golden Oak, which means that it was most likely Sharpshot who had taken the shot; he did shoot a dragon in the eye twice with perfect accuracy. I waved to whoever it was before looking back rushing to Star, who was on the floor crying slightly. I looked to what her front legs were holding onto, seeing that her back left had a small hole in it. I didn’t bother to ask if she was okay, knowing perfectly well she was in pain.

“I’m sorry Star,” I said as I helped her up. I never noticed it, but since I got these new legs I’ve felt much stronger than before. “I should known better then to do such a thing, but deep down inside of me I was hoping they would look past false claim and see who I truly was,” As she got onto her hooves I let go of her, glad to see she could still stand. 

“I should have known that when you would have acted such a way,” My sister said. “It’s my fault for not doing anything to prevent it. Since we have these free suits of power armor however,” We looked to the two dead Steel Rangers, a pang of guilt inside me. “We might as well use them to our advantage, but if our friends start to attack us take the helmet off.”

I nodded heading over to the smaller piece of power armor, which actually happened to be the taller mare that I had spotted. The soft material was stretched rather wide, which explained how they managed to make a ‘one size fits all’ kinda deal. Opening the power armor, I looked away as I removed the body, not wanting to see the body of what should have been a comrade. These were the ponies that my dad had worked beside, and I had just been convicted of a false crime. This wasn’t the group my father had told me about, the one that was suppose to be the good guys. It was horribly ironic, working with the Enclave and against the Steel Rangers, considering their overall likeability in the wasteland.

As I stepped inside the power armor, I was forced to face the horrendous smell inside of it. My god it smelled awful in here, and a quick glance to the pony occupying it just filled me with more worry. That mare really needs to learn to wash this thing, it’s sticky, groose, and overall just plain disgusting. Only paladins got power armor… right. She should know how to clean these things like my dad had taught me to do. I couldn’t tell where it smelled and felt worse, the back of suit or the helmet, but I wasn’t going to find out why.

“I miss my dad’s old armor,” I said as I tried to get as comfortable as possible. My voice was actually echoing slightly off the inside of the helmet. “Star, please tell me that your armor smells any better than this.”

“The smells okay,” I said, turning to a now armored up Star, “but this ain’t Enclave armor. No slot for wings, and just moving them feels wrong. At least the leather inside keeps it from scratching my wings and hurting my feathers. Does feel a little wet in some parts however.”

“I… guess that’s better,” I said, tilting my head the best I could inside the helmet. I then proceeded to point in the direction of the big tree the shot had come from “So I think that must be Golden Oaks. Whoever is in their save our ass, and given my current predicament I don’t think it would have been a random stranger.”

“True, especially since this is closer to Manehattan,” Star said as she handed me back Remembrance and the Novasurge rifle I had. “I’ll take the lead, you watch my six. Remember: the Steel Rangers don’t care about who your father was. He was exiled, and even if it was for a bad reason they won’t care. They want you dead, so don’t see them as friends.” I nodded, ready to leave. That was delayed after only a single step as Star fell forward. “OW!”

“Star!” I rushed to her aid, helping her stand back up. “You okay?”

“It’s the leather,” She told me. “When whoever killed the second Steel Ranger shot, they threw off the other one and the bullet landed in my leg. I’m already bleeding, but the leather is only making it feel worse,” As she got comfortably back on her feet she looked to me. “Forget what I said about leading, stay by my side. I’m going to need to take it slow, but if I fall again try to catch me.”

“You think I let my sister fall?” I asked her rhetorically. “Don’t think just because we just learned about our families that I don’t care. We’re sisters, and besides, you're not a bad pony.”

Star laughed nervously at this, although I knew she was grateful on the inside. With that we made our way slowly down the road toward the tree. I could hear her grunt and feel her hesitate as she stepped, brushing my side. She stumbled with almost every step she took, using me as a wall to keep her balance. I could understand the pain she was in, or at least the struggle of walking. That was the one similarity I hoped my sister never had to share with me. Just the thought of her losing the ability to walked scared me. Why a single bullet to the leg made me that scared, I didn’t know or even wanted to know.

As we turned the corner I saw the giant tree that the pony who saved us had shot out of. It was tall, but I think what truly interested me was how wide the tree was, and the fact it still seemed to be slightly alive. A single door red door was in the center with many windows sticking out where giant branches must have once been. The top of the tree was completely bare, the cold yet snowless winter being the obvious culprit. A rooting side gave me the only answer I need to what this place was. ‘Golden Oak Library’ it read in fading wordings.

As we approached the door, I disconnected the back of my helmet, letting the front of it hang limply from a single clip. Before I could open the door, somepony opened it from the inside, and I could feel the anger in me rise as I saw who it was. A big, bulky, black furred earth stallion made himself known, with a look of what I assumed was shock. Dread! I grinded my teeth at the familiarity of the stallion. He made way for us to head inside, and I decided to save beating him till after everything was done. That didn’t stop me from opening my mouth.

“You,” I said as I walked inside. “You have no idea how much I never want to see you again.”

“Just get inside,” He ordered, “Your friends will no doubt be close behind you. Also, if you think I’m here by choice, I honestly have better things to do.”

I pretend to ignore him, searching the bottom floor for Stitch. The walls were lined with what must have been over two hundred books, the fading picture of the sun on the top of the wall. I’m sure many of these books were as old an unreadable as most things in the wasteland seem to be. The library wasn’t the thing that caught my eye, it was the two pony I saw sitting on the left side. I was able to tell one of them was Stitches, who I was surprised to covering her right eye in what must have been pain, but the other pony took me several seconds to recognize. A pure white alicorn, probably an inch smaller than what I remember Scythe looking at. At first glance I didn’t recognize her, but then I noticed the scar on her neck and the missing top of one of her ears.

“Just get it out, please,” Stitch said as she continued to block her eye from my vision. I could see Willow come close to the Stitch’s blocked, before quickly pulling away with her mouth clenching a small piece of metal. “AAAH! Bandages, bandages quickly.”

“You sure that’s all of it?” I did a double take as I heard Willow speak, thinking I had heard things. No, that was Willow talking, a voice much deeper and mature than her age would have suggested.

“Yes yes, I’m sure just bandage my eye quickly!” Stitch pleaded to the Willow, me simply staring in shock. Willow effortlessly lifted up a giant roll of bandages as if she had been alicorn all along and started wrapping it around the eye Stitch was blocking from my view. As Willow finished she put the bandages into what I could see was a black, leather purse. “Thanks, I don’t think it's infected, but I never had to operate on an eye before.”

Willow nodded, turning in my direction as she got up. Her face told me just how shocked she was to see me here. Before I could even exit the sticky power armor I was still end, Willow leaped onto me with full force. I fell to the ground, shocked that she had somehow managed to knock me over. I opened the power armor up as Willow Wisp hugged me. The smile on her face almost brought me to tears, but nothing was more reassuring than the fact she hadn’t been hurt.

“Dead Hooves, I’m so happy to see you!” Her voice greeted me with excitement. “I was so scared when I saw the HQ blow up. I… I thought you were dead!” She got off of me, allowing me to get to my hooves. I could see her staring at my new legs, just like I was staring at her new horn. “You're wondering about my voice, aren’t you?” I nodded. “Well, it’s a long story, but to put it simply I had an incident with killing joke that made me lose my voice before getting captured. Then, when we took the train here to Ponyville… well, he saved me.”

The excitement in her voice faded into one that was unsure. She pointed to Dread, who sat at the door with that same purple and pink shotgun I remember him having. My urge to pound him to the ground was overwhelmed by the joy in my heart to see Willow. A sole tear fell from my eyes as I wrapped the pegasus-turned-alicorn into a hug. Hearing that Dread was with them, I had assumed the worst to happen to Willow, but to see her unscarred before me was the happiest thing in the world.

“I’m so glad your alright,” I told her as she returned my hug. “When I heard Dread was the Bloody Angel, and that you were his slave, I was scared.”

“Trust me, he would have,” Willow told me, a comforting wing wrapping around me back. “Sharpshot, despite what I originally thought of him, he saved me. He saved me from becoming a slave to the alicorns, and from Dread when he threatened me.”

“Hey, where is that insufferable bitch anyway?” I asked Willow, only to get no respond. Looking at her face, I could see her looking at the ground with a soft smile. Her face was slight pink as if… oh no. No way, she isn’t. “Willow, are you okay?”

“Huh?” She finally responded, looking to me. I was still getting use to her low voice “Oh, uh, yeah. I’m fine, thanks to Sharpshot at least. You really get to know him as a pony when you travel with him for a few days, and he isn’t all that bad. I’m, he’s got a rather nice face for a-” Something seemed to go through her head as she said that, and I could now confirm that the pink on her face was a blush. “Dead Hooves… it’s not what you think, seriously.”

“Really?” I asked teasingly, “Willow, I won’t judge who you love, but please tell me that was an accident? Cause if you really do love Sharpshot I expect-”

“Let it be Dead Hooves,” I looked to Stitch, who had walked up to us. The bandage around her right eye was already covered with blood. “As far as I’m concerned the only cure for love is either a breakup or divorce, and I don’t see that happening with these two. Although, I do have worries about the two of you in the long run.”

“And it’s none of your damn business who we love,” My attentions turned to the stairs to see a ghoul start making his way down. My heart skipped a few beats, and I stumbled back. Then I noticed the red zebra rifle on his back, and staring aghast as I realized who it was. “Sorry to interrupted, but I heard a certain somepony calling for me. That somepony being a lucky unicorn idiot who just entered the doorway.”

“Fuck you too, Sharpshot,” I cursed, giving him a glare. “So, what happened to Feather? I thought she had come with you.”


“Upstairs with a rather… special pony,” Stitch responded. “We picked up an alicorn on the way here, or Sharpshot and Willow did to be more exact. She has some sort of multiple personality disorder from the taint. She looked herself in a room on the upper floor saying and I quote ‘It’s better that somepony like me stays as far away from everypony as possible’ end quote. White Light, Feather’s real name, is-”

“Wait,” I put a hoof on Stitches mouth as those last few words were said. “Did you just say Feather is a pegasus named White Light?”

“The same White Light that Dread told you to take me to,” Willow answered, with a smile. “She and Dread use to be friends before the whole Bloody Angel thing. She’s also apparently White Light’s sister, which is still rather weird.”

“So I’m not the only pony here who has family we never knew about,” I thought outloud, both Pegasi simultaneously tilting there heads at me. I pointed behind them to Star Chart, who this entire time was trying her hardest to get out of the power armor she was in. “Turns out I have a sister who worked in the Grand Pegasus Enclave, and my mom’s a cannibalistic zebra,” They turned around as I said this, Star finally getting completely out of the power armor in time. She waved to them. “Trust me, it’s a complicated story.”

The door opened behind us, and I watched as both Rocket, Silver Gunner, and Yeilta made there way inside. I watched as my mother stared down Dread as she entered the room in the same way I had. Dread attempted to get in their way, only for Rocket to effortlessly push him out of the way to Willows shock. Almost immediately after, Rocket disarmed Dread, taking the weird purple shotgun out of his hand. I could hear hoofsteps behind me as I watched White Light and an alicorn join Sharpshot as the made their way downstairs. Looking back, I saw the Sprite Bot that Spike was using.

“Well, aren’t we a large cast of main characters,” My mother said, words that I didn’t fully understand. “Glad to see the rest of you made it here safely.”

I turned to introduce my mother to everypony before Willow put a hoof on my mouth. “You don’t have to explain Zoey to us,” Willow said “We already know everything, and I mean everything,” Her happy demeanor changed as a frown took form on her face. She hung her head, looking up to me in what I remember my dad calling ‘puppy eyes’ “Dead Hooves… we’re sorry about what you did to your father.”

“It’s okay, I guess,” I rubbed the back of my neck as I spoke. “Just don’t bring it up on a regular basis, please?” Willow nodded her head, and a certain emotion came back to me as I looked to Dread. “Speaking of my father.”

I charged at Dread, who put no effort in stopping my as I pinned him to the wall of the library. My magic seemed to activate as a tan aura surrounded him, holding him slightly in the air. I stood on my back hooves, or rather the one that I could, and used my front ones to put pressure on his neck. We were about the same height standing up, his muzzle grazing mine as my lips peeled back into a snarl. He did almost the same as I did, although his was more of a growl then a snarl.

“Never shoulda shown up motherfucker!” I told him, my voice crackling like a hyena, “Enslaving Willow Wisp, murdering hundreds of ponies, and apparently a friend of my father! You expect me to see you and act like I’m happy? The only reason I didn’t shoot you when I came in the door was because I want answers. Why did you do all of this? Was it really worth killing all those ponies?” What pressure I put on his neck didn’t seem to do anything as he simply looked away, gazing out the window. “ANSWER ME YOU BASTARD!”

“I never expected you to be happy seeing me,” He said in that same disgruntled voice he always did. “I don’t expect anypony to see me and be happy, cause I’m not. Why put a smile on your face when there's nothing to smile about. You’ve seen the way Ponyville is right now; ruined and void of the things that once made this place beautiful,” He looked to me, and with no effort took my hooves off his neck. Unable to balance I fell to the floor, landing on my back with pain. My magic vanished from around Dread as he landed quietly on his hooves. “Me and Twister have similar views of ponies such as ourselves: beings that destroy, desolated, and cowered from there country in needed hours. We are the ones responsible for our kingdom going to hell, the ones who forgot the foundation in which we founded Equestria on.”

He made his way to the center of the room, looking to all of us as he continued. “That’s where the differences in us end however. Twister sees pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies such as most of us inferior. He thinks he’s a higher class, and believes that the only way for Equestria to rise again is through unity,” He pointed to Willow Wisp, staring her hard in the eyes in a way that made the alicorn shy away. “Alicorns, to him they are the perfect beings. He doesn’t give a shit about anyone, not after what he learned about the ministries.”

“And what would that be?” Star asked. I looked in her direction to see Stitch working on her injured leg.

“That they had let the mega spells be developed by zebras,” Dread replied with venom as he glared at Yeilta, who simply rolled her eyes. “We let secrets loose, secrets that ended in our fucked up world. That was the ministries fault, but he won’t solve anything by killing or turning everypony he meets,” He walked over to me, getting close enough where his muzzle was on top of mine, breathing on my face. “He kills, manipulates, and so far that has all worked in his favor. The only thing keeping him from doing such a thing, is getting something from the Ministry of Arcane Science and Ministry of Wartime Technology. Those places are still locked tight, and the only pony who can get into them is a descendant of the Ministry.”

“That’s where our plan starts,” Yeilta interrupted, trying to push Dread to the side. She failed, and after several attempts Dread just walked away so she would get on. “Spike told us everything he could before losing control of the Sprite Bot, so I’ll explain from here. Now, I by no means agree with the amount of ponies you killed, but Dread has given us a slight advantage. Dead Hooves my dear, as far as we know your father was the only Ministry of Arcane Science that still has living offspring. Either that, or the rest are dead,” She looked to Dread, a cynical smile on her face “His pattern wasn’t like a normal serial killer, but targeting specific ponies makes you one.”

“Stop drawing out the point!” Dread barked in anger, his cold voice only making it less friendly. “The point is that you are the only pony, save for a few stragglers that the mother fucker hasn’t been able to find, that can open the Ministry of Arcane Science. I have descendancy with a member of the Ministry of Wartime technology.” 

He nodded to Sharpshot, who shot a glare at him as he made his way to Star. Willow Wisp stayed close to the ghoul's side, and I had to remind myself not to judge. Knowing that, I looked to Dread, who was looking at me. I still had questions that needed answers, things I had to know. If I didn’t get my answers like he denied it back at the cave, I will kill him. It would help keep Twisters hooves off of whatever was in the Ministry of Wartime technology.

“Why did you enslave Willow?” I asked, “And don’t you dare say you won’t tell me. I want my answer-”

“She was cheap and affordable,” Dread answered, his emotionless voice just making it sound even worse. “Nopony wants a pegasus slave, not since it’s the waste of a slave collar to them. Unicorns can at least have magic dampened, Earth ponies are retards to run unless there owner is dead, but slave collars have been known to seize working condition when introduced to large gusts of air,” He walked over to the window and lend against it. “She was useful, did what she needed to. I would have freed her once this was all over, but you can’t trust an alicorn. She’s not connected to their hive mind, but I don’t give a fuck. Alicorns are the bigger reason we are in this mess. They caused the war, so they don’t deserve to live.”

“Even if that pony-turn-alicorn is your bestfriend?” I asked, lips once again in a snarl.

“What is there left of your friend if they have the same mind as the rest of the alicorns?” Dread looked to me, his voice slightly higher. “And what use is there gaining trust if that pony is just going to stab you in the back? That’s the way the wasteland works; anypony is willing to shoot you in the head or cut your head off with a knife. Honestly, I don’t get what you see is so great in friends like Sharpshot and Willow.”

I could see that most eyes were on us at this moment, and I was ready to snap. I had already taken enough of Dread’s bullshit, and thousands of thoughts of exactly what to say to him now ran through my head. As this happened, I tried once again to pin him against the wall. Even with the most force I could apply, it was as if I was putting no pressure on him at all. How the hell did Rocket manage to shove him earlier? That has to be one strong pegasus to move somepony like this.

“I could give you many reasons as to why Sharpshot and Willow are my friends,” I told him as I began to explain. “Sharpshot may be insufferable at times, but at least he seems to understand the concept of loyalty and trust. I don’t think I would ever trust you with a gun considering your criminal record, so don’t say anything about shooting in the back,” I tried to put more pressure on his neck, which didn’t even make him gasp. “Also, I think Willow could teach you a few things about friendship. She didn't say a single word until today and I could tell how nice she is. Perhaps you should learn to shut the fuck up. She’s the same pony she was as a pegasus, and if you try to harm her I will jump in the way. Willow Wisp deserved a better life than with the likes of you. How could you ever be my father’s friend?”

“I want to make two things very clear to you right now Dead Hooves,” Dread replied. “First, I could easily crush you like a grape at this exact moment. You already had a physically frail body being a unicorn, but add in your legs before you got rid of your old ones and I’m surprised you’ve survived. Even with these new legs, your normal bones and muscles are incredible soft, and easy for anypony to out do you in hoof to hoof combat. Second of all, your father was my mentor, not friend. I couldn’t give a shit about that self-centered prick,” He shoved me to the ground, walking by me. “Taught me everything I needed to know about surviving in the wasteland. Would have left him to die if he didn’t disappear with that stupid zebra.”

“And what a student you turned out to be,” I retorted with a low growl.

Dread stopped walking at my words, glancing at me with cruel look in his eyes. He didn’t say anything more to me, and turned back around. The bastard opened the door to the library and exited, everypony watching him. I got back onto my feet, feeling a victory in my words for actually survive this. A smile dawned my face, and stuck my tongue out at the now closed door. I felt a heavy weight on my back, look behind me to see a smiling Sharpshot. He held out his hoof, which looked in about as good of shape as the rest of his rotting body.

“Come on Dead,” He said cheerfully. “Give me some skin.”

I looked at my hoof, then to his hoof, and then finally to his face. I’m going to be honest, that was the first time I have ever heard the phrase ‘give me some skin’. Not that I realized this at the time, but it meant to give him a high hoof. Instead, I reared around struck him as hard as I could in the face with my one of my metallic hoof. Dread was right about one thing: my physical strength was rather weak, because in the end all I did was make Sharpshot stagger backwards a bit. I could hear Willow laughing, and looked blankly at the alicorn not getting why it was funny.

“Okay, I guess that will do,” Sharpshot said as he rubbed the left side of his muzzle. “It seems like every mare we meet wants to hit me.”

“I can get mine out of the way if you so wish,” Yeilta chimed in, cracking her neck in a way that made me shiver.

“No thank you,” Sharpshot said, waving a hoof from side to side frantically. “I’ve seen the physical strength and flexibility you zebra’s have. No offensive, but I’d rather not end up with my ass above my head,” Sharpshot shook his head, turning back to Star. “Does the location on the map seem familiar?”

“Well Sharpshot, that’s the tricky part,” Star replied with a sigh, “All I have here is coordinates and elevation. Without an actual map or terminal I can’t pinpoint an exact location this is pointing to. I can tell you this, however: the location is farther north of Las Pegasus, and I doubt anything very important is here in Ponyville.”

“The ministry of Awesome should have a mainframe possible of tracking the exact location,” Silver Gunner stepped in. “I can’t access it, but I am able to shut off all security systems inside the building. I would suggest a group of more technical ponies take care of this.”

“Excuse me,” Everyone's attention was drawn to the Sprite Bot that, up till now, had been floating aimlessly. “I heard most of what you all were saying, but it took me sometime to take control of the speaker. The robot has a point, and it would be better if we separated into groups so we could-” The door slammed open, interrupting Spikes already sudden input. Dread looked at the ground, constantly glancing at me before sitting at a far corner of the library “-get an idea of what we are up against. One problem, the main headquarters are all in Canterlot, which Sharpshot could tell you makes them unreachable.”

“The solution is simply,” Silver cut in. “Each ministry has a secret, secondary headquarter in the cities around Equestria, as well as hubs in every major city. The location of most of the secondary headquarters are unknown. However, with the Angel Hunters base having a Ministry of Awesome terminal, I have that location a backup headquarters. Fillydelphia, a city that was on the rise during the war due to it’s harbors, is that very location of the Ministry of Peace’s secondary base. We can use it to locate the others.”

“Guess even robots have limits to knowledge,” Sharpshot commented. “In that case we split up into four teams. One of which heads to Fillydeplhia, and the other three head to Manehattan.”

I tilted my head, “Why four teams?”

“There are other things we need to take care of in Manehattan,” Spike said. “I know it’s irresponsible, but I’ve taken the liberty of plotting our how will be on what teams,” I could hear the crinkle of paper on the other side of the Sprite Bot. “First off, we need to deal with Nightshade, and I want Sharpshot, Yeilta, and Willow to take care of that. Yeilta has had her fair deal of experience revealing secrets considering she was suppose to be an infiltrator, but Sharpshot’s accuracy with rifles and Willow’s alicorn strength will give you the force needed to get into Friendship City.”

“I’ll be taking Silver Bullet and Rocket with me,” Dread said. “We're going to look into the Ministry of Wartime Technology, as well as deal with a secondary objective involving an operative of Twisters. Once we know where the Ministry is, will head there.”

“The final team is made up of everypony except for Dead Hooves-” I gasped at this part, my sister clearly doing the same. “- and Star Chart,” I relaxed again as I heard this, glad that I wasn’t alone after all. “Dead Hooves, I was hoping to meet with you, but over the past two hours plans have changed. I can’t tell you everything, even though I want to, so you will have to learn the hard way. I know the location of the the backup headquarters for the Ministry of Arcane Science: A library obviously, under the name of ‘Grand Manehattan Library’. They have something Twister wants, and we need it,” Everypony was silent for a few seconds. “Also, Twilight had an extra projects in the work, one I need to know. Something happened the day she disappeared, and I need to know. Dead Hooves, please give this dragon some leverage? It’s all I can ask for.”

“I understand,” I nodded my head as I responded. “I’ll do everything in my power to see you get what you need.”

“Will take our leaves then,” Rocket chimed in, looking to Dread. “I’m going to give you back your gun, and I expect you to show restraint with it. Don’t want somepony shooting me in the back.”

“Uh yeah,” I looked to the Alicorn next to White Light who had finally spoken up. She got up hesitantly. “Sure, I guess we should leave now. I mean, Fillydelphia is a long ways away from us and, um, it’s the only other working train stop so-”

“Shut the hell up,” Dread mumbled as he took his shotgun back from Rocket.

I could see him reach into a bag that was in was rather hidden until now. He took a gun out, and I had to blink as I glance at it. The gun had two triggers! No, not just two triggers, but also two muzzles, sights, and even magazines. It had the print of a bird like creature on it that I haven’t seen before in red on it’s side, and a small switch laying out of one side of the gun. He threw it to Sharpshot, who caught it in his hooves, eyeing it with optimism.

“That right their is a Gryphon Switchshot Rifle, or the Dual-Shot for short,” Dread explained. “A rare rifle that has the firing capability of both a sniper rifle and shotgun. Not many of them were made, and only gryphons carried them around. I was lucky enough to kill an old griffon with one, claimed she killed a minister with it. Use it well, asshole.”

With that Dread shoved Silver Bullet to the side and exited. Rocket and Silver Bullet followed after him moment later, giving their goodbye. The Sprite Bot was playing music again, telling me Spike was long gone. I looked down to Remembrance, the shotgun that had carried me this far. Looking to Silver Gunner, I couldn’t help but feel something inside me click. I looked down to the double-barreled shotgun, then back to the robot. I had the Novasurge Rifle, and Silver Gunner had nothing with him as it was. I walked over to him, and his mechanical red eyes looked to me as I held the shotgun out.

“Take it,” I requested. “I know it seems like to much, and you probably don’t understand completely why, but I want you to have. I’ve gotten over my father's death, and my fatal decision, and I don’t want it in front of me anymore. If you somehow manage to forget us, please use it to remind you of us.”

He took it with one of the claw that extended out from his back, looking at it with what looked like curiosity. He used another claw to trace the word ‘remember’ that was still stitched into it. I wanted to imagine a smile on his face as he looked at it, but I could read what could have been going through his head. I mentally chuckled as I imagined Silver Gunner having an error, unable to understand why I had done it. I was snapped from that image as the robot looked at me, and I felt like I could see a strange vibration in his artificial eyes.

“There is a camera located in the upper level of the library,” He said. “My hard drive was made to carry mental images, and I therefore need a face to look back on. Even then, my hard drive is damaged so that any injury it sustains, will cause loss of memory.” 

Remembrance was stored away in Silver’s back as I heard the quick chatter of hooves rushing up stairs. I looked to see White Light missing from the group, and looking at the wooden ceiling above me I knew what she was doing. Moments later she reappeared with a device I remember from picture books I had when I was little. A small black box on a tripedal stand, that was the way my dad described the camera to me, and how I would describe the device White Light carried down. She parted the legs of the stand so it stood, looking at us as she placed it down on the other end of the library’s main room.

“If we're going to take a photo, then we should all be in it,” White Light stated, as she messed with the camera. “That way you can remember all of us.”

No one said a word, simply nodding in response as we lined up in two rows. The taller ponies, meaning Sharpshot, Willow Wisp, Silver Gunner, and Star Chart, lined up in the back row. I sat down next to Stitch, keeping myself from looking at the bloody bandage on her face. From the  side her I was on, I could see slightly through the bandage, seeing the middle of her eye had a whole in it. I held in the urge to gag, looking back to the camera as White Light sat on the other side of Stitch. She put her hoof around her sister and I could feel Star leaning on my back. I looked behind her to see her smiling at me, and I smiled back.

“Smiling at the camera!” White Light exclaimed, vigor in her voice. I smiled, trying my best to keep the heavier body of my sister from crushing me (she’s not fat, I’m just weaker than her) “CHEEZE!”

A bright flash of light overwhelmed my vision for a second, long enough for my body to give up on holding Star’s weight. I collapsed with a thud on the ground, Star following me as the bright light faded. I could hear everypony laughing, and I could help but laugh myself as Star got off me. Willow Wisp helped me up, using one of her now humongous wings (though the fact half the feathers are missing meant she still couldn’t fly) to make sure I stay on my hooves. Looking to White Light, I could see her using tape as she stuck the picture to the shotgun, which Silver Gunner was kind enough to take out. 

“It will take some time for the picture to show, but as long as it doesn’t get filled with holes it should be enough of a reminder in case you ever forget us,” White Light explained, looking to the rest of us. “Well, we won’t get to Manehattan standing around here. The least we can do is travel as a group until we reach the city.”

“We still have Steel Rangers looking for us,” Sharpshot reminded us. “They will see us making a made dash out of town and the last thing we need is for anypony getting killed. So Dead Hooves,” He turned to me, “you want to see if they will let us live like you tried to earlier? Or should we go with the more reasonable response?”

I knew what the reasonable response was, and as much as I hated it Sharpshot was right. The Steel Rangers wouldn’t listen to me; they were blinded by the lies told to them by their leader. I could only imagine what my father would have thought of me - killing these ponies - but he wasn’t in the situation I was in. My life was so much better before destiny decided to toss me out here, and I had had enough of it playing with me. It wanted me to see these ponies as my friends, it wanted me to believe I was one of them.

That was the moment I came to a sad but true realization, I would never be a Steel Ranger. Even if they accept me by the end of this, I wouldn’t deserve to be one of them in the end. I had decided what my answer was, and with the fact I killed my own father - even accidentally - I didn't deserve to be among their ranks. I had killed ponies who didn’t deserve to be, that was all that needed to be said to decided. My loyalty lies not with them, but with these ponies I had met.

“We kill them,” I said without hesitation, looking at my hooves. “I’m not one of them, and they want me dead,” I looked up to Sharpshot. “You’ve all decided to stay with me. It’s only because of you ponies that I’m alive still, even if you were directly involved,” I glanced between each of them pacing in front of them. “I know they I won’t ever truly be a part of them, but through the learning of past events and family,” My eyes at the point specifically focus on Star. “I’m an Enclave soldier. They won’t ever know it, but they are the only parts of my family I still have. If any of you want to speak against it, please say something now.”

I had expected at least one of them (or Sharpshot to be specific) to call me out, but I was surprised at the response. Everypony just stood there, looking at each other with silence. Despite that, I could tell that they didn’t disagree with me, which I had all but expect. After a few moments of silence, both Yeilta and Star Chart walked up to me with sympathetic smiles on their faces. I looked away, slightly embarrassed as my mother and sister engulfed me in a hug. Before I could say anything more I could well the wide, yet bony ends Willow’s wings surround us. Stitch and White Light tried there best to join in, though they ended up hugging Willow and Star instead. As for Silver Gunner and Sharpshot, they kinda just stood back, the latter with a smirk on his face.

“I… I thought you all would be confused!” I exclaimed. “You all really don’t have any problems with it?”

“Well you can’t deny what’s true,” Sharpshot replied “By the end of this you’re going to have some Steel Ranger blood on your hooves, and last I checked that isn’t a very good way to get respect. The Enclave isn’t great, but I’m not going to judge you considering the ponies I’ve worked with.”

“And you are my sister,” Star said in a matter-of-fact way. “I’d hope we were on the same side. When this is all over, I don't want to return to the Enclave and have to fight my sister. If at all possible, I would love it if you came with me in some way.”

I turned to Willow Wisp, who was brushing her head against my neck in the way a pet would. “I know we aren’t related but… I want to believe you're my family,” She explain, and I could see she was embarrassed at having to do so. “You really are in many ways. My parents died so long ago, and you're the first pony since I was little that actually care about me. I… guess that’s part of why I like Sharpshot, because he cares. I wouldn’t have made it here if it wasn’t for him, and he’s much kinder when you actually get to talk with him.”

“I said I wouldn't judge you for who you love and I uphold what that. You don’t have to explain to me why you love Sharpshot.” I reminded her. “Could you maybe give me some room everyone? It’s getting a little stiff in here, no offense.”

Everypony backed up, giving me the space I need to get comfortable. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes as I exhaled. Opening them, I looked to everyone with a smile on my face. A tear went down my eye at seeing how much they all cared for me, and how accepting they were. Coming to the realization I had to kill the very ponies my dad had worked with was not happy, but they had made me feel better about the situation.

“They’ll be waiting for us on the east end of town,” Sharpshot explains. “That’s the way to Manehattan. They will find us if we go that way, or really any way that doesn’t involve days worth going around Ponyville. We have no choice but to fight them, and even then they are more battle hardened the most ponies here.”

“Sneaking isn’t going to work considering that power armor is so thick,” White Light said. “And they most likely know two of their pals are dead by this point, so we can’t just dress up as them. We have no choice but to fight them head on.”

I watched as Willow Wisp suddenly pulled out a strange blade. It curved in a hook formation, the blade’s tip pointing inwards. It glistened in the flickering light of the library, shining a reflection onto my chest. I would have thought Willow Wisp was to afraid of guns to hold something dangerous like that. The smile on her face said otherwise, reminding me of the same look she had on her after ripping apart that Hellhound in Las Pegasus. She looked to me, her tail flicking in anticipation.

“A ‘gift’ from Dread,” She told me, showing of the strange blade like it was a trophy. “Thanks to Sharpshot we know that the leather connecting the joints of the power armor are thin enough to cut through with ease. I can slice through it if you get me close enough, and Sharpshot can sneak a bullet through if they hold still long enough. The rest of you will have to focus on piercing the armor, which as Dead Hooves could tell us is probably easier said than done.”

“It’s not very high grade metal considering that before the war the Steel Rangers were a much larger organization,” I chimed in, clearing up what Willow Wisp meant. “It’s entirely possible to take a bullet in one of those things and die. That being said the armor is still metal, and strong enough to not fall apart from looking at it funny.”

“We need a backup root incase this goes downhill,” Sharpshot said after giving me a nod. “The Everfree isn’t the safest of places, and it’s in the opposite direction of Manehattan, but what weird things in there can harm them just as they can harm us. Things go south, fall back that way.”

We nodded, Star giving a salute as well to Sharpshot as we grabbed our things. I already had my Novasurge Rifle, which was everything I currently carried. Star tossed me a saddlebag filled with power cells at me, which I strapped around my waist the best I could. Stitch and White Light stayed in the back, the latter carrying a large box-shaped gun attached to what I recognized as a battle saddle. Stitch simply had a first aid kit and a small pistol, Silver had Remembrance and Sharpshot had both Flash Fire and The Switchshot flung over his back with straps. As for my mother, she was staring off at the ceiling, licking her lips. Luna only knows what was going on in her mind.

“Me and Willow Wisp will take lead, everypony else fall behind,” Sharpshot ordered, heading to the door. I managed to stop him as he almost opened it.

“Promise me you’ll get Willow Wisp out of this alive?” I pleaded softly, “I won’t stop you two from loving each other, but please protect her when we go our separate ways in Manehattan.”

“If I didn’t want to protect her I would have left her to die back in Las Pegasus,” He replied with a smirk before opening the door.

I watched as everypony made there way out of the library until the only two left inside was me and Star Chart. I kept telling myself to not interfere with Sharpshot and Willow's relationship, but part of me can’t accept it. Not because I hate Sharpshot, but because they seemed so different. My dad told me about love, how it could change a pony for better or worse, and I didn’t know if Sharpshot was the right pony in that regard. I felt a hoof on my back, and the room was so empty I didn’t need to look to see who it was.

“I know it’s wrong for me to try and shape Willow’s life, but I’m the first pony in Celestia knows how long to treat her equally,” I explained to my sister. “For Sharpshot and herself to fall in love after only knowing each other for such a short amount of time, it’s worries me.”

“If you get in the way you’ll only make Willow feel betrayed,” Star told me. “You're doing the right thing letting her figure it out for herself. Sharpshot isn’t the perfect pony, but that’s something no stallion or mare can achieve. You want my advice: just let them be.”

Her words helped me reassure myself, and I looked back to her with a smile on my face. She was right, this wasn’t my place to get involved. I should feel happy for Willow Wisp considering everything she’s gone through. This had to be one of the best things to happen to her in her life, and I wasn’t going to ruin it on her. Besides, Sharpshot may not be the best pony I could think of for her, but it was better than many of the other options out here.

“If that’s what you think is best for her then I’ll just let things play out.” I replied before opening the door. “We better get moving, don’t want to be left behind right?”

My sister simply nodded as we made our ways to the others. I was preparing myself for the hard task that was now in front of me, one that my father wouldn’t be proud of. Maybe in another world, I could have stood by the Steel Rangers as friends instead of foes. That wasn’t this world, and I wasn’t going to act like it was. They were my enemies, whether I liked it or not. Nothing was going to change that now.
> Chapter 21 - The Truth of Stable 15
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back on the train, Willow Wisp asked me a rather sensitive question. Not the best way to probably approach the stallion you love, but it was her that actually asked to talk to me in private to began with. We spent the time we spent chatting amongst ourselves, and it went rather well until she asked me about my darkest secret. She followed it up by emitting she loved me, and I said the same the same to her. Than Willow said that if we were going to be together, we might as well get our biggest secret out of the way. I didn’t like it, but I had to admit that if I didn’t tell her things weren’t going to be the same.

“I’m sure you heard me talk about Stable 15 and how it was attacked by an Ursa Major right?” I asked her, and she nodded in response. “Well, that was a lie. An Ursa Major didn’t kill everypony in Stable 15.”

“Then what did?” She asked in response, tilting her head in wonder. “Surely it had to be raiders or something like that. I have to admit that an Ursa Major definitely seemed rather suspicious considering I’ve never seen one myself - trust me I’ve seen many things - but I wasn’t going to ask her. The only other thing that could have opened the stable door was somepony from the inside, and I doubt-” 

I didn’t see her look at me, but I was looking away at the time she stopped talking. She didn’t need to say another word to tell me where that previous statement was going. I hid the tear going down my face, not wishing to reveal the softer side of me to her. I opened my mouth to explain, but for the first couple seconds couldn’t find a way to. Finally I glanced at Willow Wisp, and the look on her face told me she had figured out what I meant. I grinned my teeth against each other for a couple seconds before finally finding the words.

“The only ponies in Stable 15 who knew about me being part ghoul was my parents,” I explained to her. “My father didn’t look at me like I was his son, but my mother was one of the only kind souls I had ever seen. To say the least, I was an outcast compared to the rest of the stable. Different, peculiar, socially awkward. The only thing that kept anypony from find out out who I was really is that now long gone stable suit. It made ponies at least partially except me, but even then I was the odd one out.

“Then one day, on my birthday as you know, the scientists in the stable came to us, my dad behind behind them. They wanted me, tried to take me away. I didn’t know it, but they wanted to dissect me - want to kill me - and use my body for Celestia knows what. My mom stood in their way, and my dad got fucking mad. Next thing I know he takes out a pistol and aims it at me. I remember closing my eyes as the shot rung out, and when I opened them…”

I didn’t continue, now suddenly aware of the stream of tears going down my face. Great, I was the stallion crying in front of the mare like a little foal, something I vowed to never do. I couldn’t hide out now, and I faced her completely to see the concern on her face. Her eyes were wide with worry, and mouth slightly open as if trying to muster a gasp. I once again looked for the right words to continue, my pupils darting to the wooden floor of the train as I found them.

“I opened my eyes to my mother on the floor, my father putting a bullet through her stomach,” I managed to say, “He was pissed and blamed me for it because I didn’t cooperate, and the went on to say everything is my fault. As for myself, I was dumbstruck over my mother's death, and hearing my dad blame my mom's death on me was infuriating. My shock turned to anger, and I darted at the bastard. Managing to get through the scientist’s that blocked me and rushed my dad. I so clearly remember grabbing his pistol aiming it at him...” I looked to Willow Wisp before I finished, “... and firing that gun at him in uncontrolled anger.”

“You killed your own dad?!” Willow Wisp shouted at me, her face stuck between confusion and astonishment.

“Do you think I had a choice?!” My reply came across a lot harsh than I meant, and I immediately calmed down as I wiped the tears off my radiated face. “He was going to kill me! That motherfucker wanted me dead from the start, and he admitted it after killing my mother. He killed his own goddess damn wife!” I stared at her with wide eyes, the horrors of that day coming back. “Of course, the biggest crime is what started after that, as I bet you can imagine. We went through a similar situation during our time in Stable 33.”

“I don’t know what you mean?” I was slightly surprised that Willow Wisp was so calm about this, but part of me believes she’s seen so much death it doesn’t really affect her.

“First, I want to say that after my dad, I killed the scientists,” I explained. “They were going to kill me just like my dad, and I didn’t give any sympathy for what I did. It was at that moment - when I killed my father and the scientists - that I came to a realization I’m sure is true. My mother was the only one in the stable who actually cared about me, something I had been thinking for a long time. Nobody cared about the little half-ghoul in Stable 15. He could die for all they cared for, but I wasn’t going to let them.

“If there was any solace, it was that my mother had taught how to shoot. She was a security mare, and when those alarms inside the stable went off everypony was after me. I wanted to believe somepony would come to my rescue, but everypony I saw immediately opened fire on me. I did the only I could to survive: I ran to the exit and kill any pony who dared come after me. I didn’t make it to the stable door before things in the stable went quiet, or as quiet as it could. I stood there for a few minutes, and nobody showed up. I can only think that means I killed everypony in stable 15. That day… was the day I earned my cutie mark. More of a curse than anything, and a reminder of the greatest mistake I had ever made.”

I was expecting Willow Wisp to get angry at me, slap me like every mare seems to when I say something bad. What I got instead was a surprise hug from the alicorn, the edges of her burnt wings scratching my back slightly. To say I was shocked was an understatement. In fact, I don’t think there is a word to describe the feeling I had, but fuck what I embarrassed. My face turned as red as roses while Willow Wisp hugged me like I was a teddy bear. It was comforting, but that wasn’t where my mind was at the moment.

“You're not... angry at me?” I asked as calm as I could.

“As much as I can’t believe you killed your father, you didn’t really have a choice.” She responded. “Isn’t it common behavior for a pony to want to live? They were going to kill you, and no matter how bad that is you really had no choice. Most ponies would have done the same in this day and age, so don’t act like you are worse than Dread,” She stopped hugging me and sat in a way where she was brushing the side of my body. “I’m responsible for more deaths than you’ve ever cause, that’s for sure. At least you told me the truth in the end, and I could see why you would make up a lie such as that. It does make a little sense that you did it anyways, considering you're the last pony from the stable alive.”

“You’re right about that,” I said with a nod to no one in particular, before turning to Willow Wisp with a generous smile. “I don’t think any secret you can have is worse than mine. In fact I already know the darkest secret you have considering we’ve met Dread. I understand if my secret keeps you from wanting to be with me.”

“Don’t worry Sharpy,” She said both her hooves messing with me dissipating mane. I felt my eye twitch at the nickname she had just given me “I’m honestly kinda glad were similar, and as I said your father gave you no choice. I guess that’s the way our life has been: they’ve spiraled out of control, made us kill more ponies they should have ever died, and we both have long lives ahead of us. I mean, neither of us know how long ghoul's live, but considering there are still many from before the war alive it’s fair to say you aren’t going away anytime soon.

“Besides, your not all that bad when you look over that stubbornness and brutal honest you tend to have. I heard what you said back at Misty Moon Apartments, and I have to say I’m rather touched despite you having been such an ass up to that point,” I could feel my dead, flaking skin suddenly exploded with color as I blushed. “Not only that, but you actually saved me instead of leaving me to turn into one of those things back in Stable 33. It wasn’t until then that something in me just… clicked I believed is the right word. I… I g-guess what I’m trying to say is that when this is over-”

“SURE!” My mouth seemed to move before my mind could even register what I was saying. Once it did it took me only a few seconds to realize what I was possible doing wrong. “No, I mean… well I assume, er, you were going to ask me out on a date. I-I mean if I’m wrong then… ummmmmm.”

I could hear her giggling at my inability to produce proper words,  and looked away unsure off how to continue. She jumped at me, squishing me against the side of the with her strength. Her muzzle brushed against my ear as I sat their stoic, taking everything in as I looked at her. Before I could ask what she was doing I found herself literally sitting in my lap, and one look at her face showed just how much taller she was. Another of my heads could have been on top of me and I still wouldn’t have been as tall as her. I blinked twice not because of how tall she was, but because I still in the midst of registering everything that was going on.

“So… I’m guess that’s a yes?”

“Sharpy?” I was awoken from my flashback to the face of my now proclaimed ‘fillyfriend’ staring at me with worry. “You okay?

“Oh, sorry Willow,” I said rubbing the back of my neck as I looked around the ruined structure we we're using as cover. It was then I realized we were the only two in the building, compared to when I last checked.

When we had left Golden Oaks, we had decided to use a small and battered bakery as our base. The inside was a complete mess, pots and pans along the floor along with many empty boxes of cake batter. Of course, considering the crazy maniacal pony who once lived here and her baking skills nopony could deny this was Sugarcube Corner. Sadly, it’s condition would make you believe that a megaspell had actually touched down here. The only thing protesting to that was the numerous buildings still stand, and considering how No Mare’s Land looked it’s fair to say this place was slightly saved of tragedy.

“Where is everyone else?” I asked, feeling rather stupid that I had to in the first place.

“There following are plan remember?” She asked, and I shook my head. Willow let out a sigh before explaining. “We found some of those Steel Ranger soldiers and we had everyone set up to take them down head on. You were already sucked into your little fantasy before this but Dead Hooves… volunteered to be the bait.”

Oh for fuck sake Dead Hooves. I just pulled your ass out of the fire and you're hopping right back in! I was literally growling in anger at that news coming to my attention. I was very much aware of the shit that Dead Hooves had pulled in the past and the careless decisions she had made. I could understand wanting to prove you're tough, but when you're wanted for being a criminal heading towards the ponies who want you dead is idiotic. She was lucky I didn’t decided to give her a lecture back at Golden Oaks, but after this I would want I really good explanation.

“Please tell me you at least tried to stop her?” I asked, the frustration I felt showing clear in my voice.

“I did, but she didn’t listen,” Willow answered, ears falling to the sides of her head. “She said that the only pony who would get the attention of the Rangers was herself, and it’s hard to argue with the truth.”

“Might I suggest next time that you just block the fucking door?!” I shouted at her, anxiety building up inside myself.

“Well I would have but… I don’t want to make her angry,” Willow Wisp’s head fell as she explain her reason, to which I realized exactly what part of her I was dealing with. “I’ve gotten hurt before by making ponies angry, and I don’t want that to happen again.”

It was at that moment all the anger in me retreated, and I noticed that part of her that I knew even Dead Hooves hated to see. Willow Wisp tried so hard to be happy, but not even the most confident smile hid the suffering I knew she had endured. Those haunting images of the first time I saw her came back, my ego had gotten the better of me. Seeing the pegasus before me sleeping on Dead Hooves back covered in bloody bandages, it gave me an idea of what her life had been like. She was a slave before all of this, the only true thing she must have known was fear. That very fear was still present, even though she had become an alicorn that same scared pegasus was just as present. 

“You’re talking like you're still a slave,” I told her, hoping to make Willow realize she had no reason to be scared.

“Am I not still a slave?” She asked me, looking to the burnt feathers on her wings. “I’ve spent most of my life - nine years to be exact - working for a pony who want to kill for a reason I can’t even think is justified,” She looked back to me, and I could feel my heart twisting as I looked into them. “I was beaten and even sometimes starved by the master I had, and I did his bidding in fear of dying or abuse. I cleaned up every mess, took every blame, and earned a name that more describes myself then Dread. When this is over, he’ll take me back, and I will be his slave once again.”

“And you think Dead Hooves of all ponies is going to let him do that?” I countered, “You think any of us are going to let Dread take you back? I didn’t have a reason to hate him before, but now that I have you there's a reason for me to want him dead on the floor,” I took her hoof in mine and held it to my chest. “I don’t care what you once were, or what he did. You want to know how much hell my life has been since leaving stable 15? It’s hell to the point where I have subconsciously eyed every skull knowing one day I will likely be one of them. Meeting Stitch, Dead Hooves, and you are the only good things that have come out of this place,” I could see tears falling from her face, and I took it at a sign I was helping. With that in mind I tightened my grasp on her hoof, eyes locked on hers. “You are not a slave, and if I don’t get the message across then Dead Hooves will.”

We fell quiet rather quickly, and I swear I could hear crickets suddenly chirping outside. It only made the situation even more awkward, and considering the only other sound was the shuffling of hooves, that was saying something. My mind went back to Dead Hooves, feeling stupid just standing here while she had the possibility of getting shot in the ass. I finally looked to the Gryphon Switchshot, my ‘present’ from Dread. I grab it, and check the two magazines two make sure they were full. I was a good shot, but haven’t the reassurance at close range was going to be nice.

“Be ready” I suddenly heard a voice come at me from nowhere. Before I could even began to figure out what it was, I heard a shot.

Bang!

The sound told me multiple things, but the biggest one was who I knew the target was. Without thinking twice I grabbed the Switchshot and ran out of the old kitchen that we had been in. Then I heard another gunshot, and then another as I ran down the hall of the old bakery before a barrage of sounds came to my ears. The shots gave me more hope that Dead Hooves had gotten out unscathed, but I couldn’t be sure unless I was there. I looked behind myself to see Willow Wisp holding the sharp sickle that Dread had given her. I motioned for her to follow behind me as I opened the door, the sound of shots getting much clearer as I did.

“Stay behind me!” I called to Willow, turning to face her. “I don’t want you rushing in like a certain idiot unicorn. If anyone comes up behind us, I’m leaving them to you. Now lets-”

I turned around and was left shocked as I saw a pony in Enclave power armor break the handle on the door. She looked at me for a quick second before slamming the door closed, hitting the end of my muzzle. The sudden pain forced me backwards, Willow Wisp catching me as I was about to fall on my back. What pain there had been quickly subsided as I got back on my hooves and eyed the door in front of us. I had no idea who that pony was, but she was going to have to do more that to keep me down.

I know I had just told Willow Wisp to be not be reckless, but the chances of that pony blocking the door felt rather good. Without thinking I charged forward angling myself just enough to hit the door with me shoulder instead of my muzzle. In mere second I collided with the door, only to feel it vibrate against my body. It wasn't that the pony was blocking it with her weight, the door was jammed! How? I checked when we enter the building earlier and there was no lock on that door. Not that it mattered sense-

“I know the counter for the bakery is unlocked, but before you do anything I want you to listen,” A voice came from the other side of the door, most likely belonging to the pony. “I’m on your side, but if you want to get out of this situation alive than use the upper floor as a vantage point to shoot. Your friends will be pulling back over here in a few minutes. From the ground it’s useless trying to break power armor unless you got a rocket or something similar.”

“How the hell are you?” Was my response as I whacked the door with my hoof. “What business do you have helping us?”

“The name’s Amethyst, and my reason for being here doesn’t matter to you right now,” She quipped. “Now, I will say it again. Get to the roof of the bakery right now! Willow Wisp will be fine inside the shop as long as they don’t spot you,” There was a pause in the conversation before this Amethyst pony. “Hope you’ve learned a thing or two Sharpshot, an old friend wishes to see you again.”

Amethyst… wait, wasn’t that one of the ponies on the recording back in Misty Moon Appartment? I remember hearing the recording play from the other room, and one look at the tape could tell you it was rather old. If I had to guess, that recording was Twenty years old, before Las Pegasus was hit by Nebula One. No way that could be the same pony unless… unless they were a ghoul. Did the other pony mentioned in the recording survive was unknown, but just knowing that gave me a gut feeling I could trust this pony. I had no time to think about who this friend was she mentioned, I had a fight to join.

“I sure hope your right Amethyst,” I replied as I turned to Willow Wisp. “Stay safe.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” She said before taking cover in the living room next to us.

Without another word I ran up the stairs at the end of the hallway and opened the door to the solitary bedroom on the floor. I could see a hole in the roof above a rotted bed, the colors of the walls drastically faded. I walked over to the side of the hole in the roof and put pressure on the top of it with my forehooves to make sure it was durable. When I heard not even a crack, I smiled and hopped completely onto the roof. Reach back down to only grab the Switchshot, and stepped with caution as I made my way to the front of the roof. After what felt like an eternity, I finally made it to the front and sighed as I looked in the direction of the gunfire.

I could see the others taking cover in a far off building, and most importantly I could see Dead Hooves with them. Looking just beyond them, I could see a single Steel Ranger in the open. Looking through the scope of the Switchshot rifle, I could see the sparks of bullets flying off the armor. However, I could also see the leather between the different sections of the power armor. It was time to test just how powerful and accurate this new rifle was. My front right hoof was on one of the gun’s triggers, holding my breath for what felt like minutes. Than, without hesitation I fired.

The sound of the gun firing ringed through my ears as the gun’s muzzle flew upward about two inches. As the gun rested once again I followed the bullet trail through the scope, watching as the bullet effortlessly pierced the helmet. I couldn’t see blood, but the sudden jerk of the head away from me told me everything I needed to. This gun had just managed to shoot a clean hole in steel ranger armor. Looking back to the others, I could see White Light saluting me from behind a counter top. I didn’t return it, the sound of gunfire still coming from multiple buildings in front of them.

We never counted how many Steel Rangers were sent, but everything considered I’d say they sent at least two squads. That was usually more than enough to take down raiders, but we were anything but raiders. We were Stable Dwellers, Enclave soldiers, victims of the wasteland and war. That was what I thought we were, remnants of what ponykind use to have been. The Steel Rangers fight for what they believe: Equestria. What we want is something better than Equestria, and if they wanted us gone they were going to have to do more than think of us as psychopathic retards killing for sport. A raider wouldn’t regret killing ponies, but I still bare the scars of my rampage in stable 15.

Seeing metal raise through a broken window in a far of building, I fired with those very thoughts in mind. There was a strange satisfaction in the sound of the Switchshot firing, one that I assumed was fueled by those thoughts in my head. I couldn’t see what I had hit, but the metal in the window had disappeared. I check around to see if I could see any more Steel Ranger, not getting anything as I see the others starting to pull back. Considering I could still hear bullets, something told me that the Steel Rangers weren’t done yet.

“What’s going on?” I shouted to Amythest below me. 

“The Steel Rangers must but be pushing forward,” She told me. “There’s only a single squad left, but that’s enough to take us all down without good aim. That’s your talent isn’t it? Isn’t that why they call you Sharpshot?”

Oh she just had to say it.

“Don’t talk about my fucking talent!” I yelled out for the world to here. “Stable 15 is gone because of it, and I would rather pretend it doesn’t exist. Okay?”

“Just make the shots and you won’t have to worry at all about it!”

I swore under my breath, but it was no good getting into an argument now of all times. She didn't have to worry about me missing, because I rarely ever did. Watching as Dead Hooves and the others made their way back to us, I checked every corner they went past. Than I saw one of the Ranger she was talking about running like an idiot not far behind the others. Biting my lip I prepared to shoot a hole clean in their helmet, only for Stitch to shout before I did.

“Don’t shot!” I heard her yell, looking up at me.

I could hear Amethyst break the door open below me, and not seeing anything immediately I headed back to the hole in the roof. Getting down and heading to the ground floor I found White Light motioning me into the living room. Joining them, I saw everyone hugging the walls save for Willow who was crouched below a window. I joined sides next to Dead Hooves, who looked at me with a face which told me she knew exactly what I was going to say.

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” I exclaimed, keeping my voice as low as possible. “We could have taken them out more stealthy if you didn’t rush in. That would have put you in much less danger than if you did… this!” I looked to the others in the room. “Why didn’t any of you stop her?”

“We tried…” Star stated, looking at her sister with what seemed like discomfort. “But… well-”

“I wasn’t taking no as an answer,” Dead Hooves explained. “If they wanted me, they were going to get me. Took one of the rangers to get their attention.”

“And not for one second did you think that this could get you and everypony else here killed?” I asked, Dead Hooves shaking her head at me. “Your a fucking idiot. I’ve been trying to keep myself from telling you that, but this is the biggest fucking mistake I’ve seen so far.”

“You can’t say that considered you l-left everypony in the Angel Hunters to die for some reason-”

“This is not the time for you two to argue,” Amethyst interrupted, and looking at the armor I realized something strangely wrong with this pony. Something didn’t match the voice of the pony on the recording. “There is most likely only three of them left, and it is just as likely somepony is going to die. Be careful, in we might make it out of here alive.”

There was the creaking of a door and the sounds of metal hitting the floor. The room fell silent, everypony listening as the sound came closer and closer. It wasn’t until I could see the metal armored hoof of the standard Steel Ranger power armor that I saw Willow waiting next to the doorway. She was holding her sickle in her mouth, ears twitch in every direction as if they belonged to an impatient foal. She looked to me real quickly, and knowing her plan I gave her a barely noticeable nod. Thankfully she seemed to see it, and in a matter of moments she sprang into action.

Willow seemed to float as she twirled into the hallway, standing right in front of the poor idiot who had entered the building. Without her opponent even firing a bullet, she managed to find the soft leather on the neck and swiped. The earth pony strength she had gain from becoming an alicorn became clear as her body made a full swing across the hallway. Getting up to look at what she had done, I saw the Steel Rangers head had been severed from its body. I looked to Willow, who was happily smiling at me with blood sprayed on her face. She tilted her head and closed her eyes, the smile still on her face as her wings went to their full height.

“You okay Willow?” I asked, this being the first time I’d seen her in such a way.

“Don’t worry, I plan to bury him when this is all over,” She responded gleefully as she exited the hallway and back into the room with everyone else. “If there's one thing Dread knows, it’s that I like the feeling of blood. It’s nice and warm on my body, plus it helps during these chilly winter months,” A silence fell as I saw her open her eyes, everyone looking at her in disbelief. “What?”

“Oh Willow Wisp,” Yeilta said as she got up, walking over to the Alicorn and given as strong hug. “I think you and me are going to get along juuust fine, and I truly do admire your taste in weaponry as well. I’m glad that my daughter was able to make such a good friend.”

Dead Hooves and I looked at each other, both sharing the same worried expression on our face. “How the fuck are you related to the Zebra?”

“It’s just… better not to ask,” Dead Hooves replied. “Trust me, I’m still trying to see what my father saw in her, and I have yet to figure it out.”

“Everyone,” We all looked to Stitch as she spoke up, peaking out of the window with her right eye. I was a little surprised at how well she took losing half her sight. “The last two are right outside, and I don’t think they have any idea of what Willow Wisp just did.”

“Let's end this then, they can’t take us all,” I said, flicking a little switch on the side of the Switchshot earlier, watching as the barrels rotated to that of one more fitting of a shotgun. “Dead Hooves, stay here. Will take care of the rest.”

“If you think I’m just going to sit on my ass and-”

“Dead Hooves,” Star interrupted her sister, putting her hoof on the unicorn's shoulder. “You’ve done enough as it is. I know you want to fight, but recklessness isn’t going to get you anywhere good.”

Dead Hooves looked to everypony around the room each on answering with a nod. With each nod I could see a mixture of disbelief and sadness take shape on her face. Finally she looked to me, and I responded the same way everyone else had. Not a single word was exchanged the entire time, and after multiple seconds of complete stillness, I finally spoke up. Putting a hoof on Dead Hooves shoulder, I cleared my throat in anticipation to speak.

“Stay here, okay?” I told her, getting a slow nod in response. I turned to everyone else avoiding the strange tear that I barely saw going down Dead Hooves’ face. “If anyone else has a gun, stand up. Were going to take down this fuckers.”

“Well I'm all for that option,” Yeilta was basically using me as a wall to lean against, sounding more like crazed raider than a mom. “Just as long as I get to feast on the afterwords. It’s been a few days since I last had some fresh meat and it’s sounding like a very good time to try out some new trends I’ve heard.”

Everyone just stared at her in silence, as if that wasn’t anything new by this point. Looking at Yeilta I could see a rapid twitching in her eyes, and almost nervous shiver in her body. She was breathing on my fur in a heavy yet stuttered way, almost as if she was holding off a low giggle. I glanced at Dead Hooves before turning back to Yeilta, feeling the most terrified I had sense I gain my cutie mark in Stable 15. I tried my best not to ask, but the words seemed to drip out of me one after another.

“You don’t have a weapon Yeilta, and ,” I gulped as I prepared to ask. “What do you mean by trends?”

“Oh silly ghoul, didn’t you know?” She asked rhetorically, a shiver going up my neck as she licked it. “I heard some days ago that rib cage is a current delicacy among cannibalists in this part of the wasteland,” She audibly giggled, before touching something metallic between her legs. A white and black strap that I hadn’t seen camoflauged into her fur moved and in seconds I saw an all too familiar carbine hanging in front of her “And who said I wasn’t armed?”

“Point taken,” I turned to the rest. “Now, you and me should be enough. Everyone else stay here, and if someone wants to try Flash Fire from the window go ahead.”

I set the zebra rifle down on the ground, watching as Willow Wisp picked it up without hesitation. She seemed at me, a small drop of the Steel Rangers blood (the one she killed obviously) falling down her face. With a sigh, I motioned Yeilta as I walked up to Willow Wisp. I emptied all the rounds in the magazine save for one; she would only need that one. Unlike the normal coloring of the other rounds, this had a red painting around the tip. I levitated it in front of Willow so she could get a look at it.

“What your looking at is a special round made specifically for Flash Fire, and other special zebra rifles like it,” I explain to her as I put the round in the magazine which I then put back in the gun. “You aim not for the body, but for the ground between them. You’ll do more damage that way, trust me,” She nodded, and I turned to Yeilta to explain our part. “Once the shot goes off, we will have a small window to fire before they regain balance. That is the time we have to take care of the two assholes before we’re set ablaze with their bullets.”

“Sounds easy,” The zebra shrugged. “Behind you, tough guy.”

I ignored that last part, already having made my way out of the room and into the hall of Sugar Cube corner. As I leaned next to the door, Yeilta joining me on the otherside, I waited for the sound of an explosion. That bullet wouldn’t kill, not with the armor, but it would sure as hell take these fuckers by surprise. I could hear my own breath in the silence that followed. I was mentally counting down, try to figure out when Willow would attack. When I had reached five seconds, I heard it.

A loud boom could be heard, though slightly muffled by the door, which was most definitely from Flash Fire. Without waiting for Yeilta’s approval I opened the door, my first sight being that of scorched ground between two Steel Rangers, one on the ground trying to get their footing and the other staggering to stay on his feet. Without warning I let loose a shotgun round into one still standing, watching as the head armor jerked back from the impact. I fired another as Yeilta put countless bullets into the poor idiot still trying to stand. My third shot was the finishing blow, the round severing the head at the lower neck and falling to the ground lifelessly. I turned back to Yeilta who was standing over her target, removing the armor piece by piece ready to… nope, not going to picture it.

Looking away, I saw everyone starting to come out of the building, each with expressions ranging from exhaustion to happy. Dead Hooves was still watching the ground, as if trying to count every rock and pebble she saw. That wasn’t my main concern however, it was the new pony who had appeared out of seemingly nowhere. I looked to the pony in the enclave armor calling herself Amethyst, which I was sure was a complete lie. Walking straight up to her, she gave me the most straightforward response she could to the stern expression I had.

“You want answers.”

“I. Want. The truth,” I spoke. “Who really are you? No way in hell Amythest isn’t a complete ghoul by now and your voice sounds to smooth. I don’t know how you know about the holotape we found, but I need to know what you want with us or else-”

“You have no need to finish,” The pony said, putting her front hooves to her helmet and taking it off. What I saw underneath made my heart skip a beat, almost causing me to sneeze. A mare with a violet coat and dark green mane appeared me, showing a face that I immediately recognized. “Right in front of me, was a pony long thought to be dead. “Nice to see you again Ice.”

“O-overmare?!” I shouted, everyone's attention turning to us. This was both fear and joy in my heart at seeing her face, the latter winning over. “You're alive! You have no idea how happy I am to see you! For the longest time I thought-”

“You had killed me,” She said almost as if it was normal, shutting me up in the process. “You think that everyone had died back then?”

Silence filled the air once again, almost cliche at this point. Everyone I looked to seemed to be taken back by this, save for Willow Wisp. They knew, every single one of them knew what had happened now. Turning to Dead Hooves, I could see that she had broken slightly out of her sadness, looking to me in half astonishment. Most ponies knew what really happened, but Dead Hooves… what was I thinking lying to her.

“You… killed them?” She said to me, her voice just above a whisper.

Not wishing to keep any further secrets, I swallowed up my denial and spoke. “Not all of it was a lye. It was my birthday, stable 15 was my home, everything was right but my father,” I abruptly ended my sentence, unable to finish.

“He had no choice,” My Overmare finished, and I looked back to her with surprise. “His father tried to turn him into a science experiment, saw the entire thing on my camera’s in my office. He thought he had killed everyone, that his mother was dead,” She walked to my side, taking a deep breath that she exhaled onto my face before continuing. “I said someone was alive that wanted to see you, and I wasn’t lying. There’s only three ponies, including myself, that survived it. One’s the old timer New Blue, who’s nearing his last legs, and Hazel.”

I didn’t recognize the second name so I had to ask. “Who’s Hazel?”

“Hazel Spark, security mare,” She explained. “Your mother, she’s waiting for you in Manehattan.”

I… I don’t know how to explain what I felt. It’s like every emotion possible was boiling up inside of me, almost taking up my very train of thought. My… mother? She was alive? I saw my father shoot her, and I assumed she was dead from that. How… I don’t know how but the Overmare wouldn’t lie about something so sensitive. She seemed to have an idea why I did it, and if she was alive no doubt she knew the survivors. I was going to ask, before I turned to everyone and spoke to them.

“I know you have questions, but you need to go,” I said to everyone. “Me and Willow Wisp will head out once I get all my answers,” I looked specifically to Dead Hooves as I spoke this next part. “You don’t need to repay me. You’ve done enough caring to me, though it may be little. Just stay alive.”

She didn’t even hesitate to nod like expected, turning around with Star Chart behind her. The pegasus nodded, as if saying she will look after her sister, before follow Dead Hooves in front of her. The crowd slowly dispersed until it was only me, Willow and… oh for fuck sake Yeilta was part of my team. That said, I wasn't going to get rid of her… or try to for that matter. Instead, I turned to the Overmare, taking two deep breaths before asking.

“My mother’s alive?” I asked getting a nod in response. “How? I saw her get shot right in front of me.”

“You didn’t see what was going because of the alarms, but the shot didn’t kill her,” She explained to me “It’s… to complicated to example, but the more important thing is that she’s alive, and that she wants to see you. She wants to see you before she passes away.”

> Chapter 22 - True Courage
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was not a word spoken when Dead Hooves and I left Sharpshot, and the same occurred when we decided to split ways with White Light and Stitch. The next day of traveling was unnervingly quiet, not a single word coming from Dead Hooves that entire time. I felt bad, though I didn’t know what I did to cause this rift between the two of us. By the end of the second day the edge of the Manehattan ruins started to come into view. As the moon came up we found ourselves using the old shell of a building as shelter. What wood their was around us, which was not a lot, I used to make a small fire.

That night was chilly, one of the coldest in my life. The barren land and low winter temperature made me wish I still had my uniform with me. I had missed Hearth’s Warming back up in the clouds now, the first year in my life that I had. They don’t celebrate it down here in the wasteland, not since the mega spells fell. Yeilta’s words from our landing in Ponyville stuck in my head, and I felt like a horrible pony for everything we did. Just thinking about the culture, lives, and everything else we destroyed was horrible.

“The Four Star Terminal must be close to here. If we head there we should be able to find a map of the Wasteland,” I told Dead Hooves who was looking out a large hole in the side of the building. She seemed to shift uncomfortably as I talked. I had been hesitant to ask, but I needed to break the silence between the two of us. “You haven’t spoken since Ponyville, is everything okay?”

“Star Chart, how would you feel if you were thought to be a helpless filly?” I was caught off guard as she asked me that question, her voice mellow and quiet. I didn’t respond to that “I feel like I’m a burden to you all. I mean look at me. I’m pony with a paralyzed lower body who everyone thinks constantly needs protecting living in a wasteland where anything can kill you. I want to show you I’m strong, tough, and courageous like everypony, but instead Sharpshot treats me like I’m some fucking damsel in distress.”

A damsel in distress, that’s what she just called herself. The way she acted on the raptor when talking about her father, and the pony who recklessly charged at the culprit of Captain Bleak’s death were really one in the same. I thought it was just a facade of some kind but it wasn’t. That recklessness was her, and it was her showing she could handle herself! How did I not see it? That’s why she went silent when everyone told her to stay put. I could understand that, not in the same exact manner but still. Everything I went through to avenge those of the Grand Pegasus Enclave who had died because of the Bloody Angel. I went through hell to come down here with part of Bleak.

“You feel like you need to prove yourself?” I replied, Dead Hooves looking at me with a nod.

“Every time I try to do something to help everyone gets angry at me,” She said, sounding hurt. “They say I’m stupid, to leave things to them and it’s all just because I can’t walk as well as the rest of them,” She hit the wall of the building next to her with her hoof in frustration. “Everypony is like ‘Dead Hooves is a weak little filly who needs others to survive out here’ when they have no clue just what I’ve had to go through. I had to teach myself so much in order to survive for those five years by myself. I had to learn to cook, garden, fix my own fathers own fucking power armor, and even get clean water. No one, especially Sharpshot, gives a flying fuck how strong I am!” By this point she had hit the wall so many time she had put a nice dent into it, and then she started crying. I had seen her get angry, but this was an entirely different side of her than I had ever seen. “Spike… h-he knew I was strong, but everyone else probably just sees me as baggage. I tried to show I was courageous, putting myself in harms way so the rest of you could see I was more than just a stupid little filly, but what good has that done me?”

She broke down into loud sobs, curling into a ball on the floor. It was easy to forget she had spent her entire life until a few weeks ago in a shack with no one else. Those five years must have been difficult, being all by yourself with nopony around. I, like Sharpshot, had completely forgotten how much she had gone through. I wanted to say something to cheer her up, but had no idea how to respond to somepony when they were like this. This wasn’t just her reflecting on a past tragedy, this was must have been bottled up inside of her for since long before we even met. I looked down at the fire in front of me before I heard something unexpected.

“Oh little believer,
I think we’re alone in this irradiated land.
Oh little believer,
I wish for a world without this harm.”

Dead Hooves had stopped crying, now quietly singing a song I had never heard before. She laid down, sprawled across the floor with her metallic forehooves in front of her. When she stopped that first versus everything fell silent, and a solitary tear fell from her face. Dead Hooves was unlike any pony I had ever seen in the wasteland. Innocent yet scarred, strong-willed yet easily shattered, reckless yet always thinking. I could tell, just by the look of desperation in her eyes, what she was thinking of. The one pony she knew would make her happy, the one she had known longer than anyone else.

“Look at me father,” She said to the air. “I’m an emotional wreck, like you always were so sad to see,” A silence followed before she hugged herself, with a smile on her face. “Thanks dad, I’m so cold right now. I thought you would leave me when I broke your power armor, but I’m glad to see your still here,” She… what was going on? She had told me about how she killed her father, but she was acting like he was right her in front of her. Had she never gotten past denial, even in those five years? “I know daddy, but she isn’t like the other Enclave soldiers.”

Not like the other Enclave soldier. I felt a slight warmness in my chest as I heard her say that to the air. Suddenly though, that air seemed to come to life, brushing my face gently. There was many thing I didn’t understand, many things that never were absolutely logical, but all logical thought left my mind as that wind seemed to wrap through my fur. I closed my eyes, and I felt the touch of a pony’s hooves around my back. Their hooves wrapped around me, though not with the tensity I was expecting. I could hear Dead Hooves giggling as I reach behind me to try and find however was touching me.

“Dad says he wish he got to know you,” She told me, and I finally opened my eyes to see that nopony was hugging me at all. No, that felt to real but it couldn’t… could it have been?

“Dead Hooves, did you just feel-”

“You remember what mom said about the soul tree and belief?” Dead Hooves asked me. How could I not remember that with how much I was crying. “Well, I’ve believed it ever since then, and I could feel my dad laying next to me just now,” She pat the ground beside her. “He had to leave, but it was the first time since that day five years ago and…” She stopped, happiness on her face suddenly replaced by one of regret. “I sound like an idiot, don’t I?”

“No, not at all,” I replied calmly as I put my front right hoof to my left shoulder. “I felt him too. I can’t forgive myself for what we let the world become, and for everything we did during the war,” I suddenly hugged myself, feeling the spots that I had felt that pony, who must have been Dead Hooves father, hugged me. “I believe in the same exact thing and… thanks for tell him I wasn’t an enemy,” There was a question bugging me, and decided to get it out now. “Just, what was that song you were singing?”

“I made it up,” Dead Hooves explained with a smile. “Just now in fact. My dad always told me I was a good singer, and it’s helps me to calm down,” She looked out of the building again, this time a look curiosity on her face. “So how far are we from Four Star?”

“I would say a good two miles from here,” I told her, “The maps we have of the wasteland are rather dated and as we learn inacurate to what it actually looks like. Apparently nopony in the Enclave has an actual copy of the Equestrian map, as crazy as it is.”

“What are the odds of that?” Dead Hooves joked as she stood up, grabbing the Novasurge Rifle next to her. “Well, I think it’s time we hit the road again. I promised Spike I would find out what happened to Minister Twilight, and the sooner we get to this library the sooner we learn what Twister wants.”

I agreed, not feeling all that at the given moment. I checked to make sure my pistol hadn’t fallen out of it’s holster before following her out of the wrecked building. We really weren’t in Manehattan yet, or at least it felt that way with the amount of rubble there was. As we got closer the amount of rubble became less cluttered and gave way to some buildings that were still in decent condition. Most of them were apartment buildings mixed in with a few odd bakeries and other small stores. One thing was certain however: everything was abandoned.

This became more apparent as we found ourselves outside of the exact building I had mentioned earlier. Back before the the bombs, The Four Star Terminal must have been bustling with activity. Ponies used Celestia and Luna monorail lines for many things, and in a city as big as this any faster form of transportation than a carriage was very welcomed. I could only imagine how crowded this place was all those years ago. Ponies rushing to get their tickets, trying to get to work on time, or head to a fancy restaurant for a bite to eat with your family. This was an unrecognized symbol of how far ponykind has come, and how far we had managed to fall.

Over fifty thousand ponies must have once lived in this city, but now it seems like a ghost town. As me and Dead Hooves walked up, we didn’t see a single thing walking the streets around us. You could probably pass by this place without a second glance at it now, but think about how busy this place must have been. It was such a small piece of Equestrian history, but just large enough to remind us all of what we have caused. As we stood outside it’s door me and Dead Hooves looked to each other. She took a deep breath before nodding, and we opened the door.

As it opened that door my sister gasped in awe at what we were seeing, and if I hadn’t read about it in history and seen pictures I would have reacted the same way. The ceiling was high of the ground, large holes on it from where windows must have once been. A metal rod hug down from the middle of the ceiling and looking at the floor I saw the shattered remains of a chandelier. Glass could be heard cracking under our hooves, not doubt from the windows that use to make the skylight on the ceiling. We stood on the top of two floors, old marble making up the ground beneath us.

“Wow,” I could hear the disbelief in my sister's voice as she look around. “This, is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

“The state of Manehattan is much worse than that of both Las Pegasus and Ponyville,” I explained to her. “Ponyville was never directly hit by the mega spells, and Nebula one didn’t create a mushroom cloud like other mega spells did. It might have been in bad shape but this,” I pointed to the chandelier. “Is a show of a mega spells true power.”

“All of this, and it was just over a stupid war.”

A weird noise was brought to our attention, sounding like the snarl of a wild dog though much more dry and raspy. I readied my pistol, recognizing it as the sound of a feral ghoul and I urged Dead Hooves to do the same. She slung the Novasurge’s strap around her head, holding it in her right hoof. I will admit that I was slightly jealous of her, not have to put that disgusting taste of a leather trigger in her mouth. I could focus on that though, and turned to the stairs where the sound came from.

“Makes sense there would be ghouls here,” I mumbled to myself. “The mega spell here did cause a lot more damage than elsewhere.”

As the rotting hoof of a ghoul came into focus, I raised my pistol. Than I heard the sound of another behind me, and I motioned Dead Hooves towards the chandelier. Finally I saw the disgusting head of the ghoul I had first heard, and it turned to me. Without a hesitation I fired two bullets at it, watching as both flew straight into it’s head and splitting it open. I could hear the charging of the Novasurge Rifle to my left, and watched as a trail of magical energy evaporated a ghoul I hadn’t seen. I put the pistol away as both ghouls fell dead, and turned to Dead Hooves as I told her the plan.

“Stay by me,” I told Dead Hooves. “We need to find a map, and there are most likely more ghouls around. Also, leave the ghouls to me. Save the fusion cells for Twister.”

“Got a point there,” She said as she rested the Novasurge Rifle on her back once again. She looked walked over to the edge of the large bridge-like structure that made up the middle of the upper floor. “I’m going to guess we’ll find more down there than up here. It has significantly more solid ground than up here.”

I walked up next to her and looked to the lower floor of the building. There was indeed more floor below us, but what truly caught my eye was the sight of railroad tracks below us. The monorail line, of course it came here of all places. I didn’t know if it was Luna or Celestia line, but that didn’t matter as much. Where the monorail stopped there was passengers, and where there are passengers there are maps of the monorail system. I looked back to the stairs, seeing that they had broken in the middle of them. Usually this would be bad for unicorns like Dead Hooves, but I smiled at the sight of this.

“Hey Dead Hooves,” I sang calmly, my sister looking at me. “You’re not afraid of heights are you?”

“Um… why do you say-”

I didn’t give her a chance to finish as I dashed under her belly and stood up. I effortlessly picked up my sister, her body seeming light as air to me. I could suddenly understand what Dread had said about being able to crush my sister. Even compared to a pegasus her body was light, which only helped in solidifying her zebrica heritage. I didn’t want to find out if it was true giving Yeilta was the only zebra I knew, but I’ve heard about how light they could be. To see just how true it was came as a big surprise to me.

“Hold on,” I told her as I backed up slightly before galloping forward and jumping off the upper floor.

I effortlessly glided to the floor, my sister clutching my neck as I did. Flapping my wings to keep me from falling, I did my best to soar down the tunnel, which was hard due to the lack of wind. We hit the floor at least seven feet away from the overpass that made up the upper floor. Dead Hooves stumbled off my back, falling on her back with a slight thud. It was less of a reaction than I expected, but watching my sister try and get back on her hooves was funny. It took her a minute but it finally happened.

“Just letting you,” I said was a big smile on my face. “You would make a horrible paper weight.”

“Very funny Star,” She replied rolling her eyes. Her head tilted slightly as she looked at something behind me. “That was a rather easy objective.”

Looking behind myself I could see she was looking at the exact thing we were looking for. There was a map of the monorail behind us with, showing the routes and stops of both the Celestia and Luna monorail line. I smiled as I walked towards it, looking for anything that might put us closer to the Manehatten Library. Luck smiled upon us as I looked at the route for the Luna line. Motioning Dead Hooves to my side, I showed her the map on the wall.

“Maps are my thing, use to love them when I was younger,” I told her before pointing at the next stop north on the Luna line. “We take the tunnel closer to us and we should get there no problem. Considering that at this point it must be nighttime outside, the trains shouldn’t be running. We’re going to have to walk to the station.” The sound of a horn filled the air, and looking behind me I couldn’t help but facehoof. “Or, the train could be coming right now.”

Dead Hooves and I walked up to the edge of the platform as we heard the ground start to rumble. Another horn sounded as a bright light shined through the tunnel, getting closer and closer. As the light came close to the tunnels exit it’s breaks creaked and a long mechanical beast shot out from the tunnel. Train cars past our eyes as it slowly came to a halt, only resting as the head car came to the end of the tunnel. Than the doors opened to see a rather clean inside of the car. As my sister and I entered, I felt an uneasiness about this all.

“You getting a strange feeling of deja vu here?” Dead Hooves asked as the doors closed behind us, the train starting up once again.

“Don’t worry about it,” I told her as I walked to the nearest booth and opened the doors. I was surprised to see the figure of a mare sitting down, looking at me as if dissatisfied. “Sorry.” 

I closed it before she could respond and walked to the next booth. Opening the door I was glad to find that it was empty, and surprised at how clean it was. I let Dead Hooves through ahead of me before taking a seat myself. The metal feeling of the seats was much less sticky than I would have thought, and comfy as well. Honestly it was a surprise the monorail was still running. After all these years you think it would have broken down beyond repair. Nope, it was still working as well as it has been.

“Twenty caps please,” A mare said as she opened the door with a cart behind her. I tilted my head in confusion. “This your first time riding or something? Twenty caps or we toss you out the back door.”

“Oh, uh… one sec,” I said as I scrambled through my saddlebags. I pulled out the required amount, thanking the pay I got as part of the Angel Hunters as I handed it to her. “Here you go, and since you're here would you mind telling me how the monorail is still operational? I thought it would have been wrecked after the war.”

“I’m guess it really is your first time than?” I nodded in response to her question. “Well, it’s not that the monorail was save but more that the train was. It was underground when the mega spell dropped and stayed down here due to the destruction of the cities main power,” She pointed down at the floor as she continued to speak. “Than, some ponies thirty years ago decided to actually get off their asses and repair the railway. They also got the power going which helped Tenpony and Friendship City as well. Now we serve as a transport for any folk in the city.”

“What about raiders?” Dead Hooves spoke up as she watched the window, looking as the train came out of the tunnel to show the city. “Surely you’ve had some try and capture the train, so how do you manage with them?”

“Well, as rude and provocative as raiders tend to be they do know one thing,” She said with a wide smile on her face. “None of them know how to drive a train, or much less stop one. We’ve had more than our fair share of those unruly type on board our train, but they always know that the conductor knows far better than any of them. Now, if you don’t mind I have a job to do.”

I bid the mare farewell before joining Dead Hooves in looking out at the city. Far away I could see the remains of the once beautiful statue of friendship, and the Bucklyn Bridge that connected it. That was where Sharpshot, Willow Wisp, and Yeilta were heading, probably already inside the city for all I knew. The green coloring of the statue has long turned to that of a rust, and you could even see some larger parts sticking out of the irradiated water. With everything I knew about our journey, everything had started there with Cider Hooves, who has tried to warn the Steel Rangers of whatever Twister was working on.

“You know, even though I’ve never been here I feel like I’m at home,” Dead Hooves told me as she looked out the window. “If things happened differently I might be there with my father, and we would have been enemies,” She shift her body and looked at me as I drew my attention away from the ruins outside. “Even though I the situation I was put into, I’m glad that this happened instead.”

“Yeah, imagine what the wasteland can become if the Enclave and Steel Rangers actually worked together,” I said in agreement, before immediately reversing my opinion. “That said, the Steel Rangers are too stubborn to work with ‘traitors like us’. Even if they did try it would only last a day or two at best,” I looked back through the window, specifically looking for every glimpse I could of Friendship City. “That said, I’m not going back.”

“And why’s that?” Dead Hooves said confused. “Don’t you want to fight for the Enclave?”

“Well yeah, but I’m not going to abandon my sister,” I explained to her. “If this was just any other mission, and we never learned that we were related than yes, I would go. That said, how am I to leave my sister after everything we’ve been through?”

Dead Hooves didn’t answer, instead giving me a foal-like smile. I returned it, although my ended up feeling more mature than hers did. I didn’t tell her about everything else, about my father forcing me into the army, about my brother or his second marriage. I didn’t want to think of that right now, and the pain I felt. It wasn’t a story I wanted to tell, and one that I would never tell anyone. Yeilta, Dead Hooves, they were my true family. I felt a connection with them, even though I’ve barely even known them for that long.

The train slowly started to come to a stop, and we watched as the world outside the window seemed to catch up with us. We didn’t enter a station, instead we had stopped upon the edge of a sidewalk that was in less than fair repair. We were standing outside of a building that was almost completely glass save for the corners. Through the windows I could see rows of shelves and books in piles on the floor. No fancy logo needed to tell me what this place was: it was the Grand Manehattan Library… or whatever Spike had called it.

“This is our stop,” I told Dead Hooves as I got up from my seat. “You ready?”

She nodded in reply before getting up as well. We walked out of the booth and to the train doors, saying farewell to the mare that we had talk with earlier as we did. The train door opened and we stepped out, looking to see if anyone else had gotten off as well. As we realized we were the only ones that had gotten off we turned to the monorail and watched as the train slowly started to pick up speed. As it finally went out of sight Dead Hooves and I turned around and made our way to the Manehattan Library.

I let out a sigh “Not the place I would expect to hide your headquarters,” I said. “But I guess that's the point isn’t it?”

Dead Hooves didn’t respond. Instead I saw her looking up at the almost faded words above the doors. You couldn’t read them, but I had a pretty good idea of what they might have said. In truth, I’m surprise all the glass hadn’t shattered from the force of the mega spell long ago. Dead Hooves looked at the door, and pushed it open gently as she stepped inside the building. I followed after her, entering the building as she step over a pile of books in front of the entrance.

“It’s on this floor,” Dead Hooves told me as she looked to the ground. “At least, I have a feeling it is. Something about it being on the upper floors just doesn’t feel right.”

“Well than, should we start searching here first?” I replied, getting a nod from Dead Hooves in response.

An hour must have gone by as we checked the entire first floor of the library, and it was clear what the ‘Grand’ in the places name stood for. The building was huge, housing what must have been a copy of every book in Equestria. Most of them were beyond repair with torn covers and entire pages missing from inside. Nothing in here was in any condition to be used, some of which actually falling apart just at the touch of my hooves. It saddened me more than it did Dead Hooves, as I actually wanted to read something.

As I look around I start to realize that with everything the Steel Ranger and Equestria did wrong, the Grand Pegasus Enclave didn’t seem much better. We were told that we were better than everypony down here, that we hadn’t let ourselves fall as low as Equestria. Now that I actually knew what it was like down here, and the feelings of ponies that had lived in this world, I could see I was wrong. I’ll always hate the Steel Ranger, as well as the princesses for what they caused, but not everyone was bad. Dead Hooves wasn’t some crazy psychopath like lots of ponies in the Enclave stereotyped wastelanders as. Looking at everything now, were we really any better than the rest of them?

My eyes were locked to the ground when that questioned seemed to answer itself as I step on a book that seemed to still be in one piece. I lifted my hoof off of the book and was stunned at what I had seen right in front of me. Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone by A.K. Yearling, a name almost blasphemous in the Enclave for having stayed by Equestria side throughout the war. It was no secret among the Enclave that A.K. was revealed to be Daring Do herself, and as if she was the princesses or Minster Rainbow Dash anything they had about her was thrown away long ago. She is the only author in the Enclave who ponies find wrong to read, and not a single copy exists of her up there as far as I know. I should have wanted to tear the book apart, but instead I found myself opening the book in curiosity. 

“What are you reading Star?” Dead Hooves said after finding me sitting on the floor with the book in front of me. I hadn’t realized how engrossed I had become in the book until that point.

“Daring Do,” I said showing her the cover. “It’s in almost perfect condition as well. You would never find one of these in the Enclave,” I could feel my face heat from embarrassment at that thought, feeling utterly ashamed. “Reading this is like abandoning the Enclave. I’m suppose to hate her, but how can I hate somepony I don’t even know?”

“That’s something only you would know,” She said as she started walking away. “I’ve never had to ask myself that question.”

I decided to put the book away for the time being and come back to it later. After what must have been another half hour of searching the first floor, I finally found something interesting underneath a desk. I ushered Dead Hooves over, and after a minute she was by my side looking at a strange device under what must have been the checkout desk for the library. On the underside of the desk was a familiar looking hoof print scanner similar to the ones that we used up in the clouds for the Enclave. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind, this was our way into the Ministry.

“Dead Hooves, put one of your hooves onto the scanner!” I commanded, getting a nod.

She put one of her front hooves onto the letting machine underneath… nothing. Dead Hooves tried again, retracting her hoof before once again placing it on the machine. Still we weren’t getting any results, and after a minute she once again retracted the hoof away. I thought about this, and almost instantly I facehooved as I realized the foalish mistake I made. Of course this damn thing wasn’t working, all her hooves were mechanically save for her back right. I let out a sigh in self-disappointment before turning to her.

“Get on your back, back legs towards the desk,” I told her.

At first I got a look of confusion, but after explaining to her my realization she did as instructed. Laying on the ground with her belly towards the ceiling, I maneuvered carefully to her hind legs, checking to make sure they were lined up. I motioned for her to wiggle forward a little, which she did with a feeling of embarrassment in her eyes. I looked to the one tan colored back hoof my sister still had, putting my own front hooves on it and making it straighten up. This wouldn’t have worked otherwise, considering that this one normal leg was a reminder of Dead Hooves paralysis, but thankfully I was able to straighten it to the point where it could touch the scanner. I watched as a green glow went across the device’s screen, a ding sounding as it turned green.

Before I could even smile I felt the ground under me move slightly, and getting out from under the desk I could hear the floor moving. After helping Dead Hooves back onto her feet we looked to see a gap large enough for a normal pony to jump down was now under the desk. Without even thinking what could be down there I crouched under the checkout desk and lowered myself down. I waiting for Dead Hooves to do the same and as we turned around we found ourselves in a much space than I had expected. Before us was a staircase leading downward, to a large computer with a purple six pointed star on it. We both moved towards the computer, seeing nothing else contained in this underground room.

“Not much of a headquarters if you ask me,” Dead Hooves commented as I booted up the computer. “Anything interesting?”

“Give me a sec,” I said as I searched through the many files, reading them. After about twenty five minutes of reading through random files I turned to Dead Hooves “This little space isn’t the entire Headquarters, apparently it’s the mainframe computer that Minister Twilight used when she had business in Manehattan. I have numerous messages from her on reasons why, but it seems like an endless checklist in reality.”

As I continued to look through I found there was some extra features to this computer, but smiled when I saw one was a location tracker. Taking out the elevation maps that Sharpshot had given me, I looked to a small device that looked like a copier you’d see on a printer. Walking over, I placed the maps on top and watched as the device scanned it into the computer. Looking to the screen I watched as a map of Equestria came up on display with a large green dot pointing at… the Statue of Friendship. Before I could ask what was going on I heard the sound of something on the dashboard open up, revealing a holotape which Dead Hooves picked up. Remembering that I had seen a holotape player on the computer earlier, I told Dead Hooves to put it in. She did as I suggested, and the recording played.


*click*

“To my beloved little soldier,

By this point you probably know everything, and I’m sorry you had to find out. I want you to know before I explain that I will always love you, no matter what. I’m your father, and to keep this hidden from you for so long was wrong, and I’m sorry for that. You should have known why I’m no longer part of the Steel Rangers, and I should have waited so long. So… here it is. Here is the reason for my exile

It all started when somepony named Twister came into Friendship city, and according to Nightshade he’s a friend. At first everything seemed fine, business like usual for the most part. Dread, who was still only a knight at the time, was being rather troublesome. He kept telling me that we shouldn’t let Twister stay, that he’s a bad pony. I didn’t listen at the time, and if I knew what was to happen later I would have.

Twister stayed, and convinced Nightshade to send a group of Steel Rangers to steal something off the Manehattan Ministry of Awesome building’s computer. I was part of that group, and the entire expedition brought up red flags. One thing specifically unnerved me: there were alicorns their as well. It’s kinda hard to explain, but something about them being there and not attacking wasn’t right. Is it wrong to judge them because of that? Probably, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling from my head.

We got the data - though we didn’t even know what it was - without any casualties, and with all the alicorns that didn’t feel right. When I got back I decided to look up exactly what the hell we had found, that feeling of unease still very present. I broke into the elder's office and searched through as many papers as possible, and I immediately was scared. You know I don’t get scared easily, but what I saw was not something I wanted to ever find out. 

Nightshade is an insider, and he’s been sending all those important tech pieces and records we have found to them. He was helping them build something, and Twister was helping him get that. Than, I learned of Nebula three. Nebula three is a top secret mega spell created by the princesses themselves. It’s powerful, and from the folders that we had recovered I learned just how powerful it was. You know the story from there I think, I was caught and exiled for stepping out of line. I was given a day to gather my things and say goodbye to the others. That is where I am now, and why I am sending this to you.

No matter what you think of Dread, he’s the only one I trusted. We know that the only way to find it’s exact location is the Arcane Science hub, and since we’re descendants of employers we can open it. Dread is going to make sure Twister and Nightshade don’t get their hooves on those plans. Even if his way isn’t that of a Steel Ranger, I have my faith in him. He can only do so much though, and sooner or later Twister will find the location. We need to make sure the alicorns don’t get hold of them, no matter what.

That’s why I need you, my daughter, to stop him. Do what I couldn’t, what I am somehow afraid to do. I’m leaving this in the Arcane Science console before locking everything down. Only another descendant can open it, and you have to stop Twister and Nightshade before they do anything. Please just-

…

-Sorry, I can’t finish this. I can hear voices, familiar ones. They find me down here and this was all for nothing. You know what to do, and if I’m dead before you receive this I’m sorry for not being with you now. Just do what you have to, and keep him away from Nebula. He can’t stop himself from a challenge, or an unfinished job.

Please Dead Hooves, my one and only daughter and my brave soldier, do this for me. Remember, true courage isn’t recklessness, but the act of taking lead and showing you care.

Now… Goodbye. Sorry for not being a better father.”

*Click*

That was the last thing I found on the computer before Dead Hooves, tears streaming down her face, ran off.
> Chapter 23 - The Beginning of an Ending
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My mother was… alive! The shot my father had delivered hadn’t killed her like I originally thought, and the Overmare had rescued her before she died of blood loss. There was many reasons why I hadn’t noticed any of this, but the biggest one was that by the time I had calmed down I was already at the Stable 15 door. The Overmare had taken a slightly different route than me, that is why I never saw her in my blind rage. Knowing all of this, I should have felt happy to know that the one pony I loved more the Willow Wisp was alive. Yet no matter how much I told myself this, I wasn’t happy.

How could I have been happy knowing what I’ve become in the years since I left Stable 15. My mother wouldn’t want to see the son that her little Ice Cube, now known as Sharpshot, has become. I was her son, and I had let myself become a bounty hunter who ponies hired to get rid of others. I always saw it as my ridding the Wasteland of terrible ponies, but now I couldn’t help but think of the ponies that I had killed. I had hesitated to the Overmare’s request of taking me to her, but I wasn’t going to run away from everything I had done. My mother deserves to know everything I had done, no matter how much I didn’t want her to find out. I wasn’t running away, and considering that she was inside Friendship City I was already on my way to confront her.

Though there was a bigger reason I was visiting her, more than admitting the sins of the past two years. She was dying, radiation having affected due to the hole in her stable suit from the gunshot. I felt like an asshole leaving her to die, or even that I didn’t check to see if she was still alive. There wasn’t much I could do but see her one last time, and if I won’t ask for her apologies. I don’t deserve them, not with everything I did to her, even if she doesn’t truly realize it. Still, as we made our way into the ruins of Manehattan mere hours after the others must have entered it, I couldn’t help but look down at my hooves.

“Sharpshot, you feeling okay?” Willow Wisps voice broke the silence that had surrounded us for the past day or so. I didn’t look up, too ashamed to even want to look at her face. “Sharpshot, if you're feeling wrong please just tell me.”

I felt a hoof on my shoulder and I stopped, hearing the sound of the others hooves fade as they must have also stopped. I didn’t need to look up to tell that they were all looking at me, probably waiting for some response. That was Willow Wisps hoof, I didn’t need to look to know who it was behind me. It felt as if all of time had stopped, and I looked back to confirm that Willow was who had their hoof on me. I let out a sigh, turning away from her as I did so.

“I feel terrible,” I told everyone as Willow came up to my side, leaning slightly on my side. I could feel her wing large wings pull around my body, and I decided to looked at the scorched feathers on the end of them. “I’ve been angry at myself for two years, and now I find out that my mom - who I thought died - is still alive. It’s… kinda funny in a way, how things like this seem to work out. Here I am thinking I’m the good guy, but I was…”

“Stop yourself right there Ice,” Overmare said as she walked back to me from her position in the lead. “You did absolutely nothing wrong, and even though I probably shouldn’t admit it I’m actually kinda fine with you killing the scientist,” She looked down at the ground with what I could see as embarrassment. “There was a large part of me that feels like they had more control over the stable than I did. While many of the casualties I would have prefered not happened, you were an entirely different pony than,” She couldn’t help but giggle slightly. “While you’re destruction might have destroyed the integrity of our home, you actually saved some ponies from similar fates.”

‘Similar fates’, I was told afterword by the Overmare the real motive behind the scientist coming. What she said was true, they had seemed to take control of Stable 15 and there was a few ponies who had disappeared over the year. However, the fact that those scientist were so worried about ‘pure blood’ was something that caught me off guard. I was targeted not to be used as an experiment, but rather to be disposed of. They were just as much to blame for the declining population of stable 15 as the unclear air.

“Those damn bastards,” I muttered to myself, and the sadness that showed in Willow Wisps expression told me she heard.

“I’ve been trying to do something about them for a while,” The Overmare continued. “and while my first idea probably wouldn’t have included death, in the end it was probably the only option. Security answered to them, they had somehow found out how to enter any area restricted to just me, and the harm of our very civilians frustrated me. Somedays, I was afraid they would knock on my door and… dispose of me in whatever manner they did to the others beforehand,” She looked at me with a generous smile. “In other words, thank you for what you did, even if you didn’t realize it.”

“Don’t even try to say your not a good pony,” Yeilta chimed in, looking at me with a weird smile on her faces. “Look, I understand you think what you did is terrible, but I’ve done way worse things than you,” I felt a slight shiver in my spine as she said that. “Besides you did save Willow Wisp and Dead Hooves from horrible fates from what I’ve heard. If anything hold that head high stop acting sad and put that good old attitude on that my daughter seems to love.”

“Oh really, then maybe I will act sad just to annoy her about it,” I joked, feeling slightly better. That said, I was still thinking back to the scientist and my father. Doing my best to get my mind off that subject, I turned to Willow, who was staring at her burnt wings. “Is something wrong?”

“You remember how I told you on the train about my wings, and what Dread did to them?” I nodded, remembering clearly what she had told me. Not really a surprising anymore, but that bastard is the one who burnt them so she couldn’t fly away. “I thought that after becoming an Alicorn I would be able to fly, but they’re just as useless as they were before.”

“What brought that to your mind all of a sudden?” I asked. “Last I checked you didn’t mind not being able to fly or even glide at that.”

“I know, and I still don’t care that much but,” she looked to me with those cute blue eyes she always had. “We could have caught up with Dead Hooves and Nav if that was the case, or at least Stitch and White. Would that have made things easier.”

“Well you can’t beat the view of this…” I stopped as I realized exactly what I was about to say, and fixed it. “destroyed, messy, and… okay yeah I really have nothing to say.”

Willow Wisp giggled as finished. “Good try Sharpy, but next time keep the heartwarming to Yeilta, or Dead Hooves if you're not up to talking about blood.” She smiled innocently, making me feel on easy as I remembered what she had said. That smile suddenly fell almost as quick as it appear. “I missed Dead Hooves.”

“Don’t worry dear,” Yeilta responded as she came over and hugged the Alicorn. “I’m sure Dead Hooves will be okay. You would be surprised the amount of trouble the wasteland caused her those five years after. Raiders, ghouls, even that silly old power armor all seemed to be against her”

“How do you know about any of that?” I asked, rather confused. Yeilta’s smile dropped to a sad grin.

“Do you think, even though she never knew who I was, that I would straight abandon her all together?” She responded to me, the question clearly rhetorical. “Though I wasn’t able to directly visit her, I watch over from a distance. Not only that, but I made sure that if anything ever was going wrong that I would fix it when she wasn’t looking,” She chuckled slight after saying this. “Like to think I saved her ass quite a few times over the past few years. Though she also saved herself, from raiders would use her as their toy or her dead body as a punching bag, not to mention that ghouls would want to feed on her body. Two years ago I stopped watching because I thought she was able to save herself from then on.”

Though it seemed like she had more to say, that was where she decided to stop. That said I didn’t need her to say anything to know what she was thinking. She stopped watching over her daughter and started playing the role of a zebra named Zoey. How she must've felt when she saw her daughter back in Manchester, realizing that she had failed at keeping her daughter safe from this cruel world. Though, if it wasn’t for her getting kidnapped, as bad as should have been, wouldn’t have known about anything. If I hadn’t met her, we would’ve never known about Twister and everything he was doing. I also wouldn’t have met Willow, which is something that feels almost wrong now.

“The Butterfly effect can be one son of a bitch now, can’t it?” I said to the zebra, watching as she looked to me with a warm smile.

“You have no idea,” She turned to the Overmare as we found ourselves overlooking the bay. “How close are we to Friendship city?”

“Shouldn’t be much longer till we come to the Bucklyn bridge,” She said, pointing at the large bridge in the distance. “Though, if anything is to be expected, we will have to fight our way in.”

“Is it because I’m friends with someone everybody thinks is a killer or because I’m the one trying to get in?” I asked, noticing how the Overmare looked to me as she mentioned fighting. “It’s the second one isn’t it?”

I didn’t get an answer but I’m pretty sure it was both in the end. Nightshade is Twister’s lackey, and if he had patrols searching for us in Ponyville than he would have Friendship city in complete lockdown. We wouldn’t simply be able to enter when they know we are on Dead Hooves side, and that meant we would be fired upon instantly. I readied the Switchshot, watching as the Bucklyn bridge got closer and closer. This was going to be hell.

Despite the extensive damage done to the rest of the city, the Bucklyn bridge was spared a lot of the damage the mega spells caused. If only the water underneath it could be said the same, as it practically glowed with radioactivity as we walked near the sea's edge. Even if it wasn’t Salt Water, this would be completely undrinkable, and if there was any sea life left it had gone crazy from poisoning. Yet another reminder of what those two stupid princesses and their equally fucked up ministers let happen to this country.

As we came to the edge of the Bucklyn bridge the Overmare put her hoof out to stop us. Looking ahead, I saw what she was looking at, and our earlier expectations were confirmed. The Steel Rangers had set up a barricade, Soldiers spread out across it with guns at the ready. They were expecting us, but at this point that wasn’t really that surprising. The entire bridge would likely be under similar defense. I watched as Willow Wisp came up to me, pointing to an overturned carriage at the side of the bridge.

“Do you think I could push that?” She said, looking to me with a smile. I returned the smile to her with a nod.

“Keep that in mind, but I figured we should at least try talking to them,” My mind immediately went back to the fact we were being pinned as working with a killer. They weren’t entirely wrong but it wasn’t Dead Hooves of all ponies. “You know what, forget what I said. Let's kill these sons of bitches.”

I could see Yeilta licking her lips, eyes lighting up as if she was a foal about to get candy. Willow Wisp simply giggled, though if the revelations on her feelings about blood were anything than she was probably just as excited as the crazy zebra. We made our way over to the overturned carriage, the Overmare staying farther back to make sure she didn’t cause any noise until the fight started. As we set down behind it Willow started investigating the carriage before looking to me and waiting for me approval.

“Go for it.”

I heard her gulp before taking a few steps back, lowered her head and turning so she wouldn’t get her horn stuck. With a deep breath she charged forward, and I dodged to the side as her body made impact with the carriage. I put up a protective spell around me and Yeilta as I realized how much force Willow put against the carriage, causing it to break break upon impact. The result was still rather deadly, as splinters flew everywhere. Many of the Steel Rangers outside of their power armor faced the worst of it, large glass shards and splinters impaling their bodies and most like some organs. Those who were in the power fared better, but some of the small shards found their place in the gaps between armor pieces. Those who had their neck exposed were incredibly unlucky.

“They’re here! The Bloody Angel is here!”

“Guess again motherfuckers!”

Lowering the shield just enough so that only my gun barrel was outside of it, I took aim at the last Steel Ranger and fired a shot. The bullet hit both his front and hind left hooves, knocking him off balance as Yeilta charged forward. Jumping the barricade that had been made out of spare metal and barb wire I watched her land on the injured enemy and… lots of screams sounded from that direction. Trying my best to block out the noise I instead turned my attention to said barricade.

“Willow, get under the shield,” Without even arguing she did just that, leaping under as my started to glow even more.

I clinched my teeth, doing my best to not only hold the shield spell up but tear the barricade in half. It was all just scrap metal, and that barb wire couldn’t hold it in place if I put enough force into my telekinesis. The mental strain was the tough part. I’ve held up multiple spells before but a shield spell is much more taxing compared to double telekinesis. The weight of the object does translate slightly to the mental strain, but unless you are holding it for a long time than it usually is a problem.

Sadly, that’s what it became real quickly as I searched for a weak spot in the barricade. Nightshade must have thought Dead Hooves would do this, and even though he didn’t realize she couldn’t control her magic it was still an issue. A normal pony would have been fine for some time, and while I wouldn’t deteriorate like a normal ghoul it did effect how much mental strain magic had on my body. I was quickly exhausting myself in an effort to break apart a simple barricade.

I wasn’t prepared when the barricade blew apart from the other side, breaking my focus and dropping the shield in surprise. I had enough time to reapply the shield before any spare scraps hit us, but I was still exhausted. I did my best to hide it, looking to see Yeilta beckoning us to another overturned carriage. Willow used her wings to guard me as I dropped the shield and ran towards the zebra’s position, looking back and signaling to the Overmare to stay where she is. I was not getting her involved even if she had power armor. This was our fight; we had been given the task to take down Nightshade and that was what we were going to do.

“Next time you need me to open up the road, remember they carry grenades,” Yeilta said waving one of the small metal balls she mentioned around. However my eyes instead found themselves focusing on blood covering her muzzle, and I told myself to not look at the pony she had killed.

“I’ll remember that for next time,” Looking back through a hole in the carriage we were using as cover I looked to see another barricade not far away. “Must be a lot of these things across the bridge, which tells me we have a long way to go.”

“Are we really going to have to kill every Steel Ranger that comes our way?” Willow shooted to me over the sound of gunfire. “Doesn’t that leave the city completely defenseless?”

“Well do you see another option?” I asked her, getting silence from the mare in return. “Look, we have no one on our side who can have them call of the attacks. That means that unless some miracle happens we aren’t going to have any other way of getting across,” Willow didn’t look at with that answer, and I had a pretty good idea why. Dead Hooves’ father had worked with these ponies, something that must have been going through her mind. “We have no choice as sad as it is. Either we fight them or we die, and I’m already dead enough as it is.”

The look of heartache on Willow Wisp’s face as I told her that made me feel horrible, but we were in no condition to do any talking. Probably should have thought about that before blindly charging in, though it was more than likely they would have fired at us anyways. None of it mattered now anyways, we got to keep moving or will die.

“How many of those grenades do you have on you Yeilta?” I asked the zebra.

“Well considering he had a grenade launcher,” Her hoof was now cradling a scary amount of standard issue explosives, a seductive smile on her face. “I say we have enough to blow up Ponyville and then some.”

“Okay, I… guess you are in charge of destroying the barricades as we get farther along the bridge,” I looked to the carriage we were behind, noticing that, despite the many bullets flying at us, none have pierced the underside. “It’s a risk, but I think we can call this sturdy cover. There is most likely metal on the bottom of the carriage. Willow, you move the carriage, but please don’t destroy it. Nopony is dying on our side unless they have to.”

Willow gave me a smile and nodded before leaning her head down. I saw Yeilta start to cock another grenade as Willow pushed us a little farther forward. I checked the left side of the bridge, as our right was well guarded by the bridges railing. The very moment a Steel Ranger came with my vision, I motioned for Willow to stop. I quickly checked to make sure the Switchshot was set to the sniper before shooting the Steel Ranger straight through the helmet. Yeilta followed up by chucking a grenade over the barricade, and I moved my head behind the carriage as the Steel Rangers started retreating. The sound of metal burst and the intact carriage made me feel confident about my plan so far. That was, until I realized Willow wasn’t able to move our cover any more.

“It’s stuck!” She cried out as she tried desperately to get it moving again.

“Alright, I’ll check the other side off the carriage,” I told her, “It’s probably metal from the barricade keeping us from moving, and it shouldn’t take too much time.”

“And you call me the crazy one?” Yeilta shouted at me. “You already seem rather tired from trying to break the barricade earlier.”

“Well Willow doesn’t know any magic yet, and I doubt you have the ability to put a shield up,” A told her. “Look, if I’m going to die I’m gonna make sure the rest of you bastards live, okay?”

I didn’t let them respond as I cast a shield spell around myself and started moving to the front of the wreckage. The sound of bullets bounced off the barrier, my magic the only thing keeping me from death. I was correct at what was keeping the carriage from moving, as there was tons of scrap metal of wire stuck to it from cracks in the bridge. I took a deep breath as I started to work at the scrap metal, only able to move one piece at a time in my exhaustion. It was a slow and painful process, my mind doing all it can to keep the kinesis and shield working at the same. It was a pain that brought me back to how I use to feel after tests in the stable; I would be completely spent and fall asleep as soon as it was done.

I was making progress, seeing the carriage starting to move once again, but pinned metal and wires made it a lot harder than it should be. I saw a bullet slide past my body and hit the carriage on the right. I could mental feel my shield starting to fail on me, and could hear Willow calling for me on the other side of the carriage. I know what she wanted me, but I wasn’t going to leave us as sitting ducks, and I remember what I said not too long before. Guess this was a necessary sacrifice if I ever saw one, and I wasn’t going to leave them sitting there hopeless.

“I… made a promise mother,” I told myself, feeling as if I would not get the chance to see her before I died. “I promised to keep… Willow Wisp safe… no matter what happened. I’ll meet you in the afterlife… where the sun shines, the sky is clear, and the world has no need for bounty hunters. Thanks mom… for raising this stupid fuck up of a son.”

I saw more and more bullets fly by my body as my mind got heavier and heavier. I kept a smile on my face as I continued to remove barbed wire piece after barbed wire piece. I suddenly felt something graze my shoulder, but I kept myself focus, bearing the pain as I felt some go through my leg. My mind wanted to give up, and my shield was all but gone, yet I managed to keep it up. Finally, as I removed one last piece of wire, I saw the carriage suddenly lurch forward, hitting me in the head and knocking me to the ground. I was light headed, and I finally collapsed to the ground from mental exhaustion. I let out a small laugh as I felt this was the end, and closed my eyes.

That’s when the sound of an explosion sounded from farther down the bridge, and I saw Yeilta jump over the carriage and grab me. I was still conscious as she tossed me over to Willow, who placed me on her back. I kept myself from drifting off, the idea of sleeping in the middle of a battlefield terrifying me in a way I refused to express. Yet, looking to Willow, she had an expression that said ‘sleep, everything would be fine’. I didn’t want that, but my body was thinking differently than the rest of me at that point.

Slowly I nodded off to sleep as I saw Willow rush away from the carriage placing me at the far end of the bridge behind something I couldn’t make out. The sound of gunfire was clear, but the words ‘you’ll be fine’ were whispered to me as she waved someone to me. That’s when I heard it, the sound of explosives bombarding the other end of the bridge. What happened after that I didn’t find out till later, but I do remember seeing the form of ponies in the sky. I smiled weakly as I went off to sleep, the world covered in a giant shadow.

“The Enclave… is here.”