Fallout Equestria: Falling Shadows

by Drako Moon

Chapter 10: Bombs Away

How should I explain Gator? Well he’s big, he’s an earth pony, and he’s a different brand of nuts than your normal raider. His teeth looked like they were sharpened to points almost like he wanted to match his own name. Actually, he’s a monster and I’m his prey trapped in a chair inside a rusty shanty he called his office. All three of us sat in front of him with guns pointed at us by his loyal followers, he was saying words, but I was so distracted with my own thoughts that all I heard was the muffled sound of his voice.

“HEY! Ain’t you listenin’? You’re lookin’ around the room like you’re funny in the head or somethin’,” Gator shouted.

“I apologize for her, she’s just a little shaken up is all. She only left her Stable a few days ago,” Stardust said defending me.

“That ain’t what I heard. See what I heard is that she killed Crackerjack the leader of that raider camp just out of Cartwheel,” Gator said.

“Heeey. That wasn’t her that was me! I blew his head clean off with my rifle. Why do ponies have to go out of their way to ruin another pony’s reputation? It just isn’t fair,” Stardust huffed.

“Don’t take credit where it ain’t deserved. I don’t see any rifle on you. I don’t like liars, I kill them for fun. Lie to me again and I’ll pop you’re head like a melon. You got me?” Gator said angrily.

Stardust sighed. “Yeah I gotcha. Shadow quit staring off into space, you’re gonna get us killed. Being dead doesn’t sound fun.”

He clapped his hooves together. “Alrighty then, let’s get back to business. Like I was sayin’ to these two while YOU were off in la la land, I want you to tell me how you opened that stable and then I need you to get somethin’ out of there for me. What I want outta there is chems, I know ya’ll Stable folk keep an ass load of chems in the clinic. When I stumbled across that Stable I thought I’d struck gold, but the goddesses damned door wouldn’t open, no matter how much I blew it up, and the fuckin’ switch thingy didn’t work neither.”

I finally focused on him and explained, “Trust me, there aren’t any more chems in there. They were probably all used for this crazy doctor pony’s experiments. He was making bloodwings out of vampire fruit bats. He probably used the whole cache of chems that was in the clinic. Plus, the whole Stable is crawling with those monsters, we almost died trying to get the same thing you’re after.”

He rubbed his chin. “Hmm… bloodwings huh? That’s even better, I’d have my own army of deadly critters. How bout this, I don’t care how ya’ll got in there anymore, just go back in there and leave the door open. Ya’ll are gonna get to the terminal that sets off the evacuation alarm or whatever makes a loud ruckus and scare all them things outta there.”

“Those things are monsters. They aren’t gonna listen to you. I’m not even sure how that fucking mad scientist got them to listen,” I said.

“I’M A MONSTER! They’ll recognize me as their alpha male as soon as they lay eyes on me,” he said arrogantly.

Aura started to laugh next me, we all looked over at her as she laughed harder. Using one of her talons she wiped away a tear. “You think you’re a monster huh. That’s rich.”

Gator looked over at her and grinned wide, showing his filed teeth. “I know I’m a monster, everypony fears my name, and my gang of fiends.”

“If you think you’re a monster and everypony fears your name, then you’re dumber than you look. I’ve seen things in The Wasteland that would make you look like a radroach in comparison. All I see here is band of drugged up nut jobs acting tough,” Stardust said.

In a flash, he pulled out a long-barreled revolver and pointed it at her. “Really now?”

To my amazement, she started to laugh again not even flinching at the gun pointed right at her. “You aren’t tough, you’re just a blow hard trying to look tough.”

Gator tongued the trigger and started to pull back, I spoke up before he could fire, “Fine, if you really wanna risk your life with those things be my guest. But I can’t open the stable just yet.”

For a long moment, he just stood there looking into Aura’s eyes. I knew she wasn’t gonna back down, and I couldn’t have her getting herself killed because of her attitude. He finally looked over at me and set the gun down. “Really? And why’s that?”

“Stable lockdowns take a few hours to end, they can’t be overridden before that,” I lied, he doesn’t seem to know much about how stables worked. I was hoping he’d buy it. Hell, the idiot tried to blow the door open.

“Hmmm, so if we wait a few hours you can open the door and let me in?” he asked walking over to me. I could see his tongue playing with his teeth as he considered the circumstances.

“Yeah, but like I said you’ll have a hell of a lot of bloodwings to deal with,” Stardust said looking over towards us.

“I ain’t scared of those things. Worse comes to worse I’ll blow em’ up,” he said with a large grin, showing off his vicious looking teeth. “Tell ya’ll what, I’ll let you live for now, even the griffon. If ya’ll let me into the stable, I’ll even let ya’ll go….maybe, depends on my mood.”

“It’s a deal, as long as you’ll let us go after. That’s the only way I’ll agree,” I said.

He took a moment scratching his chin slowly. “Fine, even if I ain’t in a good mood, I’ll honor that request, and Gator keeps his word.”

“Yeah right, I’m sure he’ll just kill us as soon as the door opens up,” Aura said in disbelief.

He rounded on her. “Keep quiet birdie,” he said, then looked back at his followers. “Split em’ all up, have the griffon brought to my chamber. I ain’t ever tried things with one of em’ before, and tonight could be a first of many.”

I stood quickly. “That wasn’t the deal, don’t you lay a hoof on her,” I yelled.

He rounded back on me and bucked me. My body hit the ground hard, Stardust jumped up, but Gator had the revolver up and pointing right at his head. I looked up seeing Aura being held down by three of the larger stallions, her face masked in anger. Stardust was standing there breathing hard as he looked down the barrel of the revolver.

“Now, I said what I’d do and I’ll honor my promise, but in the meantime, this is my town, and I’ll do what I want while we wait. Ya’ll understand?” he mumbled around the grip of his revolver.

“I’m gonna kill you. Raider scum,” Stardust said through his teeth, I could tell it was taking all of his self-control not to attack him.

“Not if I get to him first,” Aura muttered.

“Take em’ away,” Gator said, no longer smiling. The guards pulled Aura away and through a door that looked like it led outside. A unicorn buck lifted me with his magic and started to haul me away through the main door. I watched as Stardust turned to walk away with the rest of the guards, their guns trained on him.

He smiled and winked at me. “It’s okay Shadow, everything’ll be just fine.”

“Oh and one more thing,” Gator said as I was pulled through the door. “I also hate pegasi,” he said as the door closed and I heard two shots (Blam…Blam).

I screamed as I was pulled away by the unicorn. There was a sharp pain in the back of my head, and everything went black.

I awoke not long after, finding myself in one of the metal cages outside. Nopony was around and the cloudy sky was starting to go dark. I felt tears falling down my face as I thought about what happened. What did he do to Stardust, was he still alive, or did Gator kill him? What about Aura, was she being used to fulfill some sick fantasy of his? This was all my fault, I made Stardust go with me, and I decided to go into that Stable to get some stupid Pip-Buck. And for what? Information on my mother who left me behind years ago. It wasn’t worth it, none of this was, how fucking stupid am I to just think I can decide to do something and everything would be fine.

I kicked the metal bars, “Motherfucker!” I leaned against the bars and hugged myself as I looked down at my Pip-Buck. Since I was trapped in here anyway, I might as well look through the files I took from Stable 9, maybe something in them would help me keep my mind off of what was going on. I flipped over to files and opened the first one.

Stable 9 Overmare personal log #219

Today is the happiest day of my life, but also the scariest. I had a foal yesterday, a little filly. The strange thing is she wasn’t born a unicorn like myself, or an earth pony like her father, she’s a pegasus, first one ever to be born in Stable 9. A lot of the citizens of the stable were very worried about this, wondering how this could’ve happened.

Quick Wit, her father, told me that his own mother told him, that they had Pegasi in their family back before the war. I guess it’s possible, just very rare. I don’t mind though, she’s my daughter and I’ll love her no matter what. I decided to name her Wind Thrasher, Quick Wit, wanted to name her Wind Stalker, kind of after his favorite solider from the war Night Stalker, I prevailed in the end. I can’t wait to see who my little Wind Thrasher will become when she grows up.

I looked at that first message sadly and started to wonder. If she would’ve known what was going to happen to her daughter, what would she have done? I’m sure she would’ve retired Cell before he experimented on her daughter. I clicked on the next file.

Wind Thrasher got her cutie mark today, three bats, she shows promise working with them. She loves to fly around with them playing long into the night. Some nights I even find her sleeping down there with them, dozens of them curling around her like she’s their mother. Some think it’s a little creepy, I think it’s kind of sweet. Now that she has her cutie mark, it’s time to assign her a job. I think I’ll have her work in Bio Science so she can help Doctor Cell with his experiments. I know she wants to work security with her friends, I’m not sure what I’ll do yet, but I’m sure whatever it is, it’ll be the right decision.

I only wish Quick Wit was here to see his daughter now, she’s growing up so fast. I can’t believe it’s been two years now since he passed.

So, she’d lost her husband, Wind Thrasher lost a father, and she took to making friends with the bats. It was kind of weird I’m sure, but she was the only pegasus in the stable. I could understand what that was like. How she acted toward the animals though, reminded me of stories of the Ministry Mare Fluttershy. She loved animals too and with her caring nature she started the Ministry of Peace to help ponies and animals during the war. I bet Wind Thrasher was a lot like that before she was turned into what she was now.

I saw one more file left from the Overmare, it was dated the day before the Stable was sealed…

There was an accident today, Wind Thrasher was hurt badly. She’s been admitted to Medical to be looked over by the doctor. He told me it didn’t look good, I begged him to do anything he could to help her. It’s been hours now though and I still haven’t heard anything back from him. Goddesses please don’t let me loose her, she’s all I have left.

He did help, or at least he thought he did. He made her into a monster, made her kill her fellow stable dwellers. I don’t think I can read anymore, luckily it didn’t look like there was anything left to read, there was only one file left and it wasn’t one of the Overmare’s notes. Instead it was titled ‘In case of Emergency’ I clicked it.

This is the Overmare of Stable 9.

I am leaving this file in case of a major emergency in the stable. I have my suspicions that something bad is going to happen and just in case my suspicions are correct, I want to make sure precautions are taken to keep anything in the stable from falling into the wrong hooves. If the Stable is to fall into anarchy or be taken over from something on the outside, I’ve installed a self-destruct program into my terminal. It can be activated from here if needed or transferred to one of the Stable head’s Pip-Bucks. These Pip-Bucks have a broadcaster on them. If you activate it while connected to the stable’s broadcast channel, it’ll activate the self-destruct sequence and destroy the Stable and everything inside it. I just pray that I’m wrong, but I have to do this. Luna forgive me.

I looked at that last message in awe, so the Overmare was wondering if something was going on in her own Stable. Under the message was an icon that read ‘Search for Channel?’ I clicked on it and after a few seconds of searching for a signal I saw one show up on my screen that said Stable 9 Broadcast channel.

I didn’t click it though, not sure if it was a good idea at the moment. I looked up at the tall mountain where Stable 9 was, remembering my short time inside. What good would it do to destroy it? It’s not like anypony can ever get back into it unless I was to unseal it. Sooner or later the bloodwings would die off, without Cell to keep them alive I was sure they wouldn’t last long. Still, what if somepony found a way in like I did? There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of Bloodwings in there. Could I really risk them getting out?

No I couldn’t, but I couldn’t destroy it just yet, I had to find a way out of here and see if I could rescue Aura. I held back tears as I thought of Stardust, I heard the gun go off. I couldn’t think about it right now, it was time to find a way out and find my friends. The odds weren’t in my favor, I could find them both dead, one I knew had to be. I don’t care. If he’s dead, I still need to get him out of here. He doesn’t deserve to have his body desecrated by these lunatics.

“How the fuck am I gonna to get out of this cage?” I said aloud, my magic was still shot after using so much during my fight with Wind Thrasher, so teleporting wasn’t an option. The guards had taken all of my gear when they captured us, so I couldn’t pick the lock either.

As I sat there thinking to myself, something came down and fell on my muzzle. I looked down at the single drop of water sitting on my muzzle. What the hell? Then another one fell, and another, and another. I looked up as water droplets started to fall from the now dark clouds over head. I remember reading about this in a book before, it was raining.

Right then it started to downpour, soaking me almost instantly. The rain felt nice, like a shower, only outdoors. Then there was a flash of light in the sky followed by a loud boom. I jumped and looked around, shaking some at the sudden loud noise. There was another flash and a bolt of lightning struck the ground not far away from where I was trapped. The sound it made was ear splitting, like somepony just shot a rifle right next to my head. Okay I really don’t like this now. Rain sucks.

“Goddesses dammit, like things aren’t bad enough!” I yelled at the sky.

There was another flash of light, this time the bolt struck one of the guard towers near me. I heard a loud scream as the pony inside was electrocuted.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight and sound of him being shocked. “Haha. I get it Celestia. You’re cleansing The Wasteland one by one with tremendous electrical blasts. Incredible initiative! Oh, and hilarious!”

I can’t believe I just laughed at somepony’s demise, damn I’m twisted. Only a few days out of the Stable and I’m laughing at death. That was when I realized I was in a metal cage and started to plead, “Please don’t shock me too. I know I haven’t been the most well behaved pony, but I don’t deserve to be roasted.”

Another crack rang out making my right ear ring as the lightning struck a tall, thick, wood pole about twenty feet away. I clenched my eyes shut wincing at the pain I suddenly felt in my head. I know I’m gonna be next, I’ll be Shadow Star jerky (NOW IN TERIYAKI STYLE!). The pain faded a little and I opened my eyes, the air stunk like ozone. I looked at where the pole got struck, the bottom oddly enough was where it’d started to glow orange as it burned slowly. I was surprised the rain hadn’t extinguished it yet.

Watching something burn while it was raining is like being under water and roasting something over fire, it just seemed weird. Watching the orange glow was fascinating. For some reason, everything else was out of my attention because something was burning and I thought it was cool.

Little embers started to pop off of the orange area where the wood burned. They looked like little orange raindrop splashes on the ground for a split second before they went out. I could hear a faint cracking noise coming from the pole, I tried focusing my magic on it to pull it down to distract the guards close by so I could steal the key to this metal deathtrap and escape. Then I quickly remembered that my magic was burnt out when my head started to throb, “Damn horn and your stupid limits,” I said, pounding on my horn softly with my hoof as if hitting it would magically make it work again. I mean it could work. It worked for my Pip-Buck when I was in Stable 9. After pondering like an idiot, I remembered that my plan wouldn’t work anyway because the guard was killed by the lightning strike.

The cracks where getting louder and I realized that the pole was starting to wave back and forth a little. Another loud crack came from the burning pole and it started to fall. Oh shit! It’s falling toward me! I moved out of the way as best I could in the small cage trying to avoid getting crushed. The heavy wood mass crashed atop the cage bending the top down into a dip. Clenched in the fetal position and shaking in the corner of the cage I stared at it thanking the Goddesses that I moved out of the way in time.

Getting up from the corner and inspected the damage, I wondered if I should call somepony over here and complain about the safety of their little prison. I looked at where most of the impact was taken and saw a small opening. “Hmm… I wonder if I can slip through, I am pretty small. Oh fuck, now I’M the one calling myself a half-pint,” I said softly to myself, inspecting the hole.

I poked my head through, then my forehooves. I started to pull myself out when my flanks got stuck. Great, I’m sure ghost Stardust is laughing at me now and calling me lard-ass. I pulled harder and finally slipped through with the help of the rain making everything wet. The force made me roll forward into the mud getting me all… ugh icky. I wasn’t gross for long though because the rain was slowly washing the filth out of my coat.

“Alright, now I’ve gotta find out what happened to my friends, well friend.” I’m not sure if I could call Aura a friend yet considering that not long ago she wanted to take me prisoner, and then after that decided to stalk me like a creep. Whatever, I needed to find both of them, even if Stardust was gone.

I heard hoofsteps splashing toward me in the distance, I looked around for a place to hide and spotted a dumpster. Grimacing at the fact that I was gonna hide in a place where fiends put their trash. I made my way over to the nearby dumpster as quickly and quietly as I could. I opened the top and the stench made me gag as I looked at the rotting and dismembered bodies piled inside. Swallowing my pride and some vomit I crawled inside into the squishy, stinky, sploogy, bloody pile.

That’s it I was going to vomit, and there it went, everything I’ve eaten just making the smell and texture worse. Finishing I pulled the top closed and waited.

After a minute a stallion and a mare trotted by the dumpster. “What the fuck!? What happened!?” the stallion said looking at the smashed remains of the cage.

“Shit, the little bitch escaped. She couldn’t have gotten far, let’s go find her,” the mare said inspecting the pole.

“Shouldn’t we tell the boss?” the stallion asked sounding as if he was afraid of getting in trouble.

She shook her head. “No, not yet. If we find her, we can lock her up again and Gator will be none the wiser. Plus, when we catch her we can have a little fun if you catch my drift.”

Both of them started looking around the area for me. They looked in trash cans, shanties, and even a few wood crates. Wow, fiends are pretty dumb, I wouldn’t hide in a trashcan, let alone a tiny one like that. Oh goddesses I’ve been as dumb as a raider, I AM hiding in a trashcan. It’s just really big and smelled like decay and barf.

I heard hoofsteps trot my way and heard the stallion say something, “I bet you ten inhalers of dash that she’s hiding in this dumpster.”

My mind scrambled trying to think of a way to get out of the dumpster and find another place to hide. I can’t crawl out and I can’t teleport, that’s when I noticed through the dim light a rotting pony torso. It was pretty big, it was missing its head and all of its legs. I could see through the neck hole that the organs have pretty much rotted out leaving mushy blackish sludge. At the sight I had to hold back a gag or three.

Great, another disgusting place to hide. Why couldn’t I find a dumpster filled with cotton candy or something? At least that would be delicious and wouldn’t stink.

Swallowing some more vomit, I started to put my hind legs into the hole and slip in. The wet sucking sound my hooves were making as they sank into the sludgy organs was making the thought of what I was doing that much worse. After a few seconds and a vomiting session I was snugly inside of the carcass. I covered up the neck-hole with a large strip of hide that I was standing on before I got in the dead pony and after two seconds I realized that I’d rather be caught and tortured than be where I’m at. The inside of the torso was almost worse than the dumpster itself, the inside of the ribs squished what remained of the internal organs all over me with an unbelievably disgusting sliminess. The movement of my breathing was enough to make the rotting organ meat on my coat start to run down my sides, making me hold back a few gags.

The top hatch of the dumpster opened. “Aw damn! She’s not in here, can we just pretend the bet was a joke?”

“No. You said you’d give me ten dash if you lost. I’m not letting you pull that fake betting bullshit you pull during poker. Now c’mon let’s go find the bitch before somepony else sees that she’s missing,” she said.

The hatch closed and I heard them trot away, I vomited again trying to get out of the body as fast as I could, nothing but bile came up this time though. As I tried to crawl out my hooves slipped and I face planted into the disgusting mixture of bile, rotting flesh and organs, and vomit. I quickly pulled my head back and dry heaved for a minute or two, hoping nopony could hear me. In my head I thanked the Goddesses that I hadn’t gotten any in my mouth. Carefully I opened the top of the dumpster and looked out to see if there was anypony lying in wait. All I could see was rain falling and the sky flashing.

I crawled out slowly into the mud, the rain was once again washing the grime out of my coat, but I don’t think that smell is gonna ever go away. It’s been practically burned into my nostrils. Looking around I couldn’t tell exactly where I was, I spotted the guard tower that had been hit by lightning. “I should climb up there and get a bird’s eye view of the area,” I said quietly to myself.

I trotted through the mud toward the tower trying not to make too much splashing noises. As I climbed up the ladder I could smell ozone again, it’s amazing enough I could smell anything but decay at this point. Getting to the top of the ladder I saw the crisp husk of the guard stallion that got shocked. I giggled on the inside a little bit remembering his electrifying death. Right after though I felt ashamed.

I walked to the railing of the tower and checked out my surroundings, I think I saw in the distance the shanty I was in earlier. “That’s gotta be where they are, I know it.” Wow, I really needed to stop talking to myself.

I went over to the crispy corpse and tried to take his barding but the remainder of his hide looked like it’d melted to the metal armor. “Goddesses,” I said taking the bat that lied next to the body.

I checked my surroundings once again and climbed back down the ladder with the bat in my mouth. I tried to use my magic to hold it but all that did was give me a headache and make me look dumb trying to focus with my face twisting while I was trying to use my telekinesis.

How do earth ponies fight like this? Holding a bat in my mouth like this was asinine, I can’t swing my head in fifty different directions just trying to land a blow. Then it hit me, I’m an idiot. This is a hoofball bat not a gun. Why would I hold it in my mouth to hit ponies?

I started to walk in the direction of the shack I saw from the top of the tower, I could hear voices getting closer. I hid between two shacks as three fiends walked passed, one stopped. “Hey, you guys smell that?”

“Tomato Paste, you’re not gonna trick us into smelling your ass again,” one of the bucks said scowling at him.

“No I’m serious this time, somethin’ stinks, like puke,” Tomato Paste complained.

“Fine. Go smell your pile of puke, we’ll meet you at the bar,” one of the others said.

There’s a bar in this shithole? Wow I really took this place for granted. On the outside, it looks like a town that could be blown away with the wind when in reality it’s a small metropolis of shops, bars, and houses.

“Okay, but if I find somethin’ cool I ain’t sharing it with you,” he replied walking around the area following the scent.

He was getting closer, I gripped the bat in my forehooves and waited for him to get close enough. Finally, he walked passed where I was hiding again. I jumped out behind him and swung the bat as hard as I could, making contact with his... oh… well that had to hurt.

He fell to the ground grabbing groin in pain managing to squeak out, “Why?”

“You know why!” I said before I swung the bat once again and hit him upside the head knocking him out.

I checked him for weapons and all I found was a switchblade and a few 10mm bullets. Ugh… why did he have bullets if he didn’t have a gun? I was going to take his barding, but it looked too big for my small stature. I sighed and kept walking, keeping my ears and eyes peeled for more ponies. My E.F.S. wasn’t much help since all I saw was red bars everywhere I looked. For such a large town, I was surprised I didn’t see more ponies.

The sky was starting to get darker, flashes of light still flickering in the sky lighting up the town in a short strobe. More strikes hit a few of the shanties nearby with a loud crack. The wind was starting to pick up a bit too, blowing me around in a wind tunnel.

My assumption that there weren’t many ponies in the town where quickly proven wrong as I heard noises from inside the makeshift houses. The noises I heard ranged from enraged yelling to sexual bliss, and sometimes a bit of both as I passed by more and more shacks.

While I was walking one of the metal doors quickly opened slamming into my face. “Fine! Fuck you then!”

Dazed I looked at the pony that walked out of the shack and said, “Uhhh… oww.”

“The fuck are you lookin’ at? She’s the one bein’ a bitch that won’t put out!” he asked.

“I’m... I’m not looking at anything,” I replied nervously.

“Good!” he yelled again as he started to walk away.

Why didn’t he grab me or try to kill me? Maybe he didn’t realize I wasn’t one of his own. Trying to blow off the close call I just had I continued onward.

I saw a small light flickering in front of me over the door to my destination. It looked out of place, attached to the wall was what looked like a table lamp shaped like a draconequus I saw in a book once. It looked like it was holding the light bulb in his, uh paw. Getting close to the door I could swear I heard a whisper in my ear. “Little lamplight on the wall, go on in little pony who is so small. Your friend’s death might have been fake, but sometimes a lie… is easier to take,” a mischievous voice said.

“Who… who’s there?” I asked quietly to the voice.

I didn’t get a response, it was a little creepy. I must finally be going nuts, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I approached the door and put my hoof on the handle when I heard Aura’s voice coming from inside.

“I warned you not to touch me motherfucker!” she yelled.

I opened the door to three ponies curled up and whimpering in the corner, they all had deep cuts on their faces and different parts of their body. One of them was clenching his groin with a pained expression on his face, he had tears running down his face mixing with the blood coming from his cuts.

“What happened here!?” I asked.

“I cut his dick off! The sick bastard thought it might be fun to sample the pretty griffon before his boss got to her,” she said with her ‘in your face’ attitude.

“Good Goddesses! Did you have to go that far?” I asked in horror.

“Fuckin right! If a male is gonna put his talons or hooves on me they’ve gotta know the risk. Touch tip and get sniped,” she replied.

I would’ve vomited if I could, but I had nothing left. It was all left in the dumpster of death. Goddesses, I could still smell the decay. “Couldn’t you just rough him up or something?” I asked holding back a gag.

“It wouldn’t send the same message. By the way what smells like a brahman carcass that crawled out of a donkey’s ass?” she asked.

“Uh… well… that would be… uh… me,” I said feeling embarrassed.

“Gross! What did you crawl in? You smell worse than the pegasus,” Aura said, ignoring the stallions huddled in fear.

“HEY! Don’t talk about him like that! He’s probably dead! Just because you didn’t like him doesn’t mean you have the right to say stuff like that!” I snapped.

“Ooohhh I see, you’re crushing on the pegasus aren’t you?” she said condescendingly.

“No I’m not! I don’t think he even thinks like…shut up,” I stuttered.

“Anyway, let’s get outta here, fuck these bucks and their damn stable obsession,” she said.

“No! Even if he’s dead we can’t just leave Stardust here, it’s not right,” I protested.

“Pft whatever. Hey dinkle dick and numb nuts twins. Where’s the Pegasus?” Aura asked annoyed at my outburst.

“Uh…um…he…he’s…still…uh...with Ga-gator, in his mangle room. It’s where he tortures ponies, it’s in the same building as his office. P-please don’t hurt me again, I told you all I know,” the one on the left stuttered.

“Quit bein’ a wussy, you can reattach it if you put it on ice fast enough and get to a doctor. You could even take some hydra and grow it back, then you’ll have a neat little toy to play with,” Aura said tossing said appendage at him.

“Damn, you’re cold. And a little bit gross,” I said in disgust at the thought of what she just said.

“You’re the one that stinks. Who’s gross now?” Aura rebutted.

“Hey, that was a matter of life and death that I’d rather not talk about it,” I said. Or think about if I could help it.

“Whatever. I’m going to scout ahead and clear the way for you. I’ll be waiting just outside town. See ya later Shrimp,” Aura said and walked out the door.

“You’re not gonna kill us, are you?” one of the stallions asked.

“No, I’m not going to kill you, unless you want me to put your friend out of his misery,” I said looking back at them. “I mean that’s gotta be pretty painful.”

“No…no he’ll be fine. I hope,” he said nervously.

“If you tell your friends that you told me where Stardust is though, I’ll kill you without blinking an eye. Got it!?” I threatened.

“Yes ma’am,” they said in unison.

I walked out of the shack, leaving those idiots to cower at my awesomeness. I looked around in the pouring rain, I didn’t recognize anything. I wish I would’ve asked them how to get to Gator. Oh well, I guess I’ll just find it on my own.

When I was walked in by Gator and the other fiends I remembered that Gator’s so called office wasn’t too far from the edge of the town. Maybe if I go there, I could figure out how to get to him.

I started walking in the direction away from the mountain, keeping my eye out for wandering fiends. Day had turned to night and the only thing lighting the way was the lightning overhead. It’s a lot easier to sneak around when it’s dark like this, nopony can see you unless they shine a light on you.

Making my way to the edge of town I did run into some ponies, but I was able to sneak passed them through the darkness. When I got to the town gate I heard the two guards talking to each other.

“So, what did the boss do to that Pegasus? I heard he tore him limb from limb,” one asked the other.

“Na he just shot his wings and tortured him a little. He’ll probably die though, the boss left him in the mangle room. He said that waitin’ for death is the worst kind of torture,” the other said back.

‘I have to get to him soon, he might still be alive,’ I thought to myself.

I took a look around and mentally retraced my steps, I was starting to remember the path to Gator’s office. Looking around I noticed that the shacks and shanties were starting to look more familiar from what I could see in the dark.

“Hey. Who’s there? Is that you… (Cough-Gurgle)”

I stabbed the fiend in the throat with the switchblade before he could continue the sentence. He choked and gurgled on the ground gasping for air as blood filled his lungs. A moment later, he was dead. All he had on him was a box of something called Party Time Mint-als and an inhaler of dash, not even a single weapon.

I dragged the body between some shacks and continued to my destination. The closer I got to where Gator was, the more fiends I saw. It was getting more difficult to sneak around. The rain finally stopped and the sound of the drops no longer masked the sound of my hoofsteps.

I made it to Gator’s shack, it was guarded by two guards holding assault rifles. There were also quite a few ponies talking in small groups in front of the shack. This looked like the only place in town with power, there’s lights everywhere.

I snuck around behind the shack hoping that there was a back door or something. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a back door, all that was there was a storage shed that looked like it’d fall apart if I blew on it too hard.

I heard the mischievous voice in my ear again, “This is a sign to look at the sign of fiend design.”

That was really getting annoying. Now I have two voices inside my head telling me what to do. Why was he rhyming? Why can’t he just tell me exactly what to do? Oh yeah, that would be too easy. Everything had to be a puzzle or some sort of sick experiment out here.

“Just look dammit! At the sign!” the voice exclaimed in my ear.

“Fine, just quit screaming in my ear,” I whispered.

“I’m not screaming, I’m motivating very loudly,” the voice responded.

“Who are you, another voice in my head?” I asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know? Now stop talking to yourself and pay attention to what’s going on,” the voice replied.

Ugh… great now my head is arguing with me. At least I hope it’s my head, I don’t think I’d sleep comfortably at night if somepony was invisibly stalking me or something.

I did what the voice said and looked at the stupid sign, it read ‘armory’ in letters that looked like they were written by foals. Wait, armory? That means guns! “See, I am a smart pony.” Great, I’m talking to myself again, I need to stop doing that.

I quietly walked over to the armory door and pushed it open. My sight was flooded with beautiful guns and ammo, then I realized that all the guns where in seriously poor condition. Suddenly a glimmer of hope caught my eye, on the wall was an almost perfectly maintained sniper rifle. I grabbed it off the wall and heard a chirp from my Pip-Buck.

Well at least it told me what kind of ammo it needs. This could actually be useful, I guess. Considering I was about to use an extremely loud gun while surrounded by a bunch of psychos that outnumber me twelve to one. Yeah, I’m probably going to die. Stardust will understand if I do, it’s the thought that counts. Who knows? Maybe we’ll be ghost buddies and haunt The Wasteland together.

I found a few .308 mags in an ammo box and realized I didn’t have my barding. After looking around some I found an old military ammo bag and slung it around myself putting the mags inside. Pretty sure I was going to be slaughtered and tossed back into that disgusting dumpster to rot, I confidently walked out the armory door carrying the sniper rifle, a shitty 10mm pistol, and an ammo bag full of grenades. What better way is there to go out in style? In a pretty dress I guess, but that isn’t relevant to the situation.

I fiddled with the sniper rifle to get more familiar with the weapon, it’s a lot heavier than I’m used to. It also didn’t help that I had to use my mouth and hooves because my stupid horn decided it needed a long break. I couldn’t use this gun, it’s too big and I’m very uncoordinated without my magic. I guess the 10mm pistol will have to do until I get my shotgun back.

I poked my head around the corner, they were all just standing there talking like they weren’t murdering psychopaths. I grabbed a grenade out of my ammo bag, pulled out the stem, and rolled the metallic apple across the ground into the crowd of ponies.

The explosion send about six of the fiends bursting into a bloody mess of hooves, guts, and eyeballs. The other fiends were painted in blood and chunks, and as quick as the grenade exploded they had their guns drawn. Two of them started coming around the corner, I waited for them to get close. As they passed me I jumped on one of them and slit his throat with the switchblade. I suddenly felt a stab in my ass as the other fiend opened fire. I slipped into S.A.T.S. and drove four 10mm rounds into her head.

I took cover behind the shack as more fiends started shooting in my general direction. I tossed out another grenade and heard it explode, I peeked around the corner and saw that it was a waste. Bullets battered the wall where I hid, I tried to focus my magic on the pistol. My magic was still not doing well, but I could feel it slowly starting to come back.

“I’m screwed,” I said to myself as I slipped back into S.A.T.S. and fired one round each into three of the fiend’s heads. The first two hit but the last one missed as she charged around the corner and knocked me to the ground.

“Got er’!” she yelled to the others as she pinned me down. I concentrated as hard as I could on the switchblade. Looking at the blade on the ground I could see the faint glow of my red magical field. With my head pounding I concentrated harder and drove the blade into the back of her skull as she said, “You’re gon doon bistch.” it was like somepony flipped her off switch.

I rolled her off of me and tried to pull the blade out of her head, but it was stuck in there like a nail in wood. The pain in my head distracted me from the pain of the bullet in my ass as I picked up my pistol once again and took cover. There were only two ponies remaining, one of them started walking toward where I took cover, his gun steadied on the corner where I hid.

I concentrated what little magic I had and pulled the gun out of his mouth as he rounded the corner to point it at me. With his mouth still open, I shoved one of the grenades in his mouth, pulled the stem, turned and bucked, sending him flying back down the road.

His head exploded with a force that made my ears ring. I looked around the corner at the remaining fiend. With a look of shock on his face he immediately shat himself and dropped his weapon surrendering. I came out from behind the building I was using for cover and walked toward him, holding my gun in my mouth. He scrambled slipping in his own feces. He got to his hooves and proceeded to run away screaming.

“Yeah…bitch! If I see your face again, I’ll crush it under my hoof!” I yelled to him as he ran.

I went up to the door and opened it expecting to see a battle-ready Gator on the other side. What I saw was an empty hall, walking in I started to check the rooms that I passed. The third door I came too was smeared with blood, spelled out in dried smears it read ‘Mangle Room’. I pulled out my pistol and pushed the door open. Once again, I didn’t see Gator waiting to annihilate me, what I did see though was Stardust.

He’d been shot in both of his wings and beaten badly. Half of his face was swollen to the point that his left eye was only a thin line, his breathing was shallow, and it looked like one of his hind legs was broken. I panicked, looking as fast as I could for a medical box.

I spotted one in the room across the short hallway and rushed to open it. I shouted back toward my friend, “Don’t worry Stardust! I found some medical supplies! You’re gonna be okay! Just hold on!”

I opened the medical box and found two healing potions, dash, and Rad-Away. I grabbed them as fast as I could and almost tripped on my own hooves scrambling into the mangle room. I jammed the healing potion into his mouth and made him drink.

He choked and started to take deep breaths, the swelling in his face was already starting to reduce, but it wasn’t going away completely. “(Cough-cough) I thought I was a goner for a second there. (Cough) I heard the gunfire outside and I thought they killed you.”

“Where’s Gator? I didn’t see him anywhere outside or in here,” I asked.

“He was beating me when one of his loyal idiots walked in and told him he had to talk to him. When he came back in he gave me one final kick to the face and said he’d finish me off later if I wasn’t dead already. I guess he had some business to take care of or something,” he said still breathing heavily.

“Here, take another healing potion and we can get out of here while we still can,” I said.

“Looks like you need it, you’ve got a hole in your ass, and I’m not talking about the obvious one,” he said smirking weakly.

I felt the urge to slap him for looking at my ass, but I refrained. “Just take the fuckin’ thing and quit being a jackass. If you take your medicine, I’ll give you a reward.”

He smiled. “Sorry I’ve only just met you, I don’t think that kind of thing would be appropriate. However…”

Okay, this time I did slap him. “Perv! I was talking about a gun!”

“Ow! Fine I’ll take it! My face still hurts you know,” he said.

“Good. When you see what I did to the ponies outside you’ll be glad that I only slapped you,” I said.

Ignoring what I said completely he asked, “So where is the gun you said you were gonna give me?”

“Uh… I think I dropped it in the hall when I was panicking while looking for medical stuff,” I replied.

“Yeah or you’re just pulling my leg, it better not be another crummy pistol,” he said as he got to his hooves doing his best to stay off his bad leg.

“Don’t worry, it’s a rifle,” I said.

As soon as he heard those words, he limped to the door as quick as he could. “Yes! A rifle, and even better, it’s got a scope! She’s beautiful, I’m gonna call her Gotcha.”

I sighed. “Don’t name your gun, that’s stupid. It’s just a gun.”

He gasped. “Just a gun! This is a well maintained .308 sniper rifle, with a night vision scope. This is almost a masterpiece, all it needs is a suppressor. Why shouldn’t I name my gun? Yours is called Ol’ Festus.”

I rolled my eyes and said, “Wow, you’re kind of a gun fanatic aren’t you? And Ol’ Festus is different, I didn’t name it. What’s a suppressor?”

He frowned. “I wouldn’t say fanatic, but they do fascinate me, and a suppressor is a tube that you can connect to the end of a gun’s barrel to make it quieter when you shoot.”

“Cool, now can we get out of here? Standing in this place is making me uncomfortable. Aura’s waiting outside town for us,” I said.

He gasped. “You saved HER before ME!? I thought we were friends,” he said surprised and a little hurt.

We started to walk out of the shack as I said, “We are friends, she just happened to be the first one I ran into. She didn’t really need my help though, she’d already beaten her captors. She sliced one of their dicks off too.”

He got a disturbed look on his face as all color left him. “You don’t tell a guy that! The more I think about it, the more I can almost literally feel it.”

“Also, if I didn’t find her first I probably wouldn’t have found you in time. One of the stallions told me where to find you, so be grateful he lost his dick to griffon talons,” I said.

“Stop saying that! I don’t wanna think about it, and I can’t help but picture it in my head,” he said, squirming.

“Okay fine, I’ll stop,” I said as we exited the building.

Limping along next to me Stardust said, “Thank you.” In a more serious tone.

“For what?” I asked as we carefully walked around the mess left behind by my fight with the fiends.

“For savin’ my ass, I don’t think I could’ve taken that much longer,” he replied.

“Like it or not Stardust, you’re my friend, and I couldn’t leave you behind. Even if I thought you were dead,” I said as we moved into an ally between two buildings. “Why was he doing that to you anyway?”

“Not sure really, he kept going on about how much he hated pegasi. Didn’t even ask me any questions or anything. He just wanted to hurt me as much as he could,” he said.

“Not a good way to get what he wants by doing that. I’m not sure how he expected me to open the stable after hurting you,” I said.

“Shadow, think about it. If he would’ve showed up later with me beaten close to death, and Aura raped or just as badly hurt, then told you to do what he wanted or else he would do worse to us or even kill us, what would you have done?” Stardust asked.

That was a hard thing to think about. I want to think I would say something witty and still say no even with my friends with in an inch of death. That wouldn’t be what I would’ve done, I would’ve given in and opened the stable. “Yeah, I understand. If Gator would’ve presented me with something like that, I would‘ve given in, hoping he’d let you two go. What I don’t get is why he needed to try going that far when I already agreed to do it.”

“Folks in The Wasteland don’t normally live up to their promises. This was his way of making sure you did what he wanted I’m sure,” he said.

“Maybe, or he’s just a fucking nut job. How are your wings feeling?” I replied.

He gave me a sad smile. “Not too good to be honest, a pegasus’ wings aren’t easy to heal when they get damaged like this. They’re hard to damage in the first place, but if they are, it takes time to heal or the talents of a very good unicorn.”

I noticed that his wings were hanging a little bit from his sides, the holes left behind by Gator looked like they healed fine. Maybe something internal didn’t heal right. “But what about when you got shot in the wing back at Hidden Sands? That healed quickly.”

He winced as if he still was in some pain and said, “The bullet was close to the bone but only hit flesh, a healing potion and I was fine. This is a little different, the bones are broken, and I’ll need a Doctor to help them heal.”

“Well I guess flying out of here is out of the question then?” I asked.

“Yep, you’d be right about that,” he replied.

“Okay, we aren’t far from the gate out of this disgusting place. If we hurry, we could maybe sneak out. Think you can hold up that long?” I asked as I looked at my Pip-Buck map.

He winked. “Yeah, no problem.”

I peeked around the corner of the alley looking for anypony who might be out, but nopony seemed to be around. “Okay, the coast is clear, let’s go,” I said, holding the 10mm in my muzzle, keeping my eyes peeled for anypony. The road that lead out of town was dark, not a pony in sight. As we moved closer to the gate, I started to get a funny feeling, it ran up my tail and along my back, and my knees started to twitch, making it a little difficult to walk.

We made it to the gate. Just like the road, nopony was there. This was starting to get a little strange, the Wasteland didn’t just hand you an easy way out. We both walked through the gate and out of town. I saw a black shape in the darkness. “Aura is that you?” I whispered.

She walked closer. “Yeah, about time you got out of there. I see the winged idiot is still kicking.”

“Good to see you too,” he said limping past me.

“We need to get him out of here. I gave him a couple healing positions, but he still needs to see a doctor. Could you fly him out?” I asked.

“What? Where would I take him? There aren’t any towns around here that would have a doctor that could help,” she said giving him a look. “I could take a look at him if you want, but without a clinic or the right medical equipment, I’m not sure what I can do.”

“Bring him to The Steel Rangers south of here, it’s in a place called Hidden Sands in the middle of a large sandstorm. They should have what you need,” I said.

Stardust twisted around quickly looking at me and saying, “I’m not going back there, they aren’t our friends Shadow Star. I don’t want the griffon poking around with my wings either, I told you I’m fine…”

I, on the other hoof interrupted, “I don’t give a non-flying fuck what you say right now Stardust, you’re going, and that’s final. You aren’t fine, you can barely stand.”

“They aren’t gonna let me into their bunker y’know. I’m not with The Red Talons, and I’m just some random griffon. Plus, what about you, I can’t carry his ass and yours,” Aura added.

“I’m not going with you, I’m staying here,” I said.

“Like hell you are,” Stardust interjected.

“Yeah, I’m not leaving you here, we’ll get out of here together,” Aura argued. Damn I think this is the first time I’ve seen the two agree on something.

“I have to find our stuff, we were sent here to get something for the Elder and I plan on keeping that promise. I need you two to head to the bunker and get Stardust looked at. If you tell the Elder I sent you, then you should be okay,” I said looking at them both. “Also, I have to do something about Stable 9, I seal it, but if I just leave now, Gator might figure out what that Pip-Buck is in my saddle bags. He could figure out how to use it to get into the Stable. I need to fix this.”

“Shadow, you can’t do this on your own,” Stardust said, wincing a little as he stepped closer.

“NO!” I said loudly. “Don’t tell me what I can or can’t do, I know it sounds impossible, and it might be, but I have to. You need help and sooner is better than later. So please, go.”

“I can’t do that, I promised I’d keep you safe, I’m not leaving until you do,” he said angrily.

“And I can’t let you get hurt again.” I flipped around and bucked him in the head, he fell hitting the ground hard. He was knocked out cold.

“Why the fuck did you just do that to him?” Aura asked stepping back a little. “I mean yeah he’s a little bull-headed, but that doesn’t mean you need to knock him out.”

“He’s hurt worse than he’s letting on, you know it as well as I do. Get him out of here, please. I’m trusting you with his life,” I said.

“Really? Even though you don’t know anything about me, and I don’t like him?” she asked.

“I have to,” I replied.

She stomped the ground. “Fine, but if I get shot when I get there, I’m gonna to kill you.” She walked over to Stardust’s limp body and lifted him up, she tossed him onto her back. “Just be careful, and if you find my energy spear, make sure you get it back for me.”

“I will.” she gave me a soft smile then opening her wings she took off into the dark night sky. I turned and looked back at the town. “Okay, let’s get this over with.”

I knew something wasn’t right here. There were ponies all around when I was looking for Stardust. After my fight with the twelve in front of Gator’s office, I figured the town would be on high alert, but not a peep came from anywhere. It was like nothing happened since I escaped my cage. I looked up toward the cave that hid the Stable. There were still two guards in the towers, but they weren’t looking around, they just sat next to the railings chatting with each other across the small gap between the two towers.

The town was eerily quiet as I slowly walked back in, turning and keeping myself against the wall. I crept along it keeping to the shadows. One thing nice about my coloring was it helped me blend in when it was dark like this. I made my way back toward Gator’s office first. When he captured us, his guards dumped our stuff next to his desk. Coming up to the office, I saw somepony stepping out.

He started to walk in my direction. I quickly hid behind a wall and waited for the perfect moment to strike. I could hear his hoofsteps getting closer, right when I saw the front half of his body pass by the wall I jumped on him. Holding my gun to his head I asked, “Where…is…Gator?”

He swallowed hard as his brown eyes looked up into my red ones. Nervously he started to speak, “Um… he left town. He went to go deal with some Enclave ponies snoopin’ around. Please don’t kill me, I haven’t hurt anypony. Since I’m the fresh meat, all the others do is push me around and make me do grunt work.”

“You’re a fiend. If I let you live it’s just gonna bite me in the ass. I’d rather just kill you and save me the trouble of doing it later,” I said.

He started to sob a little. “P-please. I swear I’ll leave. I’ll go back to Whinnieapolis, find a different way to make caps. Please don’t kill me, I’m begging you.”

I couldn’t believe he was crying, his tears look real too. I couldn’t believe I was about to do this. “Fine. If I ever find you again and you’re still hanging around with ponies like this, I won’t think twice about killing you. Consider this your second chance to do better. However, before I let you go I’d like you to take me to my gear.”

As quick as I spoke he said, “Done!”

I let him go and he escorted me into the shack and took me to a hooflocker in the main room of Gator’s office, “So, all of it is in here?”

“Yeah, that’s all of it. Gator’s sniper rifle is in the weapons shed in the back if you want to really stick it to him. I could care less what happens to that guy, he’s fuckin’ nuts,” The Fiend said.

“I already took it, there’s a reason I don’t have it right now. Let’s just say that I’ve got eyes on me,” I said lying through my teeth. Telling him I have a sniper watching me would ensure my safety if he decided to turn on me. At least I hope it does.

“Can I go now? I know you said you’re going to let me go, but I’m still a little scared,” he asked, whimpering a little.

“Go ahead, but remember that if my sniper sees you walk out of here and straight to one of the guards out there, then you can kiss your head goodbye,” I replied coldly.

“Thank you, I promise I’ll change my ways,” he said quickly and walked out the door.

I opened the hooflocker to see my stuff piled inside like it’d been dumped. I grabbed everything and put my barding and duster on along with my saddle bags. I looked through my saddle bags and found the Pip-Buck still lying snugly inside. It was a close call with that fiend. If he would’ve resisted and gotten me off of him I could’ve been in a tough spot.

After getting everything situated and grabbing Stardust and Aura’s stuff, I pulled out my shotgun and walked out the door. There still wasn’t anypony around. Okay this is getting creepy, I can understand that even bad ponies have to sleep, but I would think they’d at least have somepony guarding the town besides the ponies in the tower. I mean c’mon, they’re up there chatting away like they have nothing to worry about. Didn’t they hear me shoot up their pals? This can’t be going this easily.

Walking through the quiet and dark town I realized that there wasn’t even any noise coming from the shacks and shanties I was passing. Could they be gathered somewhere? Did they go with Gator? I stopped and looked at my Pip-Buck and thought about the safety protocol the former Overmare made. Would I be able to do it? Would the signal even reach through the thick walls?

I quit looking at my Pip-Buck and stopped thinking about it. When I got to the gate I came to a halt and looked out into the dark, open, vastness of the Wasteland. My ear twitched as I heard the faint sound of hoofsteps behind me, but they didn’t quite sound like hoofsteps, every other step sounded different than the other. “Who’s there?” I asked through the darkness.

The sound of the steps stopped and I heard the whisper in my ear again, “No one. Just a forgotten soul left in the memories of ponies before the war. I made sure to keep the path clear for you and I haven’t even gotten a thank you.”

“Thanks for helping me out, but I’d like it if you leave me alone. I don’t think I can trust anypony who watches me from shadows like a stalker,” I said.

“Very well then. I’ll leave you be, but the darkness inside you will consume you soon enough. When that happens you’ll be just like me….just a faded memory from the past who has part of their soul living in a lamp…” the voice said trailing off into an echo.

I felt a shiver down my spine as I once again started to walk out into the Wasteland. I got about a half-mile outside town before I looked back to make sure I wasn’t being followed by anypony. When I did, I saw lights coming from the Stable entrance, they were trying to open it. How were they going to get in though, I had both of the Pip-Bucks that would be able to open it.

“They aren’t going to let those bloodwings out. Not if I can help it,” I said as I opened the broadcaster menu on my Pip-Buck. I scrolled down to Stable 9’s signal and connected.

Stable 9 Overmare Self-Destruct protocol has been enabled would you like to proceed?

With a tap of my hoof I hit 'Yes'.

Self-Destruct protocol initiated. Detonation will occur in 10 seconds. Please stand back.

I looked up at the mountain where the stable entrance was located and waited. 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…0. With a blinding flash the mountainside exploded with such force, that I could feel the blast wave from the explosion from where I was standing.

The shock of the blast wave knocked me off my hooves and sent me tumbling as my Pip-Buck started to click wildly almost making a solid sound. From the ground, I looked up at the mountain again to see a mushroom cloud. The heavy wind was so hot that I could barely breathe. When everything finally cleared up, I saw that most of the mountainside was gone. The Cliffside that had been outside the cave entrance to the stable door collapsed sending huge boulders tumbling down the mountain turning the town below into a pile of rock and twisted metal. The entire top of the mountain was gone, leaving only a slab of rock with a hole in the middle of it.

I got back to my hooves and once again started to walk with devastation following in my path, “Never look back,” I told myself as I slowly walked away into the darkness of the Wasteland night.

Silent Trotter: You have mastered silent movement, allowing you to move quickly and still remain quiet. You can sneak at full speed with no penalties.

Wild Wasteland: The Wasteland is a frightening and dangerous place, it also has its fair share of weird and wacky things. You may randomly run into such things while wandering the Wasteland. Laugh or run, it’s up to you. Just don’t drink the chocolate milk rain.