Chapter Two: Interloper
"Confusion colours cruel designs, unhappy girl, you're out of time."
Everything was hazy at first, my head was swimming, full of fluff. Things came slowly to me, I noticed the crackly, treble heavy melody of a song played on some device that was clearly on it's way out. The smell of oil, rust, and... cake? Something sweet, hints of strawberry. I was definitely in a bed of some kind, and I was also comfortably warm for the first time since the start of the experiment.
I clearly wasn't in the same place I'd passed out in, so where was I? I opened my eyes and immediately regretted it, slamming them shut again as sunlight played across my face, a sharp headache making itself known. Grunting, I realised that most of me was in some level of pain. My lungs were burning, barrel aching, hind leg throbbing. It was obvious I was in pretty bad shape, and the next few days were going to suck.
Groaning, I slowly forced my eyes open again, wincing as a stream of light shone right on my face. The room was dilapidated at best, haphazardly ramshackle at worst. The walls were a hodgepodge of various sheets of metal and wood planks (all of which looked old and worn) slapped together over cracked and crumbling concrete. There was a threadbare chair at the far end sat next to a well-used table, and the single grimiest looking radio I had ever seen, volume low and lights flickering but still just about working, croaking out an old pop song I was vaguely familiar with. There was a burnt looking wooden door that had been left slightly ajar, letting rays of light from the other side stream through, the only thing lighting the room. To my right there was a window, really just a hole in the wall with a yellowed sheet of plasic bolted around it. It was dark outside, but I could just about make out a dead tree or two. The blanket I was under was absolutely filthy, holey and covered in dirt, and I could only speculate on the condition of the rest of the bedding. I cringed a little, I had no idea where any of this stuff had been.
I was still waking up, but I worked out I must be in some kind of furnished shed or shack. That wasn't right, I should be in a hospital right now, not some groundskeeper's equipment hut. I started to get nervous, nothing good happened to ponies who woke up in a mysterious shack with no memory of getting there. Maybe I was overreacting a little, but I really had no idea where in the wide, wide world of Equestria I was.
Hooffalls approached from the other side of the door. I squeaked in alarm and tried to wriggle my way out of the bed. A searing pain flared up in my ribs when I tried to stretch my forelegs out. I recoiled back and tried a different tactic, trying to paw the cover off me, but I was so weak and low on energy the best I could manage was to flop the corner over.
I could hear the steps getting closer. The fluff was leaving my head now. I was vulnerable and I didn't know where I was or who was here with me. I needed to hide. With my limited mobility I thought that under the bed would be the best place to go, surely nopony would ever think to check under the bed! I pushed myself once, twice, and on the third time I managed to roll over and off the narrow single mattress. I didn't take into account my slowed reactions of the the height of the bed, and I ended up landing in a rather ungraceful heap on the floor tangled up in the bed sheet, managing to hit my temple on my way down.
Dazed, I struggled to bring a hoof to my head, a new pain in my head joining the chorus across my body. Stars danced in my eyes and my headache went from bad to splitting. I rubbed the side of my head to try and soothe it a little, but it really didn't make any difference. It hurt like nothing else, but thankfully there was no blood.
Just then the door opened. I turned my head to look too fast and made my neck click, but I was really too scared to care. Standing in the doorway was the now familiar visage of the gun mare, looking vacantly surprised and with a full mouth, a slice of cake trailing in her magical aura. For a moment we just dumbly stared at each other, the smell of strawberry sweets filling the room. She blinked once and then must have processed what was going on and made a move towards me, and I noticed she was carrying a pistol in a leg holster. I reacted instantly, on instinct, I tried as best as I could to scramble under the bed, to get any modicum of protection I could.
"Uh, what are you doing?" She asked, tilting her head, apparently bemused. I don't really know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that. I hadn't managed to get anywhere anyway, not that it'd really make a difference. I cast a shaky glance at her, getting a proper look at her for really the first time, my frazzled mind trying to take in everything at once. Her coat was a pale sandy green colour, and her mane was a muted shade of sky blue, done up in a messy ponytail. I got a good look at her eyes, one a deep shade of red, the other a flat blue, like there was something wrong with it. Her cutie mark was a magnifying glass crossed over a spanner or wrench or something. Most curiously, a PipBuck was strapped in place on her left foreleg, glowing softly with a pale blue light. Was she some crazed Stable-Tec employee or something? They didn't just give those things out to anypony!
My whole body was covered in her magical aura. It was odd, tingling, but more than anything else, restrictive. I couldn't move an inch, I was entirely at her mercy. I whimpered as I felt myself leave the ground, being lifted from all directions, which was not a pleasant sensation at all. I was carried up, and to my confusion, put back onto the bed. Her magic field dissipated and I sank into the mattress, bobbing gently but muscles still seized in place, not daring to move an inch.
"It'd be pretty anticlimactic to live through a Duplet attack and then have it end by falling out of bed, don't you think? You're in rough enough shape as it is." She said casually, swallowing her mouthful of baked goods. "Now stay put."
I didn't risk taking my eyes off her, carefully scanning her every movement. I was still tensed up, coiled, ready to make a run for it at any moment. I hoped.
"We're going to have a word, you and I." Intoned the mare. "And you can relax a little. Really now, you're stiff as a board."
I glanced at her gun and back to her, she seemed to take the hint.
"Oh, right, I get it." She said. "Don't worry about that, I won't use it unless you give me a reason to. Besides, in the shape you're in it's not like I'd need it." She chuckled.
I really didn't like anything she'd implied there. Worst of all she was right, I was totally helpless right now, and she'd have every opportunity to do anything to me. I shuddered at the prospect and watched her carefully, nervously trying to gauge her intentions. Her posture was relaxed and breathing steady, calm. I, on the other hoof, could hardly stop myself from shaking, and every movement hurt. I'd have to play my cards right and pray that everything would be alright in the end, and that this mare was true to her words and didn't have anything else planned than a chat.
Apparently satisfied I wasn't going to try and escape again, she sat down in the chair at the end of the room, kicking her hind legs up and leaning on the table and tipping the chair back like a schoolfilly would.
I looked her square in the eyes, meeting her mismatched gaze, willing myself to appear confident and strong, but ultimately it's very hard to pull off that kind of vibe when you've just been lifted onto a bed because you're too weak to even pick yourself up.
"Who are you?" I asked, forcing my voice to remain steady despite everything. It didn't work, and I practically squeaked it out.
"Me? I'm Make Do, salvage pony and maintenance extraordinaire! Best repair mare in Horseshoe Bay, and recovery expert as well, if the price is right." She proudly declared, drawing a hoof to her chest. "But enough about me," she said, leaning over in my direction, chair swaying back and forth still, half-lidded eyes peering into my own. "Who might you be?"
I let myself relax just a little bit. This Make Do seemed more goofy than threatening, disarmingly so. However, I had to keep my guard up, still not really know anything about this mare or where I was, only that she had a gun. I hoped 'goofy' didn't also mean 'unhinged' in this case. She did still have a gun, after all.
"Silver Sterling." I replied in the most neutral tone I could manage. For a brief moment we just stared at each other, before the gentle patter of rain broke my concentration. Sparing another glance out the window, I saw drops clinging to the glass, the dark figures of leafless trees just visible outside swaying gently in the wind, silhouetted against the cloudy, starless night sky. I looked back to the mare. "Where am I?" I asked, failing to hide the concern in my voice.
"You don't remember? I carried you back to my place." She said, smiling. "You were mumbling all the way so I assumed you were awake. Anyway, this is my house. Cozy, right? I figured you could use somewhere to rest up."
I did have vague memories of something or other, dirty looking land and being jostled about, but I thought it had been some kind of dream. She brought me here? This was her house? I was getting more confused by the moment. Her demeanour so far did seem like she was actually trying to help me out, and I can't deny that she did save my flank yesterday. But then why the gun? Why bring me here, and not a hospital? And just how was this her home? It looked like a stiff breeze could knock it over, as far as I'd seen it was just as good as an abandoned squat.
"It's, uh... charming!" I said, trying to stay on her good side. "B-but if you don't mind me asking, why exactly did you bring me here?"
"You got kinda torn up going one on one with that Duplet, in case you forgot." She said, inspecting a forehoof. "Didn't look like you were handling it too well, so I couldn't just leave you there. Especially not with how mixed up you seemed yesterday, you seemed like you could use a helping hoof."
"Oh... well, thank you." I said meekly, the weight of just how crazy everything that had happened slowly dawning on me. I almost died, and I certainly felt like it. As noble as her effort was though, I don't think she was a stand in for an actual medical professional. "Um, if you don't mind me saying, shouldn't I see a doctor?"
"Well, all your parts were still attached, so I was pretty confident the basics would cover you just fine, and you seem to be alright so far." She explained, stretching her forehooves out behind her head. "Besides, it's not like either of us has the caps to see a doctor anyway."
"E-excuse me?"
"I'm broke, you're broke, and I'm pretty sure all a doctor woulda done is give you a healing potion and charge double for it." She said. I looked at her incredulous, had she ever actually visited a doctor before? She must have noticed me staring at her, because she held up a hoof and started talking again with a smile. "Don't worry, I know my stuff, I've patched myself up hundreds of times!"
That wasn't as reassuring as I think she intended it to be.
I was silent for a moment, digesting the craziness that had been going on. Everything had been so weird since yesterday, I just didn't really know what to make of anything. Conveniently, I had somepony to ask present. "Um, what exactly, well, happened yesterday?"
"You don't remember that either?" She asked, looking concerned. "Did ya hit your head on something? I hope I didn't miss anything..."
"No no, I remember what happened." All too well, honestly. "I just, I suppose, I don't understand any of it."
"What do you mean?" The unicorn intoned, now confused herself.
"Well, where were all the scientists? What happened to the building? What on earth was that thing that attacked us? What were you doing there? When am I going to get paid? It's all just totally wrong!" I rattled off the top of my head. Make Do's head was tilted at a concerning angle, and she looked pretty flummoxed.
"Uh, hold up there for one second, I have a question." She said.
"Yes?"
"None of that makes any sense." Make do stated bluntly, deadpan.
"That's not a question!" I couldn't help but point out. "And why doesn't it make sense? Everything was just fine last week!"
"That place has been a Duplet nest for decades, and I know you weren't down there last week, it'd be impossible." She said, raising an eyebrow. "I don't know what you mean about scientists or anything, but I thought you were there for the same reason I was. Nopony ever goes to the hub otherwise."
I was totally lost. What was all this about a nest? And how could they have been nesting there for decades if last week everything was normal? What happened to all the scientists? What had she even been doing in the building if no one ever goes there like she'd said?
"I was there for the trial? For the experimental spell?" I tried to explain, but I was only getting a blank look back. Which raised my own question. "Well, what were you there for then?"
"'Recovery expert if the price is right', remember?" She said, pointing to herself. "Somepony wanted a load of data from the hub systems for some reason, I was retrieving it for them."
"Retrieving- You stole information from a ministry?!" I wheezed. "That's treason!"
Oh, buck my life. Of course I had to go and get tangled up with a criminal. Stealing from a ministry, no less! That wasn't a light charge, not by a long shot. If anypony found out what had happened, and I was implicated in all of this- well, it didn't bear thinking about, my life was as good as over. Not that Make Do seemed overly concerned, she was actually laughing!
"Good one, guess if you see enough of those posters around they get to you, huh?" She chuckled.
"T-this isn't a joke! Do you know what could happen to me if I get implicated in this?!" I was starting to panic, I needed to get away. "You shouldn't have brought me here, I need to get away!"
Oh gods, Morale had eyes and ears everywhere, they were probably already on the way! I tried to push myself up off the bed, but in my condition all I managed to do was clumsily wiggle my way off the mattress. Not that it really did anything, because Make Do caught me in her magic before I could reach the floor.
"Okay, calm down there Ms. Comedian, you've had your fun." She said, putting me back under the covers. "Honestly, things get way less funny when you try and drag them out."
"Are you insane?! Ministry ponies don't mess around!" I yelped, leaning forwards. "Do you even know what's gonna happen to you? You've stolen state information! Oh Celestia, you're a spy, aren't you? And you've taken me hostage as a way out of a fight? Oh, why me?!"
I was on the verge of hyperventilating. She was staring at me vacantly.
"Uh, are you absolutely sure you didn't hit your head on anything?"
"Yes I am absolutely sure!" I squeaked.
"Maybe I missed something when I was checking you over." She sighed. I tensed up as she swung herself off the chair and came over to the bedside, grabbing my head in her hooves, inspecting me for something or other. I held my breath, eventually she hummed and let go, apparently satisfied.
"Looks fine to me. You're a strange mare, Silver." She said, sitting back in her chair. I frowned. "Anyway, so some kinda spell sent you down to the hub basement or something?"
"I wasn't sent down there, I went there myself. The spell trail took place down there, started last week." I explained. "Wait, why am I even telling you this? I'll probably be arrested too!"
"Ugh, Silver, nopony is getting arrested, okay?" She said, rubbing her temples. "I just don't understand what all this is about, what you're telling me shouldn't be possible, none of those floors have been clear for ages, not to mention the fact you'd have to get past all those Duplets to get there."
"Look, I don't know what anything you're saying means, but I signed up to test a new spell and started the trial about a week ago. I don't know why the place was in such a state when the test finished, but everything was fine at the start!" I said. I was starting to think that this conversation was going to go nowhere fast.
"What do you mean 'fine'? I'm getting the feeling we have different versions of normality here."
"Well, y'know. 'Fine' as in 'everything didn't look like it had been destroyed in a flood' fine. Like how a lab should look." I elaborated. She can't have been living in this shack for so long that this kind of disrepair was her 'normal', surely?
"Okay wait a minute, wait a minute." She said, frowning. "So you turn up to the Hub, test some weird spell stuff for a week and then, what, 'poof', the place is trashed?"
"I mean, essentially, yeah." I nodded. "The spell itself is what took a week, but other than that, that's pretty much what happened."
"What kind of spell takes a week to perform? How do you even test a spell?! You don't have a horn!" She pointed at my forehead, presumably to illustrate my lack of any pointy bone appendage. As if I wasn't aware.
"How very astute of you." I deadpanned. "I guess it makes more sense to say that the spell was tested on me. It was some kind of crazy Cockatrice thing, and quite an unpleasant experience, I might add."
Something I said must have struck her, because all of a sudden Make Do went wide eyed and leaned too far back in the chair, falling over and hitting her head on the floor. I can't say I didn't feel a little gratified.
"'Cockatrice thing'?" She asked, grunting and rubbing the back of her head. "Like, they turned you to stone?"
"Essentially, yes. I'm sure it was more complicated than that, but it's far from my area of expertise."
"Hmm." The mare grumbled and started fiddling with the PipBuck on her leg. "That rings a bell. Do you remember the name of the pony in charge?"
"I don't know if he was in charge, but I think the pony who ran the test was Healing Touch, Dr. Healing Touch. Why, what does it matter?" I was starting to get a little concerned, I didn't know how much of this information was meant to be confidential to the Ministry, I wasn't looking to get charged with leaking national secrets. It was probably been a little late for that anyway though.
Maybe I should have paid more attention to that paperwork.
For her part, Make Do was sat on the floor fiddling around with her PipBuck, staring intently at the screen and scrolling through something or other, the buttons and controls clicking constantly. She must have settled on what she was looking for after a minute or so because all the clicking stopped. She looked down at the device on her leg, then up to me, a curious, scrutinising gaze. Then back down to the PipBuck, and back to me one more time.
"Experiment Log: Participant #6G15, Earth Pony, Female, Sterling; Silver, 26 years of age at time of application." She said, reading from the PipBuck screen.
"You stole my documents too?!"
"Hold up." She said, cutting me off with a raised hoof. I bristled slightly at being interrupted, but kept quiet. Make Do's eyes were scanning side to side, searching for more stolen state secrets to read no doubt. After a pause she cleared her throat and stared at me for a few seconds. "Excuse me for a second." She said rising to her hooves. I eyed her warily as she left, and slumped back into the sheets once she'd gone.
What the hay was I meant to do? I was stuck, injured and alone in some criminal's shack. What could I do? As it was I was entirely at her mercy, I doubted my ability to even try to run away really. The best I could probably manage was a weak limp to the door and hoping Make Do wouldn't notice me, and I didn't think the odds would be in my favour if I tried that. If I didn't know where I was, where would I even escape to?
That was a pretty scary thought, just where exactly was I? I couldn't really make anything out from the window. I couldn't have been too far from the Hub, I hoped. I didn't know how I'd gotten here, but if Make Do brought me here unassisted then we can't have gone too far.
I decided to look myself over as best I could an check my wounds. I didn't even notice until now that I wasn't wearing the jumpsuit anymore. My coat was still dirty and dusty anyway though, much to my annoyance. I could really use a shower. As best as I could see, surprisingly, my injuries seemed to have been treated, at least basically. The compression bandage was still in place on my leg, but apart from that it looked like somepony had taken the time to clean and gauze the worst of my cuts. I was bruised all over, but feeling around my neck (as much as I could manage before a sharp twinge of pain came from my shoulder) where I'd been bitten also seemed to have been treated.
It suddenly hit me just how close I'd come to dying by that thing's hand. Or mouth. My mind was solemnly quiet for a moment, replaying the event. I really was helpless against that monster. Thinking about it, I probably wouldn't even be alive had Make Do not stepped in. And it looked like she'd taken care of my wounds, too.
What was her angle?
The door opened again and Make Do stepped back into the room. Something seemed off about her, though. She looked kind of uneasy, and was wearing a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Heeeey, I brought you a healing potion! Drink up, you'll feel much better in the morning!" She awkwardly blurted out through a strained smile, floating a potion vial into my hooves. "I would've tried giving it to you earlier, but you were out cold and trying to force a potion down your throat didn't sound like a great idea."
Well, at least that much we could agree on. I eyed the vial closely, not entirely sure what to think. It did look like a regular healing potion from any first aid kit, but at the same time it looked far too old, the glass was scuffed and misty, label faded and peeling. Despite it's appearance, it was still sealed, so I doubted it had been tampered with, and like Make Do had already said, if she was going to cause me any harm, she'd already had a fair amount of time to do it in. Still, I shot her a dubious look.
"C'mon, it'll make you feel better!" She encouraged.
I grimaced. I was hardly in a position to trust her. I might have known her name, but really that was all I knew about her, I still had no idea if what ever intentions she had in mind when she brought me here were good or not, though I rather hoped so.
Even so, she was staring at me intently right now as it was. It'd be in my best interest to keep the mare with the gun happy. I gave in. My ribs burned, I could still feel the sting of where I'd been bitten on my neck, not to mention the way my head felt, it was all too much. I broke the seal on the top of the vial, and gave the contents a cautious sniff. This was a particularly fruitless move, since I'd never actually used a healing potion before so had no idea what it should smell like.
"It's not gonna bite you or anything." She said very bluntly, hitting me with a flat stare.
I paused just long enough to frown at her, wearily sighing, before drinking the potion. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, not really tasting of all that much other than being vaguely medicinal, save for a hint of something floral. It was thicker than I'd expected too, almost like a syrup. The effect was near instantaneous, I could feel all my aches and pains slowly ebbing away.
"See, not so bad, right? Anyway, you should get some rest, I'll get out of your mane!" She squawked out awkwardly quickly, backing her way out of the room and closing the door behind her.
I could've sworn I heard her mutter something under her breath as she left, but Celestia knows. I heard the clip-clopping of her hooves grow quieter outside the door as she trotted away, and then it was just me and the crackle and hiss of the ancient radio again. That whole exchange was... strange. Make Do seemed so eager earlier, what changed? She was definitely hiding something, that much was clear. It had to have been something she'd seen while she was looking at her PipBuck, but what? Was my file really that bad?
I stared at the ceiling. Why did she even have my case file in the first place? What else did she know about me? That was an uneasy thought. The last thing I needed was this unicorn stealing my identity while I was cooped up in her scrap hut. I put the empty vial on the floor, managed to roll over onto my side, and thought. I needed to find out what exactly was going on here. Nothing had been making any sense since I woke up in that booth. Everything was like a bad dream, the Hub being ruined, being attacked by a monster, and kind of being foalnapped.
Uneasy, I ended up looking out the window, the dim glow of the moon behind clouds now the room's only source of light. There really was nothing to see, but it was at least something to focus on. There was too much tho think about for me to sleep, at least for the moment. It was an overcast night, clouds covering the sky completely, lit up pale grey from the moonlight above. The rain outside was getting heavier and the sound started to drown out the meek tones from the radio, so I just settled for blankly following the raindrops down the window pane, trying not to think about all the ways things could potentially get worse.
Eventually the drone of the rain and hum of the radio blurred into one hazy wave of white noise, and I felt my eyelids getting heavier. I rolled over and tried to get as comfortable as I could, relieved that the shooting pain in my ribs had all but disappeared. The bed was lumpy and worn, but it was probably better than the floor. It didn't smell as bad as I would have expected from the look of it.
I closed my eyes, only now realising how exhausted I still felt, even though I'd really only just woken up. Despite everything, I felt myself drifting off after not too long.
Maybe tomorrow something would go my way.
I wasn't feeling particularly refreshed by the morning. It'd been a restless sleep, and I'd woken up a couple of times during the night, forgetting where I was on both occasions. I sat on the edge of the bed, fatigued and groggy, forcing myself to stay awake. I didn't know what time it was, but it must've been early judging from the light outside. The rain had stopped, but the clouds remained.
I was still full of aches and pains, but I felt well enough to give standing up a try. I stumbled off the bed and onto my hooves in an attempt to keep awake, giving my legs an experimental stretch and pacing around, keeping an ear trained on the door for any signs of activity outside. It may still have been early, but it was light enough outside that I could see around the room. It was, as I deduced last night, filthy. I didn't know if the fact that none of the dirt appeared to be fresh made it better or worse. I don't know why I let myself fall asleep here, in the grubbiest bedroom I'd ever seen, under the roof of a shack belonging to a well armed stranger. I scrunched my muzzle at that thought. I was assuming it was hers. I was assuming she was by herself. I didn't know if the potential for there to be more ponies here was a good thing or a bad thing.
The radio had sprung to life again at some point, which was what woke me up in the first place, apparently it was time enough for the first broadcast of the day. Nothing much to talk about, just a news update, although it was odd that even though it seemed to be a local broadcast, it was full of places I'd never heard of as well as ones I knew. I didn't recognise the DJ's voice either. After that it had gone into some kind of strange audio play, a bizarre story about a mutant 'Fantigua fish' on a rampage of some sort.
I didn't pay much attention to it, I was still working out what exactly I was going to do. To tell the truth, as much thinking as I had been doing, I still hadn't really come up with much of anything, other than to find out why I was here and how I could get out.
After milling around for a couple of minutes and not hearing anything from the other side of the door, I figured I might as well try and see if it was open. I slowly twisted the knob and nudged the door open, finding it swung freely outwards, hitting the wall with a thud. There wasn't actually anything stopping me from leaving the room the whole time.
Internally sighing, I peered outside. The door opened into a small hallway of the same construction as the bedroom, old concrete and plaster supplemented with seemingly random pieces of scrap metal and planks. One of the hallway lights was flickering, and there was a hum coming from somewhere I couldn't quite place. The smell of oil and rust was pretty much everywhere now, with a hint of something less metallic coming from the space up ahead. There was a leak in the corner of the ceiling, and rain water poured down the wall leaving a darkened trail, and I could hear more drips from all throughout the place. This whole building was an absolute mess.
Frowning, I glanced around, trying to work out my next move. I was at the end of the hallway, two doors were on the opposite wall before it opened out into a larger area. My best guess was that I was in some kind of horribly dilapidated bungalow or squat, and that these doors led to bedrooms and further along was maybe a living area. I stepped forwards and immediately stood in a bucket half full of rainwater, shattering the morning quiet with a combination splash-clang that echoed down the hall, and a shrill (not at all filly-ish) shriek from me.
The water was really cold, okay?
I recoiled and managed to knock the bucket over, spilling still rainwater all over the floor, not that it made to much of difference considering the state of the building. At least the sudden chill was enough to wake me up a little more.
Moving forward, I thought it'd be better to find out what the open space was rather than trying any more doors. As quietly as I could I trotted down the hallway, careful to avoid stepping on anything else. I paused at the end and peeked around the corner. It looked like a crudely throw together living room, there was a table in the middle surrounded with chairs, a counter of some kind on the back wall, and a long, long dead potted plant in a corner. As I expected by now, everything was in various states of decay and disrepair. There was a door on the wall opposite me, and another further along to my right.
A single light hung over the middle of the room above the table, where Make Do was sat, slumped over and head down. I was pretty sure she was asleep from the steady rise and fall of her chest. I didn't really want her to know I was poking around, so I thought I'd try and be sneaky and not wake her up.
I'm not even sure what I was looking for. Like there was going to to be this one object that explained everything. I suppose more than anything I thought knowing my immediate location a little better would settle my anxiety a little. Any information was better than none.
I made a move, trying to be as stealthly as I could. Passing the table, I was able to get a good look at this mysterious Make Do mare, my confidence bolstered by the fact that there wasn't a lot she could do to me while she was asleep. She was smaller than I was, and very thin. Up close I could see freckles dotted her face, and there was a chunk missing from her right ear. It looked like an old wound, already healed. Her coat was speckled with dirt, looking like she needed a wash almost as badly as I did.
Backing up, I cautiously trotted around the table, deciding to check out if there was anything interesting around the counter. The area looked like it had been converted into a makeshift kitchen of sorts, complete with an entire oven being shoved into a partially deconstructed section of wall. There were a few utensil strewn around, and a small, sad looking fridge tucked away under the counter top.
Most unexpectedly, however, was the perfectly pristine, freshly prepared strawberry cake on the counter top in a glass dome. It looked totally out of place, and also delicious. There was already a slice taken out of it, which must've been what Make Do was eating last night.
I stared at it. I licked my lips. I realised that I was very, very hungry. I flicked my eyes over to Make Do, she hadn't moved from her spot collapsed on the table. I looked back at the cake. Surely I could help myself before she woke up?
Sitting down on my haunches, I tentatively lifted the dome with both hooves, freeing the dessert from it's containment. It smelled incredible, fresh and sweet, and oh so invitingly delicious. I was so wrapped up with the heavenly smell that for a moment I forgot I was trying to be quiet and put the dome down hard on the counter with a ringing glassy clank.
"Don't touch my stuff!" Make Do wailed, springing from her position and wielding her pistol in her magic field, before blearily blinking a few times and seemingly registering what was happening. "Oh, Silver, it's you."
I was wide eyed, my hooves in the air and holding my breath. I'd never had a weapon aimed at me before, and now this was the second time in two days I'd been at gunpoint.
"Oh! Uh, sorry, I thought junkies had broken in again." She said, holstering the gun. She stretched out like a cat, joints popping and clicking as she did. I slowly lowered my hooves and sighed in relief, tension slowly leaving my body. "Hey, were you trying to steal my cake?" She asked, looking at me quizzically. My stomach growled in response.
It looked like she thought about it for a few moments. "Hmm, well, I guess you probably haven't eaten in a while." She said, picking up a knife from the counter top with her magic and cutting two slices of the cake, sitting back down at the table and floating the slices over. "As good a way as any to start the day, right?"
I got back on all fours and hesitantly made my way back to the table. I didn't like how fast and loose Make Do seemed with this gun, even if I was hungry.
Make Do had already made a start on her slice as I sat down at the table. Despite everything else in the building looking like it'd been dragged straight out of a landfill, the table and plates were clean, if a little worse for wear around thr edges. I gave it another sniff, which did nothing but re-affirm that yes, I did really want to eat this cake. Nerves be damned, it smelled amazing. I picked it up in my hooves, and took a small bite.
I was expecting it to be good, but I wasn't expecting this. The strawberries were juicy and fresh, the sponge was perfectly moist and the icing was just the right amount of sweet and creamy. The flavours and textures danced around on my tongue. A second bite followed the first, and then a third. It was, to memory, one of the best deserts I'd ever tasted. My sudden enthusiasm didn't go unnoticed, either.
"Enjoying it, are we?" Make Do said with a smirk, most of her own slice already eaten. "Guess you were hungry, huh?"
I nodded in response, still chewing. It's rude to talk with your mouth full.
"Good! Hope you like it, ingredients are really hard to come by." She said, finishing off the last morsels of the slice before wiping her mouth with a fetlock.
"You made this?" I asked, quietly. Truth be told I was only trying to make polite small talk, trying to keep the situation pleasant and the mare's gun in it's holster. Although, in all honesty, I was rather impressed that something of this quality could come out of a kitchen as makeshift as this. Having said that, the fact that is was made here might not have been the greatest thing.
"Yep! My own recipe!" She answered, puffing out her chest and looking very proud.
"It's good, really good."
"Thanks!" She said, leaning back down on the table. "I started baking a few years ago, it's a lot of fun, but it can be really difficult to find base ingredients that are safe to use."
"What do you mean, how far from a store are we?" I questioned, how hard could it really be? "What do you mean 'safe'?"
"Aheheheh, that, uh, that's a talk we should probably have." She said, suddenly looking very sheepish, resting her head on her hooves.
"What, about food stores?" I asked, perplexed at the change in mood.
"Not necessarily. So, hmm, how do I put this?" She sat apparently deep in thought for a minute or so. I finished off the last of my cake.
"Okay, so, I was reading your Ministry file-"
"Why do you have my file?! That's stealing!" I interrupted, irate. "That's personal info-"
"Woah, let me finish!" She said, holding up her hooves. I shut up but I wasn't very happy about it, glaring at her. "Last night I was reading your file and all about this spell you were testing, and a load of other data and stuff that- it doesn't really matter, not important." She paused, taking a breath. "Anyway, the spell, well, you're proof that the spell worked. Well. Really really well." That weird strained smile she pulled yesterday was back. I didn't like the look of it.
"Okay, so it worked. What does that have to do with me being here? Or cake?"
"It, uh, worked too well?" She intoned, pitch rising as the sentence went on.
"What's that even supposed to mean?"
"Look, what I'm trying to say is, well, you've- uh, you've been a statue for longer than you signed up for." She said, not meeting my eyes. "Much longer."
"What are you talking about?" I asked, trying to make sense of this absolute mess of a conversation.
"Nnnnng." Make Do grunted, pulling her mane back. "Silver, it's- I think you- What I'm saying is- Aaagh!" She yelled, covering her face with her hooves. I was pretty perplexed and honestly a little worried. I really didn't need the mare with the gun to be having an episode. She sighed and after a moment sat back up straight, now looking at me intently.
"Silver. I don't know how to tell you this, so I'm just going to say it." She said in a low voice, looking rather stern and serious. "You've basically been under that spell for 180 years."
A beat passed, I stared at her.
"Snnnrkt!" I held back a giggle. "Come on, do you really expect me to believe that?"
"What? No! I'm telling the truth!" Make Do replied, looking confused. I don't think she was expecting my reaction at all.
Oh how the tables had turned!
"Yeah right, I wasn't born yesterday." I said, incredulous. "And that's a lot of wool to be trying to pull over my eyes."
"I promise you, I'm not lying! This is probably as serious as I've ever been!" She retorted, hooves in the air.
"Promise all you like, I'm not buying it. 180 years? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" I said looking away, semi-mockingly aloof.
"Look I know we barely know each other, but you gotta believe me, I'm not making this up."
"Sorry if I'm skeptical, but that's a very big claim you're trying to make, and you're right, we do barely know each other." I said, head held high, eyes closed. "All I know about you is that you're more than happy to point a gun at me, and you've stolen my file from a Ministry, which I'm very sure amounts to treason in these times! So do excuse me if I don't take your words on face value!"
The conversation died for a moment after that, before the unicorn spoke again.
"Fine, if you won't listen to me, I can prove it." She spoke, eyes pointed at the ceiling. "I can prove it, but I don't think you'll like it. Not that I think there's any way that you will like."
"Of course." I said, giving her a sideways look. She looked oddly expressionless, almost like a poker face. She exhaled loudly through her nose and stood up, leaving the table and walking out of the kitchen into the hallway. I heard a door open and then not too much for a couple of minutes.
After a while she stepped back into the kitchen, now fully clad in some very tatty looking clothing. She was wearing a dirty and worn looking army jacket, that was adorned with various makeshift metal plates. An old pair of goggles were slung around her neck, and she was also carrying the big gun from... yesterday? The other day? The gun she had in the Hub. She had my jumpsuit in her magic too, and she wasn't looking very pleased at all. Well
"Put this on." She said, throwing the jumpsuit at the table. "I hope you're feeling okay enough for a walk."
"W-where are we going?" I meekly asked, holding the garment. I didn't like that she had a bigger gun, and I didn't like that look.
"Town." She said, inspecting the gun.
I fumbled with the jumpsuit, finding the zip to open it up. It was damp, but it looked cleaner than I remembered, and had a kind of earthy smell about it. I guessed that it must have been left out in the rain last night. I stuck my legs through the sleeves and zipped it up, standing up as I did.
"Ready? Follow me." She commanded, making her way over to the door on the far wall, unlatching the sizable looking deadlock, and stepping out. I stuck close behind her, going through the threshold just after. Make Do stopped to lock the door again, and then marched forward.
We were outside now. On all sides there were piles and piles of junk. Old carts, derelict machinery, scrap metal, even a broken down motor cart. It suddenly became very clear that Make Do was living in some kind of junk yard.
There was very little plant life to speak of, living or dead. We were trotting at a steady pace down a well worn dirt road, muddy fields either side giving way to distant dead looking trees. There were still puddles scattered across, the ground soggy and mushy, kind of like walking on oatmeal. Probably.
It was chilly, chillier than I was expecting. The extra layer of the jumpsuit was appreciated, but the fact that it was damp wasn't really helping. There was a strong breeze too, and the sky looked angry, threatening to open up any minute. It'd be a downpour from the looks of things. I hoped we'd be under shelter before then.
Make Do had gotten quite a pace on while I was looking around, cantering ahead and leaving me to catch up. My leg was holding up well so far, the healing potion seemed to have done it's job, and I probably didn't even need the bandages anymore. Medical magic was incredible, it really was.
At the end of the road we came to a rusty looking gate that looked to have been stuck wide open. From here it connected to a much larger paved road, although strangely enough it too seemed to be in a similar state of disrepair to everything else I'd seen so far. The surface was cracked and patchy, and sick looking weeds poked up through the gaps. An embankment on the other side prevented me from seeing much else beyond. All the land on the close side was empty plains, dotted with farm buildings in the distance every now and then.
"This way." Make Do instructed, turning right at the gate and continuing down the road. I followed close behind, still unsure as to where exactly I was.
I started wondering how easy it would be to sneak off now that we were out in the open. There was nothing really stopping me from running off. Well, except that the mare leading me with a big gun strapped around her neck would probably hear my hooves on the hard floor galloping away. That and I didn't really have any where to run to or to hide, this whole area seemed rather desolate, there weren't even any hedges I could hide myself in.
For the moment I continued to follow Make Do down the road. I started to notice things that weren't right. An abandoned cart here, a sun bleached road sign there, it all looked very ominous, much like how the Hub looked. I tried to keep calm, though. So what if this stretch of road was particularly poorly maintained? The war was eating up a lot of the civic budget in all regions, it'd make sense that the local government just couldn't afford the upkeep at the moment. Yeah, that must've been it.
The embankment crested into a full on hill, and after a few more minutes of walking we reached a bend in the road, leading us to the opening of a tunnel. Make Do paused at the entrance and pulled a small torch out of her coat pocket, pointing it into the darkness ahead and pressing forward. I walked along side her so that I could see where I was going too.
The inside of the tunnel smelled musty, and there seemed to be more debris and trash inside than there was on the open road. Not too far from the mouth was a cart tipped over onto it's side, it's contents strewn across the road. There was some kind of sandbag barricade a little past it, maybe a makeshift roadblock? There also seemed to be a weirdly high number of empty barrels all around, some of them looked like they'd been used for fires. This place had probably become a squat for homeless ponies while the road was disused. That didn't really make me feel to safe.
We continued in silence, only our hoofsteps echoing off the walls. We didn't see another pony in the tunnel, just more broken down old carts and piles of junk. As we rounded a corner the end of the tunnel came into view, lighting up the path ahead.
"I hope you're prepared for this, things are gonna look way different from what you remember." Make Do said, breaking the quiet spell as she put the torch back in her pocket. ". Don't say I didn't warn you, but sooner or later you'd have to find out."
I didn't reply. I was actually a little uneasy given the state of my surroundings. Everything just seemed like it was, for lack of a better word, old, decrepit, ruined. But being spellbound for 180 years was just preposterous, there had to be a reasonable explanation for all of this.
Right?
We stepped out into the light. Both sides of the road were densely lined with dead trees and shrubs. A single crow cawed somewhere in the distance. The road was full of debris with dozens of shopping carts strewn all over, sun bleached and deformed boxes and bottles littered the ground. The road continued on a shallow curve, and a lone, rusted Barnyard Bargains sign rose above where the treeline obscured the road.
I followed Make Do around the bend, it was a short walk even though we were trotting at a slower pace than earlier. The closer we got to the store, the more packed the road became with carts and trash, forcing us to weave through to carry on our path. As we reached the store, the road straightened out and...
Oh.
Oh no.
The trees thinned out as the road continued straight on, leaving a clear view of the city of Baltimare, outskirts about a four or five miles away down hill from us. But it wasn't the Baltimare I knew. This wasn't the clean, shining gem of a coastal city that I called home. Even from this far away, even through the distant downpour that was drowning the urban sprawl, it wasn't hard to tell that it was all wrong.
A load of the sky line was just gone. The Transequestria Tower looked to be missing a number of floors. The trade building was standing crooked, ready to fall apart at a moment's notice. A lot of downtown looked like it had been reduced to rubble, and everything was a sickly burnt grey. The shimmering glass skyscrapers and vibrant colourful streets were all gone, leaving only the sad, skeletal shell of a city behind. The outskirts and suburbs didn't look like they fared much better, with entire streets burnt and ruined.
This was beyond a disaster. The whole place looked absolutely decimated. This city, my home. Oh Celestia, my home! My neighbors, my friends! My hind legs gave way as I took in the sight before me. I turned to Make Do, trying to ask how this happened, but I couldn't even make a sound.
"Balefire bomb." She said, seemingly knowing what I was thinking. "Megaspell smuggled in on a ship at the dock, I think. Something like that. Went off just by the University, it's still too dangerous to go near there for long."
I was numb, just staring ahead.
"It was a Zebra attack." Make Do continued, sitting down next to me. "Ended the war for everyone, just like that. No more war. No more Equestria."
Rain drops started falling around us. Sparse at first but quickly getting heavier the longer I sat and stared.
"It was something like a couple of days after you started the experiment, according to your file." She continued. "That spell saved your life."
I was barely listening to her. I couldn't stop looking at the hideous scene in front of me, taking everything in. Even for seeing it I couldn't believe the Zebra Empire could've actually ended it like this. It was too much to process. I was left feeling hollow. I was left not feeling.
The rain started to patter down heavier around us, the wind picking up.
"But that was a long time ago now, before my time. Before most folk's time." She said, standing up and slowly trotting away. I didn't look back at her, my gaze fixed on the destroyed city. It was like watching a train crash, I just couldn't look away. "A long, long time ago. We should head back, the weather looks like it's going to get pretty horrible."
I was rooted to the spot, eyes forwards. I could hear Make Do walking away, but I didn't take any notice. I was transfixed, in shock.
"Silver?" She called back, probably noticing I hadn't moved. "Come on, we're gonna get soaked if we don't go now."
The wind was picking up, and lightning started to flash in the distance, beyond the city skyline but closing in quick. It cast a sick strobe over the ruins of my home. My mouth was working, but I couldn't make a sound, I couldn't reply to Make Do, I couldn't wine or cry, just breathlessly croak in disbelief.
"Lets go, it's getting bad out here." Make Do said, resting a hoof on my withers, pulling me back down the road. I put up no resistance, following her pull and standing back on all fours. I couldn't even think properly, dumbly staring at nothing in particular as I turned around, mind racing. The rain was coming down heavier, and I could hear the supermarket sign groaning as the wind hit it.
I was like a robot, dumbly following Make Do back to her home. In my state she could have been leading me anywhere and I'd have gone with her, like going through the motions.
I just couldn't believe it was all gone. I'd seen it with my own eyes, but I just couldn't come to terms with it. There had to be a trick or an illusion to it. There was no way an entire city could be destroyed like that. It had to be a lie. I needed it to be a lie. I needed it to be a lie because the alternative, if it was true-
It had to be a lie, one big stunt. That had to be it, there was no way one bomb could destroy an entire city like that. It had to be some next level projection spell or something. Baltimare wasn't really destroyed. We'd get back to the shack, and my friends would be there and it will all have been a big joke. Everything would all be normal and I'd go back to my shop, and I'd tell Mrs. Chime about it next time she came in to browse and she'd feign shock and she'd gossip to all the other shopkeepers about it. I'd write a letter to mum and dad letting them know about the spell test and my time with this strange mare and the prank everypony pulled one me. Eventide would come to visit and we'd talk about it over tea and we'd laugh about the whole thing.
It had to be an illusion. This whole thing had to be one big elaborate hoax. Any minute now everyone would jump out and reveal that it'd been a big trick, and I'd be shocked and we'll all joke about it and go home. I just had to wait for-
"SILVER!!!" Make Do roared, gun in the air and firing shots, snapping me back into reality.
A cloud of gore burst up right in front of me, covering my chest and neck in blood as the mare blasted a group of grotesque pig-looking caricatures that had drawn near, far too close for comfort. At my hooves was the bleeding corpse of one of the creatures, flesh torn from the bullets. Two more were lying close by. I suppressed the urge to vomit as best as I could. Make Do lowered her gun and came over to me, scowling.
"What are you doing?!" She shouted, now face to face with me. "I told you to stay behind me! Were you even listening? Radhogs are dangerous, they'll take your fucking leg off if you're not careful!"
I looked around, lost. These things bleeding on the floor around me, the armed unicorn, a killer, shouting at me, the abandoned carts. We'd walked all the way back through the tunnel and I hadn't even noticed. I could smell the blood on me. Scared. I was scared. Very scared.
"Y-you got me." I wheezed out. "Got me good."
"What?"
"If this is a joke, it isn't funny anymore."
"A joke?" Make Do said, anger giving way to confusion. "Silver, you just saw-"
"P-please!" I yelped, desperately looking around for something, anything that would prove none of this was real. "It has to be a joke. It has to be!"
A gnawing emptiness ate away at me from the inside. It had to be an illusion. I needed it to not be real. I needed it to not be real, because if it was real that meant no more home, no more friends, no more shop. No more Baltimare.
"It's not real." I muttered. "None of this is real. I'm on to it, you can drop the whole thing right now!" I shouted. But nothing changed. It was still raining, the road was still ruined. The thing in front of me was still dead. Make Do was still looking at me bemused, like she wasn't in on the whole thing.
No one jumped out. The scene was still the same.
"This can't be happening." I whispered. "This can't be real. It's not real, it can't be real!"
There was no big reveal. No punchline. Only the drone of the wind and rain. My legs faltered. The implications hit me like a ton of bricks. There was no illusion. There was no more Baltimore. There was no more home. No more shop. No more customers, no more friends, no more neighbours. Everything was gone.
It all came to a head. I swayed, suddenly feeling very light headed, heaved, and was sick all over my front hooves.
"Woahwoah!" Make Do exclaimed, steadying me. Everything was spinning. I looked up at her, and she looked at me with sympathetic eyes.
"It really happened? The whole city?" I choked out. She nodded. "I-is everywhere like this?"
"Pretty much." She said with a sigh.
We sat in the mouth of the tunnel for a moment. I stared ahead, vacantly, tears streaming down my face, breath shaky. I backed up, sunk down low and rolled onto my side, laying on the cold cracked tarmac. My insides were churning, I could feel a migrane coming on. Mum and Dad, Eventide, Chocomel, Skipper. Everypony. I'd never see any of them again. That stabbed at me, it tore me apart.
"Everyone I know is dead." I stated. Make Do didn't respond.
I didn't even have a home anymore, nowhere to grieve, nowhere to think. Nothing. I had nothing and no one. I was alone on a dead world, and I didn't even get to say goodbye.
"I shouldn't be here." I mumbled to myself, quietly crying, sprawled out on the ground. "I should've gone with them."
"Don't talk like that." Make Do growled, audibly defensive for some reason. "You got saved, this is like a second chance!"
"Hah, some second chance. You said it yourself, no more Equestria." I spat, voice shaky, glowering at no pony in particular as my situation replayed itself in my head. "I wasn't saved, I was forgotten."
A beat passed in silence, and I remembered another pony who was forgotten.
"I'm sorry." Make Do offered quietly.
"Why me?" I thought aloud. "Why am I here?"
I stared out of the tunnel and to the land beyond, past the corpses of these pig-things and onto the rolling hills and pastures of dead grass beyond the road, spectral farmhouses and rubble haunting the view, the angry sky fading far out into the horizon.
"I-I'd have been better of if the spell never ended." I drawled. "At least then I'd never know that things turned out like this."
"Silver, please don't talk like that." Make Do said, trotting over to my side. "I'm sorry that you got dealt a bad hoof like this, but-"
"'Dealt a bad hoof'? A bad hoof?!" I said, anger rising as I pushed myself up to look her in the face. "This is beyond bad, Make Do. This is catastrophic, this is the worst hoof imaginable! T-t-t-there's no way it could possibly be worse! I-I-I've lost everything, e-everyone!"
I was looking her square in the eyes, furious, crying. She was looking back at me expressionless.
"S-so d-don't you dare tell me it's 'b-bad'." I said, poking a hoof into her chest. "I-i-i-it's a disaster, i-it's horrifying, i-i-i-it's-"
I couldn't finish my sentence, I fully broke down. I sobbed and cried, all the sudden stress and trauma bleeding out of me. I wept, and ended up leaning on Make Do to stay upright as my energy and composure all but disappeared. My wailing echoed and bounced off the walls, eerily melting into the sound of the storm. I didn't pay much mind to it, just focusing on the severity of everything. Make Do herself was silent. It really ticked me off, insulted me even, just how much she tried to downplay my situation, but somepony to lean on was better than nopony at all.
Time passed, rain fell, nopony came.
I'm not sure how long I spent in that tunnel crying on the mare's shoulder, but after some time I'd reined myself back to just snivelling and feeling very sorry for myself, hollowness returning. I dried my eyes with the sleeve of my jumpsuit and sat quietly, looking out of the tunnel and off into the middle distance. Make Do sighed and stood up.
"We should go." She said, trotting out into the rain. I trailed her back out onto the open road as we followed the path back to her shack. By the time we did get back I was soaked to the bone, dripping wet. We both were. I was shivering when we got back inside, the rain was by no means warm. I awkwardly stood by the table of the living area as Make Do dropped all her gear off.
"I'll get these dry." The unicorn said, pulling on my jumpsuit zip with her magic, already out of her jacket. I was on autopilot, stepping out of the garb and allowing her to take it. Clothing in tow, she went through a door I'd not explored yet, and I followed her through. It led to a large workshop area, full to the brim with tooling and machinery for Celestia knows what. At the back of the room stood a rather large hearth, which Make Do was in the process of starting, clothes hung from a nearby ceiling beam.
With a click the thing came to life, interior beginning to glow, and heat already radiating from it.
"The forge should dry them up in no time." Make Do said, turning to look at me. "You too, if you're chilly. There should be enough gas to run this thing on low for a while"
I was chilly. I made my way closer to the hearth, leaving a trail of wet hoofprints behind me as I navigated between workbenches. I sat down next to Make Do in front of the furnace. It wasn't quite the same as sitting by a wood fire, but it certainly did the job. The only thing missing was the crackle and pop of burning wood, and the dance of the flames.
We stayed in a semi-awkward silence for a while. I had nothing to say anyway, much preferring to be alone with my thoughts, at least for now. Time passed quietly, it could have been a couple of minutes, it could have been 20, I didn't know, I was just wallowing in self pity. I realised that I'd started crying again, sniffling and drying my eyes with the back of my hoof.
"It never goes away." The unicorn spoke, breaking the silence. I turned to face her, she was staring straight ahead, looking into the dull red light of the furnace fire, colouring her face. "The loss, I mean."
I didn't reply.
"You deal with it over time, but it never leaves you." She reflected.
For a while she was quiet again, only the sound of the gas fire filling the air.
"It gets easier, though." She said, turning to face me at last. "I takes time, and attitude, but it gets easier."
I held my tongue. I didn't need any condescending sympathy, not least from her of all ponies. But at the same time I didn't have the energy to get angry again, and I supposed her intentions were good. I really wanted to just close off and be left alone to deal with all this by myself.
Make Do stood up and turned around, briskly leaving the room. I could hear clangs and clinks coming from the other side of the door, and Make Do re-entered after no time at all.
"I figured you could use this more than I can. For now anyway." She said, and floated a grimy looking, but still sealed bottle of Stalliongrad Vodka over to me, placing it at my hooves. I looked at it and back up to her. "Look, I know we kinda got off to a bad start, and you're dealing with a lot right now, but I've been there too. If you feel like talking, I'll be around. Uh, make yourself at home, I guess."
She turned and left again, leaving the door open behind her.
Was I being allowed to stay? Was she trying to make friends? How could she have possibly 'been there'? I didn't know. I didn't care, not right now anyway. I could think about it later. For now I was more than content to take the cap off the bottle and drown my sorrows alone.
It was strong stuff.
I curled up on the floor holding the bottle in my hooves. The liquid burned on it's way down my throat, warmth mixing with the heat from the furnace. I let out a deep breath and took another swig of the drink, eager to kill my thoughts for a while. The sight of the city was burned into my mind. Everyone was dead. I was the only one left. I'd never see anyone I knew again. I was a snivelling mess, traumatised and spent.
I didn't even know what time it was. How long had we been outside for? Was it still morning? It was probably too early to be drinking, but I had a suspicion nopony was going to judge me for it. I wanted nothing more than to just not have to think for a while. I knew I was going to regret it later, and I knew that it wasn't going to magically make everything okay again, but I'd dealt with enough for one day already.
So I sat there in the workshop, little by little getting through the bottle. Some ponies drink to forget, but I don't think there's any chance in Tartatus that anypony could forget going though something like today. I could try, though.
It worked quickly. I'd not really had anything to eat or drink, save a slice of cake, so that wasn't really much of a surprise. It was welcome though.
Things became sort of hazy from there. That was the best I could hope for.
Level up!
New Perk (Silver Sterling): Pleasant Company - Cheer up, you little charmer! Your charisma is increased by 1 point when accompanied by Make Do.
New Perk (Make Do): A Friend In Need - Is a friend indeed! Your perception in increased by 1 point when accompanied by Silver Sterling.