//------------------------------//
// The Machine 
// Story: Her Eyes Reflect The Stars 
// by Lynwood 
//------------------------------//

We look at the thing rumbling through the remains of the town— no, of Ponyville. Its six legs hold its thin, spindly body well above the surviving houses' roofs, and its tendrils twitch and shudder in the gray air. As it nears the place where I found Rainbow Dash, the tendrils all seem to become interested in the dozen or so Children now gathered there. For their part, the Children moan and shuffle around, cowed by the machine. One extends its tongue and makes a grab at a tendril, and with a flash of metal and razor-sharp crystal, it's turned into a wriggling pile of wormlike limbs that soon go still.

Rainbow moans and moves away from the window, holding her head in her hooves. "My home," she whispers. I hesitate for a moment before moving to her side and setting one cloth-bound limb over her shoulders. She just stands there for a while, then pulls away.

"Okay," she says, sniffling and wiping at her nose. "Okay. I'm here. If I'm here, maybe my friends are too." She adjusts her old Wonderbolts jacket.

Whatever happened to the Wonderbolts? I silently ponder.

"If my friends were here," Rainbow quietly continues, "they'd know to get away from the danger. That gives us a better chance of reuniting." She looks at me. "Is— Is there anywhere left that's safe?"

I shrug. "Define safe."

"Not being constantly under threat of death by freezing or violent dismemberment."

"There's supposed to be a place out west, past the Unicorn Range, where there's less ash and Children. Should be pretty safe there." 

She raises an eyebrow. "So what are you doing here, in the thick of it, instead of over there?"

I groan. "That's what we're trying to do. Crossing the Wastes is way easier said than done."

"Oh. Well, then... Wait, 'we'?"

"Yeah," I answer with a nod, "my special somepony. She's not as capable of handling the Wastes as I am, so I've been going on ahead, scouting and finding food and medicine." I give her a smile. "Don't worry, you can come with us. We'll help you as much as we can. You're an Element, after all."

That puts a pained look on her face. "I guess... but that's not worth much of anything without my friends."

I pat her shoulder. "You'll see 'em again, I'm sure of it. Now let's find you some gear and some proper clothes." 

We begin searching the hospital for anything that can help us. Between items left behind when ponies fled and a generous lost-and-found on the second floor, we gather replacement bandages, some magical medicine, and a few layers of winter clothing and a pair of old saddlebags for Rainbow, but nothing to protect her eyes and mouth, so we're forced to go to the ground floor.

The darkness there is complete. We can barely see, even with my magic lantern. I guess it's been a while since I charged it, I think. We pass by several hospital rooms that have been barricaded from the outside, taking extra care to be quiet, and find a great score near a pile of old abandoned Guard armor: a full-face protective mask! Loot in hoof, we hurry back upstairs.

After I help Dash bundle up— she insists on cutting holes for her wings—  and give her some of the gear to carry, we return to the broken window, masked up and as prepared as you can be for the Wastes.

"Are you sure you're ready?" I ask her.

"Yeah," she nods. "Let's get to work."