//------------------------------//
// Chapter 16: Traversing the Wasteland 
// Story: Fallout: Equestria - Shadow of the Day 
// by Kaciekk 
//------------------------------//

“Ugh! I am so tired of flying!” SwiftHaze complained as she pulled the wagon through the desert. Ahead of her was only an empty, desolate road. There had been a few times they had passed abandoned, broken down vehicles left behind in the wake of the war.

“You’ve only been flying for like an hour,” GleamingChance told Haze.

“An hour and a half!” Haze retorted, as she was a PipBuck bearer.

“Still, we’ve barely gotten started. Are you actually tired, or just bored?” Chance questioned.

“Well, I am bored but my wing is still a little sore. Flapping your wings this much does get exhausting,” Haze claimed,over-exaggerating her condition.

Chance sighed while OrchidRays offered, “I could take over for a bit.”

“Fine,” Chance allowed. The two mares swapped places.

A few minutes after Ray began cantering, Haze groaned, “This whole traveling thing is so annoying! Why can’t we just like - teleport from one place to another?”

“Teleportation magic is extremely rare, and difficult to use,” Chance informed. “Even Unicorns who did have the ability mostly used it on themselves. Moving groups took too much energy, and wasn’t effective. It’s inconvenient when you teleport halfway to your location and end up in a sticky spot.”

Haze flipped her muzzle up. “Whatever!” she remarked at Chance’s fact dumping.

“How do you even know all this?” Xoqan wondered.

“I... read a lot,” Chance answered bashfully, his orange eyes drifting away.

“I mean that’s pretty obvious. You’ve had your muzzle buried in that book this whole trip,” Xoqan pointed out the text in Chance’s lap. He leaned closer to get a better look. “What even is it?”

Chance floated it away from him and answered, “It’s about Zebra etiquette and tradition. After Quagga, I decided I need to learn more about Zebras so I know how to interact with them. I don’t wanna come off as offensive, y'know?”

“Oh, really? That sounds cool,” Haze commented, actually intrigued now. She leaned closer “Could I look at that when you’re done?”

Before Chance could even open his mouth, Xoqan said, “Why d’you need that when you can learn all that shit from me? I mean, hello? I’m a Zebra!”

“Eh, you don’t seem to be the most traditional Zebra,” Chance replied.

“I know, I’m a lot cooler than most of the Zebras in my hometown,” Xoqan boasted, placing a hoof on his chest.

Both Chance and Haze smiled with amusement and exchanged looks. Haze rolled her eyes. Xoqan certainly was a character.


After twenty minutes or so, Ray’s cadence slowed to a walk. She had kept up her cantering pace for a lot longer than Haze had expected. By now her wing felt better, so she traded places with Ray.

While she was resting, Chance had given his book to her, but ultimately she ended up not reading it. There were too many small words that bored her. How could Chance ever keep his interest? Haze did want to learn more about Zebra culture, but she’d rather experience it instead of studying it on paper.

Haze continued to fly just above the road. Her body was left on auto-pilot as she pulled the wagon. She kept her mind busy by listening to audio recordings, songs, and occasionally tuning into the radio. The musical style of Sweetie Belle was much different than what Haze had listened to growing up in Stable 47. She wondered why that was.

Her mind was quickly turned back to her surroundings once the scenery changed. A long dark line appeared on the horizon, spreading in both directions. As they got closer Haze realized this must be a river. While they approached, she slowed her fight down and touched down on the ground. This was more water than she had ever seen! It calmly rumbled down its path to the south. The river’s width was nearly as wide as the canyon Umbra had sat in.

Both sides of the road had once been connected by a long bridge, which had collapsed in the middle.

“Ugh, what’s it with broken bridges?” Haze exclaimed.

Standing up, Chance took in the scene. “Hmm, this is a predicament.”

“Do you see any other way to cross on your map?” Ray asked.

Chance unfolded and floated his map up, submerging his muzzle in it. “There’s a road way to the south. Might make our trip longer.”

“Unless there’s something that could act as a bridge for the bridge,” Ray brought up imaginatively. She searched the desert filled with short, shrubby trees and the occasional taller palm tree.

“Yeah I doubt anything is going to fill that gap,” Haze muttered. “I wish we had an actual aerial vehicle.”

“I could try to float us over,” Xoqan said. “But I’ve never carried this much weight at once.”

“Where’s Flash when you need him?” Chance grumbled. Xoqan just looked at him quizzically.

“Can you carry us one at a time then the wagon?” Ray pondered the Zebra.

“The wagon itself is still more than I’ve ever carried. I ain’t sure about that.”

“I mean, the wagon is made of wood. It should float in water if you drop it, right?” Ray concluded.

Both Xoqan and Chance gave her a grimace.

As Haze impatiently waited for a verdict, she noticed lights appearing on her E.F.S. compass. Red lights. Ahead of them.

“Uh, guys, I don’t think finding any way to cross here is a good idea!”

“Why?” Ray inquired with disappointment.

While more hostile lights appeared, Haze began backing up. She felt her tail hit the wall of the wagon, unable to proficiently move it. Reptilian figures began emerging from the river bank. Haze thought she recognized the shapes of radigators, but these were covered in sickly pink boils. One of them looked straight at her, baring its razor sharp teeth.

In a burst of fluttering wings, Haze attempted to steer the left. Behind her, Chance shouted “Haze, go the other way! We need to go to the south!”

Growling with frustration, Haze swiveled around and yanked the wagon in the opposite direction. At the corner of her eye she could see several radigators charging towards them with sloppy thrashing of legs. No way they could outpace a Pegasus. Even more radigators from the water. Just how many were there?!

Suddenly Haze was jerked back. The harness clutched at her torso, holding her back. She kept flapping with yet the wagon wouldn’t budge. One of the wheels had sunk into a depression in the ground.

“What the fuck?!” Haze blurted out and continued to thrust forward.

“Are you shitting me?” Chance cursed as he stared over the side of the wagon which had tilted into the hole. His eyes caught sight of the radigators running towards them. Quickly he whipped out his pistol and took aim.

Xoqan hopped out of the wagon and faced the swarm of radigators head on. Dark magic swirled around his hoof as he held a determined stare.

Meanwhile, Haze struggled to release herself from the harness. If they were going to fight these beasts, she wanted in. At last she broke free of the buckle. She launched herself into the wagon and slipped into the corner where it had dipped. She crashed into Ray, on top of all of their supplies. Frantically she searched for a weapon. She found Blitzkrieg and propped it on the top of the wagon's wall.

Click. Nothing. What?! Ray prodded Haze and passed over some ammo for the sniper rifle. After loading the bullets, Haze aimed down the scope. Her aim shifted until she found an enemy.

BLAM. It’s forehead exploded into a bloody mess. Somehow, it was still able to press forward, although disabled. Haze took another shot which finally killed it.

Pulling back from the scope, she realized there too many of the creatures to pick off one by one. They needed to take them down quickly before they were overcome.

One of the over-sized reptiles was lifted off the ground by Xoqan. He slammed it down hard on the desert dirt, much more forceful then when he had dropped Mazi.

Chance’s pistol shots barely staggered the radigators as they neared. Ray covered her ears as Blitzkrieg thundered out another shot, taking down one more. The Earth pony seemed too frozen to aid in the fight.

As Xoqan threw dark magic on one radigator, another hobbled over to him. A wide jaw snapped at him, causing him to step back in surprise. Chance emptied an entire round into the radigator’s neck. It fell limp, its boil-ridden boy flinching.

“Xoqan!” Haze hollered. “Can you even out the wagon?”

Just as Xoqan turned to her, another maw sneaked up on him. The razor sharp teeth of the radigator clamped down on his flank. A scream of pain belted out of Xoqan. His dark magic attempted to pry open the jaw.

Haze shifted her rifle to face Xoqan’s attacker. BLAM. A bullet tore through the radigator’s eye. The maw went limp, flopping to the ground with a trail of Xoqan’s blood.

Haze was readying another bullet when suddenly she was jerked to the left. The entire wagon was turned over to its side. As it crashed down, a radigator, which must have overturned the wagon, placed its claws on the wooden planks. All of them spilled and scattered across the ground.

Abstaining from breathing in the kicked-up dust, Haze pushed through the pain to pull herself up. Her eyes opened just barely, the dust irritating them. Blitzkrieg had clattered out of her reach. Fuck. Another weapon? Where was her assault rifle?

Ray too was slowly rising, disoriented from the fall. Just behind her was Chance, who was aiming over her head. Promptly, he took down the gator which knocked them down.

There’s so many of them! Haze analyzed where she should strike next.

As Ray stood up, a radigator rounded on her. With quick reflexes she blocked the attack with her metal leg. The jaws of the beast refused to let go, clamping down. Ray flicked her other foreleg to draw out her switchblade. Then, she forcefully jabbed it into the lower jaw of the radigator, piercing through its mouth. The foe let go, but as it retreated, it swiped its claws against Ray’s exposed belly. As it attempted to scurry away, Ray struck it with a blow to the head.

Haze had retrieved her assault rifle and threw on S.A.T.S. She unloaded a burst of bullets into the head of Ray’s attacker, finishing it off.

Xoqan was still throwing radigators around as Chance held his ground. Several were dead, but many more were sill assaulting them. Still, the wagon remained knocked over.

“Throwing them in the water won’t do no good!” Xoqan called out. “They just swim back!”

“Ugh, dammit! I should have took us back down the road so they couldn’t chase us,” Haze grunted.

“You’re just realizing that now?” Chance exclaimed with annoyance.

Haze grumbled and took to the air. When she aimed down her sights, she saw a peculiar radigator. Well, all of them were weird, but this one had an extra foreleg growing out of its chest. It was obvious these pink creatures were horribly mutated.

Pulling the trigger, Haze ended the poor radigator.

“Xoqan!” She repeated.

The Zebra was still busy throwing gators around. He flipped his head to meet Haze’s eyes. “I can’t get to the wagon if they’re swarming around it!”

Below Haze, Chance dashed for the wagon. He searched between the roof and the seats where all of their luggage was scattered. With his magic, he began frantically digging through it.

“Chance, what the fuck are you doing? This is no time to- ah!”

Haze darted upward as a maw snapped for her back legs. Abruptly the radigator was tackled by Ray. As she stood over the creature, she swiped her switchblade over it’s face, cutting its eyes. Huh, she can fight, Haze remarked mentally. She aimed her rifle straight down and sent three bullets into the gator’s forehead.

Between the structure of the wagon, Chance was tweaking a landmine. He threw it into a burlap sack with unknown content. Lastly, he cut slits in the bag, as if to ventilate it. He emerged back on the battlefield, the bag wrapped in his magic.

“Hey you slimy motherfuckers!” Chance hollered at the top of his lungs. He tossed the bag several meters away.

All of the radigators jerked at his yell. They began scurrying towards the bag. Now they viciously climbed over each other, competing to reach the item.

“Ray, can I get a ‘nade?” Chance requested briskly.

Ray nodded and skipped over to the wagon wreckage to scavenge their bags. She retrieved her item much quicker than Chance had retrieved his.

“Everyone behind the wagon!” Chance called out. He and Xoqan promptly hid behind the wooden vehicle. Haze just rose farther into the air, staring confused.

Without instruction, Ray pulled the pin and hurtled the grenade at the squirming mass of radigators. She dashed for safety behind the wagon.

KRAPOW. When the grenade exploded, it set off the mine as well. A mass of blood and gore erupted around the area. Few radigators remained, striving to get away, although their bodies were crippled. The last of them wouldn’t be an issue for the team now.

Xoqan finally got to straighten out the wagon. Both him and Chance floated their scattered supplies back inside.

“That was pretty fucking awesome,” Xoqan commented on Chance’s work.

The other stallion shrugged. “I’m surprised that it even worked.”

Haze touched the ground and met with her crew. Still she was left bewildered.

“Chance, what the fuck was that?”

“Hey, it was the only thing I could think of,” Chance defended.

“No- I mean- what was in that bag? Why did they go after it?”

“Oh, um, jerky.”

“And that would be...?” Haze said, still lost.

“Dried meat. Radigators are carnivores. Of course they’d be attracted to the smell of meat.”

“W-what?” Haze gagged. “Chance! Why the fuck do you have meat with you? Do you... eat meat?” She just gaped, appalled.

“Hey, some meat is actually pretty good,” Xoqan butted in. Haze glared at him.

“Well, I was kinda introduced to it at a young age, you know, with the way I was raised and all,” Chance said. He must have been refer in to the raider life. “Food can be very scarce out here, so sometimes you have to take what you can get.”

“But ponies are vegetarians!” Haze griped.

“It’s a matter of survival, Haze. If everything out here wants to eat us, we may as well be allowed to eat them too.”

“But we’re civilized, not monsters!”

Chance groaned. “I just- erg. Can we get moving before more radigators show up?”

Grumbling, Haze just stomped off. She strapped herself in the harness and began flying once all three other were in the wagon.


They returned to the road they had came from and continued to travel until they found a fork to the south.

More than half of the time Haze’s mind was occupied on the thought of how anyone could even be willing to eat meat. Raiders did seem like the kind of savages that would. Perhaps that was just a small part of Chance’s origins that carried over to the pony he was now.

On the other hoof, it was Xoqan who had admitted to enjoying meat. As far as she could tell, Haze guessed heonly ate meat as a form of energy. She had never been worried about lack of food in Stable 47, but the world out here wasn’t as forgiving.

Behind Haze, OrchidRays was playing music from her PipBuck. Her belly wound had been treated by Xoqan as they resumed their journey. Xoqan too had patched his own injury. Still, he resisted using his Med-X, claiming this was not the right moment, no matter if it did sting.

As usual, Ray was playing Linkin Pony. Did she really not listen to anything else?

“All of these songs sound the same,” Xoqan commented bluntly. Haze snickered. Ray had been playing mostly what Stable 47 would refer to as ‘the classics.’

“What? No way!” Ray refuted.

“I thought Linkin Pony experimented with different styles,” Chance noted.

“I guess I can play a different kind...” Ray said, as though reluctant to switch the genre. No, Haze knew Ray loved all of Linkin Pony’s discography, but only had a preference for their heavier material. She pressed play.

So say goodbye and hit the road
Pack it up and disappear

Haze recognized the song from one of her favorite albums, One More Light. There were two stallions featured on the track that she did not recognize. While she didn’t dislike their parts, she thought their verses weren’t as strong as CharmingRhythm’s.

Once the song ended, Ray cheerfully asked, “how was that one?”

“Eh, it was alright. At least it sounded different,” Xoqan replied.

Ray furrowed her brows. “Is there any songs you like?”

“Eh, I don’t really care for music.”

“What? How can you not like music?!” Ray gaped, astonished.

“I mean, the radio only plays the same old songs over and over! It gets so annoying,” Xoqan said. “Music played in my town also got annoying. Just not my thing.”

“But music is one of the best things in life! It’s like- integral for living!” Ray responded, raising her hooves to the sky.

“Yeah, maybe for someone who can play music from her leg at any time.” Xoqan tilted his muzzle towards her PipBuck.

“Actually, what happened to your leg?” he pondered. “How’d you lose it?”

Blinking, Ray looked at him, bewildered. She took a glance at her metal leg. “I never had one,” she said in a small voice.

“You were born without one?” Xoqan asked.

Ray nodded quietly.

“Weird.”

Haze’s heart sank as she overheard. She knew how self conscious Ray was when it came to being called weird. While she knew Xoqan wasn’t calling Ray weird directly, and was referring to her uncommon birth, Haze knew how Ray would take it.

As expected, there was awkward silence. Ray didn’t even put on another song right away.


Nearly an hour had passed since they crossed the split in the road. The team was coming up on the river again. This time, there was a structure built near the river bank. An intact bridge laid just passed the building. Attached to the structure was a water turbine that dipped into the river. The wheel no longer moved due to grime and overgrowth clogging its blades.

“Huh, I wonder what this place is,” Ray said with curiosity.

Still hovering, Haze checked her PipBuck.

“Hippocampus sub-station 13,” she read the map marker aloud.

“Should we look inside?” Xoqan asked.

“Well, on one side, we might find more supplies. On the other side, there’s something horrible waiting for us in there,” Chance frowned.

Haze thought for a moment and landed. “Let’s go in.”

“Are you sure?” Chance cautioned.

“Yeah. You said there could be supplies. Free stuff!” Haze said.

“If anything in there tries to kill us, it’s on you,” Chance told her.

“Eh, I’ll take that.” She shrugged.

The door was unlocked. Carefully they crept into the main, small lobby. There were a couple skeletons on the floor, perhaps employees. The room had chairs worn down by time. Ahead of them was a front desk, and a door to the left of it.

Haze stepped up to the door and placed a hoof on the knob. Locked. But this one didn’t have a lock to pick. Next to the knob was a type of scanner on the wall.

“Looks like it opens with some sort of keycard. Where the hell would we get that?” Haze grumbled.

Behind her, Ray approached one of the skeletons. She rummaged through the pocket of one of their coats. There she found a metal card which stuck to her hoof magnetically.

“Something like this?” She pondered.

Haze glared. “Of course you’d find something.”

Ray placed the card on the scanner. There was a small beep as the door clicked open. Haze took the first few steps into the room. Big mistake. A turret dropped out of the ceiling down the hall and began raining down bullets. Frantically, Haze jumped back and closed the door. A few bullets pierced through it.

“Why the fuck would there be a turret guarding an employee entrance!” Haze exclaimed. “How would they get in?!”

“Maybe someone had programmed it after getting inside,” Chance suggested. “They may have been using this place as shelter.”

“Well that doesn’t help us get past it now?!” Haze yapped.

“We should just turn around,” Chance mumbled.

“No. I want to get past,” Haze said firmly.

“Fine,” Chance sighed.

He motioned Ray to open the door again. This time they all hid behind the wall as the door cracked open. Chance levitated his pistol out and took a peek to find his aim. The bullets began spraying again and Chance lurched back.

“I can’t take it out if I don’t have vision,” Chance growled. “But it’ll just lock on anything it senses.”

“It’s activated by movement?” Xoqan took note. “Maybe I could trick it with my dark magic.”

“That might work,” Haze replied.

Chance nodded. He held the door open with his magic. Xoqan concentrated on his dark magic which swirled around his hoof. Quickly he exposed himself to send out a dark mist to the turret. In that fraction of a second, a couple of bullets pierced through Xoqan’s foreleg. He grunted in pain, but held his stance. All around the turret was a blanket of dark magic. No more bullets rained down, as if it was confused.

“I still can’t see it,” Chance said bluntly.

“I got this.” Haze pushed the Unicorn away. She brought up S.A.T.S and was able to lock on the turret. It was as if the dark magic didn’t even exist to the spell. She fired her assault rifle, destroying the turret.

In just a few days, Xoqan had already proven his worth to their team.

They all entered through the hall. The second door on the right was labeled “manager’s office.” Haze peeked inside as Ray went to a different doorway.

in the small office was a terminal sitting on a desk. Curiously, Haze walked around to face it. It was still functional, and no password was needed. Haze began searching through the files.


From the journal of GreyWater:

My first month here and there’s already some shit news. I was just transferred from a shut down facility, and this one might be shut down too? Good Celestia, I hope the MAS knows what they’re doing. We can’t just shut down, we have to supply power to Baleford.

Haze wondered, What was the bad news? She backed out of the journals and found old incoming messages. One was sent directly from the Ministry of Arcane Sciences.

It is imperative that your staff is made aware about a magical byproduct leakage from the research center just north of your location. MAS personnel are actively working to clean the waste. So far all water level readings have been normal. We are not to believe the waste has entered the river. If it does so, we will contact you promptly. Your employees must refrain from interacting with the water. If the riveter does become contaminated, your facility may be shut down temporarily. We have sent a prerecorded message for ease of access for your employees.

“A video?” Haze wondered aloud. There was no file on this terminal that could be opened to watch. Actually, did any terminal have video capabilities?

“Maybe it’s that projector in the other room,” Ray suggested, her voice in Haze’s ear.

“Ah!” Haze jolted out of her focus as Ray appeared in the room again. “What?”

She followed Ray across the hall into what appeared to be a meeting room. However the table was pushed aside to make room for rows of metal chairs. Several of the chairs were knocked over. On the wall at the other end of the room was a white projection screen. A projector which paired with it was knocked over on the floor. Haze placed it back on its tripod. She wondered if it still worked.

Just then, Chance walked into the room. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to see if this still works,” Haze replied.

Chance met up with them at the tripod. He relieved a cord which had been unplugged from an outlet. Once it was plugged in, he began to fiddle with the projector. Miraculously it turned on, displaying a still image on the screen. Haze recognized the purple Unicorn mare from one of the memory orbs she saw. Twilight Sparkle. She was wearing formal attire, facing the camera.

“Looks like the end of the roll,” Chance commented. He was able to rewind the footage to the start.

“Hello. I am Twilight Sparkle, head of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences... but you probably already knew that,” the purple mare said sheepishly.

“I’m representing my ministry with a message. There has been a leakage of... magical byproduct from the MAS research facility just north of Baleford. Rest assured our ponies are diligently working to clean the leak and prevent it from spreading into the river. It is advised that all Hippocampus employees do not touch the river water. We are supplying you kits that will allow you to take water samples. If you are to find abnormal levels, please report to the MAS immediately. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Twilight may have spoken calmly but Haze could tell there was an edge behind her tone. She was suppressing anxiety. Her eyes were tired, as if from staying up too late researching, or perhaps from sleepless, worrisome nights.

The video stopped on the last frame, frozen on the screen once more.

“Is that why the radigators are pink?” Ray wondered.

Haze thought for a moment and looked at the condition of the room. “Looks like this happened only a few days before the megaspells went off. Which could mean that the Ministry couldn’t finish cleaning the leakage.”

“And it went into the river and affected the animals!” Ray concluded.

“Good evaluation,” Chance praised them. He lost his smirk. “Must have been taint.”

“Taint? What’s that?” Haze asked at the same time Ray said, “What’s taint?”

Chance chuckled a bit at their synchronism. “I don’t really know what it is, just that it’s a dangerous byproduct from some sort of MAS experiment. It’s harmful like radiation, but does strange things to both creatures and ponies.”

“Well, sounds like it was a good thing we didn’t touch the water,” Haze said.

“Where’s Xoqan?” Ray questioned irrelevantly, scanning the room.

They found the Zebra in what looked to be a locker room. He was hunched over a crate, shaking it around. He attempted to pry it open with his magic.

“What are you doing?” Ray asked.

“I found this medical case. It’s unopened, which means there should be supplies in it! But I can’t get it open!” Still he pulled at its edges. Chance rushed forward and placed a hoof on his shoulder.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Careful, you don’t want to break it. I can pick locks.”

Xoqan released the case and relaxed. “Oh,” he let out, a hint of satisfaction in his tone.

Chance pulled out his tools and began his process. Quickly, he opened the lock.

“That was an easy one,” he remarked.

Xoqan peered over his shoulder to look at the contents. “Oh, Med-X!”

Chance levitated out two syringes and passed them to Xoqan. “All yours.”

“Sweet!” Xoqan said. “Oh, and the rest of the items in here are great too. Portions, bandages... nice work.”

“Eh, you’re the one who found it,” Chance dismissed the praise.

As Chance was emptying the case’s contents, Xoqan injected one of the syringe’s into his foreleg. After a few moments, he proceeded to wrap his leg in dark magic. One at a time, he pulled out the bullets which had embedded in his leg. He gave a grunt at each pull, blood popping out with the lead.

Haze shuttered with disgust, a tingle passing through her leg as if she could feel the pain.


SwiftHaze decided there was nothing left worth checking out in the energy plant. She for one did not care to tour the factory floor.

A couple kilometers away they stumbled upon a small, abandoned village. This must have been Baleford, which the energy plant had supplied power to. True to its namesake, there were numerous bales of hay scattered around the town and the perimeter. What their purpose was, Haze couldn’t tell.

She decided that the party would stay among the westernmost row of buildings. While they still had daylight left, Chance had advised them not to camp at night, away from any considerable cover.

“We’ll get plenty of rest tonight, then we can set out at first light!” SwiftHaze declared.

“That rhymed,” Ray said in a small voice, which nobody took notice of.

“Eh, I’m not really an early morning kind of Zebra,” Xoqan commented.

“Well too bad!” Haze replied. “You can sleep in the wagon anyway.”

Xoqan just snorted and rolled his eyes.

Haze was so eager for the next day that she had difficulty falling asleep at first. If only I could fast forward time! Restlessly she shifted in her sleeping bag as the sky grew darker. At some point, she did manage to slip into sleep.