//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Cold Front 
// Story: Fallout Equestria: Heartless 
// by dmgd_mind 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 6: Cold Front

Within a few days Canter had acclimated to her new leg, trotting around the safe house’s small yard for a couple hours each afternoon. Even though she seemed to be moving around well I was still worried; I hadn’t seen her happy since we had left to find the leg and she had been acting differently around me. She seemed colder and distant. I had tried to cheer her up a few times, but no matter what I did she would give a sad smile and say “thanks”. I hadn’t been feeling well either, each night I seemed to have the dream in which I died, and each morning I could only remember that part.
I was watching her practice moving about one morning, trying to devise a plan to make her happy, when a voice spoke in my mind. I think she knows I’m a terrible person.
I nodded, that made sense. I didn’t remember much of my fight at the hospital, but the image of the dead raider couple had stuck. The screams, the pain, the desperation-it all echoed within me. I remembered Canter’s eyes after I had killed the pair, like she didn’t know who I was anymore.
I’m her protector first and foremost, the voice returned, and if she hates me because of that I will have to accept it. I would protect her with my life. That is all that mattered to me.
After a while longer the mare jogged back to the house, sweaty and breathing heavily. I waited for her to get inside before switching on the defenses. The turrets gave a low whine as they powered up.
“Lunch is in the kitchen,” I told the panting mare. She nodded and moved into the small room.
We ate in silence. As soon as we finished I picked up our dishes and tossed them into the sink before returning to my seat. We had eaten a simple meal, dehydrated carrots and water. 
“Alright, I don’t think we can stay here much longer,” I began, finally broaching a subject I had been meaning to talk about for that last few days. I pulled out a map of the wasteland I had grabbed from my bag earlier and laid it down on the table between us. “We’re running low on supplies and power. I could scavenge them for us, but that would take me a few days, and you wouldn’t be able to come with me.”
Canter nodded in agreement, and then pointed to a spot on the map. “What about here?” I followed her pointing hoof to a mark in the middle of a lake a small ways west of the Everfree Forest.
“Laketown? It’s pretty far from here. It would be difficult going,” I stated, thinking over my options. There weren’t many settlements outside of Manehattan that I would consider safe. Laketown was one of those few. “It’ll take us about a week to get there, are you sure you can walk that long?”
She hesitated briefly before answering, “I think I’ll be able to. I’ll need to take breaks along the way though.”
“Alright. I can get everything together this afternoon. We’re going to travel at night, it will be safer.” I folded the map back up and left it on the table. “Give me a couple hours and I’ll be ready. If you want to do anything before we leave now would be the time.”
Canter nodded and left the room. A couple minutes later I heard the bath running.



“Canter, can you carry some of the supplies?” I asked as I set a heavy bag between us. We were standing in the yard outside the safe house; the light of the setting sun was casting playful shadows all around. The mare nodded and stooped to help me transfer some of the items to her. I had gotten her to put on the metal armor she had worn before and she was still carrying my pistol. I scooped a hoof-full of food cans into each of her saddlebags and then put the rest in my own.
We set off at a slow but steady pace, trying to keep noise to a minimum and hide in the shadows of buildings. Neither of us spoke as we walked, the only sounds were our hooves on the pavement and the occasional clinking of Canter’s armor. I turned to look at her, to check how she was handling her burden, when I stopped in surprise. Walking next to me was a dark blue alicorn. I blinked and shook my head and saw Canter walking along. I looked around quickly, wondering what the hell had just happened. I had definitely seen something. I frowned and continued walking with Canter, pondering the strange phenomena. I began to doubt the new me was entirely sane.
As the rest of the night passed I noticed Canter begin to flag more and more. She had started to pant from exertion just before sunrise so I had us stop to rest for the day. We hid inside a ruined train station on the outskirts of Manehatten and I quickly set up camp. After I helped Canter out of her barding I started a small fire next to our bedrolls and began cooking some dehydrated vegetable.
The mare laid down on her bedroll on the other side of the fire with a sigh of relief. Before the vegetables were halfway done she drifted to sleep, completely exhausted. I smiled, gazing at the sleeping mare.
I could take her right now. I started as the familiar voice slithered through my head. She’s certainly not strong enough to stop me. I haven’t rutted in a while and it’s starting to get uncomfortable. All I need to do is hold her down. 
I almost started to move before I realized what I was doing. “What’s wrong with me?” I whispered, horrified at the thought of what I had considered. “I would never do that to Canter,” I shook my head, trying to reaffirm myself. I tried to quash a terrible memory that the thought had surfaced. I was a monster.
I curled into my bedroll and used all my willpower to eject the memory from my thoughts. Eventually I settled in to a troubled sleep.



I woke to a heavy pressure on my chest and something cold and metal against my head. I heard Canter give a muffled shriek as I opened my eyes to see an orange unicorn raider pressing a small caliber pistol into my head. 
“My friend is gonna have some fun with your mare, and you’re gonna sit here and watch,” she hissed with a sadistic grin. She put a hoof on my head and turned it to face Canter. Another raider was holding her to the ground and teasing her with his hoof, laughing cruelly as she flinched from his touch. She was struggling as hard as she could, trying to escape, but the stallion had pinned her too tightly. Tears were flowing freely from her fear widened eyes. Briefly my thoughts flashed back to the familiar voice that had almost returned me to someone worse than these raiders. I felt a tight knot of anger begin to form in my stomach.
I pushed at the mare holding me down; eliciting a curse and a stomp to my gut as I almost threw her off. I felt her hot breath tickle my ear. “It ain’t gonna be that easy, shit head,” she whispered, “after Razor’s done I’m gonna play with you. But I think I’m gonna use this.” She twisted the barrel of her pistol into my temple to show me what she meant.
Canter gave a loud scream as the raider pressed into her, still laughing. As he started to rock back and forth on her I felt the knot of anger explode into something primal and powerful, giving me the strength to throw the mare off of me.
“GET THE FUCK OFF HER!” I roared as I barreled into the stallion, smashing him against one of the benches inside the train station. Blood splattered the ground around me as the unicorn fired her pistol into my back. I spun around, unfazed, and punched my foreleg into her side as she tried to clear a jam in the gun. I heard a couple of her ribs snap under the force of the blow. The mare backed off, coughing blood, and threw the gun at me with her magic. It bounced off my side as I spun and kicked her head with enough force to break her spine. I hit the ground as the remaining raider landed on me, knocking the air out of my lungs. I quickly rolled out from under him and sprung to my hooves; stomping on one of his legs and hearing it break with a satisfying snap. He shouted in pain and tried to get up, so I smashed another leg. He spat at me defiantly an instant before I kicked in his head.
I ran to Canter’s side, scooping her up in my forelegs and holding her against me as tightly as I could. She buried her head in my chest, sobbing, and returned the embrace. I nuzzled at her head protectively as I let her cry into me. I noticed with concern that she was covered in blood.
As the interior of the train station began to fade around me I realized that was my blood.



I coughed and opened my eyes. I was in a lot of pain, more than I had felt in a long time. Immediately I felt Canter at my side, holding me. I was covered in a mess of bandages and an empty health potion was lying on the floor.
“There was only one potion left,” Canter choked out. Her eyes were red from tears, and my blood still splotched her coat. “It wasn’t enough to close the bullet holes completely. I tried to use the bandages but I don’t know if I did it right.”
I looked down and examined her handiwork. The bandages were crisscrossing my body at strange and uncomfortable angles, but they seemed to have stopped the bleeding. I gently shifted Canter so I could sit up, groaning at the pain. I motioned towards the station exit. “We,” I paused to get to my hooves grunting from the stress, “we should move out of here in case any more show up.” I moved a couple meters before collapsing in agony. I was breathing heavily.
Canter was at my side again, helping me up. “You’re not going to make it any distance outside, Night,” she began with concern before pointing towards a door leading to the station office, “I think we can hole up in there till you’re better.”
I managed to nod as she slowly led me into the room, and then slumped against the desk in its center. “Give me a minute to get our things,” Canter said as she left the room. I took the minute to look around. From what I could see it was an average office, a desk, chair, computer, and some posters were arranged about the room.
Canter walked back into the room and closed the door, dumping our stuff into a corner. She took our bedrolls and laid them out side to side next to me. I rolled into one, moaning a little from the pain. Canter turned off the room’s lights a few seconds later. I smiled through the pain as I felt her crawl into bed next to me. I was glad she wasn’t cold and distant anymore, but I dearly wished it could have happened without Canter being further abused. I would give anything to keep her from being hurt. In a moment of clarity I realized why I felt this way towards her.
“Hey Canter?” I asked, facing her in the darkness.
“Yeah Night?” she returned quietly.
“I…I love you”
We laid there in silence as time passed, and I started to feel I had made a mistake. Suddenly I felt her lips against mine as she drew me into a desperate kiss.