Whoever this 'Lilly' was, I thought it might be appropriate to say that she was not good at sharing a bed. Not at all. I awoke, freezing cold in the morning air. Lilly in her sleep, had hogged all of the covers, had bushed me to the very edge of the mattress, and had shifted sideways, so I could not scoot back up. Her mouth hung open as she snored very loudly, flittering her wingtips in her sleep. But at least she hadn't slit my throat.
I had time to think to myself, and had chalked up my foolish decision to share a bed with a complete stranger to simple suicidal grief. I had since come to terms with my parents murder and had accepted that nothing was going to change that. I also realized that my parents wouldn't have wanted me to mope at their deaths, nor would they approve of my blood lust for their murderers, but I disregarded the latter, because killing her is something I needed to do. I'm not sure if Wendy felt the same way, but even if he didn't, he's still the kind of stallion who would revel in her just desserts. I slipped out of my train of thought and observed the room around me. The snoring mare, the morning light filtering in through the ragged, drawn curtains, my bags, which were undisturbed by my roommate. I looked back at her. Even through her heavy snoring, she still looked at peace, so I left her to nap, also with the hope of avoiding another panic driven quarrel.
I silently stepped towards the door and slipped out, heading down the stairs to Ditzy's shop. My brother was not asleep in the chairs like he had done before, in fact, he wasn't even in this room. He had gone out somewhere, but Rusty slept on the floor in a neat little bedroll. Derpy slept in another room in a twin mattress. I sighed, the more I saw her, the more I thought of Mom. I shook the thought away as I stepped outside, letting the cold, dry wasteland air wake me up. I scanned the town, but didn't see much activity other than a few lights from various buildings. I shrugged to myself and headed to the nearest building that didn't look residential. I headed up across the old wooden porch and up to two swinging doors which led inside. I lifted my hoof to knock, but remembered it was a public place. I pushed the doors aside and stepped in. The sounds and smells and warmth poured out of the building as I looked around. There was a small stage at the far end of the place with nothing or nopony upon it. Various other ponies milled about around the floor which was scarcely populated with tables and chairs. A long counter ran parallel with the left wall and cornered at the wall behind me. I trotted further in, drawn by the warm light. Along the bar sat Wendy, holding up a bottle of brown liquid to his lips. I climbed up onto the stool next to him and watched as he downed half of the bottle's contents before looking over at me.
"What're you up to Wendy?" I asked still looking at him.
"Nothing, just.. I found this drink, Its amazing, you should try some." he slurred out, sitting the bottle down on the bar shakily.
I sniffed at the bottle and withdrew as it surprised me by its unfamiliar scent, but then it came to me. "Are you drinking alcohol?" I asked in a slightly panicked tone.
"Is this what this is?" he asked looking into the amber bottle. "How do you know what this is?" Back in out Stable, nopony knew about alcohol of any type. It was banned from the day it closed generations ago. I, being the studious one, had found some old posters to terrorize any ponies into sobriety. After the place was dry, roughly 75 years after its closing, they took the posters down and put them in hiding. For good reason too, the posters told us quite disturbing 'facts' about alcohol that were sure to scare anyone enough to fear any kind of drink for the rest of their existence. Statements along the lines of, "Alcohol causes instant liver petrification." and "5 out of every 5 alcoholics die from brain deterioration." Now, i had always assumed that they weren't quite telling the truth, but that didn't stop me from swearing not to touch a drop of alcohol in my life. The three empty bottle's in front of my brother challenged the stable's facts, seeing as though he was still alive. I was still hesitant to let myself even smell the fumes off of his breath.
I said nothing to him as he downed the rest of his drink, and before I could object, slid a tall bottle of clear liquid to me and pushed it into my hooves. I stared at him as he stared back, wobbling on top of the bar stool. I took the bottle in my magic and looked through at the clear liquor. Perhaps not liquor, maybe just water. As I opened the bottle a heavy smell hit my nostrils and I tilted my head away, coughing a little at the smell.
"Do it you wimp." My brother said with a stupid smile across his face. He seemed intact, I guess one little drink wouldn't hurt...
* * *
Two or three bottles later of the amazing drink I found to be called "Vodka" I struggled to keep myself upright on the bar stool. My vision was a blur as the blob colored similarly to my brother lay face down on the bar, still sitting on the stool. I felt all warm inside from the drink, I had no depth perception, and my head had began to hurt. My mood suddenly took a nosedive as I scowled at the bottle. I didn't have the patience to think straight. i just growled halfheartedly as I wished the aching in my head would stop. I heard hoofsteps from behind me. I felt my vision clear up a bit as my pip buck flashed an alert, notifying me that my first bottle of vodka had worn off. I became more aware of my surroundings and the hoof resting on my shoulder, with the buck attached to it.
"Well hey there pretty lady." He said smugly, with the slightest hint of what sounded like sarcasm. "You look a little unsteady, do you need me to provide you with some.. homely accommodations?" He asked tipping his hat our of his face and looking at me with his stupid bright green eyes.
I may have been drunk, but I wasn't stupid. That tone wasn't a sincere one that voiced concern for my well being, it sounded triumphant, as if her were already celebrating getting under my tail. "Sorry slick. I don't swing that way." I said brushing his hoof off my shoulder. Surely that would put him off to where he would leave me alone.
"Oh, no ma'am." he snickered "You misinterpret my type of hospitality, I merely want to provide you with a warm bed and shelter for the night." There was that tone again.
"No, thanks, I'm staying with Ditzy." I replied, trying to get my wits together. This guy just didn't want to piss off.
"I think you'll find that my home will be much more comfortable that that of a fleshrotten zombie." Ohh, no he didn't... The combination of the rude remark about my friend, my grief, his hoof sliding down across my waist and the vodka in my system lit a small flame of uncontrollable rage inside me. In a flash, I wordlessly yanked his hoof onto the bar, and pinned it to it with a nearby knife. He let loose a scream of pain as blood began pouring out, but had almost no time to react before i magically smashed an empty vodka bottle across his face, knocking him to the ground in a heap of pain and sharp shards of glass.
I plucked the knife from his hoof and let him drop to the floor, unconsciously bleeding heavily."Oops, must have hit something major." I said wiping the knife with his hat before dropping it, covering his face." My attack, though impressive, was not in any way subtle. A few other bucks I assumed to be his friends rose from their seats near the stage. "Shit."
They drew their knives and walked toward me, one staying back at their table levitating something onto the top and sitting it there. As the nearest buck took a wild swing at me, I let the alcohol take over. In my magical grip, I smashed a plate into his face, causing him to stagger backwards, a second pony took a swing as well, which I easily ducked and he smashed his baton into the back of the head of the first pony who fell to the ground. Looks like I wasn't the only one fighting drunk. The third swung at me with his hoof, uppercutting me on the chin, causing me to bite my tongue. I spit blood into his face and magically smashed a bottle into his head, knocking him out as well. The second pony had recovered from his stagger, and took out my legs and pinned me down with a baton against my neck.
"So much for decent folk here." I said relaxing, letting him think he had the victory. He sneered and began to pick me up. Earth ponies didn't seem too smart to me, he forgot I was a unicorn as I headbutted him, damming my horn into his eye, making his scream in pain. I arched up and bucked him in the chest, sending him sprawling onto his back, holding his gouged eye socket in sheer pain, I stood up on my hooves and looked around. Our fight had attracted a lot of attention, and a pony from behind the bar hooked his arms around my waist and yanked me up onto the counter, roughly smashing my head into the wood to knock me out, I saw stars, but tried the vodka bottle to the head trick, unfortunately, he saw that coming and blocked it with a hoof. He cringed and yelped as the class shattered all over him. It wasn't enough to stop the attack as he started sliding me down the bar, aiming to ram my head into the post at the corner. I prepared for impact and reached my hooves out, and totally unintentionally caught the bar ans swung around, stretching my hoof out into a mighty kick that sent the buck tumbling over the counter onto the floor below, taking empty bottles with him to shatter on impact. I smiled and continued along behind the bar, and then suddenly, a loud bang and a biting pain in my flank that I had never known before knocked me over and into the shelves housing the liquor. Time slowed as the shelf began to topple and brought roughly a thousand pounds of glass, liquor, and wood down on top of me. Before I blacked out from head trauma, I heard more shots.
Blacking out was like blinking my eyes and teleporting, I was somewhere else, I wasn't in as much pain as before, and I was back in bed at Derpy's. Unless the interior of all wasteland houses looked like this. I found that I could move my legs without much pain. I try to sit up, but a familiar white hoof stopped me. Well at least I'm not alone here.
"Are you feeling okay?" Lilly asked in a little concern.
Well, somepony's getting protective over a stranger. "Yeah, yeah, I think so." I say brushing her hoof aside and sitting up standing on unsteady hooves. Ow. My leg hurt. A lot. I hissed and lifted my hind right leg up and limped around the room experimentally. "Yeah, I'm mobile." I hobbled over to the mirror, Celly H. Fuck I was a mess. There were small cuts all over my body, presumably from the glass shards landing all over me. My flanks were bandaged up where a red dot was seeping through the bandages.
"Here, drink this." She said holding up a purple vial. "Ditzy's orders." I nod and take the vial.
"A healing potion? Why not give this to me earlier?" I asked swirling the vial's contents.
"We tried, you were unconscious, and well, you didn't take the potion too well."
"Explain please."
"The potion didn't mix well with the vodka inside you and you vomited something up that burned a hole in Ditzy's floor." She motioned to a splatter shaped hole that was chemically charred around the edges.
I shuddered, "Ugh. That was in my stomach? I don't think I ever want to drink again."
"At least you didn't get a hangover." She said tapping herself on the head. "Less talky more drinky." She made a drinking motion with her hoof. I looked myself up and down in the mirror. I had never had to use a healing potion myself, but I had heard about their powerful abilities. I levitated the vial to my lips and started drinking. It tasted like cough medicine with bleach. Don't ask how I know what bleach tastes like. Long story. I coughed and swallowed the terrible drink and to my amazement, my wounds started sealing shut, even the long scar down my face sealed shut and left no scarring. Was it too much to hope for that my gunshot wound had healed as well? I began unraveling my bandages and when they were off, there was no red, burning hole, only a small ripple of skin where the wound had left some scarring.
"That's amazing..." She smiled. "...ly disgusting." I added with a little smile, working my leg back and forth. It ached, but the stabbing pain had disappeared. It was a tremendous relief that I wouldn't have to limp around for much longer. I set my hoof down and limped back over sitting on the edge of the bed. Lilly fished out a couple of bottles filled with a dark liquid. "What's this?" I asked looking at the worn label.
"Come on Gears, even I know what this is." She said prying off the cap and taking a drink. "Its Sparkle Cola." I pried the cap off of the top and levitated it into my bags. I took a sip and was met with a delicious, but flat, carroty flavor, but hey, what else can you ask for from a drink that's been sitting outside for almost two centuries. I realized just how thirsty I was and began guzzling the drink, not bothering to savor it. My Pip Buck clicked a few times and went silent. Oh joy, that was irradiated.
I looked over at Lilly and her bandages, hmm, now was a good a time to ask as any. "What's wrong with you? I mean, your bandages? Whats the wound." She looked down sadly at the question. Oh, Now I had asked a personal question. Fine, lets hear it about how you were razor raped by a slaver.
"Nothing's healing under here, I'm hiding my flanks."
"Why?"
She looked around a bit. "I'm ashamed, an outcast. My cutie mark isn't to be seen by anypony." Okay, not what I had expected, but still, I had a feeling that this revolved around rape, she was a pretty mare after all. She slowly began to unravel her bandages. As she dropped them to the floor, I cringed at the fresh, red burn onto her flank. The burn was in the shape of a thunderbolt and a cloud, much like the ministry mare, Rainbow Dash. "I'm a Dashite."
"What's that?" I asked staring at the burn which obscured her cutie mark.
"I'm an enemy of the Enclave, a traitor, and all I did was suggest we helped the surface." Enclave, What? Dashites? Traitors? What else don't I know about? "They kicked me out of the sky and banished me to the surface. I never realized how stuck up the Enclave is. To them, surface dwellers are all vermin."
I had heard stories about all of the pegasi flying up to the clouds before the bombs fell, This must be what the Enclave is. And if the word traitor is used, that Implies there's some form of organized government up there to betray. All of the pegasi didn't leave us, My stable was proof of that. Pegasi in the stable were at least 1/3 of the population. I never got the exact statistics because that wasn't my job, but that aside, it sounded like the Enclave were some ponies that you didn't want to piss off.
"And all you did was speak out?" I asked still staring at her mark.
"Yeah, the leaders of the enclave are... Eccentric in their dictatorship." Okay, so they definitely were not a government I would want to live under. She began to wrap up her bandages but I stopped her.
"Why do you hide it?"
"Because it's a shameful mark, high traitor, and If I'm seen with it by any Enclave soldiers, I'll be shot on sight."
"Wouldn't they shoot any surface dweller on sight?" I asked.
"Hmm. Good point." Damn, this is one of those occasions where I hate it when I'm right. "But still, Im ashamed for having it."
"And what surface dweller is going to judge you for it? I don't think anyone would berate you for having that mark, and if the Enclave is as bad as you say, they should actually see you as an ally."
"Another good point. But still, I don't want to assist in the downfall of the Enclave, its my home up there, with all my friends and family." She looked down and away sadly. It was then I realized that we were in the same situation. Betrayed, Forgotten, Abandoned. Not by our friends, but by the corrupt leaders of our respective organizations. I could tell she wanted revenge by looking in her eyes.
I put a hoof around her shoulder. "I'm in the same boat as you are Lilly." I proceed to tell her the story of my stable kicking me out over some old grudge, and then the murder of my parents. I'm going for my revenge, and I'm going to kill that bitch High N' Mighty. You should come along with us to be wanderers, we need all the help we can get.
"But how? You can't get into your stable to get your revenge."
"I can, I just need the right approach."
"And where will you find it?"
I grinned a bit, "Stable-tec HQ."
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Footnote: Level Up
Perk Added: Heavy Drinker - Whenever you are heavily under the influence of Vodka, you have +3 Strength, -1 Intelligence, and your crit. chance is boosted by 50% However, you can't heal yourself with potions until the alcohol wears off unless you want to become an acid spewing drunk in the middle of a battlefield.
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I'd like to thank KKat for writing the original Fo:E for writing an unbelievably great story, and Somber, for writing Project Horizons, the story that pushed me over the edge and forced me to try my hand in writing.