//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Fallout Equestria: Grim Prospects // by RadiationRed //------------------------------// FALLOUT: EQUESTRIA GRIM PROSPECTS Chapter Three Two Sides of The Same Flank An MLP:FiM fanfic by Radiation Red “We may be different, but at our core we are the same.”         “Really?” Euphoria commented with a grimace and a loud groan as she sat down, glaring across the bridge. Four stallions stood there, dressed in dark-blue combat armour that were made from an all too high – out of reach – cast of a buffed-out stallion in his prime. Each one had a battle-saddle armed with twin-SMGs, and a metal-helmet with a plastic visor that covered their faces; even a pitch-black baton hung at each stallion's side.         In front of the group of armed guards, stretched a long slab of concrete over a dried-out riverbed, except for a small trickle bubbling underneath. Long coils of rusted, razor-sharp wires of steel ran the length of each side, and Euphoria recoiled as she noticed the meat still clinging to some of the razors; strips of hide and fur flapping in the gentle wind. A staccato fence made from rusted bars and thin wires, ran the perimeter behind the group, but shielded the town poorly. Between the wiry strands, Euphoria saw shacks made of rusted metal-sheeting – which had been assembled quickly – nestled amongst wooden houses, that looked at least ten times more sturdy and liveable in. Following the fence, Euphoria's eyes travelled to the middle, towards the gate which rose into the air behind the guard-detail. Made from the same rusted metal, two posts rose skyward until they connected in a wide arch with ornate swirling patterns embossed on it. The name of the town had at one point been scratched into the metal, but Euphoria saw the lingering screws and faded rust-marks on one side of the wooden plate that had been strung around it.         'Cale's Field' had been scrawled in white paint on the board, with a few stray dabs of paint dripping down the board – it hadn't even been dry when they had strung it up. Euphoria scrunched up her nose and looked over at Yiltse, who was standing next to her. He didn't turn to look at her, but he didn't move either; he just stared towards the compound with an icy-glare that said more than anything.         This town's going to be trouble... Euphoria thought as she swung her head back, so she faced the compound. Barely visible behind the guards, a little house – set off to the right side, and just big enough for one pony – stood. “Ah!” she burst out with a light cheer and rose to her hooves, before looking at Yiltse for a brief second. “Let's find a way into this town.” Euphoria added quickly.         With that said, Euphoria clopped towards the bridge and kept up a stern face as she slowly neared the guards. As she passed closer to the middle of the bridge and the bubbling water, her Pip-Buck warned of the radiation-poisoning as it rose upwards. Glancing at it, Euphoria just frowned – it wasn't higher than 0,02 per second at its highest point.         “Halt!” a gruff stallion's voice said as Euphoria looked up again, and she stopped a few inches in front of the group of stallions. “Any travel inside Cale's Fields is prohibited while you have your weapons. Leave your weapons here, before you enter.” He took a minute to size up Euphoria, as his muzzle slowly curved into a grin.         “If you disregard the rule, we will be forced to open fire on you, and please do – I could use a new target dummy.” The stallion grinned wide as he said it, but Euphoria remained steadfast, and showed no emotion. The idea of being completely defenceless deep in Raider-territory was not something Euphoria considered lightly. She pondered for a second if she could make it past the guards with a hidden knife or something, but how would they react if they found her out? They would most likely gut her, and drag her corpse through the streets, cheering – spitting vitriol; no, she wouldn't let that happen – she would have to take a chance. Once the stallion had finished his little warning, the four guards parted and Euphoria walked past them, meeting the iron-gaze of a stallion in the scrawny wooden box. Sitting behind a pane of dirt-smeared, and heavily cracked glass, a red stallion with an eye-patch covering his left eye, sat. “Forgetting something?” he said in a way too condescending tone, so Euphoria frowned and glared back at him. “The fee, where is it?” “Fee? What fee‽” Euphoria spat back, and turned to look at him fully while the guards regarded her and Yiltse with care. “To enter, you need to pay your own way in flesh, so cough it up, earth-pony!” he snarled at her, as Euphoria saw hatred in his remaining red eye. “And while we're at it, what's your business in town?” The question actually made her think – what was her current quest again? In a matter of two days, Euphoria's situation had quickly changed direction as often as it could. “I'm looking for some-pony,” she replied flatly, and caused the ears of the stallion inside the booth to twitch reflexively, before he simply glared back at her with a nod. “A pink mare, maybe an earth-pony. Have you seen her?” The stallion chuckled as he shook his head at Euphoria. “I see lots of ponies come and go, little filly,” the stallion said quickly, and it sounded almost as if he had rehearsed that line often. “Here, information costs, and specifics are going to cost you much more, but...” his voice trailed off, as his gaze wandered across Euphoria's body and she took a step back. Looking back up at her face, the stallion grinned. “I can give you what you want, if you shake that pretty little flank of yours for me.” Taking another few steps back, Euphoria looked at the stallion and blinked, as she made a gagging expression. “Thanks, but no thanks.” The stallion simply shrugged and knocked a hoof against the side of the booth. From the corner of her eye, she noticed that the guard-stallion had turned to glare at her again, but she just focused her eyes on the one in the booth. “The Burly Breath saloon, heard of it?” “Yes, of course I have, but that's not the full name,” the stallion said grimly and snickered, as he took another appreciative glance at Euphoria's flanks, and her cutie-mark. “The Burly Breath Saloon and Brothel – giving you the finest mares from across the seven nations.” Euphoria let out a breath. “You would fit in there,” he added with a smirk as the guards pulled Euphoria away from the booth, while Yiltse remained stoically silent off to the side. “No fee, no trade – no entrance!” the guard snarled and stomped his hoof into the already cracked concrete, as Euphoria retreated. “Come back when you can pay, or you decide to stay at the brothel. “ Euphoria just shook her head at his final remark, as she trotted away from the group, alongside Yiltse. “So....” Euphoria said as she glanced over at Yiltse. “What does 'paying my own way in flesh' exactly mean?” As she asked it, the usually unmoving stallion scrunched up his nose and kept walking. Though he didn't stop, until the two of them were out of hearing distance of the guard-detail. “Slavers,” he said and Euphoria's eyes went wide. It suddenly all made sense. Why the raiders had brought the mare here, and why she was in that brothel. Euphoria wanted to barge through the gate and kill any-pony that had been a participant, willing or not – none of them deserved to live as far as she had it covered. “So, if you want in, you'll have to drag some-pony there , most likely flailing. Too bad, you killed that raider-mare now, isn't it?” Yiltse looked at Euphoria sternly, but she only wanted to kick him. In the face, no less. That always stern, unmoving, emotionless face. How could he keep so calm in the face of all this, Euphoria wondered as she shook her head and let out a heavy groan. “Fuck me to hell!” Before Yiltse could respond, Euphoria tossed a glare his way and he closed his half-open mouth without another word. “Okay.... bad-pony town, how do we get in...?” “How much is it worth to you?” “Didn't I tell you to shut it?” Yiltse turned away from Euphoria at her snappy command, and sat down as he watched the murky hills in the distance. At the same time, Euphoria was grasping with the gravity of the situation. She could at any time return to the 'mayor,' but it would leave her second quest half-done; without deep saddlebags to draw on, she had to leave most of the supplies with the dead raiders. Though, those things had her already invested in just leaving the mare to her fate; she did feel something for that mare, especially now that she knew the truth about this place. But, there was no way this would end peaceful. “Celestia, do you hate me?” Euphoria said softly and looked towards the sky, frowning slightly as no reply came. “Figures...” A forced cough, jostled Euphoria back to her senses as she looked at the back of the zebra stallion. “There's a farm up there,” he said, and Euphoria looked at the murky hills not too far away. When she squinted her eyes – the silhouette of a farmhouse, a barn and a windmill creaking in the wind appeared. “Maybe, we could find something to trade up there?” “Or we could trade your strength?” Yiltse raised an eyebrow and grunted in response as a small smile appeared on his muzzle. “You know, you'll just work a bit for them and we'll get entry, or you could – if that fails – kick their flanks,” Euphoria grinned at her own words and looked closely as Yiltse's small smile vanished quickly. “No. I won't work for them, not ever. And if you want to attack them, you would stand a better chance if you had the entire Pegasus Enclave with you, and even they couldn't win last time.” Yiltse looked towards the guards whom still stood, unmoving, at the entrance to the town. “There are more guards in there than you can possible imagine.” “Fine, fine, but....” her voice drifted off, as she focused on the silhouette of the farm. “I know there's something bad up there... there always is. Granted, there's something bad in town as well.” A frown appeared on Euphoria's face as she glanced at the bridge, and the town behind. “I don't like it, but we don't have much choice do we?” She shared a look with Yiltse, before the zebra nodded briskly and spoke calmly, “Ultimately, it's your choice. I'll follow you until we're back in town, and until that happens, I'll follow you. I still have a debt to repay, and I won't leave that unfinished.” He nodded again, and sighed briefly before his unmoving poker-face returned. “All right.” Euphoria nodded as well and looked at the silhouette again. “We'll head for the farm, and if we're lucky we won't burn out a day on the journey.” Taking a moment to just stare at the hill in the distance, Euphoria added, whispering, “Hopefully, there's something useful up there.” *         “E... I know that you probably won't ever hear this, but I have to say it. I... love you, I always have. Half the Stable knows, but you don't.” A light chuckle interrupted the recording for a brief moment. “I even rigged HE, to play your favourite VR place the next time you got into the machine. Of course it's all fake, but it's the best I could think of. I just... had to say it, and when you hear this recording, you’ll know it was me.” Once the recording cut out, Euphoria was left dumbfounded and regretted playing it in the first place.         As they neared the farm, Euphoria had trouble keeping her emotions at bay and each step was heavier than the last. Was he alive? Had he too had the fortune of being saved by the Over-mare? Had he even known about the attack? Had he tried to warn her? The questions were immediately piling up in Euphoria's head. Euphoria snorted and pushed forward, keeping her eyes level at the farm as it passed from a mere silhouette, into full view. The barn was no more than a rotten shell of its former self, but it stood firm in the lukewarm breeze. It was directly adjacent to a small flaking, white house with a large hole in the roof. The zebra said nothing as the two walked past a field of rotten corn on one side, and dead trees on the other side. It all reeked of death, so Euphoria scrunched her nose as they walked, still hoping that the place would have something worthwhile. As she cast a glance at the rusted blades of the windmill close by, that same hope vanished for a moment. She quickly whipped her head around again, as the door to the barn creaked open and Yiltse stepped inside. Letting the words of her friend slip to the back of her mind, Euphoria galloped up to the barn and slipped inside as well; she just had to keep moving forward, and worry about her Stable later – she did all this for them anyway. “I... should have known,” Euphoria muttered and closed her eyes a brief second, letting the bloody corpses flutter away as she sighed. When she opened them again, they were gone and the hooks were just glittering in the darkness, save for a sliver of light that spewed into the room from the outside. She shook her head. Just an image... yeah, just a hallucination. The two took a few steps forward, as the door creaked fully open and the room was flooded with light. Murky-white baths lined one side of the room, with rotten wood-buckets lined up at the side of each one; a few of them, still containing water that reeked. At the end of the barn, a worktable stood, covered in tools that looked like they would be really painful to have thrust inside of you, one way or another. Euphoria shook her head again and moved forward, so she stood next to Yiltse and followed his gaze, towards the second floor. Up there, another table stood with a badly faded radio crackling on top. How did I miss that sound? Just as the night before, nothing moved over the airwaves. It could be bad, or it could be good, Euphoria didn't know which yet. “See anything we could use?” “Not unless you can repair a broken radio.” Yiltse looked towards Euphoria as she frowned in turn, so he simply shrugged. “Guess not,” he said and turned to leave, but Euphoria remained. As his shadow vanished, she stepped up to the table and looked over the tools. There were wrenches, screwdrivers, hammers, syringes, tweezers, bone rongeurs, and a saw. All of the tools were rusted and encrusted with ancient blood. Euphoria almost expected a body to lay on the table, as she stared at the pattern that the tools lay in. They hadn't been tossed at random on the table, they lay in a semi-spherical pattern, as if something had occupied the middle of the table at the time they had been used. She grimaced as a really disturbing thought entered her mind. There was only two reasons for these tools to be arranged in that pattern. Euphoria shuddered as she turned away from the table, deciding it best to leave these tools where they were; in a best case scenario, she would barely get anything from them anyway. Following the mouldy and creaking staircase set to one side of the barn, Euphoria ascended to the second level. She gave the crackling radio a look and grinned as she knocked it to the floor, before she kicked it with a hoof – sending it into the wall with a loud screech, and the sound of the cover cracking. “Some things are worth more broken.” She took a step towards the radio, but stopped herself as the floor shook. Beside her, the railing shook as well, so Euphoria pricked her ears high, and a beam crashed against the ground beneath hear. “Oh crap!” she yelled angrily and scooped up the remains of the radio quickly, before she turned tail and galloped down the staircase; almost tripping over herself as a step gave away, but she stumbled to a stop, as the entire second floor came crashing down with a horrendous sound. Coughing from the dirt-cloud, Euphoria stepped outside the barn to find Yiltse just sitting outside the house, glaring at it. “What...” another cough stopped her and she held a hoof against her mouth, as she tried to speak again. “What are you doing?” she asked in a muffled voice, as she stepped up to the zebra. “I'm not going in there, but I'll stay here and keep watch,” he said calmly as he closed his eyes. Euphoria looked at the building, then back at the zebra. “Don't worry, I won't abandon you here.” Euphoria furrowed her brow and shook her head, but headed towards the building anyway. “Honour-bound,” was the last thing she heard, before she was far enough away from Yiltse that she couldn't hear him at all. Same as with the barn, the door to the house creaked open, after she had pulled away the fish-line, netting door that was in the way, if you could call it that. The door had a hole in it so big, that you could probably fit a grown mare through it, and it was only hanging on by one latch. I swear, if another door creaks, she thought as she entered the house. Her attention was immediately drawn towards the coat-rack with faded writing above each one. In total, four wooden spokes had been put onto the rack, and going from left to right, the name above them faded more and more. “Spotlight, Mercury Dawn, Scoreboard, and....” Euphoria squinted her eyes at the last name, trying to decipher the writing. It was so badly faded in fact, that she wondered if some-pony had tried to erase the name at some point. “...Dreamweaver? Is that right?” Cracking a slight smile, she turned away from the rack and walked past a few rotten coats laying on the floor beneath it. Euphoria stepped past the staircase running up to the second floor and the cupboard beneath it, as she entered the kitchen. Row upon row of cupboards hung above a marble-covered bench that looked like a T, with a small table and two chairs in the middle. As she stepped closer to the middle, Euphoria glanced briefly at a picture of a smiling mare with a gruff-looking stallion in a small frame hanging on the wall above the table; they looked happy, and she noticed that they were standing in front of the house. So, they must be the people who owned this house, she thought and opened one of the cupboards, but her face deflated as she only found a few spiders skittering away as sudden light filled their entire world. A low clack dimly sounded in the kitchen as she closed the door, and opened another one, but it was the same story there. Every single cupboard had been emptied, but Euphoria wasn’t surprised, and just moved on through another open doorway, into the dining room. Covered in spider-webs and the carcasses of over a dozen dead insects, plates and glasses still adorned the creaky table. Decayed food lay on the plates, and the liquids in the glasses no longer smelled as sweet as they were supposed to; a heavy smell of vinegar hung in the room. Euphoria grimaced as she stepped between the spider-webs and exited through the door opening at the right side of the room, and she was now back in the hallway. Following the logical way of exploring the house, Euphoria opened the creaking door opposite of her and groaned as she entered. Two washing-machines were propped up against the right-side wall, and a wash-bin still full of clothes, stood on top of one. On the other side, a skeleton was propped up against the wall, and a gun lay next to it on the floor – a scorch-mark adorning the wall above the head. Euphoria took a deep breath and walked down the concrete steps, over to the skeleton. She bowed down and bit down on the gun as she muttered, “I'm sorry...” It may have been muffled, but she felt it even then. Once the gun was in her saddlebags, Euphoria took a look at her inventory, and saw that the gun was marked as a 10mm Pistol, with half of its life still intact; an amazing find, considering. When she had lowered her pip-buck, she looked at the skeleton and bowed slightly. “I'm so sorry, Stable-friend...” Even though, there was no uniform on the skeleton, there was no doubt about it – he had been a Stable-buck, since 10mm Pistols were only given to Stables. Euphoria only let her eyes drift towards the skeleton a last time, before she exited the room and closed the door neatly after herself. With a heavy sigh, she took to the staircase. It creaked with every step she took, and Euphoria cursed under her breath the entire way, but stopped at the top as a muffled sound reached her ears. It was there, but it was faint – the sound of buzzing wings. Immediately, she looked around, expecting a fly, or a bee to be hovering near her, but nothing and yet the sound was there. Euphoria shook her head and went towards the door on her right, marked with a name. “Scoreboard,” she said as she pushed through the not-creaking door, and she cheered on the inside. Hanging from the ceiling, were several model versions of different Wonderbolts – these, were the same majestic pegasi Euphoria had seen in her magazines, and she found herself smiling; she even felt a bit flushed. She closed her eyes for a moment, as she imagined the figures soaring through the air, just as they were meant to. Without danger, and without falter, they would soar forever. When she opened her eyes again, Euphoria felt just a tiny bit happier, and her eyes fell on the wall decorated with posters. Each one depicted a different soccer-playing team in full vigour, and with names like: Starvale, Crimson Pirates, and Vanguard, she could see how any-pony would cheer for them, and devote themselves fully to that task for a time being. Sitting opposite that wall, a bed did. The covers depicted a white and black soccer-ball in full play, but without a pony. It stood out well against the blue backdrop the rest of the cover set for it, and of course the pillow matched completely. Both, were covered in a thick layer of dust and looked as if they would crumble away if she touched them, so Euphoria decided to not do it. Adjacent to the bed, the night-stand stood.         On top of the night-stand, a small portrait stood facing the bed, and next to that – on the middle of the table – a faded red notebook lay, with yellow badges, but it was still closed and covered in dust. Stepping over to the table, Euphoria wiped the portrait, and found two smiling colts sitting in front of two rather disgruntled parents. One of the colts – a blue coated one, with a spiky light-red mane, and deep blue eyes – grinned wide as he clutched a soccer-ball close to him. “Scoreboard...” Euphoria muttered and found another light smile forcing its way onto her lips. They were so happy, and yet they had to abandon their home, or that was at least what she hoped for; something else, was too harsh for her to even think about. Euphoria glanced at the book and reached out a hoof, but stopped half-way. After a moment, she pulled it back as she shook her head and turned. Just as before, she closed the door neatly and left the room nearly untouched. Once she was back in the hallway, the same irritating buzzing noise reached her ears and Euphoria twitched as she looked at the opposite door. The longer she kept staring at it, the more she was certain that it was coming from there. Of course it would have to come from there, why wouldn’t it? It always came from the worst place: the bathroom. Once she was back in the hallway, the same irritating buzzing noise reached her ears and Euphoria twitched as she looked at the opposite door. The longer she kept staring at it, the more she was certain that it was from there, the noise was coming from. Of course it would have to come from there, why shouldn't it? It always came from the worst place: the bathroom. In less than two full strides, she reached the door. From the sound, Euphoria was sure that the bug was inside there. Furrowing her brow, she pushed the door open, as she stepped away. Creaking, the door slowly opened and Euphoria gasped at the creature. “What the...?” Before her, a creature as big as a household vase hovered. Its form was bulbous and slimy, with two beady but enlarged dark eyes staring back at her. Four wings on its back held it in the air, as the slime dripped off of it, onto the floor. A moment of silence hung in the air, but the creature lunged at Euphoria. Fortunately, she sidestepped, watching as it slammed into the door behind her, but recovered quickly. A slimy outline of the thing had been engraved on Scoreboard's door, and Euphoria strengthen her resolve, firing a shot, but the creature merely flew out of the way; it was surprisingly nimble, considering its bulbous shape. It looked as if it had growths coming out of each possible area on its body, and Euphoria suspected it had once been much smaller. Gasping, Euphoria dropped to the floor completely as three tiny spikes flew through the air, and impaled themselves into the back-wall of the bathroom. The creature didn't give Euphoria any quarter and headed for her again at full force, but this time she was ready. Once it was close enough, she rolled to the side, and just as before, it flew straight into the floor. For just a few seconds it was dazed, and Euphoria used the time wisely as she got up again and swung her body around, quickly dropping into S.A.T.S. She had a 74% chance of hitting it square in its body, but it was all that Euphoria had. She lined up two shots, so she could at least hope to hit with one of them. Feeling that it was sufficient, she pulled out and muzzle fire lit the room. Both of the shots impacted with a squishy sound, as the creature fell to the floor with a high-pitched chattering noise that made Euphoria shudder. Could it feel? No, Euphoria shook her head and rose to her hooves fully, quickly stepping into the bathroom; she didn’t have time to worry about that. She threw the door on the medicine cabinet – hanging over the muddy porcelain wash – open. Euphoria smiled and let out an involuntary, “Yay!” at the contents inside the cupboard. She wasted no time in, fishing out the three health potions and pocketed them. Besides that small prize, the cabinet held little of value. A gentle wind buffeted against her back, as she closed the door. Turning her head, Euphoria looked up and out. Her smile didn't waver, as she looked up at the dark skies, through the pony-sized hole in the roof. From the way that the shingles on the roof, and the wood had been torn outwards, Euphoria guessed that the cause had come from within the bathroom; she also, now knew where the creature had come from. Euphoria walked out of the bathroom and turned to her right, passing the bulbous creature with a look on her face that said it all. Once, she had shimmied her way past it, she stood in front of the next to last door in the room, but this one was not as in pristine shape as the one from before. Cracks covered the door, and stretched out to the ceiling and the floor, but subsided quickly; here, the nameplate that once held the name, had been removed and only the rusted screw-holes remained in its place. Guided by the light of her Pip-Buck, Euphoria pushed the door open and walked into the room, but froze the moment she stepped inside. Green, glowing stars covered the ceiling, and with the darkness in the room, it looked like the night-sky, just as a foal would see it, but the room was anything but that of a foal. Broken toys had been stuffed into a toy-box, made to look like a wooden treasure chest, and it had been shoved under the bed, with the covers destroyed completely; even a few boards of the bed's frame stuck through. The pillow lay in the floor a few feet away, with mouldy books scattered around it, and Euphoria backed out in the hallway again as she saw the message scrawled on the wall. In big, bold, brown letters, burned into the very wood of the wall, two words were. ‘Stable-Tec’, it said. This wasn't a well-meaning message, Euphoria knew it well. It was fuelled by hatred, and Euphoria wondered for a brief moment if the message had been carved with blood, but she just shook her head and groaned. “No, it can't be!” Once the soft, green glow of a computer-screen reached her eyes, Euphoria lit back up again, and braved the room. She didn't even have to hack it this time, as there was no password protecting it. Though, her smile was short-lived as file after file, came up as corrupted, all save one that was. Without waiting, Euphoria pushed the button so the message would play. “Today was great! Mom and Dad, took me and Scoreboard to the local market to get some groceries. They usually leave us behind, and it's for our safety... That's what they say anyway, but I think it's just because they want to secretly snuggle.” The colt on the recording giggled at the word, and Euphoria smiled again. “Anyway, it was great! Oh, I said that, but it really, really was. Scoreboard even got a new ball, so I guess he can live up to his dream today then! The Great Soccer-star Scoreboard! They'll be shouting that in just a few years, every-pony will see...” For a brief moment, the colt's voice faded out and Euphoria could almost hear a mare call out faintly in the background. “Sorry, I have to go. Mom made a delicious apple-pie with the supplies we bought today at the market, and she says it's probably the last we'll ever have, so I have to eat up! That, and Scoreboard will steal my food, if I don't get there in time!” The colt's sweet, foalish laugh was cut off by Euphoria's Pip-Buck as the recording ended. Taking one last look at the commotion and the message of hatred, Euphoria left the room as it was. When she stepped outside, she glanced to her right and looked at the last unopened door. That would have been the parents' room, but Euphoria didn't even want to know and headed back, past the bulbous creature, but stopped in front of the window overlooking the backyard as something caught her eye in passing. Out in the middle of the brown earth, she could see two poles adjacent to each-other sticking out of the ground. Following the path of the poles back towards the house, Euphoria saw the square-doors of a cellar and grinned. Her hooves couldn't have propelled her quicker, as she barrelled down the staircase, and exited the house through a door in the kitchen. Euphoria only looked at the poles briefly, and decided quickly that she didn’t want to disturb them. Instead, she walked over to the cellar-doors, and looked at the rusted and cracked lock. She grinned and stomped on it with a hoof, so the thing gave away immediately. Using her hoof, Euphoria pulled the lock away, and pulled the doors open. A deep darkness filled the hallway made of cobblestone, but Euphoria took a deep breath and braved it for supplies. It wasn't a long trip, and soon enough she had descended the cobblestone staircase, and stood in the middle of a room with a low ceiling. The blue light from her Pip-Buck didn't illuminate much of the dank-smelling room, but from what she could see, Euphoria surmised that it had once been a wine-cellar. Rows upon rows of criss-crossing wooden beams lined each walls, with most of them holding wines of all tastes imaginable. Stepping over to one wall, Euphoria pulled out a bottle of grape-wine and pocketed it. From the weight of her Saddlebags, she figured that it would be the last prize she would claim from this place, but she had made up her mind, and wanted to give the room a full run-down before she headed back. Turning around, she moved in towards the middle of the room but stopped quickly. Euphoria bit her lip and held back her cursing, before she looked down at the table, that she hadn't seen in the low lighting. On the table, she could see the skeleton of a stallion outstretched, with each hoof laying limply in rusted chains, at each corner of the table itself. Dried blood covered the table, underneath the buck, and from the knife impaled in the head of the skeleton, she had a fair idea of what had happened here. As she took a closer look at the skull, Euphoria noticed that the skull had several impact wounds, and with the large fracture in the side, it had been heavy blows with a blunt weapon at short range. She furrowed her brow and frowned, as she stepped away from the wall and headed towards the other end of the room. It didn't take long, before the soft blue glow hit the chalk-white remains of at least a dozen stallions, all of them piled high, but not as trophies. If anything, it looked like the pony whom had killed these ponies, regarded them as beneath him, or herself; Euphoria shuddered at the thought, and quickly left the room Galloping through the house, from one end to the other, she soon skidded to a stop in front of Yiltse, and he looked up at her. “Find what you needed?” Euphoria nodded and the zebra got up, staring at the house for a brief moment, before he rejoined Euphoria as she had already started on the way back down. “So, you were right?” They both knew the answer, but Euphoria didn't talk, and Yiltse didn't press the issue. The descent back down towards the concrete bridge, was journeyed in silence, but Euphoria's mind was racing with questions again, but she didn’t know if she even wanted the answers any more. *         When the bottle of wine clunked down in front of the one-eyed stallion, he looked at Euphoria and grinned. “Where did you get such a sweet thing?” Euphoria didn't answer and the buck just pulled the bottle inside the booth. Taking the bottle in a hoof, the buck shook it, as he examining the label on the dusty glass. After a few seconds, he turned his head back up. “All right, one day, but you leave your weapons here. No exceptions!” Briefly, his one eye glanced over at Yiltse.         “Now, for the information on the missing mare I'm looking for?” The stallion looked at Euphoria with his single eye, and grinned. “Tell me, and I'll give you excellent scrap-iron.” He didn't even seem phased as Euphoria dumped the contents of the radio in front of him.         “Hm...” The buck looked over a few of the pieces briefly and looked back up at Euphoria. “A pink mare was it? Oh, now I remember her. She came here, two days ago, saddled in chains as she was accompanied by two stallions, no doubt their captive, but she looked remarkably intact.” At the stallion's words, Euphoria's ears twitched and she slowly glared daggers at him.         “I directed them towards the Burly Breath.... Young mares like her, fetch a good price with many of our citizens.” He snickered and Euphoria cocked her gun, ready to bite down, but quickly stopped herself as two sets of rifles were pointed at her. “Be careful, now,” the buck said condescendingly.         “If you pay a good enough price, you even get to rough them up. I once had a young one like her... she couldn't walk for a day. I even think she got to feel her first ever cock!” He laughed at his own boasting, and gloated in the fact that Euphoria couldn't do a thing to harm him. “You'll no doubt find her there, but I wonder if she haven't been claimed yet....”         Euphoria slid out of her saddlebags and slid her weapons over to the stallion in the booth. “I'll be back for them real soon, so don't misplace them.” She grinned and turned to venture further down the bridge, as the voice of the same stallion reached her ears again.         “Your buddy, doesn't get in for free, either. No matter how well-connected he is!”         She spoke flatly, and coldly – letting her words speak for themselves for once. “There's a 10mm Pistol in there – it's yours, but only if you let him pass with me.”         “Well now...” one-eyed stallion said as he considered the offer, and let a pregnant pause hang in the air, more than anything, just so he could watch them twist in the wind. “Fine then, but no more than one day, and he too has to leave his weapons behind.”         Yiltse walked past the booth calmly as he replied in his same as ever, stoic voice. “I don't carry weapons.”         “Yeah, you guys never do...” the stallion with the eye-patch said, as Yiltse caught up with Euphoria and the two of them slowly crossed the bridge. On the other side, it had seemed so short, but now, Euphoria felt as if it stretched on forever and that she would walk on this bridge for eternity.         No sooner had she reached the centre, did she stop as she glanced to the left and followed the river-bed. The slow, bubbling flow of water that remained arched upwards through the dead forest, and headed up a mountain in the distance, where there once had been a gorgeous cascading waterfall, of pure water. Now, it was nothing more than an annoying pool of irradiated death.         Euphoria could only imagine why the waterfall was no longer, as radiation didn't have that effect on water; at least, according to her schoolbooks. “Why did I have to go in there alone...?” She turned, and tilted her head slightly to the left as she focused her eyes on Yiltse.         Taking a deep breath, the ever stoic zebra stallion responded, calmly. “There are some places that I'm forbidden to walk, and I already know the story of that place. A young colt. A family of four. A haunted barn – stories that are hoofed down over generations in a blasted wasteland.” For a brief moment, Yiltse looked over at Euphoria, who just looked back at him with a look that mixed confusion and anger. “Look, you saw what you needed to see, and that's the end of that.”         Without saying another word, Yiltse walked on ahead and Euphoria turned back to looking at the dry riverbed below, as she snorted. “Cryptic, as always.” Sighing a bit, she glanced at her Pip-Buck, and sure as the day was gloomy, the arrow had dipped into the yellow zone, but she didn't feel that worse for wear. Maybe it's broken? Euphoria thought and shrugged, as she walked after Yiltse.         She caught up to him, just as they passed beneath the rusted and heavily scratched metal-archway that had the town's name on it. A moment later, the heavy chatter of over a dozen ponies hit Euphoria's ears and she winced slightly, as she tried to parcel the information hitting her. In front of her, stretching along a dusty, but worn path – were merchants and aspiring buyers.         Along with the myriad of voices and shuffling motions in the grit, came the smells. A deep aroma of burning flesh, alcohol, oil and other sharp smells stung in Euphoria's nostrils as her and Yiltse walked down the middle of the street. To each side of the road, shabby carts were lined up neatly, with several ponies dressed up in the same garb as the guards outside the gate, protecting each one.         “You there!” the voice of an excited primrose coloured stallion shot out at Euphoria. “I can see you're new here, so I'll give you a special prize on this almost brand new, only used once, Enclave armour!” He grinned at that last part, and Euphoria stepped over to the stallion's cart, looking over his merchandise.         Stacked high on the carts, were mounds of helmets, leather-vests, saddlebags, and just about everything a pony could wish for in apparel. Euphoria's eyes grazed across the sharp blackness of the armour that the stallion indicated. Two orange orbs of opaque plastic covered the eyes on the bug-like helmet, and it covered most of the wearers face except for the muzzle in the same sharp, charcoal black metal.         Next to the that, the armour itself lay, and it was made out of the same black metal as the helmet. As far as Euphoria could see, it was meant to cover up most of a pony's body, even the tail, and encase it in a protective shell. “So, you like it, huh?” the seller-stallion, with a striking purple mane interjected, so Euphoria turned to him with a smile.         “Well, it'll only cost you 1500 caps,” the stallion said with a broad smile, and Euphoria arched an eyebrow at him. Seeing her baffled face, the stallion coughed and continued. “You won't find anything cheaper, this side of Equestria, I can promise you that.”         “Sorry, you're out of my league,” Euphoria said dejectedly and turned around, walking away from the stallion, so she rejoined Yiltse. They hadn't taken more than a few more steps, before Euphoria stopped and examined a nearby cart, where a mare was selling some kind of food skewered on pointed sticks.         Rows of delicious smelling flesh, had been mounted on the small sticks, and they were coated in frying oil, Euphoria noted as her mouth was already watering. “Ten bits per, and that's me being nice!” A disgruntled mare spat out at Euphoria from behind the cart. Feeling her stomach rumble, Euphoria quickly fished out a neat stack of coloured Sparkle Cola caps from her saddlebags and hoofed them to the mare.         As soon as the mare had gotten her bits, Euphoria grabbed the stick and took a bite out of the flabby flesh, as her Pip-Buck clicked away in the background. She didn't even care at that moment, and let the meat just melt in her mouth. It was hard to chew, but the taste was a mixture of carrots and apples, but not even that was accurate enough to explain the taste; it was the closest Euphoria could get, since she hadn't tasted meat before.         Euphoria downed her meal in no more than four separate chunks and smiled at the mare behind the cart, as she only shot back a sly smirk. Her stomach had stopped rumbling, and for the first time in two days, Euphoria felt quite content with herself, so she caught back up with Yiltse, and the pair resumed walking into town.         he main street of the town, was nothing more than a seller's market for everything in the entire world – there was even a stallion selling caps, which Euphoria thought was quite odd, but her curiosity would have to wait. Most ponies had crowded in that area, and their numbers lessened as Euphoria and Yiltse moved further into town, and away from the intoxicating smells.         Once they reached the end of main street, they stopped at the intersection. The path diverged into three separate paths, each with their myriad of side-streets. Euphoria squinted her eyes down the right path, and her muzzle quickly formed into a grin as her eyes focused in on the two-story white brick-building at the end of the street, where a half-asleep pony sat outside.         Hanging above the pony's head, a worn wooden sign swung in the gentle breeze, but Euphoria had no trouble in making out what it said. “Burly Breath: All your needs can be satisfied,” she muttered, as she and Yiltse pressed onwards.         More of the run-down shacks built in-between, surprisingly well kept houses surrounded them, as they came deeper into town. Ragged ponies, coughing and wheezing for breath, within some of the shacks, peered out at the two newcomers, and even though they clearly had problem standing upright, evident as a stallion no older than Euphoria fell over as she passed – they watched them go, and examined them as much as their bloodshot eyes would allow them to.         Nearing the salon, Euphoria saw more important shops appearing in her peripheral. To her right were a potion-selling shop, but Euphoria didn't see any-pony peek their head out from that shop's open doorway. On Euphoria's left, the sheriff's office and jail came into view, but it was boarded up with rotting wood-beams, and clearly hadn't been manned for some time.         It jolted Euphoria into rushing forward, and it didn't take long before she stood in front of her goal. Hopefully, the poor mare was still okay, and hopefully, everything would work out, Euphoria thought.         The building was a truly dominating sight, as the sheer façade of it was a bright white against the murky brown of the surrounding buildings and streets. A veranda took up most of the second-floor façade, and it cast a long shadow on the sleeping stallion in front, and although he was decked out in armour, it wasn't the same as the other guards Euphoria had seen.         Deciding to not wait any longer, Euphoria marched forward and stepped onto the porch, so it creaked horribly in her ears and she groaned inwardly. “What's your business here?” a deep, gruff stallion's voice said and Euphoria turned her head to the side, and peered at the suddenly completely awake guard.         What? Wasn't he asleep a minute ago? Was it just a trick? A deep frown appeared on Euphoria's face, as she looked over the stallion's armour, trying to determine if he was a raider, or worse. In contrast to the blue of the other guards' armour, his was a deep shade of maroon, and was less protective.         Most of the armour was concentrated around the stallion's chest and fore-hooves, where a heavy metal plates had been strapped around all the vital parts. Beneath that, the maroon vest dominated, while the stallion's flank had no armour at all, and showed off his cutie-mark. Euphoria had to do a little mind-searching, before she determined what it was supposed to be, but she figured it out.         A green circuit-board with three yellow sparks around it, adorned the stallion's flank, and it remained Euphoria of HE. Looking back up, she meet the steel-gaze of a pair of sky-blue eyes under a hanging mop of yellow mane. “I'm here for a mare.” As Euphoria said it, the stallion snorted in response as his muzzle formed a wry grin.         “Aren't we all?” Euphoria just stared back, and didn’t even dignify the stallion's remark with a reply. Seeing her stare, the stallion nodded his head in the direction of the double saloon-doors. “You're good to go. Enjoy your stay.” She walked ahead, and even though Euphoria noticed the stallion giving her flank a way too long look, she didn't stop.         Euphoria was surprised at the low murmur of background chatter inside the saloon, and in fact, there weren't that many ponies there. Four stallions sat around a table and played cards at one end of the room, a few feet in front of the staircase leading to the second floor. A piano with too many missing keys to be played, stood next to the staircase, with a mare in heavy armour passed out beneath it, along with several open bottles.         On the other side of the saloon, dominating that side, was the bar. Two ponies sat in front of it, on high-chairs and sullenly drank their respective booze. Behind the bar, a unicorn mare was busy polishing a glass, and as she spit into it, before wiping it 'clean' with a dirty rag, Euphoria grimaced and wondered how in Equestria that was meant to clean.         Yiltse kept in the background, as Euphoria walked between the few tables set up in the saloon and approached the bar. “What can I get you?” the sweet, honeyed voice of the mare said and Euphoria felt herself brightened up immediately as it grazed her ears; it was like she had just had her best orgasm in the entire world, just from a voice.         “I'm looking for a pink mare...” her voice trailed off, as the barista mare's eyes shot open, and it was clear that she knew.” So, she's here?” The yellow mare was about to answer, but her words caught in her throat, as another mare stepped out from a door located off to the right, but it was almost completely hidden away from the view of the patrons.         “Well, well, some ponies have excellent tastes and timing,” a much sweeter, but faked voice spoke, and Euphoria turned her attention to the new mare. Her mane resembled green tooth-paste, the way it dangled off to one side of her head; her coat was a pristine orange, and set her apart from the rest of the ponies in the saloon, and along with a set of sparkling green eyes, Euphoria got the message clearly.         “Flower, get me and my new... friend here, two glasses of whisky will you?” The barista nodded at the new mare and disappeared through the same door for a moment, and it was clear from the tone the other mare had said it in, that it wasn't a question. “What's your name, darling?” the sweet-voiced mare said, and Euphoria tilted her head to the side. “I'm sorry, but we can't do business unless you tell me your name.”         “E...” she stopped for a moment, and considered using a fake name. If she gave her real name, it could be used against her, and if she gave a fake name, and was found out, Euphoria doubted that she would be able to get the mare out of there alive. Groaning, she replied calmly, ” Euphoria.”         The sweet-voiced mare smiled at Euphoria and nodded, as Flower placed two sets of shot-glasses down in front of them, and poured whisky into them. “Thank you,” the sweet mare said briefly to the barista, before she turned back to Euphoria, by shoving a glass over towards her. “I'm Cherry, and this is my saloon.”         “And, you're in luck, I have the mare you're searching for.” Cherry motioned for Euphoria to drink, and feeling at a disadvantage, she downed the brown liquid fast, but choked on it, as her throat burned in response. Cherry, only giggled lightly as Euphoria coughed. “My, you're a light one.”         “Back to business. Night Letter, is a new addition to my stable, and as such, I need to take certain precautions, but for enough bits, you can have her for a night and use her as you see fit.” Euphoria felt burning rage and loathing for this mare, and her establishment, but she had to keep it under wraps for now.         “How much to buy her free?”         Cherry’s eyes went wide for a brief second, but she quickly brought herself back and smiled at Euphoria. “Well, she's in prime condition, and she's healthy, so I would say... five.” Cherry nodded to herself and looked at Euphoria.         Dammit! “How much for one night, then?”         “Twenty if it's just you, but if you're planning on bringing along your friend over there.” Cherry motioned towards Yiltse with a nod, but kept her eyes at Euphoria. “Then, it's going to cost extra.”         “Fine, just me.” Euphoria slid out twenty caps from her saddlebags and hoofed them to Cheery, as she grinned in turn.         “First door on your left, up there.” Euphoria said nothing and stepped away from the bar, and crossed the room to get to the staircase. Yiltse had parked himself firmly against the wall in front of it, so Euphoria stopped there and lowered her voice as she leaned against the wall as well.         “When the shooting starts, I need to know that you have my back. Now, I know your honour-thing is very important, but you always seem to disappear when the bad stuff happens, so I need to know that, this time, you'll be there.” Euphoria looked deeply into Yiltse's eyes as she spoke, and after a pregnant pause, he nodded calmly.         Having all the information she needed, Euphoria ascended the staircase and let a drunk stallion past her, only to have him collapse halfway down. She frowned and stopped at the top, casting a furtive glass towards the first-floor, before she pushed through the door and stepped into the room.         “No.... no more....” a light-pink unicorn mare with a neon-pink mane whimpered at Euphoria. She was heavily bruised, and blood had caked around the chafing wound on her left hoof, which was chained to one of the bars on the bed. She was only a few years younger than Euphoria herself, and the Stable-mare felt sick to her stomach at these people.         Grumbling, Euphoria slid over to the bed and pulled out a bobby pin from her saddlebags as she went to work on the lock. “Don't worry, I'm here to save you.” Euphoria glanced at the mare, but got a confused and sad look in return, implying that ponies had said that before, and not delivered. “Just trust me, I saw what happened to your caravan, and I'm here to help you back.”         Euphoria laughed inwardly at the stupidity of her own words. Trust? How could that word even have any sorts of meaning in a world where the strong ruled over the weak, and tormented them endlessly for their own amusement? As she worked away on the rusted lock, Euphoria wondered what in the world she could say to help this mare, who had seen way too much cruelty in her young life.         Don't get emotionally involved, a voice inside of Euphoria's head spoke candidly as the lock clicked open, and the pink mare pulled her hoof to her, and only muttered 'ow' over and over again. It's just business, so treat it like that – she's not your problem. The words stabbed at Euphoria, but she knew the voice was right. Deep trauma like this, could only be cured with years of therapy, and Euphoria was only there because it would get her paid. “Come on!” she commanded the young mare, and nodded towards the door. Night Letter looked at Euphoria with sad eyes, but she limped off of the bed, heavily caked with blood and walked with her to the door. As she pulled the door open, Euphoria pushed Night Letter away and tossed herself against the floor as well. Bullets sprayed against the door and Euphoria groaned in pain, as she clutched her bloodied ear, cursing under her breath. Footnote: Level Up New Perk: Bugologist – With this perk, you do an extra 50% damage each time you attack one of those nasty mutated bugs, that seem to litter every corner.