Fallout Equestria: Treasure Hunting

by Hnetu

Chapter 14: Choices

You?

I mean, me? I mean. Whatever! I pulled back from the doorway and tiptoed away as quietly as I could. Was the alicorn talking to me, or the mares in the room? I’d heard her talk in my head before, but could she read my mind, too?

It didn’t matter. I needed to tell Lost Art that she was here, and we needed to get the captives free and come up with a new plan. I really should have considered the alicorn might have been down there with the mares. I cleared the door, and felt far enough away to safely start running. My hooves carried me away and to the door with the caged ponies. I looked inside, but saw only a hoofful of dejected ponies rattling their cages. I needed my sister. With a heavy heart, I ran up the stairs past them.

Somewhere in the logical part of my brain, I wondered if Rebar could hear the loud clanking of my steel hoof. Wait, if she could read my mind... Oh Goddesses, what if she heard all of this?

How could she not know Mistress Amble was a slaver? Especially after she’d stood next to the slaver as she declared Lost and I her property? Just how many of the ponies in this town actually helped her? Or how many were hiding things from her. Too many possibilities raced through my mind. I wasn’t a thinky pony! I didn’t know how to figure this kind of shit out.

I slammed the door at the top of the stairs open and looked around. Nopony. Where in the Goddesses’ names was Lost? She couldn’t be far; I’d only been a minute or two behind her, probably less. She could figure this out. We could get through this without a bloodbath! We just... We just needed. Just. I didn’t know. Something. I jumped on my hooves as I thought, tapping the tips on the ground frantically.

Xeno might know. I stomped down on my steel hoof and springboarded forward, momentarily forgetting that any loud noise might alert Rebar to my presence. I scrambled up the stairs and around the corner. The zebra would be in the same spot where she’d sniped the alicorn from last time. I pushed through the door and ran outside.

Xeno stood at the edge of the balcony, her forelegs propped up on the railing and the rifle next to her. A cigarette hung from her lips, the smoke trailing lazily through the air on the windless night. Her ear flicked back toward me as I came to a halt. “Yes, Hiddenpony?” she said in a quiet voice. “We are safe, there are none of your kind wandering the streets this night.”

“Where’s Lost?” I asked her, trying my hardest not to start dancing on my hooves again.

“Lostpony is with the bugpony. They are below, out front,” she answered. She pointed down with a hoof and flicked it a few times in the direction I guessed Lost was. “What has happened?”

“The alicorn is in the tunnels below. And, and there’s ponies that need saving. And I don’t think Rebar knows that the ponies who take her ‘daughters’ are really slavers,” I answered, my voice speeding up with every word. I blinked and took a deep breath. I needed to be calm.

Xeno shrugged at me. She took a deep breath, finishing off the cigarette. With a sigh, she blew a long stream of smoke into the night air.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her. I didn’t really have time for this sort of thing, but she was my friend. Rebar could walk up at any moment and find us, or find my sister and the changeling, and then everything would be proper fucked.

“Iam homesick, thatis all.”

I trotted forward and hopped up to prop my forelegs on the balcony like Xeno. “We’ll go back soon, but right now we have to worry about getting out alive,” I responded. “But right now...” I repeated, leaning over the balcony and looking for my sister and Fine Tune. When I found them, I yelled over the edge, “Lost! Meet me inside!” I pulled back, cringing at the echo of my voice, then nudged Xeno. “We’ll get there soon, but we have ponies to save.” For a zebra who’d said she had nothing and needed to start a new life after the unpleasantness in Pommel Falls, she sure seemed locked on going back to her old life...

I turned and ran inside. I needed to tell Lost exactly what was going on and get her to figure out a plan.

“Always ponies...” Xeno muttered in a very quiet voice.

I didn’t take the time to stop and ask her about it.

Lost stood at the bottom of the stairs with Fine Tune, back in his changeling form, waiting for me. He let out a shrill chirp as I jumped down the last few steps. Lost turned and looked at me.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, her horn already glowing. Loyalty floated out and hovered next to her head.

“Alicorn. Downstairs,” I said, huffing. Used to running or not, going up and down flights of stairs like that quickly took the wind out of me. I pointed a hoof at the open door to the basement tunnels.

“Down there? Good. We can take her by surprise still,” Lost replied. She looked over at the magical energy weapon and smiled. “She won’t be able to regenerate or escape, either. I wonder if alicorns are immune to being turned to goo...” She turned and walked toward the doorway down.

“Wait!” I said, raising a hoof to stop her. “What about the other captives?”

“What about them? We won’t get a better chance than this,” she said, looking back at me and raising an eyebrow.

Fine Tune just followed her motions. He chirped a few times whenever she said something.

I grimaced. “She doesn’t know Mistress-”

“Amble,” Lost interrupted.

“-Amble’s a slaver,” I finished. I didn’t have the luxury of time to be tactful, or to call my sister out for rudely interrupting. Any minute the alicorn could walk up here.

“What? Bullshit!” Lost shouted, making me cringe.

“Ahh! Hey!” I whispered, trying not to yell. “She might hear you!”

She completely ignored my warning. Instead, she raised her hoof to the collar and gave it a heavy shake. “If she didn’t realize what Amble meant, when they were yelling right in front of her about selling you off to a brothel, then she’s either a moron, or she’s a colossal liar.” Lost looked down, and tugged at the collar a few times. “Collars...” Frowning, she turned to the changeling. “Fine Tune, can you take these off?”

“Criki ki,” he chirped. His hooves moved and did something behind his neck too fast for me to see. In what seemed like an instant, the collar fell to the floor with a heavy clang.

I winced when the collar landed on the floor, caught between relief and terror.

My sister, on the other hoof, seemed elated. Her face lit up, and her eyes brightened visibly as Fine Tune’s collar slipped off. She smiled wide and patted the changeling on the head. “Excellent. Alright, onto the next.” She looked back at me, my complaints and worries finally getting through. “Hidden, are you alright?”

Fine Tune chirped and collected his collar from the ground. He had no saddlebags of his own, so he passed it to my sister. She put it into her own bag before turning back to me. The changeling flitted into the air behind her and began working on her collar.

I looked at the door and waited, listening, letting my ears twitch and flick on their own in case the alicorn might come up the stairs. I wanted Fine Tune to get my collar off too, as soon as he could. But I could stand wearing it for a few more minutes if it kept the alicorn from hearing us.

Lost trotted over to me, Fine Tune in tow behind her. With a concerned look on her face, she placed a hoof on my forehead. “You’ve been freaking out, stomping and yelling, since I came up to get Fine Tune. You need to calm down.”

“I’m fine, just... I am calm, okay? But, listen,” I started. “I overheard her talking. She said she wanted to protect the ‘daughters’ and make sure they got to whatever ‘unity’ is.”

“Yeah, we already knew about that part,” Lost said, finally lowering her hoof. She looked at her gun again and then at the door.

“I know, but that’s what they were talking about,” I said. “Then she told them to sleep. And they said they love her.” I struggled to stay calm as I explained, focusing on what actually happened, and not thinking about what could happen if a fight started. Not much in the Wasteland got to me. I didn’t like giant bugs because they looked ugly as anything, but they didn’t scare me. Manticores or feral ghouls in big packs could be frightening, but I knew how to play smart and could down one if I had to. But the alicorn I’d seen shoot lightning bolts from her horn, and heal from being shot through the side? Especially one I knew was worse off than me in her head? I did not want her finding us when we weren’t prepared.

And if she could read my mind...

“Love her?”

“Yes. And I thought to myself that I needed to come talk to you. And then she said ‘and I you,’ and I don’t know if she meant she loves them back, or if she read my mind or something, and was talking to me!” I answered her as quick as I could.

“Why didn’t you shoot her?” my sister asked, either missing or ignoring my point. She looked at me over the rims of her glasses. “If you got her in the head, we might not have this problem right now. That bitch gave us to slavers on a silver platter! Whether she knew she was doing it or not.”

“You ordered me not to kill unless it was absolutely necessary...” I answered. I felt a dull ache somewhere too far away to care about. I heard Mistress’ voice somewhere off in the distance whisper the word ‘murderer.’ “And she sounded like mom... Like she really did care about them.”

“You can’t keep using the ‘somepony sounds like mom’ excuse as a reason to go easy on them,” Lost chided. She sighed and looked back at the door. “What mom taught us wasn’t uncommon. Lots of ponies know to keep away from strangers, because new ponies or zebras or changelings can be dangerous. Look at how many we’ve met lately that could have killed us in an instant if we’d walked up without caution.”

“They usually start shooting before we get close enough to,” I countered.

For a moment my sister mulled that over, then nodded. “True, I guess,” she admitted. “But priorities. If we know she’s down there we need to get the captive ponies out first. There’s only a few, so I think Fine Tune and I can handle it.” She looked back at the changeling, whose eyes brightened when she did. “Save ponies first, then we kill Rebar.” She looked back at Fine Tune. “And hurry it up.”

“Even if she doesn’t fight back?” I asked, my insides still twisting at the conflicting thoughts. Murder and necessity...

“Whether she knows it or not, she’s sending the ponies she captures, both the ones in the cages and her ‘daughters,’ to a slaver. They aren’t going to join her unity, and they aren’t going to be safe at all,” L.A. answered. “We’re going to do whatever we can to stop ponies from dealing with the same fate we dealt with.”

“She seemed like a completely different pony though. There... What if there’s more going on?” I asked. “She didn’t stutter when I saw her earlier. She seemed... conflicted. I think maybe that steel rod through her brain is giving her a split personality.” I didn’t really know why I was fighting so hard to keep from killing this creature. After what she’d done, she deserved whatever we gave her.

Something just felt... Wrong.

Lost’s collar slammed to the floor, and my sister cracked her neck back and forth. “Finally! O-oh, that feels good. Thank you,” she said to the changeling, who chirped happily. Then she turned back and glared at me through her glasses. “This is the last time I’m going to say this. We’re putting an end to her, because she abducted me, nearly killed me in radiation, and gave us to slavers. She can’t care about those she calls her ‘daughters,’ not if she’s getting them locked in the exact same cages as you and me at U Cig!”

“We’re doing what?” asked a voice.

All three of us stopped. My sister’s eyes went wide. Fine Tune dropped to the ground, his wings pinning to his back. The bright spots in his eyes expanded, and he bit down on the collar in his mouth.

The air behind my sister began to shimmer, as if the dim lights above us were beginning to go out. The blue alicorn I’d thought was still in the tunnels slowly faded into view behind my sister. I’d forgotten she could turn invisible. “Our daughters are... not going to Unity?”

"Fuck," I hissed under my breath.

I didn't remember much about growing up in the Stable, or about my father. Everything I knew about that place, and about him, I’d learned from Lost Art. I remembered trusting my mom's judgement when she said we had to leave, even if that ended up taking the father I barely knew away from me. The Wasteland was a totally new way of life. The comforts and safety of the Stable were meaningless, and had left us less than prepared for the harshness we would experience. Were it not for our mother keeping watch over us for years, we'd have died within a week to raiders, or feral ghouls, or the claws of any of the various monsters that the radiation created.

I liked to think that we were lucky.

We had a family until we were old enough to care for ourselves, and we still had each other. Mom taught us dozens of life lessons about survival, and how to get around without being seen. No, I wasn't good at sneaking around, but I knew that if I stayed out of sight and didn't move too much, bad ponies would eventually leave. Or we could run. Being an earth pony, I was good at that. I could get away and keep going for ages if I absolutely had to. Survival was something we got good at, even after mom died.

Naïve... That was a good way to describe our outlook. We thought we knew what we were doing, but I didn't think anypony knew exactly how to do more than just ‘get by’ in the Wasteland. Eventually the Wasteland won and ponies died, no exceptions. There were no survivors. As Lost and I wandered, we’d seen corpses, ranging in age and size from foals that had taken a wrong turn, to ancient mares and stallions who’d weathered the worst the Wastes could throw at them for decades. They still died.

I treated it like a game, moreso than my sister, and let fantasy keep me ignorant of the real truths. Truths like traders being greedy, willing to lie to make a sale. Truths like the ‘treasure’ we always hunted wasn’t real; it was just bits of garbage we pretended were worth something. Sometimes we’d even thrown away real treasures, things that could have helped us survive and get ahead, in favor of useless junk that struck our fancy.

Gunbuck changed things. Breaking Mom's cardinal rule had changed a lot of things. I liked to think they changed it for the better. We’d met new ponies, and even made friends with a zebra and a changeling. We made friends. We got better at hunting for treasure, and the game became a bit more fun, because there was more to find and collect, now that we saw just how valuable every little thing could be.

The experiences weren't all good. Wirepony nearly killed me, twice. We got exploited and thrown into an irradiated mine, and eventually caught by slavers. Even with the few good things, like finding ponies that wanted us to be a part of their family...

We learned a lot from all those experiences, every good one and every bad one.

Unfortunately, none of those lessons had prepared me for how to handle a gigantic pony that seemed to have all the powers of the Goddesses. She caught me totally off guard, and the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach told me I was about to die by her hooves. The last thing I’d expected in the whole wide shithole of a world we lived in was this: a pissed off alicorn who had no idea just how badly she'd been used and abused. Especially one who only learned it because we accidentally said it right in front of her.

Once again, I blamed cheater magic. Why in the Goddesses' names was this monster allowed to have a spell that could render her completely invisible even when she stood directly in front of me?

I braced myself for death.

Instead I heard a thud. The alicorn dropped to her haunches, her eyes wide with disbelief.

“We... We are sending Our daughters to slavery? They are not going to Unity?” she asked, her slit pupils sliding back and forth between Lost, Fine Tune, and me. Every part of her seemed dejected, her wings hung limp, no longer pinned to her sides. Her ears drooped to the sides of her head, and even the massive mane atop her head seemed to hang flat.

None of us said anything. Lost gasped and backed away a step, then looked to the gun in her telekinetic grasp. She looked directly at Rebar, the resolve back in her eyes. She fired and an earsplitting B-KEW nearly deafened me. The burst of magical plasma hit the air and stopped short, dispersing into a green haze. The moment’s hesitation had given the alicorn just enough time to raise her impenetrable shield.

“Dammit!” Lost snapped, and turned toward me. She pointed a hoof at the dour-looking alicorn and glared at me. “This is what I meant,” she seethed. “If you’d just killed her when you had the chance, we wouldn’t be dealing with a shield we can’t shoot through!”

“I-I’m sorry,” I stammered, looking down. I prayed to the Goddesses the alicorn didn’t hear that last bit.

Lost holstered her pistol, and we both stared at Rebar.

She still sat unmoving, looking around the room and breathing in short, ragged gasps. “What have We done?” she asked, looking directly at the two of us. Louder, she asked again, “What have We done?” She stood up and flared her wings outward, suddenly looking several times larger. Her eyes started to glow as she reared up.

We all backed away a few steps. I didn’t know how to handle this, and I couldn’t imagine Lost Art or Fine Tune did either. An alicorn encased in a shield that could stop bullets, raising her hooves. Did she intend to smash us to death?

What an ironic way for me to die.

The gigantic pony slammed her hooves on the stone floor, sending chips in several directions. Still surrounded by the shield, she began pacing the very short hallway. “...cannot be,” she muttered. “We have done every...”

I looked over at my sister, who watched the alicorn, never even blinking. Without a word, she pointed at Fine Tune, then the doorway to the tunnels below. The changeling nodded and saluted. He put Lost’s collar in her saddlebags and flitted away down the stairs.

“There, one problem taken care of,” L.A. grumbled. She turned and looked at the alicorn, who’d just reached the far wall and turned again. “One to go...”

“What do we do?” I asked her. I shifted on my hooves, and moved back toward the wall, closer to my sister.

“Well, given the shield, we try your new way. We give her a chance,” Lost whispered. She nudged the pistol on her leg with a hoof, shifting it so it barely sat in the holster, ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice. Leaning in close, she continued, “but if we get a chance and she's going to keep hurting ponies, we kill her.” It was a plan. Not a great one, but a plan. Too bad I could still see her legs shaking.

I nodded “Even if she’s not-”

“You two!” boomed the alicorn. “We removed you, after you proved a threat to Our plans! How, why have you returned?”

“Removed? You gave us to slavers!” I countered. “We came to stop you from sending more ponies, your daughters, to slavers.”

“We have not sent ponies to slavery!” she yelled. “We- exiled you, sent you where you could do no harm. Our daughters’ path to Unity will save them, they will be safe from ponies like you. They will be strong with Us! We- did what We- had to-” I heard her inside my head, screaming so loud I thought my skull my shatter. Showing considerable confidence, she dropped her shield and folded her wings back to her sides. The pseudo-goddess leaned down and pressed her muzzle to mine, jamming the steel rod in her head against my ear. “-to protect them.”

“Protect them? You’re giving them to slavers. They stood right in front of you and said so!” I yelled back. How could... I just... “You were right. There!” Inside my head I screamed, unable to understand how she couldn’t know. “You held and tortured my sister in your magic, and Mistress said not to damage her property. Are you that ignorant? Did you forget?”

Beside me, Lost raised her gun.

I waved a hoof at her. I’d seen just how big Loyalty’s blast radius was, and didn’t want to be caught in the crossfire. On top of that, if the alicorn really wasn’t aware that Mistress had her wrapped around a hoof, could we really do this with a clean conscience?

Fucking Wasteland. Why can’t you ever be easy?

“Where do you think she takes the ponies you give to her?” asked my sister. “Did you think she just dropped them off outside? What would stop them from coming right back?”

The alicorn pulled back, a conflicted look crossing her face. “We...” she started, but stopped to shudder. “We- do what We- must! All dangers must be dealt with to keep Our- daughters safe. Dangerous ponies must be sent away!” She stood tall again and once more flared her wings. “All that We- do is for Unity! For The Goddess!”

I clamped my hooves over my ears in a vain attempt to block the screaming from my mind. “The Goddess you can’t contact?” I asked, remembering how she’d fled last time. Maybe, if I moved just right, I could get her in the head with Persistence before she could pull that shield up.

But she wasn’t attacking. If she did, Lost would take her out first anyway.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

One of the captive ponies, a stallion, ran up the stairs. He slammed into my sister, and both toppled to the ground with a yelp.

I spun around, mouth already on the battle saddle’s bit.

“You!” Rebar shouted behind me. “We- imprisoned you! Why are you free?” She sounded furious, and advanced on the tangle of ponies before us. “Our- ally has not returned yet to take you!”

The stallion shied away, no doubt hearing the same rage assaulting the inside of his head.

Another series of thuds resounded as another pony charged up the stairs. This time, a unicorn mare emerged from the door, but she managed to spot my sister and the stallion in time, and jumped over them. Srambling on her hooves, she turned and bolted for the door, not paying the rest of us any attention.

“Run, just run!” she screamed, her horn glowing and opening the door to the outside.

“Yes, run! Leave and never return to shadow Our- city with your lies!” boomed Rebar’s voice inside my skull. She lifted the stallion and my sister with her magic and separated them. “All of you!” The magic haze around them both dissipated, and they fell to the floor with a paired thump. She lowered her head and pointed her horn at us. Snorting, she scraped her hoof across the floor.

I stood my ground, and so did my sister. The stallion took her advice and fled. Wherever the two of them went, I hoped they were safe.

“No, we’re not leaving. You need to be stopped,” I yelled back. I couldn’t give up on this. If we just ran, nothing would change, and ponies would just get trapped again.

“We- do not care about your petty complaints. Unity is meant for those willing to join Our- cause, in the loving embrace of The Goddess,” the alicorn snapped at me. The look in her eyes softened, and she said out loud, “We have a deal. It’s to help, to rebuild. To thrive. We only want to protect Our daughters.”

“You’re not sending anypony to unity, you monster. You’re sending them to brothels and death pits,” Lost said. “To gangers and a lifetime of servitude, with explosive collars around their necks.” She jabbed a hoof at the collar around my neck. “You aren’t helping or protecting anypony.”

Rage returned to the alicorn’s face. She stared at my sister, and her horn began to glow. I saw hesitation though, a quiver of her lips that betrayed her. I prayed to the true Goddesses that she believed us.

“They’re being broken and beaten, killed for kicks if they aren’t worth their food,” Lost continued. She stomped a hoof, and stepped forward. Her tail flicked agitatedly behind her. By the look of it, it took every ounce of her willpower to not pull her gun and start shooting. “I watched it happen!”

“Lies, those are lies,” she said, sounding defeated again. “We are helping ponies, sending them somewhere they can be safe.”

“Safe? Where we went was anything but safe!” I yelled at her. “Look at what they did to me.” I lifted my left foreleg to show her the shackle. Looking at it myself, I realized my legs were shaking. Please, Celestia, Luna? Let us get out of this alive. If I said one thing wrong, and the alicorn’s confusion turned to rage...

I didn’t want to think what might happen to my sister or me.

She looked at me, down at the shackle around my foreleg. A look of confusion crossed her face. “What exactly is that? Where did it come from?” Slowly, she raised a wing and pointed it at me.

“Slavers. Mistress’ bodyguard did this to me, as revenge. Torture,” I explained. I turned and lifting a rear leg to show her the shackles there. “Three of them, stabbed into me. They make it hurt to walk.”

“That cannot be,” she begged. Lifting her head again, her slit pupils darted to my sister. She trotted over, and around her once. “See, you don’t have them. We cannot believe your lies...”

“No, instead they beat me close to death and made her watch!” Lost yelled, pointing a shaking hoof to me as she stared down the alicorn.

“Do you think we would come back just to lie to you?” I asked her.

She ignored my question, and instead started to pace again. “No, We- have agreements in place. Everything has been set proper.” She turned and began walking the other direction. “Being sent to Fillydelphia, that’s a blessing, to meet Red Eye and be sent to The Goddess.” Her wings flared and she spun around again. “We don’t...” She thrashed to the side, digging her horn into the wall and pulled it back out. The rebar tore a second gouge in the wall, but she didn’t seem to notice. “The plans are important. We- should talk with the mare, she will explain.” Thrashing again, she stomped her hooves hard enough to dent the floor. “The plan is flawless! Our- daughters join Unity! Our- Our- enemies, they are put to work!” With every word I felt my head pound, as if they were slamming into my brain directly. She looked over at the two of us, bared her teeth. “We send them to build, to fix this world. We do what is right.” With a shudder, she turned away from us. “We do what We are supposed to.”

I looked over at Lost, and she just shrugged. Was the alicorn really arguing with herself?

Thudding echoed through the door to the tunnels. A third pony raced up. The floor shook as a larger mare passed by. Like the one before her, she didn’t bother to stop and see what was going on, she just charged through the door and out into the night.

I mouthed to Lost, ‘how many left?’ and hoped she understood.

She kicked the floor three times with a rear hoof.

How long would Fine Tune take to rescue another three ponies? It could be seconds, minutes... Could it take hours to pick a lock? I knew I gave up after so many tries, but picking a lock for some ammo or food, maybe a record of something from the world before it ended? That didn’t come close to picking a lock to save a life. I prayed to Celestia and Luna above that he could get them out soon.

“There’s no reason to trust Mistress Amble. What you think is happening, isn’t,” I told her. “You think they’re going to Fillydelphia. That only happens if they can’t bring a profit. She’s lied to you, she’s using you.” I bit my lip. Just maybe... “I saw them.” I wracked my brain, needing names. “Allegro, Battu... collared like me.”

That stumped the alicorn. Once more she sat down on her haunches, held a hoof to her head, just below the steel rod jutting through her skull, and began to sob.

“They were chained with me, kept in pens. We were starved, tortured... Collared and broken.”

Did it finally sink in, exactly what she’d done?

“We came back to save the ponies you’ve been sending to the slavers. So that nothing like what happened to me,” I held my hoof up, showing her the shackle again, “ever happens to another pony.” I lowered it, and hoped what I’d said got through.

She silently nodded.

“The dangerous pony you want removed from this town, to save your daughters,” Lost said, “is you. You’re the one who needs to be stopped, to protect everypony. Without you here, Amble won’t have a reason to come back. The townsponies can fight back against her.”

“We have... What has happened to Our daughters since... where are they now?” the alicorn asked me. She stared me right in the eyes, her own glowing with an intensity that made me shrink back a few steps.

“Sold, I don’t know where,” I answered honestly.

“They’re gone...” she whispered, tears sliding down her face.

“You thought a slaver wouldn’t take advantage of you?” Lost chided her. “She takes ponies against their will. What kind of pony did you think she was?” Her tail snapped again, and she looked at the stairway down. “Worse, what kind of pony are you?” Her legs had stopped shaking, her voice had hardened. Was the fear she’d been hiding finally gone, now that it looked like we weren’t in mortal danger?

Fuck. This was the absolute worst time for Lost to lose her temper. We almost had her...

And where were the rest of those captives? We didn’t have time for this. I looked at my sister and nodded to the door to the tunnel. ‘What’s taking him?’ I mouthed to my sister.

“Fine Tune!” Lost yelled through the door.

“Crii!” the changeling shouted back, his chittery voice echoing eerily against the stairway walls. He sounded stressed.

I looked at my sister, and she met my gaze. I nodded. She understood, and ran down to help him.

“You’ve been duped, haven’t you?” I asked Rebar. I moved closer. I knew I was tempting death, but if I could make myself seem friendlier...

“We- had arrangements,” she answered telepathically. Once more she stood. She looked around, her brows furrowing. “We didn’t... We thought...” Looking back and forth between the door downstairs and me, she hung her head. “It wasn’t meant to be this way... Our daughters, Our daughters are supposed to be safe with Us.” She looked back up at me, her voice wavering slightly. “We are supposed to help rebuild.”

“There’s a chance the ponies you care about got to Fillydelphia, if they weren’t sold first. She told me that’s where I’d go if I didn’t shape up.”

“Why are you here, then?” she asked. Her wings flared to her sides again, the erratic movement in complete opposition to her calm voice.

“To stop you. To save ponies. We escaped, and we don’t want any others to go through what we did.” I placed a hoof on her shoulder, hoping to calm her a little. Given I wasn’t the tallest pony, reaching her shoulder was a bit of a stretch. Trying to be tactful, I used the hoof without the shackle, even if that was less... personal.

“We wanted to save them,” she whispered.

“Then why don’t you?” I asked. “Leave. Let the ponies here live on their own. Leave, find your daughters. Save them from where you sent them.”

I didn’t quite buy that myself. I knew just how bad depression could hit. It hit me especially hard after mom died. You realize just how bad things are and don’t want to do anything at all.

“It’s too late. We- knew the best way to help. Were We so wrong?” she asked, looking at me. The shift in her voice, the emphasis... Was there even a right answer? She wiped the tears from her eyes.

“My mother told me to never trust others, because they only watch out for themselves,” I explained. I fought the urge to facehoof, as I realize that I’d basically just told her to not trust me, either. Instead, I lowered my hoof and sat across from her. My legs weren’t shaking anymore, and she seemed to finally be past wanting to kill me on the spot.

I knew this could end without a bloodbath.

“Mistress is out for her own gain, and she’ll exploit anything to get it,” I said. “You shouldn’t be collecting mares as daughters... We have to live our own lives.”

“We wanted to help them. We care about them. Unity is a blessing like no other,” she said, looking down at me. She smiled wide. “We are never alone, with Unity. We are powerful and learn from one another.” The smile vanished. “But... We have been alone for a long time...”

“But you’ve been collecting ponies, how are you alone?” I asked. I looked at the steel rod through her head. Should I mention that? I decided against it. I didn’t know what she meant about being alone. She’d been inside my head, but maybe she wasn’t getting anything back. She didn’t mention me being in the tunnels.

She hadn’t read my mind, which meant she really did love those mares.

“We cannot explain without you being a part of Unity. You would not be able to understand without first experiencing what We have experienced.”

“You can’t keep capturing mares and calling them daughters, no matter how much you care for them.”

She wiped the tears from her muzzle with a hoof and shook her head. “We don’t capture them... They are with Us by choice, because they love Us, because We love them. We have to, We-”

Well that changed things. I had a whole speech prepared on how to deal with her if she was taking them by force, but now I didn’t know what to say.

“No. You don’t have to anything. You can protect ponies without capturing others, without holding them or sending them away. There are so many better ways to help,” I corrected her, choosing to focus on the parts I was prepared for. I thought back to the good I’d done in the Wasteland, killing Wirepony at Leathers and freeing the gang ponies from the mines. “I’ve killed monsters before, I’ve helped ponies. I did it without them needing to stay with me.”

“You abandoned them?” she asked. Her brows furrowed again and she leaned down to glare at me.

“It’s not my place to force them to stay with me. They’re capable ponies, they can care for themselves!” I said, scooting back across the floor a few inches.

“We must right what has gone wrong,” she announced, standing. “We- will spread Unity, and as you say, use better ways.” She paced away, her tail flicking in the air behind her. “Where did you say Our daughters have gone?”

I gulped. Slowly I stood, trying to look less than threatening. I shifted my weight, aiming Persistence at her. Seven bullets to the head would do the job, if she couldn’t understand that she didn’t need to resort to violence. “I don’t know. They could be anywhere.”

I just needed her to keep talking.

“Then We- shall find them.”

“Find them?” I asked her. I looked at the battle saddle’s bit. Could I get every shot off before she got her shield up? Would Lost make it in time to back me up?

“Yes. We shall collect Our daughters, wherever they may be,” she said, glaring. The sadness and tears were gone. Her voice resonated with resolve. Maybe letting her do this would be a good thing. It’d hurt Mistress’ slavery ring, and make it so we didn’t have to find them ourselves.

But could I trust her to do this?

“And do what with them?”

“That is no concern of yours,” she snapped. “We- are capable. We- are above your questioning.”

Once again I clamped my hooves over my ears, even knowing it wouldn’t help. “And the daughters you have here?” I asked, wondering just how many mares she might have collected in a week.

“They will accompany Us- in Our- rescue,” she boomed. She gave me a look as if daring me to question her.

“What about me and my sister?” I asked. I looked down at the bit, then back at her.

Necessity.

“We- advise you to stay out of Our- way, and We- will stay out of yours.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank you, Celestia and Luna.

“You will tell the ponies of this town that We are leaving,” she said, turning toward the door to the tunnels below. “They may do as they wish, there are more important things for Us to deal with. If you interfere...”

I just nodded. Secretly, I felt relieved that Lost had missed all this. She’d probably object to the idea, but I couldn’t beat Rebar on my own, and I didn’t want to lose my sister in a firefight. If the alicorn really wanted to do good, and save the mares she cared about, should I stop her?

She walked off down the stairs, leaving me alone on the first floor.

I slumped down onto my haunches and finally inhaled. I didn’t even realize I’d stopped breathing.

“What’s taking so long?” Lost asked. I assumed she was talking to Fine Tune. She sounded agitated.

This could go very badly.

I looked down the hall at the second doorway. Rebar had already disappeared, and the door looked closed tight. I walked around the corner and looked inside the closer room. Fine Tune sat in front of one of the cages on the floor, digging at it and making annoyed chirping sounds. Lost stood behind him, holding several bobby pins in her telekinesis.

Past them, there were several cages, all but three now empty. The pony on whose cage Fine Tune worked waited patiently, pawing the ground at odd intervals. The other two ponies had shrunk back as far as possible, their eyes wide with fear as they stared, unblinking, at the changeling. All of them were so filthy that I couldn’t make out their true colors or their cutie marks.

“Do you think it’s a good idea to be in that form right now?” I asked, as I walked in. I didn’t look at my sister, fearing the reaction. Yeah, not a thinky pony, let the big monster alicorn escape.

“Ki cri,” he chirped back, without looking at me. In one hoof he held the lock on the cage, while the other he bent in an unnatural looking way to hook one of the edges of his leg-holes in. So he had... a knife on the right foreleg, and a lockpick tool on the left? That was... convenient.

“Well?” asked my sister. She didn’t look at me.

“I didn’t kill her,” I answered. I looked away as well, off to one of the empty cages.

“I know,” she snapped.

Right, no gunshots. Even if she hadn’t seen the alicorn walk by because she was busy, the lack of gunfire...

I sighed and walked up over to her. I dropped to my haunches and leaned against her. “She’s... intimidating. To say the least. But I convinced her to leave, so there’s no need to worry about this town being a slaver haven anymore. We can convince the tunnel ponies to come out and put a stop to Mistress’ plans.”

“You know, things were simpler when you just shot at the dangerous things and left the thinking to me,” Lost said, still not looking at me. “Try this.” One of the bobby pins floated over to Fine Tune, but he waved it away. Returning the bobby pins to her saddlebags, she turned and looked at me. Finally. “You may have been reckless, but you certainly got things done.”

“I know,” I admitted. “It was... easier to just run headlong into a fight, not worrying about whether I could actually win or not. Now, I...” I grimaced. “Now I’m terrified as a filly all the time. I feel like I’m fighting my own thoughts more than our actual enemies...” I looked at the floor. This was coming out all wrong.

At least my legs weren’t aching.

Lost put a hoof on my shoulder. “I’m not going to say it’s okay. It’s not. You’re going to get us in trouble, trouble I can’t dig us out of. How can we fix this?”

“I don’t think-”

A whistle cut me off. Fine Tune tossed aside the lock he’d been working on, and pulled the cage open. The stallion inside bolted without hesitation, darting around my sister and I, and scrambled up the stairs. The echoing hoofbeats from the hallway faded into silence.

“Me next!” yelled one of the caged mares.

“No me!” shouted the other.

They started to bicker, yelling at one another over who should be the first to be let out.

The room flashed green as fire erupted around the changeling. When it faded, the familiar light blue stallion remained. He stepped up to the two and looked back and forth between them. “I need to concentrate!” he shouted, then transformed back into a changeling with another burst of flame. Chirruping grumpily, he got to work on the closer of the two cages, twisting the lock picking ‘tool’ on his leg into the lock.

I looked down at my steel hoof. I wished I had as much utility built in naturally. Even the cybernetics didn’t give me any advantages. They’d just replaced what I’d lost. I sighed and looked at my sister. We had more pressing issues to worry about. “Rebar’s going to go hunt for the ‘daughters’ that got sold off.”

“She’s what?” Lost yelled. She took a step back, and I nearly fell over. She caught me in her telekinesis and lifted me back up before I could hit the ground. “She’s going... She’s...!” Lost sputtered. “You let her...! Hidden!”

“It’s better than being here. She can free slaves. We were going to do that anyway,” I tried to explain. “I think it makes sense! She’s got the same goals as us, and the city would get safer much quicker!”

“Why couldn’t you have just shot her, sis?” Lost asked. She looked over at the ponies in the cages, then down at Fine Tune. “Did Amble and Slipstock really get into your head that bad?”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t know the answer anyway. And here I thought I’d done the right thing...

“When you were reckless and running off without me... You at least learned from your mistakes. Every time you did something stupid, you learned to not do it again,” she said. Raising a hoof, she rubbed her forehead a few times, and adjusted her glasses. “...mostly. But now, you go off and do things like this. I don’t know what to do with you, Hidden. You’re... not exactly stellar when it comes to making plans.”

I shrunk back on my hooves.

From the hallway echoed the sound of several ponies walking, their hooffalls overlapping.

Fine Tune stopped his work, and we all turned to look at the open door. Even the ponies in the cages stared in rapt attention.

Four mares trotted by, all with bright smiles and clean coats. Their hooves landed lightly, the sound only coming from the repeated echoing. They didn’t look at us as they passed, focusing instead on the path in front of them.

Their echoing hooffalls slowly faded as they disappeared past, up the stairs. None of us in the room moved, all waiting. Either Rebar was invisible and following them, or she hadn’t passed by yet.

Lost levitated Loyalty out. Following her lead, I readied myself to fire Persistence.

Without a sound, the alicorn passed by the door. She stopped for only a moment, and looked across the little room without focusing on any one of us. Without moving her head, she simply walked off. A smile crossed her muzzle.

Confident bitch.

Lost didn’t fire on her, so I didn’t either. We let her walk off, with four innocent mares we should have rescued.

In the back of my mind, I heard Mistress’ voice whisper the word ‘murderer,’ and the felt the distant clawing at the back of my mind. I had a feeling that this wouldn’t be the last time we heard about the alicorn.

I just prayed the next time we did, it would be good news.

Celestia, Luna? Please don’t make me regret this.

Please?

“Pommel Falls,” I repeated.

I stood on the walkway that led back to town from the Town Hall. Fine Tune stood next to me, watching the two mares we’d just freed as they exchanged looks. Lost had gone upstairs to get Xeno.

“Ya sure that’s a good place?” asked the mare, a mint-colored unicorn with a nasally voice. She looked back over at her companion and grimaced. Though we’d helped her clean the filth from the cage off, she still had splotches of darker green all over her, which at least matched her mane. I couldn’t quite place her cutie mark though, which looked almost like my own X, if it had an extra line crossed over. From the end of each stick hung strings, that looked like they should attach to something.

“Yeah, there’s some Steel Rangers we know there. They’re making sure it’s a safe place,” I answered.

“What? No! Lighthoof, don’t tell me we’re actually gonna go there!” the second mare shouted. She shook her head repeatedly, making her shaggy white mane fall down over her eyes.

I rolled my eyes, not wanting to deal with this sort of thing. I’d had a very long night.

“I hate Steel Rangers, and you know why,” she pleaded. Apparently the two’d had a lot of time to get to know one another while in the cages.

“It’s only a day or two’s walk from here. We can give you directions, and it’s safe. They have clean water, and the Steel Rangers there aren’t anything like the ones you might know,” I explained. I wished Lost had decided to see these ponies off herself, and let me meet up with Xeno instead. She would have been better at explaining this sort of thing.

Lighthoof walked over to me and lowered her head close to my ear. “Clinker used to live with some Rangers,” she whispered. “She left on something she calls a ‘rum springer,’ and doesn’t want to go back.” Together we looked at the pastel-pink mare.

She had a cutie mark of a book with a large gear on its cover. Did... Had she grown up as a scribe for Scifresh’s lot?

“Clinker, who was your Elder?” I asked, not wanting to drag this on. I needed a nap far too badly to deal with panicky mares.

What little color the mare had in her coat drained away, leaving her entire body looking exactly like her white mane. She shot Lighthoof a look and took a few steps back. “Nopony. I w-wasn’t a Steel Ranger. They, umm, they!” she stammered.

Rolling my eyes, I turned to Fine Tune. “Turn into an old mare, off-white coat, red and yellow mane. Can you do that?”

“Sure,” he offered, “but I’ll need a minute.” He closed his eyes and stood silent for a moment, then peeked one open to look at me. “Eyes?”

Oh, right. Eye color... She looked like Jazz, only a decade or three older, and I’d never forget the rage in those bright green eyes as the Star Paladin called us savages and Xeno ‘the enemy,’ just for being a zebra.

“Green. Bright green.”

Clinker shivered, hiding behind Lighthoof. She looked caught between wanting to run for her life, and being paralyzed by fear. I knew the feeling all too well.

With a flash, the blue stallion disappeared, replaced by a mare that looked ancient. Even with a different mane style, I recognized Elder Scifresh anywhere. Fine Tune turned around, and looked at the two mares. Even with a smile, the intensity of those green eyes felt like he was boring a hole through me. Going by the look on the pastel mare’s face, I knew she felt the same.

“Enough!” she shouted, shrinking down and hiding behind Lighthoof.

The door slammed open, and my sister walked out with Xeno a half-step behind her. A thin wisp of smoke trailed through the air, only to fade and disappear as the zebra dropped the cigarette from her lips.

“You!” she shouted, pointing a hoof accusingly.

Lost stopped in her tracks, and all the rest of us turned to look at her. “Scifresh...” she growled. With an eruption of blue, Loyalty sprung from her leg holster and into the air.

“Wait!” shouted a voice I didn’t recognize. Fine Tune erupted in fire and the green-eyed mare disappeared. The flash of flame faded, leaving the music-loving stallion back in front of her.

For a whole minute my sister didn’t lower the gun. Xeno didn’t lower hers either, though I didn’t remember seeing her grab it. “Never. Do. That. Again,” Lost snapped. She slammed the magical energy weapon down into its holster, and let loose a long, slow sigh.

“Bugponies...” Xeno scoffed. She slung the rifle back over her side.

“Anyway... Pommel Falls is safe, the Steel Rangers there are from Stable 60, under Leathers,” I explained to Clinker and Lighthoof. “They’re not affiliated with Scifresh or Jazz, I promise.”

The promise seemed to do the trick, as Clinker’s color slowly returned. She gulped, but nodded. “Alright, but if I see either of those two mares, or any of their loyalist soldiers, I’m going to find a gun, and find you two,” she said, pointing a hoof at me, then Fine Tune. Apparently, my sister and Xeno got off without a death threat, since they hadn’t been part of the fiasco.

Xeno trotted up to me, flicking her tail as she did. Another cigarette hung from her lips, leaving a trail of smoke that made me cough. “Itis good to see you not use death as the first choice. Maybe there is hope for ponies after all,” she said quietly. “I saw how you did, and Iam glad I didnot have to intercourse.” The zebra mare walked off toward the town.

Lost followed, shrugging as she passed. She tilted her head at Xeno and frowned, but followed.

I smiled. Xeno might be in a slump since we weren’t heading straight to her home, but at least she kept watch over me. I turned to Clinker. “Lemon Tart is with them,” I said. I held up my steel hoof. “She helped with the surgery for my hoof.”

“Oh, Celestia... Her,” Clinker whined.

“Who?” asked Lighthoof.

“If you’re coming too, I’ll tell you on the way,” answered the earth pony. She waved a hoof, and the two followed my sister and Xeno as they walked away.

I shrugged as well, looking at Fine Tune. When he shrugged back, we both turned and followed.

Were it not for the six of us walking through the center of the city, just past where the invisible wall of radiation lay, I’d have sworn the place was abandoned. Everything was perfectly still, without a single pony or sound outside aside from us.

Sale Price's shop was the only building with a light on. He’d be the only pony we could tell about Rebar’s departure without waking the whole town. Xeno had intimidated him pretty severely last time we’d been here, and talking to him meant we could sell off all the useless loot we picked up getting here, get the word out that Rebar was gone, and I could snag that weird syringe of Buck.

Wait, was that why my legs were hurting? Was I going through some sort of withdrawal?

No, couldn’t be. I hadn’t had any in a week.

I shrugged, then trotted forward. “So are you going to go?” I asked the two mares. “If you are, can you deliver a message for me?” I hadn’t heard from Lamington all day, like Praline promised I would, and I wanted to make sure that they’d know we were coming, no matter what.

“I guess, I don’t have anywhere else to go,” said Lighthoof.

“Me either, and friendly Steel Rangers are better than raiders or bandits,” Clinker agreed. She stood up on her rear hooves and shrugged.

Seriously, how did some ponies do that so easily?

“Just tell Lamington and Praline that we’re coming back, and soon, please?” I asked, hoping they wouldn’t refuse the favor.

“Sure...” Neither sounded particularly enthusiastic.

“We’ll go now,” said Lighthoof. “The less time we’re in this terrible place, the better. But... Thank you.”

“A lot,” Clinker added.

“Yeah, a lot,” the unicorn mare agreed. “I don’t want to know what would have happened if we’d stayed stuck in those cages.” She grabbed me by the shoulders and gave me a quick hug, then looked to Clinker. With a nod, the two ran off.

I whinnied. They were big mares. They could take care of themselves. “Thanks,” I whispered. As the two ran out of sight, I turned to my sister and friend. “Sis!” I shouted, and trotted closer.

Fine Tune followed close behind, smiling wide but saying nothing.

“Resupply, then the next stop?” I asked her. We’d done good, without help, and without having to murder anypony. I proved there, that I could do it. Mistress was wrong, I wasn’t just a murderer. I could be a thinky pony who dealt with problems with words instead of just bullets and brass hooves. Apparently it just took a leap of faith to teach me. That and being up against a pony that could kill me at any distance with a shield that could stop my bullets in mid-air.

Sigh...

That I’d managed to do it without killing her was a personal victory against all the training and everything Mistress Amble had drilled into my head.

“Yeah, but maybe... Let’s just go to Pommel Falls,” Lost said, giving me a sad look. The bags under her eyes were back, looking worse than ever. Even though we’d gotten a good sleep last night, and managed to do something good, she looked more exhausted than ever.

“Tired?” I asked.

Xeno gave me a look, as did Fine Tune. Xeno’s face showed nothing but concern, while Fine Tune’s muzzle scrunched up with a cross-eyed glance of confusion.

“Planning around your newfound... ‘skill set’ is taking a lot of work,” she answered, rolling her eyes. “I’ve had a lot to process lately. Maybe we just, go back, and rest for a while. We can go to Idle later.” She looked past me, at the shop with the lights on. “Resupply, yes, that’s a good idea.” Turning to Xeno, she smiled. “Ready to do some more shopping?”

The zebra’s frown spun around into a smile so fast, I swore the cigarette in her mouth would actually switch sides. We all laughed, and turned to the shop.

“You go ahead, I’ll be right in,” I said, turning to look out at the city. “Need a minute of fresh air,” I lied. Waving the rest of them off, I sat myself down right where I stood and looked up at the cloud-cover. It seemed darker than normal, though I couldn’t tell if that was from the lack of a sun above the clouds, or if rain was coming.

Probably rain. It always rained at the worst times.

I wanted to feel happy, about helping get rid of the alicorn. I wanted to feel happy about her little mission. I couldn’t, because something nagged at the back of my mind. The little diggy claws weren’t back. This just felt like I’d missed something.

Would she lead those mares through irradiated ruins to their deaths, not realizing where she went? She was immune to it, but they weren’t. Would she liberate the ponies she thought were her daughters through force, or through words? For that matter, what if I’d just sent out a death squad for ponies who didn’t keep them as slaves, and just wanted another pony to help on a burgeoning farm? Too many possibilities raced each other through my mind.

Rebar seemed to have two personalities, and one was far more ruthless than the other. I might have just unleashed a psychopathic killer.

Why hadn’t I sent her to U Cig and have her kill off Mistress Amble and her lackies?!

I slammed my steel hoof so hard into my head I nearly blacked out. I could have ended the trouble with Mistress in one fell swoop, and not had to worry about it. That would have solved a major slaver problem with ease. There was no way Mistress would have expected the super-powerful but easily duped alicorn to turn on her. And she couldn’t have stopped her, either, as Rebar was effectively immortal, could turn invisible... Argh! Dammit. That’s what a thinky pony would have done...

Best case, they would have killed one another, and both problems would have been taken care of. Better yet, I could have suggested that the Red Eye character they kept talking about was actually the one exploiting her, and fixed an even bigger problem. Just what went on in Filly, anyway?

I felt like such a small pony in a big world. The Wasteland must be so vast, so full of heroes running around saving ponies, DJs that could see and report on things no matter where they were, and evils like slavers, and alicorns trying to collect everypony for something called Unity.

I looked back up at the sky. If only I knew more about the Wasteland, and could see the bigger picture. I needed to hear more about what was happening outside Blackhoof, and from more sources than just DJ Pon3. What if that other voice I’d heard when we first met Fine Tune knew something I didn’t? After we left, I’d try and find that station again.

A droplet of water hit me on the tip of my muzzle.

Totally called it. I stood up, pulled my jacket tight around me, and turned toward the store. It was the only place open this late, or early. What time was it? I trotted out of the rain before it could get heavier, and into Sale Price’s shop.

I trotted inside to encounter Xeno making small talk with the blue earth pony stallion behind the counter.

“...ponies out in the Wasteland who would rather kill than pay for your wares, Salepony,” Xeno explained to Sale Price. “Itis... What is the word in your pony language?” She paused a moment and said something in zebra. “No matter! Why do you hide?”

Sale Price stood staring at her, his jaw wide open and his red eyes wide. “N-n-no...” he stuttered, not answering her question.

I walked up to Lost and leaned in close. “Is she intimidating the ‘salepony’ again?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she answered with an over exaggerated roll of her eyes. “C’mon, let’s find something to spend our caps on while she robs him blind,” she whispered back. Together we started browsing the shop.

“How many caps do we have?” I asked. Now really wasn’t the time to come up short.

“Depends. Go drop all the little treasures you found, and have Xeno sell it all off.”

I trotted past Fine Tune, who stood speechless at Xeno’s assault on the shop-keeper’s sense of pricing. As I passed, I waved a hoof before his eyes, but got no reaction. That was some intense shock.

“Xeno, can you sell all this for me?” I asked as I pulled my saddlebags off my back. The weight of them nearly ripped my teeth out as I hefted the bags over the counter, and started digging things out. In the short time it took us to get to Skirt, I’d managed to collect a few valuable treasures, and a ton of useless junk. True, it might be mostly junk, but even junk had its price in caps.

The best part was that Xeno would get a far better deal from Sale Price than she’d gotten from Risk just the other day. The zebra nodded. “Of course, Hiddenpony. Salepony! Let us talk price.” She snatched up the first item, a pile of electrical parts that looked more like they belonged inside my hoof than sitting on somepony’s shelf, and pushed them at the merchant.

“Thank you,” I said, grabbing my saddlebags. Maybe the mark on her flanks really signified the downward spiral of sanity she sent most ponies into. Snickering to myself, I trotted back to my sister and started browsing.

Really, I wasn’t looking at anything on the shelf. I had only one goal. I just didn’t want to make it look too obvious. Moving from thing to thing, only half-caring what they were, I bent myself behind the shelf and looked for the little stock of Mint-als and Buck I’d pushed into the far corner.

The door opened, making a little bell ring. I didn’t care; I’d found what I was looking for. Pushed back behind a bundle of surgical tubing and rusted eating utensils sat my prize.

“Hey... Oh,” said a mare’s voice I didn’t recognize. “Din’t think there were any of y’all in these parts.” Under her breath, I heard her add, “Fuckin’ zebra.”

Xeno didn’t answer, though I could hear her voice and the trader’s still bargaining back and forth.

I ignored the new mare. I had drugs to collect. Scooping up the bottle of Buck, the tin of Mint-als, and the strange little syringe of Buck, I went back to browsing. The last thing I needed was Lost giving me a hard time about drugs, but... Godddesses. We’d lost damn near everything, so I had to restock for emergencies.

“Y’all? What do you mean?” asked Lost, peeking over the shelf.

“Huh? Ah meant... Nothin’. Hey,” said the voice again.

“Singe, we need to hurry,” muttered another pony.

“Ah know, Ah know. Shut up. They can wait outside,” snapped the mare. “Ah’m making a friend, she looks familiar, and Ah dunno from where.”

I didn’t stand, not wanting anypony to see the collar I still had on. Why hadn’t I got Fine Tune to take it off already?

“Well, we’ve only been in town for the night,” answered Lost. “I don’t know where I’d have seen you before.” She stood there, only her eyes and horn past the edge of the shelf. I could see her legs shaking again.

“Don’t matter none. Ah’m just here to reload Ol’ Kicker here,” said the voice. A metallic clang echoed past the shelf.

I just kept browsing, snagging odds and ends that seemed useful. Everything I took, I stuffed into my bag, to pay for once the rude-sounding mare left.

“You, zebra! Bugger off. Ah need to talk to this sorry sod of a trader,” the mare snapped. Heavy hooves trod across the floor as she walked to the counter.

Lost leaned down next to me. She pulled her glasses off, wiped her forehead, and put them back on, then gave me a worried look. “Ashen,” she whispered. “The one who tried to buy me...”

I began to think that Celestia and Luna really enjoyed fucking us over. One set of sisters royally screwing another set. I looked down at Persistence, then over at Loyalty strapped to Lost’s leg. Might as well bend over and let them have us.

“So. How do we handle it?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. We-”

Fine Tune interrupted by trotting over. He crouched next to us, his face stricken with the same look as Lost’s. His blue coat seemed even paler than normal, making me wonder just how complete the transformation from bugpony to unicorn was. “Singe is here,” he squeaked. “She’s the worst...”

“Worst what?” I asked.

“She’s the worst of The Ashen. They buy us changelings all the time. The scars they give disrupt our ability to transform.” he said, shivering. “This is a new form, so she didn’t recognize me. But i-if she...”

“I won’t let that happen,” Lost said, some of the confidence back in her voice.

Fine Tune smiled weakly. “Thank yo-”

“What the fuck do you mean, you don’t have any ammo for me?” yelled Singe. “Ah walked all the way here, and you ain’t got shit? I swear if I have to find that wanderer Mono, I will... I’ll!” She slammed something down, shaking the whole building. Must be an earth pony.

I grinned.

“Lost, go right, I’ll go left,” I whispered. Mistress wanted me to be a murderer? I could kill a member of The Ashen, easy.

Another thud shook the building.

“Back off ya fuckin’ zebra piece-a-shit!” shouted Singe.

For a second, nopony said anything. Lost and I went opposite one another around the shelf. As I rounded the corner, I saw them.

Xeno stared down a big yellow earth pony mare that I assumed was Singe. She stared right back at Xeno, her teeth bared. As Lost said, she was definitely one of The Ashen. Both her forelegs were covered in plasma-green rings. I remembered her from the auction; she had the same giant gun strapped to her back, and the same scraggly-looking green mane. Her cutie mark looked like a bullet hitting a wall, with a huge, colored backblast where it hit.

Next to her stood a smaller unicorn mare with a pistol strapped to her leg. She glared at Xeno as well, but without any of the ferocity. Going by the single pink band around her purple leg, she must have been fairly new.

Xeno took a step forward, her dark blue eyes flashing with defiance. She snapped something in her zebra language.

“Umm, ladies? Please, take it outside,” Sale Price whimpered.

Both Singe and Xeno shot him a look, then glared back at one another. “Ah said, back off, ya striped motherfucker,” the ganger pony growled again. She pulled her head back, suddenly not baring her teeth anymore. “Wait a second... Yer a fuckin’ slaver!” She raised an eyebrow. “Ah never seen a zeb- Nah, nah, wait. There was that weird lookin’ one at the auction... Ya think you dirty fucks’d be against that sorta thing.” She laughed, clopping a hoof over the shoulder of the other Ashen mare.

“Leave her alone, you bully,” I said, leveling Persistence at the unicorn ganger. I saw Lost’s horn glowing, behind the two mares.

“Ya gonna make me? Ah don’t think so,” she answered, reached up with a hoof and grabbing her rifle with her fetlock. She swung the gun around hard, and propped herself up on her hind legs.

That fucking cheat! How’d she manage to do that without toppling over?

I didn’t take the time to find out, or time to deal with a bullshit standoff. I bit down, firing Persistence. She fired her gun at the same time, with her hooves.

Sale Price paled. He held his hooves up, yelling, “No sto-!”

Three deafening booms rattled the room, two from Persistence and one from the ganger mare. My two rounds slammed into the purple unicorn with Singe, taking the mare completely off-guard. Her head exploded in a shower of gore, painting Sale Price and his counter red with her blood. I smirked, knowing Lost would handle Singe.

Singe’s shot missed me, barely, but it passed so close that the shockwave knocked me off my hooves and into the far wall. “Shit!” I yelled as I tumbled, glad that the bullet tore a huge hole in the wall instead of in my torso. Slabs and slivers of rotten wood from the destroyed wall collapsed onto me.

I groaned and rubbed my head as I got up to look around. Sale Price didn’t say anything. He simply stood there, jaw agape, covered in blood. Lost smirked, standing behind Singe with Loyalty to the ganger’s head and one of our unlocked collars securely fastened around her neck. Even Xeno looked pleased, despite having just been in my line of fire.

Thank the Goddesses for freaky zebra luck. There was no way I should have made that shot. Then again, the kink in my back said my hind legs might be paralyzed...

“Out! Get out!” shouted the trader stallion. He raised a shaky hoof and pointed to the door that now hung from a single hinge.

“Fuck you,” snapped Singe. She dropped down onto all four legs and slung the gun back over her shoulder. “And don’t think Ah can’t kill ya before you can kill me,” she said to Lost, giving her a glare.

Lost just pushed the gun closer to her head with her magic. “I think we should listen to the trader,” she said, then looked at me. “You okay Hidden?”

I just waved a hoof and pulled myself from the wall. Right back leg? Check. Left back leg? Check. Still mobile. No paralysis. I really wanted a gun like that! “I’m fine, but grab her gun for me.”

Lost nodded and wretched the rifle away. She slid it into her bags and away from the Ashen mare.

“Keep the wares, for the mess,” Xeno said with a smile. She leaned in closer and whispered something in her native tongue to Sale Price, then pulled back.

The stallion just nodded as we packed up our things and walked out.

“Ya know Ah ain’t the only membera The Ashen ‘round here, don’tcha?” asked the big yellow mare. “Ah got a dozen friends right outside.”

“I’ve got more collars. Fine Tune, take Hidden’s off, will you?” L.A. asked the changeling. She turned to Singe, and just smiled. “We need it off so we can blow Singe’s head to pieces if she follows us without killing Hidden too.”

“Ah got a key.”

“I won’t give you the time to use it,” my sister snapped. “And don't tempt me to set it off early!”

Fine Tune came up behind me, and undid the collar in what felt like an instant. A weight slipped from my neck and my heart as the heavy metal ring fell to the floor. Mistress might still be in my mind, but at least her hold had some cracks now. Fine Tune dropped the collar in my sister’s saddlebags.

We left the store, without any new caps from the treasure we’d hawked. I still had the Buck and Mint-als that I’d stashed before the shootout began, so I counted it as a win. For emergencies and all.

We walked out into déjà vu... Rain, and an army of fully-armed ponies.

Outside stood several of The Ashen, just like Singe threatened, all decked in various types of raider armor, and holding magic-powered energy weapons. The majority raised their weapons, though one had a strange-looking lance with a gem in the tip. He bit it and jabbed at us a few times.

“Whoa, calm down,” Lost ordered them, pointing at the collar around Singe’s neck. “Or I kill her. Now look; we’re going to leave. And if you follow, I’m going to kill her. If you take a pot shot at us, I'm going to kill her. If you spy on us, I'm going to kill her. And if you come after us for revenge? I'm going to shoot all of you first, and then kill her.” She tapped the collar a few times.

Xeno glanced back at the sniper rifle across her back, and I bit down on the bit for my battle saddle. We were outnumbered, but we had the hostage. I didn’t know if the rain would help, or hurt. My mane hung down over one of my eyes, but they were in the same situation, stuck in the freezing water with low visibility.

Lost shoved Singe into the group, who let out several yells and grumbles. “Stand down, ya idiots,” shouted Singe. She twisted around, and whispered something into the ear of another member of her gang, a short stallion with rings on both forelegs. “Yer lucky Ah only had one shot. Ah’m gonna get Seethe to come out here and find ya. Ah’ll have him bring our sister, too, and we’ll fuck ya up proper. Y’know that, right?” she snarled.

“Seethe?” Lost asked. Loyalty sagged in the air, and she whimpered. I felt like doing the same.

“Know ‘im? Yeah, ya seem like his type,” she said, laughing. “Ah’ll go get ‘im for ya if ya let me go... Even if ya are a fuckin’ idiot.”

I shot her in the leg with Persistence. A single bullet to her knee.

“Ow! Fuck!”

Every gun snapped up to point right at me.

Lightning cracked the sky, louder than I’d ever heard it. This storm would be bad, once it finally got going.

“Stop it, now,” said my sister, in the calmest voice I’d heard her use in a long time. Even talking quietly, her voice cut through the thunder like magic. She walked away, waving her tail side to side, as if she didn’t have a care in the Wasteland. “C’mon, we’re leaving. Fine Tune, I need you to do something for your Queen.” Loyalty sank into the holster around her leg, though her horn continued to glow blue. The flap of her saddlebag opened, and she pulled out the detonator. She turned back to the gangers. “One pony sets hoof outta town while I can still see and she blows.”

Instantly Fine Tune flew to her side, ready to serve however she asked.

Xeno and I followed, with me walking backward. I didn’t take my mouth off the battle saddle’s bit. Even with the detonator floating in the air next to my sister, ready to go off at a moment’s notice, I didn’t trust The Ashen. We’d run away from them back when this first started, fleeing through the Wasteland without a single bullet for our defense, chased through dead trees by a psychopath with a flamer...

I could almost feel the weight of the severed head in my bags again.

A flash of green fire erupted behind me, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. The eerie reflection of green off every droplet of water in the air made me think of how mom had described the balefire bombs that made the Wasteland. I shuddered, hoping I’d never have to see what that actually looked like. I had enough problems already, first and foremost being the gang of ponies in front of me.

“A fuckin’ changeling?” yelled one of the stallions with Singe. “Oh, that cunt!”

I didn’t hear the rest. I’d finally gotten far enough away. We turned and ran. I didn’t hear anyone chasing after us.

The shape of a pony cut through the rain above me. Fine Tune, now a pegasus, dove through the air with her hooves in front of her. Given her ability to mix and match attributes, I found it weird she’d switch entirely... I didn’t take the time to see what she was doing, though. I just kept moving. Just kept following my sister through the downpour.

We ran beneath the outcropping that marked the entrance to the town. “Which way?” I yelled.

“Away from anywhere we think is safe!” yelled Lost back. Lightning struck again, followed by a deafening thunderclap. “Once we lose them, we can get back to safety!”

Xeno grumbled, but followed. Our hooves squished in the mud. We didn’t have time to stop and ask the weather to change.

“What about Skirt?” I asked, yelling above the wind in my ears. Water hit me in the face, but I could make out my sister’s white coat through the darkness. She’d be the beacon I followed.

“Told Sale Price … happened, he’ll spr...he word... Important things ...ht now, Hidden!” she yelled to me. I lost half her words to the storm.

Fine Tune flew back across. She landed and galloped along with us. “They’re in place!” she shouted, looking at my sister.

L.A. nodded back.

Everything turned to fire as my sister pressed the detonator button. The two collars she’d had in her bag exploded, sending a torrent of dirt into the air and past us. For bomb collars, those things had one fuck-off bang in them! The horrible memory of Spark Light’s death forced its way into my mind. His collar hadn’t had anywhere near that big an explosion. I shuddered, wondering exactly what Mistress Amble had expected of us.

Xeno and I both yelped, speeding up to keep pace with my sister and the changeling. That would be the end of Singe, and one problem done. An explosion that big would definitely keep them from following us. It wasn’t worth it to find out though.

We turned away from the road to Leathers and Pommel Falls. We ran to new territory. Another of mom’s lessons, one I’d been reminded of only recently. Don’t lead enemies home. Better safe than sorry.

So we ran to Idle. The siren song of rest and relaxation called to me, but we had work to do.

Nothing was worth chancing the only family we had waiting for us.

I changed the PipBuck display to green. Again.

A little marker in the corner of my vision gave me reference to where Idle was, and which way we should walk. In the rain, it ended up being the only thing I could navigate by. The thunder and lightning slacked off a long while after we’d gotten away from Skirt, but the lack of lightning only meant that I couldn’t see anything through the downpour.

It made for a less-than-fun trip. The jacket I wore stuck to me, and were it not for the armor underneath, I felt sure I’d be getting sick. Every step we took ended with squishing through the Wasteland mud, and none of it felt good. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I wondered if any mud would get into my steel hoof. I still didn’t know the proper way to take it apart for cleaning.

For that matter, I wanted to have Praline to look at it. After what Vice Brand and Slipstock did, I needed the peace of mind.

But, because of more bullshit with raiders and gangers, we once again had to go in the opposite direction, to keep those we cared about safe.

I checked the corners of my vision, but didn’t see any little red markers floating about. Rain sucked, but it kept most thinky ponies, and the more thinky animals, from staying out where they could get soaked. Lost Art might be a thinky pony, and I knew Xeno and Fine Tune were both plenty smart, but stopping to rest wasn’t a luxury we had. With the rain still coming down, I didn’t bother even turning on the radio. I did however, thank the Goddesses for the technological advances of Equestria during the War. Nothing, including the water, seemed to faze the little arcano-tech device around my fetlock.

The only soundtrack to our walking was the howl of the wind, the squish of our hooves, and the occasional click of radiation.

I looked down at, well, I didn’t look at my hoof. But I thought about it. I needed to get back to ponies who cared about us. We should have just left with Lighthoof and Clinker and gone straight back to Pommel Falls, dealt with Hydro being a massive bitch, and seen our family. I wished I could buck myself.

On top of that, I hadn’t gotten any word from Lamington, like Praline had promised. Given the static in his armor, maybe he had a busted broadcaster, or whatever version of the equipment power armor had. I didn’t know why, but the lack of communication hurt in a way I couldn’t quite put my hoof on. Something deep inside me twinged in a very strange way.

I ignored that part. I needed to talk to them for peace of mind, and I wanted a chance to get real sleep, without strange memory-like dreams about my mom and my childhood, or horrible nightmares about the ponies I’d killed or ‘abandoned.’ Was it so much to ask to just get a good night’s sleep?

Given what I went through for a week, yes, probably. I just needed to have faith in the Goddesses that eventually, I’d be given time to just rest my eyes, kick up my hooves, and stop worrying about the world for a few days. Maybe a nice conversation with Praline about the cybernetics, and some time alone with Lamington.

Maybe I’d even be able to see him out of his armor again!

Squishing my hoof in the mud, I sulked. That seemed unlikely...

Tall apartment buildings surrounded us, threatening to touch the clouds themselves. Even through the darkness, I could see they were in just as terrible condition as every other building I’d seen. There were so many of them to weave through, it felt like a totally new city. Really, just how big was Blackhoof?

Dotted between the skyscrapers lay small houses and stores, ones whose silhouettes looked visibly older, even taking into consideration that everything looked like a bombed-out... well, Wasteland.

“How much further?” Lost Art yelled over the rainfall.

“I don’t know! Just keep going straight!” I yelled back. Looking up at the sky, I asked myself if we really, really needed this. Weren’t the pegasi supposed to be weatherponies, and keep this sort of thing from happening?

Wait, mom told us the Pegasi had closed the sky, and stopped caring about what happened to us ‘dirt ponies’ on the surface. I grumbled, hating that term. It felt like a personal affront. I guessed they just had their own things to deal with, and didn’t think of us as important enough. So much for ponies working together. Though, I supposed the Wasteland might not be a blasted, poisoned desert anymore if we all pitched in to fix it.

After what seemed like hours, the rain finally began to slack off. Even without the rain itself, we still had the mud to deal with, and... I looked at the PipBuck’s map. We still had a long trip ahead of us. We might not even make it there until morning.

“Any idea where we are?” L.A. asked. She stopped and waited for me to catch up. Together, the four of us converged in the fading drizzle.

I flicked an ear and snapped my tail back and forth, trying to flick some of the wetness away. Everyone looked miserable.

“Do we normally run like that?” asked Fine Tune, still transformed to look like a pegasus. She stamped her hooves, looking agitated. “Queens don’t run,” she muttered.

“That wasn’t running, it was a tactical retreat,” L.A. responded. “Hidden’s gun is flighty, and mine is only good at short range.” L.A. answered. She sounded quite analytical. Her horn began to glow and she lifted her glasses from her muzzle. “The sniper rifle wouldn’t work at close range, and a knife has the same problem as Loyalty.” She flicked the water from the lenses and rested them back on her nose.

“Iam using the weapon you gave me, sisters,” Xeno snapped. She lifted her hoof, and placed a cigarette in her mouth.

“Look, we made do with what we have. Do you have a preference?” Lost asked. Instead of analytical, she sounded agitated. “You’re a part of the group, you can ask for a weapon if you prefer that type. We gave you the rifle because you said your brothers taught you to use it.”

I looked back at Xeno, waiting for a retort. Instead, she took a drag of a cigarette.

“I have my knife, the gun works fine,” she sighed. “Which way isit?” She looked at me, and I pointed. “Last stop, then my brothers. Correct, Lostpony?” I could feel the smoldering anger in her voice, rather than hear it.

Was this what slavery did? Turned us all against one another. I couldn’t tell with Fine Tune, since we didn’t know him before, but things were just so... Different now.

“Can we stop?” I asked, shifting on my hooves. “Xeno, I’m sorry. We’ll take care of things with you and your brothers as soon as we can. I promise.” I shot Lost a look, daring her to argue priorities. “Lost, you’re right... what you said earlier, about the old me. I’m sorry. I just can’t seem to get what happened out of my head. I’ve got a voice screaming at me, telling me I’m a murderer.”

Xeno nodded, looking placated for the moment. Lost, she shrunk back and sighed. Fine Tune just looked between the three of us, and cocked his head to the side. His wings opened and fluttered, in a way only a changeling could move.

“The worst part... I don’t mind it,” I admitted. “She drilled the remorse out of me. The only thing keeping me from going off like I did on those raiders is what you told me... And that voice screams in my head too. So... I’m sorry. I’m just trying to find solutions that don’t prove Mistress right. And maybe that makes me hesitate. I’ll try and get better.” I stepped forward and hugged her, burying my face into her soaked mane.

Getting all that off my chest helped. Just like removing the collar lifted a weight from both my neck and my mind, telling her made the weight over my heart slack some.

“I know, sis,” she whispered. “I’ll help.”

The tension lifted somewhat, and both my sister and Xeno smiled at one another. “Sorry,” she said to the zebra.

Xeno only nodded.

“So, treasure hunt on our way?” I asked hopefully. Xeno and Fine Tune might not share our love of the hunt, but at least it would keep us busy. We had plenty of buildings and lots of stores to search through. With the drizzle still coming down, getting indoors might lift all of our spirits. Plus, four sets of hooves digging would make everything go faster.

“Sounds like a plan,” said L.A.

“Iam... okay with this,” Xeno agreed.

“Tre- treasure Hunt?” Fine Tune asked. She blinked a few times and raised an eyebrow. In total confusion, even her ears drooped back.

“You’ll see,” I answered, patting her on the shoulder with a hoof.

The radiation might have been a little too much. The clicking of the PipBuck’s little radiation counter wouldn’t stop. The second Fine Tune and I entered the shop, the radiation spiked. Skirt’s radiation had sent the little clicker going faster, but this was... Close.

I looked around, taking stock of what kind of store we’d stepped into. The windows lay shattered just inside, letters cracked and jumbled in random order. Luckily, whoever built the lights inside did an amazing job, two hundred years later and they still worked perfectly. The shelves... I started moving, fast. Waving for Fine Tune to follow, I went down an aisle.

Electronics, lots of them. Perfect!

“Alright, treasure hunting is simple. We go in, we grab what we can carry, and we get out,” I told Fine Tune, who was now back in his unicorn form. “Priority goes to the stuff that looks valuable, useful, or generally cooler than the rest.”

“Okay?” He looked at the shelves and grimaced.

I started grabbing scraps off the shelf. Most parts were useless, destroyed by two hundred years of exposure and whatever terrible thing the balefire blasts had done. But they could be repurposed, sold, or used in new parts for me or the PipBuck.

Wait, did I really just think about using scrap as parts? For me?

Hmm, electronics shop and PipBucks? Maybe they had one. I stopped grabbing scrap metal and bits of electrical wire. “Collect everything that’s not nailed down, okay?” I said to the changeling. I ran off down the aisle, looking. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glow, somewhere between green and blue and somewhat out of this world.

Changelings had cheater magic too? Argh!

“Alright, but most of this is...” he trailed off as I ran off. “But this is just!” He sighed, loudly. “Rather be with my Queen...”

“Everything! It might be useful somewhere else, and I think Xeno can just intimidate anypony into buying what we have to sell,” I told him. I had a goal and not a lot of time. I turned the corner, and kept looking. If they just had one...

Down another aisle. Nothing. The PipBuck clicked faster. I ran to the back of the store, jumping over a toppled cart and the skeleton of a pony caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe in the corner? I spun on my hoof as I ended the aisle and turned.

“Scraps too? Toasters?” he shouted above the aisle.

“Yes, everything!” I shouted back. Jackpot! Sitting along the wall, in a beautiful display case, were two PipBucks. They looked pristine, with screens that shone like mirrors. One had a gorgeous matte finish and a blue screen, the other somewhat reflective, the buttons all lighting up in a series.

“Fine Tune, come here!” I shouted. This was perfect. Now we wouldn’t have to switch PipBucks all the time. I looked back at my cutie mark, my little X across the flanks. With a smirk, I shattered the case. Steel hoof versus glass? No contest. Grabbing the matte one, I held it in my fetlock and compared it to mine.

“What?” he asked. “Oh, coming!”

None of the buttons were on, but the screen had the same little overlay of a pony from the side staring at me. I pushed a button with my nose.

Nothing happened.

Fine Tune stopped next to me, holding several bundles of wire and little panels of metal and terminal parts in the air with telekinesis. “What?” he asked, before floating the various parts he’d found into my saddlebags.

“PipBucks!” I shouted, happy with my find. Maybe they just needed- The quickening click of Gunbuck’s PipBuck reminded me that we shouldn’t waste time. The radiation inside was bad, and getting worse... I grabbed the other one with my teeth and pulled it from the display case. “Lesh gu.”

“Everything not nailed down, right?” he asked me, his head tilted. I could see his eyes moving from side to side, taking in the ruined stock.

“Yesh,” I said with a nod.

We left, and he grabbed damn near everything from the shelves with the strange blue-green haze of his magic as we did. No sense leaving something that might be useful later. Spark cells to conductors, pilot lights to paperweights with the store’s logo, we stuffed all of it into my saddlebags. He even stuffed a broken toaster into one. The clicking reminder of radiation slowed more the closer we got to the entrance.

“Everything not nailed down,” he announced proudly. Fucking cheater magic. All I could carry was the PipBuck in my mouth and the one in my fetlock, yet he managed to grab almost everything. Were it not for the radiation inside, I’d have stayed and picked through myself.

The rain still poured outside, just enough to be annoying. The best part about being back in a city center was the roads. They might be harder on the hooves than dirt, but at least we weren’t walking through mud anymore.

My sister and Xeno guarded the entrance, talking quietly to one another while standing on the driest patches of the shattered road. Lost held Loyalty in the air beside her head, and looked to the side every so often. Both turned to look at us as we walked out, and I held up my prizes!

A blue haze wrapped around the one in my mouth, and Lost snatched it from me. “Wow, where’d you get these?” she asked.

“Display on the back wall. They were in a case. They’re perfect.”

“It... It says that itis a, umm” Xeno said, tilting her head. She rolled her eyes and said something in her native tongue, then twisted her cigarette to the far side of her mouth. “The words are ‘display model.’ What does that mean?” She pointed to a spot above the screen with her hoof.

Lost spun the device around and looked where Xeno pointed. Raising an eyebrow, she tore the screen completely off! Holding it up, she waved the screen a few times. “Sticker,” she announced. The haze of her magic shifted a bit, and the sticker put itself back on in perfect position. “We can keep them anyway, we’ll find a use.” She wrapped her telekinesis around the other one I held and put both into her saddlebags.

I slumped down, defeated. The PipBuck on my leg clicked once. Dammit.

“What’s wrong?” asked the changeling.

“Nothing,” I lied. “We found lots of parts. Lets try the next store. I just hope it doesn’t have the same radiation problem.”

“What do you mean?” asked my sister. She moved to my side and dug through my saddlebags, which now bulged from all the things inside them.

“Well, look,” I said, holding up the PipBuck. It clicked once. “Nothing out here right? Little radiation, not much that will hurt us.”

“It’s worse inside,” Fine Tune said, beaming at his Queen. “I got everything!”

“Oh, hmm...” L.A. mused. She pulled a paperweight from the bag with her magic, and looked at it. “Relays and Retrofittings; Authorized Stable-Tec retailer,” she read. “Yeah, you got everything. Good job.” She stuffed the paperweight back in my saddlebags, and we went to the next one.

“So where to next?” I asked, looking at the stores that dotted the street between the skyscrapers. We had several options, a clinic, a coffee shop, and a store labeled ‘Kitchen Supplies.’ I had a hunch that the next place would be just as irradiated, so I pulled out a RadAway and forced down the contents. I passed a second one to Fine Tune.

“Clinic first, I think. It’s the best bet for us to get worthwhile supplies,” Lost answered.

Xeno pointed at the clinic in question. “Moment,” she said.

“What?” L.A. and I asked in unison. We both looked in the direction she pointed.

Red markers moved on my E.F.S. “Oh, movement,” I corrected. We moved out of the line of sight from the building and crouched against one of the taller skyscraper walls. I moved to the front, since I had the PipBuck, and peeked out beyond.

Two ghouls walked out, both decked in the same kind of mismatched armor as other raiders we’d killed before. They stopped in front of the store and started to argue. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but going by the... disgusting way their faces shifted, they looked angry. One pointed a hoof at the other, who instantly recoiled.

“Since when were there raider ghouls?” I asked, more to myself than anypony else.

“Raider ghouls?” L.A. asked. She poked her head beside me. “Oh Goddesses, they are...” Her horn lit up again as she slid one of the normal plasma pistols from her saddlebags. She checked the spark battery in it, and smiled at me. “You take right, I’ll take left?”

“Sounds like a plan,” I answered. I grabbed by saddle’s bit, and activated S.A.T.S. For once, I expected the horrible time freezing sensation, and focused on my target. I selected the ghoul’s chest; no sense wasting bullets. The spell worked its magic, and I fired. The bullets through the raider’s chest. Even with the raider armor, he dropped to the ground in a pool of his own ichor.

Lost fired at the same time. Three bursts of plasma erupted from the gun, with the familiar B-KEW sound. Two green magical bursts of energy slammed into the pony’s legs, then one into his chest. The undead stallion didn’t turn into a pile of glowing goop, but he did collapse to the ground at the same time as his partner.

I looked over to my sister as she looked at me. It felt good to work together. I didn’t need to worry about the distinction between necessity or murder when it came to raiders. I knew just how bad these ponies were. We turned back to our companions.

I looked up at the sky and yawned. Battle victories or not, I just wanted to get to the next town and sleep.

A raindrop hit me in the eye.

“It’s clear. Let’s get in, get what we need, and get on our way,” Lost said, sliding the plasma pistol back into her bags.

“Yeah, let’s get out of the rain,” I agreed. Seeing no more red markers on the E.F.S., I trotted over to the corpses, since they were on the way, and started digging through the pockets on their armor. “Y’know, Xeno, ponies are going to keep thinking you’re a slaver if you’re wearing that armor. Even without our bomb collars, that might get us into trouble.”

Lost followed, doing the same bit of treasure hunting. She rifled through the pockets of her kill, using her telekinesis. I supposed living for a week without it hadn’t taught her the true pleasure of digging for treasure with your own two hooves.

“Itis something I have thought about, Hiddenpony,” she said as she watched me dig through the pockets of the dead stallion. Snuffing her cigarette out, she looked at the armor of the ghouls lying before us. “I donot think raider armor would be any better a thing to wear.” She added something in her native language, and laughed.

We all laughed as well. The idea of trotting around with raider armor had come up before, with the bandits, oh-so-long ago. She was right, though. Going around in raider armor was asking for trouble.

I idly wondered if these two stallions had actually been raiders, or just wearing the outfits. Well, zombies didn’t stand around and argue, did they? And the E.F.S. said they were red, so... Oh well. I dug out several caps, some small-caliber bullets, and a pistol. He had a hoofball and gum on him as well, so into the saddlebags they went.

Lost found much the same stuff as I did. Several caps went directly into her saddlebags, along with a bottle of Sunrise Sarsaparilla and a BB gun. Wow, the two had almost nothing worthwhile on them. For ghouls, they’d sure wasted their two centuries doing something other than picking up decent gear.

“Alright, in we go,” I said, and headed that direction.

Xeno slid her knife from... wherever she kept it, and put the blade’s handle into her mouth. She stepped in first, and L.A. followed. I went third, while our changeling brought up the rear. Just like the last store, the lights all worked, giving us a wonderful view of the interior. If only everything in Equestria had been built so well.

The building we’d walked into ended up being more than just a simple clinic. One half of the room had a tall counter, and a hallway leading further into the building. The other half of the building housed row after row of shelves, covered in all manner of goods. One toppled shelf must have once held the makeup and mane brushes which now littered the floor. A sign above announced that side of the room as ‘pharmacy’ and the other as ‘clinic.’

As I passed the threshold, the PipBuck’s radiation detector went through the roof. Even within the lobby, the clicking rocketed to a maddening pace. I saw in the corner of my vision that the rads per second had hit the highest levels I’d ever seen. Not waiting for anypony to suggest it, I dug out what little RadSafe we had left from those horrible mines, and passed it out. “The price of finding good treasure,” I said with a laugh. A roof and good loot was plenty worth it to deal with some radiation.

Xeno spit her knife from her mouth into a fetlock. “Iam still wary of your pony drugs... Itis not bothering me, Iwill be fine,” she said, refusing the offer. She waved her hoof dismissively and put the knife back between her teeth. Such a strange zebra. Whatever potions or brews she’d been given as a parting gift must have worked wonders to allow her to completely ignore the massive radiation inside.

With several ‘thank yous,’ Fine Tune and Lost downed plenty. I took the remainder, leaving one for emergencies. We needed to find some to restock, and fast, and this was the perfect place to do it. The radiation inside, at this rate, would probably turn us into-

A shot shattered the glass door behind us. We all dove for cover, not knowing exactly where it came from. A raspy voice yelled something, but I couldn’t hear what. Rather than cower as sitting targets, the four of us moved in and branched out, each ducking behind a checkout line. I checked the E.F.S. and saw red markers in every direction. What luck, a raider den in the middle of an irradiated pharmacy.

Celestia, Luna...

Thank you.

I grinned and kicked my reload lever to top Persistence off. “There’s lots in here,” I said to my group. “Be on your guard.”

“Emotionless,” whispered Fine Tune, looking over the counter. He looked side to side several times, stopping now and then. “They’re different...” he whispered, and looked over to the rest of us with a very confused look.

“Where’d ya go, with your pretty manes?” yelled a deep, rasping voice. It sounded much closer. The thudding of running hooves echoed from the high ceiling above us. I could feel my pulse pounding in my ears. Despite the radiation and the threat of death, this was starting to get fun.

“Doesn’t matter. They’re raiders. Raiders kill, rape, and desecrate. They’re kill-on-sight,” Lost said, pulling both the plasma pistol from her saddlebags and Loyalty from her leg holster. She looked over at me and smiled. “No need to worry now, right Hidden?”

“Nope,” I answered, smiling.

Lost smiled back. “Go get ‘em.”

I didn’t need more of an invitation. I leapt up onto the checkout counter and dropped myself into the recently-recharged S.A.T.S. Frozen in time and free from imminent danger, I looked around from my new vantage point. One aisle looked filled with half-eaten food and the remains of somepony unlucky enough to die surrounded by raiders. Another aisle looked to be in perfect shape, as if somepony had put everything on the shelf just before we’d walked in. It was funny what strange things I noticed when locked in the frozen targeting bliss of S.A.T.S.

The magic of the PipBuck highlighted half a dozen targets, most of them standing on the tops of shelves, all lit by green and red circles of haze. More markers hovered in the corners of my vision, but they weren’t close enough or weren’t in sight for the spell to lock onto. I targetted one, and fired. My gun spat thunder and fire as I blasted the legs out from under the mare.

Another loud BANG cut through the room as Xeno fired the sniper rifle we’d given her. The shot missed the raider’s head, but it tore through one of his hind legs and toppled him from the shelf to the ground. Plasma flew through the air, followed by a B-KEW sound.

They could pick their targets. I had ponies to kill.

The air filled with the bangs and booms of gunfire as the raider ghouls fired at me. Standing on top of the counter all by myself made for an inviting target apparently. I winced and yelled as shots tore through my legs and flanks. Really needed to get some armor for there.

I jumped from the counter onto the shelf and ran along it, ignoring the ever-increasing clicking of the PipBuck. If I was fast enough, the radiation wouldn’t matter. I used plenty of RadSafe though, so I ignored the sound.

I had ponies to kill. Radiation poisoning could wait. I tackled the raider Xeno had shot, and landed with a thud atop him. The milky, dead eyes of a unicorn ghoul stared up at me. The hole in his leg slowly disappeared.

“Oh, still got all yer skin. I like that in a mare!” he taunted, his voice grating me like sandpaper. His horn glowed and a pistol hovered next to my head. He kicked as well, his leg missing the hole that sent him to the floor.

I headbutted his face as fast as I could, smashing his rotten nose in. I did not want to get shot in the face. My steel hoof finished him, leaving nothing but a twice-dead corpse. Shots from my sides dug into my flanks and struck my jacket. With the armor underneath, they did little more than piss me off. I liked this jacket. Now I’d have to find some way to repair it.

The PipBuck clicked faster. It refused to let me forget the radiation.

More echoing B-KEWs and BANGS filled the air as my sister and friend tore the shelf-perched ponies apart. The death screams and splatters made for quite the soundtrack to my attack. I charged the nearest raider, slipping into S.A.T.S. the moment it alerted me that it had fully recharged. I stopped mid-gallop, and queued up three shots. By the time the spell activated and all four hooves hit the ground, I’d already fired all three off, and crippled the mare in front of me. I knocked her down for good with a sideways kick from a shackled hoof.

That. Fucking. Hurt. I made a note to not use the shackles as a weapon again, no matter how much that slaver doctor had ‘healed’ them. It wasn’t enough to make me limp, so I could still fight.

The B-KEW sounds stopped entirely, making me pause. Had one hurt Lost? All of Xeno’s sniper BANGS had ceased too.

I made a beeline for the front of the pharmacy, going for red markers. I needed to thin out the ghoulified raiders on my way back. Best to do two things at once. They needed to focus on me, not move in on my sister or friends. I dodged and weaved around the fallen goods on the store floor, looking for something to aim at. One stallion shouted something lewd about me in his grating voice. Perfect target. My last shot from Persistence shut him up.

Actually it made him scream in pain, but it curtailed any further dirty comments about my looks. I kicked the reload lever, and sped up. The battle saddle clicked loudly, filling a new magazine with bullets for my prized gun. But that took a few seconds that I wasn’t willing to waste. I whirled and speared the stallion with the barrel of the gun like a lance, then slammed him into the ground, within reach of my hooves.

I scraped him from my gun onto the ground, pushed down, and didn’t let off until I heard his skull crunch.

Maybe having one hoof made of nearly indestructible metal wasn’t a bad thing. I thanked the Goddesses above for Praline’s skill in crafting it. Then cursed them for making Wirepony out of the same stuff. If he’d been easier to kill, I- Well, I was in a fight, and didn’t have time for memories.

I rounded the corner, and took several shots to the chest and neck from an earth pony mare with flaking skin and dead eyes. One shredded through my ear, once more tearing it to pieces. I grunted and fired back, missing twice but still getting a good shot in right through her eye. I was either getting better at shooting while running, or that was some crazy fluke of zebra luck. Still, the blood draining down my neck and pooling in the armor reminded me I’d need to heal as best I could as soon as I got a moment.

I finally made it back to the front of the store, and scrambled around the counters to find my sister lying on the ground, bleeding from the eyes. Xeno stood above her, pulling a knife from the corpse of a raider. Fine Tune was nowhere to be seen.

“You okay sis?” I asked, crouching down next to her. If I’d had the time, I’d have facehoofed at how stupid a question that was.

She coughed, and spat up blood. “Ugh,” she whimpered, breathing heavily. Even her coat looked whiter than normal. “Perfectly fine. You?” she asked.

A burst of bullets interrupted us, coming from the clinic side of the building. Several raiders poured from the hallway to join the fight. A loud BANG tore through the air as Xeno returned fire.

“Oh shut up!” I screamed at the ghouls. “Yeah, Lost, the radiation getting to you. Take this.” Without waiting for her to protest, I started digging through my saddlebags for some RadAway. I knew we had to have some left over somewhere. I’d made sure to hunt through every single house, ruin, store, and safe I could get my hooves on while on our way to Skirt. Using the PipBuck’s organizer spell I pulled one from the tops of my saddlebags. “Here. Drink. I’ll finish them off.”

“Thanks,” she whispered, taking the RadAway from my fetlock. I barely heard her over the screaming and gunfire above our heads. I snagged a healing potion while I had the time, and downed it to keep me going.

The PipBuck clicked several more times and I noticed a flashing warning. Apparently I had ‘minor’ radiation poisoning. Really, radiation poisoning being minor? I ignored the feeling that I needed to vomit, and the taste of blood. I had to finish off the remaining raiders, fast. I patted my sister on the back, gave her another pouch of RadAway, then turned back to the raiders. Three more markers waited my attacks. One mare stood atop the shelves, defiantly firing at Xeno to keep her pinned down.

Celestia, Luna. Please let us find a way to teach Xeno to be a better ranged fighter.

I activated S.A.T.S. and aimed for the raider ghoul’s head. The clicking of the PipBuck reminded me I couldn’t half-ass this. I unloaded everything the spell would let me. Two bullets dug into her head. The third splattered skull fragments and ichor out the back. She collapsed. The spell had enough juice for another few shots, so I galloped toward the next target on the clinic side of the building.

A large earth pony mare slammed into me, hard. Somehow I hadn’t seen her, or noticed her marker on the E.F.S. Together we toppled to the side, her screaming something in my ear that sounded like a hoof on a chalkboard. She kicked me hard, and I slammed into the shelf. Over it went, taking me with it.

“Ow, ow. Fuck!”

I ended up on my back, stuck between two of the shelf pieces. The mare jumped atop me, and just smiled. I shuddered, half her teeth were gone and most of her mouth had rotted away. It was a less-than-attractive look for any pony. She’d made the mistake of standing atop me, though.

By the time she’d hit me twice in the face, I got my hooves up under her. “Xeno! Aim high!” I screamed as loud as I could, over the rasping mare and over the clicking of my PipBuck. With everything I had, I kicked her up.

I might not have magic like Lost. I might not be able to levitate things. But I was strong.

The mare flew into the air a few feet, just enough to clear the top of the still standing shelves.

BAM!

A sniper bullet ripped through her chest. The raider toppled, flying through the air several feet before hitting the ground. She skidded across the room and smashed into the clinic’s counter with a wet squelching sound.

Stuck in my spot, I had a second to think. This would have been the perfect time to have some Buck. A wonderful little fight where somepony else could have worried about the constant fucking clicking of the PipBuck!

Clickclickclickclickclickclickclick.

“I know!” I shouted at the damn thing. Kicking in frustration, I managed to squirm myself loose and get up. Cheater magic would have been really useful to just lift myself out of the spot.

One raider left.

B-KEW!

Zero raiders left.

I ripped into the RadAway from the top of my saddlebags, and drank deep. I felt the blood drip down the corners of my mouth, and I could feel pain in places I didn’t know I had. The back of my head throbbed, making me feel worse than the claws or the whispering voices ever did. Lost took worse to the radiation than I did, but Goddesses-damn, it still ate at me.

With all the raiders dead, we regrouped and fled the clinic to get out of the radiation. Fine Tune reappeared somewhere along the line, and Xeno left only after we managed to convince her she could treasure hunt with me once we got the radiation situation under control.

I breathed a sigh of relief, and flopped down next to the newly-dead undead raiders. That... That radiation was something powerful. “Fine Tune, where’d you disappear to?” I asked, eyeing the changeling as I rested.

“I-I’m. Well I’m not a fighter, really,” he admitted. “I hide and pick locks! Not run around bashing ponies apart.” He stared at me wide eyed, his pupils gone and only the bright spots in his eyes to show that he was looking directly at me.

“You managered to hurt me easily enough, bugpony,” Xeno said, wiggling a hoof at her own nose.

“I don’t have a gun, though! I was... Was just running then, doing my best,” he said, frowning. “The only weapon I have is the blade I sharpened into my leg.” He lifted the leg he’d threatened my sister with.

“Don’t care,” Lost interrupted. “Rest now, argue later.” She looked far better now that we stood outside, away from invisible killer of radiation. From her mouth hung the pouch of RadAway, which she sipped every few seconds. Luckily, the bleeding from her eyes stopped, and most of the color had returned to her coat.

“I’m going back in,” I said. I dug through my bag and pulled out one last dose of RadSafe. “Xeno, you come with me. We’ll hunt together.” Getting a positive sounding grunt from the zebra, I smiled and moved closer to her. “It’ll be fun. Lost, you rest here.” I pulled a gun from my saddlebags, one of the pistols I never used. “This good for protection, Fine?”

The green-blue haze of his magic taking it from my fetlock answered that question.

“You keep chugging down that RadAway,” I said to Lost, passing her another pouch from my saddlebags. I hugged her, gave her a kiss behind her ear, then turned to the store. “We’ve got a whole clinic and pharmacy all to ourselves now. I’ll get everything we need. Back as soon as possible.”

“Stay safe, sis,” Lost wheezed.

Xeno downed one of her homemade potions, and slid the vial into her bag. “Itis bad here. Your machine will not shut up,” she said, nickering. She grabbed a bottle from a counter and stared at it. With a ‘hmph’ noise, she tossed it into her bag.

“Yeah, how do you ignore all this radiation, anyway?” I asked. Deep in the back of my throat I tasted the familiar coppery taste of blood. Even with the RadSafe and being careful where I walked, I knew I’d be too far gone soon. I checked the PipBuck, and pulled one of the RadAway pouches out. We only had a few left, so this would be my last until we found more.

Always keep emergency supplies, I reminded myself. In case somepony gets shot in the throat again.

“We need to hurry,” I said, more to myself than the zebra. The E.F.S. didn’t show any more red markers, but I checked twice anyway. Given the twisted hallway, there was no telling what might still be hiding around the corners.

I trotted to the pharmacy side of the clinic, and jumped over one of the shelves. Once in the aisle, I started looking. Tongue depressors, a lighter. What was a lighter doing in a pharmacy? Did Xeno need a lighter, what with her cigarettes? I ground my teeth, but gave up. No sense trying to understand. Shuffling through the fallen goods, I dug around for the corpses of those ghoul raiders. That got me too; since when did two-century old ghouls decide to go raider? Most either lost their minds, or managed to hold it together just enough to remember when Equestria wasn’t a Wasteland, and what it meant to be a real pony.

I moved down the medicine aisle, ignoring the trade goods for the more important items. Wartime society and paranoia about the end of the world left little, but it was enough. I snagged a box full of RadAway that had been pushed to the back of a shelf behind several empty cases, and I pulled bottle after bottle of RadSafe from the shelves. I didn’t care if I found what I needed, because the Goddesses were watching out for me, or just because I was good at finding what I needed. I smiled. This was enough to serve us for a long while. In my haste, I knocked one of the bottles to the floor, I accidentally kicked it away while trying to pick it up.

“Shit! I needed that,” I cursed as I ran after it. Stupid bottle. I caught up to it and grabbed it from the floor with my teeth. What else did we need now? I put the bottle in my saddlebags and let the PipBuck auto-sort it.

Clickclickclick!

“I know I know,” I snapped at it. I’d ended up near the back of the store, on the clinic side. They had plenty of medicine stocked on the shelves, but would the rooms in the back have any for emergency use? Shrugging, I trotted in and checked inside ‘Examination Room 1’.

Well, at least this room wasn’t decorated in pony remains like the last raider den we’d found. Maybe after two centuries, the ‘viscera and gore’ look got old and they cleaned up?

Sure enough, though, a first aid box hung on the wall... and was locked. Given my utter failure at the previous store, I needed some of Xeno’s magical zebra luck. I dug out a bobby pin and a screwdriver from the bags, thankful they hadn’t been confiscated by Mistress Amble and her slavers. Several minutes and what felt like hundreds of clicks later, I managed to get it open.

I lost count of how many bobby pins I used or how much radiation I’d been exposed to.

The trial was worth it though. I managed to get two spare healing potions, another sorely-needed bottle of RadSafe, and a roll of healing bandages! I hadn’t seen those in ages. I scooted across to ‘Examination Room 2’ and found an unlocked box. That one must have been looted by the raiders.

Clickclickclick!

“Fine,” I said, trotting out. I’d been far too lax with paying attention to the radiation. Maybe I’d just gotten cocky, trying to prove I could withstand as much as Xeno could. “Xeno, did you find whatever you needed?” I yelled across the store. I swallowed, wanting that coppery taste gone from my throat. I could feel my brain trying to escape my skull, pounding away behind my ears.

“Yes, letus go,” she yelled back. I heard her hooffalls across the tiled floor as she left, and followed.

Head held low, I ignored the vomit I knew was coming. I just needed to get out of the store. Then I needed to find out how Xeno ignored radiation so easily. I passed one of the corpses. A few more seconds couldn’t hurt. Digging through the mare’s raider armor, I pulled some ammo and an old gun. Worthless. I let it drop, and trudged out.

Another corpse. Too many raiders. Sick in my throat. It hit before I could move. Ghoul covered in bloody vomit was a disgusting sight. No treasure was worth that. I stepped over him and left. Needed a faster way to purge radiation. Stupid clicking. I trudged past another body.

But it wasn’t looted yet. Could have something good. I turned around and grabbed the armor with my teeth. I could treasure hunt outside, I reminded myself. I dragged the dead pony out.

Clickclickclickclick.

“Why?” it asked.

I ignored it. Dead ponies didn’t talk. Even dead undead ponies. Radiation apparently caused hallucinations. Good to know. I kept dragging.

“We were friends,” it said, voice raspy and quiet. The pony looked at me with the hollow eyes. Just like a changeling’s.

“You’re dead,” I answered, then bit down on the armor again. I didn’t need to taste ghoul flesh, that one time was enough. Almost to the door.

“Not yet,” it whispered. The rasping didn’t help my headache. In fact, it made it worse.

Clickclickclickclick!

“Shut u-” I threw up again. I was polite enough to aim away from the corpse. It might not like being covered in blood. I looked at the slowly-closing bullet holes.

More blood.

“Yeh a aidr. Sesh!” I ordered. I pulled the body through the door into the lobby. I nearly fell into the drizzle that smattered onto my mane and across my flanks. I shivered.

Click.

Just one click. Relative safety. I dropped the corpse. Warnings flashed in my vision. How long had those been there? How long had the red marker been there?

The ghoul shifted, rolling over to try and push himself up.

It was alive?

His head exploded in a shower of brain and bone. The red marker disappeared.

“Hidden, what’s wrong?” asked a voice over the ringing in my ears. Lost grabbed onto my neck and pulled me close. She stared me in the eyes, hers looking far better than they had a bit ago. In the reflection of her glasses, I saw my face, covered in blood.

Fun.

“Nothing. Except the raider corpse talking to me,” I answered. “You look better.” I forced a smile, and felt the warm sticky feeling of blood tugging at my coat. Ew. “Err, can you fix me?” My legs gave out from under me and I slid from her grasp.

She sighed loudly. With her telekinesis she pulled some of the RadAway from my saddlebags and stuck it in my mouth. “When I said I missed you acting recklessly, I didn’t mean like this,” she said, hugging me tight.

“Sorry. More loot though,” I whispered, sucking down the foul-tasting RadAway from the corner of my mouth.

Several minutes later, I felt much better. Lost dug the bullets out of me with her magic, then patched me up with the wonderful knitting feeling of her healing spell. Afterward, she spent the time I needed to recover digging through the corpse I’d dragged out. Fine Tune seemed content to rest against the building with his eyes closed, looking exhausted. Xeno dug through her bags.

Clickclick. Radiation again? Didn’t I just get through with that?

“Picking on foals?” asked a raspy, echoing voice. The ghoul lying on the ground, the one I’d pulled from the building didn’t move.

I checked the E.F.S. No red markers. Guess he finally bit it. But then?

Clickclickclickclickclick.

I spun around.

Standing with her head tilted was another ghoul, glowing bright green, wearing an equally bright yellow sun-dress. She motioned with a flaking hoof at the corpse Lost stood over, and raised an eyebrow. The sight of her muscle shifting with no skin made me feel sick to my stomach again. The ghoul was a unicorn, from the cracked remains of her horn, and wore a blank-screened PipBuck on her left foreleg. Saddlebags and a holstered pistol hung from her sides over the dress. I shielded my eyes from the sickening glow around her.

E.F.S. showed her as green.

“Foals?” L.A. asked, finally done with the treasure hunting. She took her glasses off and cleaned them, looking bewildered. “And what are you?”

The ghoul laughed, her reverberating voice echoing between my ears. We all cringed, even Xeno. “Sorry, those ones are new, its a bit of humor you see. Keeps my brain going, well, one of the things,” she explained. Every time she opened her mouth, the glow brightened, as if it came from inside her and tried to escape from her throat. Even though the cloud curtain hid the stars, and it was still dark, she lit the place up as if the sun were up and the cloud cover didn’t exist. Well, if it weren’t for the fact that her glow reminded me of balefire.

The PipBuck clicking broke the stare I didn’t realize I’d been giving her.

“New?” I asked. Standing, I trotted over and sat next to my sister. Something felt off, and I couldn’t tell whether it was the radiation or something else. The clicking slowed slightly. Xeno and Fine Tune both moved away as well. Xeno drew her knife.

She rolled her eyes. “Its dangerous here, little pony. That raider, he isn’t from my time,” she answered. “Well, I have places to be.” She trotted off without another word. The clicking finally stopped.

What in the Goddesses’ names?

“‘Kitchen Supplies’ and a coffee shop. Two more stores, then we run for Idle,” Lost instructed. She pointed at the coffee shop, built into the corner of one of the skyscrapers. Her hoof waved across the street and she pointed to a small store a few blocks away. “Take your pick.”

I yawned. Lack of sleep, and everything else I’d been through, was really starting to get to me. I’d even managed to somehow lose track of a brilliantly glowing ghoul. “I’ll take the coffee shop, s’closer,” I slurred. Digging through my bags, I pulled out the Sunrise Sarsaparilla and downed it. Having something in my stomach besides Rad-Away, even if it was just sugar, did wonders. “You three go raid the store. I’ll be here.”

Despite Lost’s concerned look, I waved her away with my steel hoof. I just needed a minute or two.

“Alright, we’ll meet you back here when we finish,” she said. She flashed green, so did Xeno and Fine Tune.

What?

“Looks like you have a call,” my sister said, pressing her hoof to my nose.

I scrunched my muzzle and looked down at the PipBuck. Maybe it was Praline! Or... Or maybe it was Lamington. My heart froze. “Okay, I’ll take this and then take care of the coffee shop.” I waved her away a few more times and dug out the earbloom. Trying to pull out the piece with hooves was less than easy, but I didn’t want anypony else to hear this.

“Hey, you got to talk to them last time,” Lost said, not leaving.

“Who always drinks my share of the Sparkle~Cola?” I asked, raising both eyebrows. “I’ll get you if it’s for you.”

“Fine,” she said. She shot me a look, then turned and left.

Plugging the earbloom into my ear, I waved to the others as they walked off. With only a little hesitation, I answered.

“Hello?”

Static filled my ear. I winced, but the voice that cut through made it worth it. “Hello, Miss Fortune. It’s delightful to hear your voice again,” said the deep static-filled voice of Star Paladin Lamington.

I went rigid and started to shake. Somewhere deep down where I couldn’t focus, something ached. “H-h-hi,” I muttered. I waited for the orders.

“Knight Praline told me you wished to speak with me. I apologize that it took so long to repair and augment my armor,” he continued, apparently not picking up on my stuttering. “So, tell me how you’ve been.”

“Yes, sir,” I whispered. I nodded a few times to nopony, knowing full well he couldn’t see me. “I’ve been okay the past day or two. Things have been hectic. Being captured by slavers though, tha-”

“What?” he bellowed through the earbloom. “Captured by slavers? Where are you? I will speak with the Elder, and send out a rescue party at dawn!”

I shook my head, snapping out of the stupor. “No, no! We got out. We’re safe,” I lied. Somewhat lied. It was half-true. “We’re just tying up some loose ends, then we’ll be visiting.”

“Nonsense,” he countered. “Whether I agree with it or not, the Elder considers the two of you sisters, as well as your zebra companion, to be as close as family.” He paused at random intervals, right as the static flared up. “Remember, steel breeds steel. We don’t abandon our own.”

My heart beat through my chest while my insides twisted. The feeling eased some of the aching in the pit of my stomach. It still felt awkward, but the new feeling didn’t make me near as worried. “It’s okay, Lamington. We’re safe. Lost and I are out hunting for treasure right now. We just... I wanted to talk to you is all.”

“Speak with me?” he asked, sounding surprised. His voice echoed slightly, a tinny reverberation from the armor. I guessed that even in the wee hours of the morning, he wore his armor. A stallion dedicated to his cause, reliable. “I’m honored, if surprised. After the departure we had. You seemed quite steadfast in your path.”

“I know, and that was probably stupid of me,” I admitted. Not wanting to venture into the building while distracted, I sat down against the wall, and scooted as far under the eaves as I could to get out of the drizzle. “I talked to Praline. She says you’re doing well over at Pommel Falls, and with the Stables?” I needed to change the subject, fast.

“Yes, she did mention you two had had a conversation,” the Star Paladin answered, “and she was very excited to get the two of us talking again.” I heard a steel tap through the earbloom, followed by another burst of static. “Then again, my sister seems to find a reason to be excited about any endeavor she starts. I suggest taking her enthusiasm with a grain of salt.”

The pounding in my chest slacked. He seemed almost... disinterested? Was it wrong to tell him that I wanted to talk, or was I just picking the wrong subject? For a moment I thought about ripping the broadcaster from the PipBuck and throwing it to the Wasteland. I really wasn’t a thinky pony.

“Tell me, will you be visiting us at this new settlement soon?” he asked.

I really wished I could see him, out of the armor, so I could gauge just what he meant. Between how he’d asked us to travel with him before, and his disinterest now, I was getting mixed signals. I probably read too much into it.

“Yes, probably in a day or two. I need Praline to look at my hoof and I know Lost wants to visit with Crème Brûlée too,” I answered, fidgeting with my free hoof. I looked around, moved the mic away, and sighed. This was going badly.

“Yes...” he said quietly. “My sisters.”

“So, how’s your eye?” I asked, changing the subject once more.

“It healed well. I am both surprised and pleased by the results. Considering the circumstances, it could have been much worse,” he answered. “My vision has completely returned, and have acquired additional functionality in the eye. My sister, as you know, did a wonderful job. Despite her silly demeanor, she has proven to be quite capable. I presume the replacement hoof she made for you is holding up well?”

“Yes, it is,” I answered. “Not even a dent in it.”

He stayed silent for a long moment. The pause worried me enough that I tapped the PipBuck a few times to make sure the broadcaster hadn’t cut out on me. The static on the other end was the only sign that he was still on the line.

“...hello?”

“Yes, I’m still here,” he answered through a burst of static. The line went silent again.

“Sorry,” I muttered.

“That’s quite all right. Her craftsponyship is second to none. While my eye and your hoof seem to be working as remarkable replacements, I would never wish for anypony, you or your sister especially, to ever endure what I did,” he said. I couldn’t tell if he was sad or not. If he was, he hid it well.

My heart sank. Lamington had done a lot for us, in getting us out of the mines and helping with Scifresh’s group of Steel Rangers. And here I was, upsetting him in the middle of the night by talking about his sisters. Unless... Wait.

He didn’t think Praline and I were a thing, did he?

She was cute and all, and a good pony who did a lot for me. But... I felt heat on my cheeks. Why was I blushing?

“I think we need to talk in person,” I said in my calmest voice. “But for now, umm... what have you been doing at the new Stables?” I gulped, hoping he’d take the bait. I didn’t know how to handle situations like this. If he... Or if she... Wait, did Praline? Gah! I was hopeless. All I knew how to do was smash things and follow orders.

“Being the eldest son, and by far the largest of us, I am mostly in charge of the movement of machinery,” he answered. His pride resounded through the static. Even being the pony in charge of heavy lifting ended up being something to be proud of for him. I liked that. No matter what he did, he must put his whole heart into it.

“Sounds like me and my sister. She might be able to move more with her cheater magic, but I’ve got the stronger back,” I said with a laugh. Something more we had in common.

“Cheater magic?” he asked. Through the earbloom I heard a hearty laugh. For once, the static didn’t interrupt. His laugh was wonderful. It cut through the gloom, and warmed my heart despite the worry and the rain. “I’d never thought of it like that before,” he said, “but then again, I didn’t grow up with a unicorn nearby. I suppose you are right. Seeing some of the things Scribe Lemon Tart is capable of, I begin to wonder why we didn’t have more of her kind in the Stable. I do believe I’ll tell her that one later.”

I laughed too, awkwardly. I wasn’t sure how I felt about him talking to Lemon Tart, and I had no idea why. “Grr.”

“Something wrong, Miss Fortune?” he asked.

My eyes went wide. I didn’t want him to know what I was thinking. But he asked. I had to... “Yes,” I answered.

“Do you wish to talk about it?”

“No,” I answered honestly. Honestly I didn’t know what was wrong, just that something was bothering me. I looked over to the store that L.A. and the others had gone to. They’d be back soon, given the radiation, and probably mad that I hadn’t checked the coffee shop like I’d promised. I’d deal with it. This call was too important.

“We’ll be back in a few days, Star Paladin.” I tried to be formal. “We will be able to discuss matters of business and uh, and other stuff.” I was not good at being formal. “I need to go, uh, my sister needs me to, um, take care of the thing with the things.”

I swallowed, listening to the silence on the other end.

“Understood. Stay safe Miss Fortune,” he finally said, and laughed again. “That’s an order, now.”

I wanted to cringe, but the way he said it... His laugh.

“Stay Safe. Yes sir,” I answered. I saluted with my free hoof, not caring that he couldn’t see. The minute the static faded, I fell face first into the ground. Ugh. The ground was a fine place for my face to belong. And so it rested for several minutes.

“Well now, there’s a familiar face,” rasped a voice beside me.

I looked up from my place, spat out some dirt, and waved halfheartedly. Judging by the brilliant green glow and the constant clickclickclick from the PipBuck, the voice belonged to the same ghoul I’d met after coming out of the clinic.

“What did you mean earlier, when you called that ghoul a foal?” I asked. I pushed myself up and scooted a bit away to get clear of her radioactive glow. The last thing I needed right now was another fit of vomiting or bleeding from places I shouldn’t.

“I suppose that did come out of nowhere, didn’t it?” she asked, sitting down several feet away. The PipBuck emitted a single click, and stopped. She raised her own PipBuck and laughed, once again giving me the ‘hoof on chalkboard’ feeling. “I don’t normally glow this bright, but inside the buildings here the radiation is particularly bad. For you. I love it.” She stretched, lifting her forelegs and giving off an even brighter glow. “Anyway. The ‘foals’ comment. I’m from before the War. The raiders you killed? I’ve seen their kind before. They wandered into the building looking for food, or somepony to kill. You wander in with a pulse, and wander back out without one.” She stared, raising her eyebrow once more.

I nearly vomited. I knew I’d never get used to seeing muscles move without flesh covering them. I didn’t like seeing my own living muscles move without flesh, let alone rotting ghoul muscles. Wait, they went in and never left? The radiation was bad enough to ghoulify a pony before they could leave?

I shuddered, wondering just how close I’d been to becoming one of them. A quick pat-down of my sides revealed no rotting flesh, and I didn’t feel like I’d died. I breathed a long, slow sigh of relief.

“I’d say you dodged a bullet there, but you don’t look like the type that does much dodging,” she said, stifling another raspy laugh.

“So, who are you anyway?” I asked her. I’d never met a ghoul this talkative. The few I had encountered that still had some wits about them just wanted to be left alone. Whether because the end of the world had done a number on them that took more than two centuries to get over, or because they didn’t like ponies like me with a full, rot-free coat.

“Just a pony visiting an old friend. I had to pick some things up for her, and since she’s currently stuck at her home, I offered to bring her what she needed,” she explained. “Nothing like a good radiation bath to perk up the old joints.” The ancient ghoul sat back on her haunches, lifted her forehooves, and cracked them back and forth a few times. The green glow radiating from her pulsed and twisted in weird ways, lighting the walls and the street with the creepiest glow I’d ever seen. “I’m heading toward Idle, how about you?” She smiled and looked at me with milky, hollow eyes. At one point they must have been a brilliant rose color, but now they just looked hazy.

“Heading toward Idle, too. We’ve got a slave trade to stop,” I explained. It was a noble goal, and she didn’t seem like a slaver. Then again, if she sold us out, I’d consider that to fall within Lost’s definition of ‘necessity.’

Mistress Amble whispered into my ear. “Murderer.”

“Interesting,” she said. “How’d you like to make a few caps doing a favor for an ancient mare?”

The PipBuck clicked a few times, reminding me that no matter how nice she acted, she was a walking source of magical radiation.

I raised an eyebrow, one with flesh still over the muscles. Caps would be nice, and this mare hadn’t done anything to make me mistrust her yet. If we were going in the same direction anyway, who cared? “I’ll ask my sister when she gets back,” I answered. A thinky pony would know. We shouldn’t trust others, but given how well it had worked out with Xeno, and with Fine Tune... Did having another traveling partner really hurt that much? “I’d love to continue chatting, but I’m supposed to be hunting through that coffee shop for anything valuable.” I stood and shook off, steeling myself.

“There’s nothing in there worth getting. I already took care of it,” the undead mare said. She rattled her saddlebag. It sounded quite full. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’m old, you can probably tell.” She passed a hoof over her face. “All this right here, rotting away as the decades pass by. I need a strong back to carry some things. That’s all. You pass what I give you back to me when we get to the town, and we’re all done.”

“Well, since that’s taken care of, let’s go ask my sister.” I trotted away, staying far enough away to keep the PipBuck quiet. The glow behind me moved, making my shadow trail along the ground and up the walls like a looming monster. Together we walked to the store where my sister and friends were.

I checked the PipBuck before sticking my head in the door. There weren’t any red markers, just the three that I recognized as belonging to my sister and friends. Idle’s marker wasn’t too far away, so we could probably make it by morning. Satisfied, I poked my head in. “Lost? You finished?”

The PipBuck gave a few clicks. Clickclick. Bad, but not terrible.

“Almost! What’d you find in the coffee shop?” she yelled back. Several hooffalls fell, echoing through the walls of the building from places I couldn’t figure out.

“Nothing. Somepony beat us there,” I yelled to her. “Come out here, I need to talk to you.”

She didn’t answer. After what felt like ages, but was probably only a few seconds, I yelled in again, “Lost!”

“I’m right here,” she said, walking around a corner and into sight. She looked fine, aside from the bit of blood draining from the corners of her mouth. “It takes time to walk back, you need to give me a minute.” Her horn lit up and she pulled a pouch of RadAway from her bags. Hanging it from the side of her mouth she trotted outside. “Oh, her again?” she asked as soon as she saw the nameless ghoul mare.

I made a point to ask about her name later.

“She’s heading to Idle too, asked if I could carry some things for her.”

The ghoul waved.

L.A. stared blankly at me. For a moment, I thought she might bop me upside the head, but instead she just sighed and stepped out from the radiation-filled building. “Why?”

“She’s offering to pay. We’re going there anyway,” I said, shrugging. It didn’t matter either way to me, but I couldn’t think of any reason not to make a few caps, since we were heading there anyway. As long as we stayed far enough away from her to not get any radiation poisoning, we’d be fine. “Plus, we could ask about the city?”

“Alright, that’s fine then,” she agreed. “Let me get the others.”

“We’re good,” I told the ghoul. I grabbed the latch of my saddlebags with my teeth, and pulled the bag open.

“Much appreciated,” she said, running a hoof through the wispy remains of her mane. She trotted over, sending my PipBuck’s slow clicking into a roar. Her horn sparked and discharged, the shattered base glowing a pale pink. She lifted her bags from her side and poured everything in them into my own saddlebags.

“Oof,” I gasped. “That’s a lot.” I checked the PipBuck’s inventory screen. Drugs. Lots of them. Everything ranging from my beloved Buck, to Mint-als, Dash, and Rage. What was Rage anyway? I hadn’t run into that one before, but given the name...

“Thanks again. So, what was that about the city?” she asked, her mouth twisting into a rotten smile.

“Like... we met a trader who told us about the Academy and this one giant cannon they were testing or building, or something, there,” I explained. “If you’re from Equestria, before the end of the world, you might have similar stories.”

Lost walked from the building with Xeno and Fine Tune. She nickered, still holding the pouch of RadAway in her mouth and slurping on it. After each slurp she grimaced, and given the taste of RadAway, I didn’t blame her one bit.

“Find anything good?” I asked.

“Yes, Hiddenpony. Iwas able to replace the supplies I left at your home,” Xeno answered. She patted Fine Tune on the head. “Iam once again able to craft the brews and elixirs my mother taught me while we travel, assuring I can find the supplies.” She looked at Fine Tune and smiled. A winged pony did make finding things easier.

“It’s a haul,” announced Lost. She pranced a bit on her hooves, and turned toward Idle. “Let’s go!”

I’d missed seeing my sister happy. It was good to see her back to her old self.

We started off without fanfare. The PipBuck said we still had a long way to go. The ghoul led the way, staying several yards in front to keep the worst of the radiation away from us. Her glow cut through the drizzle like a lantern. It was nice to be able to see, but if we could see, so could anypony else around. I couldn’t tell if it was a blessing or a curse.

“I moved to the city shortly after Princess Luna took over for Princess Celestia,” explained the ghoul. “My husband, at the time, managed to snag a job at the Ministry of Wartime Technology, and he was transferred to their Research and Development department over at what they call The Cinch.”

“So, that’s what The Cinch is?” I asked.

“Yes, they were... well, I guess they still are...” she mused. “Those six buildings made up the government influence here, under Princess Luna.” That answered one mystery that had been bothering me. “Most major cities had a ‘Ministry Walk,’ similar to the one in Canterlot. The Cinch was the nickname for Blackhoof’s, due to its shape.”

“Six perfect buildings in a ring?”

“Ayup, that’s the one,” she rasped. The idea that I’d seen them several times already came as a bit of a shock. “I worked as an accountant back in the day, for the Ministry of Arcane Sciences.” She laughed, loud enough I had to fold my ears down. “Things changed during the war. I was just a filly when it started, and I remember...” She sighed, raising a hoof to her face. “I remember when it was peaceful. When the biggest threats were easily handled by the Princess’ prized student and her friends.”

“Prized student?” Lost asked. She looked so jealous I thought her coat might turn as green as the ghoul’s glow. I vaguely remembered dad reading me a book about the Princesses and their students.

“Right, Princess Celestia relied on Twilight Sparkle to protect Equestria when I was a filly. She and her friends took down some of the worst that Equestria had to offer... before it became a wasteland. They were placed in charge of the Ministries when Princess Celestia abdicated and Princess Luna took over,” she explained. She paused and looked back. “I assume you weren’t taught that?” She laughed, gasping a little and then coughing into her hoof. “Sorry, throat’s a bit dry. And rotten.”

“No, not really,” I admitted. Fine Tune simply shrugged, but I supposed that was normal for a changeling. Lost nodded in agreement.

“Iam aware. The stories my mother would tell, of the day the world ended, and how it had been foretold that the Stars would bring it to happen,” Xeno said. She blinked, looking at our stares. “My mother is very superstitious.”

“Anyway,” the ghoul muttered, “we all made choices, and the world ended. I got to see past it.” She didn’t bother to look at us, just shrugged. “We went from a city that ran like clockwork, a city that trained soldiers and created wonders, to a festering shithole.” She stopped and turned around. Waving a hoof she pointed at several buildings. “Do you see this? This is what my beloved city has become! I loved it when I moved here. There were beautiful shops, a flourishing economy. Do you know what we have now?”

None of us answered. I stepped back a few times, worrying that she might have dropped off the deep end.

“Misery.”

Ponies killing one another. Slavers. Raiders. Monsters...

“That sums it up perfectly,” L.A. announced, finishing my thought for me.

“I remember when ponies worked together, before we needed a unified evil to rally against,” she said, turning back around and walking off. Her glow dimmed slightly. “I remember love, hope, friendship... I remember all of it. The choices we made, things we thought were the best option at the time... I made mistakes, Spandrel made mistakes. Rosie made mistakes too... The Ministry Mares, they all made mistakes. And where did it get us?”

“Here?” I asked.

“Blackhoof was beautiful once... I can only imagine how it was before The Cinch opened, before they built the Academy,” she whispered. “I wish I could see it all again. You know what they say, right, about ends and means?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “I wonder... Do the ends ever justify the means?” She laughed. “That depends on the timeframe.”

I stopped walking and looked at my sister. She wore the same confused look I did. Finally, I turned back to the ghoul. “Just who are you?”

“Nopony special,” she answered.

“Can you at least tell us your name?” Lost asked.

“I left my name in Equestria, two centuries ago..."
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnote: Level Up!

Hidden Fortune:
New Perk: Steel Hoof (Rank 2) – Finally putting that cyberpony hoof to good use? When attacking with the metal attachments to your body, you do extra damage equivalent to just how much steel you throw around.

Lost Art:
New Perk: Team Player – You work best in groups and when surrounded by ponies you care about. Whether driven to protect them or just boosted by espirit de corps, you gain bonuses to all skills when you’re in the presence of others.

“So, another new party member?”
“Do we have the stats for this many companions?”
“I dunno, let me check my character sheet.”
“You can see yours!?”
“Yeah, here, look.”
“I need how much experience to get to the next level?”
“At least you get to see your perks, sisters. Mine are a mystery even to me.”
“Cri kiki! Ki!”