Dark Lights Shine Bright

by PandOracle

Chapter one - Deja Vu

Dark Lights Shine Bright

Chapter 2 - Deja Vu

Blind. I felt utterly and completely blind, but I could still see. I was looking around, taking in the darkness of this room or whatever I was in, but I never paid attention to anything inside it. I forgot every part near instantly when I look away from them.

It took a few minutes for me to realise that I was sprawled on my back across the ground. I lifted myself up and tried examining the room I was in for the fifth to so far. Behind me was just a large wall. I imagine that there may have once been a few paintings on it or a mirror or just some wallpaper, but now it was just bare and the perfect thing for me to lean against. Directly in front of me was something like a smaller wall, a desk or counter or bar or whatever. Just something that was low, had cupboards on my side of it and was cutting of my view from the rest of the room. To my left was nothing, apart from the wall of course. It the counter in front of me just carried on down to the wall. To my right was.

A pony.

A mare by the looks of it, but it’s hard to tell in dark lighting. She was a...I couldn’t tell what kind of pony she was. The only thing I could tell was that she was alive, had saved me and so was hopefully not a major threat...And she was staring right at me.

I still couldn’t identify what colour her fur and mane were, they were definitely something dark otherwise they would have at least been a little noticeable in this light. But I could tell that at least her mane was short. The most obvious part of her were her golden eyes, just staring at me and slowly blinking, but never moving.

She stood up slowly. A quiet scraping of metal confirmed that she had armour, and most probably some sort of weapon. She took slow and small steps towards me, never once breaking contact until she was so close I could feel her warm breath against me.

I felt scared. I had no idea where I was, no real change there but at least I was in daylight the last time I remember before this. I was terrified, but somehow safe as well. I don’t know why exactly, nothing about the current situation really screamed out safe to me. It was just the fact that she had not yet killed me, and I’m guessing that she had also saved me from the infected pony.

She crouched slightly and moved her head closer to me. I wondered what she was doing until she opened her mouth.

Fangs. This pony had fangs. And I had a pretty good guess on what they were being used on.

She clamped down hard on my neck. I felt the teeth puncture my skin with agonizing pain. I tried screaming, but the words failed to leave my mouth. Once that failed, I began waving my hooves around, but I couldn’t do that completely either. All I could do was kick my hind hooves out in front of me, but as she was coming from the side, that didn’t help much. So I sat there, kicking all I could in pain and fell once again into darkness.

-*- -*- -*-

Blind. I felt blind, not being able to concentrate on everything I saw. All I could see was that I was in a dark room in some place.

Behind me was a wall which I was propped up against. In front of me was a counter of sorts. My left, just more wall that joined to the counter. To my right was a...pony. It was too dark to see what they were exactly apart from that they were a mare.

She walked over to me, and slowly lowered her head to my neck when I saw the fangs in her mouth. It was obvious what they were used for. She bit and I tried to scream, but failed. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything as I just slipped into darkness.

-*- -*- -*-

Blind. I couldn’t see anything other than I mare to my right, she was laying next to me just curled up in her tail like a cat seeking comfort. She opened her eyes and looked at me, then smiled. Fangs, this pony had fangs.

Before I could carry on the thought, she had stood up and latched her teeth into my neck. I couldn’t do anything as I faded into a deep darkness and lost all sense of anything around me.

-*- -*- -*-

I awoke suddenly into darkness. I didn’t know where I was, just that this place was dark and definitely not where I had last been. The last place I was was in the middle of nowhere, about to be eaten by an infected pony. It was definitely not some building in a town.

I took a second to gather my thoughts, the task was made much harder as I felt extremely light headed, like I had been wounded and lost a lot of blood.

My first idea after I had recovered was to look around, get familiar with my surroundings and try to work out what kind of building this was. In front of me was a counter of sorts that stretched to the wall on my left, and stopped a little short to the wall on the right. The gap allowed room for at least one pony, probably two to pass through at the same time.

The walls had not been touched in a long time. There was no metal or wooden bars on the outside of them to help support it, and no bad repairs or paint jobs. Just left in the shitty state that over two hundred years of abandonment had left it in, which wasn’t much.

I didn’t like the bareness of the place. It had no shoddy renovation from any slavers or bandits or anypony. It didn’t even look like it had been searched for supplies. That gave me the feeling that this place was extremely dangerous.

The door of the counter cupboard in front of me had long since gone, probably taken for some barricade or just kicked off. On the upper shelf lay probably the best thing in the world for me. Guns and bullets, but not just any. It was my gun, my Leksin and it had at least 13 bullets scattered around it. I opened the cupboard next to it to reveal a set of frontal body armour, but it had two badly cut out parts of its side.

A gunshot cracked through the silence causing me to jump, and then wither in pain as my head went light headed once again. I took a second to once again gather my thoughts, all while looking around carefully for where the gunshot came from, and anything it may have attracted.

Faint voices entered my hearing as I clambered back to my hooves. I pressed against the counter in front of me in hope of hearing what was being said. I had no such luck. And the best thing to do when you have no luck is to try and push it. I walked around the counter, keeping my hooves light on the ground to avoid making any unneeded noise.

I stepped toward the broken windows, leaning on the wall as I didn’t trust my head to keep myself upright. I was just at the edge of the wall and on the verge of being outside on the street.

I looked around the outside of the building. The sky had changed from it’s day time red haze and was now in it’s purple, grey mist that enveloped everything. Under it lay this small town in which I was no in. No I was even more worried. This was perfect ground for a slaver camp, when you spend enough time listening to the guards talk, you learn a few things.

It seemed as though I was inside a small shop on the corner of the street. Across the piles of rubble that classed as the street lay the small lobby of a little hotel. The side of that building had become home to a rusting sky carriage. I didn’t want to guess what had happened to the ponies that were once inside it.

My attention was brought back to my first mission with a second gunshot, this time it was followed by a restrained shout that sounding as though it came from a mare

I poked my head around the corner to see a pony curled up on the ground a few metres past the a, a small pool of blood forming around them and being supplied from one of their hind legs. I could just make out a set of...wings on there back? Wait, where they wings? They didn’t have any feathers on them. They looked more like a fabric than actual wings but they were definitely wings of some sort.

Out of nowhere came a second pony, a stallion unicorn, covered in raider armour. A large rifle followed him, surrounded in a brown aura. He was wearing raider armour, and a lot of it. This place really isn’t safe if that much was needed. So that pony on the ground mustn't be meant to be here.

“Fuck were you doin’ out here?” The stallion spat with a deep, gravelly voice, confirming my thought. The mare on the ground just laughed.

“Oh, you know. I just fancied a little stroll downtown, see what new things the shops have.” Her voice was empty after the short giggle. Her head stayed on the ground all the time as she spoke, her only movement coming from her lips and her left hoof clutching around her hind leg. He brought the gun closer to her head.

“Fine. If you ain’t gonna wanna do the small talk then you could’ve just said so. I was looking for supplies, food, bullets, anything that would help me or fit in a Leksin. why would anyone come here and this close to you ponies home if they weren’t looking for supplies.” There was the slightest hint of anger in her voice.

It took a few more seconds for me to finally realise it. The wings on her back and the cut out shapes in the armour. The fact that my gun had bullets again and she was looking for supplies, specifically bullets for a Leksin. The fact that she had been on the nearer side to me than the other stallion was.

She was the pony who had saved me. She wanted somepony else. If not, then she was in danger now and I could save her so we could roam the place together and find food and have safety… No, that wasn’t how it worked out here, but I had to at least try it.

She could be my new mistress.

I scanned the area, looking for something that would help me. But other than the sky carriage on the opposing side of the street. All that was in between us was large patches of grass that had broken up through the cracked cobble stone road.

I turned back towards the counters and quickly sneaked around them, being careful not to make any noise that would get me caught. Once there, I levitated out the pistol and armour. It took a while to do it, and I got a little worried that I had maybe exhausted all my magic. I had a plan, not a very good one but a plan none the less and it relied a lot on magic. It finally kicked in when I started to get worried that I was wasting too much time

A small rattling sound was all that was apparent when I loading the bullets into the either bullet cylinder of the pistol. I quickly gave another check through of the gun, the last thing I would need right now is to find out that the barrel hand been damaged in some way.

Next was the armour. Putting it on would give off too much noise, so I began to rip pieces of the fabric that binding it together off. Probably not a good idea and this mare would hate me for it if this was my rescuer, but if I didn’t then. Well, she wouldn’t be able to be angry about anything then. I wrapped the ripped fabric around my hooves with the help of my trusty horn.

I really hoped that this would work. I had no other real option. It was most probably me being just being paranoid, but even as a slave, you don’t really wake up with absolutely no idea where you are. And right now, I was in a place that I had no idea where it was, no idea how long I had been unconscious for and no idea what kind of ponies were here. So yeah, I was taking any chance I could to make new friends, even if it meant possibly getting myself killed for a pony that may have somehow started all of this for all I know.

I gave another quick look around the corner. The ponies were still there. And that worried me even more. Why was she still alive? Why had he not killed yet? I was worried that my fears were coming true, that this place was home to slavers and that he planned on taking her back, or maybe he was planning to rape her. Or maybe even he was just so sick minded that he was going to watch her bleed out on the floor. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem all to nice.

I crouched down low to the ground, practically dragged my stomach and and chin on the floor. I hoped that the grass tall grass paired with the darkness of the night would give me the cover I needed to get over to the sky carriage.

“As cheesy as this sounds, I have to ask this. What do you want with me?” The mare stayed unmoving on the ground, even the anger had left her voice, just leaving the empty monotone voice.

“I just want to know how you managed to get past our patrols and if you are alone or not.” His voice grumbled like before. This caused a small bit of emotion to return to the mare as she released a small giggle in response.

“You called that a patrol. Three ponies with one gun and two near broken bats between them isn’t a patrol. Especially when that with the gun couldn’t shoot a pony if they were laying in front of them dying.” Her head rotated towards the pony. But that was still in the opposite direction to me so I wasn’t able to see her face. “Although, I guess that you can’t either.”

“Nah, you're right. I couldn’t. Why would I shoot them if they were already dying, be a waste of ammo and entertainment,” He pressed the barrel of his rifle into the bullet wound on her rear leg. My first thought when she started screaming was to look around in case it dragged any more unwanted attention. It was my only thought.

The mare began sobbing quietly once he had finished. “Fine... I just snuck past them. They seemed to want to get out of there pretty quickly and skipped more than a little on there search. As for me? No, I’m not alone” The stallion took a step back and quickly looked around nervously. I had just enough warning time to lay down in the grass again. Somehow I had managed to get distracted by their little chit-chat and had almost sat up to listen.

“Ok... I wasn’t expecting that to come so easily.” He carried on looking around, double and triple checking every location. He prodded the gun into the mares stomach. “Get up” She did nothing. “Get up.” A loud smack echoed through the buildings as he swung the metal barrel hard into her stomach, causing her to start choking after being winded. But she still managed to stand up somehow, this mare must have been made of steel if she could still walk without throwing up after that.

“You are going to show me where these little friends of yours are.” She looked emptily towards the shop and began walking. Blood was still trickling heavily out of her right hind leg, she seemed to keep it elevated off the ground and hopped slowly towards the place that I had awoken in. She had to stop and throw up after only a few short steps. So much for her being made of steel.

I had managed to make it over to the sky carrier by now and was thanking whoever was above that my makeshift hoof softeners worked in keeping me silent. I then awaited for the perfect moment for me to attack, if I wasn’t spotted and shot first that is. But by the angle that the sky carrier was at, and the direction that the raider pony was going in, then I should be able to just simply walk out behind him without being spotted.

“May I just say though. You really are the poster pony of all raiders aren’t you.” I could tell that she was trying to wind him up by her voice, it was very faint. Only a trace showing through her pain but it was there. “With that husky voice of yours and that whole mini conversation thing before my ultimate doom. I must congratulate you on that.” She laughed quietly again, obviously finding her own words a little funny somehow. Now was my perfect time to go for it, they were standing right in front of the sky carrier with their backs to me. I levitated my Leksin up and prepared, I had only one shot. figuratively speaking.

“You know. I don’t really think that the end of a barrel is a place to do something that whoever is holding the gun wouldn’t like.” I pressed the Leksin up to the back of his head, then smiled as his body froze.

“I couldn’t agree more” I smiled, loving the setup of words that had just come into play. “So I think that you should listen carefully.” Oh sweet sunfuck that was the best line ever.

The mare turned around and laughed in what I could only guess was disbelief at the sight of this happening. I couldn’t tell what was going on in her head this time. But I finally got a good look at her face. Her fur seemed to be a dark shade of grey, but the lack of light kept me uncertain as to whether it was just from the sirt or not. Her mane and tail were a slightly spiked and a double shade of purple; moderately bright on the outside, with a lot darker shade in the centre. The biggest suprise to me though was the wings, they were real but different. When I had heard the stories of pegasi, they always had feathery wings. These were just, skin or something that had been stretched out, like a pony that just wanted to be a pegasus. I couldn’t tell whether she thought I was a threat to her or not, but either one wouldn’t seemed to have mattered as she just lay down on her side, seeming exhausted as ever.

“I’m gonna want you to put down that rifle there, otherwise you may find you skull with a little metal friend of mine.” I had heard that line from my main master. It seemed to work when intimidating ponies. Or it at least worked against me.

No. I couldn’t think that anything from them was good. They weren’t good, nothing they said or did was good.

His brown aura slowly brought the rifle to the ground and then quickly dispersed.

“Good. Thanks for co-operating.” I looked around for somepony to tell me what to do, expecting to see one of my masters here with me. But they weren’t.

I was in control.

How did I not realise this sooner? I was actually in control, I was giving the orders now. I was in charge of my actions

...But I didn’t know how to be in control. I couldn’t think of anything, of what to do. There were so many possibilities, but none that I could choose. I didn’t know what to do.

The stallion I was currently holding at gunpoint spoke up. “Please. Either shoot me now and get it down or please let me go.” His voice kept its deep tone, not really helping him sound like he was pleading. But there was enough to show me that he was at least a little scared.

I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t. He was another live pony, I couldn’t kill him. My magic never dispersed from around the Leksin, but my head did sink down into a bow.

“Sorry master. You can go.” My head stayed bowed to the ground, only being able to see his hooves. And from the looks of it, he turned to look at me for a brief second before running off. Both he and his rifle were gone when I looked up with a small, unexplainable tear in my eye.

“Ok, I have no idea who yo-” She was unconscious. Shit I had to move fast. Those rifle shots had to have dragged any other unwanted attention, there was no doubt in my mind that infected or mutants or other raiders would’ve heard it. And she needed some medical attention to stop the bleeding.

I unwrapped the pieces of fabric to my hooves and then held them over the wound on her flank. Good that should at least slow it down. I frowned at my stupidity as I realised that I had nothing to hold it down with, I couldn’t just hold them in place and they were too small to make a bandage or something out of them.

I heard hoof clops from somewhere down the street. I couldn’t tell the difference between it being a trotter, stranger or another raider coming to check up on his or her friend. I levitated the mares body onto my back, feeling the warmth of her blood roll down my side.

I hoped that she could both hear and remember this. “Ok, I’m gonna be taking you somewhere like, now. You gotta promise me that when you wake up, then you are not going to kill me or sell me to somepony.”

Multiple clicks came from further down the street. I could handle some trotters, but this sounded like a group of them, a big group.

-*- -*- -*-

I had long since stopped running, knowing that it would only attract even more unwanted attention from whatever inhabited this place. I tried to find anything that would give me a clue. But there was nothing, every sign was either just saying the name of the road we were on, or just wasn’t readable as they had crumbled into a pile of rust. And of course there would be no maps left around, it was two centuries since this started, as if they would still be here.

My mind wandered back to the bullet that I sent through the raiders head. It worried me, a lot. I had just recently been a slave, a piece of property, something that could be beaten down and just cast away, something with no control over their life. That stallion had no control over his own when I held the gun to his head, how could I have just done it so easily, let alone feel a thrill after it.

I was ashamed of myself, and I really hoped that it was just the lack of food that had made me think and do that. Speaking of food, I was getting incredibly hungry. And I imagine that recovering lost blood isn’t exactly something to do on an empty stomach, that is if she survives that long.

I looked back onto her, her mane slowly lifting in the wind. Her breathes had gotten slower and she felt heavier. Those can’t be good signs. I need to find her something to stop the bleeding, then I could think about the food. Fuck, the bullet. I had to get the bullet out first. That was easy, just simple levitation magic but it was going to be disgusting and probably extremely painful.

I scanned the streets for someplace that would have something. Maybe I could go back to that raider stallion, rip of parts of his armour as well. Looking back down the road, that thought was immediately declined. I had no idea where that was now. If I had my saddle bags then I could’ve used them, but I left those along with her armour back there.

My eyes wandered over to the bushes that had been growing out of control a few hundred metres away off the side of this town. Seriously, how did I not think of that earlier, There were some huge, over one hundred year old mutated leaves out there. Those with the small pieces of fabric I had would be perfect for tying a knot and making a bandage of sorts. It would most likely be a shitty bandage but it would be something to at least postpone it. As for the bullet? I was gonna have to do that myself and pray to Luna that she would be ok and still unconscious when it happened.

Not wanting to waste any more time, I trotted carefully into the first open building that we came across and walked inside. I stopped just inside and waited to hear a noise, something that would show me that this building wasn’t safe. None came, so I stepped further in. and set the unconscious pony down around the first corner that I found, just out of view of the entrance. I prayed that I would find it again and not be left alone for a second time.

I ran outside. She couldn’t have had much time left before it became too late, and I hoped that it hadn’t already become too late.

-*- -*- -*-

I clambered back into the building, a few scratches and about five bullets less than what I left with, but I was back none the less, and with a fuck load of leaves big enough to hang somepony. The bushes and trees along the edge were no where near big enough, and I was about to lose hope until I found what I had been looking for. In my rush to get to them, i hadn’t seen the large insect like creatures that were eating the remains of a nearby deceased pony

The damn overgrown insects nearly got me, but there insect like form leaves them very brittle against being beaten again and again and again and again with a big ass log. I only realised that once one managed to grab a hold of my Leksin and kept in its grasp. Luckily for me though, they didn’t exactly know what it was and had the brain of grab hold and don’t let go.

Ignoring the cuts on my body, I began work on the other mare. What are a few simple scratches compared to a bullet wound with a lot of bleeding. Her skin glowed slightly as I began enveloping what I hoped was the bullet inside her leg. Then I pulled gently. She groaned painfully in her state.

“Look. You should trust me, I have absolutely no experience in this area and am completely in control of your life right now. Plus I am a complete stranger that you just saw shoot a pony in the back of there head, what could go wrong?” She cried louder. “Yeah? Well fuck you too then.” The bullet was yanked hard from her body. She shouted and grabbed me with her hooves, staring directly at me. “I-I-I-I-I’m so sorry. I-I-I-I didn’t mean to do that.” She let go and fell back into her unconscious state again. Of course that was just a reflex.

I looked at what I had grabbed in my magic. Thankfully, it was the actual bullet and not some clump of muscle and veins. Next thing to do was wrap her up. I just had to wrap the leaves around her. I just had to stop staring at the now very ugly bullet hole in her flank and just wrap them around her. Come on, anytime now.

My mind jumped back into reality a few seconds later. How could I have hesitated with that, this pony is dying right in front of me and has done nothing wrong to me. If it was somepony that had been shooting at me...then I would have waited for commands.

I wrapped the leaves around her leg repeatedly, making a nice thick cover over her flank. and then And I had a lot of ‘bandages’ left over to replace them. All I had to do now was wait and rest.

The small amount of relaxation that I got showed me how tired I was. My eyes felt heavier than the whole building that we were in, and my mind couldn’t keep a straight thought even if I tried. I just kept on thinking about that pony that I had so mercilessly shot. He had dropped his weapon, he couldn’t have hurt me.

No, I convinced myself that it wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t just about me then. He was a bad pony, he was holding another pony at gunpoint for no reason. I was doing it to protect another pony. I did the right thing.

I looked around for something warm for us, anything. But there was nothing. The room had been stripped bare and I couldn’t blame the ponies that did it. In the wasteland, everything is useful in one way or another, so nothing is left behind unless it is just too heavy and not enough time.

The corner of the room seemed to hold the most heat, no matter how little it was, so that was were I made myself comfortable. My saddlepack remained on to give just a little bit of covering on my back and sides, and I kept my Leksin close. I wasn’t able to trust this pony just yet. I wasn’t able to trust anyone

-*- -*- -*- -*- -*-

The next day arrived with a cold breeze under my coat. It was cold, annoying. Yet very refreshing. It wasn’t like the cold I had been experiencing these last few days, at least I think it was these last few days. It could have been a month since I was out in the middle of nowhere, and I would have no idea. This was gentle, and wrapped around my whole body, keeping everything equal and not annoyingly. Well, unequal.

My saddlebags.

I could feel it under my saddlepacks, as if they weren’t there.

I jumped up and out of the corner. They were gone. The saddlepack. The gun. The pony. They had gone, she had abandoned me. After I, had saved her.

How could she have done that. I had saved her, I had killed that other pony to save her, I had nearly died by a bunch of weird over-grown insects for her, I had even tried to bandage her bullet wound the best I could. How could she have done that.

I...I couldn’t blame her. I probably wouldn’t have done any different. If I was in her situation, shot and probably very hungry. Then I would have taken the gun as well, and what good would it do to bring around an extra mouth to feed when food was already an issue.

After a few minutes of nearly shouting in anger, I began to walk outside, there was no point in me staying here any longer than I had too. Like the other pony was probably doing, I had to find food. I began trotting out the door when something caught my eye in the room to me left. My saddlepacks? She didn’t take them. Why wouldn’t she have taken them. Why just move them.

I took another step outside further towards the door, I wondered what was happening. And more importantly, where was the other pony. She either had left, but just thought that it was too harsh. That situation was very unlikely in this world.

Or she hadn’t left, and she had stayed with me. It wasn’t exactly a big chance of that happening, but weirder and crazier things have happened to me in the wasteland. If that was the case, then I had to ask myself, where was she now?

The answer presented itself to me, plus a dead rabbit in the answers mouth.

She had stayed. Not only had she stayed, but she had actually gone out with a bullet wound and found food for us.

We just looked at each other. It seemed as though neither of us had expected that the other would be here to meet the other. Or at least not in this situation with us standing face to face. Although, I didn’t really see how it could have happened any other way.

With no other apparent option, I spoke. “......Hey”

A small ray of light bounced into my eye and alerted me to the piece of metal poking out from under her wing. My Leksin. She seemed to notice me looking at it and quickly repositioned her wing to cover it completely. It seemed that she didn’t trust me just yet either.

“...Hea” She tried to speak through the rabbit in her mouth. It came through slightly muffled, but I didn’t exactly have to be an expert to understand the simple greeting.

I didn’t know what I was meant to do in this situation. For my whole life, I had been taught to kill anypony that I didn’t know if I saw them. Now I was free from that life, but that meant that I had no idea what to do. I had no experience.

“You...You stayed?” I continued to question why she had stayed. There seemed to be no logical reason for her to stay, I had been asleep when she woke up. She could’ve just left and I wouldn’t have been able to stop her doing so or taking my things as she did it.

The mare lowered her head and dropped the rabbit onto the ground. She turned to the side a little and showed her leg still wrapped with now bloody leaves. It seemed as though she had kept it off the ground the whole time, which made her feat with the food a lot more impressive.

“Yeah.” Her voice was nice, to say the least. It had a little rough like texture, but no where near anything even slightly masculine. I liked it, at least in comparison to the pained state it had been yesterday. And I could have just been happy to have heard another mares voice that didn’t intend to kill or order me around. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m not exactly in much of a position to be going out alone.” I waved a hoof towards the rabbit that was in between us. “...At least not far out.”

“...So, erm. What-What’s your name?” This moment couldn’t have gotten any more awkward then if my previous owner had found me clopping, which I’m pretty sure that they probably did at some point. Privacy was very low on their priorities.

Her response came quicker than a bullet. “Yours?” Ok, so she was a little edgy on giving out info on her. I couldn’t say that I would be much different in her situation.

“.Parum Lucem. Or Dark Light as some ponies call me.”

“How’d they make that connection?” A question I had been asked so many times by now. Although, it felt different coming from this mare. But I let that down to the fact that she didn’t seem to want to kill me again.

“It’s some ancient language for Little Light. But ponies use my fur colour and so came up with Dark Light.”

Another silence followed as we stood. I began to slowly examine her, determine what kind of pony she was with those wings. Whereas she seemed to look everywhere but at me.

“...And you name is?” Her head darted straight back to me.

“My name is something that doesn’t concern you.” Great, It seems as though she couldn’t even trust me with something so small as a name. This was going to be wonderful.

She decided that this was the time for her to step back into the room instead of just standing outside. After picking up the rabbit in her mouth again, she pushed roughly past me and into the room that I had awoke in.

I walked back into the room after her. I really wanted to take back my Leksin, to just wrap around it with my magic and pull it back. But given how she acted when I asked for her name, that seemed like it would’ve been a bad idea.

It took a few more soundless minutes for me to build up the courage, and ask the main question that had been clouding my head.

“So...What are you?” The urge to ask was too much for me to handle, and I caved

“You need to get some sticks; pieces of wood.” She ignored my question completely, although this time I was kind of thankful that she didn’t spit out some harmful response for asking that.

"Why do we need wood."

"Do you want to eat this raw." she gave a quick tap against the rabbit. I shook my head, thinking about how bad that would taste and any diseases it would come with. "Then we are going to have to cook this. Unless you have some fancy ass magic that will cook it." I shook my head. That was another useful spell that I didn't know, if it was even possible to do. "I thought not. Now go, i think i speak for both us when I say I'm hungry."

-*- -*- -*- -*- -*-

The clouds had grown dark by the time I had returned, but they continued to cast down their slightly purple and green shadow over the lands. I was thankful that I had gotten back when I did, having had more than a few little scares on my way. I didnt want to spend much more time outside then I had to.

Wing had once again taken its place in the time which I could only guess was night. It was no longer a soft, endearing breeze that I had woken up too, but had now turned into a rush in every direction at once, causing my mane and tail to fly up and everywhere.

A small glow was being emitted from the building in which the other mare was held. I questioned what was going on and pushed back the thought of somepony found it and was burning her alive. I slowed my pace, not wanting to possibly alert the ponies who were inside.

I slowly creeped around the entrance, now regretting that I had given into the other mare and not taken my Leksin. A faint crackling reached my ears, which didn’t help what I was already picturing.

Then it came into my view. A fire, but not the kind I was expecting. It was small, controlled and had the mare sitting next to it with the now skinned rabbit over it.

She looked up at me. “You were taking to long. Those leaves you had were dry enough so I started a small fire while I went out and got some more wood.” I didn’t know what to think. I could have possibly died to get these things and she was going to do it anyway. Or maybe she just wanted me out of here so that she wouldn’t have to share the food.

“I wasn’t going to eat it all and leave nothing for you if that’s what you were thinking.” It was as if she could read my mind with that.

I slowly walked further into the room, still wary about what this mare’s plan was. The food smelled horrible when I got close to it, but I wasn’t exactly in a position to argue with it. Especially when my stomach decided to make itself heard again.

“You can eat you know. It’s done cooking, just keepin’ it warm now.” I quickly took my share of the meat. I didn’t trust this mare enough to let it just sit there for a while in front of her.

The food was terrible. It had gone extremely dry and been robbed of near all its taste. But I didn’t complain. I didn’t want to sound like some picky bitch. We continued to eat in silence, nothing making a sound other than a few creatures outside and the light crackling of the dying fire.

The flames had turned to near embers when she spoke up. “Midnight Ember” She was leaning back against the wall and staring to the right into nothingness, just slowly blinking and breathing heavily. Her voice still seemed strained, probably form the fact that she was sitting back on her bullet wound. But she didn’t move.

“...What?” I questioned.

“My name. You asked my name and what I was.” So she had heard me before, just purposely ignored me. I could understand why. “It’s Ember Night, and I’m a bat pony.”

“Oh...” I guessed that it was a good thing that she had told me that, a sign of trust I hoped and not some weird play to make me feel safe before she killed me. “A bat pony?” I felt dumb for asking, but I’d rather have found out now rather than later.

Ember unravelled her right leathery wing, then opened her mouth and ran her tongue along her teeth. She specifically targeted the two which had a little extra length and sharpness. “It’s the reason for the wings and fangs.” A weird feeling came over me when I saw her fangs, like I had seen them before but I couldn’t remember when

“So...You can...You can fly?” Her face sank when I asked it. That wasn’t a good sign.

“No. Well, I can but...But not for very long.” Embers’ head slower rolled to face me. She seemed empty inside, either not caring about anything or she lost the ability to care about anything. I decided to not push any further because of that.

“So, who are you?” She sighed deeply when I asked. “I don’t mean you name. Just like...who are you?”

“Look. All you need to know is that I’m the pony that dragged you out of the middle of nowhere and saved you from the trotter. Then when you woke up, you saved me.” She seemed fairly angry for such a small question. I worried that I may have destroyed the small piece of trust that she had given me for asking. But I still had one question that I had to ask.

“How long was I out for?”

Her head fell back against the wall and voice returned to normal. At least what I thought was normal for it. “I don’t know. A week maybe. You woke up twice every day though. I had to feed you like a little filly.”

“...Why’d you do it?”

“We should rest. I don’t know about you but I’m getting out of here tomorrow.”

I agreed with her. It had been two days and I had almost been killed three times. But where was I to go?

If I went off alone, than I would be in a very dangerous place with no weapon and just my saddlepacks. But I could also be safer. I didn’t know this mare and she didn’t know me. I’d have no way of knowing what she would do behind my back and there would be less of us to be spotted by other ponies or creatures.

On the other hoof, if I followed her, then I would have somepony to watch my back. She would also most likely be better at sneaking around then me anyway. But I still couldn’t trust her, I wouldn’t decide where we go and she would have the only weapon. She would be in control of my life. But that had already happened, I had already been in trouble and she cared for me without knowing if I would wake up.

My mind seemed to have made itself. When Light came, I would see if I could go with her. And then if I could have my Leksin back.

I lay down next to me saddlepacks. The fire had died down into glowing ashes by now. No more heat or light would come from them, and I was afraid to add the sticks that I had in case it drew attention while we slept.

My eye found it’s way to Midnight Ember, who was drawing her hoof around in circles on the ground. I questioned again whether I could trust her or not, was she really the type of pony that I wanted to stick around with.

reminded myself for the second time in a short period about how she cared for me, and convinced myself to trust her.

I had to trust her.

-*- -*- -*- -*- -*-

The darkness in my eyes slowly faded when something began pressing against me. It felt soft and I instinctively curled up against it in my half asleep state.

“Get. Off. Me” I opened my eyes to see Ember standing over me. I looked further down and saw my hooves wrapped around one of her forelegs. This was not the way I planned on the morning going. This one felt nicer than what I planned, up until the point that she had called me up on it. But… “I said. Get. Off. Me”

I slowly brought my hooves back from her and stood up. “...sorry.” She was staring down at me again.

“I’ve had worse things done to me for waking up a pony. But don’t even think of doing that again. Open your eyes before you open your hooves.” She looked down at me with that empty expression of hers, then turned her head towards the door. I followed her gaze to see that it was still dark outside, with a small hint of light pressing through the cloud layer.

“Come on. We should go now, while we still have some darkness to get out of this town.” She picked up my saddlepacks with her wing and held them out to me. “You may want to put these on.”

My head lost all of it’s senses when I attempted to pick it up with my magic. the next thing I knew was that the saddlepacks were on my back and i didn’t remember how they got there. It took a few more seconds for my ears to finally accept in Ember’s voice again.

“You ok?” Her tone sounded worried but her face showed none of it. “You seem a little...out of it.”

“Yeah. Just...Gimme a minute, I went a little lightheaded or something.” I answered honestly.

She wrapped her wing around me and hooked it under my stomach, I leaned into her again. I couldn’t believe how soft she felt right now, I could have fell asleep right there. That was until she pulled me up to my hooves a lot faster then I would have liked.

“We don’t have a minute. Where we are going is a long way from here and we don’t want to be in this town when it gets light.” My dazed state left me with enough sense to agree with her. This didn’t seem like a place I wanted to be in in the first place, and now there was a second pony who also thought that.

“I think you need some more sleep. Get that head of yours back onto the ground where it belongs.” I thought for a second that she was going to make me go back to sleep. She stopped me when I began to lay down again

“I said “think”. I’ve got no idea if I’m right or how it would be making you like this. But this is more of a reason for us to get out of here.”

“Us?” She kept on saying us. Like she had already decided to follow me or that I was going with her. Of course, I was planning to ask her if we could stick together, but I was at least going to ask instead of just saying that would happen.

“Look at us. I’ve got a bullet wound in my leg, so I can’t exactly move as fast as I would like. And your head is kinda fucked right now, than there is also the fact that you weren’t in too good of a position when I first found you either.” I couldn’t deny that Ember had a point.

“Okay, good point. But why do we have you go where you are going, what about where I was planning to go.” Another thing that she just seemed to assumed I would go along with her.

She raised her eyebrows at me. “Do you have another plan to go somewhere?” I looked towards the ground and shook my head. “Than don’t complain and get moving. We don’t have too much time left until it gets light.” Her voice had taken on a commanding tone.

I looked outside again, it didn’t seem to have changed much from before. But it hadn’t been too long ago since I had last seen it and the difference during that time seemed fast.

“So, where exactly are you planning on going?”

“I’m going home. ”

“Any specific location.”

“I have no idea.” That wasn’t what I wanted to hear.

“But it’s your home, how could you not know wher-”

“I just don’t ok. My map got left back with that stallion. It was tucked into my armour.”

We walked outside. I was careful to check our surroundings constantly, so that should another enemy of sorts come into view, then we would be ready. Or at least I would. “All I can remember form it is that it is on the opposite side of this town.”

This was going to be great. I was walking out into the wasteland with a pony I had only met a few days ago. Both of us injured with only one weapon, seven bullets between us and no exact location other than the fact we had to go through the middle of raider camp. That wasn’t very reassuring.

“I managed to gather up a few supplies though a bit further into the city. I know I said that we should get out of here as soon as possible, but I don’t know how long it would be until we could get water if we left now.”

So our three options were; we can leave now with the food and drink we have now (which equaled to nothing) and have no idea until we could refill said supplies. While doing all of that with about 6 bullets. We could go back into the city with at least a group of raider ponies and possibly some infected ponies or other creatures of sorts. Or we could die. I was starting to prefer my time alone with only limited supplies, at least then it wasn’t my choice to possibly go and die.

“How long will it take for us to find the things?”

Please, whoever is above, don’t let it be long.

“I don’t know”

I’m gonna kill you when I die and finally see you, then I’ll kill you again.

“But it will take even longer the more we wait so for about the tenth time now. We have to move, now.”

Author's Note:

Yeah. As promised, this chapter of sorry-for-forgetting-about-the-other-chapter.
If I can do it, then I will try to get a large word count per chapter like this. If not then I will always try for at least 4k, or I could separate them up if you ponies prefer smaller chapters.
Anyway. I got no real news for you ponies right now so until next time.

Peace out pony peeps of my little pandanation