Fallout Equestria - The Code of Honor

by FireStorm2247

Chapter 5: Dire Conditions

Chapter 5: Dire Conditions

“If you surrender to the wasteland, you murder and torture… create evil like we see here.”

It was early evening by the time we returned home and it was so good to see Hopeville once again; more importantly, it was good to see that it was still in one piece. As we arrived at Hopeville’s pre-war welcome sign, we beheld clean streets… or at least streets that were cleared of bodies. There was only so much that could be done, as we couldn’t waste water on washing down the streets, and so a large section of the east side street was caked with streaks and splotches of dry black blood. But despite this, there were ponies outside, walking, chatting, and exploring around the buildings. There was even a group of four foals running about the roads around City Hall, chasing each other in a game of tag. Hopeville, once dead, was becoming more and more alive… Goddesses did that make my spirits rise… There was a group of ponies walking out of one of the east-side buildings, the first one on the street. Along the side of the house was a pile of rubble, debris, and ruined junk that had been broken down so as to find anything useful. Apparently, Gunny had been correct when he had said that Saber had been wanting to clean out the buildings and put them to use. With the help of enough ponies, it would’ve taken no more than a couple hours to get one building cleared and cleaned up. Now that first pre-war house, or shop, was being put to some use.

Guard ponies were patrolling along the streets and outside the perimeter of Hopeville. Thankfully, it was quiet… I liked quiet. Out in the dirt courtyard that made the center of town, two security sergeants were training roughly two dozen mares and stallions as they exercised, undoubtedly getting ready to enter into the security field. We were short-hoofed as it was, and the defense of a town would require a lot more than a dozen security ponies. There was another pair of guards trotting together along the north road, running to work out, and nearer to us, I saw Saber, resting alone by City Hall and gazing off to the south. He looked very much like some sort of honorary security statue, sitting on his haunches and looking out with focus. He didn’t even stir until we were past the welcome sign, and his initial reaction was just what I had expected it to be. His eyes had fallen straightaway onto Gracie’s new patient, resting on Gunny’s back as he bodily carried her into Hopeville.

“It’s good to see you all again.” Saber said, his run slowing to a trot before he stopped before us. “What happened out there? Where’s the other team?”

“They were ambushed by invaders out on the road, sir.” Gunny explained, lowly. “This mare was the sole survivor.”

“When we arrived, I treated her and got her wounds sealed.” Gracie threw in. “She’ll need a couple days’ rest before she’ll be ready to be back on guard duty, but other than that, she’s fine.”

Despite these assurances, the captain still cursed under his breath. But he nodded, giving a thin smile, and replied, “Alright, good work. You two go ahead and get her inside City Hall. Nova, Shore, I want a report on the rest of what happened out there.”

After Gunny and Gracie departed, I was about to start my explanation when Blake nudged my foreleg. “Can I go play tag?” he asked, rather enthusiastically smiling.

His smile made me smile - funny how that works - and nodding I helped Blake out from under the saddlebags he was carrying. “Alright, run along little brother. I’ll catch up with you when I’m free.” I said, and I watched as he hurried off to join the four other foals in their game.

“It’s good to see them like that again isn’t it?” Saber asked Shore and I, both of us nodding our agreement. “I can predict a good future here if we just keep our guard up… so what do you have for me?”

“Well captain,” I began. “the traveling was quiet. Up to where we stopped, there wasn’t anything out there. There were no buildings, no ponies.”

“How long did you follow that road for?” Saber asked.

“About three to four hours.” Shore answered.

“It was early afternoon when we heard the gunfire.” I continued. “I flew ahead to scout it out and I found invaders attacking a pair of travelers. We took out the invaders easily enough, and that’s when I met those two other ponies. They were two unicorns. One was a yellow stallion who called himself Lucky Hallion, and he had a sister named Marian. Lucky Hallion told us that he and his sister had been scavenging up north when they had also heard the gunshots. They came to help out our team, but they were already taking the fight bad. There was over a dozen invaders that they had gone up against.”

“So there were a dozen invaders that ambushed the team, and these two ponies came out to help kill them off. What else do you know about them?” the captain asked.

“They’re traveling merchants, or caravan-ers… how do you say that?” I asked Shore, who politely corrected me. “Caravaneers. But the two of them explained that they’re free-traveling sales-ponies dealing in weapons. They really did have quite an impressive stock.”

“That’s a curious pair to meet up with as the first friendly contacts.” Saber commented with a small laugh. “Was that it?”

“We stayed and did some business with the two of them.” I explained. “But they did answer a lot of my questions after our battle with the invaders. This is the important stuff.”

“Fire away.”

“The first thing I should say is that bottle caps really are important.” I began, recalling Lucky Hallion’s explanations. “Apparently bottle caps are the currency of the wasteland. Hallion said that most places take bottle caps or deal through barter and trade. I purchased a clip for my pistol, and Gunny bought ammo as well. Cost thirty caps for that, but it was a good deal overall. So Gunny has forty caps left.”

“That’s funny, because we’ve actually been finding quite a few.” Saber said, rubbing his head with a hoof thoughtfully. “We looked through each building and I decided to follow up with Gunny’s keeping the caps he found. I’d have to have a few ponies go through and count them, but we’ve stashed a few. That’s good to know.”

“Hallion told us a few other things.” I added, raising my Pipbuck leg and bringing up my map screen. Saber came by my other side and looked as I brought up the world map. From the small box that the map marked as Hopeville, a dashed line stretched down across the screen, ending farther southeast from my present location. “He gave me this destination marker on my Pipbuck. Apparently there’s a settlement farther southeast called Challenger, and he also says that the ponies who live there are supposed to be far better than invaders. And that’s better in the fact that we might actually be able to talk to them without being shot at. So he gave me the location of the settlement.”

“Apparently, Challenger is quite literally in a war with the invaders.” Shore threw in. “He said that they’ve been fighting for some time.”

“A war?” Saber repeated, quite dubious but also genuinely concerned.

“That’s what Hallion said.” I agreed with a solemn nod. “Lucky Hallion gave the invaders a name too. He called them the Black Blood Raiders, and he says that they’re a real menace in the southeast. He made it sound like the invaders were everywhere… I wouldn’t doubt it.”

“No, I wouldn’t shun that warning either.” Saber agreed; I could easily tell that he was already thinking about a new plan.

“Hallion mentioned something about another settlement called Ashton, but he didn’t set a destination marker for it.” Shore said after a moment. “He didn’t say much about it, but at least we know that there still is civilization out there.”

“I agree.” Saber replied. “And going out to see this settlement, Challenger, is going to be a top priority. There’s still a lot of things we need to get Hopeville running smoothly. Good work out there. You’ve given me a lot of information to think over. Tomorrow, I’ll have another assignment for you all, but for now, I’d say you’ve earned an evening to relax and a good night’s sleep after that. If there’s nothing else that you need to share, I’m going to head back to my quarters in the City Hall.”

“Just real quick captain,” Shore said quickly, raising a foreleg. “I’ve got saddlebags full of supplies that we found. Where should I take them for you?”

“That first building on the east side of town.” Saber answered, pointing “That was our first building that we cleaned up. We’re using that as our supply storage, so give the bags to one of the guards, and they’ll take care of it. Thanks Shore.” With that, Saber departed to his thoughts and we were officially dismissed for the rest of the day. This was our third day… and it was a long day. Now all I could think of was getting to sleep, trying my best to let my aching body recover.

Saying our goodbyes, Shore left for Hopeville’s new supply storage with our newfound supplies. When we had been checking the dead invaders for supplies, Lucky Hallion had let us take a share of the loot. We had taken all the ammunition that Gunny had identified as ammo that our security ponies used for their weapons. Primarily these were shotgun shells and assault rifle cartridges with a small assortment of other ammunition for the pistols and SMGs we had taken. All of the bigger weapons, rifles and the like, were what Hallion had claimed.

I picked up Blake’s saddlebags with my teeth and returned to the City Hall. Tonight I would still be sleeping in my spot by the clinic, which was now relatively empty. Gracie was already working, checking with her assistants on how her remaining patients were fairing. But other than them, there were not too many ponies in the lobby, most of them finding their own rooms in the City Hall to claim for their families. It would be a quiet night tonight… other than the fact that Blake came trotting into the City Hall just after I had set his saddlebags down to secure my resting place. “I told my friends that I still had my ball with me. Do you want to kick it around with us?” he asked, walking in front of me and excitedly going through his saddlebags while leaving me utterly stunned. He had taken his ball from the Stable?? And he had kept it all this time??

“Did mom pack it for you?” I asked, feeling a fresh wave of depression… even though my focus had been drawn away in my efforts to ‘help’ over the past three days, I still missed my parents greatly.

“Yep.” Blake answered, briefly pausing in his search; I knew he missed them just as much as I did. And then shortly after resuming his rummaging, he nudged out the ball from the saddlebag and it rolled out onto the carpet. It was a good sized ball, but small enough to be bucked or hit with a single hoof; had it been any larger, it wouldn’t have fit in the saddlebags. “So what do you say?”

Looking at the toy, I realized that that red ball, with its yellow stripe around its center, was one of the only possessions that we had that would allow us to remember our parents without thinking about the past. While I did have mother’s pistol, there was one big difference between it and Blake’s toy. Fire Rose was violence and power. Blake’s ball, given to him by dad on his first birthday, was innocence and happiness. Blake loved that ball almost as much as he loved his family, and with that kind of value, it instantly became a priceless treasure in my eyes.

I looked down at Blake and gave him an affectionate nudge. “I’d love to.”

“Did I hear somepony offer a game of kickball?” I heard to my left, looking to see that Gunny was coming down the stairs. He had removed his security armor and had stowed away his weapon… that actually seemed like a good idea, but of course, I didn’t know how to get my saddle off.

“You bet!” Blake confirmed with a happy hop off of the floor.

“Blake has his ball with him and he wants to take it outside. I’m going to go play too, and you’re welcome to come along.” I explained with a smile.

Gunny smirked back at me. “You’re going to go play in your gear?”

I lost my smile, feeling my face heat up as I gave an embarrassed laugh. “I… um… don’t know how to take off my saddle.”

Laughing, Gunny stepped up to me, horn dimly glowing with magic. “Let me help.” he said as he undid the clamp of my battle saddle. In one easy motion, the entire saddle lifted off of me and Gunny set my gear down next to the saddlebags. “Better?”

“Much better… thanks.” I answered, still embarrassed as I craned my head to look back at my coat. I could see the line that had been left behind by the saddle, the consequence of wearing it for three days straight without removing it. I could tell that I had gotten rather dirty since leaving the Stable, my grey coat slightly darkened with the collected dirt and sweat of the past three days. Briefly, it made me miss the Stable showers… but I guess having the saddle off of me would have to do, and now that I did have the battle saddle removed, I felt free, relaxed, and ready to play ball.

“Are you coming to?” Blake asked, looking up at Gunny with a smile.

“I miss this game.” Gunny said, smirking as he snagged the ball with his magic. “I’d love the opportunity to play again.” He bolted down the lobby and out into the streets, Blake laughing as he gave chase.

With a smile I tailed my little brother, running out into the streets after him as Gunny passed the ball to an eager young filly who came scurrying over from the west side of town to join the game. That filly was the filly I had saved in the Stable, now looking happy and healthy, and she hit the ball into the air towards me. With a laugh, I spun around and bucked out with my hind legs, hitting the ball across the street where a young colt hit the ball to Blake with his forehead. It only took seconds for me to get into the game, and by the Goddesses it made me happy. Out of all the things that I thought I’d be doing in the wasteland, this was not one of them. To have this kind of safety and freedom out in the wastes was something that I had nearly refused to believe in. But here it was looking me right in the face, smiling at me, and for the first time in my three days in the wasteland, I was actually happy. This was a perfect way to spend the evening in Hopeville.

*** *** ***

Morning consisted of a slight increase in my radiation level at breakfast, my geiger counter’s needle moving slightly upward along the gauge. Despite this, the box of celery sticks from our large store of food had proven to be quite filling for me. Blake was under my wing, just now waking enough to see his own breakfast of a fresh apple waiting for him; I had deliberately chosen that out of his saddlebags to spare him some radiation. He began munching away at his food after a tired good morning and we lay there together to enjoy our breakfast.

The lobby was now rather empty. Aside from the patients in the clinic, my brother and I were the only ponies still sleeping on the carpet. Gracie and her assistants still slept nearby in a small storage room next to the staircase, this way they’d be able to hear a patient stir and tend to them if need be. Outside of the walls of City Hall, I could hear ponies moving and talking in the streets, and as my mind begun to fully wake up to notice these details, I remembered that I would be getting another assignment from the captain today.

Before going to sleep the previous night Blake had asked to come with me once again, no matter what the assignment would entail. I had felt that going with me once and not getting hurt was due only to luck, and pushing that luck a second time was something I didn’t want to do… but I still surrendered. Despite how much I hated the idea, his clear-voiced insistence that he was going to go with me showed me that he was growing up. He was starting to resemble dad in a new way, a way that was making him stronger without making him dispatch of his young heart. There was plenty reason to be proud of that and as a big sister, it was my task to nurture that and protect that growth until Blake became a stallion. I knew that that was what mom and dad would’ve done, so the least I could do was try and take their place.

“Are we leaving soon?” Blake asked after taking another bite from his apple.

“I’m not sure baby brother.” I replied, but now that I was finished with my food, I could find out. “I’ll go see if the captain is outside and find out. Will you wait for me here?” At his affirmative nod, I stood up and yawned, stretching my body which was sore from our ball game yesterday. The game had lasted until it had been too dark to see the ball, and it was still amazing to me that so many ponies had ended up joining. Ponies from security and families resting in the City Hall had added to our game until we had eventually made the entire town center one large atrium. In the end, the game turned into a mess of trying to find out where the ball was as one pony passed it to another; oh the glories of having wings. I still had a blast, but of course, I knew the real reason behind my stiff body. Today, and perhaps the next couple of days after, would be where yesterday’s brawl would take its toll. My neck and my belly ached the most, and the additional discomfort in my chest didn’t help either.

With a sigh, I left the lobby and stepped out into Hopeville. Outside, there were three sentries walking along the streets, the ponies finishing up their graveyard shift. To my left, there were two mares lounging against the City Hall, taking in the morning together, and farther out in the courtyard, two foals were drawing in the dirt with sticks under the supervision of their parents. When I inquired to the two mares nearby about where I might find the captain, they had no idea, and so I turned to walk across the street towards the town center. But I had no sooner crossed the road when one of the young foals jumped to her hooves and ran over to me, giving me a hearty good morning and a broad smile. I recognized her as the filly I had saved in the Stable before she jumped up and hugged me; it was all I could do to stifle an “ow” as her forelegs went around my neck. “Hi there little one.” I said, smiling.

“Do you want to draw with me?” she asked, looking so hopeful that I was rather ashamed to have to say no.

“I’m sorry, but I have something I have to do for security today. Maybe next time?” I asked her back. Fortunately, she only smiled and nodded vigorously before she bounced back to her friend to resume her earthen artistry. Looking back up, I saw a stallion and a mare, undoubtedly the little filly’s parents, looking back at me with smiles of their own. “Good morning.”

“Morning, Nova.” the father replied. “How are you?”

“A little sore, but doing okay overall.”

“That’s good to hear dear.” the filly’s mother said. “Now that we’ve finally met you, we’d like to thank you for what you did in the Stable.”

“She told us about the explosion, about how you shielded her from the invaders and escorted her to safety.” the father added, his voice dropping to a very careful tone. “We know what you went through though, and we are all very sorry for your loss. For what it’s worth, you have our infinite gratitude.”

By now, I wouldn’t be surprised if everypony in Hopeville knew about the death of my parents. I gave my best smile, hiding away the small spell of depression that nudged through my thoughts. “I don’t want you to say that you owe me anything. I just… did what I thought was best is all.”

“Well, we’re very glad you did.” the father replied. “You’re definitely special… and I hope you don’t change.”

“Thanks.” I said, politely dipping my head to them. “Um, I was wondering if you could help me? I’m trying to find the captain. Do you know where he is?”

“He went to the armory a few minutes ago.” the mother said, pointing to the far building on the east side of town.

“With the weapons that were brought in from your group and from the group that scavenged in the north, he’s decided to make it just an armory.” the father explained. “The building next to it is useless because of its collapsed roof, so the third building on that street’s going to act as a general storage once we clear it.”

“Seems like another stroke of good luck.” I said.

“Well we’re all coming to adopt a saying. ‘We’re willing to work with any hope we can take.’ Luck or not, it’s going to help in making sure that we can survive out here.” the father said with finality.

“Well, I’d better get going.” I said after a thoughtful moment of silence; that motto had a very self-explanatory meaning. “I’ve got another job I’ve got to do today and I’d like to get the assignment early.”

“Then we wont keep you.” the father said, raising a hoof in farewell. “Again, thank you for everything. And be careful if you’re going out there.”

With a nod, I departed from the family in the courtyard and trotted over to Hopeville’s new armory. Two guards were standing watch at the entrance, but they let me pass without a word, one of them gesturing to the door. Upon entering, I was rather stunned with how many weapons there were within the building. The pile of junk that had been left outside must have once been scattered throughout the bottom floor, still dirty and stained. The walls were also very aged, cracked and chipped, but the building itself was in decent shape aside from that. On the right side, lined against the wall, were tables where various weapons lay in differing states of disassembly. There was one pony working at one of these tables, a unicorn mare who was using her magic to take apart a small revolver pistol piece by piece. At the far end of the room was a long countertop table built directly into the floor and on this table were more weapons, the better firearms of the litter. The line of weapons displayed on the counter were primarily assault rifles and other variants, and one security pony was looking each one over. He would look over one and then give a diagnostic review of each to another pony beside him, the captain. Saber himself was looking over a larger weapon, looking like one of the heavier machineguns that Gunny had once described to me.

“Captain, sir. Nova’s here to see you.” I heard one of the entrance guards call, and Saber looked up from his examination of the LMG.

“Ah, good morning Nova. How’d you sleep?” he asked, setting aside the LMG and walking around the table.

“Good.” I answered. “I’m ready for my next assignment if you have one.”

“Glad to hear it.” Saber said, straight to the point. “The information you brought me is invaluable, and so I’m planning multiple assignments at once. I don’t know if anypony told you, but there’s been a rise in the number of invader squads that we’ve seen since we got here. Our scouting party ran into two small groups when they were scavenging for supplies farther north. They found the wreckage of some old pre-war vehicles, delivery wagons of some kind, right at the same time when a party of raiders did. They had better luck than the first team I had sent out of course, but the point is… well if we keep bumping into the Black Blood, they’re going to eventually figure out that we’ve holed up in Hopeville and then we’re going to have a war of our own on our hooves.”

“How would they find out about Hopeville?” I asked, puzzled.

“They’ve hit the town before.” Saber explained. “If I were one of them, I would get suspicious if I saw ponies exploring the area. I can’t speak for the other settlements, but I’m guessing that its not common for settlements to be sending out a bunch of scouts. But we need to do this to get Hopeville onto its hooves, and I don’t want to seal off the town in the shape that we’re in… we have to grow or at least get more supplies because we don’t have enough to isolate ourselves yet.”

“Even if that’s the case, I imagine that finding other settlements would be better for us in the long run.” It seemed logical enough. Even if all of our Stable’s population had survived, I doubted that isolation would’ve won us much.

“I agree wholeheartedly.” Saber said. “And this brings me to your assignment. Yesterday, you showed me the location of another settlement. This place, Challenger as your friend called it… I want you, Gunny, Shore, and Gracie to go and find that settlement and spread the word that Hopeville is back up and running. We need outside help, and we’re going to need it more than ever if the Black Blood decides to attack the town. Right now, I think we’re safe, so we’ve got some time. This assignment will take multiple days because once you find Challenger, I need you to convince them in any way possible to help us out. We’re in dire need of Rad-Away, we could stand for more ammunition, and I would definitely open Hopeville’s doors to some extra ponies here for defense.”

“Begging pardon captain, but why not pick somepony else with more experience?” I asked. In truth, even though I felt a bit bad about it, this question also served as a way to find out if I would be let out of this assignment. The thought of leaving Hopeville for days on end, just after I had gotten settled in, was not appealing to me in the least. But of course, there was no room for negotiation.

“Because you did a great service in bringing me that information yesterday evening.” Saber answered firmly. “I want you to follow up on what you’ve done for Hopeville already and carry this assignment out. In that regard, I see nopony else that’s better for the job.”

Thanks Hallion… “If you think that greatly of me captain, then I’ll go.” I said, swiping a hoof across the floor to intentionally express my doubt.

“Remember, you’re not alone on this.” Saber said, his attempt at reassurance. “I know I’m forcing you into the fire this time, but Gunny and Shore will be looking out for you as well as Gracie. I know that you four are good friends, and the success of the last assignment tells me that you’ll work better with them than anypony else. I’m counting on you to get this done. We’re doing good things with Hopeville and I want that to keep going the way it is. Understood?”

“Yes captain.” I answered, mustering as much courage as I could into the response.

“I’m glad I can depend on you for this.” Saber said, placing a fore hoof on my back to show his appreciation. “Now, I’ve already tasked Gracie and Shore with packing all of the provisions you’ll need. You’ll have sufficient food and water for four days travel. After that, if you turn out empty-hoofed, then come back to Hopeville and we’ll get you re-supplied. I imagine it won’t be too difficult however. You should make it to Challenger in about two days. Gunny checked over weapons and ammunition for you last night, so you should have sufficient ammo as well, and your equipment should be cleaned. Once you’re geared up, we’ll send you off.”

With that, he dismissed me and I left the armory. The start of the fourth day, and I was already starting to do these kinds of jobs. It seemed a bit unfair to me… but that kind of thinking was what led to self-pity. My parents had always taught me against that kind of thinking and to be honest, I felt that anypony who thought like that on a habitual basis was kind of… well… selfish to say the least. Of course, I had to be careful with that, but I knew that it wouldn’t get me anywhere. With this kind of thing, it would be best for everypony if I just did the job and did it right. Saber was right in saying that ponies were depending on one another in Hopeville in order to secure ourselves in our new home… this was just another test to prove that I could do my part.

Taking a breath, I trotted back across the street and returned to City Hall. Sure enough I saw Gunny when I entered the lobby, talking with Blake as he waited. Gunny was wearing his full security armor and strapped to his back was an assault rifle and a combat shotgun. Secured around his right hind leg was a pistol holster with a revolver inside, and all of his armor’s assorted pockets carried his ammunition. Saying his good morning, he levitated up the battle saddle, mother’s pistol facing me… perhaps intentionally. “I cleaned your equipment and stocked you up with ammo. So you’re all set for the next trip.” he explained with a small smile.

“Thanks Gunny. It looks great.” I replied. In truth, the equipment looked brand new, even mother’s pistol. The action was shined up to make the steel glint, even in the darker lobby, and my guess was that Gunny had also disassembled the weapon and cleaned the internal components as well. It looked ready for battle and that was good enough for me.

“I’m glad you approve.” Gunny said. “Let’s get this on you as well as your saddlebags. Gracie and Shore should be down here shortly.” Levitating my battle saddle over to me, I fit my head through the firing bit and he set the saddle down over my back. As he secured it around my middle, the two ends of the main strap connecting by the clamp, he levitated my saddlebags over to me and set them over my flanks and strapped them down to the saddle. As he finished, I saw Shore and Gracie descending the stairs from the second floor. Shore was also wearing security armor and his battle saddle was secured around him, his laser rifle and multiplas rifle glowing their respective red and green. Gracie, like me, did not wear armor but only wore her saddlebags with her chosen medical supplies as well as a second pair of saddlebags with our food and water. And of course, Blake had slipped in under his saddlebags and had situated them so that he was ready to travel, looking excited for the journey.

“How are we looking?” Gunny asked as our team assembled.

“I’m ready to go.” Shore declared, adjusting his glasses. “This armor is a bit heavy though.”

“You’ll get used to it.” Gunny said with a smirk.

“I have faith that you three will take care if we run into trouble.” Gracie said sternly. “I’ve packed a dozen potions as well as bandages and other miscellaneous medical tools and supplies. That should be sufficient for the next four days.”

“And I have food and water too.” Blake piped up. “Everything will help.”

“That’s right.” I agreed, making him all the more eager to get on the road. “I’m ready to go too.” I added to Gunny, checking my Pipbuck’s inventory screen. According to the display, I had forty-two shots for Fire Rose and one hundred and sixty-eight shots for my markspony carbine. Having more ammo was a lovely thing.

“Alright, then I guess its time to go. The sooner we go, the more ground we can cover today.” Gunny said, taking the lead as we filed out of the City Hall one by one.

As we got out onto the street, I walked up beside my brother as we turned right and faced the south. On both sides of the street, several ponies were gathered, watching us go. The first feeling I felt was depression, depression that came because of the fact that we wouldn’t be seeing our new home for at least another four days. But as I begun to hear the farewells and the wishes of a successful mission and a safe return from the ponies watching us go, I gradually eased. At least a third of Hopeville had gathered to see us off, and I even saw as an older unicorn mare approached us and stepped up to Shore, a pistol in a holster levitating by her side. Without even hindering Shore’s walking, she placed it on his right foreleg and secured it with the single strap. “It was your father’s laser pistol.” she said to him, and I immediately recognized the unicorn mare as Shore’s mother. “He wants you to have it now. Use it well… by the way, it has a recharging unit inside just like your new laser rifle, so it still fires the same projectiles without having to use energy cells anymore.”

“You two finished it!” Shore exclaimed, happily embracing his mother who lightly laughed as she embraced him back. “Thank you mother. Tell father I said thank you, and that I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“We’ll be waiting for you dear.” his mother replied, backing away with a sad smile.

I kept my eyes off of them, avoiding thinking of the obvious, and only looked forward out to the south. We wouldn’t be using the pre-war road this time. Instead, we would be walking perfectly straight, following my Pipbuck’s directions to reach Challenger. And when we arrived, I really hoped that we would get in and get out, giving the ponies of Challenger the information we needed to give so that we could come back home.

*** *** ***

We took our first stop just after midday. As always, there were thick, dark grey clouds above, forbidding the sun’s rays from reaching the surface. Likewise, there had been no sign of buildings or settlements. The only changes on the surface was the sudden presence of boulders that spaced the area ahead. For now, we were using one of these rocks as part of our temporary camp, but I would have to scout ahead before we moved through this field of rock… which my Pipbuck’s map had conveniently named Boulder Field when I checked our position.

“It makes me wonder how exactly all of these boulders got here.” Grace commented as she levitated out a canteen and passed it to Blake, removing the cap for him so he could drink.

“It almost doesn’t seem natural.” Shore added, adjusting his glasses with a forehoof.

“I’m thinking it might be better to cut around these boulders.” Gunny said as Blake offered him the canteen. “It might add some time to the trip, but I’d rather play it safe.”

“The field didn’t look that large. I agree with Gunny.” Gracie declared with a nod. “It’s better to be cautious than to go barging potentially dangerous territory.”

“Yes. If they’re tightly packed in places, then they’d be good pinch points. Or there could be traps inside.” Gunny said; these were speculations, but logical ones.

“With so many encounters with the invaders over the past two days, I would accept that as an accurate theory.” Shore agreed.

“I can get a better view from the air.” I said, taking the canteen from Gunny and taking a quick drink before passing it to Shore.

“If you could, that’d help.” Gunny replied with a nod. “See how large that field is and maybe see if it isn’t as dangerous as I think.”

“Yes dear.” I replied back with a sarcastic smile.

Gunny shook his head with a short laugh. “Sorry.”

“That’s fine Gunny.” I assured with a light laugh before I stood and fanned out my wings. But just as I was about to take off, looking up in the sky, I saw something strange happening with the cloud cover. The sky was naturally filled with very thick and fluffy grey clouds… but where I looked, nearly right above me, the clouds had begun to give way, reducing the once thick cumulus clouds to a thinner and hazier version of their former selves… and beyond that haze, I could see a white circular disk. “Hey guys… look up there.”

It didn’t take long for them to see what I was seeing and even as we watched, more of the cloud cover was melting away, not fully parting, but dying enough for us to see that white disk a little more clearly. “By Celestia… I think that’s the sun.” Gunny said.

“Even with the clouds still in the way, it’s lovely.” Gracie also commented.

“That’s really something isn’t it Blake?” I asked, looking to see him staring up with the rest of us.

“Yeah it is.” he said enthusiastically. “I’d only seen the sun in books. That’s really cool.”

We must’ve been staring for at least another few minutes before I finally took my gaze away from that white disk above, and smiling, I sprang skyward. As I continued to rise with slow beats of my wings, I watched the sun as the haze continued to drift by it. But gradually, the cloud cover begun to thicken again, and I couldn’t help but sigh as the white disk of light once again disappeared from sight. It was a shame… but seeing the sun for the first time gave me a new reservoir of strength, something I could remember back to and smile at; it was still beautiful.

I stopped to hover and I looked over the field of boulders. They were spaced quite unnaturally, looking like some kind of maze that a pony would have to weave through in order to get to the other side… or simply go around the entire thing. The field wasn’t actually that wide, just long, and even though I wasn’t very good at judging distances, I felt that it wouldn’t cost us too much time at all to walk around this obstacle. After bypassing it, we could easily return to our course and continue on without much difficulty.

I heard something whiz by my right ear, my mane stirring as if pushed by a breeze… BOOM!! With a cry of alarm I lost my pace in the air, my wings snapping shut out of shock, and I fell downward back to ground, landing hard on my back as I heard Gunny shouting for everypony to find cover. I had fallen from a fair height, the impact knocking the breath out of me and stinging my entire body. And at the same time, my heart was pounding and my mind was racing with fear; that had scared the living shit out of me.

“That was a Goddess-damned sniper… of all the things… Nova! Are you hit?! Are you alright?!” Gunny called, catching sight of me as I tried to get back to my wits.

A sniper… and his or her shot had come less than a hoof away from splattering my brains out over the dirt… shit, get it together! “I… I-I’m fine.” I tried to protest, my breathing still quick. With an effort, and with some help from Gracie and Blake, I got back to my hooves long enough to get fully behind the boulder they used for cover. As soon as Gracie took her guiding hoof off of my back, I fell onto my stomach again, still in a state of panic. Blake lay down beside me, snuggling up against me as Gracie stroked my mane. I didn’t fight back, even though I felt a bit awkward at first… but their combined embrace did calm me down enough to speak again. “I’m… I’m not shot. The bullet grazed my mane… I just got the wind knocked out of me… from the fall.” I said, looking back at Gunny. His face was scared, fearing that I had been severely injured. But at my assurance to the contrary, his face eased into a tactical frown as he thought about how to handle the situation.

He and Shore shared the boulder next to ours, a small space in between them, and for a brief and rather frightening moment, Gunny bolted out from behind his boulder and dove behind another. “Where did that shot come from?” Shore demanded, more to himself than us, but loud enough for all of us to hear.

“I think it came from the other end of the field.” I said, finally a solid sentence. My initial wave of panic was now mostly subsided, replaced with the adrenaline-fueled desire to make sure that my brother was safe.

“Was there a delay between when you felt the bullet pass and the sound of the shot?” Gunny called back to me, and when I answered the affirmative, he nodded. “Okay… Nova, Shore, we need to advance up the field. These boulders aren’t very tall, but we can use them for cover as we advance and hopefully we’ll be able to sneak up on this fucker.”

“What if the sniper’s a Pegasus?” Shore asked; that was a perfectly valid question.

“I don’t think that’s the case.” Gunny answered lowly. “Come on! I need you two up here.”

I watched as Shore quickly moved up the field, joining Gunny by his boulder. “It’s safe to move up to here Nova… come on.” Gunny urged.

“I’ll stay back here and look after Blake.” Gracie said from beside me, and I saw as she levitated her sidearm from its holster on her right hind leg.

Nodding, I looked down at Blake with a firm stare. “You need to stay behind this rock with Gracie. Do only what she says, when she says it, understand?” Blake looked a little shaken as well, but he nodded, pressing himself tighter against the stone. And with that, I kissed him on the forehead before I ran from cover and dived over to where Shore and Gunny were waiting.

“We’re going to move from one boulder to another and make our way down the field.” Gunny explained to Shore and I. “We’ll move single file, but we need to stay close together. Keep an eye out for traps or any hostiles… Nova, your Pipbuck will be most helpful in that regards.” I looked down at my E.F.S. compass, facing towards the direction we were about to travel. There was no red for now. “I don’t see anypony up ahead right now… let’s move to the next boulder, up ahead and right.” On Gunny’s word, we moved together in a line up to the next boulder, getting in closer. Gunny carefully peaked out once again, giving us the all clear to move up to the next boulder, and we safely moved to the boulder after that before my E.F.S. picked up a red dash… and then a second.

“Two snipers…” I said, showing Gunny.

“Looks like they’re moving through as well.” Gunny observed, and I could see as the dashes were inching across the compass, showing that the ponies were advancing through the field, searching for us. “Either way, that sniper’s got support. We’re going to need to spread out and keep quiet… Nova, stay here at the middle. I’ll move to the right to that boulder nearby, Shore you go left. Stay sharp.” I watched as Gunny moved first, peeking out before hurrying to cover behind the boulder next to mine. He levitated his shotgun from its place on his back, a pump-action scattergun, and he loaded it with three shells. Shore had already moved to his rock to the left, slightly ahead of mine… and now we played the waiting game.

I kept my eyes glued to my Eyes Forward Sparkle, watched as the red dashes grew slowly closer. Now we could hear the voices, two ponies talking between each other and seeming to disregard stealth as much as I disregarded science. “I don’t care what the orders from the forward post are.” I heard one say, a stallion. “I know that I saw a Pegasus and I’m going to hunt the bitch down. You know how many we killed here before. This is just like one more. Besides, with this baby it wont take but five seconds.”

“You know the boss is going to break the shit out of you if you keep pulling this crap.” a second voice, a mare, replied.

“Fuck him!” the stallion snapped back. “He’s just another one of Bruiser’s playthings. He wouldn’t have the guts to fight me.”

“Pf. That chainsaw of his would tear you apart in a second.” the mare said with sinister confidence.

“Yeah, unless I blew his brains out first.” the stallion said back with a snort. “This is bullshit, come out and fight!” he then called, now addressing me, his prey. The two dashes were moving faster now, showing that they were nearly beside us. As quietly as I could, I turned the safety of my battle saddle off, and I tucked myself against my cover, hoping to get the jump on at least one of them.

Silence… and then a voice, the mare I had heard. “Found you!” And as I heard the cocking of a weapon, I knew she was right behind me. It was too late for me to react… I was dead.

BLAM!!

Dead…… no…… alive? I had froze in that moment, not moving, not breathing, not feeling, only staring at the ground. But the feeling returned to me as I exhaled, and I snapped back behind me to find the mare, a Black Blood Raider, laying dead behind me with her head blown clean off. Gunny was behind her, staring at me behind the iron sights of his shotgun. Then without a word, he ducked back behind cover just as the second raider spoke. “Ah ha ha ha! It’s killin time!” He must’ve seen the death of his partner, but the fact that the death of his friend didn’t concern him at all was rather sickening.

I snapped back to focus, following my E.F.S. and making sure that the red dash stayed in front of me at all times. With the three of us, we could flank the raider and finish him off quickly. But then I heard the raider shout again, taunting, “Special delivery!” And with a gasp, I saw as a metal apple rolled by my rock and stopped on the dirt about a pony length away from me. I wheeled and dove towards Shore just as the grenade went off, sending a shower of dirt over me. Even before the dust from the explosion begun to settle, I scrambled over the dirt to Shore as a deafening gunshot erupted around me. If the raider was aiming at me, he missed, but the shot made my ears hurt. Whatever weapon he was using, it was big.

Shore peeked out around the rock, and stepping out behind cover he fired his energy weapons, green and red lashing out at the raider. “I’ll keep him pinned down. You go around and flank him.” he told me, and nodding my head I looked out behind my cover. Shore kept firing down on one boulder, leaving scorch marks and melting through the rock at the same time. Gunny was also adding his own fire, using his assault rifle now and unloading an entire clip to keep the raider pinned. And then, when Gunny had to reload, I bolted from cover and towards where the raider pony was hiding… or had been hiding. When I rounded the boulder, ready to fire, the raider wasn’t there. Only a very large rifle was there, a scoped rifle with a heavy frame and a long barrel. I checked my E.F.S., and I saw that the raider was farther back, perhaps behind the next boulder. But just when I was about to check, the raider pony came charging from around the boulder, coming up behind me with a knife levitating beside him. His cry had given me enough warning to wheel around, and I reared back from a knife slash, backing up to give myself room to fire. He swung the knife again, and I ducked under the slash from the glowing blade as the unicorn laughed in his unrelenting charge. As he prepared the knife for a third attack, I dug my hooves into the ground and leapt to the side, springing left to finally get the space I needed to fire. Facing him, I bit down on my firing bit, and Fire Rose and my carbine fired their hot words. The first pair of shots missed, but the second pair tore into his sides. With his wounds, the unicorn dropped his blade and fell back onto the dirt. I wasted no time in finishing him off, firing two more pairs of shots into his head to finally kill him.

I checked my E.F.S., ready for more raiders, but the compass was clean, only showing me the green dashes that resembled my friends. With a sigh, I bowed my head to catch my breath, doing my best to keep myself from going into another panic attack. “We’re clear!” I heard Gunny call as he stepped up beside me. “Hey. You’re alright. We made it.” he encouraged me, lowering his head down to try and meet my eyes. I looked back at him and nodded, and I felt as he pulled me against him in an embrace.

Gradually, I got my breath back and looked away from the ground. Gunny was still looking at me, concern clear on his face. “You saved my life back there…” I said, managing a weak smile. “Thank you.”

“Hey, we’re all going to be watching each other’s backs. That’s what friends are for.” Gunny replied, the corner of his mouth rising in a smile. “Isn’t that what we promised when we were foals?”

We’ll always have each other’s backs no matter what. If nothing else in life is assured, then this promise can be the one thing that is.

Memories… We had made that promise in the Stable 181 atrium right in front of Crystal Sunset. Oh we had been so proud of that one… I think we had all stayed up the entire following night celebrating our friendship whereupon we got in trouble for keeping several residents awake; it was so foalish, but it was a significant event in our lives. “That’s right. I almost forgot.” I replied to Gunny, blinking back a tear. “Thanks again.”

Hey gave me a gentle squeeze before releasing his hug. “Any time… everypony alright?” he asked, and I saw Shore, Gracie, and Blake forming up around us. At receiving affirmative answers, Gunny stepped up to the dead raider, nudging the body to make certain that he was dead, and then he walked over to the raider’s rifle. Looking over it from barrel to stock, he gave a grim laugh. “If I had to make a guess, I’d say that this is a fifty caliber. I can tell by the length of the barrel and the muzzle brake at the end of it.”

“Is that bad?” Gracie asked, peeking out at the deadly weapon.

“Fifty is the largest rifle caliber, or at least the largest I’ve heard of.” Gunny replied. “A direct hit from that could take a limb off.” He looked over the rifle again, checking it part by part. “There’s one cartridge left in the chamber, none in the magazine. It looks pretty beat up, but I think this can be secured to a battle saddle. Shore, come here a second.” I watched as Shore trotted up to Gunny, looking over the heavy rifle as Gunny levitated it over his back. He situated it so that the stock rested at the base of Shore’s neck, the rifle laying parallel to Shore’s spine, and with a series of clicks, the rifle was secured. “Does that get in the way of you at all?” Gunny asked.

“No.” Shore replied, experimenting by craning his head back. “I can carry it just fine, but what do you want it for?”

“This would help Hopeville a lot if we could find ammo for it.” Gunny explained, patting down the dead raider for anything else that might’ve been useful; he only found one of the metal apple grenades which he quickly clipped to his security armor. “If nothing else, we might be able to sell it, so long as the ponies in Challenger have any common sense. I know I’d pay a lot to get one of these.”

Leaving Gunny to his looting, I fanned out my wings and rose into the air. Now I could look around within worrying about being sniped out of the sky… thank the Goddesses. I flew upward and stopped when I could see the entirety of the boulder field and beyond. The ground looked clear of enemies, and I couldn’t see movement around the boulders on the ground. However, as I scanned the southern horizon, I could see what looked like two buildings jutting out from the horizon, far beyond the boulder field. Out of curiosity, I checked my Pipbuck’s world map. There was no designation on the map to explain what the site might be, but they were definitely buildings. “Nova, what do you see?” I heard Gracie call through my Pipbuck’s speaker.

Looking away from the structures, I turned on my radio screen and replied, “There’s a pair of houses beyond the boulder field. They’re not Challenger… so I have no idea what they could be.”

Briefly, I heard an inaudible voice through my speaker. “Shore says that he remembers one of the raiders talking about a forward post…” Gracie said, her voice trailing away. I looked back at the buildings with narrowed eyes. That would make sense, because the two raiders here wouldn’t have had to walk too far from their post to come here and set up a camp… damn it…

I snapped my wings shut and dove back down to the ground, landing neatly among the others as Gunny returned with another weapon at his side. It was a sub-machinegun of sorts, and he brought it to me, opening one of my saddlebags and setting it and its ammo inside. Curious, I checked my Pipbuck’s inventory screen, and the item appeared on the list of things I carried. It was a 9mm Sub-machinegun, and my Pipbuck also showed it as a weapon in moderate condition, the bar about half empty… or half full. “A raider outpost…” Gunny said, thinking aloud. “I bet we could hit that outpost and take it out.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Gunny.” Gracie protested.

“Any decently defended outpost is going to have at least a dozen ponies.” Shore added.

“But they’re not well-trained. These ponies are reckless.” Gunny countered. “If we use everything that the Stable taught us about fighting, then we can easily take them. Besides, if we pass them by now, then that leaves them free to harm any other pony that might cross this way. This area’s desolate, sure, but do we really want to give them that opportunity?”

“Your heart’s in the right place Gunny,” I said gently. “but can we really afford the time?”

“If it means saving lives, then yes.” Gunny said, fixing me with a very militant stare. He was really serious about this…

“Maybe we can take a peek and see just how many ponies are there.” I offered, trying to find a medium between fighting and fleeing. “It may not even be a raider post.”

“There’s only one way to find out.” Gunny said. “Let’s go.”

He took the lead then, heading towards the nearest exit to the boulder field. With a sigh, Gracie followed, and I guided my brother along with me as we followed after, Shore bringing up the rear of our little fighting force.

*** *** ***

“At least a dozen… and their all wearing the armor. It’s definitely a raider post… it isn’t pretty.” Gunny was peering out from behind our cover as the rest of us made our way to him, and it only took once glance for me to understand what he meant. We had circled around the boulder field and stayed to the left of the buildings as they had come into sight. When we were close enough, we could see that the outpost had been a farm before the war. There were two buildings still intact, one of them being a large blackened barn. The second building was a farmhouse, old and crumbling. They were so close together that a plank was put up between two windows, allowing anypony inside one building to cross over to the other. We had found a place to hide behind the one standing wall of a third building on the property, isolated from the other two structures. The rubble left behind from when the building had been standing was spattered with dry blood, but we had no choice but to crawl over it and take cover.

However, beyond our hiding place, spatters of blood turned into the sight of a massacre… it was the worst thing I had ever seen, and I made damn sure that my brother couldn’t see it, keeping his head tucked against my chest. Along one side of the farmhouse, limp ponies hung by their necks from nooses that had been tied and secured to spikes that lined the roof; each spike was adorned with its own shishkebab of organs. On the ground, against the wall on the same side, were other dead ponies that had been shot full of holes, now laying in a pile of mangled bodies. The lower half of the wall was nearly painted over with their blood and the ground was littered with their insides which had been carved out and strewn about. Even as we looked, I saw a raider pony urinating on the remains… and that was the final straw. Now I was all for Gunny’s plan to wipe these fuckers out and I knew he was ready to do the same.

“This isn’t as bad as what we saw in Hopeville…” Gunny whispered bitterly. “But I’d be ready for more of that inside those buildings.” He looked down at the rubble beneath his hooves, glaring in thought as he devised a strategy for wiping out this outpost. “The first noise we make is going to need to be big and do a lot of damage, because once we announce our presence, the bullets are going to fly.” He must’ve fully developed his plan now, because he looked over to Shore and took the heavy rifle off of his back to gently set it down. “There’s one shot in this thing, and there’s one guard on the roof of the barn.” he explained. “Nova, Shore, you two sneak into the house when the guard’s not looking, and then use this grenade to do as much damage as you can.” As he said this, he undid the grenade from his armor and levitated it over to me. Unfortunately, I’d have to carry it in my teeth… and the thought of carrying a grenade in my mouth was a bit concerning to me. “Just pull the pin and toss the apple. That’s all you need to do.“ At my nod, he continued explaining his plan, saying, “When I hear that explosion, I’ll take out the guard on the roof, and then I’ll join you two inside the farmhouse and we’ll clean it out. After that, we’ll cut across the plank and move into the barn. Grace, once I fire this thing off, I’m going to run so that they wont figure out where my shot came from. But I’d be ready to fight just in case.”

“Yes, of course.” she said, a little nervously, but still levitating her sidearm from its holster.

“Blake, you stay with Gracie, and for Goddesses sake whatever you do, do not look at that house.” I said to my baby brother, who looked so confused and in need of answers that I felt bad giving such direct orders. “I just want you to look at Grace and nowhere else, okay?” At his nod, I smiled as encouragingly as I could, giving him a quick hug.

Gunny was looking at me as I released my brother. His eyes divulged his hesitation at sending me to a fight, but I quickly picked up the grenade in my teeth, nodding before he could say anything about it. Though he had taken over as an impromptu leader so suddenly, he was good at planning offensive maneuvers; that was my opinion anyway. “Alright.” he said, taking my nod as the sign to get this mission kicked off. “There’s a side door on the house that’s concealed from the barn. When the guard turns away, move for the door. Wait for my command…”

Shore and I took up positions next to each other at the end of the wall, crouching down and ready to run. I could see the door that Gunny was speaking of, worn enough that it looked ready to fall down on its own; it was perfect for being able to buck down. “Go!” Gunny whispered loudly, and Shore and I made a beeline for the door, galloping side by side. We made it without alerting our enemies, and Shore and I took up positions on either side of the door. My E.F.S. showed seven red dashes inside the house, and I mouthed the number to Shore who nodded in understanding. I could see Gunny over Shore’s back as he slowly settled the rifle onto the wall, stabilizing it so he could look down the scope. Then Shore and I made eye contact… and our mission began.

Shore stepped in front of the door, rearing around to buck the door down hard with his hind hooves. And as the door came crashing down, I clenched down on the grenade’s pin and tossed my head to hurl the metal apple into the house’s first room. A quick few profanities, and then the explosion ripped the room apart, dust and debris flying through the open door frame. Shore entered first, weapons at the ready, and then I followed him just as the thunderclap of the .50 cal outside lashed across the sky. Now the battle was on, voices yelling to one another inside the house and outside. “This first room is clear.” Shore said to me, stepping into the next room. The first room was some kind of living room, now splattered with the remains of however many raider ponies had been lounging within… good riddance. The room that Shore had stepped into was smaller, used now as a kitchen, but there was nopony inside. He stepped out beside me just in time to see a raider pony step out of a room at the other end of the living room. A sharpened pitchfork was clenched in the earth-pony’s teeth, and with a growl he charged forward. Shore easily intercepted the pony, his laser rifle and multiplas rifle turning the earth-pony into an ashy pile of green mush.

Together we advanced over the gooey remains of the invader and into the room where he came from, having to quickly back up to cover as another invader pony fired wildly at us with some kind of assault rifle. After a pause, I sprang out into the open, finding the raider and activating S.A.T.S. to target his torso. I fired one pair of shots, and they struck their target, the raider dropping his weapon with a cry. I waited until the pony fell over before I lined up another shot with S.A.T.S., and when the pony was still, I fired again, killing him. With this larger room cleared, Shore trotted back into the living room, and I looked at my E.F.S.. More were coming from outside, and there was an entrance corridor on the left side of this room (I assumed it was some kind of pre-war dining room). To my right, my E.F.S. identified two friendly contacts, Shore and Gunny. “I’ll stay with Nova and keep the downstairs cleared. You check upstairs.” I heard Gunny, and a moment later he came trotting up to me. “Nice work on the door.” he complimented quickly before asking, “Any others coming in?”

“Left side.” I answered, pointing at the corridor. “There’s at least three.”

“That table there. Look out.” he said, and I backed away as he used his magic to levitate a large table that had been shoved to a corner of the room. He brought it before us and flipped it onto its side to give us some cover to use, and then he levitated out his assault rifle.

As I joined him behind the table, the door leading into the dining room came crashing down, and as the first raider entered, shouting hideous insults to the walls, Gunny and I rose and opened fire. The first raider went down, but his friends had the common sense to take cover. As Gunny and I crouched to reload our weapons, bullets struck the table as the raider returned fire. Then, Fire Rose was reloaded, the auto loader spitting out the empty magazine, and Gunny had finished reloading his assault rifle. Together, we reared up and fired again. One of the raiders was caught before he could get to cover, and Gunny killed him with several hits to the chest. I fired three pairs of shots, pacing myself to try and actually hit my target, but then I heard a grunt beside me, and I gasped at seeing Gunny as he jerked back and fell behind cover, his assault rifle falling onto the floor. “Gunny! Are you okay?” I cried, calling over the noise of the last raider’s weapon as I ducked behind cover with him.

“I just got hit in the shoulder.” he called back, giving his right foreleg a shake. “I’ll be fine, just focus.” As he collected himself, I reared back over the table, catching the raider with S.A.T.S. before he could duck back behind cover, and I targeted his head. The pair of shots missed though, and he made it to cover. I stood and waited, watching for when the invader would come out to return fire. And then he rose up, and we fired together. My pair of shots had missed again, but only because he had fired slightly quicker than me, and I cried out as I lurched back to hit the wall. Pain blasted through my foreleg as I landed on the floor, and I saw with dismay as blood oozed down my left foreleg and onto the dirty floor. The bullet had gone entirely through my leg, leaving a good-sized hole; my blood specked the wall behind me.

“Yeah! You like the sight of your own blood?” the raider taunted with a laugh as he fired again, his shot striking the wall above.

But in retaliation, Gunny reared back up over the table and fired. I heard the scream of agony as Gunny’s rapid-fire rifle killed the raider, and Gunny finished out the clip, tossing the empty magazine away to reload. “Do you?” Gunny asked back with bitter humor, but then he saw me. “Shit, Nova are you alright?”

“I got hit in the foreleg. I-it isn’t serious.” I said as confidently as I could, rising to my hooves without putting weight on my wounded foreleg. “I’ll need to be in the air to fight though. I’ll be useless on the ground like this.” I felt myself shaking, but I felt I was handling myself a bit better despite the injury.

“If you’re sure…” Gunny said, concerned until I gave him a weak smile. “Are we clear?” he asked. Sitting down, I checked my E.F.S. and gave a nod. There were no red dashes on the compass, showing that the house was clear of hostiles. “Let’s get back outside then. Come here, I’ll help you.”

I hobbled forward, leaning against Gunny’s shoulder as he supported me back into the living room. At about the same time, Shore came trotting down the stairs. “Two more are dead upstairs. There are more voices in the barn though.” he said.

“Head back upstairs and see if you can sneak up on them. Cross that plank into the barn. I’ll draw their attention on the ground so that Nova can hit them from above.” Gunny explained, and Shore left back up the stairs.

Upon getting outside, I fanned my wings and got airborne, hovering over Gunny as he advanced towards the large barn door, closed. According to my E.F.S., there were five raiders inside the barn, and I relayed this to Gunny, who only pointed up with a foreleg. “Hit them from above.” I said to myself, and I winged over to the roof of the barn; I could see the unmoving body of the guard that Gunny had killed with the heavy rifle.

Turning, I saw as Gunny stepped to one side of the large pair of barn doors and used his magic to begin to pull them open. Even before he opened it halfway, bullets tore through the old wood, canceling Gunny’s magic as he lost focus from the noise. But then, inside, I heard cries and the distinguished slicing sounds of lasers. Shore had made it inside and had successfully snuck up on the remaining invaders inside, and with the distraction that Shore made for the raiders, Gunny stepped to the front of the barn, making ready to go in with guns blazing… but he stopped. He stood absolutely still, frozen in place, and I didn’t know why until I heard something rumble to life from within the barn. Something was wrong… because Gunny was beginning to back up. And suddenly, the barn doors flung open wide with magic and a unicorn stallion came charging out of the barn. The deep red unicorn, aside from the red and black armor, wore a metal helmet that protected his head and neck and concealed his face, and at his side, a chainsaw coated in blood revved up with an ominous roar. Gunny crouched down and aimed, opening fire on the chainsaw-wielding pony with his assault rifle, several bullets setting sparks against the metal helmet where they struck the head and the neck. But the pony charged through the gunfire, heedless of it, and Gunny had to move, diving away as the chainsaw sliced across where he had once stood. The unicorn followed him, crying out in bloodlust as he charged again, madly swinging his sinister weapon.

The concept of a chainsaw maniac was frightening. What kind of psychopath would want to kill a pony like that??… This pony… he wasn’t a pony at all. He was a monster, a Black Blood Raider that killed for the hell of it and killed in the most gruesome of all possible ways… FOCUS! I had let one pony down and left him injured because of the thoughts that came from my fears, and I wasn’t going to let Gunny down; he wouldn’t have a second chance if he was caught. I angled down in a dive, lining myself up for a shot, and I activated S.A.T.S. to target the chainsaw pony’s rear right leg. I fired two pairs of shots, the first missing, but the second tearing through the pony’s leg. He staggered, but he didn’t even look at me as I flew by to swing around for another pass. He didn’t even seem to notice his wound, and he made another charge for Gunny with similar speed and aggression.

His ignorance towards his wound alarmed me just as much, and I saw him swing at Gunny again. My heart stopped in that moment, only beating again when I saw Gunny leap away to put some distance between himself and the maniac. But he still stumbled, nearly falling, and I saw with alarm that a section of his armor on his left side had been ripped open, and blood was oozing out of the hole; he had been grazed. That familiar feeling of adrenaline begun to pump through me, and I dashed down in another dive. Focusing in without S.A.T.S., I lined myself up for another shot and fired, the pair of shots striking the chainsaw pony in the right side. The pony staggered once again and this time, he turned the chainsaw in the air and used his magic to send it up after me. I nearly collided with the saw, its jagged teeth waiting for me, but I lurched back up, flying sideways as I shot past the machine. I halted in the air and wheeled back around for another pass when I saw that the chainsaw pony was stopped in place, looking past Gunny to where Gracie had come out. Grace was firing her sidearm at the chainsaw pony, each shot sending sparks off of his helmet as she used S.A.T.S. to target that area. She was providing a diversion, trying to lure the psychopath to her; Gunny looked weaker and in a lot of pain, and so I knew why. But as the chainsaw pony charged past Gunny, and Gracie bolted to lure him away, I saw with shock as the maniac kept running… straight to where Blake was poking his head out!

I screamed, my lungs burning as I charged forward, ignoring pain and beating my wings as fast as they would let me. Tunnel vision… I could only see the chainsaw pony in front of me as I rapidly closed the distance between us. And just when he was about to run around the wall where my baby brother had taken shelter, I crashed headfirst into the chainsaw pony with all my strength, my wounded foreleg erupting in pain as the two of us tumbled across the grass. The impact had forced the chainsaw pony to loose his focus on his weapon, and now he was finally unarmed as the two of us toppled over one another. We came to a stop well away from Blake, as was my intention, but now that I had gotten this monster away from my baby brother, my pain came back to me stronger than before. I gave a gasp, breathing through clenched teeth as I tried to suppress the hurt in my foreleg. But then a fresh piercing pain shot through my chest, and I cried out in agony, my eyes coming open to see the chainsaw pony standing over me. His grimy hoof was planted against my chest, and I noticed that he was wearing something with spikes all around it. An identical item adorned his other forehoof, looking like a spiked pony shoe, and stepping over me, pinning me underneath his weight, he lowered his metal helmet next to my face. I could hear the psychopath’s breathing inside, and his voice rose to speak like a deep tide of hate. “Now you die, cunt…” Then he yanked his hoof off of my chest, the spikes slipping out of my flesh as he raised the spiked shoe up for the killing blow.

But then, a gunshot, the loud crack of a rifle. A hole ripped out the metal helmet, blood and flecks of brain matter flying out of it, and the maniac pony fell off of me and onto the grass, dead. There was black seeping into my vision as I sought to find who was responsible for nailing that monster… ponies from Hopeville perhaps, coming to our aid by the captain’s orders… but the six ponies I saw advancing towards me weren’t wearing Stable security armor… they almost looked like raiders, but they weren’t wearing that armor either. They only wore what looked like worn leather and as the squad of six advanced passed me one of them, and earth pony stallion with a rifle in his mouth, stopped beside me, looking me over curiously before looking ahead again and raising his weapon. “Stop where you are or I’ll shoot!” the stallion warned somepony else through the firing bit.

His voice was hazy to my ears, dimmed, and the voice that replied was no better. “I’m not a raider damn you! Let me go to my friend!” The next moment, I saw Gracie as she skidded to a halt beside me, immediately levitating her medical saddlebags off of her back and setting them on the ground to fish out a healing potion. Then I couldn’t see anymore. Too much mental trauma, coupled with my very painful injuries, left me unable to fight back against passing out, and I slipped into unconsciousness, the last thing I heard coming from Gracie as she told me to hang on.

*** *** ***

“You ponies are crazy, challenging an entire outpost like you did. I’m surprised none of you died.” a mare’s voice said.

“It was the first time we’ve seen what they really did.” a stallion replied. “We saw the house… and then I saw what was inside the barn… all of those corpses chopped to bits… we couldn’t let this go.”

“Well yeah… but look at your group. Two of you are injured and your foal is shaking. You shouldn’t have come here.” another stallion said.

“It was my idea.” a third stallion spoke out. Even through the fog of my mind, I could hear the tone of regret his voice took. “I pulled them all into it because I wanted to kill the bastards.”

“Well, we’d be lying if we said that what you did didn’t help.” a second mare spoke up. “Butcher was a psychopath… we lost dozens to him… my little filly too. That’s why I’m particularly glad to see that this young colt is alive after your ordeal.”

“He was a mad-dog killer. When he was alive, I was surprised that he was able to lead an outpost.” a third mare replied. “Between his bloodlust and being hyped up on chems, it was discouraging to know that he was behind the attacks on our town.”

By now, I found the strength to open my eyes. It felt strange, waking up from having passed out, and it was difficult to move. My entire body felt like it was asleep and my hearing and sight only slowly improved. As I stirred, I saw that I was laying on my right side, my left foreleg having been dressed with healing bandages. My head was tucked against my chest, and so I could also see the assorted bandages that covered where the chainsaw pony had struck me with his spiked pony shoes. As I begun to recollect my memories, I dragged my Pipbuck foreleg across the dirt until I could bring my Pipbuck to my eyes. The medical screen was displayed, and the left foreleg of the digital Pegasus was outlined with a dashed line while the torso was flashing, showing that it recognized the injury to my chest as well. “You’re friend’s stirring.” I heard a stallion say. The voices were getting clearer now, my hearing nearly coming back full.

“Nova!” I heard a higher voice cry, and I saw as my brother hurried over to me, instantly bombarding me with nuzzling.

I gratefully accepted his embrace, so glad to see him unharmed; that made it much easier to push away the memory of that chainsaw maniac chasing after him. “Are you okay?” I asked hoarsely, having to clear my throat.

“I’m okay. I’m not hurt.” Blake assured me, looking me in the eyes. “But you are…”

“I’ll be fine.” I interrupted gently, nuzzling him again. “You didn’t look at the house did you?” I was preparing for him to confirm that he did, but he shook his head; more relief. “Thank you.”

“Drink this.” Gracie stepped around to come into my sight. By her side was an open healing potion, and she guided it to me so that I could drink. I chugged it down, feeling the immediate effect of the potion as the pain of my wounds eased, and she set the empty bottle aside. Looking down at my foreleg, she used her magic to gently pull back the bandage, checking on the injury’s condition. It was already beginning to seal, the flesh regenerating before my eyes before Grace covered it again with the bandage. She similarly checked my chest, nodding at the progress of the mend, and then without a word she trotted away to check on Gunny.

I could see my friend likewise laying on his side, a pad of his armor removed so that Grace could tend to the wound he had sustained from the chainsaw. It was a hideous gash, and I had to imagine that it had been worse before I woke. Though the chainsaw hadn’t fatally mauled him, it had easily eaten through his security armor and carved a gash down his side. Grace was currently applying some sort of disinfectant to the wound while Gunny was talking to a pony I hadn’t see before. The pony was a unicorn stallion, rugged and looking very dirty. His orange coat was covered with scars left behind from healed wounds, and he also wore an eye patch on his right eye… a strange accessory, but one that required no explanation; there was a scar that angled from his forehead over his right eye and across his cheek. “So where the hell did you five come from anyway? It seems kind of strange that you’d come from Challenger or some place farther out southeast.” the orange stallion asked.

“We’re actually trying to get to Challenger.” Gunny answered him. “We came from Hopeville.”

“Seems like you’ve got a knack for heading into Black Blood territory then.” the orange unicorn remarked with a smirk. “Wish we had that kind of knack, but Proudspire is in a hell of a mess right now.”

“Proudspire?” Shore inquired from his resting place near Gunny.

“That’s where we come from.” the orange unicorn explained. “It ain’t really proud anymore though, not after the past two weeks.”

“What’s the problem?” Gunny asked.

“We’ve been getting hit again and again by the Black Blood.” the unicorn replied grimly. “It was generally quiet up until about two weeks ago. Then the attacks started happening. At least once a day, a band of Black Blood would show up and start shooting. We’ve been holding them back easily enough, but it’s due largely in part to the fact that we got a supply shipment from Challenger that was brought down from the Equestrian heartland before the attacks began. Medical supplies, food, ammo… but now the Black Blood are cutting us off from the other settlements, and we’re going to start running out of supplies soon. If that happens, we’ll have to abandon the town.”

“There isn’t another way for you to get supplies anymore?” Shore asked.

The unicorn stallion shook his head. “They’re spaced so that they can intercept any caravan that tries to get into Proudspire, and now they’re chipping away at us.”

“That’s awful.” Gracie said, sounding genuinely sympathetic.

“We made it out because they still haven’t completely trapped us.” the unicorn stallion said. “At least not yet anyway.”

“Why did you come out?” I asked with a cough, catching the stallion’s attention.

He smirked at me. “Because of the commotion you lot were making over here.” he answered. “One of our spotters saw the guns blazing at this outpost, so we hightailed it out of Proudspire to see what was happening. We were hoping that someone was putting a dent in these bastards… turns out our hope wasn’t misplaced. That’s why I’d like to ask you lot a personal favor.”

“What’s that?” Gunny asked.

“Well, y’all seem to hate the Black Blood as much as we do, so I’d like to ask if you’d come with me and my squad to Proudspire so you can speak to our leader. She’d definitely appreciate extra help, especially since she’s finally organizing a counteroffensive.”

Gunny and I exchanged looks. This would be a major diversion from our objective, one that I wasn’t certain we could afford. I said, “We’re really hoping to get to Challenger within the next day or two… I’m not sure if we can help.”

The unicorn stallion looked discouraged. “You ponies are well equipped, and we know you can handle yourselves since you took out an entire Goddess-damned outpost by yourselves. Hell, this outpost was a third of the problem for Proudspire as it is. We need ponies like you to help us push back the raiders so we can reestablish contact with the other settlements. Please, we really need your help, any help you can offer… even if its just to sell something you don’t need.” At this point, he was practically begging for aid.

Proudspire, a settlement I had only heard of from Lucky Hallion, seemed like it was in an even worse spot than Hopeville. But for me, there was a personal addition to the equation. One of this stallion’s ponies had saved me from getting pummeled with spiked shoes. I would’ve died if it hadn’t been for their intervention, and then my brother might’ve died as well. If nothing else, then at least I had a debt to pay off. “I’ll come and help.” I declared, and the unicorn visibly brightened. “You or one of your squad saved my hide back there… the way I see it is that I owe you a debt that…” I began explaining before one of the Proudspire ponies shouted triumphantly, cutting me off.

A green earth pony stallion with a short black mane and tail, armed with a rifle that had its own firing bit, grinned wide, saying, “That was me! Totally me! Called it, called it! Uh… err, ahem… you’re welcome.”

I couldn’t help but giggle. “So like I said, because of that, the least I can do is try and help you. I owe you all that.”

“I’d appreciate it, and I know that Proudspire would appreciate it. Hell, you’re a Pegasus too. I’m willing to bet anything that you could make a world of difference for our little town.”

“If my big sister’s going, then so am I.” Blake protested from beside me. “And no stranger ponies are going to tell me not to.”

“I guess if Nova thinks it’s a good idea, then I’m in too.” Gunny said, looking over at me with a thin smile.

“Maybe I can be of some help as well.” Gracie thought aloud. “Do you have wounded in Proudspire?”

The orange unicorn nodded somberly. “Plenty. If you’ve got medical training, you’d be a great relief to a lot of ponies.”

“I am unsure of what I’d be able to help with, but I guess I’m in too.” Shore said with a nod, and that finished our group; we were all going.

“Hot damn!” the orange stallion whinnied, rearing onto his hind legs just like the rest of his squad as they celebrated.

After they calmed themselves, Grace politely said, “I just need some more time here to let these two heal up properly. It shouldn’t take too long.”

“No problem, no problem. We can go loot the farmhouse while we wait, see what kind of stuff we can scrounge up.” the orange unicorn answered affirmatively before gathering up his squad and leading them away to go looting.

I took the free time to embrace Blake again, and he snuggled up against me so that I could put a wing over him. That battle was scary… very scary… and to be honest, I was surprised that we had survived. The lack of training was obvious in the Black Blood Raiders, and that was ultimately what let us gain the upper hoof in the fight. While I had never been professionally trained by Stable security, both Gunny and Shore had been. They knew how to handle themselves, and against the Black Blood, it was all about keeping your thoughts together and remembering your training. Even for somepony like myself, my experience allowed my skill to exceed most of the raiders we had encountered in the past two days, and so that included me just as much as Gunny or Shore. But despite our varying levels of training, a big part of me thought about the presence of luck in that previous fight. Luck had seen to our sneaking up on the outpost, luck had seen to me being able to toss in that grenade without a mishap, luck had seen us all alive in the end… maybe, maybe not.

I shifted to avoid laying on top of my carbine, and I checked my Pipbuck’s medical screen. The torso on the computerized Pegasus was no longer flashing. Likewise, the left foreleg was no longer a dashed line, but a solid illustration; there were no other medical alerts displayed on my screen. With a breath, I hoisted myself up to my hooves and stood as I waited for the feeling to return to my limbs. “Are you okay?” Blake asked, rising with me.

“Yes. I feel better.” I answered before slowly making my way to Gunny. He was still laying on his side, looking out towards the barn with an empty healing potion bottle beside him. “How are you feeling?” I asked him.

“Physically… better.” Gunny said, his tone instantly making me worry. He confessed right away though, confirming my rising suspicion. “I’m sorry about dragging you into here.”

“We all wanted to take this outpost down.” I replied, unsure about what he meant.

“I know, but I don’t think I listened to your warnings enough about avoiding this place. I mean, you got hurt, your brother was nearly killed… I feel terrible about it.” Gunny did look down, but there wasn’t a need for that.

“I know… but we all made it and we watched out for each other just like before.” I pointed out, putting a hoof on his neck.

“It was still dangerous to you… to all of us… I think I’m trying to play the captain’s role when I’m still not as experienced. Hell, I don’t even think I’m cut out for a role like that.” Gunny said, scoffing at himself.

“You’re good at leading.” I encouraged. “I’d follow your orders just as much as I’d follow the captain’s.”

“That good huh?” Gunny asked with a doubt that sung to the world.

“Yes.” I replied firmly. “You’ve got experience, you’re brave, strong, you know how to control yourself in a fight. If I was the captain, I’d think very highly of you, and even though I’m not, I still think you’re a good leader.” Gunny was silent, nodding slightly as he listened to my words. “If nothing else Gunny, just remember that we took out this band of bastards in their little fortress. That should mean something.”

This won a chuckle from Gunny. “Yeah, we shot them up proper didn’t we?”

We both turned at a crash in the house. The Proudspire ponies were having a jolly old time smashing up the farmhouse that once belonged to their enemies, and I swear I heard one of them singing, the downbeat of each phrase of words being emphasized with another smash as one pony or another destroyed another piece of furniture or some other item in the house. But then, I saw an orange light beginning to flicker through one of the open holes that was once a window. One by one, the Proudspire ponies exited the house through the open doorframe, all laden down with saddlebags full of goodies and leather armor decorated with weapons. They looked ready to fight a whole army of raiders, and that appearance was strengthened by the fact that the orange light grew into a fire that burned within the living room of the house. “Just an insurance thing.” the orange unicorn stallion said with a wink… or a blink of his one eye. “ We got the barn and the farmhouse alight. Wouldn’t want the Black Blood setting up here again.” After a pause, he looked between us. “Are y’all about ready to go?” he asked us, looking around.

Gunny shifted and carefully got to his hooves as Grace looked over his wound. It was much better than before, now mostly closed thanks to the healing potion he had drank. Gracie also quickly checked my own wounds, now entirely gone, and she discarded the used bandages, giving an okay. “Alright.” the orange stallion said with a nod, watching as Gracie packed up her things. When she was ready, he trotted off, his squad following. “Follow us.” he beckoned. “We’ll take you to Proudspire.”

My brother fell in next to me as we all begun to move. But before we had even moved a few pony lengths forward, Gunny suddenly called for us to stop. One and all, we turned to watch as he approached the single wall of the third building of the farm, and he levitated out the .50 caliber rifle from where it had laid within the rubble during the fight. Even though it was empty, I could see the logic behind carrying it along; we might need it later. “This is our insurance thing.” Gunny commented with a smirk as he trotted over to Shore and secured the heavy rifle to the science pony’s armor.

“Damn.” the orange unicorn stallion said, looking with wide eyes onto the heavy rifle, most of his squad doing the same. “You plan on hunting an Ursa Minor with that thing?”

“Just raiders.” Gunny answered, his smirk unwavering. And with that, we finally left the outpost behind, letting it burn to the ground like it deserved.

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Travel Light - What you lack in raw power you make up for in grace. When wearing light armor, light battle saddles, or no gear, you move 10% faster.

Comments

[FireStorm2247]

Allo! Here be the next chapter! Just as a heads up, I switched the content rating of Fallout Equestria - The Code of Honor to mature due to the inclusion of more colorful language and scenes of gore. This is just me playing things safe so that I don't get yelled at. Nobody likes bein yelled at. So that's just a little message to keep y'all up to speed.

AAAAAND... Thankee for three hundred views!

Woke up this mornin and did mah happy dance: assets0.ordienetworks.com/images/GifGuide/dancing/smith1.gif

Anyway, I hope y'all will keep on enjoying Nova's story as more chapters come out. Stay cool mares and gentlecolts!

EDIT: Confound my constant second guessing! It drives me to second guess myself! I removed the mature tag, but I'll still keep this comment up as a warning about the use of language and scenes of gore. If I'm told to change it back to 'mature' then I'll do that no problem. But for now, I'll just keep stuff the same. Cheers.