Fallout Equestria: False Notions

by Chaotic Dreams

Chapter 1: Mercury

FALLOUT: EQUESTRIA - FALSE NOTIONS

CHAPTER ONE - Mercury

Dizzy

Don’t let it get you down, I mentally repeated to myself. A draconequus NEVER gets down!

Even if they’d just lost everything they’d ever known, had just found out those they trusted most were lying tyrants, and had just… No. Don’t let it get you down.

“Yeah…” I muttered to myself, a weak yet hopeful smile breaching the distraught look on my mismatched face. “Just think—Discord wouldn’t get down!”

If Discord wouldn’t get down, then where is He?

I stopped abruptly. The thought had just popped into my head before I could stop it.

“No!” I snarled at myself. “The only reason Discord isn’t in the homelands is because he’s… Busy! He doesn’t know how bad it is back home. For all I know, he could be working on a way to restore chaos to the world right now!”

If that’s the case, I thought bitterly. Then why am I looking for Him?

I sighed. You know you’re messed up when you’re having an argument with yourself. Discord would never do that—he’d be single-mindedly making chaos without doubting his cause.

So why was I doubting mine? His cause was my cause, after all. To create chaos.
And what better way to do that than to bring back the god of chaos Himself to a world that desperately needed Him? The only problem was, though I couldn’t quite bring myself to admit it, the question of why Discord hadn’t done just that all by Himself. Why was I looking for a god that was supposed to be so powerful nothing could prevent him from wreaking all the chaos He wanted?

And why had He left the draconequus homelands in the first place? Legend had it that Discord had left to snuff out a blasphemous orderliness in a world full of perfect, glorious chaos. Problem was, He had never returned. For thousands of years. And that was before The Great War made the world a living Tartarus.

Why would a god, even one of chaos, abandon His own people at the time they needed Him the most?

There had to be an explanation, and I was going to find it or die trying. Preferably the former rather than the latter. And when I did find Discord, this blasted, poisoned world resume its proper order… Or rather, lack thereof.

All of this was why I had journeyed to The Equestrian Wasteland. Why I had left the draconequus homelands. Why I had left The City. And why I had…

No, don’t let it get you down, I thought desperately. It can’t get you down if you don’t think about it.

A blaring CRACK whizzed past my rabbit ear, the sliver of metal that had produced the sound embedding itself deep in a dead tree a little ways behind me.

“Thank you,” I whispered a prayer to Discord. “Something to take my mind off all of this!”

I zoomed backwards through the air, my feet (one that of an insect and the other that of a white tiger) floating a foot or so above the ground. Diving behind the tree that had just literally taken the bullet for me, I pressed my back against the ash-blackened trunk.

“Dammit, I missed!” I heard one my unseen assailants curse.

“What is that thing?” another demanded, fear in his voice. Fear. Good, I could use that against him.

“It were just some mutant,” a third commented. “Ain’t nothin’ to be scared of.”

Darn. They had a moralizer. I’d have to take him out of play first if I was to use the shaken one’s fear to prevent this from getting any worse.

“Mutants don’t wear a trench coat and a cowboy hat!” the frightened one quavered. “It looks familiar, but I can’t place it. What if it’s intelligent, or magical, or outsmarts us or out-magics us?!”

What were the odds that the first ponies—first live ponies, anyway—I saw after entering The Equestrian Wasteland would be trying to kill me? Pretty high, actually; I was one of the monsters of their deepest nightmares, after all. On top of that, they sounded like raiders.

“I have yet to encounter anypony who can outsmart or out-magic a bullet,” the ornery gunpony snorted. “Come out and face us, mutant!”

Might as well give them what they want, I thought with a genuine smile, the first I’d felt since arriving in this Wasteland. I had almost completely forgotten about… That… and on top of that, I had finally found some action!

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t find killing sentient life, even in self-defense, a form of entertainment. However, there’s more than one way to defend oneself from attackers, not all of them lethal and several quite hilarious. I planned to have some fun with these ponies.

“Alright, you’ve got me,” I called out to them, floating out from behind the tree with my paws held high—one a bear claw and the other a draconic hand. “Or… Do you?”

“You can speak?” one of the ponies uttered, seeming dumbfounded.

“I told you he was going to get us!” the jittery one, an earth pony, spoke up. He had several grenades ready and waiting in a bandolier, his mouth poised to yank one out and throw it at any moment. The other two were both unicorns, one wielding a pistol and the other a rifle, both pointed at me. “This is all a trap!”

“Trap?” I echoed. “Only if your mind is a trap.”

“What are you?” the third pony, the unicorn with the pistol, asked. “And what do you mean, ‘only if your mind is a trap?’”

“I mean exactly what I say when I shouldn’t say what I maybe mean by meaning what I meant to mean during the meaninglessness mundaneness of meticulousness,” I replied, a toothy grin splitting my face. “In other words, you’ve already lost. Oh, and I’m a draconequus.”

“What?” the pistol pony questioned bluntly.

“A draconic-whatsit?” the rifle-bearing unicorn inquired.

“He’s a chaos monster!” the earth pony gasped. “I knew he looked familiar! He’s the same thing Discord was!”

“Discord’s a myth!” the rifle-pony dismissed. “He’s just trying to confuse ya’!”

“It’s working so far,” the pistol pony admitted. “And he does look like the stories always described…”

“Oh, I’ve already confused all of you,” I chatted casually. “Well, one of you, at least. I cast a spell over one of your minds when I was taking refuge behind the tree. One of you is about to have their mind dissolve into pure chaos. You’ll go violently insane and slay your own kind.”

“What?!” the grenade-pony gulped.

“That’s bullshit!” the rifle-pony spat, though he didn’t look so confident in his own words anymore. “He can’t mess with our heads!”

“Discord could!” the earth pony announced shakily. “He turned The Ministry Mares against each other with a single spell! The Ministry Mares, the ones chosen by The Elements of Harmony! If a chaos monster could do that to them, what do you think he could do to us?!”

“He can’t make anypony crazy!” the rifle unicorn insisted.

“That’s just what a crazy pony would say!” the grenade pony spat, looking the unicorn heatedly in the eye. “It’s you! He drove you crazy, and now you’re trying to hide it!”

“He’s gone crazy?!” the other unicorn gasped. “Quick! Shoot him before he tries to kill us!”

“I’m only going to kill you if you don’t stop this nonsense this instant!” the rifle-pony demanded, backtrotting nervously away from his companions.

“He just admitted he wants to kill us!” the grenade pony exclaimed. “Get him! Before he has the chance to fire!”

“Now, my slave!” I chuckled darkly to the still retreating unicorn. “There is no need to hide your insanity any longer, though I know you want to. You want to be normal, like your friends. Your former friends, that is. I’ll tell you what: if you kill them for me, I’ll make you sane again!”

“It IS him!” the pistol pony barked. He raised his pistol to shoot the other unicorn, who instinctually raised his own firearm in turn while the earth pony drew a grenade with his teeth.

“I-I’m w-warning you!” the rifle pony stammered. “Stay back!”

Each prepared to launch their attacks, and—

SWISH!

My oversized squirrel tail had lashed out and swept each of the pony’s legs out from under them, dropping them to the ground. Shots rang out, fired at the sky as the ponies fell. A grenade, pulled free of its plug, rolled to my feet. I scooped it up and threw it as far away as possible, where it exploded harmlessly.

Dashing across the fallen ponies, I scooped up the rifle up from where the unicorn’s telekinesis had dropped it in the fall and did the same with the pistol. I couldn’t swipe the earth pony’s grenades before he sprang back to his feet, but thankfully they’d be easier to outfly.

“All of this could have been avoided if you had just tried to talk to me before assuming I was bullet-worthy,” I told them, moving to hover a short distance away. “Not that it wasn’t a fun experience or anything, mind you.”

Satisfied, I stuffed their guns into the bigger-on-the-inside pockets of my trench coat and floated swiftly off on my merry way.

That was my first mistake in this situation. You should never turn your back on your enemies.

I cried out in pain as a bullet tore through my side, splattering the chocolate milk that made up my blood on the already brown grass. I whirled around as my feet dropped to the ground, grunting in pain as I waved my arms, desperate to keep my balance.

How could I have been so stupid?! Why didn’t I check to see if they had any extra guns?!

The rifle-pony had gotten back to his hooves and drawn a small revolver.
“See?!” he shouted to his compatriots. “I’m firing at him! He’s not my master! He didn’t drive me insane!”

The air cracked as another slug burrowed itself through my arm. Spots swam before my eyes as it felt like my blood turned to fire.

“We can kill it!” the earth pony realized, his eyes filling with a murderous hope as he pulled the pin off another grenade, tossed it into the air, and about-faced to buck it towards me. “If it can bleed it’ll die!”

I floated to the side quickly, my sweet blood spattering the ground as I dashed as far away from the grenade as I could, before the ground rushed up to meet me. I had to drink a healing potion, and fast, but that wouldn’t count for anything unless I disabled the threat that necessitated my need for healing in the first place.

“Stop!” I shouted. “I mean you no harm! I don’t want to fight you!”

“No harm?!” the former rifle, now revolver pony roared. “You almost had them kill me!”

“But I stopped them before they could!” I protested. “I just wanted to get away from you and have a little fun as I did so—”

“Turning ponies on each other is your sick, twisted idea of fun?!” revolver unicorn laughed maniacally. “I’ll show you my idea of fun—putting an end to abominations like you!”

“No, messing with people is my idea of fun!” I shot back. “I just took it to its extremes because otherwise you would have killed me on sight anyway!”

“And you deserve it!” revolver pony spat. “Oh, I am going to enjoy this!”

He advanced, leveling the revolver at my face, finally stepping close enough to push the end of the gun against my equine muzzle. I saw the homicidal satisfaction in his eyes. He knew he was about to kill me, and if I didn’t act quickly, I knew he would be right.

“Wait!” I implored. “Don’t… Don’t you want a target?”

The revolver pony paused for a moment, cocking his head.

“Target?” he echoed.

“Sure!” I exclaimed, latching onto his curiosity. “I have a bulls-eye target in my pocket. Just let me take it out, slowly so you can see—you can shoot me if it turns out to be a gun—and then you can kill me easier than ever, even at a distance!”

“… Okay…” the revolver pony uttered, taking a cautious step back.

I pulled out exactly what I had promised him from my pocket, holding it in front of my chest. I thanked Discord that I was gifted with the silver tongue of the draconequus—if I could talk to a pony long enough, I could confuse them, egg them on towards doing something I wanted them to do. That’s really the only reason these three had turned on each other earlier. I didn’t have time to do much persuading here, but coaxing him into believing I was giving him a better version of what he already wanted was something that it thankfully seemed I could manage.

“Ready?” I asked.

He nodded.

“Aim…” I instructed.

Before I had even finished saying the word, I dove forward, pressing the bulls-eye casing to the gun. The unicorn fired, but the casing had been designed to withstand far more than a revolver shot. Having nowhere to go, the bullet burst the gun, ruining it. The unicorn was so surprised at the spectacle that he dropped the mangled weapon from his telekinesis.

But he drew another gun. How many guns did this pony have?!

Without thinking, I dropped the bulls-eye casing and whipped out my own two guns, twin Chaos Corp. pistols. I saw his telekinetic glow intensifying around his new revolver, looking like a more beaten-up twin of the first that somehow must still be functional.

He was pulling the trigger.

I ducked and fired both of my guns at once. The slugs, enchanted with draconequus magic, sank themselves into his body, changed course while inside him without losing any of their inertia, and then exited him at different angles.

He dropped to the ground, dead.

My crimson irises widened in my yellow eyes.

“No—no, I didn’t mean to—I’m sorry!” I stammered, staring down at his corpse.

“Armory!” the now weaponless other unicorn gasped, galloping over to his fallen comrade. Seeming to have completely forgotten he’d been ready to take the other unicorn’s life himself a few moments earlier, he kneeled at the side of the pony whose life I had just ended.

“No!”

“He’s dead…” the grenade pony whispered. Suddenly, his eyes lit up with joy. “Thank you!”

“Thank you?!” I echoed. “Why are you thanking me?!”

“I was second-in-command!” he laughed. “Now I’m in charge! I can’t wait to break the news to his love-ponies. I especially can’t wait to get at his youngest filly, now that there’s nopony to stop me!”

So that’s why the earth pony had been so eager to kill off my own first kill. The silver tongue trick does work best when it plays off of a desire that’s already present in the victim’s mind.

“Did you say… Filly?” I asked, shocked.

“Of course I did!” the earth pony laughed, prancing about. “Fillies are the most satisfying. They can’t fight as much. You can go on now, monster. I command that we won’t fight you anymore. Come on, Point Blank! We can have all of Armory’s spoils now! All those slaves we stole are our love-ponies now!”

“I… I guess I hadn’t thought of that,” the former pistol-packing pony admitted. “Yeah, you’re right! We get all his stuff now!”

“Stuff?” I echoed darkly, my high emotion having suddenly reversed itself. Steam literally escaped from my ears as a bright shade of red enveloped my body. “You’re referring to living, thinking beings as STUFF?!”

“Yeah…?” the earth pony asked, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world and I was just too slow on the uptake.

I fired a single shot at one of his grenades, floating back as far as I could. The chain reaction splattered him everywhere, bits and pieces of his charred innards raining down from the sky. The blast had roughly halved the other equine, who slumped over the remains of his missing half.

I fished out a healing potion and downed it, relishing the feeling of my physical pain draining away as the wounds healed. I turned from the corpses without a second glance, heading where I could see the vague outline of buildings on the horizon. If my map was accurate, that would be the ruins of Applewood, and I should reach the newer settlement of Krater long before I entered the city proper.

Suddenly, the horrible thing I had done when escaping my homeland and The City didn’t seem quite as horrible as I had previously felt.

I also knew I would never feel bad about killing a raider ever again.

Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: Disillusionment—The world is not as you thought it was, and it’s becoming less so every moment. Learning this and using this knowledge to your advantage, you gain +3.14% awareness.

******

Nuclear Force

Alone.

They say that going ‘lone wolf’ in the Equestrian Wasteland is the worst thing you can do. You have no backup. No one to help you if you slip up. If you get shot, you’re done. If your plan fails, you’re done. If you’re out of supplies and can’t get more, you’re done.

It was a stupid idea. I should never have just left. But… I didn’t know what else to do. My mind was clouded by fear and sadness and regret and anger, and all I could think to do was to run away as fast as I could. I needed to get as far away as I could.

Now I sit here, on this damp piece of granite out in the middle of some disgusting, long-dead irradiated field.

I sighed.

---

---

Blood spattered against aged, peeling wallpaper, accompanying the angry voices of ponies mercilessly attacking one of their own.

“I can’t believe we didn’t see it before! You don’t belong here, freak! You’re the enemy! You did this to the world!”

Lies. Hypocritical lies.

“Stop!” a female voice begged, laced with the distinctive accent of a zebra. She wasn’t some enemy. She was a citizen, just like the ponies who were attacking her. She took no part in the war that happened nearly two centuries ago. They just didn’t want to accept it.

“Shut it, bitch!” There was a sickening crack as one of the angry ponies swiped a wooden plank, a fencepost, at her skull. Her head snapped sideways at the collision, sending her to the floor and spreading a pool of blood on the carpet. It was hard to think with the searing pain in her temple.

“I never wished you harm! Please, I have a son! Do not take me from him!”

The ponies didn’t listen. They simply beat her over and over again, her screams echoing throughout the house, laments of an innocent burdened with the sins of her ancestors.

A young striped green colt, a teenager, trembled behind a piece of furniture in the next room over, his face damp as he watched the zebra’s skull cave in a little bit more with each strike. He didn’t scream. He wanted to run to the zebra, wanted to save her, but she had told him to stay hidden and not to come out no matter what happened.

It was too late anyway. She was gone.

---

---

I wiped the tears from my eyes with a hoof, trembling as my mind played back the worst day of my life in gut-wrenching high-definition. My mother was brutally murdered by prejudiced, ignorant ponies who couldn’t let the war go. I could have helped her. I should have helped her. Instead, I did as I was told and hid, like the little foal I really am.

When those ponies left, I ran away. I ran so far away. I didn’t even know where I was going… I still don’t. I didn’t leave with many supplies… although I did bring a bag and Mom’s old armored barding, which admittedly was a little big on me. Otherwise, all I have now is my unicorn magic, my knowledge of alchemy from my late mother, and my wits.

With one final shudder, I pushed the memory out of my mind. Truth be told, I didn’t need it distracting me right now. I needed to stay alert, needed to keep an eye out for raiders or alicorns or other monsters.

The rock I was sitting on was oddly soft. I didn’t know if it was because it was damp, or what. It was smooth, like a pebble you’d pick out of the sand just beneath the tide at a prewar beach. What’s it like at a beach? Is the water crisp and clean and strikingly blue, instead of irradiated and some gross color? I would sure like to know.

I looked down at my hooves, then at my chest. Both were a pale green color, and if you looked really closely, you could see that faint stripes of slightly darker green ran through them, like a zebra. I wasn’t a zebra.

Well… actually...

My dad was a unicorn. I don’t really know much more about him than that. He was killed for loving a zebra when I was really young. I still don’t see what’s so wrong with that. Shouldn’t ponies or zebras be able to love whomever they please? Long story short, I don’t remember him. Mom tells... told me he was a nice stallion, though.

My mom, as you’ve probably just read, was a zebra. Yep. I’m some freaky pony-zebra hybrid. Yippee? Anyway, she was the one who really raised me, although I didn’t pick up her dialect or accent. Well, I don’t think. She taught me all sorts of things about alchemy and zebra magic. I… don’t care if ponies frown upon it. It’s helped me survive so far.

My name is Nuclear Force. As it turns out, science fascinates me. I like reading prewar textbooks about the structures of atomic particles, and chemistry feels simple to me. My cutie mark is a stylized red atom.

I lied down on my comfy rock, staring up at the cloudy sky above. The heavens were lazy tonight, not bothering to seal up every inch of their celestial blanket. I could see gaps in the clouds, exposing the starry heavens above.

I marveled. The stars… Mom had always told me tales about the stars, and how underneath their beauty, they were filled to the brim with malevolent intent. I’ve learned from her that they only want to hurt the creatures of the world, never to help them. Those who ask favors of the stars are very stupid indeed.

They were so beautiful, though... How could they be evil?

My stomach growled, opening a void in my stomach that demanded to be filled. A warm breath left my mouth as I concentrated on the black bag settled on my back. I felt around with my mind’s eye before I found what I was looking for, bringing it out in front of my face.

It was a small flask filled with a golden-brown liquid. Popping out the cork, I held the tip to my lips and drank. My stomach stopped complaining as I consumed the broth. It sort of tasted like steamed carrots.

There isn’t much food in the wasteland, so I pick various herbs from all over and brew them into mixtures that provide nourishment. Mom taught me how to do it, long ago. One flask has the same amount of nutrients as a meal, but can’t provide large amounts of things like fat or protein. They would tide me over, but I would need to get some real food soon.

Warmth bloomed in my stomach as the mixture reached it, making me feel so warm and cozy that I curled up into a little ball without realizing it, my dark green mane flopping over my eyes. Seeing how young I actually was—I’m an adolescent, if you didn’t know—I had the weirdest hunch that I looked cute, curled up like this. I really didn’t want to be cute. I was old enough to take care of myself!

...You know what? Whatever. I was tired, and I’d had a long day. Sleep sounded nice.

---

---

I focused intently on the pile of dry wood in front of me, before it flared up in a huge green fireball, making me jump back. I smiled to myself, reminded of how good I was with fire-element magic. It had never been a problem for me, so long ago I’d decided to pursue it, learning how to channel my body’s magic into pure heat.

The smile vanished from my face as the fireball died down into a pile of ash. I frowned. Not again! Okay, I’ll make an addendum to that — my fire magic was strong. Not good, per se. Just strong. I sighed with irritation, realizing that I’d have to get more wood if I wanted to make a working fire. I had carved out a rock into a bowl-shape, designed to hold liquid, and was going to use some of the herbs I’d gathered to brew something up. I floated my bag in front of me and sorted through it, noting all of the plants inside. Anonema… Jekna… Seknowez… Oh, sorry, I think those are the zebra names for these plants. It’s what my mother taught me, okay? Anyway, it looked like I could make two or three healing potions. Excellent!

I looked back at the pile of ash. Not excellent.

Minutes later, I had assembled another pile of wood, and I focused really hard on putting just a little magic into it. Imagine my elation when a little green flame appeared, soon spreading to the rest and giving birth to a warm, crackling fire. It was still chilly out, so I sat down and held my hooves to it for a moment.

A little water from an irradiated stream nearby and I had a boiling rock-bowl of various crushed herbs. I just needed to boil it until everything was the same uniform color. Boiling irradiated water doesn’t remove its radiation, but certain herbs do. I held the rock bowl above the fire with my magic, concentrating on not letting it tilt.

My magical aura looks a bit like fire, ironically. It’s white, but instead of flowing and waving like water, it flickers and crackles like fire. I really don’t know why it does this, but maybe it has something do with my magical affinity. Using magic for too long, any magic, even telekinesis, makes my horn start to burn up. If I push it, uhm... let’s just say it doesn’t turn out well.

After the brew had cooled down, I shoved a bottle into the stew and watched the bubbles as the liquid pushed out the air inside and took its place inside the glass container. Then another. Then—oh… I needed to get more bottles. Oh well. I drank the rest of it, letting the mixture ease some of my muscle soreness from running for so long the day before.

Yesterday I had been attacked by a few ponies because they thought I was a zebra sympathizer, hence the stripes. Yeah, close, but no cigar. They still shot at me, so I hightailed it out of there, not wishing to fight.

Well, I’m not going back that way. I looked at the landscape around me, realizing that it all looked the exact same. Back to not knowing where I’m going. Fun!

---

---

After a few minutes of walking in one direction, I came across a dirt road leading to both sides of the horizon. Yay. Did I mention how freakin’ boring it looked? The only indication of its presence was some tire tracks from passing caravans.

I picked a direction and followed it, my hooves making soft noises on the dirt. I started humming to myself in time with my hoofsteps, a zebra folk song that my mother used to sing for me when I was a foal. Soon, my humming grew into soft singing, my voice the only sound I could hear other than each fall of my hooves.

I was rather enjoying my little sense of safety and security, but then some idiot with a rifle decided to ruin it by almost breaking my eardrums with the report of his gun. Pain suddenly lanced up my leg, and I grunted, pulling it to my chest and trying to balance on only three. My head whipped to the source of the noise, and I laid eyes on a blue unicorn pony with a gun pointed right at me. I growled, feeling my horn heat up as I conjured a brilliant green fireball and hurled it at him.

Kaboom! His cover was blasted apart by the resulting explosion. The lucky bugger stared at me for a moment, frozen in shock as another fireball rushed up to say hello. Before he knew it, he was lying on the ground several meters back, his fur charred. I stood over him, my horn ablaze, but he simply looked up at me, fear in his eyes.

We locked eyes for a moment. I took a deep breath, and put out the fire on my horn. “Get out of here,” I hissed, and he quickly scrambled to his feet and ran off. I watched him as he bolted, part of me praying that he would find treatment for his burns. They had to be at least second-degree.

I spat. Listen, I don’t kill. I am not going to be dragged down to that level. I have yet to take a life, and I don’t plan to anytime soon. Looking back at the pile of rubble that used to be a large rock, I noticed that he left his rifle, along with a few clips of ammunition. I stored the ammo in my bag, and turned my attention to the rifle. I wanted that rifle. But… I couldn’t telekinetically carry stuff for too long. My magical aura practically was a fire, and it burned my horn. Not fun. And my bag wasn’t really big enough.

I floated the rifle into my bag anyway, noticing that it was back-heavy enough to stick out of a corner and not fall out. I smiled. Well, that works.

“Hey, lookie here, a zebra! Wait, you ain’t no zebra. Eh. Yuh know what? Close ‘nuff.”

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat. Several bolts of lightning shot through my veins as I acquired a few small holes in my chest. They would’ve been bigger, but thank the Goddesses for Mom’s barding. A burnt orange pony wearing some bloody, spattered, spiked armor was shooting at me from farther up the road. She was dirty and had disgustingly rotted teeth. Raider.

My horn ignited as I contemplated blasting her head off with an explosive fireball, but when a spike of pain flashed across my mind, I decided against it. “Ow! Stop!”

The raider made a noise. I really couldn’t tell if she was laughing or choking or snorting. “Why should I!? You zebras started this war n’ I think you should be put in yer place!”

“I’m not a-“ I stopped mid-sentence when I realized that that wasn’t entirely true. I grit my teeth and brought out that unicorn’s—no wait, my rifle, and pulled the trigger.

The raider’s chest spurted with blood, but she continued advancing toward me, spraying me with her submachine gun. Her aim wasn’t very good. Most of the bullets zipped past my head, but didn’t hit. I swallowed, bringing the rifle’s scope up to my eye, aiming the crosshair right at the center of her forehead. The rifle shook in my grip, but I fought back the voice in my head that told me not to take a life. This was a raider—she made her living by killing ponies and taking their belongings. She deserved to die. Come on me, shoot her!

She cackled, blood spurting out of her mouth as she kept firing at me. The edges of my vision were growing dark from blood loss. The rifle’s trigger made a clacking noise as it wiggled back and forth in my grip. She was trying to kill me! Why was this so hard!?

I sucked in a breath through my teeth and shut my eyes tight as I pulled the trigger, ignoring the roar.

When I finally opened my eyes, the raider was sprawled on the dirt, her submachine gun lying next to her. There was a large hole in her forehead. I shuddered. I wasn’t sure if it was the gruesome sight, the knowledge that I had just gone back on my vow, or my blood loss.

Before I dropped like a fly, I brought one of my freshly-made healing potions to my lips and drank greedily. Tasted like asparagus. Ewgh. The pain in my body dulled and my tunnel vision disappeared as the potion worked its magic, pushing the bullets out of my body and letting them clink on the ground. My flesh mended itself, the bullet holes sewing themselves shut. The one in my leg hurt the most, probably because it was a higher caliber than those of the submachine gun, but thankfully it healed just as well.

Looking at my body, I noticed that I had lost quite a lot more blood than I thought, my fur stained red. I looked back at the dead raider, the pool of blood around her having grown substantially. My first kill. I started shaking, a block of ice forming in my stomach. I just killed a pony. A pony. I just ended someone’s life. I was no better than them now. No better than my zebra ancestors. I… I…

I tore my eyes away from the sight, taking a wide detour to walk around the body and resume my trek on the dirt path. The ice in my gut traveled up my spine to my brain, frosting it over.

I can’t believe it… I… I shook my head to clear it. Unfortunately, this only gave me a headache. If I hadn’t shot her, I would be dead right now. That pony was trying to kill me. She was a raider. She wasn’t going to heed my request, put on a top hat and walk away like a high-class mare. I needed to do that. I…

That’s what I kept telling myself. I didn’t go back and take her belongings. I just left her machine gun there with her body.

It’s not my fault, I told myself. I had to do it, I told myself.

I never believed me for a second.

---

---

Maybe I was a complete zebra on the inside. That’s what they did back then, right? Fought in the war with ponies and killed them? Didn’t even care?

Yeah. Sounds about right.

My mind was blank for about an hour after that event. Thankfully, nopony shot at me. I wouldn’t have been alert enough to defend myself.

You mean, alert enough to kill other ponies, Forcey?

Shut up.

It was only when my face smacked into a steel pillar that I looked up, seeing a large sign that said “Welcome to The Krater!”

“The Krater!” part seemed to be recently added, having been patched on with different colors of metal plating. Bringing my gaze back down, a collection of short buildings had been erected in the midst of a field of junk and scrap metal, a few ponies walking to and fro. They weren’t raiders, although I heavily doubted that they wouldn’t shoot at me. I could only see two buildings clearly: The Golden Page Saloon, and Lenciro Inn. I could smell the alcohol of the saloon from here.

I approached cautiously, holding my head high so that ponies could see my horn. The effect was significantly dampened by my short height, but maybe they would see the ‘unicorn’ part of me before the ‘zebra’ part. Might save me a gunfight or two.

As I walked in, I was fully prepared to set this town on fire with my magic, my horn glowing softly, but the ponies generally just looked at me, raised their eyebrows, and greeted me with upward flicks of their chins before going back to their business. Hey, no one was shooting at me! Lucky!

A deep rumbling in my stomach reminded me that I had yet to eat anything today. And I had a hunch those food potions weren’t going to cut it. I had some ammo that turned out to not fit in my new gun, so maybe I could trade it for a few pancakes or something.

I stumbled into the Golden Page Saloon, my ears perking as a quirky piano melody filled the air. Inside were at least fourteen ponies, several wearing hats, simply talking to each other and sharing drinks. There was a unicorn playing the piano. He was pretty good. Most of the ponies did not even look at me, paying me no mind. One of them, however, looked at me and gestured to an empty seat with a smile. I thought I heard her mutter something about me being too young to drink (Screw you, waiter!), but I merely smiled back and complied, following her hoof to the table in question. There was one other pony there—wait. It wasn’t a pony. It was an oddly serpentine creature, and each limb seemed to belong to a different animal. It was wearing a large Stetson hat, its eyes hidden.

Upon me taking my seat, the creature tilted its hat upward with its right arm—a dragon’s claw—and looked at me with the happy, excited eyes of a young foal. It smiled jovially.

“Hello there.” It blinked, analyzing me for a moment. I imagined those bright crimson eyes tracing my stripes, and began to feel very uncomfortable. “Unicorn, right? Uh, right?”

My ears folded at the question, but I forced them back up, trying to keep my body language from reflecting my mood. Mom always taught me that it was wise to hold your cards close to your chest. I decided to be discreet. “Yes.”

The creature drummed his (I assumed it was male, judging by its voice) dragon claws on the table, examining me. Oh, he was definitely focusing on my stripes. “Are you sure? You look like a zebr—”

“I’m a unicorn,” I snapped, my eyes narrowing. “I’m not a freaking—...” My voice caught, and I looked away for a moment. I didn’t want to have this conversation again. I’d had it enough times as a foal. The creature looked taken aback. To be honest, he looked vaguely familiar... but I couldn’t put my hoof on his species. An amalgamation of different creatures like that. Yes, I had seen it before. “What are you?”

Okay, maybe my tone was a little harsh. Thankfully, he seemed to not mind.”...Alright. If you don’t want to tell me, I won’t press any further.” He gave a playful smirk. “You’re not ordinary, I can tell. But, chaos doesn’t need to be explained. It’s chaos!” The shadows of his outstretched arms blanketed me for a moment. “And all chaos is good, right?”

I would’ve heard a cricket chirping if not for all the background noise and that piano unicorn.

The creature shrunk. “Erm... Well, I’m a draconequus, the very same species of the great god of chaos himself, Discord!” Ohhh, that’s what he was. He made a little show with his claws. “Sadly, I’m not Discord. But maybe I’ll be as great as him one day!” He leaned back in his chair, a victorious smirk on his face. “My name is Diz. Dizzy, if you want to call me that.”

A smile ran across my face like a flowing river. Finally, introductions. We were past the part where everypony always asked what I was. It had always been that way, ever since I was a foal, and I was sick of it. “Nuclear Force.” I held out my hoof, and he took it in his other fore...limb. It was a bear’s paw, I think. It felt weird, wrapped around my hoof like that.

Diz snickered. “You mean nuclear, like bombs?” He shrunk again when I shot him a little glare. “Sorry.”

My self-satisfied smirk dissolved when I began to hear something over the din of the saloon. My striped ears perked, twitching left and right, before I realized that the sound was gunfire and shouting, and it was coming from outside. Diz looked at me with a raised eyebrow as I got up and walked to a dilapidated window frame, peering out at the source of the noise. Just outside of town I could see muzzle flashes, two ponies ducked behind a large hunk of scrap metal, and several dirty-looking ponies advancing toward their cover position.

I also saw a bright ball of orange and yellow fire barreling right towards my face.

If I stayed inside the saloon, I would surely be hit by the missile’s blast, so I immediately jumped out of the window frame to get myself out of danger. My legs bent to absorb the shock of my landing, my hooves kicking up a small ring of dust.

It was just my freaking luck when the missile curved downward to retarget me. I yelped and leapt to the side, bracing myself for the blast, but it never came. My body just thudded against the dirt, mud mixing with the bloodstains on my coat.

Opening my eyes, I saw two things. First, Diz had slithered out of the window frame after me, and was floating nearby. Wait, he could float? I don’t—... Actually, forget it. Draconequus magic. Second, it turns out that the fiery ball of death wasn’t a missile, it was a bird! A flaming bird. A... phoenix, I think. It squawked at me, and I could almost see it beckoning at me with a wing as it hovered.

The phoenix flew off towards the two ponies in cover, only to stop and look back at me when it realized that I wasn’t following. It beckoned at me again, and Diz and I shared a glance. He was looking at me with a childish smile and a twinkle in his eyes, like a young colt asking his father for a new toy. The irony of it was, I was probably the younger one.

“Alright, fine...” I conceded, and he cackled in delight as we took chase of the bird.

Footnote: Level Up

Nuclear Force - Level 2

New Perk: So This Is What Friendship Is Like — You have found a stranger who seems to like you, at least a little bit. You’ve grown up alone except for your mother, so this is new to you. While in the presence of allies, you have higher morale, you are more focused and are a better shot. You gain +3% to your total damage for each ally present. This bonus caps at +15%.

Trait: Sharp-tongued — Growing up without ponies to talk to has set back your social skills by a few years. Permanent -15 to Speech and +15 to Taunt.

Trait: Adolescent — You have a small, aerodynamic build that easily shows your youth. It also makes you a tad cute. Unfortunately, you are a bit more fragile than an adult pony, so you take 10% more damage to limbs. You are also not very wise, and this can be your undoing. Agility +1, Charisma +1, Perception -1.

Trait: Half-zebra: You have been raised with zebra culture, and know their secrets. +5 to your Explosives, Medicine, Sneak, and Unarmed skills.

New Ally: Diz — A happy-go-lucky draconequus that seems to be fairly nice, as far as you can tell.

**********

White Light

Note to self: Never hitch a ride in a caravan if I can help it. The brahmin are annoying, the food is inedible, and the guards are like walking pony guardian statues. The instant something goes wrong, out come the carbines, cold steel glinting in the harsh light, their muzzles turning a fiery red as streaks of molten death spit out of them and shred the unfortunate monster, mutant or raider attempting to rob us. The only thing that made it bearable was the liquor rations, and the wonderful mare at my side.

Oh, how rude of me—I never actually introduced myself. I'm White Light.

Huh? Start from the beginning? Alright then, now sit there for a spell while I bring you up to speed.

===

I was originally from the pegasus community up in the skies. You know, the Enclave. I was sent down to the surface to scout out the surroundings, to see if there were any organized attacks against the Enclave being planned out. In a totally related note, thunderstorms can blink in and out of existence.

Their density has also increased. Dramatically.

After slamming into one on my way down and fracturing the bones in both of my wings, I crash-landed in one of the worst places to land in.

A zebra settlement. Surprisingly, there were ponies too.

Thankfully, they were peaceful zebras, combatants who have never seen the war and were trapped in Equestrian lands during the Zebrican-Equestrian war. They were hostile to me at first, ‘till the village head saw that I wasn't a threat to them and made them treat my injuries. Even though the zebras knew how to distill the healing element of a Hydra into an elixir, my wings never did heal properly, officially marking my status as MIA. During my stay, I was able to help them out in minor tasks, such as clearing the ditches, bringing water, playing with the foals, normal stuff, ‘till I happened upon the blacksmith working at the forge.

Many ponies simply look at an object or another pony and say that it is 'pretty', with nicer-sounding words. The few that look deeper are those that truly understand the object or pony's true worth, and that no matter how insignificant, everything is actually a treasure. The way the firelight danced in her eyes, the flexing of her muscles as she brought the hammer down onto the cherry-red metal, shaping it from a formless lump of metal to a masterpiece. The wave of cerulean mane, sweeping over her head and past her withers, as blue as the sea and as wide as the sky. Wings distorting the heat haze and the light enough to make her look like a shimmering mirage. Her light-blue coat contrasting with the flames directly behind her, framing her as an angel working in the sunset of the sky. A lull in the rhythm of the hammer, and a slight tilt of her eyes caught me. My green eyes stared into eyes of amethyst. Ashamed at being caught at staring at her, I blushed and turned away, before the most amazing thing happened.

She starts to giggle, softly at first, then growing into a wonderful tinkling laugh. Sometime later, I joined her, a tenor voice intermixing with a soprano laugh.

Later, when we had stopped laughing, she explained to me why she was laughing so much. "That was the first time somepony had actually not just looked at me for my beauty, but rather looked at me with wonder. You sure you don't have a marefriend?" I blushed heavily at what I was going to say next and how utterly cheesy it sounded. Taking a deep breath, I replied. "Yes, I do have a marefriend, if she will take me. She's standing right in front of me." I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the slap that was sure to come for flirting with her.

Silence.

Plip-plop.

Oh Celestia buck me with a spiked bat. I made her cry.

I quickly snapped my eyes open, mouth opening slightly to apologize to the wonderful mare when...

She kissed me.

A mare, who was a complete stranger (I didn't even know her name!) kissed me, full on the lips.

When our mouths finally finished their dance of passion, my wings were saluting the air, along with hers. The joy of finding a fellow pegasus coupled with the lust for each other led from one thing to another, and it ended at her house, after the ride of both of our lives.

By Luna's frozen teats that was amazing.

During the days that I lived in the village, I learned how to work metal from Sunfire, and also picked up medicine from the zebra shamans. It is simply amazing how modern medicine can do things such as repair broken bones and trauma by drinking a potion, yet zebra medicine can strengthen the bones, sharpen the mind, increase agility and even create painkillers, a substance which is dearly sought out in the wasteland. All was well in the world, but as with all good things, it must come to an end.

---

Apparently, a caravan passing nearby the village noticed the smoke rising from the forge and wanted to check it out. Upon seeing an entire village of 'stripes', the guards proceeded to wipe everyzebra out. Bullets raked the surroundings, and all that was valuable was stolen. We were thought to be slaves of the zebras and were taken along on the caravan route.

Once night fell, I crept away from the caravan and dug a small hole. Inside went a few mementos of my time at the village; a feather from my dream catcher, a broken potion bottle shard and a personal gift: An elixir that I had distilled from moondrake and basil which removes joint pains. Burying it and adding a headstone added some closure, yet a part of me felt that it died back there. Cracking open a bottle of booze, I slugged a few back in memory of the poor souls whom died in that hell, hoping that they received the grace of Celestia.

Dawn came, and with it, a nice throbbing hangover.

Since a beautiful mare at my side was included, the encroaching light was forgiven.

Letting Sunfire sleep in for a while, I slipped out of her embrace slowly, as to not wake her. Other than her turning around, she seemed asleep, so I succeeded. Groaning softly, my wings automatically extended and rolled to pop the joints and stretching to remove the morning fatigue. Once the ritual of groaning was over, I grabbed some of the mystery stew for both myself and Sunfire. Sitting down with the head of the caravan, we exchange small talk, mainly on where we were going.

Apparently, we were going to 'Krater'. Not a very nice name, I suppose, they should have chosen something nicer like Sunset Town, or something else. Krater just sounded as if a bomb exploded somewhere nearby. It just sounded...wrong. And smelly.

The good news, though, was that they did have active trade though. Apparently, Krater found a stockpile of metal and was looking for somepony to take them off their hands. Thankfully, the vendor didn't actually know how much a working PON3 capacitor was worth, so I got off with a discount. Sunfire was rifling through our bits to get a new hammer when the most inconceivable thing possible just ran out of the bar.

It looked like...like...like a foal took some animals, ate them all, chewed the quivering mass and spat out this thing. It was nearly impossible to even describe it, with the mismatched horns, wings, legs and even tail! Even stranger was the phoenix that was flying with him and his companion. Surely it wasn't...no, it was! A real, live Balefire Phoenix! This WAs astounding! Elder always said that "If you ever find a phoenix, treat it with respect, for it holds the ingredients for the greatest gift of all: Life." Ooh, how I would love to just touch it for a short while. Alright! I've made up my mind, I'll go talk to them and ask what they are doing, maybe-

CRACK! PING KROW-KROW-KROW!

The sudden retort of gunfire startled the residents, many started retreating into their homes for safety and for their weapons. Suddenly Sunfire was by my side, raring to go.

"Come ON White! We're going to be late!" Sunfire yelled. "Somepony might need our help!"

"Calm down Sun, I'm just getting ready to go. You got your bat ready?" I asked.

A whoosh of air and the smack of a weathered hoofball bat onto a pony's hoof met my ears.

"Alright then, let's go."

We flapped our wings and flew, only a short distance behind the thing and the unicorn beside it. As Sunfire gave her bat a few swings, I eased out the battered .44 revolver that I kept with me from my days in Thunderdome. Inside, I was terrified. Outside of the few times I went hunting for the radhogs that destroyed the gates, this was the only time I would be using my firearm. Wiping away a thin coating of dust, I sighed. Things never will go as everypony wants it to, I suppose.

Both me and Sunfire reach the ridge a while after the duo disappeared down the proverbial ditch. Sliding down the ridge, we surveyed the carnage. 6 dead raiders, the mismatched-animal thing, and a few other ponies, all lying down. One of them was clutching her leg—hopefully it was just a small wound.

She balked and tried to scurry away, while the thing and other unicorns trained their horns on me.

"Woah woah, hold on, I'm a doctor!"

At that, everypony calmed down. Gliding down to the stricken pony, I introduced myself as White Light. Since everypony was alright with me being here, I inspected the wound, hoping with all of my luck that it was not that serious.

******

Mono/Chrome

“Oh come on, you know you enjoyed the spa at Tenpony.”

Mono looked jovially at her silver-coated sister, who simply stared at her. Mono sighed. “You just never were one for experiencing the world, Chrome.”

The pair of unicorns walked along the Wasteland at a decent pace, eyes watching every direction.

“It was a nice vacation. And hell, you actually got a full night’s sleep there.”

Mono didn’t have to look back to hear her sister’s gait to change ever so slightly, falling heavily on a hoof.

“Of course I knew. I’m your twin, Chrome. I just wish you’d tell me more. I know you don’t trust many ponies, but come on, we’ve known each other our entire lives.”

Silence. Mono didn’t expect her sister to answer. Chrome didn’t talk much, never had. Even before Vancolter, their first home, had been obliterated at the hands of slavers, Chrome was a quiet one. Mono more than made up for it.

“You know what? I’m hungry. Let’s stop for lunch.”

Mono stopped in her tracks and opened her saddlebags. She levitated a pair of daisy sandwiches out of the weathered bags. “Good to have some real food. Radhog meat gets old.”

At this, Chrome spoke. “Even bacon?”

Mono chuckled. “Even bacon. Ember!” Mono yelled the last, and at her word, and bright flash of red and orange flew over to them from the other side of the hill. The flame landed by them, dropping a small rodent to the ground.

“Caught one, did ya? Good going, Ember. Won’t have to feed ya this way,” Mono chuckled. She took a bite out of her sandwich, enjoying having fresh flowers to eat. “Oh, dear, if only I could always eat this good. Never would have left Tenpony if we didn’t have to.”

Chrome chuckled at her sister’s overreaction. Emberwing just stared at them a moment before eating the rodent he had caught.

The three sat in silence for the most part, watching the dull Wasteland. Mono thought it was so boring, yet so lively at the same time. The terrain made it seem as if Equestria was dead, but everypony living there knew it wasn’t. It was just a big, giant sore, just waiting for somepony to dig out the bad and let the good heal. But that would take a very long time, nothing anypony could accomplish in a few months.

Mono finished off her sandwich and stood, looking around. Chrome had already finished hers and Emberwing was flying through the sky on silent wings, green tinging the edges of his wings as he passed through small clouds of radiation.

“Guess it’s time to go.”

Nodding, Chrome got up and began to walk again. Mono walked with her sister, and grabbed the small radio from her saddlebags. The beat-up little thing came to life as she messed with it. Tunes put out over the air by DJ-Pon3 drifted out, letting them have a little bit of nice with the unpleasant Wasteland.

Unfortunately, having a noise like that while walking in the middle of the wasteland simply invited trouble. Neither mare even suspected that a Raider party was upon them until Emberwing screeched and flew right over them. Eyes wide, the mares turned to the right and saw about half a dozen ponies in raider attire making their way to the two.

The twins stood a moment, uncertain. Then Emberwing let out a huge cry, and they sprung into action. Mono levitated the two pistols she had in her saddlebags and began running away from the raiders, off course from New Appleloosa. Chrome followed closely trying to keep track of their direction. The phoenix above them simply flew far ahead of them, trying to lead them out of danger.

The raiders behind them were close, but because of the rugged terrain, it was difficult for them to get a bead on the twins.

“Come on, little fillies! We only want to have a little fun!” Came a voice from behind them.

“The only fun you’ll be getting is in hell!” Mono yelled back, still at a full gallop. The two mares ran across the Wasteland, trying to put as many dips and rises between them and their pursuers as possible. The only thing on their minds was getting out of there as soon as possible.

“Oh, don’t say that, darlin’! We just wanna get to know you beautiful mares!”

Mono didn’t yell back, just cursed herself for not getting any armor while they had been in Tenpony. They’d considered it, but decided that they weren’t going to be out in the Wasteland enough to validate it.

The two of them kept running, but found that the ground was becoming less and less hilly. “Mono,” Chrome said, worried. Mono shook her head and kept running. However, as they crested the next rise, a town came into view.

“We gotta town!” Mono yelled to Chrome. “Ain’t home, but we’re going there!”

Chrome only nodded. Ahead, Emberwing was drifting back towards them, knowing a Phoenix might not be a welcome sight in a new town.

The twins pushed onward, and felt the ground level out as they grew closer to the town. Bits of rock and metal jutted out of the ground, creating somewhat of an obstacle course for the mares.

Unfortunately, Chrome was not the most agile of ponies, and found herself tripping over a small rock in the ground. She fell to the ground, letting out a cry.

“Chrome! Crap.”

Mono galloped back to her sister and got her up. They couldn’t run anymore - that was made evident by the bullets beginning to fly by their heads.

“Take cover!”

Mono and Chrome jumped behind different bits of metal sticking out of the ground. Needing to halt the raiders’ advance, Mono popped her head out and took a few shots with her pistols. She missed all of them.

“Horseapples! Okay. Emberwing! Try to get somepony to come from that town and help us! I don’t know how long we’ll last out here!”

Letting out a cry, the phoenix flew in the direction of the town.

In a small break in the fire, she heard the voice again. “Nice little phoenix you got there. Tell you what - you give us the bird and everything you own, and we won’t touch a hair on your coats.”

Mono snorted and looked at Chrome. Chrome looked amused. Neither of them believed a word of it, even if they had been willing to do so in the first place. Mono shouted back at them. “Tell you what. You get rid of that cloud cover for more than ten minutes, we’ll believe you. Then we’ll shoot you before you backstab us.”

The raiders coughed out various laughs and started shooting again.

Mono frowned and stuck her head out again. She took three shots from her right pistol, catching a raider in the leg and the eye. He went down, but not before Mono had a bullet whiz right past her ear. She fell behind cover with a yelp. Mono looked at Chrome, who looked depressed.

“Chrome, I know you’re bad with guns, but you’re not useless. Don’t look that way.”

Chrome looked at her sister and gave a wan smile, unconvinced.

Mono took a couple blindfire shots, and was pleased to hear another yelp from the raiders. She reloaded her pistols. Taking a look around her cover, she saw that she’d killed a single one and shot another in the leg. Unfortunately, there were still five of them unharmed. Scowling, Mono pulled her head back into cover. There was only one way to do this.

Mono used her magic to create the illusion of herself. It was a weird sense of vertigo, staring into one’s own eyes. She sent the illusion running to the right. As soon as the firing started, she ran into the open in the opposite direction. She took a couple shots at the raiders, getting a lucky hit as one of her bullets tore into a raider’s throat.The one next to the taken down raider realized their mistake and shot at the running Mono. Mono was just about to get to the cover when a bullet passed through her right hind leg, and she fell face-first behind her cover.

That left four, and now she was wounded. She checked her ammo - left was full, right had four, and she had ten extra bullets.

Looking up, she saw Emberwing returning, and two figures running underneath the Phoenix. Mono squinted, looking at them. One looked like a normal Unicorn, but the other... was something she couldn’t identify. She gave her sister a harsh grin, and fired a few more shots at the advancing raiders. The pain in her leg was growing, but nothing she couldn’t handle. Chrome offered her a health potion, but she shook her head.

“Wait until after the fight. No need to waste potions.”

Chrome put it back in her saddlebags. Mono looked back, seeing the two creatures were much closer now. “Help us! Four raiders, one wounded!”

The pony nodded and took out what looked to be a bottle. He vaulted it, and Mono was astonished to hear an explosion from its impact. She glanced back at the unicorn, surprised, and turned again. The gunfire had halted.

“What the hell was... what the hell is that?”

The raiders were looking straight at the strange creature, gawking openly.

“I? I, sirs, am a Draconequus! My name is Diz, and I’d be ashamed of myself if I didn’t introduce myself properly!” The creature said.

With that, Diz pulled two pistols with “Chaos Corp.” emblazoned on the side. He began firing at the raiders indiscriminately. Using the distraction, Mono rose to her feet (with a loud “ow” accompanying the motion) and opened up with her dual pistols as well. The raiders never had a chance - the four living ones all fell over, bullets raking their bodies. They had been too dumbstruck by Diz’s appearance to react to the firing.

Mono stood and panted a moment - before crying out and falling to the ground.

Footnote: Level Up
Mono - Level 2
Chrome - Level 1
(M)New Perk: Flashy - You have begun to use illusion magic in combat. Enemies are 15% more likely to fall prey to your illusions.

(M/C)Trait: Orphans - You were forced to grow up far earlier than one should have to. Permanent +15 to survival.

(M/C)Trait: Twins - Because of your closeness, whenever you are travelling with your twin, you gain +1 to Charisma and +1 to Intelligence

(M)Trait: Dual Power - You are used to using two weapons at once. When using two weapons, you have +10% accuracy, but when only using one weapon, you have -20% fire rate.

******

White Light

Screw my luck, the bullet was embedded in the bone! Argh.

"Erm...Miss...erm," I faltered, not knowing her name.

"I’m Mono," the pony replied through grit teeth.

"Yes, Mono, err... do you have any Med-X?"

She tilted her head in confusion. "Med....X?"

Why is it that nopony knows what medical drugs to use? I swear, if I see one more pony trying to insert Dash inside of their nose instead of inhaling it properly, I'm going to buck them in the throat.

"Yes, Med-X. If you don't have any, it’s alright. Here's a syringe."

Taking out a hypodermic needle filled with the anesthetic, I tossed it to her. She caught it with her hoof, the covered needle almost breaking the skin. Seeing as she was still lost, I explained it to her.

"Med-X is primarily used as a combat drug, causing the nerves that feel physical pain to stop sending their electrical signals from the point of impact into the brain. By injecting it into your bloodstream, you receive a temporary immunity to pain." By Celestia, I sound like those old professors!

By the look on her face, she was still confused. I resorted to Laypony's terms. "For a while, you won’t even feel it if you get shot."

Her ears perked up at this, her eyes shining. She smiled at me. "Why didn't you say that earlier, silly?"

"I did; I said..." I started, before sighing. “Never mind, just inject it into your bloodstream so I can remove the bullet in your leg."

Carefully, she injected the syringe into her hoof, feeling a numbing sensation spread out to the rest of her body.

"Brrr! Is it supposed to be this tingly everywhere?"

"Yes, now hold still."

Using my wings to stabilize myself, I pulled out a scalpel, some alcohol, forceps and a needle along with a small spool of thread. Firstly, the wound would need to be disinfected, then the bullet would need to be removed. Finally, the wound would need to be stitched shut.

Dipping a cloth in some medical alcohol, the wound was soon clean and disinfected. The forceps then came in and pulled out the round.

“Interesting... No wonder it was stuck in the bone; this is a hollow point round!" The round was shaped like a normal bullet, except the point was flat, and bigger than the rest of the bullet. This made the entry and exit point extremely large to cause more damage and increase the chances of bleedout. Throwing away the spent round, the needle went round and round the wound, sewing it shut. Biting off the excess thread, I then pronounced her healthy, but that leg would not be supporting her for a while.

Getting up and testing her legs, she cast a funny glance at me. "Why?"

Confused, I asked her to elaborate.

"Why would you do this for a complete stranger? Most ponies I know wouldn’t give help unless they got some in return.”

I gathered my thoughts. "When I was younger, bad things happened to ponies that I cared about. It saddened me greatly, to see genocide break out in front of me. I said to myself, 'Nopony should have to go through pain and suffering. It just isn’t right.' That’s why I did it. Not for respect or caps, though they do feed your belly. Not for gratitude, though it is appreciated. I did it so that your last moments, unless you can be saved, will be free of all pain." Closing my mouth, I sat and waited.

Suddenly, she smiled and gave me a hug. "Thanks so much, White Light."

Blushing, I slowly returned the hug. "No problem, Mono."

Breaking off the hug, I trotted over to the other unicorn and the strange creature. The creature was indescribable, so I didn't bother trying to understand. The first thing that came out of my mouth was, "What are you?"

The being swelled up, his chest puffing up more and more, until I thought he was going to breathe fire on me. Suddenly, a stream of words burst forth.

"Hello, little pony! My name is Dizzy Draconequus, but you can call me Diz! How’re you doing? What’s your name? Oh right, it was White Light! Right? It's totally fantastic to see another pony who is actually nice to others and not cruel and mean like some of the others here! Oh, and do you know where I came from? The City! It’s this magical city somewhere far up in the north where—"

By the Pony Goddesses’ concubines, did this thing ever stop talking? Did it even BREATHE?

"...and then this bullet came out and it was all like 'FWOOSH' but then I turned around and shot the other pony's grenade and it went like 'KABLOOIE' then I twisted around and shot my guns twice, 'BLAM BLAM' and then they were all dead. And then I finished being angry, and then thats the end of my story. What about you?" He finally stopped talking, before taking a HUGE breath of air, returning his face to its normal color.

Looking at the strange thing, I recounted the tale of how I got here.

"Wow, that was sad." Diz’s ears drooped. "Really depressing. So, what now?"

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow.

"What do we do now?"

I was stumped at the question. In all seriousness, I actually didn't know what to do. "I'm not sure. Let’s go ask the girls. Oh—the other guy, what was his name? What’s up with his stripes?"

I think I felt the temperature of the air drop a few degrees. Diz's face hardened, and he lowered his voice. "His name is Nuclear Force, and uh, I don't know. The kid doesn't wanna talk about it. Must be a touchy subject with him."

My face scrunched up in worry as I leaned to the side to get a better look at the striped unicorn. What happened to him? Was he born like that? Well, that should be something to talk about later, I suppose. We both walked over to where Force, Mono and Chrome were.

"So, where to now?" I asked.

At that precise moment, an explosion rang out behind us. Debris rained down pell-mell around the site of the blast. We all turned, looked at each other and ran into the city, narrowly missing the sign that said 'APPLEWOOD'.

Footnote: Level Up!

White Light: Level 2

New Trait:I’m a Doctor!: Learning medicine has helped you tremendously. Bandages, blood-packs and drugs are now 10% more effective. New conversation options are available.

New Trait: Trustworthy: While travelling with a companion(s), you give your companion(s) +5 to DT. Just don’t stab them in the back.

New Perk: Swift Learner: You gain 10% more XP each time XP is earned.

New Ally: Sunfire!
Your beautiful and excessively strong marefriend. She loves you...for the time being.

New Ally: Nuclear Force!
A pony with a dark past. Do NOT ask him about his stripes.

New Ally: Dizzy ‘Diz’ Draconequus
A completely illogical being. Talks too much but is good in a fight.

Comments

[Raydner]

mlpchan.net/pony/src/1342482059021.png ITS HERE! I shall be telling the story of White Light, as well as his marefriend, Sunfire. Drop a comment if you see anything wrong in my chapter!

[NahB]

I hope everypony enjoys! I'm writing for Mono and Chrome. REALLY fun to write in the FoE universe. Here's hoping that everypony can get into it!

[Chaotic Dreams]

This has been a blast to work on so far. I'll be writing Diz's perspective. I hope you enjoy the fic!

[Professor Plum]

Interesting how all four of the first thumbs up are that of it's authors.

Meh, I'm gonna give this one a miss. Already got far too much FO:E stuff to get through already

[Chaotic Dreams]

1266287

Actually, I didn't give this a thumbs up. An unrelated reader did.

[Jade Mer]

...Incomplete.

Wow.

Okay.

-must read when more time is present-

[Csquared08]

1266287
I've read some of Chaotic's other stuff (Millennium Wake). This guy knows what he's doing.

And Chaotic, question, do I need to have to have read all of the original FO:E to understand this fic? I got through Chapter 30 before a certain someone *coughRavensDaggercough* spoiled a certain character's death for me. Since then, I've been applying brain bleach, but it's not working so far. And I want to read this...

[NahB]

1266391

No, you don't need to read the original completely. The only relation for the most part is the fact that they're in the same universe.

[Csquared08]

1266405
Well then. On to the list of things to read it goes!

[Brony Tom]

A lot of these characters have potential for excess specialness... From what I've seen, you guys know how to handle it, but I thought I should point that out. Another thing was that the meetings were a little forced, in my opinion; you probably could have waited a chapter or so to introduce some of them, just so that things flow together a bit easier.

Anyways, I enjoyed this tremendously, I will definitely be following this to the end.

[electreXcessive]

Lead the way captain; I shall follow. Great start, I loved it, and I loved Millenium Wake. I will track this until the end!

[Winter Storm]

At first, I was :meh:

Then I saw Garuuspike's name.